69 MODEMS TESTED: 9600 bps AND FASTER JULY iy93 PageMaker 5.0 vs. QuarkXPress 3.1 In-depth: Lotus Notes 3.0 Cheap and Reliable Data Acquisition Page 69 THE WORLDWIDE COMPUTING AUTHORITY PENTIUM PCs It might say Pentium on the outside, but what else is on the inside of the first systems? ■ =i.'v>jiii--m^ MS-DOS 6 Developers Explain DoubleSpace and MemMaker ADVANCED NETWORKING How PC Clusters Supercharge Workgroups 07 440235 $3.50 U.S.A./$4.50 IN CANADA A McGraw-Hill Publication/0360-5280 II II II i I If 1 i Joth The Gateway Herd For 486 1 Need a reason to celebrate? We're making this tlie best summer ever to buy a Gateway PC! During our 486 Fest, you'll find better- than-ever buys on all the fabulous systems in our product line. You'll think you died and went to hog heaven! Buy some fiesta goodies, invite a few party animals over and call us. We'll give you lots of reasons to party! Party Reason — Gateway 's Pentium Technolog}' Guarantee! If you've been worried about keeping up with technology now that Intel's® Pentium™processor has been announced, relax! Ask about our Pentium Technology Guarantee. It's a Gateway-exclusive offer that allows you to keep up with technology and save big bucks — guaranteed! Party Reason — Choosing a 486 shows you 're a smart buyer! A less astute buyer might go for a 386 or Pentium system, but you know where the real value is. Gateway 2000's desktop and Nomad PCs are now all 486 systems for good reason. With our great prices on 486 technology, 386 systems are no longer a smart buy. And first-generation Pentium systems are not a good value. Even if you were willing to pay the steep premium other manufacturers are charging for Pentium systems, you'd have trouble getting one because availability is extremely limited. Our engineers say the Pentium systems in our lab run so hot, you could use one to heat a hog house. Besides, Pentium systems on the market today will be outperformed quickly by improvements in Pentium technology. That's why we're not selling Pentium systems yet. At Gateway, we won't sell anything unless it's a good value for you. In today's market a 486 machine is the way to go, especially now that all our desktop ISA systems are guaranteed to be upgradeable to Pentium technology. Party Reason — You get more free choices of software with a system from Gateway than from any other PC maimer. All software is pre-installed and ready to run the moment your system arrives. Hooray! No installation hassles! The whole herd at Gateway, now over 2,000 people, gathered for this 486Fest kick-off photo. We wanted you to see all the friends you have in the business! With Nomad, mini desktop and our 4DX2-66 Best Buy systems, you get Microsoft Worics for Windows.™ With deslctop and tower systems that include "choice of application software," you can select one of the following software packages. All applications are the latest versions. u Microsoft Excel for Windows.™ m Microsoft Word for Windows.™ ■ Microsoft Word and Bookshelf 92® CD-ROM Edition. ■ Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows™ ■ Microsoft Project for Windows™ m The MS Entrepreneur Pack (Works,™ Publisher,'" Money,™ and games). ■ Borland Paradox® and Qmttro®Pro for Windows. ■ The Windows Programmer Pack (MS Quick C" Visual Basic™ and more). Party Reason — You 'II save money on peripherals! We offer many system options and upgrades, including fax/ modems, network cards, CD-ROM kits, sound accessories, larger monitors, tape backup units, bigger hard drives, other software and morel Call today! Party Reason — You get excellent after-the-sale support! Every Gateway 2000 system comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you don't like your system, send it back within 30 days for a refiind. All systems come with a one-year limited warranty and telephone technical support for the life of the system from our award-winning tech department. You also get an automated fax service to supply you with detailed documentation on over 150 technical subjects, and a lifetime BBS membership for additional technical support and online forums. We offer on-site service to most locations in the country (factory service only for notebooks). Replacement parts leave our factory as quickly as possible; we pay overnight shipping. Plus we now have interactive documentation on desktop systems with pictures and text right on your hard drive (in addition to comprehensive hardware and software manuals). Party Reason — // so easy! We make it easy for you to buy a Gateway PC, with convenient payment options including major credit cards and C.O.D. terms. Net 30-day terms and leasing options are also available to qualified commercial customers. For a truly celebrated value, the choice is black-and-white: Gateway's 4DX-3S. ^ Gateway 2000's Party List 4SX-25 25MHz 486SX IntePProcessor 4MB RAM 3.5" Diskette Drive 170MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive Local Bus IDE Interface Intel Pentium™ Technology Ready Windows Accelerated Video w/lMB DRAM 14" Color CrystalScan®1024NI I Mini Desktop Case I 5 16-Bit ISA Slots I 124-Key AnyKey® Keyboard I MS-D0S'*6,Diags, Windows™ & Mouse I MS Works for Windows™ 2.0 4SX-33 33MHz 486SX Intel Processor 4MB RAM 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives 212MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive Local Bus IDE Interface Intel Pentium Technology Ready I Windows Accelerated Video w/ 1MB DRAM I 14" Color CrystalScanl024NI ! Mini Desktop Case I 5 16-Bit ISA Slots I 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard I MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & Mouse I MS Works for Windows 2.0 4DX-33 ■ 33MHz 486DX Intel Processor ■ 8MB RAM, 64K Cache ■ 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives ■ 212MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive ■ Local Bus IDE Interface ■ Intel Pentium Technology Ready ■ Windows Accelerated Video w/ 1MB DRAM ■ 14" Color CrystalScanl024NI ■ Mini Desktop Case ■ 5 16-Bit ISA Slots ^ ■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard ■ MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & Mouse ■ MS Works for Windows 2.0 $1295 $1495 $1895 4DX2-50V ■ 50MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor ■ 8MB RAM, 64K Cache ■ 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives ■ 340MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive ■ Local Bus IDE Interface I Intel Pentium Technology Ready ■ ATI™ Ultra Pro Video w/lMB VRAM on VL-Bus™ ■ 15" Color CrystalScanl572FS ■ Desktop Case (Tower Upgrade) ■ 7 16-Bit ISA Slots, 2 on VL-Bus ■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard ■ MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & Mouse I Choice of Application Software 4DX2-66 BEST BUY $2395 4DX2-66E 66MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor 8MB RAM, 256K Cache 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives 500MB Urns SCSI Hard Drive 32-Bit EISA SCSI Controller Windows Accelerated Video w/ 1MB DRAM 14" Color CrystalScan 1024NI I Tower Case I 8 32-Bit EISA Slots I 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard I MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & Mouse I Choice of Application Software $3495 a®5AL "EiLEAF" ■ 66MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor ■ 8MB RAM, 64K Cache ■ 3.5" Diskette Drive ■ CD-ROM Drive ■ 340MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive ■ Local Bus IDE Interface ■ Intel Pentium Technology Ready ■ Wmdows Accelerator w/1 MB DRAM on VL-Bus ■ 14" Color CrystalScan 1024NI ■ Desktop Case (Tower Upgrade) ■ 7 16-Bit ISA Slots, 2 on VL-Bus ■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard I MS-DOS 6, Diags, Wmdows & Mouse ■ MS Multimedia Works, CD-ROM Edition $2495 NOMAD 425SXL 25MHz 486SX Intel Processor 4MB RAM 3.5" Diskette Drive 120MB IDE Hard Drive Backlit 10" VGA Screen, 64 Gray Scale Simultaneous Video with 1MB I Size 8.5" X 11" X 1.8," 5.6 Lbs. 6-Hr. NiCad Battery & AC Pack 1 Parallel /I Serial Port 79-Key Keyboard & FieldMouse™ MS-DOS and Windows I MS Works for Windows $1995 4DX2-66V 66MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor 16MB RAM, 256K Cache 3.5" Diskette Drive CD-ROM Drive 340MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive Local Bus IDE Interface Intel Pentium Technology Ready ATI Ultra Pro Video w/1 MB VRAM on VL-Bus 15" Color CrystalScan 1572FS Desktop Case (Tower Upgrade) 7 16-Bit ISA Slots, 2 on VL-Bus 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & Mouse Choice of Application Software mmm "You've got a friend in the business. "® 8 0 0 - 8 4 6 - 2 0 5 8 EVTE $2995 NOMAD 450DXL 50MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor 3.5" Diskette Drive Backlit 10" VGA Screen, 64 Gray Scale Simultaneous Video with 1MB Size 8.5" xll"x 1.8," 5.6 Lbs. 6-Hr. NiCad Battery & AC Pack 1 Parallel / 1 Serial Port I 79-Key Keyboard & MS Ballpoint I MS-DOS, Windows & Works for Windows ♦ $2495 (With 4MB RAM and 120MB Hard Drive) $2795 (With 8MB RAM and 200MB Hard Drive) All hard drive sizes are manufacturer's specified capacities. Microsoft MS-DOS 6 can increase hard drive capacity through software compression. 610 Gateway Drive • P.O.Box 2000 • North Sioux City, SD 57049-2000 • 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023 Sales Hours: 7am- 10pm Weekdays, 9am-4pm Saturdays (CI) €S993 Gateway 2000. Inc. AnyKey. CryslalScan. black-and-white spot design, "G" logo and "You've got a friend in the business" slogan are registered irademarks, and Gateway 2000 and TelePalh are trademarks of Gateway 2000. Inc. The Intel Inside Logo. Intel. Pentium and OverDrive are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Prices and configurations are subject to change without notice. Prices do not include shipping. Presenting Interactive Unix 4.0 'VC^ hen the INTERACTIVE™ UNIX® System for personal computers was introduced in 1987, it quickly became a classic. Suddenly operations from video stores to Bridgestone/Firestone® production lines had a reliable, sta- ble operating system ready for mission-critical applications. It's still among the most cost- effective multiuser operating systems available and a dream to install and administer In fact Open Systems Today called it "...a masterpiece of good design". Today over 500,000 users enjoy its benefits. But time marches on, and even an industry-tested classic FOR A LIMITED TIME* ALL MULTIUSER INTERACTIVE UNIX 4.0 ORDERS WILL INCLUDE A FREE COPY OF FASTBACK PLUS™ (A I © / 993 Sun Microsystems. Inc. SunSoft the SunSoft and Sunburst /ogos ore trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems. Inc. INTERACTIVE is a trademark of INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation. UNIX is a registered 1 X 2 CTIVE < INT Cover Story DVIE JULY 1993 VOL. 18, NO. S News & Views WordPerfect Office 4.0 22 BY BARRY NANCE The latest version of WordPerfect's groupware product supports multiple operating systems. QMS Strikes with Color Laser Printer 24 BY TOM THOMPSON ColorScript Laser 1 000 brings color laser printing into a more affordable price range. RAID Down to the Desktop 28 BY DAVE ANDREWS This storage technology is moving from mainframes and minicomputers to the desktop. Ruling Won't Mean Lower Prices for 486 Chips 28 BY TOM R. HALFHILL Despite AMD's winning the latest round in its legal battle with Intel, don't expect a big price drop in 486 systems. HP's Superior Subnotebook 32 BY PATRICK WAURZYNIAK Hewlett- Packard packs a lot, including Windows and applications in ROM, into its 3- pound OmniBook. Toshiba Gets Aggressive with Passive Color 32 BY GENE SMARTE Toshiba's T1900C could change the way you look at passive-matrix color displays. Encryption Chip Draws Fire 36 BY PETER WAYNER A new encryption chip promises to protect your electronic messages, but there's a catch: A trap- door lets the government eavesdrop. A Quicker Quicken 40 BY CHRIS KOFER A new Mac version of Intuit's personal-finance software. Report from Jordan 48 BY KHALDOON TABAZA Localizing software in Arabia. What's New 226 The latest Tektronix dye-sublimation printer, Smartcom for Windows from Hayes, Alps Electric's wireless LAN adapter, and more. Reviews 80 NEW SYSTEMS Pentium Changes the PC BY ANDY REINHARDT The Intel Pentium CPU demands subsystems and I/O that can keep pace and that call for a fundamental rethinking of how to build everything from the expansion bus to memory architecture. New Memory Architectures to Boost Performance — 86 Revisiting the Lowly I/O Ports — 90 Pentium PCs: Power to Bum 94 BY RAYMOND GA COTE AND BARRY NANCE Fast and ready to roll, the first Pentium systems are now available. DOS, Unix, and Windows Benchmarks- NetWare Benchmarks — 100 -98 Features NETWORKING Cluster PCs for Power BY MICHAEL J. GUTMANN A look at network high-end PCs able to run applications that were once too big for your server. REAL WORLD 57 69 Data from the Depths BY BEN SMITH Engineers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution deploy inexpensive, autonomous data loggers on small underwater vessels. BYTE Lab editors study the Woods Hole solution and the latest trend in data acquisition. State of the Art ENHANCING KNOWLEDGE OVERVIEW New Knowledge Tools 106 BY SARA HEDBERG Combining knowledge systems with other technologies can improve your cost/performance figures. Help Is on the Way— 110 Roll Your Own Hybrids BY JAY LIEBOWITZ Emerging technologies — such as neural networks and genetic algorithms — can add robustness to knowledge-based systems. Stand-alone expert systems could go the same route as the dinosaurs. 113 ■* BYTE JULY 1993 COVER IMAGE: ROBERT TINNEY©1993 A GREAT IDEA. YOU EVOLVE deserves a superior upgrade. Hence, INTERACTIVE UNIX 4.0 — with new power features that improve sys- tem functionality and peripheral support, making it perform better than even It still runs over 2,000 applications including RealWorld Accounting Software®, Informix® and WordPerfect.® And now it runs more SCO applica- tions because it's iBCS2 compliant. What's more, INTERACTIVE UNIX 4.0 is backed by SunSoft, the leading supplier of 32-bit UNIX operating systems. Fact is, INTERACTIVE UNIX 4.0 is even better at doing what the industry classic has always done so well: improving the performance of your com- puting system at a lower cost per seat. Nothing revolutionary Simply evolutionary $399 VALUE). IT'S THE INDUSTRY'S FASTEST UNIX BACKUP SOFTWARE. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL I -800-227-9227. trademark of UNIX System Laboratories. Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Open Systems Today quote April 1 3. 1 992. 'Must purchase by December 31.1 993. Circle 165 on Inquiry Card. Opinions PEN SOFT-WARE Applying the Power of the Pen 132 BY HOWARD EGLOWSTEIN The promise of pen computers has been dulled by a lack of innovative, pen-centric, general-purpose applications. Here are nine software packages for Go's PenPoint and Microsoft's Windows for Pen Computing that challenge the notion that pen systems are only good for vertical markets. NetWare Goes Global 141 BY JON UDELL NetWare 4.0 has arrived, claiming support for serious enterprise networking. NetWare Directory Service brings NetWare beyond the LAN, and 4.0 adds other features like file compression, CD-ROM sharing, and data migration. ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING Dynamic Documents 145 BY ROBERT SCHMIDT Folio Views 3.0 comes to Windows and brings with it some exciting new features, including an open client/server architecture, concurrent multiuser editing, embedded graphics, and multimedia support. INTEGRATED SOFTWARE ClarisWorks 2.0 for Macintosh 151 BY TOM R. HALFHILL ClarisWorks is already established as the leading integrated package for the Macintosh, but it's not resting on its existing modules. Version 2.0 adds new features and applications to this seamlessly integrated software. DESKTOP PUBLISHING PageMaker 5.0 vs. Quark 3.1 157 BY G. ARMOUR VAN HORN Recent releases of these two popular page-layout packages duke it out both on the Mac and under Windows. Van Horn determines which of these aggressive competitors currently has the upper hand. GROUPWARE One Thumb Up, One Thumb Down 161 BY JON UDELL Release 3 of Lotus Notes delivers long-awaited features, including Macintosh support and full-text indexing, but it lacks development tools needed to build effective groupware. Our reviewer finds some significant improvements and some significant disappointments. HANDS-ON TESTING BYTE Lab Report V.32 or Better: 69 Modems 172 BY JIM HURD We run line-impairment and data-throughput tests to measure the efficiency of 9600-bps and faster modems. Results reveal the best for high- speed communications, portability, data-only applications, and all-around communications. How We Tested— 176 Speed Limits— 180 10 Tips for Buying Modems — 184 1 Hands On 119 See, Hear, Learn BY SARA HEDBERG With smart multimedia and virtual reality, you can create virtual Cheshire cats to answer your questions. Projects at Northwestern University and Andersen Consulting are putting this technology to use. TECHNOLOGY Under the Hood: Inside MS-DOS 6 197 BY BENJAMIN W. SLIVKA, ERIC STRAUB, AND RICHARD FREEDMAN MS-DOS 6"s designers examine the inner workings of MemMaker and DoubleSpace. OPERATING SYSTEMS Beyond DOS: Confessions of a DDK Developer 203 BY STEVE MASTRIANNI IBM's OS/2 DDK is a good start. PROGRAMMING Some Assembly Required: The Mac Extended 205 BY ERIC SHAPIRO AND TOM THOMPSON Savvy programmers can write their own Mac Extensions. Poumelle: The DOS 6 Question 209 BY JERRY POURNELLE Our columnist finds DOS 6 is the least expensive route to disk compression and memory optimization. Reviews: Books & CD-ROMs Quest for the Silicon Grail .... 49 BY HUGH KENNER, STANFORD DIEHL, RAYMOND GA COTE, MICHAEL NADEAU, AND RICK GREHAN Tales of AI, hackers, the green PC, art on CD, and other subjects. Commentary: A Conspiracy of Silence 27S BY PAUL SAFFO The dangers of electromagnetic-field radiation are evident. So why isn't the industry doing anything? .10 Editorial: The Real Multimedia . BY DENNIS ALLEN Letters 19 Fighting fatware, MS-DOS 6, the Commodore Amiga, and other topics. READER SERVICE Editorial Index by Company 276 Alphabetical Index to Advertisers 272 Index to Advertisers by Product Category 274 Inquiry Reply Cards 272A BUYER'S GUIDE 239 Mail Order Hardware/Software Showcase Buyer's Mart PROGRAM LISTINGS From BIX: Join "listings/frombyte93" and select the appropriate subarea (i.e., •■jul93"). From the UUNET: ftp to ftp.uu.net, log on as "anonymous," and enter your user ID as your password. Type "cd/publishedA>yte" and type "DIR." Files appear in subdirectories arranged by month. From the BYTE BBS at 1200-9600 bps: Dial (603) 924-9820 and follow the instructions at the prompt. BYTE (ISSN 0360-5280) is publtetied monthly with an- ditlonal issues in April and October by McGraw-Hill, Inc. U S sutDscritjer rate $29 95 per year. In Car^da and Mexico, $34,95 per year. European surface mail sub- scriptions $60, airmail $80, Non-European subscrip- tions, $60 surface mail or $85 ainnail. All foreign sutj- scriptlons are payable in U,S, funds that can be drawn on a U,S, bank. Single copies $3,50 in the US. $4.50 in Canada, Executive, Editorial, Circulation, and Ad- vertising Offices: One Phoenix Mill Lane, Pelertxjrough, NH 03458, Second-Class postage paid at Peteitjorough, NH, and additional mailing offices. Postage paKl at Win- nipeg. Manitoba Registration number 9321 , Regis- tered for GST as McGraw-Hill, Inc. GST #12X75673, Printed in the United States of America, Postmaster: Send address ctianges and fulfillment questions to BYTE Subscriptions. P.O. Box 552, Hightstown. NJ 08520, JUl-Y 1993 BYTE S Contents by Platform This page presents the articles in this issue according to computing platform. DOS and Windows WordPerfect Office 4.0 22 With ihe latest version, this mature groupware product now works on multi- ple platforms. Low-Power RISC from Mips 28 Mips Technologies is readying a version of its R4(K)0 RISC chip that could show up in laptops running Windows NT. HP's Superior Subnotebook ..32 The new OmniBook 300 weighs about 3 pounds; comes with Windows, Word, and Excel in ROM; and has a keyboard suitable for typing. Pentium Changes the PC 80 Intel's new chip will mean machines that run your applications much, much faster— but not with this first batch of Pentium PCs. Applying the Power of the Pen 132 This roundup reviews pen software for Windows and PenPoint. NetWare Goes Global 141 Version 4.0's file compression consis- tently oulcompresses MSrDOS 6's Dou- bleSpace. DOS clients also get NetBIOS and named-pipe drivers. Dynamic Documents 145 The newest Folio Views brings its elec- tronic-publishing tools to Windows. PageMaker 5.0 vs. Quark 3.1 157 Compare the latest Windows editions of these desktop publishing programs. Under the Hood: Inside MS-DOS 6 197 Members of the Microsoft development team explain DoubleSpace and Mem- Maker. Pournelle: The DOS 6 Question ...209 Our columnist tries out the new operat- ing system and offers some good alter- natives to its compression and memory management features. OS/2 Without Microsoft Windows? 44 The agreement that gives IBM access to Microsoft Windows source code expires soon. "Source code is a real nice thing to have," an IBM representative says, "but remaining compatible is not rocket sci- ence." Pentium Changes the PC ..... 8 0 OS/2 users are among the people who stand to gain the most benefit from Pen- tium systems. NetWare Goes Global 141 Version 4.0 brings several bonuses, in- cluding a new OS/2 requester. One Thumb Up, One Thumb Down 161 The newest version of Lotus Notes is greatly improved, but the groupware product still lacks a 32-bit OS/2 server. Beyond DOS: Confessions of a DDK Developer 203 The Device Driver Development Kit has many of the things OS/2 developers have been yearning for, including more video drivers. Macintosh WordPerfect Office 4.0 22 Mac clients can now be part of the Of- fice. QMS Strikes with Color Laser Printer 24 The new ColorScript Laser 1000 brings the technology into a lower price range. Apple's ColorSync: WYSIWYG Color 25 The Macintosh now offers a color- matching solution for users. A Quicker Quicken 40 A first look at Intuit's newest version finds it faster and more convenient. ClarisWorks 2.0 for Macintosh 151 Claris improves its integrated software with three new modules. PageMaker 5.0 vs. Quark 3.1 157 Here's a comparative review of the lead- ers in Macintosh desktop publishing. The Mac Extended 205 Thanks to the Mac OS's design, sharp programmers can patch in new features. WordPerfect Office 4.0 22 If you've got DOS, Windows, and Mac cHents mixed in with your Unix envi- ronment, this workgroup program might be right for you. Low-Power RISC from Mips .28 Mips Technologies is readying a 3-V version of its R4000 RISC processor aimed at laptops. Unix Does Windows 44 Insignia Solutions is working with Mi- crosoft to develop high-performance Windows emulation for Unix; mean- while, SunSelect continues work on its WABI technology for running Windows applications on Unix machines. Pentium PCs: Power to Burn 94 How fast are the first systems when run- ning Unix? Networks WonlPerfect Office 4.0 22 The program provides E-mail, a group scheduler, a notepad, and other applica- tions that work across a LAN. Cluster PCs for Power 57 If your LAN just isn't up to the task, consider the relatively inexpensive net- work design approach known as a PC cluster. Pentium Changes the PC ..... 8 0 Pentium systems will find homes as servers, but in some cases, they could be overkill. Pentium PCs: Power to Burn 94 Most of the first Pentium machines are being billed as servers. Our initial tests will give you an idea of what to expect, but the real performance gains are yet to come. NetWare Goes Global 141 With version 4.0, Novell adds X.500- style directory service, providing a cred- ible framework for serious enterprise. Client/Server Pentium Changes the PC 80 "The Pentium is going to mean a lot more to my customers running SQL Server and Notes and Oracle on OS/2 than to my customers running Net- Ware," says one vice president. One Thumb Up, One Thumb Down 161 No other product offers Lotus Notes' blend of E-mail, conferencing, and client/server database technology. The newest version shows some nice en- hancements, but our reviewer finds some significant things lacking. Al Books . 49 49 .80, 90 205 Case-based reasoning 106, 1 13. 119 CD-ROM 49, 50, 209. 230 Client/server 80. 161 Color displays 3 2 Color printing 24. 25. 226. 227 Compression 50. 141. 197, 209 Data acquisition 69. 76. 78 Desktop publishing 15 7 DOS 22, 197. 209 □ectromagnetic fields 27 8 Electronic publishing 145 E-Mail 22, 161 Encryption 36, 161 Groupware 22. 23, 161 Knowledge-based systems 106, 113. 119 Laser printers 24 Macintosh 22, 24, 25, 40. 15 1. 157. 205 Memoiy architectures 86 Memory management ..197, 209 Mobile computing 23 Modems 172, 226 Multimedia 10, 119 Multiprocessing 80, 94 Networking 57. 80, 94. 141. 161, 209 Neural networks 106, 113 Notebooks 32, 228, 230 OS/2 44, 80, 141, 161, 203 PC clusters 5 7 PCMCIA 32. 226 Pen applications 132 PostScript 24 Printers 24. 25. 226 Programming 52. 69. 197. 203, 205 Systems 80, 94, 228 Unix 22, 44, 94 Videoconferencing 10 Virtual reality 119 Windows 22, 28, 44, 48, 94, 132, 141, 145, 157, 161, 209, 232 6 BYTE JULY 1993 THE PAPERLESS OFFICE FOR OMLV $9>5. Introducing the Paperless 1, a complete imaging system that will change the way you store and distribute paper forever. The PI connects directly to any PC or MAC computer and within minutes your system is ready to use. It's as easy to use as a copy machine. It saves paper. It saves documents. It saves time. It even saves trees.,. You can create a paperless copy and distribute it to any Novell® or AppleShare networked computer. You can file millions of paper documents electronically and retrieve them with the click of a mouse. The Paperless 1 brings document imaging to your desktop personal computer. It's Eosy-to-Use, Powerful and Inexpensive. And with every purchase of a Paperless 1 system you will become a free charter member of the World Wildlife Fund.® To receive a free catalog, on recycled paper, of the Paperless 1 system call: ,1 • fj <.>,a'i.v. . // THE COMPLETE PI IMAGING SYSTEM World Wildlife Fund (800) 3 Pinnacle Micro is proud to support conservation efforts of World Wildlife Fund. With each Paperless 1 purchase a portion'of the proceeds is received by WWF. Circle 129 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 130). p I A c; L E PAPERLESS 1- 19 TECHNOLOGY • IRVINE, CA 92718 • U.S.A. • INTl (714) 727-3300 • FAX (714) 727-1913 ?mai\e \\m. PI , Poperless 1 uiid PinnQclE Mifio Imaging aie trodemorb of PiniKicle"^licto int. All otheF Iiademoiks onit legisteied marks lo tlieii lespective owners. TO DESIGN OUR NEW MOUSE, WE STARTED RY READING PALMS. In relentless detail, we studied hands of all dimensions. We consulted professors of kine- siology, engineers, ergonomists and computer users. We used digi- tal fiber optics to analyze the hu- man hand. We followed it in motion. The result is a new Microsoft" Mouse that is, well, anatomically cor- rect. Uncommonly comfortable. The palm is perfectly supported. Left or right handed, the grip is comfortable. Fmgertips fall namrally into place. A click feels just right. This mouse even looks good. Intriguingly asymmetrical.\et it somehow reminds you of the gende curves of a human form. Did we mention that it also has some innovative new software features? They allow you to custom- ize the mouse, so it works the way you like to work. Try the new Microsoft Mouse. If you're not comfortable, we'll refund your money. Guaranteed. Details are on the box, which you can quickly get your hands on at a computer store near you. IVBcmsolt Making it easier © 199J Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Microsoft is a registeted trademark of Microsoft Corpora Editorial Dennis Allen The Real Multimedia Videoconferencing will exploit video, sound, and network technologies in a way that makes sense I'm tired of all the multimedia dazzle and hype. Sure, the graphics can be spectacular, but I don't want to turn my desktop computer into a Sega game machine. It's neat to be able to play stereo CDs in my CD-ROM drive, but I have a whole stereo system for that. And while it's clever to have a TV picture next to my spreadsheet, I'd rather not be distracted by reruns of The Brady Bunch. Unfortunately, multimedia has become synonymous with computer trash. Almost anything with graphics or sound placed on a CD-ROM qualifies — to some folks, at least — as multimedia. Let's face it: What useful business application have you seen for multimedia? OK, there is video production for the Hollywood types, which is an impressive appli- cation, but it's also a very narrow and vertical field. Be- yond that, searching for a useful multimedia application today leaves you with nothing more than a pile of games, a little educational software, and a dash of technomarvel products that don't really do anything. What a crying shame that all this video and sound technology is being largely wasted, because we all know instinctively that those technologies can be put to real use. It's just been difficult to figure out what that use should be. Maybe that's all going to change, because the first real multimedia application is materializing, although it won't be called multimedia. Instead, this new application will be called desktop videoconferencing, and it will ex- ploit video, sound, and even network technologies in a way that makes sense. That's right, desktop videoconferencing makes sense, and before you say that this all sounds like another World's Fair videophone, please hear me out. Think about this: Would you rather write a memo to explain a questionable number in your spreadsheet or just attach voice mail to it? I'd prefer the latter. What's more, com- pared to a 30-word written memo, voice mail using the same word-for-word message conveys more informa- tion. Vocal emphasis on key words and phrases imparts more meaning. Or look at it this way: In lieu of a 30- word voice-mail message, you might have to write a 150-word memo to get your point across. Similarly, adding video that captures gestures and fa- cial expressions conveys even more information. Imag- ine the great loss if Groucho Marx had been only in radio and not in film — would his lines have been as good if you couldn't see his eyebrows go up and down? I don't think so. Computer E-mail and conferencing have forced us into becoming extensions of machines instead of the oth- er way around. It's time to change that. When I send a spreadsheet to someone across a network, let me send a message with it that's really from me — one that cap- tures all my intonations and my eyebrows dancing up and down so that the recipient really gets the message. The technology is mostly here. Small cameras are not expensive. Sound boards are downright cheap. And with the right compression algorithms, existing LANs can carry all that information. Some relatively small companies are already offering kludged attempts at solving the problem. Unfortunately, they don't work well, they cost too much, or both. Video- conferencing is really waiting for one or several systems manufacturers to build complete personal computers with videoconferencing built in, and that, my friends, is going to happen sooner rather than later. Frankly, I can hardly wait, because I have a lot more than explaining spreadsheets in mind for videoconfer- encing. I'd like to cut down on the time spent drafting E-mail and conferencing messages. I'd also like to see communications go back to a more traditional — and suc- cessful — human standard without losing the high-tech convenience of delayed conferencing, all of which can be done right away. But don't stop me now, because I want it all, including practical WAN (wide-area network) support. I want phone calls with BYTE's bureau offices to include real- time desktop videoconferencing, and that just isn't ready yet. The problem has more to do with deciding who can carry that information. Yes, we're talking information highway, and for that to become reality, it's going to take either an act of Congress to get something done or a decision by Congress to get out of the way. Ah, but that's a story for another issue. Dennis Allen, Editor in Chief lO BYXE JULY 1993 Visual Reality While the competition plays catch-up, Borland continues to lead with the most graphical C and C++ for Windows, DOS, and OS/2. A more comfortable place to program Borland® C++ gives you the most intuitive Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for DOS, Windows, and OS/2.® This ease of use, combined with the fastest C++ compilation speed, means you get your work done faster. And Borland C++ includes time-saving C and C++ code generation and Application Frameworks.™ To set Standards you must meet standards Borland C++ is the only popular compiler that meets the certified ANSI C* and AT&T C++ stan- dards. You can be confident that as the language evolves to make programming easier and more powerful, your Borland C++ code will be ready to take advantage of future versions across all platforms. What's more, applications built 0 Jt I A N D 90-day, money-back guarantee! Special introductory offer (regularly S495") Otier ends July 31. 1993 See your dealer or call now, 1 -800-336-6464, ext. 5821 ___ In Canada call, 1-800-461-3327. 'JBH PoWCr made CaSy with Borland C++ will deliver faster because you'll have the most advanced features — like templates that make your code smaller, safer, and more reusable. #1 for real-world application development With more than one million copies in active use, Borland's C++ is proven, polished, and finely tuned to meet the needs of C and C++ programmers. And Borland has the C++ that's just right for you, from the new Turbo C++ Visual Edition for beginning programmers to pow- erful Borland C++ for professionals. Borland *ANSi C certified by the British Standards Institute. Copyright © 1993 Borland International, Inc. All rights reserved. All Borland product names are trademarks of Borland International, Inc. Offer good in the United States and Canada only. All prices in U.S. dollars. Dealer prices may vary. BI 5498 Circle 65 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 66). Buy The Wrong Risk Losing More Using the latest processors, COMPAQ^ ProSignia and SYSTEM PRO/XL deliver industry-leading performance based on industry -standard benchmarks. fhen it comes to finding the best server, you not only need great performance at a great price, you need the most reliable, easy-to-manage system you can find. After all, a single server nightmare can turn what looked like a good investment into a costly mistake. All of which explains why LAN Times readers chose our servers over all others for the third year in a row. Because not merely are our servers leading the industry in price and performance, they're also the only servers with complete manage- ment capabilities built in Integrated fault prevention tools con tinually monitor server subsystems © 1993 Compat] Computer Corporation. All rights reserved. COMPAQ, SYSTEMPRO Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. ^fciH^'^-.^^ ProSignia and Insight Manager are trademarks of Compaq Computer Corporation. Pr.oduct names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/ or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Server And You pjHAN Just Your Data. The COMPAQ INSIGHT Manager takes that information and alerts you to fluctua- tions, so you can avoid downtime. You can even program COMPAQ Servers to reboot automatically, or to contact you off- site so you can diagnose and reboot from your location . So while others may suggest they offer close to COMPAQ I performance based on their A own fabricated benchmarks, I you'll never hear them claim I to have a more reliable, eas- ier to manage system. Because they don't. Not IBM. Not Dell. Not anybody. And that's going to save you a lot more than an occasional head- ache. Call 1 -800-638-8258 ext. 45 for details, and your free Novell Guide to NetWare 4.0. COMPAa *This service provided by Contracted Service Providers and may not be available in certain geographic locations. Certain restrictions and exclu- sions apply. Monitors, battery packs and certain options are covered by a one-year warranty. For further details on our limited warranty, contact the Compaq Customer Support Center. The Intel Inside logo is a registered trademark of the Intel Corporation. LAN Times Readers Choice Award 1991.1992 and 1993. Alert Log COMPAQ^Servers- and only COMVAQ^ Servers — alert you to hardware prob- lems before they become problems, allowirig you to trouhleshoot and avoid network downtime. When you build more reliable products, you can offer a more extensive guaran- tee. Every COMPAQ^Server includes our Jree 3-year, on-site' warranty. Circle 72 on Inquiry Card. EDITOff IN CHIEF Dennis Allen EXECUTIVE EDITORS New York: Rich Malloy Peterborough: Rich Friedman MANAGING EDITOR D. Barker ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Lauren Stickler Thompson NEWS Peterborough: Senior Editor: Dan Muse News Editors: David L. Andrews, Carol J. Swartz Researcher: Martha Hicks San Rteteo/West Coast: Bureau Chief: Andrew Reinhardt Senior Editor: Tom Halfhill News Editor: Patrick Waurzyniak Editorial Assistant: Barbara J. Caravello Los Angeles: Senior Editor: Gene Smarte New York: News Editor: Ed Perratore BYTE LAB Director: Stephen Apiki (also: systems, networking) Technical Director: Rick Grehan Senior Editor: Alan Joch Technical Editor: Stanford Diehl: software, add-ins, peripherals, multimedia Testing Editors/Engineers: Howard Eglowstein, Ben Smith, Stanley Wszola Lab Assistant: Selinda Chiquoine STATE OF THE ART/FEATURES Sen/Of Ed/tor; Michael Nadeau Technical Editors: Janet J. Barron, Anthony J. Lockwood. Robert M. Ryan SENIOR TECHNICAL EDITORS At Large: Tom Thompson. Jon Udell Columns: Rob Mitchell ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL EDITORS Ellen Bingham, Susan Colwell, Jeff Edmonds, Tom Kevan, Cathy Kingery, Margaret A. Richard, Warren Williamson SENIOR CONTRIBITTING EDITOR Jerry Pournelle CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Hugh Kenner, Barry Nance CONSULTING EDITORS Jonathan Amsterdam, Nicholas Baran, Mark Clarkson, Raymond GA Cote. Don Crabb, Anne Fischer Lent, Laurence H. Loeb, Trevor Marshall, Stan Miastkowski, Dick Fountain, Roberta Pournelle, Wayne Rash Jr.. Kenneth M. Sheldon, Jane Morrill Tazelaar, Ellen Ullman, Peter Wayner El\ Interactive On-line Service PRODUCT MANAGER Kip Bryan EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Office Manager: Peggy Dunham Assistants: Linda C. Ryan, June Sheldon. Janet A. Young DESIGN Director: Nancy Rice Associate Director: Joseph A. Gallagher Designers: Jan Muller, Sharon Price Graphics Manager: Roger Goods PRODUCTION AND FINANCE Director: Claudia Flowers PRODUCTION Director: David M. Cohen Production Manager: David R. Anderson Advertising Graphics Manager: Susan Kingsbury Editorial Graphics Manager: Virginia Reardon Graphics Production Coordinators: Barbara Busenbark, Christa Patterson. 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BYTE and ■ ■nil Bvi^ are registered trademarks of McGraw-Hill, Inc. Trademark registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Member Audit Bureau of Circulation EXCHANGE EDITORS Amiga Exchange: Joanne Dow Entertainment and Leisure Exchange: Rich Taylor IBM Exchange: Barry Nance Programmers Exchange: Bill Nicholls Professionals Exchange: David Reed Tojerry Exchange: Jerry Poumelle WIX Exchange: Karen Kenworthy Writers Exchange: Wayne Rash Jr. BIX, owned and operated by General Videotex Corporation, is a woridwide, low-cost, on- line information service featuring industry news, downloadable software, powerful electronic mail, previews of upcoming BYTE articles, the full text of published issues of BYTE, and source and/or executable code for BYTE benchmarks and noncommercial software mentioned in feature articles. BIX also offers unmatched "conferences" on virtually every computer-related topic imaginable, where you can share information with thousands of other computer pros. To subscribe via modem, set your communications software to full duplex, 7 bits, even parity, 1 slop bit, and then call (800) 695-4882 or (617) 491-5410, or make a data call to our Tymnet address: 310690157800. Then hit the Enter/Return key and enter "BIX" when asked to log in; then enter "BIX.VILLE" when asked for a name. For current fees and more information, call (800) 695-4775 or (617) 354-4137 on voice phone; fax: (617) 491-6642; Internet: bix@genvid.com. DIRECTOR OF COMPUTER-RELATED SERVICES MEMBER SERVICES MANAGER Stephen M. Laliberte Kevin Plankey OFFKERS OF MCGRAW4IILL, INC.: Founder: Jamos H. McGraw (1 860-1 948). Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer: Joseph L. Dionne; Executive Vice President. General Counsel, and Secretary: Robert N. Landes; Executive Vice President: Harold W. McGraw III; Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer: Robert J. Bahash; Senior Vice President, Treasury Operations: Frank D. Penglase; Executive Vice President, Publication Sen/ices: Norbert Schumacher; Vice President/Group Publisher, Computer Magazines: Fritz Landmann. BYTE JULY 1993 Worldwide Developer Assistance Program It's fast relief from those annoy- ing technical nits that can drive you buggy. It's answers to ques- tions. Solutions to problems. It's help when you need it. From development through generating market demand for your OS/2® software products, the Worldwide Developer Assistance Program (DAP) is there for you. It's technical support and a data base of common OS/2 questions and answers available through CompuServe® and other worldwide online systems. \i\ IBM OS/2 Developer, a magazine featuring technical and "how-to" articles on exploiting the rich fea- tures of OS/2. It's dis- counts on IBM PS/2® even □ H SVTknk m e i SHO^BM Too a If ^ ■ ^ALLIMFO CCPPiNFO CM1NF0 DSMINFO EPMINFO LR2INP0 LSINFO MHPMINFO M0S2INF0 ISM C/C CommuniCBlion Maniger Inrorm. DataCsse Managar (ES 1.0) mrc Enhanoad Editor mrormailon Library Raader/2 Information LAN Server 3.0 Information MMPM/2 inrormatton MiacaKsnaouB OS/2 tntormationi RED8O0KS OS/2 Varaion 2.0 Tectinicat Corl TCPINFO TCP/IP Version 1.2.1 lor OS/2 li 3 hardware, software and publications. It's an electronic repository of OS/2 software development tools and demos available at no cost. And it's more. Early Code Programs let you test new OS/2 versions with your product. Migration Workshops provide software and technical assistance to port applications to OS/2. But the Developer Assis- tance Program doesn't end with the completion of your software program. Membership entitles you to free listings on our OS/2 CD-ROM Application Demonstration System and application directory. Take advantage of direct marketing offer- ings at reduced prices through the OS/2 Direct Marketing Center. And there are many more offerings, including business shows, targeted mailings, in-package promotions and instructional videos. To find out more about the DAP and how to qualify for specific programs, enter "GO 0S2DAP" on CompuServe, or call 1 407 982-6408. You'll see we've developed a powerful program to help develop yours. Our CD-ROM Professional Developers' Kit provides beta-level code for operating system and tools and includes online tech- nical reference libraries. IBM, OS/2 and PS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Mactiines Corporation. CompuServe is a regis- tered trademark of CompuServe, Inc. All ottier products are trademarks or registered trademarks of ttieir respective companies. © 1993 IBM Corp. Circle 94 on Inquiry Card. Introducing WordPerfecf Office 4.0. Large or small, local or global, companies operate on meetings. Memos. Deadlines. And paperwork, paper- work, paperwork. If you've ever had to make ten calls to get four people in the same room, or wait three days for a purchase order from the eighth floor, you know how well the system usually works. But now there's a new system — a single, cross-platform workgroup application that can handle all your internal business operations and communications electronically. It's WordPerfect® Office™ 4.0, the first "operating system" for companies. m I MyCalendai'' E-mail isn't enougli anymore. Organizations still driven by the telephone and the mail cart may see e-mail as the next step. But WordPerfect Office advances the tech- nology of e-mail by "mail enabling" not just mes- sages, but all the basic, relentless stuff of business like meetings, appointments, tasks and paperwork. In effect, it automates the flow of work and information through (and throughout) your company. WordPerfect Office is the first com- prehensive calendaring, scheduling and task management program to be integrated with a best-of-breed e-mail engine. There's nothing else like it available today, and perhaps surprisingly, it's available for the cost of e-mail alone. You mdkB tlie ruies. WordPerfect Office lets you control how information reaches you, where it's filed, where it's routed after it leaves your desk. You can accept, reject, or even delegate meeting requests. You or your proxy can check for conflicts on any number of personal calendars across any num- ber of networks — even across dissimiliar computer operating systems — with a single keystroke. Incoming mail can be automatically sorted and forwarded to others when you're out of town, or you can handle it yourself from your laptop. And with the industry's only electronic Out Box, you can check the status of any message or project at a glance (as well as retract and rethink any unopened messages). Even forms can be routed electronically. WordPerfect InFormsr an electronic forms package included with WordPerfect Office; can take most of the work — and all of the paper — out of routine office paperwork. Now, you can sign off on timesheets, invoices and other forms elec- tronically and instantly distribute them any- make configuring, monitoring and maintaining your system easier. And perhaps most importantly, support for full directory services to greatly simplify the sharing of names between systems. DOS WINDOWS OS/2 MAC UNIX where in your organization (including virtually any desktop or SQL database). A new Standard in electronic messaging. By integrating e-mail, calendaring, scheduling, task he first new idea in business communications since e-mail THE FIRST CORPORATE OPERATING SYSTEM. Simplified administration across platforms. WordPerfect Office was developed for LANs of as few as five users and WANs of as many as 100,000. And as you'd expect from WordPerfect, it's a highly- capable cross-platform package, supporting commu- nications on Windows, DOS, Macintosh, UNIX, OS/2 and WAX/VMS. WordPerfect Office offers a long Ust of gateways. Diagnostic and management services to management and workflow management into a sin- gle, powerful workgroup application, WordPerfect Office can greatly increase productivity with little additional training. See what the first corporate operating system can do. To arrange for a demonstration or free evaluation of WordPerfect Office 4.0, call us at (800) 526-2615. WORDPERFECT IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK AND WORDPERFECT OFFICE IS A TRADEMARK OF WORDPERFECT CORPORATION WITH- IN THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES. ALL OTHER BRAND AND PRODUCT NAMES ARE TRADEMARKS OR REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPANIES ©WORDPERFECT CORPORATION 1993 " FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY. UNIX 'Xll 'TCP/IP N P I \ I J COMPLETE POWER FROM '249 Information Foundation, The Open Systems Migration Experts™, delivers UNIX SVR4.2 for your PC. The most complete PC- based UNIX system direct from UNIX System Laboratories has finally arrived. Full Power UNIX with a graphical m ii J ji' desktop manager (GUI), Windowing Korn Shell™, TCP/IP, full UNIX utilities, on-line manual pages, product support and one day of free "Click- Start" training are available from only $249. Comprehensive documentation, premium hotline support and a full range of training classes are also available. Information Foundation also sells Univel's UnixWare product family. Information Foundation The Open Systems Migration Experts'" 1200 17th street, Suite 1900 Denver, Colorado 80202 Phone: 303/572-6486 Facsimile: 303/572-6484 E-mail; sales@if.com IF is a registered trademark of Information Foundation. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories. All registered trodenwrics and trodemarics are the ^operty of their respective owners. 1 I 1 \ k I s 1 \ k ! I I i I I ! J E CALL: 1-800-CET-UNIX Circle 1 77 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 1 78). Letters Rghting Fatware Your attack on fatware ("Fighting Fat- ware," April) should have been more scathing. Some of today's applications are 100 times bigger than their 1985 counter- parts. Are they 100 times better? Not on your life! They are not just bigger, they are badly engineered. Bloated applications resemble the gas-guzzling cars of the 1960s — they're wasteful and unreliable. We trade them in every few years in the hope that the next version will fi- nally run right. Major bugs in commercial word processors, for example, are now a way of life. Amid all these Edsels, we need a Volks- wagen. Developers should throw away past years' accumulation of unreliable code, write programs small enough that the authors can understand them, and dis- cover the power that comes from combin- ing just a few features in the right ways. If they really want to take the market by storm, they should offer a warranty rather than an "as-is" disclaimer. Michael A. Covington Athens, GA "Work expands so as to fill the time avail- able for its completion." — Parkinson's Law, 1957 SET WORK = PROGRAM SET TIME = MEMORY SET 1957 = 1993 David G. Williams Chevy Chase. MD It was appropriate that you put "Fighting Fatware" just before "Putting Fuzzy Log- ic into Focus." The first article was an ex- ample of the second, I think. The two figures found on page 100 tell the story. The size of Lotus 1-2-3 has mul- tiplied by a factor of about seven; the typ- ical PC has expanded by a factor of al- most 300, both in disk space and RAM. This much bigger machine is also much faster and cheaper, and the bigger Lotus 1-2-3 does much more than release 1.0 ever did. The typical system can handle many ap- plications that are the size of Lotus 1-2-3, whereas in 1983 we could run only from floppy disks — one slow and limited ap- plication at a time. So just where is the fatware problem? I see no sign of it what- soever. Bobby R. Treat Alexandria, VA I recently read "Fighting Fatware" and was very disappointed. Figure 3 sug- gests that [operating-system-spe- cific versions of] WordPerfect are being run on each operating system. But the article's text suggests that you ran either a DOS or Windows version on OS/2. If this is true, the percent- age of usage for OS/2 also in- cludes DOS and Windows over- head that is not required if you run a pure OS/2 application. WiLu 's HOT, What's Not ! The authors incorrectly referred to the Windows shell as an operating system and suggested that the shell helped reduce the size of PowerPoint by including True- Type fonts. They neglected to mention that OS/2 2.x provides the same savings in code using Adobe Type Manager. The au- i. thors went on to rave about i OLE, but not once did they men- tion the major innovation that OS/2's SOM (System Object Model) represents in the eventual reduction of code. The new Lotus 1-2-3 and Freelance packages for OS/2 2.0 use disk space effi- ciently by sharing common resources (e.g., graphing and checking the spelling). They make effective use of OS/2's SOM and actually share system resources, further decreasing the amount of redundant code. Your First Impression of these products (March, page 46) even states ". . .you save more than 4 MB on your hard disk thanks to code shared between the two applica- tions; you also save RAM...." A. P. Kennedy Sr. Greensboro, NC If you look closely at figure 3, you 'II find that WordPerfect was not part of the OS/2 configuration. The reason ? An OS/2 version of WordPerfect was not shipping when this story was written. Thanks for your comments. — Eds. MS-DOS 6 Beyond Compare I was disappointed with the article "Easy Does It with MS-DOS 6.0" (April). The question on the cover (Do you need MS- DOS 6.0?) was not addressed, nor did the author provide the information that would enable me to answer it on my own. I also missed how MS-DOS 6 compares with products already available. It appears to me that Microsoft is only catching up. Martin Rommel Cambridge, MA An Amiga First In the April User's Column, Jerry Pour- nelle says that the Amiga is becoming competitive with the Mac and PC and is nearly ideal as a second computer. I be- lieve the Amiga makes a good first com- puter for professional video, audio, mu- sic, graphics, 3-D modeling, animation, interactive presentations, view graphs, or writing of any kind. As a home computer, the Amiga can perform almost any task one would desire with an easy-to-use, intuitive graphical interface. In terms of worksta- tion capabilities, the Amiga is 68060-compatible. It has high- speed 2000- by 20G0-pixel graphics boards running at up to 160 MFLOPS, runs Unix, and has a RISC processor in its future. In a world of pickup trucks (clones) and Cadillacs (Macs), maybe there's room for an elegant Mustang as a first computer. Charles Kirchner Huntsville, AL BBC Correction Some information in "Correspondence That Looks Good Globally" (February) is incorrect. The BBC World Service is not using the Multi-Lingual Scholar word pro- cessing package. Together with a number of other alternatives that can run under the Windows and Macintosh GUIs, it is be- ing considered as a word processor for some foreign-language work. ■ Gordon Harold Chief Engineer, World Service London. U.K. We want to hear from you. Address corre- spondence to Letters Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458: send BIX mail c/o "editors ": or send Internet Mail to letters@bytepb.byte.com. Letters may be edited. JULY 1993 BYXE X» Wake up and smell the future WHAT "ppij^^: PEOPl£ j^l^Mp \fm. , The new HP DeskJet 1200C. 1,699: Welcome to the dawning of a new era in office printing. Hewlett-Packard presents the HP DeskJet I200C. The world's first affordable, networkable, plain-paper, 300 -dpi black and color printer. The HP DeskJet 1200C printer has everything your users could want. HP's next generation of inlqet technology, for sharp 600 x 300-dpi black and stun- ning 300 -dpi color on plain paper. LaserJet PCL 5 compatibility, so it runs any existing LaserJet printer file or font. And network upgradability, giv- ing everyone equal access to high- quality color. Besides offering compatibility and great prmt quality, the DeskJet 1200C is fast. Six pages per nunute for black & white. And only one to two minutes per page for color graphics. It comes with 45 scalable fonts, .same as the new HP LaserJet 4, and lets you easily add PostScript.™ The future of office printing is here. To see for yourself, caJl 1-800-552-8500, Ext. 7398 for the name of the HP dealer nearest you. t DeskJet Printers Make it happen. HEWLETT PACKARD News&Views WORKGROUP COMPUTING WordPerfect Office 4.0 The group-scheduling soft- ware, for example, works across a LAN to help make light work of setting up meet- ings and allocating resources, such as audiovisual equipment. WP Office 4.0 scans each per- son's appointment book to find acceptable meeting times. Members of the group receive automatically generated E-mail requests to attend; each person can accept or decline with the click of a mouse. If you're familiar with the usual WordPerfect function- key layout (e.g., F3 for help. WordPerfect Office 4.0 lets users work together regardless of location, lAH, or type of system BARRY NANCE WotdPerfect Office 4.0's File Manager offers a hierarcliical view of tile directory structure. I [ibo] [wpca] [wpcsin] [wpoffice] ad . exe Ic. exa atandard.irs wp_ad_ua . hip [ofdoa40 [ofviewa] ofneg . Ac ofuaer . do agenda . vow calendar . vew combined . vew day . vew initial .vew sail .vew peraonal.vw %i«ek .vew File List - f:\wpclotiiain\wpoffice\ofviewsWos\i (■•] agenda . vew calendar . vew c<»bined.vew day . vew initial. v«w mail .vew personal .vew n a market beset with new- comers, WordPerfect Office rep- resents a maturing workgroup product. WP Office's all-in-one approach to E-mail and group scheduling has been popular for several years. In fact, version 3.01 won a BYTE Readers' Choice Award in 1991. Version 4.0 adds support for mul- tiple platforms, mouse support in DOS text mode, and a variety of improvements that make it easier to use. If you have only a few Intel-based computers on your network, you probably don't need the power and fea- tures of WP Office 4.0. However, if your network in- cludes a mixture of DOS, Windows, and Mac clients (WordPerfect plans to release a Unix client running Mo- tif this fall) — and perhaps a Data General, Unix, or VAX/ VMS host system — your company is a prime can- didate for WP Office 4.0. If you have more than 25 workstations, even if they all run the same operating system, you should at least look at the product for its efficient scheduling and E-mail services. If you have more than 1 00 workstations, WP Office 4.0 deserves serious consideration. WP Office 4.0 works on a variety of networks, in- (DIR) 28S 289 292 313 292 235 292 3/26/93 12: 3/2S/93 12: 3/26/93 12: 3/26/93 12: 3/2S/93 12: 3/26/93 12: 3/26/93 12: Hie E-mail component of WordPerfect Office 4.0 (Windows version shown here) lets you send messages to individuals or groups. . Depending on how you like to organize your work, you can emphasize agenda, calendar, and other views of WordPerfect Office 4.0. Program Manager file (Options Window Help OFFICE 4.0 WPV:ewEdilor WPNotiiy WPNotify - IBM:brn File Options Help iFrom I Subject eluding Novell NetWare, Banyan Vines, and IBM LAN Server. 1 used LAN Server and NetWare to put a prerelease ver- sion of WP Office 4.0 through its paces. Connecting Your Operation WP Office 4.0 provides E-mail, a calendar, a calculator, an ap- pointment book, a task list, a shared notepad, a shell menu, a notebook with an auto-dial fea- ture, a file manager, a macro editor, and a text editor. WP Office 4.0 integrates these functions across a LAN in a way that lets coworkers coor- dinate work and activities smoothly even if they're using different kinds of computers. F5 to list, and F7 to exit), you'll feel at home in WP Office 4.0. If you don't use WordPerfect's word processor, you'll find the menus easy to use. The Win- dows and Mac modules, of course, let you point and click when you want to send notes or update your task list. Now you can use a mouse the same way under DOS. For the most part, entering personal appointments and ar- ranging group meetings is a simple fill-in-the-form process. WP Office 4.0 automates the job of searching for common free times when you want to hold a meeting. Personal ap- pointments can be meetings, task-list items you want to set 22 15 V I i; JULY 1993 aside time for, or other allocat- ed blocks of time. Installation: An Investment In Time While using WP Office 4.0 is a breeze, installing and config- uring the software is not. Net- work administrators will spend a significant amount of time getting it ready for users. I spent 8 hours installing the software for a workgroup of about 50 people. Much of that time was spent reading the manual and analyzing the way WP Office 4.0 tailors a LAN to accommodate how the users get their work done. It's time well spent, however. The ca- pability of sharing E-mail and appointment books among dif- ferent types of computers cre- ates a level playing field out of what is usually a mess. The WP Office 4.0 shell is a DOS menuing system that you can configure to manage all your applications, not just the suite of WP Office 4.0 modules. If you find you spend more time in one part of WP Office than in others, you can select a different view to give on-screen emphasis to that part — E-mail, the calendar, or perhaps the task list. The E-mail gateway soft- ware that comes with WP Of- fice 4.0 supports wide-area connections between WP Of- fice LANs, MHS (Message Handling Service), SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Proto- col), and X.400; you also get remote modem-based access to WP Office 4.0 when you're away from the office. If you write E-mail notes on a plane or in a hotel room, WP Office 4.0 will send the notes for you automatically when you return to the office and connect to the LAN. In a bid to strengthen WP Office 4.0's ties to other mail packages, WordPerfect will provide a gateway between WordPerfect Office 4.0 and Lotus Notes' groupware data- base. In addition, WordPerfect InForms software, which al- lows the electronic design and distribution of forms, will also have direct database format support for Notes. Both Office and InForms support the VIM (Vendor In- dependent Messaging) stan- dard, which allows users to ex- change mail across multiple applications. Although Word- Perfect has not finalized pricing of the gateway to Notes, David Clare, WP's senior director, workgroup applications, noted that the company is essentially "giving the technology away" to E-mail customers with the pricing of $30 to $40 per seat in large quantities. A Mixed-Systems Blessing WP Office 4.0 adds useful fea- tures — and support for more platforms — to an already- proven product. If groupware is in your plans but you have to contend with DOS, Win- dows, Mac, and Unix systems, put WP Office 4.0 near the top of your list of possibilities. WordPerfect Corp. 1555 North Technology Way Orem, UT 84057 (800) 321-4566. (801)225- 5000. fax: (801)222-4477 Sen'er Pack: $295; Client Pack: $495 for five users GROUPWARE'S BIG THREE Over the last five years, groupware has grown up. The early DOS-only pioneers didn't always have intuitive interfaces and typically worked with only a limited number of network operat- ing systems. While the situation has improved drastically, no clear overall best choice has emerged. However, three prod- ucts — each of which excels in different areas — are leading the groupware charge. THE BEST INTERFACE H you've seen Windows for Workgroups in action, you know that Microsoft's Mail and Schedule-i- modules are easy to use and highly visual. The Workgroup Connection companion product to Windows for Workgroups (for DOS users) includes E-mail but no scheduling module. If you want to use Schedule-*-, you need Windows. Mail and Schedule-t- are also LAN-traffic-intensive; if you have more than 20 workstations running the E-mail soft- ware at the same time, the network can bog down. THE MOST NETWORKS AND COMPUTERS With its comprehensive coverage of popular networks and di- verse computers, WordPerfect Office 4.0 is a universal transla- tor for large, mixed-environment LANs. The programs may load slowly, and you'll need to adjust to the function-key layout, but WP Office 4.0 is a groupware workhorse. THE BIGGEST Lotus Notes, literally speaking, covers more ground than other groupware products. Notes is particularly effective for geograph- ically dispersed users. Also, it lets a group share more than E- mail and scheduling information. If you have a database of sales information and prices, for instance. Notes will automatically make sure that eveiyone has the latest version of the data. COMMUNICATIONS Beep Beep: Your E-Mail Is In w„, 'ordPerfect Office, Lotus Notes, and oth- er programs that offer remote-access capabilities solve many problems for mobile workers who need to stay in touch with the home office. How- ever, what if you're usually in the building but often away from your desk and can't afford to miss an urgent E-mail message or fax? To help mobile, on-site workers. Motorola's Customer Owned Paging Group (Boynton Beach, FL) has introduced a family of products that can notify you within seconds via alphanu- meric pagers of an important phone call. E-mail message, or critical situation in a manufacturing environment. One of the initial modules of the family, called Site Message, will transmit ur- gent information that arrives in your computer as an E-mail message, a LAN management mes- sage, or a groupware calendar update. Site Message, expected to ship in 1993, will use paging engine software created for Motorola by several independent developers, including New York City-based Ex Machina. Site Mes- sage-enabled programs will automatically for- ward time-critical messages to a Motorola al- phanumeric Site Pager without the sender know- ing the receiver's pager phone number. To filter out unimportant messages from critical ones, end users will be able to use their program's rules engines to forward only those messages with key words like Urgent. Motorola expects hundreds of programs to become Site Mes- sage-enabled in the next 12 months. Site Message is just one example of new tech- nologies that aspire to overcome the obstacles of reaching mobile workers. Motorola's Paging and Wireless Data Group plans to start beta test- ing later this year of its MONET (for Mobile Networks Integration) software that will link wireless networks from RAM Mobile Data, MTel, General Magic, and Ardis. Novell and Microsoft have announced plans with AT&T and Intel, respectively, to strengthen their op- erating systems' links to the telephone. — Dave Andrews JULY 1993 BYTE 23 HP SA»S MO (foil MOW) News & Views PRINTER TECHNOLOGY QMS Strikes with Color Laser Printer olor laser printers aren't new, but until now you could expect to pay up to $50,000 for a splash of laser color. QMS's ColorScript Laser 1000 brings the technology into a much lower price range. Pricing was not firm at press time, but the company says it will fall be- tween $10,000 and $15,000. The ColorScript Laser 1000 uses electrophotographic re- cording to produce 300-dot- per-inch color output. What makes this printer even more attractive is a unique print-en- gine design that lets it serve as both a black-and-white and a color printer. The print engine accomplishes this feat using dry toner and a special OPC (organic photoconductor) belt. The belt revolves at a con- tinuous rate of eight times per minute. When you print a col- or image, four belt rotations — one for each toner color — and numerous swipes of the laser beam assemble a complete col- or image on the belt. A charged transfer drum and transfer roller extract this image off the belt and onto the medium, which can be plain paper, la- bels, or transparencies. Because the belt travels at a fixed speed. the ColorScript Laser 1000 is capable of printing 2 color pages per minute. If you print a black-and-white document, only one belt rotation and the black toner are required to pro- duce a page, and the printer output approaches 8 ppm. On the inside, the printer uses a 25-MHz 80960CF RISC controller. Standard memory is 12 MB of RAM, expandable to 32 MB using 4- and 8-MB SIMMs. The ColorScript Laser 1000 provides emulation of PostScript Level 2, Hewlett- Packard PCL (Printer Control Language) 5, and HPGL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language) PDLs (page-de- scription languages). A 40-MB internal hard drive stores vari- ous programs, PDL emulations, and fonts. Upgrading the print- er software or adding another PDL emulation becomes a mat- ter of copying new files to the hard drive. The hard drive also functions as virtual memory for large print jobs. A SCSI connection lets you add external hard drives to ex- pand the printer's capacity for fonts or virtual memory. Stan- dard interfaces include Lo- calTalk, serial, and parallel printer ports. An optional Eth- ernet interface supports Apple EtherTalk, TCP/IP, DECnet, and NetWare protocols. Spe- cial ESP (Emulation Sensing Processor) logic scans all the interfaces and detects incom- ing data. This ESP logic then analyzes the data stream and selects the PDL that will pro- cess the job. QMS's Crown multitasking operating system manages the printer's func- tions, and it can handle two dif- ferent print jobs — each com- ing in on a different port and using a different PDL — simul- taneously. Unlike a thermal-wax print- While Hewlett-Packard holds a command- ing lead in the laser-printer market, the company has not yet announced plans to follow QMS into the color laser-printer market. Regarding speculation ahout Its plans, HP spokesman Bill Homung would say only that the company is studying col- or laser printers and would enter the s^- ment only when it is feasible from a cost and quality standpoint HP's cautious approach stems from concern over the reliahillty of color laser printing and cost factors. "There are two Issues: One is the reliability, and another, the pricing. And in our mind, we have to have both," said Homung. "Over history, we're pretty methodical about It We've had to make sure that we could sell a lot of [printers] but also that they were of high quality and reliable. Without that we would shoot ourselves in the foot" Since HP's color Ink-jet printers have done well, Hornung noted, there is not a great demand for color laser printers. "Customers are really satisfied with color Ink-jets, and many don't see the need at this time for color laser." — Patrick Waurzyniak er that consumes a fixed amount of all four dye materi- als whether you use one color or black and white, the Col- orScript Laser lOOO's engine consumes only those toners re- quired to make the page. This smart use of consumables low- ers the cost per color page from about 50 to about 45 cents, so the printer can inexpensively mass-produce documents that, for example, use a company logo or highlight important in- formation with spot colors. Using the black toner alone, the cost is 3 to 3.5 cents per page. That's low enough that the ColorScript Laser 1000 can serve as both a black-and-white and a color printer. This makes it ideal for businesses that oc- casionally need to produce large volumes of color output. — Tom Thompson QMS, Inc., P.O. Box 81250, Mobile, AL 36689, (205) 633- 4300; fax (205) 633-0013 INSIDE THE QMS COLORSCRIPT LASER 1000 Toner/developers O A prechai^er unit inside tlie OPC l)eK lays a citarge evenly across the beH. @ The printer controller steps through one color plane of image data. This data controls the intensity of a laser beam as it sweeps a line across the OPC belt. When the beam is on, a corresponding spot on the belt is dis- charged. As the belt moves, a latent image composed of discharged areas is built line by line. @ The portion of the belt storing the latent image passes under four toner/de- veloper units. The toner unit that corresponds to the color plane just ap- plied to the belt opens. Toner sticlts to the discharged areas and is re- pelled from the charged areas. In the figure, magenta toner is being added to the image on the belt. For color images, this operation occurs several times as the belt rotates and all four process colors are applied. A com- plete color image exists on the belt after four belt rotations. O The transfer drum is charged and peels the image off the belt. @ A bias voltage between the transfer drum and transfer roller pulls the color image off the transfer drum and onto the medium. ® The fuser unit uses heat and pressure to adhere the image to the medium. 24- BYTE JUI^Y 1993 QoIq/. INK-JET PRINTERS Testing the Colorful DeskJet 1200C lewlett-Packard's Desk- Jet 1200C (see "HP Takes Col- or Mainstream," June News & Views) takes a different ap- proach to color printing than does QMS's ColorScript Laser 1000. The 120GC is also aimed at businesses looking for col- or output, but its speed and cost per page make it more suited for generating presentations and small quantities of high- quality color documents. While the DeskJet 1200C isn't designed for high-volume jobs, it also doesn't cost much: $ 1 699. It uses the PCL (Printer Control Language) 5 PDL (page-description language) and a Centronics parallel port. The DeskJet 1200C/PS costs $2399; it adds Adobe PostScript Level 2 support and a LocalTalk in- terface. These 300-dpi col- or ink-jet printers are equipped with HP's Resolution Enhancement Technology. The controller can switch between interfaces and PDLs automatically. An MIO (modular I/O) slot lets you add an Ethernet or Token Ring in- terface to either printer. The printers can turn out 6 pages per minute for text; it takes 2 COLOR MATCHING Apple's ColorSync: WYSIWYG Color olor desktop publishing has a problem — color fidelity, or color matching. Simply put, color WYSIWYG is difficult at best. Printing costs can skyrocket because of the numerous attempts to obtain a reasonable color match be- tween the scanned images or artwork that went into the document and the printed pages. Some calibrators and color-matching soft- ware address this problem, but they usually tie you to a specific printer or set of applications. Apple's ColorSync is a color-matching solution implemented in the Mac OS. As part of the Mac OS, color-matching algorithms can be applied automatically to all color devices (i.e., the scan- ner, printer, and monitor) connected to the Mac. ColorSync consists of a Control Panel and device profile files. Each profile contains a de- scription of the device's color characteristics, and ColorSync uses this information to apply the color corrections. ColorSync features an open architecture, so vendors such as Kodak and EFI can supply their own color-matching software modules, which transparently replace ColorSync's default color-matching algorithms. I used a Mac Centris 650, an Apple Color OneScanner, and two color printers to explore ColorSync's capabilities. The first printer was Apple's Color Printer, an ink-jet printer, and the second was the Tektronix Phaser II SD, a dye-sublimation printer. The Color Printer came with a profile, while none was available for the Phaser II SD. I used Light Source's Ofoto 2.0 software to scan in a variety of color images. Output on the Apple printer was good, although I've seen bet- ter color dithering patterns from a Canon print- er. However, the color fidelity between input and output was excellent, and I had just picked the printer name from a pop-up menu in Ofoto. For the Phaser II SD, Ofoto has a clever mechanism for producing calibrated output: You print a color test pattern on the target printer, place this output on the scanner, and scan in the image. Ofoto generates color-correction data that is available from the pop-up menu the next time you print. The colors on Phaser II SD out- put, while not perfect, were close to the original. In its current form, ColorSync is not a panacea. It will take time for vendors to create profiles. Applications that make heavy use of color will have to be modified to use some of ColorSync's services. Finally, how does ColorSync deal with color matching for an image that was made with one color-matching method, while the host com- puter uses a different one? Still, based on the Ap- ple Color Printer output, ColorSync is a big step toward making color WYSIWYG a reality. — ^Tom Thompson The DeskJet 1200C produces impressive color, especially when you use HP's glossy paper. minutes per page for color. The DeskJet 1200C comes with drivers for Windows 3.1, Mac System 6.0.x, and System 7. I used Adobe's PSPrint, a PostScript Level 2 print driver, and a Mac Centris 650 to con- duct my tests in the BYTE Lab. I printed a small scanned im- age out of Adobe Photoshop 2.5 successfully, but images larger than 2 MB generated a PostScript error. I added 8 MB of RAM, which brought the to- tal to 12 MB. With the extra RAM, I printed images as large as 1 1 MB with no problems. I also unplugged the Local- Talk card from the MIO slot and replaced it with an HP Jet- Direct card that provides lOBase-T and lOBase-2 Eth- ernet support. The interface change took 3 minutes. It took another minute to connect a thin-wire Ethernet cable to the JetDirect's BNC connector. With the ample memory and a high-speed network interface (cost of the unit as tested: $3456), the DeskJet handled everything I threw at it. The output looks fine on plain paper and great on HP's special glossy paper. The cost pier page can range from 8 cents to $ 1 .6 1 , depending on the medi- um and the amount of ink used. — ^Tom Thompson Hewlett-Packard Co.. Santa Clara, CA 95051, (708) 752- 0900 JULY 1993 15 V I I 25 Fornat Tools Table Uindou Help flHIj ]i Font:[Tines_NeuJona]i [12- li 11 A ^ B I LElTEin.uUU XCEPT PERSONAL CLOTHING). ply packs, tents, and cooking gear, but not . 3 ee enclosed packet for full details. e axes, and so forth. To make sure youiSoots ese clinbs, see full information in tmlrenclosed SUNDHV nOHDflV TUESDRV UEDNESDR 1 Leave Mew York f or Paris 2 Rest one da- at L'Hotel di Roi 9 Climb Hum Lines and borders ■ 13 14 15 16 Fornat Tools Table Uindou Help U Font:[Heluetica U [14 li tt A K " mDLETTDUC MAPS. ed, currency Drag-and-drop editing ;d packet for tiui aexaus. fnr 5:iaht5:RP.in(jr in add it inn +.n mniintAin e Edit Uiew Tools + You may jo in the tour at any time (c ost is broken d own by c ou we recommend that to get the most out of the experience, you the entire excursion. Exotic Excursions will take care of these ALL OUTDOOR GEAR (EXCEPT PERSONAL C LO For example, we supply packs, tents, and cooking gear, b rain gear. See enclosed packet for full details ALL CLIMBING GEAR. Ropes, crampons, ice axes, and so forth. To make sure yo suitable for these climbs, see full information in the encio LOCAL CURRENCY AND MAPS. All the rnape you need, currency for the first day in any g AsAm, th Automatic bullets We've mcludMMHMMHMMilPIMMpBaddition to moun so plan to bring any clothing and sperjdirg money that you wil casual travel. We hope you can join us - j? will be an advef^yn e Edit Uieu Tools + August Enclosed is the information you requested a Our specialty is Adventvtvms travel by foot will include clinbs in France, Switzerland, planned itinerary for the trip. Vou nag .join the tour at any tine (cost is Houeyer, we reconnend that to get the nost you shoul^^uoTwii^for^h^en^re excursion care of One-Step formatting ALL OUTDOOR GEAR (EXCEPT PERSOML CLOTHING) For exanple, we supply packs, tents, and coi rt Format Tools Table Uindou Help • li Font: [Helvetica li [12-U 3 W fi LETTER -D. DOC 'mat ion you requested about Eur oC limb? ;nturous travel by foot and this year's y. Here is the planned itinerary for t DATES AUGUST 1-14 AUGUST 15 -SEPTEMBER 3 SEPTEMBER 4- COST (U. 2953 2iZ6 Automatic tables SEPTEMBER 24 473 Symbols From: [Printer Symbol: a Synbo 1 0 8 ♦ ♦ 0 ► t !! i? b f -% ".re X o a \ § Q Y U 1 m u 1 u o i t e 1 y ^ u t A. a Pi d n » i a A U N -» a E c a «- a » £ o I— S L ji If ji I Ji T 1 Special symbols i S OC B r n Z IT P T e ft 6 UPGRADE TO NEW MICROSOFT WORD 6.0 FOR MS-OOS FOR $99. ANDRECOMEA MASTER OF MANIPULATION. Make your word processing easier with new drag-and- drop text editing, one-step formatting ribbon, automatic bullets, automatic tables, lines and borders, and special symbols. Take a few shortcuts and make your everyday tasks a whole lot easier. Just upgrade to new Microsoft' Word 6.0. lb start with, you can automatically add bullets to highlight key points. Or create a table with a single click on the new ribbon. Editing is a snap: use drag-and-drop editing to move text anywhere on the page. Then go back to the ribbon for one-step bold, italic, or underline formatting. You can just as easily insert commonly used symbols like ©,™, §, and ®. A few simple clicks and it's done. And with True'^e* fonts, the crisp text you see on your screen is the same text you'll get in your documents - on just about any printer. Need more impact? Add lines, borders, and shading in one quick step. When all is said and done, run your work through the grammar checker to make sure it's all buttoned up. With Word 6.0, you'll create pol- ished and professional documents every time. Right now you can upgrade to Microsoft Word 6.0 for MS-DOS' for *99* and get a 90-day money-back guarantee." Upgrade today. And see how Word 6.0 can help you become a master manipulator. So make the call. To get a copy, see your local reseller. For the name of a reseller near you, or to order by phone, call (800) 468-8899 and ask for Dept. JC3. Microsoft Making it easier © 1993 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. TrueType is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. 'Plus 7.50 freight and applicable sales tax if ordered directly from Microsoft. "Frei^t charges are not refundable. Reseller prices may vary. You must currently be a licensed user of any version of Microsoft Word to qualify for diis speciaj upgrade offer. To qualify for this offer at your reseller, you must bring proof of purchase with you; 1) the original disk from your program, 2) the title page of the manual, or 3) a copy of the sales receipt. Offer good only in the 50 United States. Offer good until 9/30/93. Inside the 50 United States, call (800) 468-8899, Dept JC3. For information only: in Canada, call (800) 563-9048; outside the United States and Canada, call (206) 936-8661. News & Views STORAGE RAID Down to the Desktop RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) technology has been the province of main- frame computers and networks that require uninterrupted access to important data, even in the case of a drive failure. Although the word inexpensive is used, a RAID system for NetWare LANs that provided 1.3 GB of storage cost as much as $24,000 ($18.46 per megabyte) in 1992. Now, thanks to the combination of de- clining hard drive prices and new products from companies like Corel Systems (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) and Micropolis (Chatsworth, CA), low-cost RAID solutions are available to LAN managers and stand-alone worksta- tion users. Daniel Levesque, president of Proengineering (Ottawa. On- tario, Canada) and developer of CorelRAID, said the bene- fit of the $995 program is that you can implement RAID lev- el 5 using a standard SCSI controller and three SCSI hard drives for as little as $3500. Micropolis, which sells a low-cost RAID system for NetWare, just reduced the price of its new modular Raid- ion LT array system for OS/2 and LAN Server. Prices for the system start at $6225. Taroon Kamdar, executive vice president and general manager of Micropolis 's stor- RAID ON THE SERVER Predicted worldwide RAID market value of shipments for PC servers Value of shipments (in millions of dollars) 1993 1994 1995 1996 Source: Intcfnationat Data Corp. {Framingham, MA) age systems division, said Raidion LT will be used by engineers, programmers, and any- one else whose work is time sensitive. "Users are being led on that RAID is a very complex technology, and it's not," said Maury Loomis, director of sales and mar- keting at Pacific Micro Data (Tustin, CA). Loomis said that too often RAID is sold as a proprietary solution, where a user buys a subsystem, software, and storage medium from the same company at a premium price. Loomis said that the support for RAID in operating systems like NetWare and Win- dows NT will increase awareness of the tech- nology among desktop users. The result, he said, is that solutions where customers can pick and choose components will become the norm. Bob Katzive, vice president of the consulting and mar- ket-research firm Disctrend (Mountain View, CA), agrees that the price of RAID is drop- ping but notes that while pro- prietary RAID solutions are generally more expensive than nonproprietary solutions, they can also be easier to install and maintain. Katzive warns that "there's always room for a surprise" when you're in- stalling a so-called open RAID solution. — Dave Andrews LOW-POWER RISC FROM MIPS Promising "Pentium performance in a notebook," Mips Technologies (Mountain View, CA) has an- nounced the first power-saving chip in its R4000 microprocessor family, an important step toward moving RISC chips from workstations to main- stream PCs. The R4200 is intended primarily for laptops that can run Windows NT. Sample silicon wasn't available at press time, so all performance specificatians are preliminary. Ac- cording to Mips, the 3-V chip will use only 1.5 W at its top internal clock speed of 80 MHz (the exter- nal bus runs at 40 MHz). A reduced-power mode requires only 0.4 W, and a power-down mode turns off the chip altogether. Mips says the R4200 can be powered down and reactivated so quickly that a system could force the chip Into power-down mode between keystrokes when you're typing. Mips estimates the R4200 will deliver 55 SPEC- marks for integer operations (SPECint92) and 30 SPECmarks for floating-point operations ($PECfp92). By contrast, Intel's Pentium delivers 64.5 SPECInt92 and 56 SPECfp92, respectively. The R4200 lacks the parallel pipelines found in the Pen- tium, but it does have separate hardware units for integer and floating-point instnictions. Based on 0.6-micron process technology, the R4200 squeezes 1.3 million transistors onto a small die of 9.2 by 8.8 millimeters. It has a 16-KB instnic- tion cache and an 8-KB data cache. The caches, MMU (memory management unit), and system in- terface can be removed from the chip, so the logic core can be used in embedded applications. Mips says the R4200 will be available in quantity late this year. Versions will be manufactured by Mips, NEC Electronics, and possibly other partners. No pricing was announced, but Mips says the goal is to sell the chip for $55, or $1 per SPECinL — TomR.HaKhill MICROPROCESSORS Ruling Won't Mean Lower Prices for 486 Chips ^^^on't expect the prices of 486 microprocessors to plunge just because Advanced Micro Devices (Sunnyvale, CA) won the latest round in federal court and is finally competing against Intel for the lucrative 486 mar- ket. Although the surprise rul- ing cleared the way for it to be- gin selling 486 chips, even AMD admits it won't be able to make enough chips this year to dent Intel's market share or spark a price war. AMD expects to sell a few hundred thousand 486 chips this year. AMD and industry analysts estimate the world- wide 486 market at 25 million chips this year. TTiey also esti- mate that Intel sold 5.5 million chips in the first quarter alone. In 1994, demand is expected to grow to 35 million chips, and AMD predicts it will win a 10 percent to 20 percent share. Still, AMD's 486 micro- processors give system vendors an alternative source of supply and allow AMD to tap Intel's single largest revenue stream. Until now, the only other com- mercial source for 486 chips was Cyrix (Austin, TX). On April 15, a judge ruled that Intel did not submit docu- ments that could have affected the jury's decision. He grant- ed AMD's motion for a new trial, opening the door for AMD to sell 486 chips based on Intel microcode. AMD is completing work on clean-room versions of the 486 that don't use Intel microcode. Those chips, which are sched- uled to be announced on July 4, will eventually supersede the Intel-microcoded chips that AMD began shipping in late April. Although the clean-room versions are almost finished, AMD says it wants to begin selling 486 chips as soon as possible. —Tom R. Halfhill 28 BYTE JULY 1993 Multi-Pimii watcoBdm ► Extensive C and C-ijhfSUppm A ► The Widest Range ^1 32-bit^ M Intel x86 Platformi ^ ^ ► The Industry 's Leading Code Optimizer ^ftd ► Multi-platform, Cross-development Toolset Professional C and C++ Development Tools C/C++" delivers the key technologies for professional developers: comprehensive C++ support including templates and exception handling; advanced superscalar optimization; and 32-bit multi-platform support. C/C++-" includes both C and C++ compilers, so you can incrementally adopt the benefits of C++. Unleash 32-bit Power! C/C++" delivers 32-bit performance. The 32-bit flat memory model simplifies memory management and lets applications address beyond the 640K limit. Powerful 32-bit instruction processing delivers a significant speed advantage: typically a minimum 2x processing speedup. A C++ compiler designed to deliver on the promise of object-oriented programming The C++ compiler provides comprehensive support for the AT&T version 3.0 language including templates, plus exception handling. These features are key to realizing the benefits of object-oriented programming: code reusability, increased reliability and reduced maintenance. Hot New Superscalar Code Optimizer The hot, new C/C++" code generator advances the performance envelope. New superscalar optimization strategy uses "riscification" and instruction scheduling to deliver improved performance on 486 and Pentium processors The compiler can create a single, high-performance executable which runs on 386, 486 and Pentium processors. Industry Standard, industry's Choice WATCOM's working relationships with industry leaders such as Autodesk, GO, IBM, Intel, Lotus, Microsoft and Novell ensure that we continue to understand and meet the needs of the software industry and professional developers. Multi-Platform, Cross Development Support C/C++" supports a wide range of 32-bit Intel x86 host and target platforms allowing professional developers to leverage the multi-platform, cross- development capabilities of today's operating environments including OS/2 2.x and Windows NT ► 32-bit DOS host and target support; includes the D0S/4GW 32-bit DOS extender by Rational Systems with royalty-free run-time and virtual memory support up to 32Mb. ► OS/2 2,x host and target support; enables the development of OS/2 2.x applications and DLLs. 32-bit Windows 3.x applications can exploit WIN-OS/2 using WATCOM's Windows Supervisor technology. ► Windows NT host and target support; includes a Windows NT-hosted debugger for 16-bit Windows 3.x, Win32s and Windows NT debugging; also includes Win32s target support. ► 32-bit Windows 3.x target support; includes WATCOM's 32-bit Windows Supervisor, and enables development and debugging of true 32-bit Windows 3.x applications and DLLs. Also Available: WATCOM for DOS C" for DOS is a professional, low cost 32-bit C compiler and tools package enabling development, debugging, performance profiling and royalty-free distribution of 32-bit applications for extended DOS. Suggested retail price: $199*. WATCOM C/C++^^ has a suggested retail price of $599*. For additional information or to order direct call 1-800-265-4555. Call our FAX Back system at 1-519-747-2693 from your fax machine for immediate product information. WfVTi 1-800-265-4555 The Leader in 32-bit Development Tools 41 5 Phillip Street, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3X2 Telephone: (51 9) 886-3700. Fax: (519) 747-4971 "Price in US dollars. Does not include freight and taxes where applicable. Authorized dealers may sell for less. WATCOM C and the Lightning Device are trademarks of WATCOM International Corp. D0S/4G and D0S/16M are trademarks of Rational Systems Inc. Other trademarks are the properties of their respective ovmers. Copyright 1993 WATCOM International Corp. Circle 1 57 on Inquiry Card. *Prices valid in US, only. Some products and promotions notavaiiabk in Canada. ^Source: Dataquest, Inc.. 1992. 'Retum'to-faccory service. "Leasing arranged by Leasing Group, Inc. The Intel Inside logo is a re^stered trademark and i386 is a trademark of Intel Corporatim^. FORTUNE 500 is a registered trademark of The Time inc. Magazine Company. MS-DOS and Microso/t are registered vrademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. ©I99i Dell Computer Corporation. Aii rights reserved. ONLY $1,799 Mn«/ THE DELL" DIMENSION" IMLVV NL25C COLOR NOTEBOOK • i386'"SL 25MHz • BUSINESS LEASE": $67/MO. • 4MB RAM • 80MB (19ms) HARD DRIVE • VGA COLOR LCD (9',' 640 x 480) • SIMULTANEOUS DISPLAY CAPABILITY • 6.6 LBS. (INCLUDING BAHERY) • 8.5" X 11" X 2" • 2-HOUR BAHERY LIFE, UP TO 3.5 HOURS WITH POWER MANAGEMENT ENABLED • RAPID RESPONSE SERVICE* • ONE 3-1/2" DISKETTE DRIVE • MS-DOS' • MICROSOPr WINDOWS 3.1 • MOUSE '1 9" Color Screen. One look at the big, 9" screen and you'll be hooked. Full Keyboard. The easy-to-use, full-size, 85- key keyboard is definitely a keeper. No catch. No kidding. The powerful new Dimension NL25C, full-color i386 SL 25MHz notebook is only $1,799. How good is it? Well, the black and white model of this notebook won PC VfbrU s Best Buy Award. Remember, this isn't a cheesy system from a suspect company; we're in the FORTUNE 500* and are the third-largest industry- standard PC company in the world! Call us to order the new Dell Dimension NL25C. It's quite a catch. TO ORDER, CALL 800-388-3355 HOURS; MON-FRI 7AM-9PM CT SAT 8AM-4PM CT SUN 10AM-3PM Q IN CANADAr CALL 800-668-3021. #11E02 News & Views MOBILE COMPUTING HP's Superior Subnotebook I ewlett-Packard has tak- en its mobile-computing am- bitions a notch higher with the introduction of the HP Omni- Book 300, a 386-based sub- notebook. It weighs less than 3 pounds and runs ROM-based Windows as well as ROM ver- Hie OmniBook's "pop-up" mouse literally pops out of the subnotebook's case at the push of a button. The mouse remains attached to the system by a type of slide-bar tether. sions of Word for Windows and Excel 4.0. The OmniBook boasts sev- eral cutting-edge features. In addition to running its appli- cations, Windows 3.1, and DOS 5.0 in ROM, it uses Ad- vanced Micro Devices' 3.3-V, 20-MHz 386SXLV chip set and a rechargeable nickel- metal-hydride battery pack for long battery life. It also of- fers mass storage through ei- ther a PCMCIA-based 42-MB hard drive or 10-MB flash- memory disks in PCMCIA slots. After testing a preproduction OmniBook, I found its full- key-spacing keyboard suit- able for touch- typing, a sharp contrast to the tiny keyboard offered on the 95LX and lOOLX. It lacks the color graphics found on many high- end notebooks, but its screen — a 9-inch, VGA-compatible FTN-reflective (Film Super- twist Nematic) LCD with 16 levels of gray — is acceptable. One of the most unusual features of the OmniBook is its pop-up mouse, which pops up to fit your hand in an er- gonomically correct way. It takes some getting used to, but I find it preferable to most trackballs. Although it has no floppy drive, you can pass data or ap- plications between the OmniBook and other machines by way of PCMCIA cards, the OmniBook's stan- dard infrared port, or serial-port connections using Traveling Software's LapLink Remote, which is provided with the OmniBook. The subnotebook is available with either two PCMCIA Type II slots for use with flash-memory disks or one slot for the PCMCIA-based hard drive option. With sophisticated memory management and the exe- cute-in-place, ROM-based Microsoft ap- OMNIBOOK'S KEY FEATURES • weighs less than 3 pounds • ROM-based Windows • Word for Windows and Excel 4.0 in ROM • pop-up mouse • superior keyboard •PCMCIA 42-MB hard drive • 10-MB flash-memory disks • infrared port plications, HP claims that an OmniBook equipped with flash-memory cards can run for up to 10 hours while us- ing only four AA batteries. Battery life with the recharge- able nickel-metal-hydride bat- teries figures to be about 5 hours. The OmniBook base system without flash-memory cards or a hard drive is priced at $1515. With an optional 42-MB hard drive, the system lists for $1995, and models with Sun- Disk's 10-MB flash disk, which uses built-in Stacker data compression, will cost $2375. — Patrick Waurzyniak Hewlett-Packard Co., Santa Clara, CA 95051, (708) 752- 0900 SHARP COLOR DISPLAY It seems too good to be true: a passive-matrix display that rivals the quality of active-matrix but re- quires less battery power and costs less — partly because it avoids the active-matrix display tariff. Sharp Electronics (Camas, WA) recently Introduced such a display housed in an overhead projection panel, and Its Microelectronics Components Division says it will of- fer this dual-scan display for use In notebooks. Dual-scan displays scan two horizontal halves of the screen simultaneously, resulting in a quicker refresh, better contrast with little or no ghosting, and more uniformity of color. Sharp, according to Dataquest's Jack Roberts, already claims a ma- jority of the market share for note- book displays. — Ed Perratore Qlor NOTEBOOK DISPLAYS Toshiba Gets Aggressive 486SX passive-matrix color notebook that sells for about $2500 may not sound like big news. But it might look like it, if you've been disappointed with the quality of passive-ma- trix color displays but don't want to spring for the price of an ac- , . .ti.-i.ij-. f b f A companson of Toshiba s display tive-matnx color notebook. technologies: traditional passive color The Toshiba T 1 900C uses an deft) versus Toshiba's new Dynamic impressive display technology '"^^J"'* , , photographed under the same lighting called Dynamic STN-Color conditions. The differences are LCD. The colors are unusually apparent. The Dynamic> 0 K. a: I Arabization that lets users use Arabic in most Latin applica- tions. It also provides compat- ibility with existing Arabiza- tion systems and an Arabic version of Windows Write. Most important, it provides a solid platform on which devel- opers can write purely Arabic or Arabic-aware applications. Microsoft Windows 3. 1 with Arabic Language Sup- port is just an enhanced version of the original English release, but Microsoft promises more direct support for Arabic. The first ver- sion of Multilingual Windows, which was slated to be available in June, will be a ful- ly localized Arabic Windows. This release will give Arab users an early taste of the technology planned for the forthcoming versions in other languages. It will let users with only one copy of Windows install and use as many languages as they wish. Users can purchase vari- ous Language Kits and switch to different languages on the fly. Arab users, for example, will get a basic English-Ara- bic version of Windows. Lat- er they can buy additional kits for languages such as French or Japanese. ■ Khaldoon Tabaza is an Amman- based computer writer. He can be reached on BIX c/o "editors. " The Middle East is one of the fastest growing computer markets. So it's not surprising that the first version of Microsoft's Multilingual Windows (above) is an Arabic version that includes localized menus and error messages. BYTE JULY 1993 SEE UPGRADABILITY IN A WHOLE NEW LIGHT. Intel's OverDrive' Processor technology represents a new upgrade philoso- phy. Based on a single chip form factor — not boards, or modules. It lets you add future processor tech- nology to your current PC. This second Technology Briefing will explain how our OverDrive Processor technology works. Single chip processor UPGRADE. Intel has designed its new microprocessor families to be upgrad- able with OverDrive Processors. To do this, OverDrive Processors are actually based on and designed in tandem with our latest microproces- sors. To make OverDrive Processors compatible with the previous Intel microproces sors, they have been designed with a special external interface. This enables OverDrive Processors to plug directly into existing systems equipped with OverDrive Processor sockets. Once installed, they will increase appli cation performance by 40 to 70%. The UPGRADE PATH. The first OverDrive Processor is based on an Intel486™ DX2 CPU core. It upgrades your Intel486 SX or DX CPU- based system to near Intel486 DX2 perfomiance. Pentium™ OverDrive Processors are under devel- opment for Intel486 sys- tems and next- generation OverDrive Processors are already being designed for Pentium proces- sor-based systems. The ENABLING TECHNOLOGY. The core of every OverDrive Processor is a microprocessor, enhanced with new technology such as the DX2's "speed doubling" technology or the Pentium processor "s "superscalar" technology. This enhanced micro- processor core allows faster instruction execu- tion without having to modify the external system clock speed or memory sub- system. The cache IS KEY. Simply putting a faster processor core into a PC doesn't help much unless the system can supply enough data to keep it busy. That's why every OverDrive Processor also contains a large on- chip cache. The cache frees the OverDrive Processor to work inde- pendently of the memory subsystem. In fact, 90% of the time the cache contains the necessary instructions and data. BlU CONNECTING THE PIECES. The final component of an OverDrive Processor is the Bus Interface Unit (BIU). Its job is to transfer data between the OverDrive Processor and the exter- nal system in a way that is completely compati- ble with the original microprocessor. In addition, each BIU is designed to maximize system performance, based on the bus band- width of the original system and core micro- processor technology. ^^EDDOUBLEH^ SYSTEM BUS Software power. The new "speed dou- bling" core of the Intel486 DX2 OverDrive Processor roughly dou- bles your original CPU performance. Overall, this translates into an application performance gain of 40 to 70% (see chart on the back page). Naturally, system bottle- necks such as disk drive accesses, bus bandwidth and graphics speed keep the i486'" DX2 OverDrive Processor from fully doubling system performance. OVERDRIVE Intel486 DX2 OverDrive Processor FOR Intel486 SX or DX systems. Today's i486 DX2 OverDrive Processor combines i486 TECHNOLOGY (AN INTEGER UNIT, A FLOATING-POINT UNIT AND AN 8K CACHE ON ONE CHIP), WITH SPEED DOUBLING TECHNOLOGY. FOR EXAMPLE, THE OVERDRIVE PROCESSOR DOUBLES THE INTERNAL OPERATING SPEED OF A 33-MHz Intel486 DX CPU-based system to 66 MHz. And while the CPU is operating twice as fast internally, it keeps its original external speed to maintain system compatibility. Pentium OverDrive Processor archi tecture for lntel>186 systems. The next generation Pentium OverDrive Processor will use Pentium processor superscalar technology that exe- cutes two instructions simultaneously, a 16 KB on-chip cache memory, a redesigned floating-point unit capable of one instruction per clock cycle, with a bus interface unit optimized for a 32-BIT i486 CPU BUS. Intel486 DX2 OverDrive processor speeds up applications. This chart represents the increase in performance with some popular software applications. Source: Intel OverDrive Processor Performance Brief. The Intel iCOMP™ Rating Index* ICOMP rating for base system. iCOMP rating after adding an OverDrive Processor. i486 DX-33 i486 SX-33 i486 DX-25 i486 SX-25 i486 SX-20 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 "The iCOfyIP index is an Intel microprocessor "horsepower" rating It is a composite of selected performance measurements from SPEC 92, ZD Bench, and Whetstone. Source: ICOMP'" : A Simplified Measure of Relative Intel Microprocessor Performance, Intel Corp.. 1992. How DO I GET THIS TECHNOLOGY? Almost all Intel486 SX systems and most Intel486 DX systems can be upgraded with an Intel486 DX2 OverDrive Processor. For more information on how to upgrade your system, see your authorized Intel dealer. You'll find they have a ready supply of OverDrive Processors, as well as answers. Just look for the box below. And give your PC a mid-life kicker with an Intel OverDrive Processor. For more information on upgradability, CALL 1-800-955-5599. We're ready to supply you with all the additional information you need on OverDrive Processors: a performance brief a system compatibility guide, a demo disk, and even a specsheet. Ask for literature package #68. Plus, we 'II also be happy to send our first Technology Briefing on the Pentium processor. Remember, the information is free. So is the call. ©1993 Intel Corporalion. *AI1 products mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies. Reviews Books & CD-ROMs Quest for the Silicon Grail HUGH KENNER Daniel Crevier's AI: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence comes from a writer whose reputation doesn't ride on AI's success or lack of it. Not that he'll conceal his fervent belief in its future; but he doesn't believe either that the Weizenbaums and Dreyfuses need sweeping under the rug. Crevier, a Canadian professor of electrical engi- neering, is founder of a firm "that uses artificial in- telligence to let computers see through TV cameras." That suggests an expert system, and nobody, not even Hubert Dreyfus, denies that they can do useful things right now. Whether or not their lookup-table facility equates with intelligence remains a different question. Crevier is also qualified enough in Techspeak to interview a Minsky, a Simon, or a Moravec and understand what's being said, and his narrative that starts in the age of von Neumann proceeds with easy clarity through the bold visions of the sixties, through the setbacks of the seventies, and all the way to three possible fu- tures for The Computer. (Those scenarios? 1 . Wholly bad: Machines will take charge altogether, like 2007 's HAL, and in the scariest version they'll take charge of our weaponry. 2. Still ungood: They'll take charge of those of us who aheady get shortchanged and eavesdropped on, thus making present imbalances still worse. 3. Music, please!: They'll open the heavenly gates.) True, heavenly gates seem at present out of reach. As of now, "The world chess champion is still a human being," and "A hundred-thousand-dollar prize for the discovery of a new mathematical theory by a computer remains unclaimed." So two 1957 forecasts of Herbert Simon's are still unfulfilled. No denying that progress has been slow by those long-ago standards. Crevier is right to dwell on the slow and tight hardware of three decades ago: the punch- card access to a torpid CPU and a few kilobytes of RAM. He's right too in con- ceding to the Dreyfuses that conceptual difficulties were always underrated. (Can a lifetime's experience, acquired in many contexts, really be simulated by dumping encyclopedias down a funnel in the genie's head?) He's still optimistic. Quick Bits Enough already, you're saying, of books about the hacker underworld. Yes, I know; but here's a really fresh one: Approaching Zero by Paul Mungo and Bryan Clough. You may want to save their case histories till next winter's crackling fires. "The Bulgarian Threat" is an especially fine chapter. "The Illuminati Conspiracy" is another. And from page after fervent page of The Green PC, we may glean that 9.3 million trees are cut down annually to feed computer printers, or that there are more floppy disks in the world than people. There's also much advice, such as how to refill ink-jet print- er cartridges cheaply. You get a hypodermic syringe and find "the tiny pinhole at the top of the cartridge" and inject "fresh ink from a bottle of standard Shaef- fer or Scripto." I've no idea whether this is sound advice or not. You might ask Al Gore. ■ Hugh Kenner is Franklin and Callaway Professor of Eng- lish at the University of Georgia. You can contact him on BIX as "hkenner. " Al: THE HJMULTUOUS HISTORY OF THE SEARCH FOR ARTIFICiAl INTELIIGENCE Daniel Crevier, Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-02997-3, $27.50 APPROACHING ZERO Paul Mungo and Biyan Clough, Random House, ISBN 679-409-386, S22 THE GREEN PC: MAKING CHOICES THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE Steven Anzovin, Windcrest/IVIcGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-8306-4311-7, $9.95 ARTISTIC INFLUENCE Electronic Library of Art Ebook, Inc., 32970 Alvarado-Niles Rd., SuHe 704, Union City, CA 94587, (5101 429-1331, fax (510) 429-1394, $99.95 per volume ith its Electronic Library of Art se- ries. Ebook envisions an impres- sive set of CDs covering "the history of art, from primitive cave paintings to the most in- fluential works of the twentieth century." The first five installments of the library for Win- dows. Mac, and VIS (Video Information Sys- tem) platforms, and a sixth CD scheduled for release later this year, represent a solid foun- dation for this panoramic goal. The latest release in the series. Impres- sionism and Its Sources, covers the Impres- sionism movement of the late nineteenth cen- tury. It shares the same simple Windows interface as earlier entries in the series. A scrollable window displays a thumbnail of each work. Double-clicking on an image en- larges it and enables more options, such as reading the author's biography or — in some cases — viewing the image in greater detail. You can search by artist, title, medium, date, school, or object type (e.g., painting or sculp- ture). For added atmosphere, you can peruse the paintings while listening to classical mu- sic of the era. An introductory essay relates the spirit of rebeUion shared by the seminal Impressionists who banded together and defied the art es- tablishment of the day. Short biographies cov- er the major artists' life and work. But the images themselves best tell the story. The paintings reflect the revolutionary style of the Impressionists as they used light and color in new ways and imbued common f)eople with a romantic aura formerly reserved for sacred images. The important artists are well repre- sented in over 1000 images. Ebook has done a masterful job compiling this series. The next CD will include art de- picting Greek and Roman mythology. The Electronic Library of Art is an excellent refer- ence work and a great way to spend an evening. — Stanford Diehl JULY 1993 BYTE 49 Circle 1 72 on Inquiry Card. PROTECT YOUR SOFTWARE NO BUnON, NO ACCESS. Dallas Semiconductor is re-shaping the world of software protection and distribution control with a new famUy of microchips called Buttons. We put the lid on software piracy by packaging microchips in button-shaped, stainless steel cans. The chips contain missing but critical information to make the software run. We offer a variety of Authorization Buttons and features so you can select the level of protection and price point that are right for you. Security Continuum Button Type Unique Serial # Read/Write Memory Password Protection Expiration Timer Decoy Responses DS1420 ID Button X DS1427 Time Button X 4K bits X DS1425 Multi Button X 2K bits X X Snap In, Snap Out Authorization Buttons interface to the installed base of 100-t- million PC's via the DS1410 Button Holder. They simply snap in and out. The DS1410 accepts two Buttons concurrently. Toward a Dongleless World New computers that accept Buttons directly, including palm and notebooks, are being designed at OEM's today. Our Dongle Trade-In Program will help in your transition to this world. With an approved application, we'll pay you $7.00 for each dongle that you trade in for an Authorization^ Button and Holder. This offer , is good until August 31,1993. ' The one-piece price for the DS1420 is S4.35; volume discounts apply. We're Serious About Security At Dallas Semiconductor, we design and manufacture our own microchips. And we're the only ones in the software protection business who do. Sixty intricate process steps and a 64-bit unique registration number lasered into each chip prevent duplication. To learn how to button down your software, give us a call. DALLAS SEMICONDUCTOR 4401 South Beltwood Parkway, Dallas, Texas 75244-3292 Telephone: 214-450-8170 FAX: 214-450-3715 Reviews Books & CD-ROMs THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING IMAGE FRACTAL IMAGE COMPRESSION by Michael Barnsley and Lyman Hurd AK Peters, ISBN 1-56881-000-8, $49.9S Occasionally a technology appears that's so new, differ- ent, and conceptually odd that it is difficult to grasp the idea. For me, fractal image compression is one current example. At one level, I understand that the basic idea of naturally repeat- ing fractals lends itself to data compression. At the same time, however, I admit to having no idea how this idea is reduced to practice. Fractal Image Compression by Michael Barnsley and Lyman Hurd provides more information about this technology than the casually interested will care to know. This is no light overview, but a serious discussion of the mathematical foundations beneath fractal compression. You'll spend a long time working through the mathematics in this book, but not all the discussion is left for the mathemati- cians. Barnsley and Hurd reduce each algorithm to strictly func- tional examples written in C. All the expository code is quite small (typically a page or two). I'd like to see an accompanying code disk, but the examples are not too large to be entered man- ually. Other compression methodologies, such as Huffman and arith- metic encoding, are also presented as mathematical discussions with expository C code. So too is a detailed investigation of trans- formations: scaling, rotating, moving, and stretching in two and three dimensions. Fractal Image Compression is an excellent treatise on the leading edge of compression technology by the people who cre- ated it. There's one catch: The actual fractal-compression algo- rithm included in the book is protected by a patent. If you're going to do more than play with it, you'll need a license from Iterated Systems. — Raymond GA Cote DO-IT-YOURSELF CD-ROM PUBLISH YOURSELF ON CD-ROM (WINDOWS, MAC, OR UNIX) by Fabrizio Caffarelli and Deirdre Straughan Random House Electronic Publishing, ISBN 0-679-74297-2, $50 Publish Yourself on CD-ROM is based on the assumption that inexpensive and easy-to-use CD-recordable technol- ogy will free the repressed publisher in all of us. Apparently, Caffarelli and Straughan run with a richer, smarter crowd than most of us. CD-recordable technology has certainly made rolling your own CD-ROMs easier and more affordable, but the entry fee I can easily run over $8000, and the task requires ■ more knowledge of file formats, device drivers, and publishing principles than the typical novice possesses. The authors' missionary zeal, however, does not diminish what is actually a good introductory guide to self-publishing on CD-ROM. To help you get started, it even includes image-formatting software, called EasyCD, for so BYTE JUL,Y 1993 We Deliver Computiiis Know How PC Intern A literal encyclopedia of DOS knowledge. This book is a completely revised edition of our bestselling PC System Programming book which has been read by over 225,000 programmers worldwide. Whether you want to program in Assembly Language, C, Pascal or BASIC, you'll find dozens of practical working examples in each of these languages. #B145. ISBN 1-55755-145-6. $59.95 with companion disk. Upgrading & Maintaining Your PC Turn your PC into a high performance screamer ! Whether you're adding memory or a hard drive, a CD-ROM or a sound board or upgrading an XT to a 386 or 486, this book shows you how. Includes companion diskette of utilities and System Sleuth™ diagnostic software that helps you analyze your systems performance. #B167. ISBN 1-55755-167-7. $34.95 with companion disk. DOS 6.0 Complete • Special Edition This is the practical user's guide to DOS 6.0. Over 1 100 pages of helpful hints covering everything from installation tolDOS 6.0' s new utilities - MernMaker. DoubleSpace, Anti-Virus and Defrag. Also includes a companion disk with Tempest - a graphic shell for DOS 6.0 that lets you click, drag and drop!. #B182. ISBN 1-55755-182-0. $39.95 with companion disk. EXCEL for Science & Technology Sound Blaster Book The 486 Book Multimedia Mania This book/disk combination focuses on the users of Excel beyond the normal business uses of this powerful software; Physics, Chemistry, Technology, Ecology, Statistics, Social Sciences & Mathematics. #B196. ISBN 1-55755-196-0. $34.95 with companion disk. Order Toll Free 1-800-451-4319 Available at: B. Dalton, Barnes & Noble, Bookstar, Bookstop, Waldenbooks, Crown Books, Software Etc., CompUSA, Computer City Superstores, Fry's Electronics, Computer Literacy, Tower Books, Stacey's, and other retailers nationwide. In Canada at: Coles, W.H. Smith Books. Classic Bookshops, and London Drug. Call or write for our free catalog of PC Books. AbacusI Dept. B7, 5370 52nd Street SE, Grand Rapids, Ml 49512 Phone: (616) 698-0330 • Fax: (616) 698-0325 Circle 61 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 62). Newly revised, this book is an in-depth guide to using the Sound Blaster, from installation to custom programming. Includes an overview of the different Sound Blaster cards, many specific software products and much more. Also includes simple MIDI system to use with your Sound Blaster. #B181. ISBN 1-55755-181-2. $34.95 with companion disk. Explains the features that make this processor so advantageous- the memory capabilities, the math coprocessor, the specialized software that maximizes the CPU's performance and more. Find out why the 486 is replacing the earlier processors. PC INFO program and System Sleuth™ diagnostic software included the on companion diskette. #B183. ISBN 1-55755-183-9. $34.95 with companion disk. Learn the basics from adding CD- ROMs and sound boards to making a MPC system. Includes CD-ROM with over 400 megabytes of sounds, graphics, animations, samples and techniques. Experiment with several commercial multimedia demon- strations . Valuable coupons from major software publi shers worth over $600.00 inside. Register your book and get a free jewel case. #B166. ISBN 1-55755-166-9. $49.95 with companion CD-ROM. I Flesee rush me the following books: PC intern $59.95 ea. Upgrading & Maintaining ...$34.95 ea. DOS 6.0 Complete SE $39.95 ea. Excel for Sci. & Tech $34.95 ea. Sound Blaster Book $34.95 ea. TVie 486 Book $34.95 ea. MultimaJia Mania $49.95 ea. Subtotal: M! orders include 4°/= sales tax: in US & Canada add $5.00 shipping: Foreign orders add $13.00 per item: Total amount (US funds): For fast delivery Order Toll Free l-dOO-451-4319 edct. 27, or FAX (616) 69&-0325~l Or mail this coupon to; Abacus, 5370 52nd Street SE, Grand Rapids, Ml 49512 Method of Payment: □ Visa □ Master Card □ Am.Express □ Check / M.O, Card#:l_l_LI_l_l_l_l_LI_l_l_l_l_l_l_l Expires: / Name: Company:. Address: . City: State: _2p: Fhone#: Fax#: □ Yes, please rush your free catalog of PC books and software. Dept. B7 Circle 81 on Inquiry Card. IROMDISK SOLID STATE Disk and Drive Emulators • Proven Performance! For OEM/Military, Embedded Systems, Diskless/High Performance PC's, CAD/CAM, Industrial Control, Medical, POS, LAN's, etc. • High Capacity Models (PCF/PCM) • Low Cost Models (FER0,E/2-SR/ Special OEM) • Dual Mode Emulation Models (PCF, PCM/2, PCE/2) • Autoboot Capabilities, all models • MS DOS/DR DOS/E-Venix OS Support • NEW! PCMCIA models (PCM, PCM/2) and accessories • • •CURTIS, INC. Industry Leader in Disk and Drive Emulation Products 41 8 W, County Rd. D • St. Paul, MN 551 1 2 612/631-9512 FAX 612/631-9508 DR DOS is a trademark of Digital Research; MS DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Ever seen a grown pirate cry ? Just plug this in ... and watch MEMOPLUG™ The amazing Software protection system based on a hardware plug. Contains read-write programmable memory. This system is practical and easy to use for both programmer and end-user. Supports various programming languages, operating systems and types of computers. U-PLUG™ The premiere protection plug for UNIX systems that connects the standard serial port of computers and workstations. IiANPLUG™ Comprehensive network protection starts with a single plug. The LANPlug lets you operate protected software from any workstation on the network, while supervising a number of authorized simultaneous operation applications. CLOCKPLUG This unique Time-limited software protection system is based on a plug containing a real-time clock. It allows _ users limited execution times for leasing and demonstration applications. A password system allows you to rewind the clock by telephi U.S. office; Tel: 1 (800) 677 1587 Tel: (407) 682 1587 Fax: (407) 869 1409 South Africa: LionSoft Tel: 0 1 1 640 6002 Holland: M.H.P Tel: (31)440612916 France: C.T.I Tel: (1) 47 38 16 17 Spain: Economic Data Tel: (34) 1 442 28 00 Czeck Republic: PC Kompas Fax: (42) 2 43 1 1 88 Currently looking for international distributors EliaShim MICROCOMPUTERS LTD 5 Haganim, P.O. Box 8691 Haifa 35022 ISRAEL Tel: 972-4-516111, Fax: 972-4-528613 Reviews Books &CD-ROM$ Windows, DOS, Mac, and Unix on CD-ROM. This bundled soft- ware explains the book's relatively high price. EasyCD is no match for professional premastering software such as Dataware Technologies' CD Prepare, but it serves well as a beginner's tool. The authors cover all the basics of standards, hardware, and me- dia in a complete, easy-to-understand manner. The book goes an extra mile with its advice on setting up your application, complete with multimedia files, for publication. It explains how to assemble the tools and possible licenses you need, and how to estimate production costs. A hypertext version is on the bundled CD-ROM. The book has two weaknesses, if you ignore its early hyf)erbole. First, it provides almost no examples. Caffarelli and Straughan could have created a sample application to produce on CD-ROM and used it throughout the book. Second, after exhorting their readers to dive right into the world of CD publishing, the au- thors shrug off what is arguably the most vital information they could have provided: how to sell your completed product. In- stead, they sagely tell you that you need help in this area and list four distributors. If CD-recordable technology has stirred the publisher in you. Publish Yourself on CD-ROM, with the EasyCD software, is a rel- atively painless way to experiment. If you decide to take the next step, however, you will need to find better sources of information on selling and promoting your products. — Michael Nadeau PARADOX BY EXAMPLE PARADOX FOR WINDOWS DEVELOPER'S GUIDE by Lee Atkinson, Tom Hovis, and Randy Magruder Sams, isbn o-672-30105-9, $44.9S Great beginnings are not the strong suit of Paradox for Win- dows Developer's Guide. There's a great deal of fat here — in both its wide-margin layout and its content. The authors waste space explaining that they're about to explain something, and the book would have been just fine without their gushing over Borland's database strategies. Several appen- dixes are equally worthless. Nonethe- less, the authors put plenty of beef into the examples that form the core of the book. And examples are what anyone tackling Paradox for Windows will be looking for. An enclosed disk contains over 6.3 MB of compressed sample databas- es, programs, scripts, bit maps, and other miscellanea. You'll even find C programs that illuminate the fine art of attaching DLL sup- port routines to ObjectPAL programs. Working through the ex- amples reveals the real worth of the book. Having the live screens on your computer's display is essential, because some of the screen shots don't reproduce well in the book. As a developer's reference, this book falls short of the mark. As a cookbook of programming examples, however, it's worth pe- rusing. ■ — Rick Grehan aradox' )r Windows evelopgr's Guide. 52 BYTE JULY 1993 Circle 86 on Inquiry Card. A Couple of Gigs That'll Play in Peoria* Introducing PowerTape Series 2400 from Colorado Memory Systems. With up to 2.4 Gigabytes of capacity using data compression, and a native capacity of 1.2 GB, PowerTape 2400 is perfect for backing up a lot of data, even networks, onto one tape about the size of your hand. At only $1,295 including SCSI controller, software and more, PowerTape 2400 is the best act in the house. And if you're looking for a powerful performance, PowerTape transfers data at up to 18 MB per minute. PowerTape plays to virtually any crowd. It supports workstation backup from most network operating systems including Novell NetWare*, NetWare Lite", LANtastic'', 3COM* and IBM* PC-NET. PowerTape is also available in 4 GB models as well as NLM and VAP editions. Call 1-800-451-0897, ext. 327 for a FREE 76-page catalog. POWERTAPE SERIES SAOO © ] 993 Colorado Memory Systems Inc, AH rights reserved. PowerTape and Colorado are trademarks of Colorado Memory Systems Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective companies. PTB~BYT030493 CircU 69 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 70). Now's You wanted the power to choose from a world of dif- ferent appUcations. DOS appHcations. Windows™ appHcations. OS/2® appHcations. OS/2 2.0 gave you the power. And the response was impressive, to say the least. Over two million copies shipped in less than one year. More than 1,200 OS/2 applications already available? But now you want more. More features. More functions. More applications to choose from. That's why we're intro- ducing OS/2 2.1. The new OS/2 2.1 lets you run the latest Windows 3.1 applications, in addition to the DOS, Windows and OS/2 applications you can already run. We've also added TrueType fonts, select Windows applets. File Manager and support for Windows 3.1 printer and display drivers, including 32-bit seamless SVGA support. And now you can start DOS and OS/2 applications from a WIN-OS/2 session, too. Portable users will be glad to know that OS/2 2.1 provides industry-standard Advanced Power ^ With OS/2 2.1 at the heart of your PC, you can run a world of DOS, Windows and OS/2 applications. your There's no need to buy DOS and Windows to run DOS and Windows applications. Management (APM) support, to help extend battery life. We've made the cursor larger so it's easier to find your place on the screen. And OS/2 2.1 continues to exploit the very latest in technology. You'll find improved support for multi-media applications and pen-based capabilities, along with built-in CD-ROM support and AS/400® terminal emulation. Of course, OS/2 2.1 still gives you true pre-emptive multitasking, superior OS/2 Crash Protection™ and the easy-to-use object-oriented Workplace Shell™ interface. All the features that made Version 2.0 an award-winner. But now, you also get a whole new world of possibilities. Introducing Version 2.1 4 chance OS/2 2.1 is now also available on CD-ROM. It comes with exciting multimedia samplers, full-motion video demos and more. Demand OS/2 2.1 preloaded on your next PC. With our free demo diskette, you can find out even more about all the the powerful features OS/2 2.1 has to offer. For your copy, to find out more about OS/2 2.1, or to order, a,«yor^o..yr.e call 1 800 3-IBM-OS2. demo diskette. In Canada, call 1 800 465-7999. Operate at a higher level! to run OS/2 2.1 Advantages Improves productivity • Now runs OS/2, DOS and new Windows 3.1 applications. • New TrueType fonts, Windows applets, File Manager. • Advanced Power Management (APM) support extends battery life for portables. • OS/2 Crasfi Protection and pre-emptive multitasking. Easy to use • Now also available on CD-ROIVl. • Object-oriented Workplace Sfiell interface. Advanced 32-blt architecture • Seamless SVGA support. • Fully exploits latest multimedia applications. • Supports CD-ROM, PCMCIA and pen tectinologies. worid "To order CD-ROM with list of OS/2 applications, call Walnut Greek at 1 800 786-9907 IBM, AS/400, OS/2 are registered trademarks, OS/2 Crash Protection and Workplace Shell are trademarks, and "Operate at a higher level" is a service mark of International Business Machines Corporation. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. TrueType is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. ©1993 IBM Corp. Circle 96 on Inquiry Card. "Raima Database Server's performance is rouglily equivalent to hitting the afterburner. - John Michelsen, Millennium Software John Michelsen knew what he wanted in a database. After doing his homework, John chose Raima Database Server as the client-server DBMS for his exciting new Dominion™ Accounting Series. Raima Database Server is the cUent-server database of choice for applications with demanding perfomiance requirements. It has everything you look for in a client- server DBMS: ANSI-standard SQL, support for Microsoft ODBC and SAG client APIs, declarative referential integrity, and extension modules that allow you to execute user functions on the server via Raima's embedded remote procedure call mechanism. And ultimately, performance. Raima Database Server delivers consistently high throughput and fast response times. We support all the major server platforms, including Seattle • Los Angeles • Chicago • New York • Australia • Belgium • Brazil • Costa Rica • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • Italy Japan • Mexico • The Netherlands • Norway • Russia • Sweden • Switzerland • Taiwan • Turkey • United Kingdom © 199,1 Raima Corporation. Raima Databa.(£ Ser\'er is a irademarlc and Raima is a rcyiMered trademark of Raima Corporation. Otiier computer and software natnes arc trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Raima Corporation. 1605 NW Sammamish Rd. Suite 20t). Issaquah. W.^ 98027 USA. Millennium Software. Inc.. 4223 Cenlcrgate. San Antonio. TX 78217 NetWare 386, OS/2, UNIX, and Windows NT. And Raima Database Server gives you all this with prices that blast the competition — for example, our unlimited user NLM is $8995. Hit the afterburner with your client-server application. See what our customers in design automation, workflow computing, document and image management, geographic information systems, process control, and vertical-market solutions already know. For a commercial product or an in- house project, Raima Database Server is the answer. Call today for a free white paper on Raima Database Server In the US. or Canada, call: l-SOO-DB-RAIMA In Washington state or international, cail 206-557-0200 Fax: 206-557-5200 RAIMA Feature Cluster PCs for Power MICHAEL J. GUTMANN very day, more and more MIS managers are down- sizing their mainframe and minicomputer applications to client/server arciiitecture. However, big-iron applications sometimes require more processing power than your serv- er can deliver. And applications such as image processing and full-motion video require more network bandwidth than Ethernet or token-ring networks can currently provide. To overcome the barriers to using such applications, you can try a relatively inexpensive network design approach called a PC cluster. A PC cluster uses a small, high-band- width network to group together high- end computers or workstations to serve as a high-capacity extension of your ex- isting network. While an Ethernet or to- ken-ring network typically provides you with file- and resource-sharing capabil- ities, a PC cluster is used for problem- solving applications, making it more of a distributed system than a computer network. Physically, a PC cluster resembles a standard network, but instead of 10- Mbps Ethernet or token-ring topolo- gies, you use a 100-Mbps network to loosely couple your high-end worksta- tions. The combined processing power of the clustered computers and the high- bandwidth interconnection creates a large server capable of processing ap- plications that were once beyond the scope of your server and network. The novelty of a PC cluster is that it lets you exploit intermachine connections for special-purpose, multi- processor, and network-intensive applications, such as image processing and full-motion video. Since you build a PC cluster around the computers that you al- ready have, your existing software runs on it without modifica- tion, and your program development team has a familiar plat- form with which to write new applications. It also saves you Do you need more processing power? How about more network bandwidth? You can turn your existing network into a PC cluster. money. For example, rather than re- placing your low-bandwidth network, you can continue to use it for client sys- tems and such operations as database processing and E-mail. The PC cluster connects to the low-bandwidth client network through standard network in- terfaces on cluster machines, allowing the systems on the client network to ob- tain access to cluster data. Three key components are neces- sary for building a PC cluster. The first is any type of network that is capable of a sustained 100-Mbps data transfer rate, such as a fiber-optic network. Second, you need a computer that has sufficient bus bandwidth to handle distributed CPU processing and to drive the network. Finally, you must have software to control network and PC-cluster data transfers. A 33-MHz 486-based computer augmented with an IEEE 1296 bus would satisfy the computer criterion, but the PC-cluster concept is applicable to a variety of microcomputer platforms JULY r993 BYXE S7 Feature WHAT'S A PC CLUSTER? A PC CLUSTER IS a network design that creates a large server by linking work- stations through a high-bandwidth networ1(. A PC CLUSTER IS a way for you to downsize complex applications that were once too huge for your server to handle. A PC CLUSTER IS built with the computers you already have, giving you a familiar development platform tiiat runs your existing software. A PC CLUSTER IS a development platform for multiprocessor applications Uiat take advantage of high- speed networking. A PC CLUSTER IS a high-powered, high- speed extension of your existing network that specializes in problem-solving applications. operating in the client-server environ- ment. Bus Bursts Data The IEEE 1 296 bus, also called the Multi- bus II, is well suited for building a PC cluster. The Multibus II is a 32-bit syn- chronous bus with parity and designed with stringent electrical and mechanical specifications, making it highly reliable. Because it is so reliable, you can load it with processors and peripheral controllers and not have to be concerned with un- wanted interactions resulting from elec- trical interference. The Multibus II features backplane mes- sage passing, which, due to its efficiency, lets you build a high-speed, compact net- work. Configuring a system around the Multibus II is simple, because the message- passing interface de- couples CPUs from data transfer over- head, resulting in a 320-Mbps data trans- fer rate without any intervention by the central processing unit. As a result, its overall speed is suffi- cient to drive the PC cluster's high-band- width interconnection as close as possible to its physical limits while also avoiding excessive CPU over- head, which would slow down system performance. The Multibus II backplane can support up to 2 1 processor cards, so you can tailor it for specific applications. Because of the decoupled, packet-switching nature of its message-passing protocol, concurrent I/O transfers at the local cards" maximum bandwidth are possible. This makes for an attractive I/O environment. You could, for example, load up the Multibus II with se- rial communications cards and build an enormous modem server at a cost of about $200 per communications port. A computer built in compliance with the IEEE 1 296 format enables you to con- struct compact PC clusters. For example, you can fit 16 such computers into an en- closure no larger in volume than one or two tower computer cases. Further, if you Transport Protocols FEATURE BENEFFF Transfers small control and Keeps intermachine communications interrupt messages efficient by sending status signals rapidly Transfers data messages as small Moves data at high speeds without as 20 bytes and as large as software overhead or CPU 16MB fragmentation, preventing network- performance slowdowns Connectionless mode and low- Makes it easy to write apphcations and overhead transaction management; disk drivers; applications can be supports out-of-order responses partitioned over cluster CPUs Asynchronous interfaces with Grees you a NetBIOS-like interface and nonspecific and specific buffer flexible buffering; eliminates copying preposting data blocks incorporate a workstation computer into the backplane chassis, you can use it as a front end to other chassis cards, such as the CPU and I/O modules, without addi- tional external cabling and packaging. Communication Controls To ensure that the computers in your PC cluster are able to use their high-speed in- terconnection effectively, your PC-clus- ter intermachine software must use a data transfer protocol based on the bus back- plane message passing. Such a protocol is said to be "lightweight," meaning it's not CPU-intensive or laden down with transfer management functions. The transfer protocol will let you trans- fer both small-block (i.e., blocks as big as 20 bytes) and large-block (i.e., blocks as A 486-Based PC Augmented with Multibus II V Workstation ISA bus interface ">|r Cluster i interface Multibus II r PC-cluster interface software O decouples the CPU from transfer overhead and uses a backplane message-passing protocol, enabling concurrent I/O data transfers at maximum bandwidths. @ A workstation 's ISA bus doesn 't have sufficient bandwidth to push data fast enough for I/O-intensive operations. But under applications-software control, a 320-Mbps Multibus II bus can assume I/O-intensive operations. Routine system tasks are left to the ISA bus. S8 BYTE JULY 1993 -oo — Our new color printer not only looks great on paper, it looks great on paper. The eye when it sees biack and white. The eye when it sees color. True, the brilliant color produced by the new Tektronix Phaser® 200 is captivating. But the price is equally attractive. And though we've become the award-winning leader in color printers by frequently outdoing the ^. connpetition, this time 7^ we've even outdone our- selves. Introducing our newest business work group color printer The Phaser 200 is compatible with virtually any business software and can print two colorful pages per minute. No, not two minutes per page— two pages per minute. And even at a speed like that, it still manages to print eye-catch- ing color on common laser paper or transparencies using a separate input tray for each. You select the medium you want at your computer keyboard. And it switches automat- ically from user to user just as easily, using its parallel, serial, AppleTalk,™ or optional EtherTalk™ and Ethernet™ ports. It has all the advantages of a laser printer True Adobe PostScript™ Level 2, networkability Pantone® colors, speed and price. (Did you notice it's only $3695, slightly below unheard of?) And when you add to that extremely high materials capacity and sparkling TekColor™ output — not just any color, but the indisputably best color in the business — you've got something even better than our previous best. Which is quite a feat. So stop by your nearest Tektronix dealer or call us at 800/835-6100, Dept. 28J for a free output sample. For faxed infor- mation call 503/682-7450, ask for document 1 1223. You won't find another business investment that looks this good on paper Tektronix Phaser is a trademark of Tektronix. Inc. FbstScnpt is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. All other marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. CircU 1 48 on Inquiry Card. Feature big as 16 MB) data messages directly to or from the transport-application buffers. It must do so without CPU intervention and at the 320-Mbps Multibus II backplane data transfer rate. Its transaction mechanism must support out-of-order responses and asynchronous interfaces with nonspecific (i.e., a pool of buffers) and specific (i.e., a designated buffer) preposting capability. When designed in this manner, the transport protocol lets you build applica- tions that are partitioned over your cluster CPUs. This means that you can use the transport protocol for those parts of an ap- plication that require high-bandwidth com- munications, leaving routine network op- erations to be handled by NetBIOS. For example, you can design an OCR scanning application in which only the large-block images are transmitted over the PC cluster and the rest of the data is sent via Ethernet. A typical Ethernet net- work fragments data into small blocks be- fore shipping them across the network. The larger the OCR application's image, the more data Ethernet has to chop into blocks, and the more blocks it has to ship. These operations degrade performance, because they monopolize your CPU and choke your network bandwidth. But a PC cluster can send the OCR application's images in one large block over the high- speed connection, freeing the CPUs and Ethernet for other jobs. Using a PC -cluster design, you could build the OCR image-processing system using as few as nine 486-based PCs to process, compress, and store scanned im- ages, and you could use one PC to act as a file server (assuming that an uncompressed 600-KB image requires approximately 3 seconds to compress on a 486-based com- puter and that three images must be processed every second to keep up with the scanned image input). The large-block transfers to the file server's SCSI disk ar- ray and across the PC-cluster intercon- nection would free up enough bandwidth so that the file server could feed the sys- tems executing the compression algorithms at a pace that would satisfy the applica- tion's requirements. Furthermore, you could build a network video server capable of serving eight cli- ents simultaneously. Your base would be a 486 computer equipped with up to four SCSI connections, multimedia technolo- gy (e.g., DVI) to decompress video files, and up to 60 GB of storage for a 1000-clip video database (1 MB gives you 5 seconds of playback). Exploiting the cluster's large- block transfers, uninterrupted 200-Kbps (which is the minimum for high quality) video streams are possible. A scalable video server can be built with a cluster of individual computers with one or more Ethernet and SCSI con- trollers. The 100-Mbps interconnection would satisfy client requests to the video database. The maximum bandwidth of the SCSI or cluster interconnection determines the number of simultaneous clients (an expected situation in, say, educational ap- plications). The cluster lets your video server scale at both the client and video- storage interfaces. Adding a PC to the PC-Cluster Connectivity In addition to a special-purpose application, PC- cluster computers run NetBIOS and ~ network drivers for both the PC cluster and Ethernet. Cluster transport driver Cluster PC 100-Mbps PC-cluster interconnect Ethernet A PC cluster creates a large server by combining the processing power of several high-end PCs linked by a high- bandwidth, 100-Mbps network. A standard network interface connects the PC cluster to a low-bandwidth Ethernet network, allowing the Ethernet client PCs to access cluster data. With NetBIOS running on client PCs and PC- cluster computers, applications can be built that transparently access resources and data located on a clustered PC or on an Ethernet network. Client PCs use the low- bandwidth Ethernet for E-mail and database operations. A NetBIOS interface permits applications to transparently access a computer in the PC cluster or a computer residing on an external network. eO BYTE JULY 1993 Our Competitors Are So Confident Of Their Products, They Guarantee Them To Last A Third As Long As Ours. 3 YEAR warranty All COMPAQ Computers* 1 YEAR WARRANTY IBM PS/ ValuePoint and PS/1 I YEAR WARRANTY All Packard Bell Computers 1 YEAR WARRANTY AH Dell Computers why all PCs are not the same. That there are important differences in quality. And re- liability. And compatibility. That, in the end, COMPAQ computers are designed to help you get more done with few- er problems. But we also The COMPAQ_ProLinea, and all our know that this affordable computers, feature high- perjormance processors Jrom Intel. There's a common misconception to- day that computers are all alike. That they're made from the same compo- nents. That a box is a box is a box. Well, here at Compaq, we have over 9,000 employees who could tell you could sound like an empty ad- vertising promise if we didn't back it up. So we do. Because unlike others who charge for extended coverage, all of our affordably priced PCs include a 3 year warranty with one year of on-site service!* Free. And only a company that offers a bet- ter product can offer a better guarantee. For a reseller near you, please call us at 1-800-345-1518. COMPAQ © I99J Compaq Computer Corporation. All Rights Reserved. COMPAQ registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Product names mentioned herein may be trade- marks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. The Intel Inside logo is a registered trademark of the Intel Corporation. *A11 monitors shown are cov- ered by a one-year warranty. For Further details on our limited warranty, conUct the Compaq Customer Support Center. ••This service is provided by Contracted Service Providers and may not be available in certain geographic locations. Certain restrictions and exclusions apply. Circle 71 on Inquiry Card. I Feature Four Multibus II Cards and Shared Peripherals DOS, Windows GUIs, applications, and cluster-transport drivers run on a computer connected to a high- bandwidth PC cluster. A second, application- specific computer hides PC-cluster control and interrupt messages from the DOS environment. Fast large-blocit transfers to the file server's SCSI disk array and across the 100-Mbps interconnection enable rapid-fire data feeds from the file server to the clustered computers running an application. \ PC-cluster file server iiiiiiiiiiiiiim iiiiiiiiiiiinHr 1 00-Mbps PC-cluster interconnection A PC-cluster computer with an Ethernet controller links the low-bandwidth Ethernet network and the high-bandwidth PC- cluster interconnection so that computers on either netwoili can share peripherals and access data. ■ On a PC cluster. PCs can share bus peripherals. Cluster NetBIOS support redirects hard disk accesses to the cluster PC that runs the file server. cluster gives you more Ethernet segments Standard Network Support work must interface with the PC cluster or disk capacity. As mentioned earlier, your existing net- without modification. Thus, your PC- A PORTABLE DISK DRIVE YOUU l\IEVBi \ iilitek .sets tlie standard for the next generation of portable disk drives widi the new Valitek PST^-M0128. It's a .3.5" rewritable magneto-optical .system that delivers unlimited portable disk storage. Simply connect it to the parallel, serial or SCSI port on anv PC or Mac. and store up to 128 MB of data on a single interchangeable disk. Like everv \ alitek. the PST--M0128 features an indiistrial-giade steel rase that stands up to wear and tear. It's buill to last in today s harfl-knock portable environments. If vou can't afford to lose a ODTGROW. VALITEK single bit of data, gel a Valilek - tl new PST--MG128 or a best-sellinK Valilek high capacity tape drive. 100 University Drive, Amherst, MA 01002 CALL: 1-800- VALITEK or 413-549-2700 FAX: 41 3-549-2900 From the ivorldwi(U 62 BVTE JULY 1993 Circle 1 53 on Inquiry Card. The New Generation Monitors ViewSonic's New Generation is everything high performance monitors should be ... and more. The ViewSonic 15, 17, 20 and 21 produce remarkably crisp, sharp screen images witli enhanced vibrant colors. Some advanced innovations include ergonomically designed drop-down digital control panels, special screen coatings, the ViewMatch"' color control system, and resolutions up to 1600 x 1280 non-interlaced. The biggest surprise of all is the price -much less than you'd expect to pay for such astounding quality Call ViewSonic at 800-888-8583 for information on our award-winning monitors. Welcome to the New Generation. Vieft^onic 15 Viett^nic 17 View^nic 20 ViewSonic 21 Screen Size 15" 17" 20" 21" Dot Pitch (mm) 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.26 Horizontal Frequency (KHz) 30-64 30-82 30-82 30-82 1600x 1280 Non-Interlaced ■ ■ ■ .Maximum Refresh Rate (Hz) at 1280 X 1024 NI 60 76 76 76 Flat Square Screen ■ ■ ■ ViewMatch" Color Control ■ ■ ■ Low Radiation (MPRll) ■ ■ ■ ■ ViewSonic® 20480 Business Pkwy Walnut, CA 91789 Tel. (909) 869-7976 Fax (909) 869-7958 ViewSonic 21 screen image by SPATIHI. TECHNOLOGY INC., Boulder, CO. Created with ACIS* Geometric Modeler and rendered with Visualization Husk. •Color temperature select 9300°K or 6550°K only. All products and brand names are registered trademarks of Iheir registered companies. Circle 1 55 on Inquiry Cord (RESELLERS: 1 56). Feature cluster DOS software needs a NetBIOS interface to ensure that your applications can communicate across the PC-cluster backplane just as they do over a standard PC network. A NetBIOS interface also permits applications to transparently ac- cess another computer in the PC cluster or one residing on an external network. Intel offers OEMs PC-cluster DOS soft- ware with a control-block interface that's similar to the NetBIOS NCB (network control block). Its MPCB (message-pass- ing control block) is passed via a software interrupt to the message-passing driver, and the MPCB uses the NCB's asynchro- nous notification-routine technique to re- turn completion status and to deliver new- ly received messages. If you're familiar with the NCB interface, you'll be able to work with the MPCB interface easily. A Windows/NetBIOS interface allows you to use Windows DDE protocols be- tween computers in the PC cluster. You can extend the Windows environment with a Windows process to field DDE messages and route them over the network as need- ed. Because the DDE router is a NetBIOS application, it runs across any network that supports the NetBIOS interface. A PC-cluster NetBIOS interface also allows DDE-capable Windows applica- tions to run across a PC cluster. This ap- plication environment lets one or more computers in the PC cluster perform an application-specific function and pass user- interface data to another system that exe- cutes the GUI. If the front-end computer is part of the PC cluster, you can create em- bedded applications that do not require ex- ternal cabling or packaging of the opera- tor's system. Sharing Cluster Resources A PC cluster can share a single keyboard, monitor, and drive, a plus in terms of cost and ease of use. Cluster PCs can also share a single backplane Ethernet controller or a serial communications controller. A disk- less DOS-boot capability lets you boot up diskless PCs across the backplane. Your PC-cluster software should sup- port the sharing of Multibus II disk and LAN controllers and bus peripherals. Use NetBIOS support to redirect hard disk ac- cesses to the computer in the PC cluster that functions as the file server. A keyboard and monitor redirector can also be included in the cluster software. The redirector would use the PC-cluster transport to carry out its operations. Future Applications Cunently, Intel's PC-cluster software sup- ports DOS text-mode graphics programs. But given the bandwidth of the PC-clus- ter interconnection, it should be possible to support bit-mapped graphics across the backplane as well. This could change your concept of console monitoring and con- trol. Bit-mapped graphics would let you observe activities on other Windows- based systems linked to your backplane. Further, you could manipulate those ma- chines through Windows on your ma- chine. Thus, instead of Windows-based virtual machine multitasking, you would have true multimachine multitasking ca- pabilities. Since the PC cluster's design is based directly on exisdng CPU cores, you'll be able to adapt your PC-cluster hardware and software to evolving industry trends. Additionally, the size and scope of the ap- plications that you can develop for use with your PC cluster will also follow those trends. ■ Michael J. Gutmann is a software engineer with Intel Corp. (Hillsboro, OR). You can contact him on the Internet at Mike _Gutmann@ ccm .hf.intel.com. DATA COMPRESSION LIBRARIES TM PKWARE's® Data Compression LibrariesT^' allow software developers to add data compression technology to software applications. The application program controls all the input and output of data allowing data to be compressed or extracted to or from any device or area of memory. • All Purpose Data Compression Algorithm Compresses Ascii or Binary Data Quickly with similar compression achieved by the popular PKziP software, however the format used by the compression routine is completely generic and not specific to the PKZIP file format. • Application Controlled I/O and memory allocation for extreme flexibility. • Adjustable Dictionary Size allows software to be fine tuned for Maximum Size or Speed. • Approximately 35K memory needed for Compression, 12K memory needed for Extraction. • Compatible with most popular Languages: C, C+ +, Pascal, Assembly. Basic, Clipper, Etc. • Works with any 80x86 family CPU in real or protected mode. $295.00 • No runtime royalties. I RUNNING OUT OF EXPENSIVE DISK SPACE? | PKziP can help! PKziP compresses your files to free up disk space and reduce modem transfer time. You can compress a single file or entire directory structures with a single command. Compressed files can be quickly returned to their normal size with PKoMZlP. Software developers can reduce the number of diskettes needed to distribute their product by using PKziP . Call for Distribution License information. The included Pl^"' utility lets you store compressed files as a single self-extracting .EXE files that automatically uncompresses when run. Only $47.00 9025 N. Deerwood Dr. Brown Deer, Wl 53223 (414) 354-8699 Fax (414) 354-8559 BY793 a ^ THE DATA COMPRESSION EXPERTS | 64. H V I I : JULY 1993 Circle 133 on Inquiry Card. WATCOMTM SQL for Windows by WATCOM WATCOM™ SQL for Windows is a complete client/server DBMS including a standalone sin- gle-user SQL database server. WATCOM SQL for Windows allows you to develop and deploy single- user standalone applications, and to develop applications for use within the WATCOM SQL Network Server Edition. 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Ours: $89 2553-0002 GUARANTEED BEST PRICES! (Call for Details) order call: 800-445-7899 rate (CORSOFT): 800 422-6507 FAX: 908 389-9227 International: 908 389-9228 Customer Service: 908 389-9229 For more information on the • All prices are subject to change without notice. 1 on Inquiry Card. IN DesignCAD WOULD HAVE SAVED 15 YEARS PRODUCTION COSTS he Egyptian propensity for building monumen- tal tombs stemmed from the belief that just as a living person developed a person- ality in life, his KA, or spiri- tual double would continue to develop inside of his corpse. As a result, the reigning king, at that time considered to be an incarnate deity, would spend as many as 30 years and 120,000 men to construct these monuments. That was then. Nowadays, time is money. This is where DesignCAD can help you. DesignCAD is easy to learn. Combine this with its fast redraws and calculations, simple command selection and point-and-click editing and you've got the strongest CAD package available. 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Plione (918)825-7555 • Fax (918)825-6359 $349.95 American Small Business Computers One American Way • Pryor, OK • 74361 Circle 64 on Inquiry Card. 4l $499.95 Feature Data from the Depths BEN SMITH ata acquisition in a con- trolled environment is a challenge all its own, but when the sensors are 400 meters below the surface of the ocean and towed by a research ship off the Azores, a new set of challenges arises. Even though the data acquisi- tion methods used by WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) are distinctive, they are applicable to sev- eral other data acquisition problems and reflect a new trend in data acqui- sition systems. A number of sites are relying on small, programmable data acquisition systems that operate inde- pendently of computers. Ocean Currents This case study covers a small part of the large and complex Subduction Ex- periment sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. As the Gulf Stream crosses the Atlantic, it bends clock- wise — a phenomenon caused by the Coriolis force (i.e., the whirl in fluids resulting from the earth's rotation) — and generates strong oceanic currents. The Subduction Experiment, a three- year study of these currents and their effect on the weather, covers both oceanographic and meteorological data collection in an area covering more than 1 million square kilome- ters. It involves a number of other research institutions be- sides WHOI. Subduction is the process of one earth plate sliding beneath another. In much the same way, one ocean current layer can slide beneath other layers. By understanding where and how subduc- tion occurs in ocean currents, researchers can develop a better un- derstanding of the currents and the weather in general. The Subduction Experiment incorporates three studies. The first study is of the large-scale structure of wind and thermal forces, as well as the upper ocean responses to these. The sec- ond study is of the mesoscale structure of the velocities and Acquiring data from tiie ocean reveals a trend: programmable devices that operate independently of personal computers directions of mixing currents and the currents' vortices. The third study is of the currents and thermal front that occur off the Azores. There are three primary in- struments to the Subduction Ex- periment. The third is the focus of this case study: • Moored instrument buoys — these record meteorological and sur- face conditions and collect information from the water that flows past them at different depths. • Free-moving buoys — some record their position as they drift with the current at a depth of 300 m; others float near the surface, and a satellite tracks them; and some regularly come to the sur- face to transmit data to a satellite and then dive to various depths to collect more data. • The Seasoar (manufactured by Chelsea Instruments, Surrey, U.K.) — this towed vessel has on-board sensors that collect a ver- tical cross section of CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) JULY 1993 BYTE 89 ase 5 Discover why FoxPro, Clipper, and dBASE were all written in C. ^here is a good reason why • your database language was developed in C. In fact, there are many good reasons. C code is small. C code is fast. C code is portable. C code is flexible. C is the language of choice for today's professional developer. With the growing complexity of database applications, C is a realistic alternative. Now with CodeBase 5.0, you can have all the functionality, simplicity and power of traditional database languages together with the benefits of C/C++. C speed - fast code, true executables... FoxPro, Clipper, and dBASE were written in C primarily for speed. But those compilers don't really compile, they combine imbedded language interpreters into your .EXE. Now that's slow. For dazzling performance you need the true executables of C. With CodeBase you get the real thing, C code. Consider the following statistics, from the publisher of Clipper: SLOWER dBASE IV FoxPro Clipper 5 remember, those products are all written in C. So why do you need to lug all their extra code around? You don't. CodeBase is a complete DBMS, in C. No fat executables stuffed with unused code. No runtime modules. No royalties. Just quality C code. CodeBase is just what you need. C portability -ANSI C/C++ on every hardware platform... No other language exists on more platforms than C/C++. Why rewrite your entire application for DOS, Windows, Windows NT, OS/2 or UNIX? With CodeBase the complete C source code is included, so you can port to any platform with an ANSI C or C++ compiler. Now and in the future. dBASE Compatible data, index and memo files... You want the industry standard. You need compatibility. Sure, dBASE is the standard, but every dBASE compatible DBMS product uses its own unique index and memo file formats. Only CodeBase has them all: FoxPro (.cdx), Clipper (.ntx), dBASE IV (.mdx) and dBASE III (.ndx). Now it's your choice, we're compatible with you. Announdns CodeBase 5!D The power of a complete DBMS, the benefits of C NEW - Multi-user sharing with FoxPro, Clipper and dBA^iE... Now your multi-user C/C++ programs can share data, index and memo files at the same time as concurrently running FoxPro, Clipper and dBASE programs. No incompatibilities. No waiting. NEW - Queries & Relations 1000 times faster... CodeBase 5.0 now lets you query related data files with any logical dBASE expression. Our new Bit Optimization Technology (similar to FoxPro's Rushmore technology) uses index files to return a query on a 1/2 million record data file in just a second. Automatically take advantage of this query performance by using our new CodeReporter: Product Sales Sumri iiimina [TO TAL Product Sales Summary MoaMi at. Nw. in? Value ii $2413700 SptesO Sheet sa 121 .886 00 UsMhly Sommary 121 SAJMiM Month of Value t?48S? 00 Spread Sheet S3 119.075 00 MoMMy Summary IIS M4.73r.oa Swrnacy 2N ni.7«t.M To use CodeReporter, simply draw your report, then include it in any program you write. Call 403/437-2410 now for your FREE working model of CodeReporter New - Design complex reports in just minutes... Our new CodeReporter takes the painstaking work out of reports. Now simply design and draw reports interactively under Windows 3J, then print or display them from any DOS, Windows or UNIX application. SPECIAL - FREE CodeReporter Order CodeBase 5 before August 31, 1993 and receive CodeReporter for free! This offer includes our no-risk, 90-day money back guarantee, so order today! "Sieve of Erastothenes" Benchmark for Prime Number Generation Shows C to be incredibly faster ! C size - small executables, no added overhead... FoxPro, Clipper and dBASE would like you to believe you need their entire development system to build database applications. But OI992 Scquiler Soflwaie Inc. All nghK reserved. CodeBase is a tndemaik of Sequiter Soltwm tnc. All other trade names leftrenced herein are properly of their respective companies. SMdvertising by MicraArls S.O The C/C++ Library lor DataBase Management Call Now 403-437-2410 SEQUITER III SOFTWARE INC. Nil FAX 403-436-2999 UK Tel. +44-81-317-4321 France +33.20.24.20.14 P O Box 575 Newmarhet NH 03857 Circle 140 on Inquiry Card. Feature data and the data of the Seasoar itself. For its sensors to collect data in this way, the Seasoar oscillates between a depth of 400 m and the surface as it is pulled behind a 170-foot research ship at 8 knots. Because the movement of the currents at a thermal front includes a vertical component as well as a horizontal component, the Seasoar is necessary to gather data for the study of this complex, 3-D activity. Without a con- tinuously collecting vessel like the Sea- soar, a ship would have to make frequent stops and lower a sensor to collect the data at different points and depths along the Inside the Seasoar grid. The data collected with the Seasoar, combined with the data from an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (on-board the ship) and from monitoring the diffusion of a short-lived tracer (radon-222), pro- vides a clear, multisensory picture of what the currents are doing in the complex re- gion of the Azorean front. Rough Seas The Seasoar consists of a hydrodynamic case, roughly 0.4 m in diameter by 1 m in length. Its overall length is approxi- mately 2.5 m. It includes a towing bridle Impeller sensor Pitch sensor UART = universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter at the bow, an impeller and stabilizer fins at the stem, and wings on either side of the instrument case. Its sensors and elec- tronics are in pres- PAUL "LUIGI" FUCILE handled the details of devising a data acquisition module for the Seasoar. He designed the solution around an off-the-shelf, self-powered, data- logging board, the Tattleye4A. The Seasoar contains a control module and two data acquisition components: the scientific package for logging CTD data and the engineering package for determining the Seasoar' s status. sure-tight tubes in- side the instrument case. Fortunately, the CTD data acquisi- tion system in the Seasoar uses stan- dardized oceano- graphic sensors. Un- fortunately, there is a problem obtaining the operations and engineering data used for monitoring the operation of the Seasoar itself and determining its ex- act location at all times. The Seasoar de- termines its depth by adjusting the angle of attack of its wings. An impeller-driven pump at the back of the unit hydraulical- ly powers the wing rotation. An elec- tronic valve (i.e., the Moog servo valve), which is part of an on-board analog-depth- sensor feedback loop, controls the hy- draulics. A panel on the deck of the ship controls the depth and frequency of the Seasoar's dives. TTie exact orientation of the Seasoar is actually unknown. At times, the Seasoar had problems in performance when it was near the surface and at the bottom of its dive. Only two weeks before the Seasoar was due to leave port, the WHOI project team decided to add a second data acqui- sition system to the Seasoar, to better con- trol its performance. This was a problem for the design team. The Design Team The success of a project depends on the planning that goes into it. WHOI excels at planning and engineering. It has sup- port engineers as well as oceanographic scientists, and all specialize in oceanog- raphy. The support engineers must also perform tasks that relate to fields ranging from fluid dynamics to computer design. It takes a seaworthy party of scientists to run an oceanographic cruise, and a multidis- ciplinary team to solve problems before the cruise. The first member of the design team is Jerry Dean, a research specialist and a JULY 1993 BYTE 7X Announcing the first network printer Operating System Tbpology Novell Netware 'Ethenwtl 802.3 Tbken Ring (41 16 Mbps) Microsojl^ •802.3 LANMavager Tbken Ring (4U6Mbps) Windows for •802.3 Workgroups Tbken Ring (4/16 Mbps) Windows NT •802.3 Tbken Ring ( 4116 Mbps ) IBMLANServer •802.3 Tbken Ring (4116 Mbps) Applelhlk •LocalTblk •EtherThlk HP-UX" •Ethernet SunOS" •Ethernet Solaris'* •Ethernet SCO UNIX* •Ethernet 'Standard in the HP LaserJet4SI MX printer. • 'Foroperating HP-UX, SunOS or Solaris, a one-time purcliase of $199 in configuration software is r^uired. Adobe and PostScript are trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. which may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Microsoft is a U.S. registered trade- mark of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a registered trade- mark of UNIX System Laboratories Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries, tin Canada call 1-800-387-3867, Ext. 7299. C 1993 Hewlett-Packard PE12353 Multiple environments are no longer worlds apart. Even if you have Novell Netware on one network, HP-UX on another and Etherlklk on a third, the new HP LaserJet 4Si MX printer easily connects across platforms. Automatically. The HP LaserJet 4Si MX printer comes out-of-the-box preconfig- ured for multiple environments. There's nothing more to do than plug-and-play. All interfaces are simultaneously hot, making switching so seamless, end-users won't even notice. What's more, HP's LaserJet 4Si MX printer is ready to handle whatever needs come down the that adapts to multiple environments. pike. More operating systems? No problem. As your network system continues to evolve, the capabilities of this printer are no longer just impressive. They're indispensable. The HP LaserJet 4Si MX printer is loaded with features that define state-of-the-art. HP's enhanced PCL5 and genuine PostScript"" Level 2 software from Adobe" come standard. Printer environments are saved while switching. Setup is a cinch with network software utilities and drivers included in the box. And, if you need any reassurance about trouble-free operation, you have it in our Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) support. At 17 ppm, this is. the fEistest LaserJet ever, with I/Os and RISC- based formatter capabilities matched to support its speed. It delivers impeccable 600 dpi print quality— thanks to HP's microfine toner and Resolution Enhancement technology. Plus, it comes standard with two 500 sheet input trays. But what if you don't need the full capabilities of the HP LaserJet 4Si MX printer right away? HP offers another printer that's probably a perfect fit. The HP LaserJet 4Si printer delivers the identical 17 ppm performance and superb 600 dpi print quality. It also has room to grow. The two MIO expansion slots let you add HP JetDirect network interface or third party cards. And you can add on Adobe's genuine PostScript Level 2 software and SIMM memory modules, as you need them. To find out more about the multiple-network HP LaserJet 4Si MX printer and the upgrad- able HP LaserJet 4Si printer just call l-800-LASERJET,Ext. 7299.t Capabilities this advanced make a world of difference— in any environment. HEWLETT 'HM PACKARD Circle 93 on Inquiry Card. Feature WHOI engineer on the Seasoar project. He focuses his work on oceanic and ma- rine meteorological sensors for moorings and buoys and on the free-drifting, acoustically tracked ocean-current meters that are part of the Subduction Experi- ment. Dean knew that with specific in- formation on the Seasoar' s roll and pitch, wing angle, and depth pressure, and the rotation rate of its impeller-driven pump, he could determine the Seasoar' s exact position. In addition, the information could determine the cause of the performance problems. Constraints were formidable. Electron- ics and a power source had to fit in the small, pressure-tight instrument tube in- side the Seasoar. The budget for collecting data for Seasoar control was small. The design team had to find an inexpensive so- lution quickly. The problem of working Shipside out the details was handed to Paul "Luigi" Fucile, Dean's circuits expert. Fucile's so- lution was simple and inexpensive, and it fit in the Seasoar' s constrained space. Dean called this new data acquisition system "the engineering package." p-eng p-ctd roll pi rots tensn y,i] Calmer Waters The engineering package was designed around an off-the-shelf, self-powered data- logging board (see "Small, Portable Data Acquisition Systems"). This design ap- proach represents a trend in data acquisi- tion: taking the data- collection component off large computer systems and placing it directly on a mea- suring device. In this case, Fucile used a Tattletale 4A from Onset Computer. The Tattletale offers eight 12-bit A/D channels. Cable- tension sensor- ADC PC running a QuickBasic program DAC Control current Moog valve current Seasoar analog control Command voltage CTD pressure data Scientific data logger Tattletale •-communications Seasoar communications CTD communications Sea cable A personal computer on-board the research ship takes the ASCII daia coming into the serial port and plots it as five separate curves representing the five elements of data. In addition, the program sends pressure data out through an A/D converter to the shipside Seasoar controller, thereby eliminating the need for the Seasoar depth sensor. 18 programmable digital I/O ports, and a three-wire asyn- chronous serial port for communications and control. It mea- sures 5.7 by 9.46 centimeters and con- sumes 2 to 15 milli- amperes at 5 V in ac- tive mode, and only 30 microamperes in sleep mode. The Tat- tletale's data acquisi- tion and control func- tions are programmed in TTBASIC (Tattle- tale BASIC) through a serial port with a terminal or a serial- communications pro- gram. It also has 32 KB of RAM, backed by a lithium battery. TTBASIC resides in 16 KB of ROM. Fucile used only four A/D ports and one digital I/O port for his data channels. He built the signal-conditioning electronics using wire-wrapped components on a board (supplied by Onset) that plugs di- rectly into the Tattletale's piggyback con- nectors. The pitch and roll sensors are elec- trolytic fluid inclinometers. The pressure is measured with a load cell that incorpo- rates its own amplifier. The wing angle is measured with a linear potentiometer and voltage divider. A magnetodiode sensor determines rotation speed by tracking tiny magnets that are cemented to the impeller blades. The data coming from the sensor is a digital signal; therefore, it doesn't need an A/D channel. The BASIC program on the Tattletale controls the power to the sensors, mea- sures and keeps a running average of the A QuickBasic program on the shipside personal computer displays the engineering data as it is sent up from the Tattletale 4A inside the Seasoar. Some of the data comes from the shipside Seasoar control, and some may come from the scientific sensors. Note the delay between the voltage sent to the Seasoar Moog valve ( CMD) and the actual depth as shoivn by pressure (p-ctd or p-eng). 74 BYTE JULY 1993 A SoKd Case for Real Power. POWER SUPPLIES "The premier power-supply maker" John Dvorak, PC Magazine, March 30, 1993 "The only company to go to for a power supply" Jerry Poumelle, Byte, April 1993 STANDARD LMTS These UL/CSA approved, My tested power supplies are the best basic units available. STANDARD 205 SLIM $89 STANDARD 220 AT/TOWER $89 ULTRA-QUIET UNITS Unrattle your nerves with a Silencer power supply, recognized since 1986 as die industry's quietest. 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And, witfi up to 18 drive bays, they offer real expandability! Ideal for commercial and industrial appHcations. CASE SPECMCATIONS Desktop Tower Monster Motherboard Capacity: I 1 2 Power Supply Capacity: 1 1 2 Exposed Drive Bays: 3 6 13 Total Drive Bays: 5 8 18 Cooling Fans: 2 3 6 Filtered Air Inlet: Yes Yes Yes Lockable Front Door: Yes No Yes Professional Controls Yes Yes Yes All-Steel Construction: Yes Yes Yes Beige or Black Finish: Yes Yes Yes Meets FCC-B Specs: Yes Yes Yes Made in USA: Yes Yes Yes SOLID-STEEL DESKTOP CASE „„ $295 SOLID-STEEL TOWER CASE „„ $395 SOLID-STEEL MONSTER CASE .... $895 It's a fact 486 chips run hot, often exceeding 185°F! Now, you can cool your 486 to a safe 85°- 95T with our popular CPU-Cool. It prevents random system errors and other heat-related problems. Consists of a mini-fan embedded in a sculptored heat sink diat easily mounts on die CPU. Powered by a spare drive connector. 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Turbo-Cool, TwinPower and CPU-Cool models guaranteed for 2 years. All other products guaranteed for 1 year. Hours: 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. (PT) Mon. - Fri. Silencer, Turbo-Cool, ThermaSense, TwinPower, and CPU-Cool are trademarks or registered trademarks of PC Power & Cooling, Inc. ©1993 PC Power & Cooling, Inc. Circle 125 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 126). Feature Small, Portable Data Acquisition Systems HOWARD EGLOWSTEIN One trouble with data is that the interesting stuff never seems to be near a labo- ratory bench. Your network is having difficulty with packet collisions from time to time; what's the network load as col- lisions reach their worst? Or say you raise dairy cattle and want to monitor each animal by tag- ging it with coded markers and weighing it as it passes through a gate. You could design special- ized hardware for these tasks, or you could run power to the remote site and use a standard personal com- puter. A better option might be a low- power dedicated controller or data log- ger. These critters are inexpensive and come ready to run with data acquisi- tion and control hardware built in. You can put them anywhere, program them to do just about anything, and then con- nect them to a standard personal com- puter to extract the logged data for analysis. The following text describes my experience with two of them — Blue Earth Research's Micro 440 and Onset Computer's Tattletale 5LCD. Blue Earth Research's Micro 440 (lefti features a 12-MHz processor, eight 8-bit Mi channels, two serial ports, 32 KB of battery-backed RAM, a real-time clock, and 14 digital status and control lines. A customized version of BASIC runs the show. The Tattletale 5LCD runs off a Hitachi 6303 processor and comes with a serial port, digital I/O lines, EEP1H)M for storing program configurations, and a customized BASIC interpreter. As with the Micro 440, you connect the Tattletale to your personal computer and write your control program in BASIC or assembly language. Micro 440 Blue Earth Research's Micro 440 is smaller than a radar detector and weighs only a few ounces. Under the hood, you'll find a 12-MHz processor, eight 8-bit A/D channels, two serial ports, 32 KB of battery-backed RAM (good for 10 years), an RTC (real-time clock), and 14 status and control lines. A version of BASIC runs the system. The Micro 440 runs from a single power supply of 7 to 16 V at 75 milli- amperes. Connectors at either end of the case provide connections for power, se- rial lines, data lines, and external mem- ory or other peripherals. For simple analog data acquisition solutions, you merely provide the Micro 440 with power and your signal. For control appli- cations, you'll need to add ap- propriate interface hardware to the TTL-compatible data outputs. The processor in the Micro 440 is an Intel 83C51B, an en- hanced 805 1 . Blue Earth's BA- SIC is an unusual dialect of BASIC, with extensions for the Micro 440 's hardware and easy access to assembly language. The Micro 440 connects to your development environ- ment through one of its two serial ports. You run the BA- SIC interpreter and enter your program directly into Micro 440 RAM. For as- sembly language programming, the res- ident monitor/debugger provides an as- sembler and debugger. Talking to the RTC, ADC (A/D converter), or I/O hard- ware requires memory-mapped I/O. Our Micro 440 came with the Appli- cation Module (with a speaker, a poten- tiometer attached to one A/D channel, and a seven-segment display) and the ST-I/O module (with all analog and dig- ital ports brought out to convenient screw connectors). I used the ST-I/O module and the Micro 440's built-in frequency of pulses coming from the mag- netodiode sensor, converts all the data to ASCn character strings, and sends the data up to the ship through the Tattletale's RS- 232 port. Serial communication with the ship uses just three conductors on the cable running from the Seasoar to the ship. On the receiving end, a personal com- puter running a QuickBasic program (writ- ten by Jim Luyten, the head of the Physical Oceanography department) takes the ASCII data coming in through the serial port and plots it as five separate curves representing the five elements of data. The program also sends raw data to a disk file and sends the pressure data out through an ADC (A/D converter) to the shipside Seasoar con- troller, thereby eliminating the need for a preexisting Seasoar depth sensor. All that's needed to test or modify the Tattletale's program is a personal com- puter with a simple communications pro- gram, such as Procomm Plus. Modifica- tions of the program can take place while the Seasoar is 400 m below the ship. The Tattletale uses far less power than do the sensors connected to it. It can store the data in its battery-backed RAM rather than send it back to the ship; however, since scientists use the data to monitor and control the activity of the Seasoar (and hence must collect it in real time), the Tat- tletale hasn't needed to use its on-board data storage. Design Evaluation Although the design used only a small sub- set of the features of the Tattletale 4A, its simplicity and flexibility and the speed of its development far outweighed the parts-cost saving of not having to build a 6805/ROM- based system (an architecture with which Fucile has substantial experience). Several data acquisition engineers may wonder why certain elements turned out the way they did. For example, Fucile and Dean could have beefed up the RS-232 communications by using higher output circuits than those on the Tattletale or using the RS-485 instead of the RS-232, but this approach would have required more hard- ware. Instead, they opted to use parts on hand, including parts salvaged from earli- er projects. In many places, they could have used a more suitable part, but they chose not to order a new part if they had some- thing on the shelf that could do the job. ■76 BYTE JULY 1993 PHOTOGRAPHY: SCOTT PARKER /AVIS PHOTOGRAPHY © 1993 Feature PWM (pulse-width modulated) com- mand to try a simple feedback/control solution. I started with a one-tenth-scale radio- controlled electric car, an Associated RCIO. The servos commonly used in these cars require a pulse train to position the motor. A single pulse of varying width sets the motor position; this pulse repeats every 16 milliseconds. I discon- nected the steering servo from the car's radio and connected it through a buffer to a single output pin from the Micro 440. The Micro 440's BASIC command PWM provides easy, precise control over the pulse output while the ONTIME statement provides accurate interrupt- driven time control from within BASIC. Three or four BASIC statements were enough to generate a stable pulse train as a background process. To this, I added a control loop. Three photocells mounted to the front of the car watched the ground. I put one in the center of the car and the other two by each of the front wheels. Each of these connected through a voltage divider to one of the Micro 440's A/D channels. I placed the car over a white stripe painted on the ground. A BASIC pro- gram monitored the relative brightness of the stripe and the surrounding pavement and adjusted the pulse width to keep the car centered over the stripe as it moved. The whole project took just a few hours. thanks to the excellent documentation and easy access to the I/O ports. Tattletale 5LCD The Tattletale 5LCD from Onset Com- puter is one of a family of data-logging computers. The Tattletale 5LCD runs off a Hitachi 6303 processor and comes with a serial port, eight digital I/O lines, eight 12-bit analog input lines, EEPROM for storing programs and configurations, and a customized BASIC interpreter. As with the Micro 440, you connect the Tattletale 5LCD to your personal computer and write your control program in BASIC or assembly language, or both. When you're ready to go to the field, you store the program in the Tattletale 5LCD's per- manent program storage (i.e., EEPROM on the Tattletale 5LCD; hard drive versions are also available). The Tattletale 5LCD I reviewed included eight 12- bit A/D channels, 512 KB of data storage, an LCD, and three front-panel but- tons. Unlike the Micro 440 and the Tattletale 4A that the Woods Hole Oceano- graphic Institution uses, the Tattletale 5LCD doesn't have a lithium battery for data retention, although you can load your program into COMPANY INFORMATION Blue Earth Research (Micro 440) 165 West Lind Court Mankato, MN 56001 (507) 387-4001 fax: (507) 387-4008 Circle 981 on Inquiry Card, Onset Computer Corp. (Tattletale 5LCD) P.O. Box 3450 Pocasset, MA 02559 (508) 563-9000 fax: (508) 563-9477 Circle 982 on Inquiry Card. the EEPROM. Onset targets the Tattle- tale 5LCD for unattended data-logging applications. The Tattletale SLCD's A/D channels have better resolution than the Micro 440's and more RAM to store the logged data. The Tattletale 5LCD needs only 20 mA to run and a mere 3.5 mA to retain its memory in sleep mode. Onset's BASIC in the Tattletale 5LCD comes in two flavors. The first (TTBA- SIC) is a conventional integer BASIC with limited variable naming, no arrays, and a requirement for line numbers. I found TTBASIC to be adequate for sim- ple tasks but tedious for developing longer programs. If you're using an IBM PC or a Mac for development, the tok- enized version (TXBASIC) uses your desktop PC to pretokenize the program before downloading it to the Tattletale 5LCD. With more resources free to handle your code, TXBASIC gives you arrays, floating-point, and free-form structure using la- bels instead of line numbers. In addition, you get a primi- tive multitasking capability for background processing. Howard Eglowstein is a testing editor for the BYTE Lab. He designed BYTE's automated equipment for testing portable computers. You can reach him on BIX as "heglowstein. " "These designs are intentionally sim- ple," notes Dean. WHOI is more interested in whether a design works in the field than if it is using the most modem technology. The simpler the design, the more likely it is to work in the field. The fewer parts, the more reliable the device. The less complex the software, the more likely there will be someone on-board who can fix or modify it in an emergency. Dean puts it this way: "If it works for us, we stop." WHOI originally built Seasoar's engi- neering data acquisition package as a "one- time-use" instrument — to try to answer some questions about the Seasoar's per- formance problems. But, as is so often the case, WHOI liked having all the data and wanted to use the package all the time. Now it hopes to incorporate an entire con- trol system into the shipside personal com- puter, making the computer responsive to information from the engineering package. Dean and Fucile's design cost them less than $500 (not including sensor hardware). It took just a few hours to sketch out and required less than a week to build and pro- gram. Tattletale Applications The fixed buoy used in the Subduction Ex- periment is another Tattletale-based sys- tem. Tattletales reside in several of the test and calibration systems used in free-mov- ing buoys. In fact, of the 14 major micro- processor-based projects that Fucile has worked on in the last seven years, eight involved Tattletales, including the fol- lowing: • Antarctic Lake ice ablation sensor — a sensor that sits in an 8-inch-diameter hole in the ice and measures the change in ice thickness. It is capable of running off its own batteries to record data for two years without maintenance. • Low-power RS-485-based network — a multidrop/multipoint communications standard used in data acquisition and in- strument-control networks. It was used to interface many existing oceanographic in- struments without requiring any new (i.e., expensive) electronics. • Buoy dynamics recorder — an instrument that uses a high-end Tattletale with a hard drive that spins up when needed. • Automatic geocompass — a device at- tached to the deep-diving submarine Alvin (the submarine used to explore the wreck JULY 1993 BYTE 77 Feature Data Acquisition in the Mainstream The factory and processing plant, the re- search environment, and the hospital all use instruments to detect and record tem- perature, pressure, conductivity, pH, flow, pollutants, and many different variables and values of the physical world. Today, thb data collection is done automatically by electronic circuits and computers in place of direct observation and record keeping, thermographs, barographs, seismographs, and other mechanical graphs. Data acqui- sition is the element of electronics and computing that deals with this automated process. Subjects related to data acquisition in- clude data analysis, data visualization, and control. At times, the three fields are so closely integrated that they exist in a single appliance. Consider an electronic digital thermostat for your home. It has a sensor (a thermistor), an ADC (A/D converter), a digital clock, and some buttons for you to set the temperature range and associated times. In addition, the thermostat has the circuitry for taking all this data and de- ciding whether your furnace or air condi- tioner should be on or off. The data acqui- sition part of the electronic thermostat of the Titanic). When the arm touches a face of the underwater geological forma- tion, the geocompass records the strike (i.e., the geographical orientation) and dip (i.e., the angle) of the feature. Designs vary according to application; in some, the data is sent out the serial port, while in others, it's stored on the system. Most of WHOI's exotic instruments are placed in hostile environments, where it's impractical to have a full-size computer processing the data. In these situations, the data is stored in the instrument, at least until it is beamed up to a satellite. Some- times the data-storage requirements are on the order of tens of megabytes; for these situations, the designs use Tattletales equipped with hard drives or optical drives that only spin up for a data dump from memory. Oceanographic instruments are certain- ly not the only application for autonomous data loggers. By using inexpensive remote consists only of the sensor and the A/D cir- cuits. In data acquisition systems, the sensors are specific to the application. Often, the sensors are also the most expensive ele- ment of the system. You can get a simple thermistor at Radio Shack for less than a dollar, but a high-preciskin electronk strain sensor can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Sensors are categorized as either actwe (i.e., they produce a current or voltage) or passive (i.e., they change in resistance or capacitance). Signal-conditioning circuitry converts any device's output to a voltage that is within the range of sensitreity of the ADC (usually between 0 and 5 V). Con- ditioning circuits often use voltage dMders or operational amplifiers to do their work. Some A/D boards have adjustable gain am- plifiers built in. The resolution of a data acquisition sys- tem is determined by the number of bits that its ADC provides. For example, an 8-bit ADC can give you only the nearest degree of temperature ranging from +128 to -127, but a 12-bii ADC can give better than the nearest tenth of a degree. data acquisition systems that can commu- nicate with the host computer via a simple asynchronous serial link, you have tremen- dous flexibility in where you place the data acquisition equipment. You can easily de- ploy large-area data collection by putting the inexpensive data acquisi- tion systems in a box with a modem and telephone line. A central computer can then poll each data acquisition node once a day or less, up- load the data, and reset the node's memory. These little boards have been tucked into the engine compartment of race cars, built into patients' wheelchairs, and used exten- sively on farms and in pro- duction plants. The CIA has even purchased thousands of the devices — although for reasons known only to itself. COMPANY INFORMATION Chelsea Instruments, Ltd. (Seasoar) 2/3 Central Ave. East Molesey, Surrey KT8 OQX U.K. +44 81 941 0044 Circle 983 on Inquiry Card Endless Possibilities Because WHOI gathers most of its research away from land, power consumption is a major design criterion for its research in- struments. Fucile has looked at two other single-board data-logging and acquisition systems, but the power requirements of the others made them less desirable. Fucile's summary: "When it came to designing a data-logging engine, Lon Hocker [of Onset] knew exactly what was required: low pow- er, simple I/O, and an operating system that is easy to understand." The idea of an autonomous intelligent data-logging computer is not new, but it is a growing trend now that these systems are inexpensive. Dozens of manufactur- ers produce a wide spectrum of data log- gers. The price of some of the more elab- orate systems can be in the tens of thousands of dollars, but the low-end de- vices will suffice for most mainstream ap- plications. Many data acquisition applications are far more complex than the Seasoar. For in- stance, your application may require high- er data-sampling rates and dozens of chan- nels. For the next step up from the Tattletale, Fucile says he would go to a low-power single-chip personal computer. One of many bases for this design is a single-chip per- sonal computer and a PC-104 bus. PC-104 cards measure 9.65 by 9. 14 cm and run at 5 or 10 V. Gespac's (Mesa, AZ) PC Light, a typical CPU board, consumes 1 W — com- pared to an AT's 15 W or more. Still, 1 W is 10 times the power consumption of a Tattletale. With PC-104, additional boards (e.g., a modem) stack above the baseboard, one on top of another, to maintain the 9.65- by 9.14-cm form factor. Six boards stack only 10.16 cm high. At least a dozen data acquisition boards are available for PC- 104. But the added functionality of a gen- eral-purpose PC-on-a-chip demands far greater complexity and cost, as well as a greater source of power. No matter what your needs are, the goal for data acqui- sition has always been the same: Make it accurate. With autonomous data loggers, you can also make it convenient, simple to build and modify, durable, and inexpensive. ■ WHOI News & Information Office 93 Water St. Woods Hole, MA 02543 (508) 457-2000 Cirele 984 on Inquiry Card. Ben Smith is a testing editor for the BYTE Lab. He is also the author of two books: UNIX Step- by-Step (Sams. 1990) and UNIX E-Mail and Usenet News (Sams, forthcoming). You can contact him on BIX as "bensmith " or on the Internet at ben@ bytepb. byte.com. T8 BYTE JULY 1993 DOCUMENT PUBLISHING Ml r r I f I Workstation users put one document publishing program above all others. BVTE □tela BVIE More UNIX users choose FrameMaker" 3.0 for document publishing than any other software available on the market today* Why? Because FrameMaker delivers what users demand: powerful word processing and easy page layout- plus graphics, multichapter document building, table crea- tion, and hypertext. All in one fast, easy to use application that makes any publishing task a cinch. ► FrameMaker is network ready and integrates easily with Cadence, Mentor, AutoDesk, Corel, Sybase, and many other popular UNIX applications. What's more, FrameMaker documents are file com- patible across multiple hardware and software platforms. From UNIX systems — including those running Solaris 2.1, Untj^are, Open Look, and Motif — to the Macintosh^ to PCs running Windows!" And with FrameViewer,* Frame's on-line document distribution technology you can distribute all your documents electronically I' That's the kind of functionality that made FrameMaker number one in the workstation marketplace! Call 1-800- U4-FRAME, Ext. 914 for more information. And stay on top of document publishing with FrameMaker Frame •Source; Dataquesi May 1992. FrameMaker shipped more workstation publishing software in North Ameria in 1991. Copyright ©1993 FrameTechnologyCorporaiion.Allrighb reserved. International customers please call (408) 435-3311. Frame. FrameMaker, FrameViewer, Frame Technology, and die Frame logo are registered trademarks (rfFrame Technology Circle 88 on inquiry Card. Cover story Cover story CHANGES X H E ANDY REINHARDT The first Pentium systems are here, but you might not want to buy one yet. None are fully optimized for Intel's new chip. This scenario is likely to change with the next- generation Pentium PCs as more vendors make use of high- speed buses, enhanced bidirectional I/O ports, and fast SCSI-based disk subsystems. Dropping a 66-MHz superscalar processor into an architecture originally designed around the 8086/8088 chip and an 8-bit I/O bus is like putting a Ferrari engine into a Model-T chassis; The ma- chine moves forward, but it doesn't exact- ly purr. "Pentium raises the ante for all sub- systems," says Larry Shintaku, an R&D project manager for Hewlett-Packard in Sunnyvale, California. To complicate matters, the software environment is poised for change: A half-dozen 32-bit operating systems are set to com- pete on Intel-based systems, and downsizing from host systems is pushing microcomputers into new and more demanding roles. By borrowing design concepts from mainframes, minicomputers, and workstations — and by pioneering some entirely new ones — vendors are devising next-genera- tion PC compatibles that are significantly advancing the state of the art of microcomputers. Nowhere is this more evident than in servers. The Pentium is so power- ful that it outruns some mainframes in raw compute speed, yet if it's strapped into a conventional PC design, the resulting system won't provide the per- formance or robusmess needed for it to be the center of an enterprise network. To boost critical I/O speed, engineers are using new bus designs and stor- age subsystems. Equally important, they are harnessing techniques such as redundancy, error correction, and predictive diagnostics to give 80x86 sys- tems the reliability and manageability typical of hosts. The first Pentium systems don't take full advantage of the new CPU. As with the transition from 386 to 486 systems, old designs are being adapted for use with the faster processor. But in the next year, a growing number of "true" Pentium systems will appear. The New High End Initial Pentium systems will be richly configured because vendors assume that the first, most eager buyers are less cost sensitive. According to Tony Tong, product marketing manager for motherboard producer Elitegroup i Computer Systems (Fremont, CA), Intel's reference design for Pentium ma- ® chines "uses higher-performance, higher-cost components and reinforces > < =) S JULY 1993 BYTE 81 Cover Story What Makes a Real Pentium System? Server and Desktop: H%h-speed serial portls) Server and Desktop: EPP or ECP parallel port(s) Desktop: Graphics accelerator on local bus Server and Desktop: Built-in SCSI-2 Server EISA or Micro Channel slots Desktop: ISA, EISA, or Micro Channel slots Server: PCI slots Desktop: PCI or VL-Bus slots Server: Parity-checking or ECC memory with 64-bit interface Desktop: Parity-checking memory with 32- or 64-bit interface Desktop: Sound chip or DSP an attitude that these will be sexy, no- holds-barred systems." For example, Pentium systems may of- fer VRAM-based (video RAM) graphics accelerators, built-in SCSI-2 connectors, CD-ROM drives, or multimedia support via DSPs (digital signal processors) or ded- icated audio/video chips. In fact, the ar- rival of Pentium systems could herald a new baseline for how the market views a "standard" PC, because vendors will pack the systems with fancy features. Whether these deluxe capabilities will migrate down to the mass market as Pen- tium systems become more common is open to question. Neal Margulis of video chip manufacturer S3 (Santa Clara, CA) says that by putting such features into sys- tems now, vendors push up volumes and make the features less expensive. "Not much of this stuff will get stripped out once it appears to be standard in Pentium systems," he says. "Customers will no longer want to buy systems without it." Others argue that given the price sensi- tivity of commodity PCs today, stripped- down Pentium ma- chines are bound to be marketed in the fu- ture. It is commonly as- sumed that the Pen- tium will find its strongest initial accep- tance as a server plat- form, but this may be only partly true. "In servers, the Pen- tium will be overkill for some time," says Mark Carver, vice president of corporate strategy at Tricord Systems (Plymouth, MN), which never- theless plans to use the Pentium in its ES5000 PowerFrame server. Carver says that Pentium servers will boost network throughput only if there are matching improvements in I/O performance. On the other hand, database and other application servers used in client/server environments can benefit now from a faster CPU and memory subsystem. "The Pen- tium is going to mean a lot more to my customers running SQL Server and Notes and Oracle on OS/2 than to my customers running NetWare," says Davis Fields, vice president of marketing for Parallan Com- puter (Mountain View, CA). Parallan, which is partly owned by IBM, designed the superservers that are sold as the PS/2 Models 195 and 295. Most of the initial Pentium systems are based on upgradable designs in which the processor/memory complex may be opti- mized for the Pentium, but the balance of the system is generic to 386 or 486 imple- mentations. 'The first generation of 486 systems were patched solutions — a 486 CPU slapped into a box optimized for the 386," says Jim Mathios, an R&D project manager for HP. "The same thing will hap- pen with the Pentium: Right now, every- body is gluing together less-than-optimal systems based on 486 designs." By the end of 1993 or early 1994, however, cus- tomers will start to see what Mathios calls "proper" Pentium systems — machines de- signed from the ground up around the Pen- tium. Real Pentium Systems How to define a "real" Pentium system is far from obvious. One criterion might be a completely 64-bit design, but this is im- plausible for technical and economic rea- sons; for example, there's no rationale for a 64-bit version of the ISA/EISA bus. Why add the complexity and cost if some com- mon add-in devices — modems, for in- stance — can't take advantage of it? Instead, the Pentium standard will like- ly combine multiple buses, fast interfaces, and a higher degree of integration on the motherboard than 486 systems. Desktop systems will include accelerated graphics, stereo audio, and other multimedia fea- tures. Servers will likely offer high-relia- bility features, diagnostics, and system management. One element that may set Pentium sys- tems apart from their predecessors is their memory subsystem. The chip's 64-bit memory interface now operates at 60 and 66 MHz. At these speeds, today's DRAMs require an external cache to keep the processor fed with code and data. Most systems will use caches of 256 KB or larg- er — probably built from synchronous SRAM (static RAM) chips — to ensure hit rates above 90 percent (see "New Memory Architectures to Boost Performance" on page 86). With a cache hit rate this high, the path from cache to main memory may not need to be wider than 32 bits; HP estimates that the incremental performance from using 64-bit DRAM could be as little as 5 per- cent, because the wider bus will help only when there is a cache miss. Given that 64- bit memory can be configured and ex- panded only in multiples of 8 MB, a 5 per- cent performance gain may not justify the reduction in RAM flexibility. But Tom Benoit, business development manager for motherboard maker Micronics 82 11 V I 1- JU1.Y 1993 IF THERE WERE ONLY ONE KIND OF COMPUTER SYSTEM, YOU'D ONLY NEED ONE KIND OF PROTECTION. MINUTEMAN LANMASTER SOFTWARE Bi-directional Communication Power Monitoring Shutdown Software MINUTEMAN CP SERIES TRUE ON-LINE 500VA to lOKVA Starting at $899 MINUTEMAN POWERMIND SERIES LINE-INTERACTIVE 600VA to 1250VA Starting at $579 MINUTEMAN ALLIANCE SERIES STANDBY AND LINE-INTERACTIVE 300VA to 750VA Starting at $159 MINUTEMAN AUTOMATIC VOLTAGE REGULATOR 650VAto 1800VA Starting at $149 All models available in 120V, 220V, 50Hz or 60Hz versions Too many companies go out into the hazardous world of business with the wrong UPS protection, or none at all. At MINUTEMAN, we know that differ- ent systems face different dangers. That's why MINUTEMAN offers five different safeguards, the most comprehensive line in the industry. Like the new MINUTEMAN LANMASTER power monitoring shut- down software. It combines aU the features of similar competitive products and features the most sophisticated diagnostic techniques available. Or the MINUTEMAN LINE-INTER- ACTIVE MODELS, the most economical protection of their kind on the market. Each comes with a MINUTEMAN Platinum Protection Plan covering up to $25,000 and a two-year warranty. So call MINUTEMAN today. Our skilled professionals worldwide are ready to answer your questions and help you find the perfect UPS for your system. MINUTEMAN. It's all the protection you need. Whatever you need. UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPUES (800) 238-7272 See us at PC Expo Booth #2928 © 1993 Para Systems, Inc. 1455 LeMay Drive, Carrollton, Texas 75007 (214)446-7363 fax (214) 446-9011 Circle 1 23 on Inquiry Card . Cover story 8 bits - (Fremont, CA), takes a different view. ■'Anything with a 32-bit memory interface isn't a real Pentium system," he says. Mi- cronics has implemented 64-bit memory on its Pentium motherboards because it adds no incremental cost, Benoit says, adding that even a 5 percent performance delta can make a big difference to high- end users. As for emerging RAM architectures, vendors are taking a wait-and-see attitude. For now, traditional hierarchical cache de- signs can bridge the processor/memory bandwidth gap and cost less to implement. But systems will eventually need faster DRAM to accommodate cache misses. Hierarchical Buses Another defining element of real Pentium systems will be the use of a local or mezzanine bus. A local bus is a direct extension of the processor's lines and oper- ates on the same clock, like the VESA (Video Electronics Stan- dards Association) local bus with the 486. A mezzanine bus is conceptually between a local bus and an I/O bus: Its lines are buffered from the processor's, and its clock can be proportion- al to the CPU's (i.e., one-half or one-third the speed). "A faster bus is implicit in any system sold today, 486 or above," says Elitegroup's Tong. "The bene- fits are obvious: For almost no incremental cost, you get much better performance." Intel is pushing vendors to adopt its PCI (Peripheral Com- ponent Interconnect) specifica- tion and chip set for a mezza- nine bus in Pentium systems, and most vendors believe the two will become tightly linked. PCI is now specified at 32 bits and operates at half the speed of the Pentium's external clock. The new PCI 2.0 revision adds support for 64-bit addressing and 3.3-V implementations, as well as the first definition of a PCI connector slot for add-in cards. Use of PCI among sys- tem makers will get a boost late this year when VLSI Technol- ogy becomes a second source for a Pentium-PCI chip set. However, unless PCI also be- comes a factor in the 486 mar- ket, it could become, as one wag put it, "the next EISA: a server architecture with limited pene- tration." In other words, if PCI is too close- ly associated with the Pentium, and if Pen- tium volumes stay small compared to the 486' s, the market for PCI add-ins won't be large enough to attract third-party de- velopers. Vendors say that another sup- plier besides Intel needs to deliver PCI support for the 486, but none has yet com- mitted. The alternative to PCI is VESA's VL- Bus, which has gained wide use in the 486 world. Opti (Santa Clara, CA) has a chip set that supports the Pentium and VL-Bus, and it may prove to be a lower-cost solu- tion than PCI because of the large num- ber of inexpensive VL-Bus controllers al- ready available. Like PCI, VL-Bus is currently speci- The PC, circa 1986 CPU k , 1 Memory 1 32 bits ISA bus (16 bits) Serial/parallel | I Video | | IDE | Expansion slots (modems, NICs, SCSI) Hie PC, circa 1993 Memory > 32 bits or 64 bits CPU 1 32 bits or 64 bits Local bus 8 bits - Graphics I ! IDE accelerator I or SCSI 16-blt ISA or 32-bit EISA/IVICA T T Serial/parallel Expansion slots (modems, NICs, multimedia cards) The trend in PC design is to move functions off the general-purpose ISA bus and onto wider, specialized buses tied to the speed of the CPU. ISA 's 8-bit interface and 8-MHz clock create a bottleneck for all peripheral functions. By contrast, today's systems have 32- or 64-bit paths from CPU to memory and 32- or 64-bit local buses for speedy subsystems such as video and storage. Today 's systems also use ISA for slower I/O and to maintain backward compatibility. fied at 32 bits, but the pending 1 . 1 speci- fication will provide support for 64 bits. Waqas Khan, senior product marketing manager for Opti, says that the company started with VL-Bus support for Pentium "because there are controllers available, so people could get machines right now." By comparison, he says, there is an "ex- treme shortage" of controllers and add-ins for PCI, although many are scheduled for introduction in upcoming months. The major criticism of VL-Bus is that it is not as robust as PCI and may run out of gas above 50 MHz because its timing was designed for 40 MHz or below. "PCI has done a better job of addressing what a lo- cal bus needs to be," says a senior design engineer at a leading system maker. Since VL-Bus is so closely tied to the 486, glue logic is needed to im- plement it as a mezzanine bus for the Pentium. Only two of the systems that were tested by the BYTE Lab use the VL-Bus. Some use a pro- prietary local bus for video and none use PCI. Some, including Compaq and NCR, say they are committed to eventually imple- menting PCI. However, for low-speed func- tions, such as serial I/O with mice and modems, you don't need anything more than the low-cost ISA bus. Ahmet Houssein, di- rector of engineering for the net- works and servers product group at Zenith Data Systems (Buffalo Grove, IL), notes that ISA offers a larger choice of option cards than newer buses. On the other hand, designers might be able to eliminate an ISA bus entirely by using only VL-Bus or PCI and attaching one of the emerging serial I/O schemes to it for use with slower devices. The PCI 2.0 specification also includes a shared slot that allows you to in- stall either an ISA or a PCI card. EISA is a different story. Mi- cronics' Benoit believes that Pen- tium servers will typically in- clude EISA slots. "Servers need eight or more slots, and you can't put that many on VL or PCI," he says, adding that while customers have balked at the price of EISA in the past, it's relatively less expensive in a Pentium system. Others are less sure. Carl Am- dahl, chairman and chief techni- cal officer for superserver maker NetFrame Systems (Milpitas, «4. BYXE JULY 1993 THE WORLDWIDE STANDARD New dBASE Compiler 100% compatible, 110% Bopland It's here! The only dBASE® compiler that is 100% compati- ble with the dBASE language. Now you can compile and run existing applications without modification. Applications run faster With the new Dynamic Virtual Memory Manager, DPMI support, and high- performance Filters,* your dBASE IV® version l.X and dBASE III PLUS® applications will run dramatically faster. ^"vom g.O t.0 ^^^^ ^ standard C-like preprocessor! Borland is working hard to make dBASE the best data- base application development environment. Why not put it to work for you today! at into "We're seeing up to ten times the performance in our applications using dBASE IV 2.0 and the compiler." — Bob Davies, President, SBT Accounting Systems Distribute applications royalty-free Whether you use dBASE III PLUS or dBASE IV, it's easy to build fully functional DOS executables (.EXEs). And with no royalty or runtime fees, distributing applica- tions is easy and economical. Simplify programming tasks Powerful application development tools in the dBASE Compiler make programming easier. The MAKE Facility provides intelli- gent compilation to quickly build sophisticated applications. The Borland dBASE Linker (BDL) combines compiled code modules into a single .EXE file. dSPLIT and dJOIN utilities make it easy to distribute large applications on multiple diskettes. There's even a Borland dBASE Compiler for DOS The besi way 10 build and dismbuledB«Eappl«aK«« I 90-day money-back guarantee^! I See your ilealer or call now, I |1-8DD-336-G4G4,ext.G103| I In Canada call, 1-800-461-3327. ■ Borland Power made easy Copyright ©I 993 Borland Inlemationa], Inc. All rights reserved. All Borland product names are trademarks of Borland International, Inc. 'Patent pending. **Offer good for owners of any previous version of dBASE RunTime. BI 4832.1 Circle 253 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 254). Cover story New Memory Architectures to Boost Performance TOM R. HALFHILL One of the system bottlenecks ex- posed by high-speed processors like the Pentium is the interface to main memory. This interface is the most cru- cial pathway in the entire computer, be- cause it's responsible for carrying a con- stant flow of program instructions and data between memory chips and the CPU. If memory or the pathway fails to keep pace with the CPU's insistent requests, the CPU stalls in a wait state and valuable processing time is lost. Today's DRAM chips — variously known as asynchronous, page-mode, or generic DRAMs — are constrained by both their internal architecture and their interface to the CPU's memory bus. DRAM architecture hasn't changed sig- nificantly since 1974; neither has the memory interface in desktop PCs, ex- cept that memory buses have grown wider— from 8 bits on the 8088 to 64 bits on the Pentium. Although wider buses have increased the available raw bandwidth, throughput still lags behind the spiraling demands of faster micro- processors. More and more PCs now bridge the gap by using high-speed SRAM (static RAM) chips to cache traffic between the CPU and DRAMs. A typical 486 or Pentium system might have 256 KB of SRAM cache. But SRAM is much cost- lier than DRAM, and boosting cache beyond 256 KB yields a diminishing rate of return. To get around these limitations, sev- eral new technologies have been devel- oped. Most of these technologies re- quire new types of DRAMs, but two of them attack the memory interface prob- lem. It's not clear at this point which will become the new DRAM standard. All of them cost about 1 5 percent more than generic DRAM, but even so, they can reduce the overall cost of a system by eliminating the SRAM cache and as- sociated controller chips. This can also result in a smaller motherboard that con- sumes less power. These are important considerations for portable systems. Enhanced DRAM. EDRAM, the brainchild of Ramtron (Colorado Springs, CO), is the only new DRAM that is now shipping in volume. It takes an evolutionary approach by integrat- ing a small SRAM cache with a fast core of otherwise generic DRAM. Each EDRAM chip has 2 Kb of 15-nanosec- ond SRAM and 4 Mb of 35-ns DRAM. Ramtron's benchmarks show an EDRAM-equipped machine outper- forming a comparable system with generic DRAM and an SRAM cache, unless the application program fits com- pletely inside the cache. In that case, EDRAM delivers about the same per- formance as the other system. Ramtron says it already has 44 EDRAM cus- tomers and that EDRAMs are going into everything from desktop PCs and work- stations to laser printers and copiers. However, none of the first Pentium sys- tems use EDRAM. Rivals criticize EDRAM for being single-sourced. Ramtron says it is seek- ing second sources. Without the price competition and redundant supply fos- tered by multiple sources, some ven- dors are reluctant to adopt EDRAM. Cache DRAM. CORAM, invented by Mitsubishi, is similar to EDRAM. It in- tegrates an SRAM cache with either 4 Mb or 16 Mb of DRAM. Although CDRAM's on-board cache is larger (16 Kb versus 2 Kb), the DRAM is slower (70 ns versus 35 ns). But CDRAM's on-board SRAM can be used as either a cache or a buffer, depending on whether the application requires serial or ran- dom access to the data. When retrieving data serially — for example, to refresh a bit-mapped screen — CDRAM can prefetch the data from its DRAM core into the SRAM buffer and thus improve performance. In fact, Mitsubishi claims that CDRAM, which is single-ported, is faster for such applications than dual-ported VRAM (video RAM) is. The company says a CDRAM-based PC will run as fast as a comparable machine with DRAM and a 256-KB secondary SRAM cache. Mitsubishi is the sole source for CDRAM, which is now being ramped up to volume production. However, Mit- subishi says chips will also be available from NEC and perhaps another company. Synchronous DRAM. SDRAM is an- other evolutionary alternative, and it is attracting the widest support among semiconductor manufacturers. SDRAM chips are coming later this year or in 1994 from Mitsubishi, NEC, Samsung, Texas Instruments, and nearly every other major DRAM player. To ensure that SDRAM chips are interchangeable, a standard is being developed by the JEDEC (Joint Electronic Device Engi- neering Council). Unlike today's asynchronous DRAMs, SDRAMs exchange data with the CPU in sync to an external clock signal and are designed to run at the full speed of the CPU/memory bus without imposing wait states. For instance, TI's 16-Mb SDRAM, which the company will be sampling late this year, is rated for speeds of up to 100 MHz. That's fast enough for the 66-MHz Pentium, with enough headroom to accommo- date even faster processors. SDRAM performs best when trans- ferring data serially. TI says it's ideal for applications like word processing, spreadsheets, and multimedia. But for programs that depend heavily on ran- dom access (e.g., databases), a cache- type memory like CDRAM or EDRAM will probably outperform SDRAM. Rambus DRAM. RDRAM, developed by Rambus (Mountain View, CA), takes a more revolutionary approach to the CA), says EISA is "not appropriate" for mission-critical servers, citing its lack of both scalability and support for parity checking. By contrast, he says, NetFrame can use an unlimited number of its pari- ty-checking, 25-MBps MPSA (Multi- processor Parallel Server Architecture) buses in a single system. Tricord Systems shares Amdahl's cri- tique, using its own bus design to optimize performance and reliability: CPU, mem- ory, and disks are on a separate high-speed interconnection, while off-the-shelf cards such as network interfaces plug into EISA slots. Similarly, Parallan uses a high-speed se BVXE JULY 1993 Cover Stoiy DRAM-Microprocessor Performance Gap 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 • CPU DRAM 8080, 8086 75 76 77 78 79 '80 'SI '82 '83 '84 '85 '86 '87 '90 '91 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 Comparing the relative speeds of microprocessors and memory chips necessarily requires some apples-and-oranges compromises, but no matter how these cim'es are plotted, the results are similar: CPU performance is rapidly outstripping DRAM perf ormance. While the CPU curve climbs steeply, the DRAM cun'e remains almost flat. memory-bandwidth problem. In addition to introducing a new type of memory chip, Rambus has reinvented the inter- face to the CPU. RDRAM chips are vertically packaged, with all pins on one side. They exchange data with the CPU over 28 wires that are no more than 12 centimeters long. The bus can address up to 320 RDRAM chips and is rated at 500 MBps, although 400 to 450 MBps is more realistic. That com- pares to about 33 MBps for asynchro- nous DRAM. RDRAM chips have no on-board SRAM, but pages are cached by reading the sense amplifiers. The controller em- ploys a new type of I/O cell, and the bus requires no extra glue logic. The chips can be manufactured in the same plants that make generic DRAMs. Rambus is now sampling 4-Mb RDRAMs to major system vendors and is planning for volume production this fall. A 16-Mb RDRAM is also in the works. Rambus has licensed its technology to Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC, and Toshiba. RatnLink. This technology is the most revolutionary of all, but it is destined for use further in the future than the others. It concentrates on the CPU/memory inter- face rather than the internal architecture of the memory chips. RamLink originates from the IEEE, but many firms are in- volved in its development, including Ap- ple, Hewlett-Packard. TI, and all the ma- jor DRAM makers. The technology is an offshoot of a re- cently adopted IEEE standard known as SCI (Scalable Coherent Interface), which defines a system architecture that en- compasses anywhere from one to 64,000 microprocessors. RamLink is a memory interface with point-to-point connections arranged in a ring, like a network. Traffic on the ring is managed by a memory con- troller that sends messages to the DRAM chips, which act as nodes. Other nodes can be ROM chips, flash ROMs, drives, or even additional RamLink rings. Hans Wiggers of HP Labs, who is chairman of the IEEE RamLink commit- tee, says that RamLink could run as fast as 500 MHz or even 1 GHz. But Ram- Link is .still years from reality. "Every- body says, 'Oh, this is very interesting,' but nobody has committed any designs to it yet," Wiggers says. Even if you disregard RamLink and focus on the near-term contenders, it's unclear whether EDRAM, CDRAM, SDRAM, or RDRAM will become the new memory standard. "I wouldn't even touch predicting which of these will be the long-term winner," says Sherry Gar- ber, an analyst at In-Stat (Scottsdale, AZ). "These things just haven't been out long enough. It takes a lot of momentum to replace a known product." System makers are reluctant to adopt any of these alternatives until an obvious leader emerges. Nobody wants to build a computer with RAM that's not in wide production and that users can't readily find when they want to expand memory. "It's really hard for a clone maker to go out on a limb," notes Steven Przybylski, a consultant in San Jose, California, who specializes in system architectures. Przybylski says that although the new DRAMs all command about the same 15 percent premium over existing DRAMs, prices could swing radically as produc- tion ramps up. "Volume is everything," he says. "What makes them so expensive is that no one is buying them." The new DRAMs may filter slowly into the market by filling niches. They offer clear advantages for certain em- bedded applications and may replace VRAM on video cards. As volumes rise and prices fall, they could move gradually into main memory. Another possibility is that an evolu- tionary design such as SDRAM will fill near-term needs for faster memory in Pen- tium-class systems. Later in the decade, as processor speeds approach 1 GHz, a rev- olutionary approach such as RDRAM or RamLink might rescue users from yet an- other memory bottleneck. It's also possible that no single solu- tion will prevail. In-Stat's Garber notes that the worldwide DRAM market was worth $8.5 billion last year. "That's big enough to support more than one DRAM architecture," she says. Tom R. Halfliill is a BYTE senior news editor. You can reach him on BIX as "thatfhill. " internal bus for CPU, memory, and SCSI- attached disks and offers dual Micro Chan- nel slots for network interfaces, WAN (wide-area network) connections, fax modems, and tape drives. Motherboard Integration Pentium systems will have an even high- er level of motherboard integration than 486 machines now have. "The more inte- gration, the lower the price and the higher the reliability," says Tom Mays, senior vice president of NCR's general-purpose product group in Dayton, Ohio. Mays projects that within about 12 to 18 months, users will see single-board JULY 1993 BYXE 8T Readm Couple its outstiattl pverall performance with a true' optical resolution of 400 dots per inch, an excellent scanning software package {DeskScan 11)^ and HP's well-earned reputa- tion for solid, reliable products,jj and you have a winning combi-i nation. It's bl THE BEST HARDWARE & SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR ...top scoring product... PC Magazine Labs' tes ference between the f{ every test. In line-art the HP ScanJet lie s seconds, while five c 1 115 seconds or mort 7 In general, you twee as long for a col« scale. With a fast scan translate into a half a r ner, the set up to color ore. SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE The ScanJet lie performed well during all phases of PC Magazine Labs' testing. In terms of speed, this scanner led the field, ranking first in two of five speed trials and best overall. Some scanners, as a whole, and a street price as low as $1,450, and it's hard to imag- ine a better buy. ■ An eocceCLent ch oice Jot any PC cLeshtcr p © 1993 Hewlett-Packard Company *In Canada call 1-800-387-3867. Ext. 7365. PE12367 HP ScanJet He HP ScanJet Hp We'd hate to brag. So we'U let the PC press do it for us. Both PC Magazine and Publish called the HP ScanJet lie the Best Color Scanner for 1992. While PC Computing named the black & white/gray-scale HP ScanJet lip the Most Valuable Product of the year. Speed. Simplicity. And accuracy were all applauded. It's no wonder. HP's single- pass scanning delivers both lightning-fast speed and precise color registration. TWAIN support allows scanning without having to switch between applications. And HP AccuPage technology with 400- dpi resolution can tackle the toughest OCR challenges. What's more, capabilities this advanced are now even more afford- able. List price on the HP ScanJet He has just dropped to $1,599. The HP ScanJet Hp is just $879. Impressed? Don't just take our word for it, or even the PC press's. Attend one of our scanning seminars that will be held April through September, 1993. To fmd out more about the HP ScanJet lie and Hp or semi- nars in your area, call 1-800 -SCANJET, Ext. 7365f And judge for yourself. HEWLETT PACKARD Cover Story Revisiting the Lowly I/O Ports T our system has a sizzling processor and an architecture enhanced to match lis horse- power. But when you print a document, the data is saueezed through a parallel port at a measly 150 KBps. Clearly, something is wrong with this picture. With the arrival of the Pentium, system mak- ers are taking a hard look at serial and paral- lel I/O. These ports are now seeing increased use — for attaching not only printers but also devices ranging from tape drives to network interfaces — and are quickly becoming a per- formance bottleneck. Many vendors are now adopting port tech- nok^es that dramatically boost I/O port speed. The new ports are also smarter, opening up new avenues of capability and easing the bur- den of configuration. Some of these ports will b^n appearing in systems this year. Faster Parallel Improvements to the standard parallel port began a few years ago when Xircom, a maker of parallel-port network interfaces, helped In- tel define a faster specification. The Enhanced Parallel Port, or EPP, was supported in Intel's 386SL chip set and became common in note- book computers. It raised throughput from 150 KBpsto2MBps. Hewlett-Packard was also interested in rais- ing parallel-port speed to boost LaserJet per- formance, and it devised a technology called Zippy that runs between 2 and 5 MBps. Zippy is bidirectional, which means the printer can talk back to the PC to report job status or er- ror conditions. After Microsoft joined forces with HP, the technology was renamed Extend- ed Capabilities Port, or ECP. Now an IEEE com- mittee considering parallel-port enhancements has decided to roll EPP and ECP together into a standard called 1284. Support for IEEE 1284 parallel ports is forth- coming from chip-set and BIOS vendors, as well as from HP and other printer and scanner makers. The impact on system cost is expect- ed to be negligible. Microsoft will add support for bidirectionality in the next version of Win- dows; for example, improved Print Manager dialog boxes might inform you that a printer is out of paper or low on toner. Serial Upside Engineers see even more opportunity in serial I/O than in parallel I/O: It uses less physical space; presents fewer electrical problems, such as cross talk; and scales up more easily to optical media. Two technologies may gain wide use in the next few years: Access.bus from Philips Semiconductor and Serial Bus from the IEEE. Access.bus is like AD6 (Apple Desktop Bus), "only much better," says Denis Pavillard, an engineer at LogKech. K's faster than ADB and supports more devices. The technology, origi- nally developed by Signetics, lets you connect more than 100 serial devices, such as key- boards, mice, trackballs, and digitizers, to a single 100-Kbps port, eliminating the need for multiple connectors on the back of the sys- tem. Devices identify themselves and can be "hot-plugged" (i.e., connected while the system is running). DEC is already using Access.bus in its Maxine workstation, and Logitech has de- livered a compliant mouse. Higher up on the performance scale is Ser- ial Bus, also known as IEEE P1394. Serial Bus is rated now for 100 Mbps, but someday it might scale up to 400 Mbps; with speeds like that, it's cleariy intended to be more than a mouse port. In fact. Serial Bus is meant to be a general-purpose interface that can replace a range of I/O types, including ADB, RS-232, RS- 422, parallel, and SCSI. According to Michael Teener, a plumbing architect for Apple and former chairman of the P1394 committee, "It will be the standard I/O interconnect of the future, beyond Apple and even beyond com- puters." Like Access.bus, Serial Bus will require only a single inexpensive connector on the back of a system; attached devKes need no DIP switch- es or jumpers, and they will identify and con- figure themselves dynamically. Unlike wHh SCSI, a chain of Serial Bus devices won't need addresses or terminators, yet the performance is high enough to match that of SCSI-2. Members of the IEEE P1394 group include Apple, IBM, and NCR; Apple has reportedly al- ready developed Serial Bus controller chips that it will license to other companies. Teener confirms that hardware and software proto- types are now up and running and promises that "real" hardware will ship in 1994. Pentium and PowerPC systems are ideal candidates for a Serial Bus port. computers based on either the 486 or the Pentium with SCSI-2, DSPs, video codecs, and LAN interfaces on-board. Some of these components will show up even soon- er in early Pentium systems. SCSI is a given. "It's clear that SCSI-2 has completely won for any kind of high- performance systems," says Amdahl. "The notion of using IDE just isn't right in these [systems]." IDE is closely tied to the ISA bus and suited for a small number of local devices, whereas SCSI supports more de- vices at greater distances and with more flexibility. In servers, and perhaps even in some desktops, single- and dual-SCSI con- trollers will be tied to the local bus for the highest possible throughput. Slower de- vices, such as tape drives and CD-ROMs, might be hung off yet another SCSI port on the EISA bus or Micro Channel. Networking is less certain, because stan- dards are in flux. Zenith's Houssein be- lieves that integrating a network interface makes sense in a desktop or portable sys- tem but not in a server; since the vendor doesn't know how the server will be net- worked, open slots are provided instead. But even on-board Ethernet, which has steadily gained in popularity, may become too limiting as new networking schemes. such as Fast Ethernet and FDDI over cop- per, come on-line. One of the best opportunities for inte- gration in high-priced Pentium systems is multimedia. Intel is actively promoting the incorporation into Pentium systems of an Analog Devices AD 1848 sound chip, the same device used in Compaq's Business Audio and Microsoft's Sound System. The AD 1 848 offers a basic interface between real-world analog signals and the com- puter's digital format (i.e., 16-bit A/D and D/A conversion at rates of up to CD-qual- ity 44.1 kHz). However, user functions such as voice annotation of documents or 90 BYXE JULY 1993 "It's a quality desktop replacement... most powerful portable weVe seen. One of the lightest units in the entire test group." -PCM(iga:iiie.M(u:'9S "...in our batter> tests, the TI 4000 WinDX2/50 achieved a magnificent 6 hours and 24 minutes." -Portable Computing. Apr. /May '93 "TI has done more to customize and optimize Windows than the other notebook vendors." - Windows Magazine, Feb. W BESldBE TI TravelMate 4000 WinDX2/50 Our Performance Is Getting Rave Reviews. As well it should. For starters, the TravelMate™ 4000 WiiiDX2™/50 notebook computer comes with a 486 DX2 50MHz processor for increased speed and performance. It's specifically designed to power up into built-in Windows in 15 seconds. And its amazingly long battery life is made possible by TI's superior power management system. For more information about the incredible, lightweight, award-winning TravelMate 4000 notebooks, simply caW 1-800-527-3500. TravelMate jOOO mWinDX2/50 486 WinDX2/V) COLOR lor 8MB RAM sU. SMBRAMstd. (20MB mca.) (WMBmca.) mm-mMBHDD 200MBHDD 5.6pmnds 6.3pounds Battery life varies according to model and use. TravelMate, WinDX2 and "Extending Your Reach With Innovation" are trademarks ot Texas Instrunfients. The Intel Inside logo is a trademark ot Intel Corporation, © 1993 TI, EXTENDING YOUR REACH WITH INNOVATION" ^ Texas Instruments Circle 149 on Inquiry Card. Cover story spoken attachments to E-mail messages must be provided through software, and adding music functions requires addition- al hardware — either a dedicated synthe- sizer chip or a programmable DSP. Micronics' Benoit isn't ready to take the plunge into multimedia. "We are re- luctant to put anything on the motherboard that will be obsolete within a year," he says. "Sound and video are still going through too many changes right now to integrate on the motherboard." While ba- sic parts such as the AD 1848 won't be made obsolete, the functions wrapped around them are indeed in evolution. For example, dissatisfaction with the quality of synthesis music is leading quickly to the adoption of wave-table audio, and video-compression standards are in flux. In the long run, these functions will likely be provided by a DSP coupled with software tailored to specific multimedia tasks, and makers of commodity systems don't yet see a strong-enough market demand to warrant the added cost of a DSP. Graphics accelerators are also likely to be integrated, but only in desktop systems where imaging, desktop publishing, CAD, and other graphics-intensive applications need the extra horsepower. Intelligent graphics controllers (e.g., bit blitters) are likely to be attached to the local bus, as they are now in many 486s. S3's Margulis says that because early Pentium adopters "won't be price-sensitive," he expects a typical graphics subsystem to include 2 to 4 MB of high-performance VRAM, not less expensive DRAM. With 4 MB of dis- play memory, a system can achieve 1024 by 768 resolution in 24-bit full color. The Next Big Thing Held back for years by a lack of standards and software support, SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) is one of those technolo- gies that are often described as the Next Big Thing. With the arrival of the Pen- tium, Microsoft Windows NT, and Sun- Soft's Solaris 2.0, the era of SMP may have finally dawned. George White, president of Corollary (Irvine, CA) and a longtime promoter of multiprocessing, says that the Pentium will cause "RISC bigots" to take a fresh look at Intel. "We expect multiprocessing to get a big boost from people looking for higher performance and losing their bias against Intel," he says. Siemens Nixdorf has com- mitted to using Corollary's C-Bus II, a 400-MBps backplane that can support up to 10 Pentium CPUs. Four or five compa- nies are expected to demonstrate C-Bus II systems at Fall Comdex this year. Some people consider Corollary's ap- proach too proprietary, arguing that SMP won't become commonplace until it's sup- ported by major chip-set vendors. Yet the multiprocessing architectures used by su- perservers, from the Compaq Systempro to systems from Parallan and Tricord, are also homegrown and, in many cases, not really symmetrical. Corollary's licensable designs, C-Bus II chips, and support for them in Windows NT could expand the use of SMP into a broader market. However, Intel has also complicated the picture with its rumored P54C, a kind of "overdrive" Pentium that, instead of dis- abling the existing chip (as does the 486 OverDrive), would work alongside it in a multiprocessing fashion. Intel will posi- tion this solution as a quick and easy way to boost performance on the desktop, rather than as a scalable multiprocessing archi- tecture. "The concern among MP people is that this could give multiprocessing with Intel CPUs a bad name," says White. While the P54C requires system makers to simply add a socket, it won't boost performance NOONENOTICEDTHE GUAfiAMOLEONHISTIL Cover Stoiy except for multithreaded programs in en- vironments such as NT or OS/2. It isn't a real SMP solution, because the chips share the same bus and external cache. Another kind of multiprocessing may be redundant designs for improved fault tolerance. Says Opti's Khan: "People have understood this technology for years, but with the extreme price competition, they haven't implemented it in PCs. The Pen- tium will be the platform of choice for do- ing things like dual-processor multipro- cessing for reliability." Brian Croxon, vice president of Zenith's network and server products group, pre- dicts that Pentium systems will be designed to absorb host functions previously un- known in PCs. "You are going to see the ability to do remote diagnostics, automat- ic dial-out, and system-level network man- agement capability," he says. HP's Mathios agrees. "Customers are looking for high availability. This leads to things like redundancy, ECC [error check- ing and correction] memory, disk arrays, and predictive diagnostics," he says. "And these things start driving the system ar- chitecture." Leading the charge in this arena are the superserver companies. For instance, Par- allan now delivers ECC memory and par- ity on all buses, and it offers a sophisti- cated monitoring and diagnostics capabil- ity. "Our system maintenance is actually better than what's available for main- frames, because it uses a GUI front end," says Parallan's Fields. The next release of the system management software will sup- port the SNMP protocol, which will allow Parallan servers to operate in heterogene- ous network management systems. Tri- cord and NetFrame servers provide similar levels of data integrity and diagnostics. The Pentium itself will also help in this regard, because it incorporates several new diagnostic capabilities. On-chip perfor- mance-monitoring registers maintain sta- tistical information on cache hits, bus trans- actions, and average processor waits. In compliance with the Joint Testability and Automation Group standard, internal Pen- tium registers can be read directly, which should help in debugging and testing sys- tems. And the Pentium's FRC (functional redundancy-checking) mode lets two chips run side-by-side and compare their results in real time. Unfortunately, FRC mode doesn't indicate a resolution in case of an error, so it serves to flag — but not solve — data integrity failures. Investing in Pentium The first generation of Pentium PCs does not yet take full advantage of the new CPU. If you must buy a Pentium-based system today, protect your investment by seeking out one with a PCI or VL-Bus for video or disk I/O. A 64-bit memory inter- face and a 32-bit I/O bus are nice bonuses. However, it's probably worth waiting until the rest of the architecture catches up with the chip and until the operating systems that take full advantage of the Pentium are available and robust. And if you're not sure of your needs but are plan- ning to buy a 486 system anyway, consid- er one with a P24T socket on-board (to accommodate Intel's unannounced Pen- tium "overdrive" processor), with the un- derstanding that when the chip that plugs into it is delivered, it won't give you the same performance levels as a native 64- bit Pentium system. ■ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS BYTE executive editor Rich Malloy. senior news editors Gene Srnarte and Tom R. Halfhill. and news editors Ed Perralore. Dave Andrews, and Pat Waurzyniak also contributed to this article. Andy Reinhardt is BYTE's West Coast bureau chief. You can reach him on BIX as "areinhardt. " incredible overheads and prints that rivet your audience's attention. Made easily and affordably. Right at your desktop. The KODAK COLORf/\S£ PS Printer. Continuous-tone transparencies and prints. Superb resolution. Plus UltraColor Software from Kodak that gives you great color the first time, and every time. True Adobe PostScript' Level 2. Fully compatible with your MACINTOSH Computer or WINDOWS Software. With simultaneous printing and processing to maximize your productivity. No other printer can do so much, so fast. What you eat for lunch is your business. Helping you look your best in your presentation is ours. Give yourself a competitive edge with the Kodak CoiORf as£ PS Printer. Because nobody knows color like Kodak. Call 1-800-344-0006 in U.S. or 1-800-465-6325 in Canada for a sample transparency and dealer information. PoilScnpl IS d (rademadt o1 Adobe Systems. Inc.. rcgisiered in ihe U.S. and orher i Kodak and ColcxEase are Ifademadis. e Easlrnan Kodak Compdny, 199i Circle 85 on Inquiry Card. KODAK Cover Stor Pentium PCs! Power to Burn RAYMOND GA COTE AND BARRY NANCE The first afternoon I spent with a roomful of new Pentium sys- tems took me back 10 to 15 years — roaring fans, special cooling hardware, and sturdy tank-like cases that must be kept closed or the electronics inside will surely melt. It is difficult to view the first round of Pen- tium-based systems as microcomput- ers. They blur the already indistinct line between microcomputers, supermicro- computers, and minicomputers. BYTE ran preliminary tests on nine servers and two desktop systems. Most of the units were based on existing de- signs. All the vendors had been privy to the Pentium specifications for some time. This allowed them to build flex- ibility into their latest 486 designs to accommodate the Pentium. To move their systems up to the Pentium, ven- dors employed either a daughtercard or a processor card approach. The de- signs of these cards vary; they can con- tain the processor, cache, DMA, and memory with a 64-bit interface, or they can provide simply the processor and some support circuitry with a 32-bit interface. The ALR Evolution V-Q was the only machine we looked at that imple- ments the Pentium on the motherboard. It and the NCR System 3360 are the only two machines that feature com- pletely new system designs to support the Pentium. All these machines are hot, in a very real physical sense. A 66-MHz Pentium requires about 15 W just to keep itself running — never mind the high-speed support- ing electronics immediately surrounding it. The Pentium may not be the first chip to have its own private fan mounted direct- ly to it, but it is the first such chip to reach the mass market. All the Pentium systems BYTE examined use at least a heat The first Pentium systems offer significant performance gains over the 486, but they could do better Zenith offerings, use both a heat sink and a fan mounted directly to the IC. Newly designed sys- tems such as the multiprocessor NCR System 3360 incorporate separate air channels and pathways that guarantee processor cooling. Between these two extremes are systems such as the Acer Acer- Frame 3000MP, which uses a large conductive cooling plate, and the IBM Model 95 66-MHz Pentium Server, which has a row of squirrel-cage fans mounted near the processor. As processor speed and complexity increase, so too does the need for raw electrical power. Pentium systems tend to have large power suppUes — 400 W or more is not uncommon. The power supply itself produces its own heat problems, but most vendors have already dealt with this problem in their fastest 486 designs by separating the power supply and its cooling fan from the rest of the system. All the systems we looked at adequately isolate the power supply's cooling airflow. However, heat is likely to become more of a problem as the Pentium becomes readily available and clone sink, as Intel recommends. Some, including the Compaq and manufacturers place this year's electronics in last year's cases. 34. BYTE JULY 1993 Cover story Hewlett-Packard Zenith Z-Server LT 466XE Model Acer AcerFrame 3000MP Look for designs that allow adequate air- flow through the sys- tem; Intel recom- mends a minimum of 400 feet per minute. On the Server Side We ran the Novell file I/O server bench- marks under various network loads. Al- though there are sig- nificant differences among the systems in the group, most of their results were within shouting dis- tance of one anoth- er. Cost becomes an obvious determi- nant when evaluating these machines. Based on pi icing avail- able at press time, expect to pay at least $8500 for a base-model Pentium server. iDeskprsS We ran the random and sequential file I/O tests five times for each server. The benchmark activity was the only LAN traffic during each test. The network connections consist- ed of two Thomas- Conrad 4045 token- ring cards, each con- taining 128 KB of on-board memory. The IBM Model 95 66-MHz Pentium Server used two Mi- cro Channel token- ring cards and was the only server that didn't use Thomas- Conrad adapters. The token-ring speed was 16 Mbps. The LAN was split v.? . Unisys PW^ Advantage Plus S606 into two ring segments, each with 50 work- stations. For the tests involving an odd number of workstations (25 and 75), one ring segment had one more workstation active than the other. One of the more te- dious aspects of the test was assigning workstations. We had to ensure that each ring participating in the test had an equal number of clients. The actual tests consist of sequential and random workstation I/O. Each file I/O test is run on 10 2-MB files, reading and writing 512 bytes at a time. What is most interesting about these tests is what they reveal about the need to balance total system performance with the Pentium processor. The BYTE bench- marks allow you to configure a "processor load," which attempts to keep the server's processor busy while the clients perform the timing tests. Run- ning the benchmarks on each server with and without proces- sor loading produced negligible changes in the throughput results. This indicates that our tests were exercising the hard drive subsystem more than the actual Pen- tium chip. That's no real surprise, but it's a point to be remem- bered when deter- mining if you need a Pentium system. Even more telling were the results of the Pentium-based systems compared to those of the Zenith Z- Server LT 466XE Model 500 with a 50- MHz 486. (The Zenith Pentium module was delivered too late to be included in the network tests.) The 486-based Zenith outperi'ormed the DECpc 560ST and IBM Model 95, and it didn't do that poorly against the other systems, either. Again, this points out that overall performance is much more important than simply the per- formance of a single component. These systems would have undoubtedly exhibited completely different rankings if they had been tested with a more compute- intensive environment such as SQL Serv- er under OS/2. However, for a strict file server, our numbers indicate you can do just as well without a Pentium as you can with one. Desktop Power Two of the first Pentium systems we eval- uated — the Unisys and the Compaq — are JULY 1993 BYTE »S Cover Sto System memory with 128-bit interface 256-KB secondary cache Pentium processor with heat sinic and fan being marketed as desktop machines, so we tested them with the BYTE low-level DOS and Windows benchmarks. The DOS CPU benchmarks show the Pentium sys- tems running at speeds of up to 13 times the throughput of a Compaq Deskpro 386/33. However, overall system config- uration will drastically affect the perfor- mance of an actual application. The Unisys PW2 Advantage Plus 5606 system per- formed exceptionally well on the file I/O tests, but it was outclassed by the Com- paq Deskpro 5/66M system in raw CPU throughput and video. The Windows benchmarks show even more confusing results. The Unisys, which uses a special pixel-caching video adapter, outstrips the Compaq for drawing indi- vidual pixels, and it maintains this advan- tage for bit-block transfers. However, drawing real-world items such as lines, el- lipses, and polygons is nowhere near as speedy. Likewise, the Unisys system is 63 percent quicker than the Compaq at se- quential file I/O tasks but nearly 31 percent slower at the random test. Many of the discrepancies that these tests show arise due to the number of dif- ferent caches throughout the system. First, the CPU and FPU tests show the speed of the system only while it's operating from within the processor cache on the system processor board. All the current BYTE Isolated power supply The ALR Evolution V-Q was the only system among the 11 that BYTE examined that had the Pentium mounted on the motherboard. Acer took a unique approach to dissipating the heat generated by the Pentium in the AcerFrame 3000MP. A metal plate acts as a heat sink; it's thin enough to allow normal spacing of the expansion slots. Compaq's TriFlex architecture allows its existing Deskpro system design to accept this Pentium processor card. It places all the timing- critical components, such as cache and DMA, on the card. Processor board slots The NCR System 3360 was designed as a multiprocessing Pentium system. The processor cards and memory reside in their own compartment, at one end of which is a large fan that generates enough airflow to keep the two processors cool. 96 BYTE JULY 1993 Why some software sells more than others. Success. All software developers strive for it. Now, Don Gall was on top of the world. Software protection made all the difference. Especially in Europe and Asia. Sales were four times better than before. He is the founding father of Sentinel — the guru of software success. Struggling Software Sales One day, trekking through the coffee fields of Java, Don ran into his old college buddy Simon Seagull. "Don, my sales are well below expectations." Simon explained his plight, "My software should sell like yours, Don!" Yet despite critical acclaim Simon's company, SimonSays Software, teetered on a financial tightrope. "What's your seaet, Don?" They spent hours analyzing potential problems They looked at everything. TlK Key to the Proidem Finally, Don leaned back and asked the assumptive question, "What about protection - are you using Sentinel?" e IS wnai.'! Nervously, Simon sipped his coffee. His hands shaking as his eyes darted the room, "No. I didn't think I needed to." Don's chair slid out from under him and he crashed to the floor. Amazed in disbelief, Don cried, "You What?!" Grabbing his tattered scrapbook, Don pulled out photos , of his travels. "Ever I ^fl^Q I ^^^^ Seoul? l^Tlk " Prague? Anywhere? Ten bucks will buy you anything, even bootlegged copies of software." Don^ Road to Success Thumbing through the scrapbook, Don shared his experiences. "Back in the '80s, I was in your shoes - beaten, battered and bruised." Simon listened. "Then, after \ a heart breaking ^ trip around the ir world, I called the Software Publishers Association (SPA).' "I could hardly believe it. They told me developers lose billions of dollars each year Why? Illegally copied software, hi some countries there are nine pirated copies for each legal copy sold." Simon was disgusted, "ft's just not fair." "That's why I committed myself to solving the piracy problem," explained Don. Simon's eyes lit up. "The dongle!" he shouted. Don corrected him, "Not just any dongle — the dongle that paved the road to success for over 10,000 developers worldwide — Sentinel." Successful Developers Use Sentinel Don pulled a stack of letters out of his gunny sack. "AU of these people tell the same story." Don read about a successful developer from California who swears she wouldn't be in business without Sentinel. Another company says protection costs less than litigation, plus they don't have to spend time and money supporting illegal users. Others confessed they wouldn't market products internationally without protection. The hours flew by, story after story, Simon learned Don Gall's secret. To succeed is to protect. To protect is to secure with Sentinel. Most Advanced and Widely Used Dongles in the World Backed by the world leader in software protection. Rainbow Technologies, the Sentinel Family of hardware keys is the most diverse and comprehensive selection available. For DOS, Wmdows, OS/2, Macintosh, LAN, UOTX and others. They're simple to install, and are the most reliable and compatible available. Rainbow offers just-in- time delivery and the largest technical support and engineering staff in the software protection industry. Call Don Gall today for a free copy of "The Sentinel Guide to Securing Software." Or better yet, ask him for a low cost Sentinel Evaluation Kit — complete mth a working dongle! CALL 800/852-8569 FOR YOUR FREE GUIDE TO SECURING SOFTWARE SEIUinEL Securing the future of software When you need a dongle, you need Sentinel. The only dongle Don Gall will use. T E C H II 0 L 0 G I E S 9292 JERONIMO ROAD. IRVINE, C/\LIFORNIA 927 1 8 . 7 14/ 454-2 1 00 ■ fax 7 1 4/ 454-8557 International offices are located in the United Kingdom, Germany and France. MKHJSOFT WINDOHS © 1993 Rainbow Technologies, Inc. All produa names are rrademarks of their respective owners. Circle 137 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 138). Cover Story DOS Benchmarks Compaq Deskpro 5/66M Unisys PW2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 0 10 15 20 25 30 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 All results are Indexed, and higher numbers indicate better pertormance. For each index in the DOS tests, a Compaq Deskpro 386/33L running Compaq DOS 5.0 = 1 . The overall index is the average index of the individual tests. The BYTE low-level twnchmark suite identifies relative performance at the hardware level, breaking down performance by system component. The results of these tests can help you to identify the relative performance of a given subsystem and to determine where performance bottlenecks may tie. For a complete description of these tests, see "BYTE's New Benchmarks: New Looks, New Numt)ers," August 1990 BYTE. The BYTE low-level benchmarks, version 2.4, are available in the byte.bmarks conference on BIX, or you can contact BYTE directly. Unix Benchmarks Compaq Deskpro 5/66M NCR 3360 Unisys PW^ Zenith Z-Server LT Dhrystones Exec! 01 23456789 10 Pipe Context Switch Shell Scripts Unix Overall Compaq Deskpro 5/66M NCR 3360 Unisys PW^ Zenith Z-Server LT All results are Indexed, and higher numbers indicate better performance. For each index in the Unix tests, a Sun Sparcstation IPC = 1 . The overall index is the average index of the individual tests. Our Unix tests show relative performance for double-precision arithmetic, the Dhrystone 2 benchmark, spawning a process (execl()), pipe-based context switching, and running a shell script with eight concurrent scripts running. Unix benchmarks are available on Usenet, in the listings area on BIX, or on disk. Metaware compiler I SCO binary Windows Benchmarks Graphics Memory File I/O Windows Overall Compaq Deskpro 5/66M Unisys PW^ 0 2 4 6 a 10 12 14 16 18 0 8 10 12 0 8 12 16 20 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 All results are indexed, and higher numbers indicate better perfomiance. For each index in the Windows tests, a Compaq Deskpro 386/33L running Compaq DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1 = 1 . The overall index is the average index of the individual tests. BYTE's Windows test suite measures system performance running Windows. It is divided into three categories: Graphics, which includes calls to GDI drawing routines: li^emoty, which measures the speed of memory access under Windows; and File I/O, which measures performance of the file system on disk. 98 BYTE JULY 1993 You've been waiting for a powerful optical storage drive that slides easily into any standard half-height computer bay. And Pioneer engineers did it. Presenting the world's first 5W half-height multifunction (rewritable/ WORM) drive. The DE-UH7Wh This feature packed optical drive gives you everything. Half-height form factor, 53 msec average seek time, dust protection, SCSI interface, and removable media with 654 MBytes on a single 5Vi" optical disk. The multifunction capability allows use as an erasable, rewritable work- horse drive. And as a WORM (write once read many) archiver for mass storage. Along with great features. Pioneer continues to build reliability into every drive. By improving existing technology and reducing the number of parts we achieved an astounding 32,000 hours mean-time between failures. The DE-UH7W1 is available in internal or external units. Call Pioneer at 1-800-LASER-ON for full power at half the size. Pioneer New Media Technologies, Inc. OPTICAL MEMORY SYSTEMS DIVISION, 2265 E. 220th Street Long Beach, CA 90810 Circle 255 on Inquiry Card. Cover Story NetWare Benchmarks KBps 7000 Random I/O 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 KBps 18000 16000 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 12 25 50 Number of stations 75 100 AcerFrame 3000MP IBM Model 95 DECpcSeOST ALR ProVeisa V ALR Evolution V-Q Siemens Nixdorf PCE-5S HP NetServer 5/60 LM Z-Server LT* Sequential I/O ■ 1 i 1 ■ 1 1 ■ 1 i 1 H 1 1 ■ 1 if 1 ■ 1 1 12 25 50 Number of stations 75 100 • Zenith server tests run on 486/50 CPU. On ttie networlt file I/O tests, worltstations open. read, and write files on tfie server using either sequential or random-access patterns. The file I/O tests measure true server throughput; disk I/O speed is the most important factor, but processing speed and network I/O performance also contribute. All servers are tested under NetWare 3.1 1 . The figure shows the aggregate throughput for each server for each test. Note that the figure shows fo/a/ throughput on the network — that is, the sum of the throughput seen by each client on the network. benchmarks don't require hits in main memory. Conversely, the file I/O tests highlight differences in approaches to on- board disk caches as well as to the inter- face. Tlie More, the Merrier Beyond the promise of simply more speed lies the ability to gang Pentium processors into multiprocessing systems. We received two such systems for review: The Acer AcerFrame 3000MP and the NCR System 3360. We were unable to pit these two sys- tems against each other, since the Acer- Frame arrived with only one processor board. The NCR 3360 we received had two Pentium processor boards. NCR claims it will deliver systems that support up to 16 processors. This is a ground-up redesign that NCR configures for either desktop or server use. It includes custom memory management chips, a custom local bus for video access, and the ability to provide multiple processor access to shared video memory. This means that the video is not tied to a particular processor — whichever processor board is free can update the dis- play. This also leads to the potential, with still unrealized software, of allowing dif- ferent processors to write to specific win- dows on the display. NCR's use of a nonstandard local-bus definition for the video means you'll be limited in your choice of video cards for this machine. For server use, this is not much of a concern, and NCR claims it is seriously considering PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) 2.0 for future it- erations of the 3360. The 3360 points out the difference that a good compiler can make to performance. continued iOO BYTE JULY 1993 Cross platfoniis easily New Timbuktu is tlie easiest way to networl( Macintosii and Windows computers, so you can share printers, files and screens. Call today for a free demonstration video: 1-800-998-7760 ext. 4. I J H MacUser ltl|^ PC Week labs Overall Score 4.2 Macworld '^^'^"k LAN Times 5 Nodes Moving information between Macin- tosh" and Windows™ computers used to be quite a feat of skill. Let alone nerves. But now there's Farallon's new Timbuktu" for Macintosh and Windows. Timbuktu is the easiest way to create a peer-to-peer network. So, whether you're on a PC or Mac, you can share expensive peripherals like printers. And exchange files quickly and easily. You also get a unique benefit- remote control. Timbuktu can send a real-time, full-color MICROSOFT® WINDOVS.. COMmm£ It rure with NetWare Power to the network: picture of your screen over the network so you can control and view it from another Mac or Windows PC. This lets you use your network for new things like collaboration and user support. Of course, Timbuktu is easy to use and install. You don't need a dedi- cated gateway or server. And it works with what you've got. Even other networks on NetWare or TCP/IR For a free Timbuktu product demo video, just call. It's that easy. 1-800-998-7760 ext.4! *Call i-800^78*5075 for upgrades from Timbuktu and PtioneNET PC (previously AppleShare PC and PlioneNET Talk). Upgrades also available for SitkaTOPS and CartMHi Copy. A copy of Timbuktu is required on each machine on the network. Single- and multi-packs are available. All trademarks are property of their owners. ©1992 All rights reserved. For customer service, call (510) 814-5000. Or contact us on America Online'^ or AppleLink* ID: Farallon. CompuServe* ID: 75410. 2702. imernet ID: Farallon@farallon.com. Circle 87 on Inquiry Card. Cover Story PENTIUM SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS These are the most important differences among the first Pentium systems. Pricing will be critical, with early models expected to cost from $5000 to $20,000. Ail these systems will eventually ship in 66-MHz versions. (P=parity; EDAC=error detection and correction; MC=Micro Channel; N/A=not available.) SYSTEM TESTED PROCESSOR SPEED (MHZ) PROCESSOR- TO-MEMORY BANDWIDTH MEMORY TYPE CACHE (AS TESTED) EXPANSION- BUS TYPE SCSI-2 CONFIGURATION AS TESTED (RAM, STORAGE, VIDEO, MONITOR) PRICE AS TESTED AcerFrame 3000MP 60 32-bit EGG 256KB EISA, ISA None 16MB, 5 520-MB bCbl, 640x480, no monitor^ $23,995' ALR ProVeisa V 60 32-bit P 512 KB EISA, ISA None 32 MB, 4 540-MB SCSI array, 1024x768, 14" $12,989 ALR Evolution V-Q 60 128-bit P 512KB EISA, VL None 32 MB, 4 540-MB SCSI array, 1024x768, 14" $13,320 Compaq Deskpro 5/66M 66 128-bit P 256 KB EISA None ^ c KJID c^^ niD ir»c Id Mti, o1U-Md lUh, 1280x1024, 20" $9399 DECpc 560ST 60 32-bit P 256KB EISA Option card' 16MB, 1-GBSCSI, 1024x768, 14" $8500^ Hewlett-Packard NetServer 5/60 LM 60 32-bit P 256KB EISA Integrated' 16MB, 4- GB SCSI, 640x480, 14" $12,899 IBM Model 95 66-MHz Pentium Server 66 64-bit ECO 256 KB MC Option card' 16MB, 2 540-MB SCSI, 1024x768, 14" N/A NCR System 3360 60 128-bit EDAC orP 256 KB MC Integrated 64 MB, 1-GB SCSI, 1280x1024, 19" $19,000' Siemens Nixdorf PCE-5S 60 64-bit EDAC 256 KB EISA, ISA, VL Integrated' 16MB, 510-MB SCSI, 1 024x768, no monitor N/A Unisys PW Advantage Plus 5606 60 32-bit P 256 KB EISA Integrated 16MB, 1.2-GB SCSI, 1024x768, 14" $10,000 Z-Server LT 466XE Model 500 66 64-bit P 256 KB EISA Integrated' 16MB, 3 500-MB SCSI, 1024x768, 17" $8915 ' Fast SCSI. ' Includes 525-MB QIC tape drive. ' Estimated price. The BYTE Unix benchmarks are compiled using the standard SCO Unix compiler. We ran these standard binaries and a ver- sion of the benchmcirk compiled with the native NCR Metaware C compiler. In some cases, the Metaware compiler shows a 2.5 percent increase over the standard SCO speeds. It was interesting to see that some tests, such as spawning oth- er tasks, were actually quicker when the SCO compiler was used. With the Metaware compiler, the 3360 ranks be- tween the Silicon Graphics Indigo and the IBM RS/6000 in speed. This speed increase is seen without using a Pentium- specific compiler. The AcerFrame has been around since late last year in 486 form. It supports up to four Pentium processors. Memory is shared and accessible by all CPUs and EISA-based subsystems. The processor- to-memory interface, which Acer calls the FrameBus, boasts a claimed bandwidth of 264 MBps. Best is Yet to Come We expect few Pentium systems to land on desktops in the immediate future. The 486 is still more than adequate for the av- erage user. It's likely that most Pentium systems will be sold for use with server applications, such as database and multi- user Unix environments, where the pro- cessing power can make a difference. Our early tests of Pentium systems are hardly the last word. Most of the units we've seen are not yet finished, particu- larly in terms of software drivers and BIOS code. All the systems discussed in this ar- ticle will eventually ship with 66-MHz processors, too, although many arrived at BYTE with 60-MHz parts. Furthermore, we've yet to see what these systems can re- ally do with applications written using compilers designed specifically for the Pentium architecture. For now, these systems are merely good, fast implementations of 486-class ma- chines. We won't know what their full po- tential is until Pentium-specific applica- tions appear. ■ Raymond GA Cote is a BYTE consulting editor. You can reach him on BIX as "rgacote." Barry Nance is a contributing editor for BYTE. You can reach him on BIX as "harryn." Company Information Acer America Corp. Hewlett-Packard Co. Siemens Nixdorf San Jose. OA Palo Alto, CA Information Systems, Inc. (800) 733-2237 fax: (800) 752-0900 Burlington, MA fax; (408) 456-0471 Circle 1064 on Inquiry Card. (800) 226-1484 ext. 3396 Circle 1060 on Inquiry Card. (617) 273-0480 ext. 3396 IBM PC Co. fax: (617) 221-0201 Advanced Logic Somers. NY Circle 1067 on Inquiry Card. Research, Inc. (800) 722-2227 Irvine, OA fax: (800) 426-4329 Unisys Corp. (800) 444-4257 Circle 1065 on Inquiry Card. Blue Bell, PA fax: (714) 581-9240 (800) 448-1424 Circle 1061 on Inquiry Card. NCR Corp. (215) 986-4011 Dayton, OH fax: (215) 986-6850 Compaq Computer Corp. (800) 637-2600 Circle 1068 on Inquiry Card. Houston, TX (513) 443-5000 (800) 345-1518 Circle 1066 on Inquiry Card. Zenith Data Systems Circle 1062 on Inquiry Card. Buffalo Grove, IL (800) 553-0331 Digital Equipment Corp. (708) 808-5000 Maynard, MA fax: (800) 472-7211 (800) 722-9332 fax: (708) 808-4434 (800) 524-5694 Circle 1069 on Inquiry Card. Circle 1063 on Inquiry Card. 3.02 IS V I I ; JULY 1993 June 14, 1963. Cindy Smith plays witli color. Thirty years later her business depends on it. Introducing the QMS ColorScript Laser 1000. Now your business has total freedom of expressioa For Cindy, communicating da:ision-critical information quickly flawlessly and in brilliant color is now her livelihood. That's why she depends on the QMS ColorScript* Laser 1000 Print System. It frees her to print entire forms and letterhead with color logos, images and high quality text without changing paper It saves her the cost of stocking special fonns, letterhead and multiple sets of supplies and uses standard p^^r and transparencies. It improves her message by highlighting key data with color in multipage presentations and documents. Add direct connection to a variety of networks and anyone can realize both greater productivity and a per user cost that rivals personal printers. Plus, our easy software loadable upgrades virtually eliminate obsolescence. Save money Save time. Free yourself from limitations. Discover the advant^es of the QMS* ColorScript Laser 1000 Print System. • Laser color and monochrome printing • Compatibility with PostScript" Level 2 and Level 1, HP PCL"5C and HP-Cr • TmeType font scaling • Automatic collation • All four ports accept data simultaneously • Automatically inteiprets incoming data and selects correct language from those available • 65 resident type fonts, all with multilingual character sets • EfiColor"" and Colorimetric color dictionaries and Apple ColorSynch" device profile • Supports DOS, Window^ Macintosh* and Unix* applications • Software loadable system upgrades • QMS Crown™ multitasking technology. QMS Expression is a serious business. Call QMS today at 800 841-0760 or 205 633-4300 for more infomiation. QMS,QMSO)kKScri|*aiidlheQMSlogoarelra(kniarteorregtstefedtr^^ Inc. FtelScript is a trademark of Adobe S>stEmi™»qK)raledw^ cHtain jurisdioions. All other product aixl ctKipany names mentioned are Circle 109 on Inquiry Cord (RESELLERS: 110). state of the Art New Knowledge T0015 Combining knowledge-based systems with neural networks, genetic algorithms, case-based reasoning, and other emerging technologies produces new types of tools. They'll help you come to grips with tasks that will dominate the workplace in the coming years. SARA HEDBERG Anew generation of applications is helping companies work smarter by letting them take advantage of their col- lective experience. The applications, called KBSes (knowledge-based systems), are also playing a growing role in rightsizing companies by reducing costs and improv- ing workers' performance. KBSes capture a company's intellectu- al capital — its expertise and experience — and distribute it throughout the enterprise over a network. For example, American Express (New York, NY) placed corpo- rate policies and procedures in its KBS to assist its credit authorizers to rapidly han- dle transactions. New intelligent systems combine KBSes with other emerging technologies, such as neural networks, CBR (case-based rea- soning), genetic algorithms, virtual reality, and multimedia (see the glossary). Poten- tial new applications of these hybrid tech- nologies include coordinating all the func- tions and departments of a corporation, improving customer service at reduced cost, and developing better software more quickly. Smarter Tools KBS technology evolved from expert sys- tems, which were designed to encode an expert's knowledge into a computer pro- gram in the form of IF. . .THEN rules. The expert systems of the early 1980s proved to be difficult to build because of the chal- lenge of capturing all of an expert's knowl- edge. They were also difficult to maintain, because their large rule bases had little or- ganization. Most expert systems were stand-alone applications on dedicated workstations. In the mid-1980s, researchers married rule-based expert systems with powerful, frame-based, object-oriented representa- tion. This combination helped represent complex data structures, their constraints. and their relationships. The pairing pro- duced a new generation of software de- velopment tools and applications, called KBSes. With their ability to represent, manage, and analyze complex knowledge and processes, KBS software development tools offer powerful advanced program- ming techniques that are highly produc- tive. "KBS technology is really a super- set of object technology," says Dennis Yablonsky, president of the Carnegie Group (Pittsburgh, PA), a consulting firm spe- cializing in intelligent-soft- ware technologies for man- ufacturing. A KBS QUICK PRIMER The Next Generation Researchers and software developers are combining KBS tools with other emerg- ing software technologies. Although the hybrid systems are still largely experimen- tal, preliminary results indi- cate that such coupling can enable more complex prob- lem-solving techniques than have been available to pro- grammers in the past. For example, if you com- bine multimedia and virtual reality with KBS technol- ogy, you create a powerful user interface for the KBS. Programmers can use KBS technology to manage and retrieve multimedia data sources and to create intelligent agents and objects in vir- tual reality. As a result, computer inter- faces come alive (see "See, Hear, Learn" on page 1 19). When a system combines a KBS and CBR, it can intelligently process a wider variety of information than could be han- A KBS (knowledge-based system) is an application that can store, retrieve, and analyze vast stores of knowledge and data. KBSes are extensions of the old Al notion of an expert in a box. As a new generation of what used to be called expert systems, KBSes came into being about 8 years ago. Today, they are used to accomplish such tasks as diagnosing equipment problems, forecasting stock trends, scheduling production, and designing new products. died by either of the technologies it com- prises. Because it can access, organize, and analyze unstructured information that cannot be captured in databases (e.g., free- text data), CBR allows the hybrid system to handle people's experiences, or cases. It also enables the system to perform broad, shallow reasoning across these cases by matching new cases with existing ones in the case base (see "Roll Your Own Hy- brids" on page 1 13). Customer service is one area where companies are implementing systems that combine KBS and CBR technology. For instance, Compaq Computer (Hous- ton, TX) is using this ap- proach to automate such customer service functions as answering questions and troubleshooting (see the text box "Help Is on the Way"). Coordinated Engineering Hybrid systems composed of KBS and CBR technolo- gy are also proving fruitful in managing product life cycles (i.e., coordinating the design, marketing, and parts inventory of a prod- uct). With its rich represent- ation capabilities, a KBS allows a company to store and intelligently retrieve product decisions and trade-offs that can guide fu- ture decision-making. DEC, Boeing, and General Motors are a few of the compa- nies that use KBSes to coordinate such tasks. One of the most prominent research ef- forts in product-engineering coordination going on today is ARPA's DICE (Defense Initiative for Concurrent Engineering). conlinued New Knowledge Tools Knowledge-based systems let you make the most of your business's intellectual capital 106 Roll Your Own Hybrids Sometimes, your knowledge system needs the services of other technologies, such as neural networks or case-based reasoning U.3 See, Hear, Learn Combining knowledge systems with multimedia and virtual reality yields Intriguing results U9 H fTi ILLUSTRATIONS: DOLORES FAIRMAN S> 1993 JULY 1993 BYTE 107 state of the Art! New Knowledge Tools Glossary CBR (case-based reasoning) Programming by example in which knowledge is stored in the form of experiences, or cases. expert system Technology designed to encode an expert's knowledge into a computer program in the form of IF... THEN mies. frame-based representation A technique enabling more elaborate data definition of the facets of an object (e.g., constraints and multiple inheritance) than can be achieved with pure object-oriented technology. genetic aigoritlim A technique based on natural selection. Generations of bit strings are created, combined, and evaluated using genetic-like operations to find near-optimal solutions. KBS (Icnowiedge-based system) An application for representing knowledge that offers the ability to analyze this knowledge using IF.. .THEN rules. muitimedia The presentation of information on a computer using audio, video, text, animation, and graphics. neural network A system that emulates the human nervous system and brain to process information. Neural networks are used for such things as sensor and signal processing and pattern recognition. procedu re-based system An object- oriented programming technique that enables the attachment of behavior to objects in the fonti of code. When a message is received by the code, the behavior is executed. rule A technique for representing human problem-solving and heuristic reasoning using an IF.. .THEN form. rule-based systems An approach popularized with expert systems that uses IF.. .THEN mies and frames to encode expertise in a knowledge base. An inference engine controls how the rules are used during the problem-solving process. virtual reality A process that uses computers to simulate realistic 3-D audio, visual, and tactile worlds. Under the leadership of the Concurrent Engineering Research Center of West Vir- ginia University (Morgantown, WV), the research focuses on integrating intelligent software tools — including KBS and CBR — to support the coordination of en- gineering activities. Another innovative group in this arena is the Knowledge Assisted Design Lab at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA), under the direction of D. Navin Chan- dra. The lab is mixing KBSes, CBR, and KBSes vs. Hybrid Systems KBS User interface Inference engine Knowledge base ^ Reasoning , Rules and facts mechanism Explanation Database facility \^ i Problem Problem 1 trace description Hybrid system Front end (chooses subsystem to solve problem) — ( Neural network 1 — Rule-based system 1 — /I — Neural network 2 — Rule-based system 2 — 1 Neural network 3 — I Back end (formats and considers answer) A generic KBS ( knowledge-based system) relies on its own database, knowledge base, explanation facility, and inference engine, but a hybrid system can select a subsystem to handle each problem through the front end while the hack end formats and consolidates partial answers from each subsystem. (Data courtesy of Silverman, Barry. Expert Systems, Addison-Wesley. 1987: Eherhart. Russell C, and Roy W. Dobbins. Neural Network PC Tools; A Practical Guide, Academy Press, 1990) natural-language-query techniques to cre- ate a system that captures and makes avail- able to users all the design decisions of the corporation. With this information, employees can avoid repeating mistakes made by others, says Navin chandra. New Hybrids Some hybrid systems are commercially available today. For example, Art*Enter- prise from Inference (El Segundo, CA) represents a new generation of KBS tools packaged for the complex tasks of coordi- nating the functions of a corporation. Art*Enterprise com- bines the usual KBS technologies (i.e., rules, frames, object-orient- ed programming, and GUIs) with CBR, cor- porate databases, and multimedia. "The re- sult is a scalable de- velopment tool that enables a range of ap- plications in one envi- ronment," says Chuck Williams, Inference's vice president of marketing. Using the same environment. Art* En- terprise allows you to build a conventional query-and-update application merely by pointing and clicking on the program's in- terface. You also have the option of build- ing custom, complex applications that blend KBS and CBR technology. Other general- purpose KBS software development tools from such vendors as IntelliCorp (Moun- tain View, CA) and Trinzic (Palo Alto, CA) provide many of the same features as Art*Enterprise, but they do not have built- in CBR or multimedia capabilities. Some KBS Development Tool Components a rich knowledge-representation language combining frame-based and object-oriented representation schemes message passing reasoning through rules a GUI the ability to integrate with such systems as databases, sensors, and news feeds lOS BYTE JULY 1993 state of the Art New Knowledge Tools For years, KBS technology has been integrated into pro- cess-control systems, monitoring and con- trolling the workings of such facilities as plastics factories and nuclear power plants. The KBS analyzes all information provided by the control devices and initiates correc- tive actions. This ap- proach is faster and more cost-effective than traditional math- ematical methods. Some large process- control vendors, such as Bailey Controls (Wickliffe, OH), now offer or are currently developing products that combine KBS and controller tech- nologies. The dominant KBS player in this market niche is Gensym (Cambridge, MA), which introduced a new product, called NeurOn- Line, that layers neural-network technol- Hybrid Knowledge-Based System Trade-offs Combine a KBS with: PROS CONS Neural networks The system learns/trains itself and provides h^- response accuracy. It often requires prolonged training and offers no explanations for its results. Case-based reasoning The system is able to store, analyze, and process previous experiences/decisions. Inductive systems explain themselves. There is no standard underlying the adaptive algorithms. The system has difficulty prioritizing cases. Genetic algorithms The system can search an entire domain for a solution, and it breeds on established success paths. It is developmefltally difficult and computationally expensive. Multimedia The system integrates graphics, text sound, and video. It's simple to use and consists of increasingly commonplace technology. It accesses stored knoiwledge unintelligently. The system is resource intensive and expensive. Virtual reality The system can immerse a user in a 3-D environment and remotely simulate movements and situations. * Data courtesy of Cognitive Systems (Stamford, CT) and Symbologic (Redmond. WA) Its applications are mainly used for entertainment or military purposes.Tlie system requires sophisticated equipment ogy onto G2 Real-Time Expert System, Gensym' s general-purpose KBS/process- control tool. NeurOn-Line's algorithms allow it to learn while it's monitoring a process. "Now we can have nonUnear adap- tive models," explains Gensym's president Hybrid KBS Applications Neural network • pattern recognition • foreign language translation • process control • financial/credit analysis Virtual reality • training • remote operation • process control Multimedia • training • maintenance/documentation • entertainment CBR • customer support • classification/prediction system • policy compliance Genetic algorithm • financial/credit scoring • biotechnical/medical analysis • selection/profile generation Combined witll a base KBS (knowledge-based system), such technologies as CBR (case-based reasoning), neural networks, and virtual reality help create applications suitable for a wide range of tasks. JULY 1993 It V I I: X09 state of the Art New Knowledge Tools Help Is on the Way STEVEN L. SPERRY How Resolve Works Product support has been called the computer indus- try's battleground of the 1990s. To help support staffs solve customer problems faster and more accurate- ly, companies are seeking efficient techniques that combine proven knowledge-engineering and infor- mation-retrieval technologies with an open, component-based archi- tecture. No single technology or retrieval algorithm can yield the optimal way of creating a powerful product-sup- port system. But the Customer Sup- port Consortium, an alliance of 20 computer-industry leaders — which includes Banyan Systems, Com- puterLand, Intel, IBM, NCR, DEC, Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics, Legent, 3M, and Sybase — has come up with a hybrid product called Re- solve that might do the trick. De- veloped by Symbologic, a software development firm in Seattle, Wash- ington, Resolve combines CBR (case- based reasoning), text retrieval, a rela- tional database, and an expert system and provides a C++, object-oriented front end. Solving product-support problems is a complex and dynamic task. A firm's knowledge base is constantly shifting and evolving. And with ever-accelerat- ing product releases and shortening life cycles, product knowledge may become obsolete soon after it's acquired, or it may be valid for years. Problem resolution is further com- Customer support y IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII Caller Knowledge server External information source External Information source Resolve aids support personnel in answering customers ' questions. A support person enters problem information into Resolve. Because it's a client/server system, Resolve resides on both the desktop component and the knowledge server. Resolve generates queries on the infonnation and submits them to the knowledge server. If the answer isn't there. Resolve sends the query to information servers, which could be databases in other parts of the company. Resolve then filters and returns the results of the queries to the support person. ject-oriented DBMS from Object Design (Burlington, MA). The application is designed to acquire knowledge dynami- cally while the sup- port person resolves the caller's problem. Support staff can use any available infor- mation resources to reach a solution, such as databases. E-mail messages, on-line documents, and CBR systems. Each in- formation server, or retrieval tool, access- es on-line informa- tion resources, which can be located any- where within the en- terprise. plicated by its multifaceted nature: A person providing support must investi- gate, analyze, and document each trans- action. The person must synthesize all these elements to fully understand the problem. Resolve is based on a client/server model with a distributed, object-orient- ed architecture. The system's compo- nents can reside on either the client or the server. And the data-storage tech- nology is a persistent, shared-object space that will be provided by an ob- Smarts Beget Smarts The main compo- nents of the Resolve system are the user interface, problem- resolution facility, knowledge server, object database, and information server. The user interface is the support per- son's visual workspace, where infor- mation returned from searches is ren- dered as graphical objects. The interface can be embedded in and accessed through a call-tracking system, a com- bination of telephone and database tech- nology that can handle thousands of calls a day. The problem-resolution facility trans- lates the support person's understanding Bob Moore. "Processes are nonlinear. So, this is a breakthrough to allow true opti- mization of advanced control not previ- ously possible with mathematical models. The neural network's ability to learn al- lows adaptation." Some of the latest work in combining KBSes with other technologies has been pioneered by the Carnegie Group, whose products are available through its consult- ing services. The company recently inte- grated Testbench, its KBS tool for equip- ment troubleshooting, with hypertext, neural networks, and CBR. According to the Carnegie Group's Yablonsky, Testbench detects symptoms. analyzes failures, and recommends repairs. Text and graphics technology have been added so that equipment and trouble- shooting documentation can be stored in hypertext. Integrated neural-network capa- bilities enable the system to learn and adapt in nonlinear situations. Finally, the Car- negie Group included CBR in the system so llO BYTE JULY 1993 Circle 1 06 on Inquiry Card. State of the Art New Knowledge Tools of the problem into queries against the external information sources. As part of the system's response to the search, the facility evaluates and ranks the rele- vance of the results. The knowledge server manages the object model of the support domain and queries against the knowledge base, where dynamically acquired problein/ solution information is stored. The ob- ject database provides the persistent, shared-object space for the system. This component manages and synchronizes distributed object storage and access. Information servers generate queries against external information sources (e.g., document and bug databases) and package the query results as objects that can be evaluated by the problem- resolution facility and rendered by the user interface. Resolve's component-based archi- tecture makes it possible for third-par- ty retrieval products to be incorporated into the support staff's set of tools. When new products and new versions of products become available, a com- pany can quickly augment, change, or merge the elements of its knowledge- base model. Because customer-support applica- tions are so knowledge intensive, the companies that most efficiently acquire and distribute knowledge will eventu- ally achieve the high ground. Hybrid systems that combine many informa- tion technologies provide the means for firms to win the battle of customer support. Steven L. Sperry is president of Symbologic. He is also executive director of the Cus- tomer Support Consortium. You can reach him on BIX c/o "editors. " that unstructured information in cases could be available as another knowledge source to Testbench. Software Integration Some of the greatest challenges arising when combining KBSes with other tech- nologies are software integration prob- lems, says Michael DeBellis, a scientist at Andersen Consulting. DeBellis has been struggling with this problem for the past few years in the course of his work on a KBS/CASE research project. In the easi- est scenario, both the tools used in the hy- brid system are written in C, so commu- nication is straightforward. However, when one tool is written in an object-ori- ented language (e.g., Smalltalk) and the other is written in a different language (e.g., C), communications become more difficult unless the tools support the same communications protocols. Another way of integrating different ar- chitectures is by working through a central object-oriented programming representa- tion that glues diverse architectures to- gether, says DeBellis. Much of the work involved in combining KBSes with other intelligent technologies uses a hybrid ob- ject-oriented frame architecture for this purpose. However, even using KBS/object-ori- ented techniques to blend different archi- tectures doesn't solve all the integration problems, because standards are just be- ginning to emerge in the object-oriented world. Thus, if you are combining two object-based systems, you'll probably still encounter differences between the two that will complicate the conversion of ob- jects. Making the Right Choice The new combinations of KBSes and other technologies are giving computers the in- telligence to adapt to work environments, access and use vast data banks, and assist in performing tasks intelUgently. The chal- lenges lie in appropriately applying these tools to the most pressing business prob- lems. "What you need to do is examine each problem you want to solve," says Joe Car- ter, a partner at Andersen Consulting re- sponsible for emerging computing tech- nologies. "Given the nature of the problem that you're confronted with, which of the many techniques available to you is best suited to do the job? Don't try to shoehorn [it] all into one technique. You have a va- riety of tools now. You can choose the right set of tools and techniques for each application." ■ Sara Hedberg is president of Emergent (Issaquah, WA), a marketing-services firm specializing in emerging software technologies. You can reach her on BIX c/o "editors " oron the Internet at hed- berg® halcyon.com. Just Add Code. ^^^^ I F77L I i SB iiice. (800) 548-4778 Free, Unlimited Technical Support 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee Same-Day Shipping Lahey Fortran is our forte (702) 831-2500 Fax: (702)831-8123 P.O. Box 6091 Incline Village NV 89450 JULY 1993 BYTE iia. Applications" OBJECT SHORTENED TIME TO MARKET FOR CAMCORDERS NEXPERT is the core of Sony's simulation system for speeding up the design and testing of highly- specialized chips used in video cameras. The system, called XAS, reduced design time by two thirds. XAS runs in a local area network of Sony NEWS workstations, using X Windows, with more than 500 com- plex simulation rules distributed across 15 NEXPERT knowledge bases.. RISK MANAGEMENT Chemical Bank uses NEXPERT for daily review of over a billion dollars in worldwide foreign exchange transactions. The Digital VAX-based application called Inspector, ties to Oracle databases, C programs, and a communications network spanning 23 countries. Given the dollar amounts involved in transactions, once Inspector identified even one fraudulent trade, it paid for itself many times over. CUSTOMER SERVICE BCTel, Canada's second largest telephone company, uses NEXPERT to streamline business practices and help generate, recover, and protect revenue. NEXPERT is at the heart of several multiplatform applications ranging from network overload management to customer services and billing monitoring. The systems run on Sun and Digital UNIX work- stations. Digital VAXA'MS systems and PCs. BUILT ON STANDARDS NEXPERT OBJECT is an expert system written in C, that supports most windowing and networking standards and runs on more than 35 platforms from PCs and Macs to UNIX and VAX workstations, to IBM mainframes. Additionally, NEXPERT extends beyond other ex- pert systems with its unique graphical interface, knowledge acquisi- tion tools and forms system, for delivery on character-based terminals. With over 16,000 systems in use worldwide and an extensive network of solution providers and systems integrators, NEXPERT has emerged as the standard for Expert Systems and a proven way of enhancing your applications. Call us today at 1-800-876-4900 ext. 657 to register for our free seminars or to receive additional documentation. Cl-ianging t:lie Economics of Application □evelopment'" IMEUROIM DATA Circle 1 20 on Inquiry Card. state of the Art RollYour Own Hybrids Linking knowledge-based systems with otiier technologies, such as neural networks, can enhance performance, fault tolerance, and reliability. A hybrid system often gets the job done when a single technology can't. The trick is to come up with the right mix of features for the task you're working on. JAY LIEBOWITZ Stand-alone expert systems are be- coming dinosaurs. They are last- generation technology. Approaches using more reliable KBSes (knowledge-based systems) in combination with CBR (case- based reasoning), neural networks, or ge- netic algorithms have become this gener- ation's solution to critical problems in the work enviroment. Hybrid systems take advantage of each technology's best features. For example, CBR's case-based foundation and powerful search capabilities allow you to prototype software rapidly and to create new appli- cations, such as text-retrieval and product- support systems. CBR technology supple- ments the ability of an intelligent system (i.e., a system with embedded knowledge from human experts or past experience) to store and analyze data. A neural network adds accuracy and fault tolerance to a KBS, and a KBS can explain why a neural net- work behaves as it does. KBSes gain better search-and-development capabilities when merged with genetic algorithms. And mul- timedia and virtual reality add sound, ani- mation, and 3-D graphics to intelligent sys- tems. Linking several technologies creates a knowledge base that can be used to analyze problems in a commonsense manner — much as people do. For example, Doug Lenat, a principal scientist at Microelec- tronics and Computer Technology (Austin, TX), developed Cyc (an encyclopedic knowledge base), which combines spe- cialized KBS processes (e.g., inferencing procedures and a natural language inter- face). Cyc leverages knowledge across do- mains, so knowledge in one field can be applied to decision making in another. Nowadays many people in the AI world believe that it's critical to integrate intel- ligent systems with such techniques as JULY 1993 BYTE 113 state of the Art Roll Your Own Hybrids By the mid-1990s, it's highly likely that object-oriented languages, development tools, knowledge-system shells, and current CASE tools will mer^e into a single product simulation and opti- mization, interactive multimedia, neural networks, and genet- ic algorithms. Exp)er- iments have shown that ase of these com- binations can keep firms competitive by enabling them to bring products to market rapidly and cost-effectively. Also, many hybrid sys- tems allow you to re- duce the time it takes to perform routine business operations. Brainy Networks Used alone, KBSes are powerful, yet they have limitations. They can't always handle large applications. Their reasoning isn't adaptive. And their performance doesn't increase with experience. In addition, they require too much human input and long, expensive development. But for some ap- plications, these hurdles can be overcome by coupling KBSes with complementary approaches, such as neural networks and genetic algorithms. Neural networks consist of parallel net- works, or groups, of simple, highly inter- connected processing units. They are well suited for pattern recognition, foreign lan- guage translation, process control, and par- allel implementations of routine processing tasks. But neural-network technology is evolv- ing, and there are still shortcomings. For instance, neural networks require the in- put of large numbers of test cases to obtain accurate results, and even then, the results are difficult to explain. Some of the tech- nology continues to demand that a net- work undergo extensive training. And the number of neurons in a neural network limits the network's storage capacity. Even so, the logical, cognitive, and me- chanical nature of a KBS complements the numeric, associative, self-learning, and biological nature of neural networks. Larry Medsker, a professor of computer science at American University (Washington, DC), says that combining neural networks and KBSes provides system improvements in many areas, including graceful system degradation, generalization, explicit and implicit reasoning, incremental learning, reliability, and flexibility. To gain the advantages that these hybrid approaches offer, you need an integration — Kevin IHurphy James Martin & Company (Reston, VA) Hierarchy of Hybtid Systems ES architecture. One such architecture, called the loose-coupling model, uses an expert system and a neural network as stand-alone modules that communicate via data files. Scientists at Com- puter Sciences (Belts- ville, MD), a firm that provides computer pro- grams to NASA, have used this architecture at the Goddard Space night Center (Greenbelt, MD). The process uses neural networks to filter out poor- quality data transmitted from satellites. The resultant data is then sent to a KBS for classification. Another architecture is the tight-cou- pling model. In this approach, an expert system and a neural network are also sep- arate, independent modules, but they com- municate via para- meter or data passing. Using the tight- coupling architec- ture at Loral Aero- space (Houston, TX), Matthew Hanson, manager of software engineering and de- velopment, and Rob- ert Brekke, manager of integration, verifi- cation, and testing, developed WMES (workload manage- ment expert system). The system uses a neural network to de- termine staffing needs based on such factors as staff availability, workers' skill, and project start dates. An expert system inter- acts with the neural network to estimate what resources will be required. A third architec- ture is the fully inte- grated model, which uses a shared data structure and knowledge representation (i.e., a neural-network node can represent part of a rule). Connectionist systems, or parallel distributed-processing systems, can use this architecture. NN Fully integrated ES Tight coupling ES ES Loose coupling NN I ES At the bottom of the hierarchy, the stand- alone and transformational models are separate modules of a hybrid system, with no communication passing between them. Higher in the hierarchy, as communication via data files and parameter passing is added, a hybrid system becomes more complex and easier to develop into a more useful system. In the loose- coupling architecture, the ellipse represents files being transferred between the two elements of the system; the straight line indicates direct communication. The fully integrated model is so unified that the distinction between the modules is blurred. Coupling neural networks with KBSes has limitations, though. Their develop- ment complexity and maintenance require an experienced staff and established guide- lines. And even though the market offers good hybrid tools, such as Nuex Shell from Charles River Analytics (Cambridge, MA), there just aren't enough of them. Finally, you need a multiprocessor system to achieve acceptable run-time performance. CBR to the Rescue CBR enables a system to store past expe- riences or situations as cases, analyze and process the data, and suggest ways of re- sponding to a problem. A CBR system has two primary components: a case base and a problem solver. A case base contains descriptions of pre- viously solved and unsolved problems. A problem solver consists of a case retriever and a case reasoner. The case retriever iden- tifies data (either by using a nearest-neigh- bor search or by using indexes or other tech- niques) in the case base that most appro- priately fits the situa- tion and presents it to the case reasoner. The case reasoner exam- ines the cases and, with the aid of do- main knowledge, per- forms adaptation, syn- thesis, or prediction. Organizations like DEC (Maynaid, MA), Compaq Computer (Houston, TX), and Canada's Toronto Stock Exchange are using CBR and intel- ligent systems to- gether. The applica- tions take the form of field service, software reuse, project costing, product/order config- uration, text retrieval, and database mining. One reason for the increasing interest in developing CBR ap- plications is the in- creasing availability of CBR tools, says Ralph Barletta, vice president of software technology at Cognitive Systems (Boston, MA), a software development company. One such package is Archie, a CBR tool developed by Janet Kolodner, Ashok Goel, NN NN NN Stand-alone Transformational ES = expert system NN = neural nefwori< 114 BYXE JULY 1993 state of the Alt Roll Your Own Hybrids Courthouse #2 — First Floor System Eric Domeshek, and their colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technol- ogy (Atlanta) to help architects han- dle conceptual design problems. Re- Mind from Cognitive Systems, CBR g| S Express from Inference (El Segundo, ~ CA), and Esteem from Esteem Soft- ware (Indianapolis, IN) are a few other packages that are now avail- able. CBR and rule-based reasoning complement one another, says Steve Mott, president of Cognitive Sys- tems. Rules handle big chunks of problem domains well, but they are less useful or cost effective in the boundary areas where subtle con- texts tend to exist. Cases, on the oth- er hand, can model entire domains if you assemble enough cases to cov- er every problem area in the domain. Why build an expansive case base if much of the domain can be cov- ered by rules? A good approach for solving problems is to "model the do- main with rules as far as you can, then ap- ply CBR to handle the boundary region ex- ceptions," Barletta says. The is no propai r«c«pt1on or put! I i c ant rv to e*al Sac VIcwpalBI Sac r Waiting Area for Judoes' Lobby asm Attorneys, salennen, and other people often have to reach Judges or others in the stalT area. However, the separation of the private circulation from public circulation makes this difTicult. No formal reception area or public entry to the staff area Is provided, and as a result visitors either find their way tttrougb unlocked courtrooms, breaching security, or bother clerical staff to let them in through staff entrances. Entrjrio*t> J "nSoFl Stakeholder Lp public Cin The public should be able lo visit the judge's private ofllce only by pdsslne through « security checkpsini and then enteilne the private corridor. The judEe's private oflice should be adjacent to his secretary's office. The secretary is resFonsiUe for screeEuns visitors, so there should be a waiting aiea for those persons wishing to see the Judge. An adjoining reception/pubUc waiting area of approximately 40-60 sg. ft. should be directly located outside the judge's office. It should seat 2-4 visitors and be fiirnished with coirfcrtable Archie is a tool consisting ofKBS and CBR technology that provides architectural design support. Here, the system is responding to a request for previous cases pertaining to secure ways of placing people in a courtroom. The floor plan provides two options: a rule is displayed on the bottom right. Survival of the Fittest Another enabling and emerging AI tech- nology is genetic algorithms. These are adaptive, general-purpose search tech- niques that are based on the principles of population genetics. A genetic algorithm maintains a list of fxjssible solutions to the problem at hand. Based on whether or not the previous solutions were successful, the fittest solutions not only sur- vive but also exchange information with other candidates to form new solutions. The U.S. Navy's Sys- tem Integration Test Station laboratory at Point Mugu Naval Air- base (Point Mugu, CA) has implemented genet- ic algorithms in sched- uling applications. You can also use genetic al- gorithms to train a neur- al network. The Navy Center for Applied Re- search in Artificial In- telligence at the Naval Research Laboratory (Washington, DC) has been using genetic algorithms to help ro- bots develop leaming and adaptation capa- bilities. You can integrate genetic algorithms with rule-based methods to develop sys- tems that generate new rules. Genetic al- gorithms are useful for inductive leaming, conflict resolution, and classification. Hybrids Enhance Performance Pattern recognition and analysis Neural networks provide pattem-recognitioii functionality, and KBSes perform analysis. Interface issues User-machine interactions are improved when the KBS can explain to users how a neural network arrived at a solution to a problem. Training neural networks KBSes can help train neural networks by providing intelligence to create the training sets and test sets. Knowledge acquisition and engineering Neural networks develop implicK knowledge that supplements KBSes' explicH rule-based knowledge. Objectively Speaking OOP (object-oriented programming) can also play an important role in hybrid systems. Ob- jects are data structures that contain both data and procedures. You can use objects to rep- resent knowledge with class hierarchies, slots, methods, and instances. Objects can also be used to create inter- faces and GUIs with windows, icons, im- ages, and dynamic im- ages (e.g., graphics or mouse-sensitive areas). Pattern-matching rules emanate from the combination of object processing and infer- encing. These rules are more efficient and easier to read when the system is processing large amounts of data, says Jan Aikins, vice president of tech- nology at Trinzic (Palo Alto, CA), a firm that provides advanced applications de- velopment tools for business automation. The benefits of combining object pro- cessing and inferencing were demonstrat- ed by Aion's Extruder system. This appli- cation schedules work orders for producing plastic tubing on machines called extrud- ers. Using an OOP/rule-based hybrid ap- proach, Aion reduces the time required to schedule orders from 1 1.8 seconds to 3.6 seconds. What lies ahead for hybrid KBSes? In the next three to five years, knowledge- representation technology will increas- ingly use rules, objects, cases, genetic algorithms, and neural networks. The in- tegration of two or more of these ap- proaches will be important in a number of environments, such as simulation and process control, where knowledge cannot be fully portrayed by a single representa- tion scheme. ■ ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My thanks to Larry Medsker for his help with this article. Jay Liebowitz is a professor of management sci- ence at George Washington University. You can reach him on BIX do "editors." JULY 1993 It V 1 1<; lis * » I ^ f ' \ f 4 H f . W * • «5» f 4^ ^\ a I f f if i t f f STOP CHASING 5^ Okidata has brought PAPER the paper chase to a resounding and refreshing halt, with the invention of DOC*iT, . the revolutionary desktop document processor 9HU«^^^^^^ that combines a multitude of talents. mm P*"""^^^ With DOC'IT, Okidata has integrated faxing, printing, copying, scanning, cutting and pasting in one unit with a footprint so compact, it takes up just a corner of your desk. 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Department Statistics Technical Publishing Mechanical Design WordPerfect for UNIX MIS Database Molecular Modeling ¥ Corporate E-mail Because they long ago mastered the fine art of pointing and clicking. And with PC-Xware fix)m NCD, that's all the skill one needs to access resources in a Unix network from a personal computer. Point and click, there's a graphic application using the same X Window System technology found in NCD's leading family of X terminals. Point and click, there's a character-based application using VT320 emulation. All integrated into one package that even includes NetManage's 100% Windows-based TCP/IP stack for network access, and our own XRemote for remote access. What's more, by adding one of our NetPack options you can share and transfer files between your PC and Unix hosts through client and server implementations of NFS and FTP You can even access Unix e-mail. And because you already know how to install PC-Xware (just point and click), you can be up and running in minutes. You can place an order even faster. Just call NCD toU free at 1-800-793-7638 and ask for PC-Xware. A product which brings Windows and Unix tc^ther. And one you already know how to use. NCD Network Computing Devices, Inc. | All registered and unregistered trademarks mentioned above are ttie sole property of ttieii respeciive owners. state of the Art See, Hear, Learn Combining the audiovisual environments of multimedia and virtual realHy with knowledge-based systems will create fascinating applications. This technology could change the way you deal with information. SARA HEDBERG ultimedia and virtual reality are exciting technologies by them- selves, but by adding intelligence to them, researchers are creating some intriguing possibilities. These new hybrid KBSes (knowledge-based systems) are still in the experimental stage — most are at least a year away from commercial use — but they will provide the tools that will change the workplace in the years to come. To multimedia, KBSes bring intelli- gent storage, indexing, retrieval, and dis- tribution. In the world of virtual reality, a KBS provides the technology to create intelligent agents — virtual Cheshire cats to answer your questions and direct you to shortcuts. Intelligent Navigation Imagine the day when you have access to vast libraries of video clips on almost any topic and intelligent assistants that help you retrieve information and explore areas of interest. This is exactly the kind of ex- perimental work under way at Northwest- em University's ILS (Institute of the Learn- ing Sciences, Evanston, IL), led by Roger Schank. Schank's group has developed a "smart" object-oriented/CBR (case-based reason- ing)/multimedia navigation tool. Called Ask, it intelligently indexes and retrieves short video clips (i.e., 1 to 2 minutes) and text. Ask creates knowledge bases about the clips and indexes them by content. The user can navigate through the stored videos and retrieve footage interactively through conversational-style queries regarding the context of the clips. For example, if you want to leam about the mythology of Bali, you can ask the system questions, and it will provide you with video clips and text on the relevant subjects. If you become interested in, say, the location of an incident in mythology, you can quickly get a map of Bali followed JULY 1993 BYTE 119 Get a hold of the best value in LAN power protection Now just $139! suggested list price Blackouts, brownouts, sags... Your data and hardware are vulnerable to problems that surge suppressors and power directors are just not equipped to handle. Now there's a complete Uninterruptible Power Supply solution to suit any budget. 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And if you're lured by the beauty of the beach, you can branch off and learn about travel to Bali. Schank's group worked with the trans- portation command of Operation Desert Storm to film the experts who managed the monumental task of moving the equip- ment, troops, and materiel to Saudi Arabia. The expertise gained from the experience is now indexed and available through the Ask system. The concepts that ILS is pioneering can easily be transferred to other areas of our lives. For the business world, Schank's group has built applications using Ask that range from trust bank consulting and tax accounting services to corporate manage- ment. ILS is also working in a Hispanic area of Chicago on a project called Commu- nity Ask, which is intended to enable cit- izens to ask questions of local officials and professionals via TV. The project pres- ages better things to come. With the estab- lishment of a high-speed, fiber-optic data The Compaq SystemPro/XL Beat All Other Industry-Standard Servers In The TPC Benchmark™ Tests. JULY 1993 It V 1 121 The only Windows statistics package you'll ever need. mm NEW SYSriXr® for WINDOWS SyBW SOI/WndoiK #1 for DOS and Windows Rated "the best general-purpose statistics program" for the PC by Software Digest"^, SYSTAT for DOS is now joined by SYSTAT for Win- dows. This addition to the SYSTAT family takes full advantage of Windows, with pull-down menus, dialog boxes, sizable windows, and the ease of use you expect in a Windows package. SYSTAT for Windows runs in standard and 386 enhanced modes and can take advantage of Win- dows advanced memory manage- ment. No matter how large or complex your analysis is, you can use SYSTAT SYSTAT delivers a balance of power and simplicity. It lets you analyze and manipulate data with a comprehensive range of advanced statistical procedures, and present your results with stunning graphics. Just point and click SYSTAT is a full-fledged Windows application. Just point and click. SYSTAT s QuickStat™ buttons give you simple, single-click shortcuts to common statistical analyses. More statistics, from the basic to the most sophisticated A full range of univariate and multivariate statistics -from < tests to multidimensional scaling. With a few clicks you can turn most sta- tistics into graphs and perform: ■ multiway crosstabs with log linear modeling ■ nonparametric statistics ■ principal components and factor analysis ■ cluster analysis ■ time series ■ nonlinear estimation ■ correlation matrices ■ means, effect, and dummy models ■ post hoc tests SYSTAT offers the most advanced multivariate general lin- ear model available for Windows. 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SYSTAT For more information call or write: SYSTAT, Inc., 1800 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60201-3793. Tel: 708.864.5670, Fax: 708.492.3567 Australia: Hearne Marketing 61.3.8661786, BeNeLux: Oasis 31.3402.66336, Denmark: Agrolab 45.64.406575, France: Deltasoft 33.76.418508, Germany: STATCON 49.55.4272075, Italy: PiSoft 39.587.213640, Japan: HuLinks 81.33.6902311, New Zealand: Hoare & Assoc. 64.78.562675, Poland: COMPANION 48.12.360791, Spain: AddLink 34.3.4590722, Switzerland: F & P 41.31.215151, SYSTAT UK: 44.81.4620093 ® 1992 SYSTAT®, inc Software Digest ltatiitgsHeport/83, May. 199T Software Digest is a registered trademarlc of NSTL, inc. state of the Art See, Hear, Learn highway, very much like the one being discussed by the CHnton administration, Schank envisions being able to deliver in- telligent multimedia applications right into your home. Another ILS system, called Creanimate, teaches students biology by allowing them to create their own animals. Creanimate uses intelligently linked videos to teach about the relationship between survival in the wild and the physical attributes of an- imals. Experiments applying KBSes to multi- media are springing up elsewhere. For ex- ample, a major U.S. manufacturer is in- vestigating KBS-multimedia systems as a form of technical memory and advice. Us- ing such a system, a design engineer could simultaneously bring up an analysis of a competitor's product and the design-for- manufacturability requirements. The com- pany has developed prototypes in this area using industry standards (e.g., personal computer platforms and video peripher- als). Such systems might someday be ac- cessed across distributed networks, bring- ing KBS-multimedia tools to the problems of enterprise coordination. Metaphor Interfaces Andersen Consulting (Chicago, IL) has long been an innovator in applying KBS technologies, and it's currently working on a support system that will help commercial loan officers make calls, struc- ture deals, and maintain client relationships. The application, called TIM (Total Information Man- agement), is the focal point for a number of emerging technologies, integrating KBS, CBR, multimedia, and voice synthesis. At the heart of this hy- brid KBS sits Art*Enter- prise from Inference (El Segundo, CA). The ob- ject-oriented Art*Enterprise makes the integration of KBS and multimedia tech- tung, a manager in Andersen Consulting's hypermedia group. "We bury muhimedia in an object," ex- plams Orttung. "For example, the object is a story from another lender. The attributes of that object would include the features of the story, when the story is relevant, plus a pointer to the actual video." When a message is sent to the video attribute, the film is called and played through MCI (media control inter- face) control strings, the standard to control multi- media within Microsoft Windows. TIM's video component resides on a 66-MHz 486 with two special boards: Speech Commander for voice recognition, which is available from Verbex Voice Systems (Edison, NJ), and ActionMedia II for video acceleration and compression, which is sold by both Intel nologies natural and easy, says Mark Ort- (Santa Clara, CA) and IBM (Armonk, Applications in the Works video-library navigation training education community services liome sliopping simulation banking troubleshooting tax accounting management advice product design InfoWorld Magazine Named The Compaq ProSignia Systems Product Of The Year. JULY 1993 BYTE i23 That Really Cranks. 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It is used by tool for C or C++, an application framework for C++ worid-class software developers like • Novell ▲ Microsoft Windows S Windows NT developers, and the XVT Portability Toolkit" • Supports Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, Wmdows NT, OS/2 Presentation Manager, OPEN LOOK, OSF/Motif, and Character Systems • Native look-and-feel to all target GUIs • Portability to 30 hardware systems •Access to the complete functionality of every windowing system • Easier to use than native development toolkits • Minimal size and performance overhead • Shorter development cycles • No royakies or runtime fees •Clear documentation and responsive technical support •HP 'AT&T 'Digital •Lockheed • Kodak •Grammatik/Reference Software, because it allows them to take their applications to the widest market, quickly and cost effectively Don't wnte another line of code without geanng up to develop your application simultaneously for all GUIs. QU for technical matenals and a demo. 'om: I Spolig m /frail t*! ▲ Macintosh S SOFTWARE INC The portable GUI development solution. 1-800-678-7988 XVT Software Inc. 4900 Pearl East Cir. Boulder, CO 80301 (303) 443-4223 FAX (303) 443-0969 For European Inquiries, contact: PVl Precision Software GmbH Phone: 49 0 61 03/37 94 0 Fax: 49 0 61 03/36 95 5 A OSF/Motif Sliown above are four of tlie seven GUIs supported by XVT. Circle 158 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 159). state of the Art See, Hear, Learn NY). The TIM video is filmed with a cam- era, digitally captured, and stored directly on a hard disk. Andersen Consulting uses a special tool from Protocomm (Trevose, PA), called Videocomm, to store video on a server and play it on a client. The KBS component of TIM stores knowledge, automates decision making, and filters news feeds. Various types of advice are available through KBS rules. For example, if a banker must deal with an overdraft, he or she asks TTM to suggest a course of action. Behind the scenes, the KBS is invoked, and TIM presents the banker with three possible solutions, a rec- ommendation on the one most likely to succeed, and an explanation of why it made the recommendation. In addition, instead of taking a rule-based approach, TIM can provide anecdotal information through muhimedia. TIM also uses the CBR techniques in- tegrated into Art*Enterprise. For instance, TIM can compare a customer's needs to the products that are currently available on the market, because these are match- We can make a computer look like a magazine, a classroom, a shopping mall, a cockpit — virtually any familiar metaphor. This turns the computer into a chameleon. — Joe Carter Andersen Consulting (Chicago, ID ing problems well suited to CBR. "The problem with an application like this," says Joe Carter, Andersen Consult- ing's partner responsible for emerging technologies, "is that the amount of capa- bility and functionality is so enormous that it's easy to get lost. You almost need a college degree to navigate through it." According to Carter, the solution is to organize such systems around a metaphor. "Using such an organizing metaphor cuts down on the training requirements to use the system, because people are already fa- miliar with the interface." In the case of TIM, the interface that a commercial lender sees on his or her com- puter looks much like a desk with files, notepads, and calendars. All the underlying computing is transparent, whether it's a call across a network to a video server for a piece of film or the use of rules to solve a problem. TIM integrates a number of off-the-shelf products, such as Microsoft Mail, Excel, and Word. The API of each is wrapped in an object in TIM to integrate the applica- tions. "Each type of application is different to wrap in an object," says Orttung. "An Excel spreadsheet, for example, is easier. For The Third Year In A Row, LAN Times Readers Chose Compaq Servers Over Every Other Brand. 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To find out more, call: 1-800-841-1316 In CONNECTICUT CALL: 203-329-8870 FAX 203-329-7428 EUROPE AND UK: +A4 784 43 00 60 SOFTWARE SECURITY 1011 High Ridge Road Stamford CT 06905 Proudly Made in ttie USA The Ultimate Protection For Software Publishers state of the Art See, Hear, Learn because it is structured in discrete pieces, as op- posed to a Word docu- ment, which is one big chunk." TIM's client machine enables a commercial lender to view informa- tion at a high level, such as a summary of all loans. It also enables the user to scan relevant news or dive into the de- tails of a specific loan. The entire complex ap- plication is glued togeth- er with the KBS's object- oriented representation capabilities, as embodied in Art*Enterprise. Welcome to Your Personal Menu Planner and Shopper Virtual Knowledge Andersen Consulting is working on a virtual reality-like system using hypermedia to design an electronic shopping mall. You "walk" through the This electronic shopping mall application uses virtual reality techniques to create a metaphor interface. Each person on the screen is an agent with a knowledge base from which the agent formulates answers to your queries. Stores in 3-D space using a mouse or joy- stick. Intelligent agents advise you on, say, buying a business suit. One agent might tell you about the latest fashion trends. Anoth- er might act as a tailor. And another might be a confidante, frankly tell- ing you how you look in an outfit. The equipment need- ed to create the maU will be set up in your home, and it will include a per- sonal computer, a con- verter that sits atop your TV, a CD-ROM multi- player, and a port con- nected to your telephone or cable box. The sys- tem will be tested next year. The biggest obstacle is bandwidth: The high- est rate at which stan- dard copper phone lines transmit data is 19.2 Mbps. This rate sim- ply isn't adequate for the data traffic of the system. It will require fiber-optic lines They Can Try To Copy Our Products, But They'll Never Duplicate Our Results. When you build servers that lead the industry in price and performance, make your network easier to manage, and come with a free three-year, on-site* warranty, it's not surprising that other computer companies would try to duplicate them. It's also not surprising that they can't. For more information on Compaq products, just call us at 1-800-345-1518. COMPAa ©1993 Compaq Computer Corporanon. All rights resened. COMPAQ, SYSTEMPRO Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies LAN Times Readers Choice Award 1991, 1992, 1993. TPC Benchmark A and B, 1993. InfoWorld, 1992 Product of the Year in the Netware Hardware Category . 'This service provided by Contracted Service Providers and may not be available in certain geographic locations. Certain restrictions and exclusions apply. Monitors and certain opUons are covered by a one-year warranty. For further information on our limited warranty, contact the Compaq Customer Support Center. Circle 73 on Inquiry Card. JULY 1993 BVXE X2T Circle 141 on Inquiry Card. PRICES HARD TO MEET - SERVICE HARD TO BEAT! World Wide Inquiries Promptly Filled Images in your Computer from Video or full page Scanners. Boost your productivity in DeskTop Publishing, OCR and Multimedia applications. ColorSnap PC Professional, REAL TIME, video image cap- tiire.fuU screen, 16.7 million colors & gray- scale. Use any NTSC/PAL video source, camcorder, live TV, still video, VGA, SV- GA supported, fdes saved in standard for- mats. Free Aldus PhotoStyler. Video-for- Windows compatible. Digitize movies at 30 frames/sec. Hundreds of applications. De- mo disks available. $599.00 Life View Encoder Record your computer pre- sentations to video or display to any TV monitor. 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Ideal in any office for text, AutoCad drawings, fax etc Call/fax forCatalog on MultiMedia DeskTop Video Systems and image Transfer Systems 30-day return guarantee, i year warranty. Major credit cards. Resellers Welcome. Computer Friends, Inc. - 14250 NW Science Park Dr. - Portland OR 97229 Founded Toll Free 1-800-547-3303 - tel. (503)626-2291 - fax (503)643-5379 1982 A NASA Ames researcher uses a Boom to look at data on computational fluid dynamics. Simulation software created on a Cray supercomputer by NASA processes the math. You can explore the data produced by the Cray by running Fakespace 's interaclive-virtual- environment application on a Silicon Graphics workstation. that are capable of transmitting up to 40 Mbps, which many telephone and cable companies are now installing at a rapid pace. John Laird, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer sci- ence at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), is exploring the nascent area of in- tegrating KBSes and virtual reality. The work is part of an initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Defense to use virtual reality in the training of tank personnel. Laird is developing intelligent agents who serve as enemies that seem real but fire only virtual ammunition. At Fakespace (Menlo Park, CA), clients are using KBS-virtual reality technology with robots. Cameras mounted on a robot look at the real world. A KBS captures the data relayed by the robot and checks it against its model. If there are discrepan- cies, the KBS determines the cause. For ex- ample, if radioactive material has been re- leased in the atmosphere and there is mist in the air, a computer can diagnose the cause and recommend or initiate action. Even though the integration of KBSes with multimedia and virtual reality tech- nology is experimental today, the impli- cations of adding intelligent storage, ac- cess, analysis, and problem solving to such systems are tremendous. You may feel like you're stepping into your favorite science fiction book. Perhaps you are. ■ Sara Hedberg is president of Emergent (Issaquah. WA), a marketing-services firm specializing in emerging .software technologies. You can reach her on BIX c/o "editors " or on the Internet at hed- berg@ halcyon.com. 128 BVXE JULY 1993 Circle 75 on Inquiry Card. CompuServe does Windows. Introducing a whole new way to look at CompuServe: CompuServe Information Manager for Windows (WinCIM™). It's a fully integrated Windows application, and lets you take advantage of Windows when you're on CompuServe. It'll make your session faster, more efficient, easier, and a lot more fun. With the help of icons and pull-down menus, you'U find your CompuServe time is almost effortless. Cruise the forums, browse through your messages, download files — it's all about as simple as clicking a mouse button. And with WinCIM you can do more offline, too. That means everything from writing letters to reading the answers to your hardware and software questions can be done much more economically. So take a look for yourself. If you're already a CompuServe member, just type GO WINCIM. If you aren't, call us for more information at 1 800 848-8199. Either way, you'll soon see why the best view is the one from CompuServe Information Manager for Windows. CompuServe® The information service you won't outgrow.™ Visit us at PC EXPO, Javits Center, New York, June 28 through July 1, Booth #4303 Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation, Circle 74 on Inquiry Card. Advice. HAVE SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT BUYING A COMPUTER? JUST ASK ZEOS! Q. 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And, because you're getting the VESA stan- dard, you won't get stuck with some proprietary architecture that's obsolete in 6 months. Demand VESA standard with your system! And for data transfer that's over twice as fast, get local bus IDE. Ifs the same fast local bus technology applied to the built-in IDE drive controller ZEOS gives you performance up to 225% that of ordinary IDE systems! Demand Demand PC MAGAZINE LABS BENCHMARK TESTS: GRAPHICS WINMARK (1/26/93) Compaq Deskpro 6«M Dell 466 Oi/2 Gateway 2000 40X2.66 V IBM PS/2 Model 77 486DX2 ZEOS486DX2-66 with our opIiofKil Viper video cardi Megapixels per second. Nobody beats ZEOS! Q. What other things should I look for when I buy a system? A. Check out the software. Most ZEOS pack- ages come with everything you need to get started: your choice between two spreadsheet programs (Lotus 1-2-3 for Wmdows or the exciting new Lotus Improv), a word processing program (Ami Pro) or a presentation program (Freelance Graphics for Windows). That's in addi- tion to Lotus Organizer, Windows, and DOS 6.0 with Enhanced Tools (the latest and greatest!). With all the free software you get with your ZEOS, you save hundreds of dollars! IMPROV. Q. What happens if something goes wrong with my system — or I have a questk>n? A. It never fails — the biggest questions come up when you're working late on something important. It's comforting to know that you can call ZEOS technical support, toll-free, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year And better yet, it won't take six days to get past a busy signal. Not that youll probably need to call at all. ZEOS was recently named PC Magazine Readers' Choice for Service and Reliability. For both desktops and notebooks. So you can buy with confidence! ® Mom ZBOS! Q. What other kinds of of ter-the-sole f^, support will you give me? A. ]i you're not absolutely convinced your new ZEOS PC is everything we say it is and more, you have a full 30 days to return it to us for a com- plete refund. No questions asked. Plus, you're covered by our One Year Limited Warranty Express Ftois Replacement Fblicy and a complete ZEOS Customer Satisfaction lockage. FAVORITE OPTIONS IS-inch monitor upgrade (pkgs. X 3 & 4 only) SVGA non-interlaced, 1024x768, flat screen $95 >fertkat case upgrade Includes ten bays $95 Diamond Viper video card Get the speed that PC Magazine said "blew all competitors away"! Includes 1 MB VRAM $149 with 2 MB VRAM $249 NEC CD-ROM Internal drive $449 Adapter 6260 SCSI controller chip $49 Archive 512S0A internal tape backup 80 to 250MB (with compression), includes EZTape for DOS $249 Hundreds of other affordable upgrades and options available. Call for details! Q. All of this must cost a lot... right? A. No way Check out our prices. Shop around and compare systems. ^^fe think youll agree: Feature for feature, no one gives you as much as ZEOS. At any price! Q. So — how do I get a ZEOS system? A. Just give us a call — toll free! Wre open 24 hours a day 365 days a year A friendly and knowledgeable ZEOS Systems Consultant will be glad to answer your questions, help you pick a package, or tailor a system to your exact specifications. We know you'll agree: ZEOS is abso- lutely your best choice. And we don't just say it. We guarantee it! ORDER NOW TOLL FREE 800-554-5226 Fax Orders: 612-633-1325 Government: 800-245-2449 TDD Orders: 800-228-5389 Outside U.S. and Canada: 612-633-6131 MasterCard, VISA, Am Exp, Discover, Z-Card,™ COD and Leasing programs. Open 24 Hours a Day, 365 Days a Year! Purchase {rders from Fortune 1000 companies, governments and institutions subiect to approval. Leasing pro- grams available. All prices and specifications are subiect to change without notice. Please cai\ to confirm pndng, specifications and warranty details. All products and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks rf their respective holders. ©1993 ZEOS International. Ltd., 1301 Industrial Blvd., Minneapolis, MN 55413 USA. ZEOS is a pubBcly traded company. (NASDAQ symbol; ZEOS). UPGR BYT.9307. INTERNATIONAL, LTD. CHOOSE FROM THESE FOUR MONEY-SAVING PACKAGES. Or we can custom -build a system to your exact specifications. Just call us! #1 #2 #3 #4 486SX-25 $1295 $1795 $2195 $2495 486SX-33 1395 1895 2295 2595 486DX-33 1595 2095 2495 2795 .^173 486DX2-66 1795 2295 2695 2995 Intel 486 CPU ■ ■ ■ ■ ZIF upgrade socket ■ ■ ■ ■ MB of RAM expandable 2 4 8 16 to 64MB on motherboard High-speed IDE hard 107 214 340 452 drive (MB) Riiilt-in hatH Hrivp rarVip 32 K 128K 128K 256K T /val hiiQ Trip hurH l-A^L-dl L/Uo LULL/ lUlLU ■1 ■1 drive interface ^iiifiV f^nr^c\ OCCK. UlUC Vlll<^/ 1A to t^ n 1.2MB floppy dnve mm ■ ■ ■ 1.44MB floppy drive H H H ZEOS 14" high-resolution ■ mono VGA monitor ZEOS 14" high-resolution H H 1Uz4x/do non-interlaced SVGA monitor Monitor dot pitch (mm) .28 .28 .28 .28 1MB high-speed VESA ■ ■ ■ ■ local bus card with Windows accelerator Eight expansion slots ■ ■ UKluding two VESA local bus Two 'iprial nnrfs I yyXJ Oti J£U LAyl LOj _ one parallel port Shadow RAM/EMS ■ support Snrlfpf for Antinnnl _ on-board SCSI . Flash BIOS ■ ■| High- capacity 200 W power supply and built-in surge suppression ZEOS SpaceSaver case ■ ■ ■ ■ with flrHvp hav^ Two cooling fans ■ ZEOS 101-key ■ tactile/click keyboard Microsoft DOS 6.0 ■ (plus Enhanced Tools) Microsoft Windows Microsoft Mouse Choice of Lotus Improv, 1-2-3, Ami Pro or Freelance Lotus Organizer 24-Hour-A-Day ToU-Free ■ Technical SuRwrt 30-Day Money-Back ■ Guarantee One Year Limited \%rranty ■ Circle 1 60 on Inquiry Card. Reviews Roundup Applying the Power of the Pen Nine pen-centric applications, f^rom spreadsKeets to note-takers, cliallen^e tlie notion that pens are just for vertical markets HOWARD EGLOWSTEIN espite the hype, pen-based com- I puters are nothing new — it's been over 25 years since a CRT and a light pen first made interaction be- tween system and stylus possible. But though we've cleared many technical hur- dles since those early days, pen computing remains an exotic niche. What's recently kept pen systems relegated to such a small chunk of the personal computer market can be summed up in one word: software. Well, actually in two words: no software. With the advent of lightweight, tablet- like machines and sophisticated digitiz- ers, pen hardware has clearly improved. And pen-based operating systems like Go Corp.'s PenPoint and Microsoft's Win- dows for Pen Computing have laid the groundwork for general-purpose applica- tions that can make pen computers main- stream. Traditionally, the developers of pen ap- plications targeted vertical markets that had the greatest requirement for pen in- put, such as delivery services, insurance agencies, hospitals, and police depart- ments. However, pens potentially provide a more natural working environment for a broader audience using more general- purpose tools, such as spreadsheets, word processors, and PIMs (personal informa- tion managers). In this article, I'll review nine of these general-purpose applications. I'll try to give an idea of what it's like to use each package and point out some of the unique features that a pen interface can provide. Schedulers and PIMs Pen-based PIMs look remarkably like their paper counterparts, consisting primarily of day/month calendars and ad- dress books. You'll usually spend more time looking through your schedule than entering items or revising them. A pen is ideal for flipping through pages and se- lecting items. Working with a pen to con- trol your scheduling software uses the pen to its best advantage: navigating quickly through existing information. Pensofl's Perspective is a set of PenPoint applications for iiribrmation organization — including day and month planners, address book, to-do list, and note- taker — also bundled imder a Day-Timer interface. Perspective can convert ink entries to text. Slate's Day-Timer Pen Scheduler (PenPoint version shown, although it runs on both platforms) presents an interface based on the familiar paper Day-Timer. The scheduler works with ink only and doesn't provkle a searchable database. PenWare's PenCell — is a spreadsheet for Windows for Pen Computing. It presents a familiar spreadsheet grid with pen enhancements like gestures and ink capture for note- taking, plus unlimited undo. ' Perspectii^ Day Planner ► Advanced FhkJ 30 Rnd: ► Appointmeni where: ► Description > coinains Restit: Shiwing ' of 1 in flocumerri, I File EiiH Sketch Dimcitsion Constram View jCoiisistently Dimensioned] Saltire's SketchRight, a drawing package for Windows for Pen Computing, tunis rough sketches into finished, properly dimensioned drawings. SketchRight uses a geometry engine to convert approximate shapes into geometric objects and calculate measurements based on those objects. Slate's At-Hand, a PenPoint spreadsheet that counts Dan Bricklin among its designers, has a strong gesture orientation and more bells and whistles (like 15 chart types) than PenCell. i^'jiaj^i Saiu^t S^;Gra(*i2 □ □ □ DO ^l^aier&piBss Hasten Pei^peclive Paspecbve Tuional Numco Stsbonwy Noiefaook e Seflifigs Conntcfcons StaKnery AooeiSores Keyboard Irtas OulbcK ^ 132 BVTE: JULY 1993 Y !f*Ware NoleT«t:er < S > Documenl Edil Options Tools, Wort; .{jt^ft iu^ t+j ''3'^ youTtext looks like » lanSoM Slate Corp.'s Day-Timer Pen Scheduler PenPoint I*^,^ H^'^^'r""" Scheduler looks exactly like the standard Day- Timer notebook from which it is licensed. You can view schedules by day (broken down to the nearest half hour), by month. - Ink Devetopment's InkWare's NoteTaker is an electronic scratchpad for PenPoint, more akin to a paint program than to a word processor. It lets you take notes using a variety of pen styles and converts ink fragments to text as you go along. ■ Slate's Grid Pen Essentia Is could be all you need in your pen PC lineup, if you have a Grid Convertible. This bundle of applications (for Windows for Pen Computing) includes a Day- Timer Pen Scheduler, a note- taking application called LooseLeaf, a fHe reader, and Oelrina's WinFax. y-r- PenMagic's LetterExpress is an application for cranking out business correspondence. This PenPoint program ships with 72 standard templates for business tetters; as you provide the specifics, LetterExpress builds a ! formatted letter. • SunSelect's PenCentral is a communications utility thai :M connects your " PenPoint system to a desktop- boond iiest (and its network resources). PenCentral provides desktops with the ability to host PenTOPS clients, which include all PenPoint systems. PenMa^c calls Numero a "Financial Work Processor," but this PenPoint application resembles a spreadsheet more than It does any other traditional application. Its free-form organization and gestures bring Numero close to realizing the pen-centric goal of "smart paper." or by year. Tapping on a month or day brings up an enlarged view, where you can read, write, and edit your entries. Tapping on arrows lets you scroll from one day or month to another. Day-Timer also keeps track of your to-do lists and addresses. Anything you write on the schedule page or in a to-do list is stored as a graph- ical image ("ink" in pen jargon). The to-do list appears as a series of rectangular image blocks. When you finish with an item, you delete it by writing an X in its deletion box. Because the items are stored as im- ages, you can't search your to-do lists. The address book functions similarly, although you can search through address entries, since Day-Timer converts these to text. An alphabetic index at the bottom of the screen lets you move directly to any ad- dress book entry. Pensoft's Perspective PenPoint Perspective is a PIMsim- liar to Day-Timer but with additional features. Its interface also mimics a standard paper schedule. One fundamental difference be- tween Pensoft's and Slate's implementa- tions is that Perspective can convert most of your input to text, although you choose whether to leave your entries as ink or con- vert them. Converting them allows you to search for specific events. If, for example, you only vaguely remember an appoint- ment with your accountant, you can find the entry quickly by tapping on Find and writing in accountant. Switching from a day view to a month view is more difficult in Perspective than in Pen Scheduler. This is because Per- spective uses separate applications to han- dle the different views. However, Pensoft does a better job of capitalizing on Pen- Point, letting you use Perspective's ad- dress book as the underlying contact data- base for all your PenPoint applications. Perspective also includes a note-taking module. Of the two, Day-Timer is more practical. The integration of daily, monthly, and an- nual views is a definite plus, and I don't find much call for search capability on an appointment schedule. Spreadsheets If you've ever used Excel on an airplane, you've probably found yourself strug- gling to use a mouse in close quarters, even just to review information. Spreadsheets designed for a pen interface can make JULY 1993 BYTE X33 Reviews Applying the Power of the Pen manipulating data easier. In addition, the pen's character recognition lets you make limited data entry and perform simple cal- culations. However, I generally found the spreadsheet applications frustrating. The recognition errors made entering infor- mation tedious, especially in Windows, where I spent more time correcting my en- tries than entering data. You might find these useful for reviewing your spread- sheets on the plane, but certainly not for data entry. For the moment, pen-based spreadsheets just aren't as powerful as their keyboard counterparts. PenWare's PenCell Spreadsheet ^ff As spreadsheets go, PenCell t;jMMB is simple and has relatively ••^^^^V few features. It's well suited ^NH^aq for quick calculations, but it ^ doesn't have all the bells and whistles you might expect. For example, you can select a range of values and dis- play charts, but you're limited to bar, line, and pie charts. I would not recommend PenCell for creating graphical presenta- tions, although you might find it handy for checking data while traveling, to save in Excel or Lotus format for further polish later. Here's an example of where PenCell comes in handiest: Say you've put together a proposal for a new building. While en route, you think of a way to save cost on some part of the design. PenCell can whip up some quick graphs of overall cost, let you change a few figures, and then graph- ically show you what you've saved. Later, you can use that information as a basis for a more refined presentation you develop in Lotus 1-2-3 or Excel. Slate's At-Hand l'\iILt''oillt •^^"^^'^ "^^^ ^ standard X-Y grid of cells you fill """^^^^^^ with numbers and labels. Like PenCell, it's a basic spreadsheet with very few frills. However, At-Hand's set of chart types is substantially richer than PenCell's; it includes a variety of 3-D charts and a basic set of 2-D types. There are some nice pen-centric inno- vations: To add a range of cells, you high- light the range and write a "+" in the result cell. There are a number of other small improvements delivered by At-Hand's pen design. However, the shortcut gestures for moving around require some mighty fancy pen motions. The worst of these is the quadruple flick, a motion with four quick swipes across the screen. If done correct- ly, this scrolls any column or row to the edge of the screen, but it takes practice. PenMagic's Numero Feill'omt Numero is a unique . spreadsheet. Rather than launching you into a blank cell grid, it starts you in a blank page. To create cells and thereby design the page, you select areas and write in them. Alter- natively, you can choose from among a half dozen or so predesigned paper types, such as checks, timesheets, or expense re- ports. Gestures form a key element in Nu- mero's design. If you draw a line under a column, it totals the column. To con- vert your writing to text, you double-tap on a cell. Unfortunately, Numero is very finicky with its gesture recognition. I had Windows for Pen Computing vs. PenPoint One thing I learned when designing pen-input hardware seven years ago: For a pen application to be effective, it has to treat the screen like an intelligent piece of paper. It's the application's responsibility to figure out what the user wants; the user should not have to tell the computer what the pen input means. Windows falls short of the mark (and casts a shadow over all the Windows applications) by requiring users to move the pen to the menu bar to make selections (thus saying, "Computer, treat this input as a menu choice"). Windows is just not the way to use a pen. PenPoint does a better job, but you still have to tell the operating system what application to use when creating a new page or chang- ing input modes in some of the applications. Ideally, when you create a page, the operating system should see what you enter and then launch the appropriate application. MICROSOFT WINDOWS FOR PEN COMPUTING Windows for Pen Computing is an MS-DOS environment based on Windows 3i with a se- ries of pen extensions. Hie pen is enabled as the Windows pointing device; installed li- braries provide gesture and handwriting recognition as an alternative to keyboard input, or you can add sections of pen input as objects into any standard Windows program. Windows has an advantage over other pen environments in that thousands of applica- tions already exist that can use a pen. Run any Windows application under Windows for Pen Computing and the pen supports it However, a pen application should take special advantage of pens. Windows applica- tions typically don't. Moving the cursor to the upper left of a window to grab the menu is cumbersome with a mouse; It's downright annoying with a pen. On top of that, the hand- writing and gesture recognition that ships with Windows is less than 95 percent accu- rate. For every 100 characters or gestures I drew, I had to correct five. A Windows for Pen Computing application comes to bat with h«o strikes against it: poor recognition and poor control mechanism. Recognition will improve over time and through third-party recognizers; hopehilly, control mechanisms will as well. GO CORP.'S PENPOINT Go's PenPoint Is built from the ground up for pen computing. It's based on a notebook metaphor; a collection of files becomes a group of pages in a notebook. The directory becomes a tabbed index at the front of the notebook. To go to a specific document, you simply touch the page in the index. PenPoint switches to that page and opens the appropriate application for you. tike Windows for Pen Computing, PenPoint comes equipped with gesture and handwriting recognition. The recognition engine In PenPoint Is more accurate than the one in the Windows version. Input is also more efficient. In Windows for Pen Comput- ing, since the pen replaces the mouse, many operations still require a three-step op- eration (highlight, tap, and press a key). In PenPoint, you simply write over a word or section of text to manipulate it. This pen orientation, combined with the more accu- rate recognition engine, gives PenPoint the edge over Windows for Pen Computing. Al- though you won't find a great quantity or assortment of shrink-wrapped PenPoint ap- plications, PenPoint provides a more productive platfomi for all the applications reviewed here. 134 BYTE JULY 1993 Real Stats. SPSS for Windows gives you answers your spreadsheet or database can't. It's a great value at $695! Learn Fast, Work Fast "Stumbling blocks to statistical analysis are eliminated with SPSS for Windows. You don't have to be a programmer to use it and you don't have to be a statistician to understand it " - Richard O'Reilly, Los Angeles Times. The 100% Windows interface makes doing analysis simple. Context-sensi- tive help and an on-line glossary of statistical terms are just a click away. Complete Data Management and Editing "A breakthrough in data capacity and ease of use...impressive. "-Alan Fridlund, InfoWorld. There's no limit on the number of variables you can analyze. Read data directly from Excel,™ Lotus,® .dbf and SAS® transport files. Work live with Oracle® and SQL Server™ data. Edit and use data many ways, easily M ..T--r^TBa| ^| tTaI IbRI Purchase Price by 'A'hen Pu'cha Automatic Statistical Graphics "A complete set of graphics and charting capabilities. "- Marc Ferranti, PC Week. Create business charts or statistical charts like histograms, boxplots and scatterplots automatically. Unlike other stats packages, edit the charts directly on-screen without respecifying. SPSS . (tW»i • I • I • I ^-T«-| •f-i •t*! •f-i •T*-« •T*-| — . vp-t — ^n-,"-. WT»-, — wfi-,. — ^r*-i mAt* mJi'* ^At* ^At* ^At^ mAX^ ^AiT* All' ^f-i •T»T •TH ^ i» > ^ ^it-^ ^ 1 1 ^ ^ir^ Ait^ ^li^ Ail- ^ I H ^T*-i ^P-i ^1*^ —I — 1 ^T»' •n-n ^P-i ^T»n ^Pn ■ I ' i • f H ^Pn ^T»-i ^i* ** mlr* ^ii -^ ^1* ^ ^ I > ■* ^it^ Alr^ AlH aJ/^ ^P-i ^TH ^Pi ^P-» »P-i ^r*-i ^TH ^Pn ^T*— i aJI^ ■" ■^ aJI^ aJI^ mAtf ^l*^ aM"* aJI^ Ait^ ' vf«^- — ^T*-i - -^TH — ^Pn — ^Pn — ^r*i — ^Pt — ^P^ — ^p-i _ it J mAt^ —- — mAt^ ^tt J ^ t— J ^ ^At* ^p-i wp-t ^P-i ^p-» ^p-i ^p-i ^p-i ^n-i ^p-i ^p-i — — . L*"^ — u «* u ** ^ aJI^ - Aif^ ^Pi ^P-i ^P-» ^P-i ^P-1 ^P-i ^P-n ^P-i I Source: Doorkfiob Safety Council ClarisWorks' spreadsheet/charting module lets you turn ordinary bar charts into pictograms by repeating a graphical element. The chart remains linked to the spreadsheet and mirrors any changes. there's now an outliner, a 256-color paint program, and a slide-show module that lets you chain ClarisWorks screens to- gether for business presentations. Every module has been upgraded, and a new "shortcuts" feature lets you click on a float- ing palette of miniature icons to access the most commonly used functions. In the word processor, you can now de- fine custom text styles, set up multiple columns with a single click, and flow text around graphics. Text wrapping is sup- ported within spreadsheet cells, too, and the charting features are greatly improved. You can easily generate pictograms, like the ones popularized by USA Today, with stacks of graphical objects instead of plain bar charts. The database filer in Claris- Works 2.0 can automatically vaUdate fields and contains more than 50 predefined for- mats for Avery mailing labels. The draw- ing module now has 32 black-and-white and color gradient fills, plus two new poly- gon tools. Even more impressive, ClarisWorks 2.0 delivers all these features (and hundreds No Quadra j Required Wk To judge how well ClarisWorks performs on low-end Macs, I tested it on two sys- tems: a Mac LCII with 4 MB of RAM, an 80-MB hard drive, and System 7.0.1; and a Mac SE wWi 1 MB of RAM, a 20-MB hard drive, and System 6.0.5. The six-year-old SE, a 68000-based machine, is close to the minimum configuration that will run CtarisWorits. Performance was annoyingly sluggish, especially in the word processor, which failed to keep pace with my typing. The 68030-based LCII fared much bet- ter, though it still lagged at times, partic- ularly when redrawing complex screens. The LCII represents the minimum config- uration being sold today, delreering about the same performance as the Classic II, the Color Classic, the Performa 200, and the Performa 400. M JULY 1993 BYTE 151 i Reviews ClarisWorks 2.0 for Macintosh ClarisWorks 2.0 lets you transform text in 12 different ways, including these perspective effects. more) while bucking the trend toward fat- ware. At 601 KB, it's hardly larger than version 1 .0 and still runs comfortably in as little as 1 MB of RAM. Full installa- tion — including folders filled with sam- ple files, tutorials, file translators, spelling dictionaries, and a thesaurus — requires less than 5 MB of hard disk space, and you can get by with much less. A Spreadsheet in Your Word Processor Something else that hasn't changed in 2.0 is its seamless integration, the salient fea- ture of ClarisWorks. Instead of simply bundling a collection of mini-applications that can share files, Claris takes a more flexible, frame-based approach to software integration. For example, if you want to add a table or a chart to a business letter, you can simply click on the spreadsheet tool, open a spreadsheet frame anywhere in the word processing document, and either start entering num- bers manually or paste a range of cells from an existing worksheet. When you click outside the spreadsheet frame, you're back in word processor mode. If it weren't for the con- text-sensitive menus and tool palettes, you'd never know you were switching from one application to another. Claris- Works is like a glimpse of the interopera- ble future promised by Apple and Mi- crosoft; if operating system and application vendors live up to their promises, we'll be able to work like this with all applications. Of the three new modules in Claris- Works 2.0, the paint module plugs the most obvious gap. Version 1 .0 had a draw- WHAT'S NEW IN CLARISWORKS 2.0 ing module, but it's often handier to work with pixel-based graphics rather than vec- tor graphics. Version 2.0 gives you the choice of using either, and the frame-based integrafion lets you combine both kinds of graphics in a single document. The only drawback to combining the two is that vec- tor frames cease to behave independently once you click them into paint graphics. In other words, the frame is no longer an applicafion module; it is converted into a pixel-based image, just like the rest of the paint document. This brings up a small but important point: The integration in Claris- Works is often so seamless that it leads to momentary confusion. Even after extensive experience with ClarisWorks, I sometimes sfill click on a muUiframe docu- ment and lose track of which module I've activated. Often your only clues are subtle changes in the tool palette and menu bar. The new outliner in Claris- Works is integrated with the word processor and offers sev- eral different formats. In addi- tion to the common numeric and diamond outlines, you can choose from Harvard and legal formats and bulleted or checkmarked lists, or you can design your own custom format. Subtopics can be expanded, col- lapsed, and shuffled within the 16-level hierarchy. You can a phone directory, Kermit file transfers, and unlimited scroll-backs through cap- tured text, but there's still no scripting lan- guage for automating on-line sessions, and the macro recorder is no substitute. For instance, I spent 3 hours trying to record a macro that would simply log on to CompuServe, with both ID and password. Finally, I gave up and telephoned Claris's technical support. I was courteously in- formed that a ClarisWorks macro can re- spond to only one string of incoming text — something not mentioned in the manual. That means you have to record a The new slide-show module lets you display ClaiisWorlis documents in a predetermined sequence for group presentations. separate macro for each prompt (User ID: , Password: , and so on) and then record yet another macro to link all the other macros together. 256-color paint module outliner integrated with word processor slide shows for presentations floating "shortcuts" palette text wraps around irregular shapes improved spelling checker custom text styles multiple columns of text more flexible chart customization polygon and Bezier drawing tools define custom styles for headings and oth- er text, just as you can in the word pro- cessor. The new slide- show module is a great addition, espe- cially for PowerBook users. ClarisWorks is already an ideal PowerBook compan- ion, and now, with- out buying any extra software, you can turn your documents into slides for pre- sentations. You can even create slides that play QuickTime movies. Failure to Communicate Some things in ClarisWorks could stand more improvement. The communications module, a weak link in 1.0, still suffers from major deficiencies. Claris has added A Logical Decision Despite a few shortcomings, ClarisWorks 2.0 is a remarkably versatile package whose modules compare favorably to some stand-alone applications. For home, school, and small-business users who are new to the Mac, ClarisWorks is the most logical first software purchase. For many people, ClarisWorks may also be the last major application they'll ever have to buy. ■ Tom R. Halfliill is a BYTE senior news editor and a longtime Mac user. You can reach him on BIX as "thalfhill. " About the Product ClarisWorks 2.0 Claris Corp. 5201 Patrick Henry Dr. Santa Clara, CA 95054 (408) 987-7000 Circle 1221 on Inquiiy Card. $299 (upgrades, $99) a.S2 BYTE JULY 1993 Max. Throughput- 564 kB/sec. CPU Utilfeation- 59% Bile 16 \ $129 Max. Tbrouqfapul: 662 kB/sec. CPU Utilization: 43% EtheRx N.I.C. $179.00 Afax. Throughput: 537 kB/sec. CPU mlization: 71% intel. ElherExpress OTHER ETHERNET CARDS MAY BE SLOWER BUT THEY SURE DO COST MORE. The EtheRx Network Interface Cards. TSev' K 1 7% faster than competing interface cards. The)''K 21% more efficient. And. they cost at least 28% less. Theyfeature an advanced Ethernet controller and 16-bit bus master DMA for maximum throughput and minimum CPU utilization. Introducing the EtheRx family of 10 Base-l lOBase-2 and 2-in-l combination network interface cards from Kingston, the inside name in upgrades. The EtheRx 10 Base-T Concentrator. The EtheSx concentrator allous maximum network fkxibility With eight RfA5 ports and an Ail connector, it 's the ideal huh for ei'ery application from the smallest workgroup to the most critical enterprise-wide network installation. Kingston Reliability. ElheRx users enjoy the same reliability customers have come to expect from Kingston memory and processor upgrades. Eiery product is indiindually tested prior to shipping, sup- ported by free comprehensive technical assistance and backed by a fwe-year warranty Certified Compatibility. EtheRx NICs are certified by Novell Lahs and are fully compatible with Net^^rd Novell Netware. Netware Tested atid Lite, Artisoft LANtastic. Approved Microsoft Windous for Workgroups and every other popular network operating system. More Information. If ElheRx sounds like your network solution, contact your nearby Kingston dealer or give us a call at (800) 455-2620 Well be happy to answer your questions about EtheRx or any of our other 625 upgrade products. [800] Individual Product Testing. Each and eivry EtheRx prod- uct is bench tested before it's shipped. Our exclusive loop- back transmit/receive test suite evaluates each card 32 limes to assure data integrity. This rare quality control process leads to years of reliable sernice. p Kingston trt't A I TECHNOLORv CORPORATION The Inside Name in Upgrades 17600 Newhope Street. Fountain Valley, California 92708 (714) 435-2600 Fax (714) 435-2699 All Trademarks, Registered Trademarks and Logos are of their respective holders. Retail prices are as of January 1993 Kingston and Kingston Technology are Registered Trademarks of Kingston Technology Corporation. Circle 104 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 105). Osborne/McGraw-Hill Computer Books Are Available At These Fine Stores ALABAMA Birmingham, AL Jonathan Benton Bookseller PH: 205-967-8840 FAX: 205-967-9812 Smith & Hardwick Bookstore PH: 205-591-9970 Huntsville, AL University Book Store PH: 205-895-6600 Madison, AL Madison Books & Computers PH: 205-772-9250 FAX: 205-461 -8076 ARKANSAS Little Rock, AR Publisher's Bookstore PH: 501-664-6956 CALIFORNIA Berlii<]Uun ait Toiutpat. Ut cniro ad lifn yeoiain. ^uis ttud«seid radon litlamoitpei iutcipic [Ciinit! ui aliquip- W: 3 854- H: S.978" Ut C3 commodo com«)uat, loloi in hendierit in vulpu- ate vtlk tne moltstie conse- vel iUum doloie «J feu- ;ia( nulla fadlitit » V4[o«rot ^( accumian tl iuito odio dig- litum qui blandit praetent upuium iiti! del«nit augue luis dolofc c« teugait nuita Kiii ti Loietn ipium dolof trati, ;onM««tuif adipiscini eiit. Htm isi nonummf nibh aiismod {iodduni ut laoreet laloie magna atiquaai erac 'olutpat. 1X54: 9091 : -D.075" : 1 04" PageMaker 5.0 (above) and QuarkXPress 3.1 share a similar Windoivs interface. Both support a toolbox, rulers, grids, palettes, and a dimensions window. Note PageMaker's convenient page icons at the bottom left comer of the screen. Both programs could skew the images, but QuarkXPress could not skew the text box, a shortcoming addressed in the announced QuarkXPress 3.2 upgrade. arze Inziages limit my evaluation to features included in the basic packages. In preparing this review, I looked at QuarkXPress 3.1 and a beta version of PageMaker 5.0 on Macintosh and Win- dows platforms. I'll comp^lre each package in three broad categories: text handling, graphics, and display and print support. From Text to DTP Both programs can import straight ASCII text (with and without style tags), RTF, JULY 1993 BYTE 1S7 Reviews PageMaker 5.0 vs. Quark 3.1 Text Features PageMaker QuarkXPress • Supports more formats • Automatically generates for import/export and updates "continued • Spelling checker shows on" and "continued words in context from" tags • Faster editing in Story • More powerful and Editor flexible support for drop • Inexpensive multilingual caps support • Styles can control a • Generates tables of single character contents and indexes • Stronger support for embedded tags and documents saved by Microsoft Word for Windows, WordPerfect, Windows Write, Ami Pro, and XyWrite on the Win- dows platform. PageMaicer can also im- port text from DEC WPS, Microsoft Word for DOS, MultiMate, PC-Write, Samna, Wang, WordStar, Ventura Publisher, and existing PageMaker documents. Each pro- gram can export text from a publication for use by most of the same programs that it can import from. PageMaker can import spreadsheet data from Lotus 1-2-3 and Ex- cel, as well as dBase databases. Both programs can automatically place text on successive columns and pages, as well as let you manually extend a chain of text from one place to another. Quark has chain commands for connecting man- ually created text boxes, while PageMak- er lets you pick up overflowing text from one block and immediately place that text in a new block by clicking in an empty column or dragging out a marquee in an- other location. Quark generates automatic "continued on. . ." and "continued from. . .'" tags that are updated when pages are in- serted or removed between the two blocks. Elaborate initial caps have been part of publishing since medieval days, but many publishers simply embed a larger letter (called a drop cap) at the beginning of some paragraphs. Both programs support this capability, but Quark performs the task more gracefully. PageMaker includes an Addition that increases the size of the first letter and styles it as a subscript, sep- arating the balance of the paragraph from the drop cap by inserting soft returns and tabs. This operation cannot be undone and takes time to dismantle. With Quark, you can control the number of lines the drop cap extends and apply the treatment to the first several characters. The drop cap is applied to the paragraph style and can be undone with a few mouse-clicks. Named styles are important in both pro- grams, but PageMaker has some signifi- cant limitations. PageMaker styles apply only to paragraphs, while Quark styles can control a single character. Both programs can read style tags from imported text, but PageMaker can- not adopt complex paragraph for- matting from imported tags. For example, take a fairly complex style: Say the first paragraph in a selection requires a drop cap with no indent, three words in bold small caps, and the balance of text in the default font; subsequent paragraphs then revert to a stan- dard style with a 2-pica indent. Tags embedded in the imported story can control this specification completely in Quark. In PageMaker, you could tag the opening paragraph to turn off the para- graph indent and to set all subsequent paragraphs normally, but you would have to set the drop cap and small cap attri- butes manually. Text Tools Both programs include spelling checkers and allow search-and-replace for both text and formatting attributes. Quark performs these functions with the document open (its only mode). PageMaker performs these functions from the Story Editor, a sepa- rate window that comes up in front of the document view. Both programs can work on a single word, a single story, or the entire document, although Quark can't search both the master pages and the balance of the document at the same time. PageMaker's spelling checker is very similar to a word processor's, stepping through the story showing each unknown word in context and proposing a list of re- placements. Quark also shows replace- ments, but it does not show the word in context. Theer may be flagged, but there is no hint from Quark whether three or there was the author's intent. Both programs allow typing and edit- ing of any visible text in the document, but PageMaker's Story Editor enables much faster editing, since it displays a fixed font and shows only standard, italic, and bold typefaces. Non-English-language publishers can adapt either product, but at dramatically different prices. Aldus sells a pack- age of 20 dictionaries, including legal and medical dictionaries for U.S. or U.K. English and 1 1 Eu- ropean languages with hyphen- ation, for $99. Quark offers a ded- icated multilingual version called QuarkXPress Passport for $2495 that handles English and nine Eu- ropean languages. PageMaker has long had the ability to generate tables of contents based on style defmitions or user tags, and it can generate elaborate indexes from user-inserted tags. Quark offers neither of these features. A Place for Pictures With either program, you can create sim- ple graphical elements, including lines, boxes, and ovals. Both allow you to draw lines in the document and to position the lines from the control palette. PageMaker lets you draw rectangles (with square or round comers) and ovals directly on the pasteboard: Quark allows you to apply lines and fills to picture boxes, including polygon boxes that have no equivalent in PageMaker. Most publications include some of these drawn elements, but a good page-layout program must incorporate images from di- vergent sources, primarily scanned pho- tographs and illustrations in EPS (Encap- sulated PostScript). With PageMaker, you can import or place these graphics direct- ly on the document, while Quark requires picture boxes to hold the images. Each approach has advantages. To dis- play all of a picture in a Quark picture box, you must size the box to match the image. PageMaker displays the entire image im- mediately. On the other hand. Quark lets you easily apply borders and fills to picture boxes, while PageMaker users must care- fully align a new box with the underlying image. Unlike earlier versions of Page- Maker, version 5.0 can group the image and the border into a single element so that they remain aligned when moved or copied. Quark picture boxes crop whatev- er image is placed inside them. With Page- Maker, you must select the cropping tool to crop an image or to move the image with- in the cropping borders. PageMaker has much better cross-plat- form file support. It automatically con- verts Macintosh PICT files to Windows metafiles when they are opened on the PC, and it accepts compressed TIFF files. PageMaker files are compatible across the platforms, so documents can be easily moved from a Mac to a PC (and back Graphics Features PageMaker QuarkXPress • Much stronger cross- • Easier to apply image platform (Mac/Windows) borders and fills support • Automatic cropping • Supports compressed within a picture box TIFF files • Can apply color to line • Direct placement of art and gray-scale images on the page pictures 158 BYTE JULY 1993 Opeiciting Syst|ms Conie in Many Flavors But QNX Can Take the Heat. Decfsions...Decisions... When you choose an OS for your realtime applications, you're looking for solid performance at run time. A rich development environment. Responsive technical support. And to top it off, you need stability. For over ten years, QNX has proven itself again and again in the real world. Thousands of VARs and OEMs rely on QNX for a wide range of mission-critical realtime solutions - in r^S, factory automation, medical instrumentation, telecommunications. i POSIX Plus Perfonnance QNX follows the latest IEEE POSIX 1003.1 and 1003.2 Open Systems standards, so you get the same API and utility set found in many UNIX® systems. But with its innovative microkernel architecture, QNX out-performs any standard vanilla OS. We Work in Real Time.™ A Recipe to Save Time QNX saves you time up front, because your development system and target system are one and the same. Which means no cross-compiling or debugging on a separate test platform. You get one integrated environment, with transparent fault- tolerant networking and distributed processing already built in. Yes, We Do Windows Our own high-performance windowing package gives you an OPEN LOOK® GUI. And Rundosr our DOS emulator, lets you run Microsoft® Windows™ 3 in standard mode, so your favorite graphics programs will have enough memory to feel right at home. We Don't Scrimp on Support During the last ten years, we've earned a reputation for outstanding technical support. Since we offer everything from 24-hour online conferencing to onsite consulting, you can easily reach the people who make up the QNX development team. 1-800-363-9001 The Right Ingredients for Real Time '^"^ '°" QNX delivers the speed of a fast, realtime executive ( 1 6 |isec per context switch on a 33 MHz 80486). And its priority-driven, preemptive scheduling will help you build So if you're looking for an operating system that gives you responsive solutions that won't melt under real realtime conditions. more than the standard fare, try QNX. You're in for a real treat. Circle 1 34 on inquiry Card. Quantum Software Systems Ltd. 1 75 Terrence Matthews Crescent, Kanata, Ontario K2M 1W8 Canada Tel: 613-591-0931 Fax:613-591-3579 © Quantum Software Systems Ltd. 1 992 QNX is a registered trademarlt and llurrdos is a trademati< of Quantum Software Systems Ltd. LJNIX and OPEN LOOK are registered trademarks of UNIX System Lalaoratories. Inc. fWlicrosoft is a registered trademarit and Windows is a trademarit of /Microsoft Corporation. Circle 84 on Inquiry Card. Checking Out Hot Multimedia Products? Checkout The 'Eyes! Plug-and-go product with no hardware limitations, no setu hassles Capture images and movies for hundreds of applications - desktop publishing, image databases, paint and presentation programs, graphic arts. Video For Windows, etc. Excellent, easy;to-use DOS and 4 Windows control software 1 Developers software package | available ComputerEyes/RT - $599.95 Monochrome-only version also available - $399.95 converter with genlock converts any computer video output to high-quality composite for display to large-screen TV monitors, video projectors, or to video tape Works with all IBM PC DOS and Windows modes and all Macintosh computers Simultaneous display to both computer and TV Full genlock for overlaying computer output over live video Great tool for computer video titling, presentations and demonstrations, video editing, special effects, etc. TelevEyes/Pro - $799.95 TelevEyes - $299.95 See Your Dealer Or Call For More Information Digital Vision, Inc. 270 Bridge St., Dedham, MA 02026 (617)329-5400 (800)346-0090 Reviews PageMaker 5.0 vs. Quark 3.1 again) easily. Quark won't sup- port bidirectional transfers until the next release, but the Windows version can open Mac files now. Quark picture boxes normally repel text at the same point that they crop the underlying image. Graphics placed in PageMaker can have either rectangular or com- plex polygonal text-wrap borders that can be completely independent of the graphic. The steps involved are different, but you can accomplish similar results in either package. When color EPS files are placed in PageMaker, the colors are added to the color palette and can be used for other el- ements, assuring that extra spot-color sep- arations won't be created. Quark doesn't have this capability. Both programs use Pantone, TruMatch, and FocalTone color systems and can print separations of CMYK files included in documents. Display and Print Each program supports a toolbox, rulers, guides, and a range of palettes including a master control palette. PageMaker's con- trol palette includes a small "proxy" near the left end, so you can select anchor points for the selected item. Clicking the point at the center of the proxy forces any size change or rotation to occur relative to the center; if the upper left comer is selected, new size information would force the right or bottom edges (or both) to move. Basic arithmetic is allowed in the numerical fields, such as -I-IO after a percentage value or 12 after a type size. PageMaker includes page icons at the bottom left of the screen for quickly mov- ing to any spread. Quark requires a Go To Page command from the menu or key- board, or you can navigate through the thumbnail box or with the scroll bars. Both programs use master pages as templates, allowing running heads, page numbers, borders, or guides to auto- matically become part of every new page. PageMaker allows only one master page per document, while Quark allows up to 127 different master pages in a single doc- ument. With PageMaker, you can break documents into chapter files that are strung together via the Book option, effectively allowing one mas- ter per chapter. Display and Print Features PageMaker QuarkXPress • Easier page navigation • Tliumbnail and user- with icons definable views • Interruptible screen • Multiple master pages redraw • Traps colors to prevent • Prints discontinuous printer misregistration page ranges • Suppresses printout of • Saves common settings selected items About the Products PageMaker 5.0 for Windows and Macintosh $895 Aldus Corp. 411 First Ave. S Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 622-5500 Circle 1222 on Inquiiy Card. QuarlOCPress 3.1 for Windows and Macintosh $895 Quark, Inc. 1800 Grant St. Denver, CO 80203 (303) 894-8888 fax: (303) 894-3399 Circle 1223 on Inquiiy Card. Unlike Quark, PageMaker has neither user-definable views nor thumbnail views, but it supports one magnification (800 per- cent) beyond Quark's maximum of 400 percent. PageMaker's screen redraw is now completely interruptible, so menus or keyboard commands can be activated without waiting, making the program feel more responsive. PageMaker and Quark support all Win- dows output devices. PageMaker uses the same Adobe-specified PPD (PostScript Printer Description) files that are used by Illustrator, FreeHand, and other programs. Quark handles these applications with its own printer drivers, but any professional service bureau will have appropriate files for its output devices. PageMaker now prints discontinuous ranges of pages, a big time-saver when you're proofreading a story that jumps from the opening section of a publication to the back. PageMaker's rewritten print- ing routines for version 5.0 are generally quicker than those of either Quark or pre- vious versions of PageMaker and can in- clude a PostScript error handler for trou- bleshooting and cropping images. When the Dust Settles In many ways, PageMaker has moved past QuarkXPress with version 5.0. It's a com- plete product, highly capable of publishing documents of all kinds. Quark is obvious- ly aware of the feature list of the latest PageMaker, and even though version 3. 1 is no slouch, 3.2 will add many features that respond to Page- Maker's challenge. For now, the price /performance ratio has tipf)ed in PageMaker's fa- vor, but both companies have become much more aggres- sive competitors. This holy war could become a boon for us innocent bystanders. ■ G. Armour Van Horn is a writer and a graphics consultant in Free- land, Washington. He can be con- tacted on BIX as "vanhorn. " 160 BY I K JULY 1993 Reviews Software One Thumb Up, One Thumb Down Lotus Notes release 3 is the Cadillac of cross-plat'Form E-mail and conferencing, but for work-flow automation, it's still a Model T JON UDELL 0 other product offers Notes' unique blend of E-mail, confer- encing, and client/server data- base technology. Amazingly, release 3 comes to market facing no serious head-to- head competitor. The windmills at which it tilts are entirely of Lotus's own making. The $495-per-seat price makes it a tough sell. The difficulty of defining just what problems Notes solves, and ex- actly how it solves them, makes things even tougher. In a recent speech, Lotus pres- ident Jim Manzi suggested that Notes, as a refiner of informa- tion and an organizer of work, can have "infinite" value to a company. Since my duties in- clude evaluating and imple- menting BYTE's own E-mail, conferencing, and database ser- vices, I was highly motivated to learn how release 3 redraws the boundary between Notes myth and Notes reality. Release 3 broadens the Notes client base with Macintosh sup- port. It also adds features that will appeal to users (e.g., full- text indexing and background replication) and developers (e.g., new macro functions and design templates). Regrettably, Notes still has some significant prob- lems. Chief among these are its Byzantine security administra- tion and a programming model that's inadequate for the kinds of group- ware applications Lotus wants developers to create for Notes. Peeling the Security Onion Release 3 introduces a Windows 3.1 serv- er to complement the familiar OS/2 1.x version. I tested the OS/2 server only. I began installing it on the 16-MB IBM PS/2 Model 90 I'm using to test the beta of OS/2 2.1. Because the PS/2 connects to BYTE's LAN by way of the NetWare requester for OS/2, that configuration would have ex- ercised Notes' new ability to use IPX/SPX, as well as its traditional NetBIOS and (right) provides neariy all the features of the Windows client. The most noticeable omission is local full-text indexing. However, the Notes Mac client (under System 7) has its own unique strengths, such as the ability to make Mac- published edttion files visible to Windows and PM Notes clients. w File EdII Uleu) Moll Compose lent Tool* Design Ufindoui (Z) -^l Ulorkspace ] BYTt HIH liVIF rontaf U - fontfld euenls hij tompanq GVTECMtMtf Aardvark Compultoq Gresti«m . C^r«« Sob Rvan new rise chip 04/28/93 07 01 EleplMnI Inc. Smith , Jt« Jon Udell nev memorg subsgslem 04/26/93 06 52 ^= BVTi: Contacts ■ Contact euenls bt) editor ? 07 110 Aartfvart Caroputtnq 04/26/93 07:01 Platvpn TMbMloffcs 04/2B/95 07:00 Bm . Geor ge , Har^ £»e gfilt View M»H £omPO»e Tflols Deslfln ygnito w Help _ . "0" Cwj(acls 04/28/93 07 01 PM Gteshom George Platypus Technologies 04/28/93 07:00 PM Jones . Maiy Janet Barron Platypus Technologies 04/28/93 07:02 PM Jones . Maiy Jon Udell IZIephont Inr. 04/28/93 0&:S2 PM Smith . Jim new fisc chip version 2 release neura! nettec:hno!ogy new memory subsystem version 2 release asynchronous protocols. I shortly discovered, however, diat using OS/2 2. 1 would have prevented me from testing another new protocol, AppleTalk. At least initially, release 3's Mac support will require an OS/2 1.x server. So I switched horses and installed OS/2 1 .3 on an 8-MB Advanced Logic Research Flyer (a 66-MHz 486DX2) and then, lacking the 1.3 NetWare requester, opted for a Net- BIOS setup after all: LAN Manager 2.2 for the Notes server and Presentation Man- ager client, and Windows for Workgroups for the Windows client. Dropping back to OS/2 1.3 was not the hardship it might seem, though, since in release 3 the Notes server remains a 16- bit OS/2 application. Notes' security, which em- ploys both passwords and phys- ical tokens called ID files, makes installation an elaborate ritual. First, you create a master ID file called the certifier ID. Then you use the certifier ID to stamp a certificate on each ID that you create on behalf of a server or a user. Veteran Notes administra- tors will like the fact that release 3 can register users in batches. A user (or server) can com- municate with another server only when both hold a common certificate. Release 3 adds a new wrinkle: hierarchical certifica- tion. This X.500-inspired tech- nique, which is optional, permits you to create and manage a tree-like namespace that reflects your company's organiza- tional structure. It simplifies the exchange of Notes' data within and between orga- nizations. However, it does not eliminate one disadvantage of Notes' reliance on physical IDs: You can't grant temporary access, or set up a one-time data transfer, with just a phone call. An exchange of IDs must precede any exchange of data. Notes release 3 uses public-key en- cryption technology to authenticate users and to affix digital signatures to mail mes- sages. Notes' application builders can also JULY 1993 BYTE 161 Reviews Lotus Notes 3 create and distribute ad hoc keys that aug- ment the server-, database-, document-, and section-level access controls with field- level encryption. It's a formidable securi- ty system, but one that's massively com- plex and difficult to apply. To protect a section of a document (i.e., a cluster of fields), you manipulate an access control list just as you would to protect a whole document or database. But to hide an in- dividual field, you designate it encrypt- able, create a key, and then mail that key to the users you trust to access the field. They, in turn, must incorporate the key into their user IDs. Still another procedure governs regulation of access by roles, which are per-database groups of users that override public groups on an ad hoc basis. This abundance of procedures may re- main the Achilles' heel of Notes' security. Experience with Notes 2.1 demonstrates how even vigilant administrators can get tangled in the web of Notes' security man- agement. One Notes administrator told me that when he moved from company A to company B, he found A's databases listed in B's catalog. The database catalog kept on each Notes server does not store docu- ments belonging to databases it lists but does store metadata, including the policy document that describes the contents and intended use of each database. My source was shocked to discover A's policy docu- ments — which themselves contained sen- sitive information — on B's server. He sus- pects that A and B accidentally replicated catalogs through contact with a server at company C. How could this happen? A Lotus representafive explained that prior to release 3, a newly installed server's catalog defaulted to a universal replica- fion ID, so that catalogs would replicate freely among servers within a company. However, if you planned to let your servers ENHANCEMENTS • New Client and Server Platforms Windows, Macintosh, and dial-in users get power- ful, and remarkably similar, client interfaces. Re- lease 3 adds a Windows 3.1 server. • Hierarchical Certification This administrative enhancement lets you man- age a hierarchical tree that represents your orga- nizational structure. • Background Replication Workstations can run replication as a background task, allowing you to synchronize databases even while sending and receiving mail. • Verity Text Engine The integration of the Verity text engine adds im- pressive search capabilities to indexed Notes databases. > Column Picklists Notes' new SDccolumn function delivers relation- al capabilities with the ability to generate pick- lists for forms from data in table columns. • Mail Automation The @Mailsend function gives programmatic con- trol over Notes' mail functions, including attachments and links. DEFICIENCIES •32-bit OS/2 Server Release 3's server is a 16-bit OS/2 application. • Manageable Security Security features have been enhanced, but the procedures required to maintain security remain so complex that it's easy to overlook significant leaks. > Character-Based Client There is no character-mode client for existing low- end PCs and laptops not equipped to run Windows. • Database Import Features There is no .DBF or comma-delimited ASCII im- port. Even when data is in acceptable format, Notes' import is slow. • Intelligent Lookups Table lookups return an entire result set to the client instead of buffering parts of the query re- sults on the server. > Interactive Design Tools There are no Immediate windows for testing macros under development and no debugging facilities. • High-level Application Builder The programming model for Notes still relies on macros, which (lacking even callable functions) are inadequate for work-flow applications. talk to another company's servers, you had to throw away the default catalog and cre- ate a new one from the supplied template so its replication ID would be uniquely yours. Although security-conscious, com- panies A, B, and C apparently failed to notice and follow that procedure. Does release 3 plug this hole? Yes, but getting that question answered took two Lotus support technicians more than a week and left me with serious concerns about the administrative burden of Notes' security. Cross-Platform Client/Server Made Easy I set up the Notes server to run three pro- tocols: NetBIOS, AppleTalk, and Lotus' own dial-up protocol, XPC. (Other options now include IPX/SPX and, at extra cost, TCP/IP and X.25.) Then I installed the client software on a handful of Windows and Mac machines and used them to access the server locally through BYTE's Ethernet LAN as well as remotely by dialing the server's SupraFax modem. The reliable sameness of Notes in all these configurations is a stunning technical achievement. Offsetting the few features not supported in the Mac version, such as local full-text indexing, is the remarkable capability for a Sys- tem 7 Mac client to subscribe from within a shared Notes database to an edition published by a System 7 Mac. This arrangement, I discov- ered, makes the Mac-based edi- tion visible not only to other Mac Notes clients, but to Windows and PM Notes clients as well. Dial-up connections worked flawlessly. A 9600-bps link is clearly preferable, but you can ac- comphsh useful work even at 2400 bps. The client/server architecture of Notes has always accommo- dated remote access nicely, and release 3 further improves matters by enabling workstations to run replication as a background task. Most E-mail and conferencing sys- tems require special logic to sup- port off-line reading and compo- sition. Notes handles that scenario effortlessly. Mail and conference messages live in databases that replicate just like all other Notes databases. If I replicate an order- entry database from a server to my laptop and then hit the road and add some orders to the replicant, I 162 BYTE JULY 1993 There are times even 1,000 words won't do justice. And you have to see the real picture ofCTX for yourself. The full line of CTX monitors, constructed for unparalleled quality and reliability, offer a lot more than you would expect. Our big screen models — 15" (1561 and 1560) and 17" (1760DF) -- are perfect for Windows and Multi- media presentations. Super-fast refresh rates generate steadier and sharper images. Our 14" Multiscan (1461) and SVGAs render the same CTX ESTERNATIONAL 20530 Earlgate Street Walnut, CA 91789 909/595-6146 Fax 909/595-6293 CTX SOUTH 6090-F Northbelt Pkwy Norcross, GA 30071 404/729-8909 Fax 404/729-8805 CTX Committed to Xellence CTX EAST 146 Division Place Hackensack, NJ 07601 201/646-0707 Fax 201/646-1998 brilliant images and great features for less money. Low Radiation (MPR-II) options are available. You can go easy when having a CTX on your desk- top. Reliability is ensured by meeting the rigid ISO-9000 standards. Service is backed by world-wide servicing facilities. For a real picture of quality, contact your nearest CTX dealer today. ISP 9000 See us at PC Expo Booth #2778 CTX MIDWEST 500 Park Blvd., Ste. 425 Itasca, IL 60143 708/285-0202 Fax 708/285-0212 CTX OEM 1225 E. Crosby Rd., A21 Carrollton. TX 75006 214/416-9610 Fax 214/245-7447 Technical Support 1-800-888-2012, BBS (909) 594-8973 ©Copyright 1993. CTX International, Inc. All rights reserved. All brand or product names are trade marks or registered trademari= 5; save these queries for later use; and schedule them for automatic execution. You can order search results by relevance or by date, or distribute the hits throughout the current database view as disjoint selections. The same forms through which you en- ter data into the views of a database serve double duty as query-by-example tem- plates. You can also use these forms to specify updates to the result set. If you search across multiple Notes databases, however, you'll probably want to revert to the generic query builder, since one database's forms likely won't mean any- thing in the context of another database. Indexing is impressively simple, and very fast. The 486DX2/66-equipped ALR Flyer built a 1 .2-MB index from a 6-MB database in under 3 minutes. Workstations index local databases in the foreground. Any user with appropriate access can also initiate indexing of a server-resident data- base, and this occurs in the background on the OS/2 server. You update local in- dexes manually. Shared databases support incremental reindexing that you can sched- ule to occur immediately upon change, or at hourly, daily, or other intervals. Building Notes Applications Release 3 instantly establishes Notes as the premier cross-platform E-mail/con- ferencing system for Windows, PM, and Macintosh clients. (Lotus is also develop- ing a Motif client for Unix, but not, sadly, a character-based version for the hordes of low-end PCs and laptops that could profitably use it.) Conferencing is the cru- cial ingredient. Too many otherwise-wor- thy E-mail programs support it feebly or not at all. People who wax ecstatic over the benefits of electronic conferencing are not exaggerating. There is no more effec- tive medium for day-to-day corporate com- munication, and a Notes discussion data- base — with full-text search, expandable categories, ordered views, rich text, tables, attachments, and links — represents the Cadillac of conferencing technology. Notes will not remain unchallenged on the E-mail/conferencing front, however. SoftArc's FirstClass and Grapevine by Of- fice Express are two strong contenders that • IN O OT • a o CO O o o CO O CO o O CO o CO o o CO • soa • z/so ' IN • soa • z/so • in • soa • 2/so • in • soa • z/so • in • soa • z/so • in • sea Essential Development Tools At Your Fingertips. MKS Tbolkit — AU the Tools of the Ti-ade for Professional Programmers and Application Developers. MKS Toolkit puts a powerful suite of easy-to-use development utilities within your grasp. Developers working on DOS can now get the extraordinary power of tools that were once available only on UNIX, and still switch cjuickly back to DOS applications. For multi-platform environments, MKS Toolkit is fully compatible with UNIX systems, and tracks both POSIX and x/Open standards. Start shaping the applications of the future! Call now to order your copy of MKS Toolkit Some of the 180* utilities in MKS Toolkit 4.1: ' A new, easy-to-use, efficient UUCP communications package. * • MKS AWK, the fast prototyping language now with a new AWK compiler. > MKS KomShell, the full-featured programming language. • MKS Make, the software constmction utility. • MKS Vi, the full-screen editor. • New Windows icons. • Full on-line reference manual. • Interoperability with Open VMS, CTOS and MPE/iX. • A full array of commands for profiling, compression, archiving, file processing and customizing your PC environment. MKS Price: $299, Upgrade $99. Call for multi-user pricing. 30 day money back guarantee. For information on liow to order, call MKS at: 1-800-265-2797 (I'S and Canada) or (519) 884-2251 • Fax (519) 884-8861 3S King St. V. Waterloo. ON, Canada N2J 2W9 * MKS UUCP not available on NT and OS/2. .ms and MKS Toolkit, MKS KomShell, MKS AWK. MKS Make, MKS UUCP and MKS Vi are trademarks of Mortice Kern Systems, Inc., UMX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. All other trademarks are acknowledged. NT • OS/2 • DOS • NT • OS/2 • DOS • NT • DOS • NT • OS/2 DOS CM CO O CO O a CO O CO O Q CO O CO o • CO O OS/2 • DOS 164 BYTE JULY 1993 Circle 1 1 7 on Inquiry Card. Now Windows users are opening a new world of possibilities. The new Bernoulli" 150. The standard in removable storage. Ah, the things you can do with software these days. Amazing, isn't it? That's why we creat- ed the new BemoulU 150 removable drive. So you can get more out of your storage than ever before — -more free- dom. More excitement. And frankly, more storage. With the new BernoulU, you can explore new ideas without running out of space. You just add inexpen- sive disks in the sizes and prices you need — 150, 105, 90, 65 & .35MB. That's what we call MultiDiskT The Bemoulll 150 Is a MultiDlsk drive. So it not only reads/writes 150MB disks, but 35, 65,90 and 105MB disks, too. It even reads our 44MB disks. a feature you can only get with the BemouUi 150. Wliat's more, you can take youi" data where you need it, when you need it. Free from worry. And since no one has time to sit on their hands, we offer a very quick 18-msec effective access tinie. As you might have guessed, only award-winning BemouUi Drives give you this much potential. CorelDRAW bundle offer. Call 1-800-283-7608. Sound good? Give us a call today for more informa- tion. Or visit your local a dealer. And from now F'^lL/mSm^^M^ on, expect the world JIWm^m\^M^ out of your storage. Makers of Bernoulli ©1993 Iomega Corp. The Iomega logo and Bernoulli are registered trademarl^s. and MultiDlsk is a trademark of Iomega Corp. All other products are trademarks of their respective holders. For customer service in U.S.A. and Canada, call 1-800-456-5522. In Europe, call 49-76145040. For worldwide customer service, call 1-801-778-3000. For accessory items, call lOMART at 1-800-723-3770. Circle 101 on Inquiry Card. Reviews Lotus Notes 3 already support Windows and the Mac, and a Windows version of Pacer's Mac- based PacerForum is forthcoming. Lotus's ambitions for Notes, though, are grander. The company wants to position it as a gen- eral-purpose platform for applications that collect, organize, and distribute "semi- structured" information, route documents, and manage work flow. In support of that goal, release 3 gives database designers new tools to process data and messages. For my first experiment, I converted a contact manager that I'd written in Fox- Pro into a Notes application. Why? FoxPro today delivers neither the cross-platform support nor the remote-access capability that I'm keen to provide. Moreover, Notes encourages an appealing model in which free-form discussion can decorate a trellis of structured data. Notes' forte admittedly is not structured data, but I thought 5000 company and contact records would be a reasonable load, and I was willing to trade speed for other benefits. You build a Notes application — which is to say a heavily customized Notes data- base — around a set of forms and views. A form defines the fields that make up a document (i.e., a record) in a Notes data- base, and it handles data entry and queries. A view presents a selected subset of the documents in that database, typically sort- ed and often grouped by expandable cate- gories. Although the documentation does not explain how, you can easily achieve relational effects by treating several views as tables related by a common key. Once I realized this, 1 built the forms and views needed to relate companies to contacts and imported my FoxPro data. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Notes offers a weak list of import formats. There's no .DBF format, never mind the nearly universal comma-delim- ited ASCII, so I had to write a FoxPro re- port to render my data as files of field- name:value pairs that Notes could import as structured text. It did so, but slowly — 8 minutes for one 3000-record import file on the 486DX2/66 server, and a half-hour for the same file on a 386/25 workstation. Picklists and Menus Next, I explored the new ODbColumn function, which enhances Notes' relation- al capabilities by picklisting a field using the contents of one column of a view. My FoxPro application uses this technique to enforce relational integrity, and ©DbCol- umn at first looked like the right solution for the Notes implementation. However, a 5-second delay on first use of the picklist made me suspect that @DbColumn was, disastrously, reading the whole list into workstation memory. My suspicion was confirmed when, as I dialed into the serv- er from home, the 5-second delay became 10 minutes. Clearly, that's an unworkable solution for all but the most trivial lookups. When Lotus adds foreign database sup- port to SDbColumn, an intelligent scheme for buffering the returned data will be- come even more imperative. Searching for a way to work around @DbColumn, I tried exploiting a form's ability to inherit field values from the ac- tive view. If a user has the Contacts view open and has selected a Lotus contact, the Compose Contact form can inherit the company name without requiring picklist selection. That worked, but only when the user's current view was one that could supply a company name. Unfortunately, you can't programmatically disable the BYTE BACK ISSUES FOR SALE 1990 1991 1992 1993 Windows '93 U.S. Delivery $4.00 Foreign $5.00 Windows-Portability '92 U.S. Delivery $3.00 Foreign $4.00 January 1990-91-92-93 U.S. Delivery $6.00 Foreign $8.00 Canada & Mexico $6.50 The above prices include postage in the US. European customers please refer to Back Issue order form in the International Advertising section of the book February March Please indicate which issues you would like by checliing(V) the boxes. Send requests with payment to: BYTE Back Issues, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, N.H. April May 03458, (603)924-9281 □ Check enclosed Charge: □ VISA □ MasterCard Card# Exp. Date June July August Signature September October Name November Address December Citv Special IBM Outlook '92 Wjndo^^ s \Viiuluv\s ^" Issues Portahilily State Zip 1 I Issues 1 1 Available All orders must be prepaid. Please allow four weeks delivery i66 BYTE JULY 1993 •7 A SHOWN ACTUAL SIZE Jf I I I iMi/ J-ll r 1 / 11, ri I HL >j'j7 pj i!ai'J2-3!J-!)3 rlL'.: 0iia3-2-'j2-1 A chain is as strong as its wealcest iinlf. Picture your Hardlock™ key as a bike lock, and the accompanying software routines used to implement the copy protection as the chain. You can own the best lock that money can buy, but that lock is useless if the chain is weak. Introducing HL-Crypt, a major breakthrough in copy protection. HL-Crypt is not just a shell or simple conditional response checker. Using our proprietary Patcher Technology, HL-Crypt encrypts and binds the application to your Hardlock™ device. HL-Crypt features many protection modules that secure the application against piracy, reverse engineering, and debugging, to name a few. Picture HL-Crypt as an ironclad chain. The only ironclad chain in the industry today. For more information, call 1-800-562-2543 HL-Crypt The Fortified Protection Linicer for Hardiocic al information circle 89, For Domestic information circle 90 on Inquli Reviews Lotus Notes 3 Compose Contact menu item, so I couldn't guarantee that the Compose Contact form would always present a valid company name. With DBMS software, you can tai- lor menus to meet this requirement; with Notes, you can't. Tackling Work-Flow Programming With some release 3 experience under my belt, I moved on to build a new application to route manuscripts through BYTE's ed- itorial pipeline. The key enabling feature, new to release 3, is the @MailSend func- tion, which automates use of the Notes mail system. Of special importance is iMailSend's ability not only to attach copies of documents to messages but also to include doclinks that point to shared documents. In the approval cycle for a manuscript, for example, you might want a technical editor, then a copy editor, and then the managing editor to review the live manuscript (not a copy!), each in turn. Notes release 3 makes it possible to build such an application. But it doesn't make the job easy. One obstacle is the development envi- ronment itself. Notes needs a BASIC-style immediate window in which to try out user-written macros. Lacking that, you end up drilling down through several layers of dialog boxes to get to the place where you can write a snippet of code, then backing out to test it, and then drilling down again when you find you've botched the syntax. Better up-front syntax-checking would also help, as would a rudimentary debugger. A larger problem is that functions like OMailSend are, in effect, just the assem- bly language of work-flow programming. To route a document through an approval cycle requires sophisticated state transi- tion and tracking logic, not just the ability to pipe data from one user to another. The Notes macro language, which does not even permit you to write callable func- tions, is a clumsy way to express that logic. And while the templates sup- plied with release 3 illus- trate the basic techniques you'll need, they're not reusable in any meaningful way. Lotus Notes release 3 starter Pack (Windows server) User license Five users 100 users 1000 users Companies serious about creating busi- ness-process applications in Notes will need better tools. Lotus and Action Tech- nologies are. in fact, working on an appli- cation builder that will let you describe work flow abstractly and will then gener- ate the code to implement it. It won't be available until the year's end, and it isn't scheduled to become a standard feature of Notes. I hope Lotus rethinks that plan. Re- lease 3 delivers all the raw materials to create work-flow systems. But if those sys- tems are to succeed in the real world, you'll need faster, easier, and more productive ways to build them. My recommendation? U.se Notes for its deluxe E- mail and conferencing, if you can afford to. But don't plan to use it to reengineer your business. ■ $995 $495 $1395 $8795 ..$47,995 (other levels available) Lotus Development Corp. 55 Cambridge Pkwy. Cambridge, MA 02142 (617) 577-8500 Circle 1235 on Inquiry Card. Jon Udell is a BYTE senior technical editor who manages BYTE's PC network. You can contact him on BIX as "jiidelt" or on the Internet as judelt@ bytepb.byle.com. KONEX Connect Your Modem To PBX and Digital Telephones. THE KONEXX KONNECTOR • MODEL 112 Connect your modem into the handset jack of any PBX, digital, multiline, business, or hotel telephone. 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Microsoft and Central Point* PC Tools;- MultiDesk" WinShuld" Speed Keys,- System Consultant - and Diskfix* are trademarks of Central Point Software. ols for Windows: as Windows 4.O.* PC TooU fof Windowj Desktop: | Pert oimance m cS Systwn Hsdware DOS Windows NetWare Recommend System Recommendations System Consultant Hardware QOS V^indows NetWare Benchmarks Qptions Help Add No£MMDitvw=On to SYSTEM INI File Increase Value at DMABuHetSce in SYSTEM INI Pie I Remove Desktop W^>ape( to Save Memory Your system is ustng a temporaty swap lie to provide virtual memory Switching to a petmarierrf swap tde may permit taster opeialiOTi Tlvs can be done by changing the Virtual Memwy settings. vAvcb appear m the Condd PaneTs 3^ Ef^hanced section. 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Our Emergency Disk builds a bootable recovery disk to help get a crashed system up and running fast. name? Our File Manager lets you quickly view files with- out having to load the program first. Tired of cryptic, abbreviated file names? Now you can attach long file names to your data to keep things clear and simple. We also created Speed Keys™so you can take short- cuts through Windows, and System Consultant that gives you specific tips for improving system performance. PC Tools for Windows is at your nearest dealer. For more information, a free demo disk, or to upgrade from PC Tools for DOS, call us at 1-800-967-9251. Your purchase is backed by our 60-day guarantee. Find out for yourself why the editors are already heralding PC Tools for Windows as "The ultimate desktop." It may just be the best thing since, well. . .Windows. CeriimlFbint Software. Central Point Software did not coUaborate on this product, and this ad is not in any way sponsored by Microsoft. PC Tools for Windows does not replace Microsoft Windows or any fitture version thereof; it simply complements it. Names of other products mentioned herein are used for identiftcaiion purposes ottly and merf be trademarks of their respective companies. Circle 68 on Inquiry Card. HANDS-ON TESTING V.32 OR BETTER: Line-impairment and data tinroughput tests measure the efficiency of 9600-bps and faster modems JIM HURD First, the good news: We subjected 69 modems to some of the most sophisticated tests ever conducted by a magazine's testing lab and found that modems are faster, more reliable, less expensive, and smaller than ever. The bad news is that you won't find all of these improvements in any one package. If you want to push the envelope on transmission speed, you'll have to pay: The fastest modem in our test, the Motorola Codex 3260 Fast, costs an eye-popping $1395. Nevertheless, it ran our data throughput tests at an impressive 53.4 Kbps, 29 Kbps faster than today's mainstream V.32bis modems. You'll also have to trade off low cost to get the ultimate in portability, because most of the portable modems we tested cost a few hundred dollars more than their desktop-bound equivalents. If you have less exotic requirements and are simply searching for an all-around desktop modem, you'll find plenty of choices nearer the middle of the speed curve. V.32bis modems reign as the best price/performance buys today and remain the fastest modems that support a standard modulation scheme. Of the 49 V.32bis modems we tested, 21 had list prices of under $400, putting them squarely in competition with the last gen- eration of V.32 (9600-bps) modems. We ran the 69 modems, each capable of at least 9600-bps transmission, through speed and impaired-line tests. Our line-impairment tests create 25 telephone-line conditions that simulate everythmg from satellite trans- missions to poor connections to telephone-company switching stations. These conditions, generated by a TAS (Telecom Analysis Systems) line simulator and representing most conditions of the U.S. telephone network, showed that the modems were remarkably robust: We found 13 modems that could run at their top speeds across all the impaired lines. See "How We Tested" on page 176 for details of our tests and test methodology. How to use this guide To find the right modem for your application, choose the category that most closely matches your requirements from among the four main topics (Ail-Around Communications, Portables, High Speed, and Data Only). In each category, we select one modem as Best Overall; this is the modem we recommend for most jobs related to that category. If you have more specialized requirements, look to the other selections; for example, if your communications require full-duplex operation, consider modems listed under "Two-Way Communications." l-WAY THROUGHPUT (KBPS) The maximum throughput for each modem during one-way (half-duplex) communication, as determined by lab testing. It represents the maximum rate at which the modem was able to receive data from a computer. 'J d :M 1 ■ Boca Research 14.4 BocaModem IS topnolch: II Fw general-c>iii|i06e communiCdlion5 to txjlleun boanSs _____|_ ana laiing. you can l Oo Miter Wan Ute BocaMoclem. ^H^^^^^ IS oneway Wiougtiput lied lot first place arnong ^BStSSSB modems m Itiis caiegcuy, arxl its impaired lin« Kore H»u^^H was tt>e riignest possible. The BocaModem's la> support ^^^^^^H aHeis Class I arx) Class 2 compliance, as well as V.I7 ^H^HH mlation was excellent, and the modem's complete set ol slalus lignts made 11 very easy W U9e. ma iminmtan i-wivamtmm ■nbmji -m mm tarn ■ ^ (MR) (OR) (IWIMNI WIT) AcRIBtoUMHii S49S 3S.0 26.0 1.00 57600 14400 nCUcPMIMnniilT S299 31.3 ^ 20.1 ^0.95 57600 14400 ^ 2-WAY THROUGHPUT {KBPS) The maximum throughput for full-duplex communication, as " measured in our lab. This is more important than the 1-Way Throughput rating only if you use full-duplex protocols. DTE RATE (KBPS) The DTE (data terminal equipment) rate is the maximum rate at which the modem can receive data from a computer. - DCE RATE (KBPS) The DCE (data communications equipment) rate is the maximum modem-to-modem speed that the modem can reach. It's dependent on the modulation standard (e.g.. V.32, V.32bis). IMPAIRED-LINE TEST (% OF THROUGHPUT) A composite score, based on testing 25 separate line conditions, which represents the percentage of normal throughput the modem attained over telephone lines that simulate difficult communication conditions (e.g., satellite delay). 172 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993 PHOTOGRAPHY: STEVE BELKOWITZ © 1993 BVTE 69 MODEMS BEST Critical Communication Components SERIAL PORT The fastest modems accept data at 115.2 Kbps (DTE speed). Be sure ydur modem can accept data at rates at least four times faster than its line rate (DCE speed): 57.6 Kbps for a V;32bis modem and 38.4 Kbps for a modem. CPU Pocket modems generally use slower CPUs to process commands ahd compress data; this can hurt their overall performance, especially when transferring data in both directions. Slow contniand processing can also occasionally cause compatibility problems with software. The CPU has much less to do when faxing, because the host computer generally handles fax compression and decompression. DATA PUIHP The data pump converts between digital information and analog transmissions, and it determines how well the modem can handle impaired lines. Traditional designs use specially designed chips, but designs based on general- purpose DSPs [digital signal processors) have come on strong. A DSP-based modem, such as the AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830, can offer the flexibility of adding modulation schemes through software upgrades. EPROM The modem software is stored in EPROM. Generally, you only need to worry about the EPROM when bug fixes are required, but some vendors, such as Zyxel, routinely offer modem upgrades via EPROM replacement. AT&T Paradyne uses an EEPROM in the Comsphere; we were able to accelerate our Comsphere from 14.4 Kbps to 19.2 Kbps by downloading some new software. RAM RAM can be more important than CPU speed to overall data throughput. The amount of RAM is a limiting factor in the amount of compression that the modem can reach. Modems typically use eHher 2 KB or 4 KB for data dictionaries. RAM size is not generally a performance factor when faxing, but a buffer that is too small can cause headaches for fax software. ALL-AROUND COMMUNICATIONS Boca Research 14.4K External BocaModem Whether you're sending E-mail, communicating by fax. or hooking into bulletin boards, the BocaModem is an out- standing choice. Most notable was its perfect score on our impaired-line performance tests. Besides excellent speed and reliability for data communications, the BocaModem offers Class 1 and Class 2 fax compliance. PAGE 174. PORTABLES Practical Peripherals PM14400FXPKT Not much bigger than a deck of cards, the PM14400FX PKT packs a lot of modem into a small package. It supports V.32bis (14.4-Kbps) data transmission speed and 14.4- Kbps (V.17) fax. Despite its size, it doesn't skip usability features, such as a good speaker and status display. PAGE 180. i HIGH SPEED Motorola Codex 3260 Fast This is the fastest modem on the market today. Its nonstandard modulation allows it to reach 24 Kbps when communicating with other Codex Fast modems. Our tests confirmed this speed: The modem simply blew away all other contenders on our one-way transmission tests. The 3260 Fast also handled impaired lines well, although it rarely managed to hit peak performance under less-than- perfect conditions. PAGE 186. DATA ONLY AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830 If you don't need fax support but want fast data communication with standard protocols, choose the Comsphere 3830. Its ability to handle DTE rates of up to 115.2 Kbps gives it a performance edge over other high-speed V.32bis modems. This DSP-based modem is also easy to upgrade. PAGE 189. ILLUSTRATION: BRUCE SANDERS ©1993 JULY 1993 BYXE/NSTL LAB REPORT 173 IVIODEIVIS FOR ALL-AROUND COMMUNICATIONS COMMUNICATION SOFTWARE PC SPEED PC SERIAL PORT For all-around communication tasks, the best choice today is a 14.4-Kbps, V.32bis desktop modem with good fax capabilities. Whether you're set- ting up E-mail links, connecting to bulletin boards, or performing almost any general communications task, V.32bis modems are data communications workhorses. Performance and price are the biggest advantages of 14.4-Kbps modems. They cost only slightly more (as little as $50 in some cases) than 9600-bps devices, which run at only two-thirds the speed. Some V.32bis modems, like the Practical Periph- erals PM14400FXMT, list for less than $300. In fact, when all the testing was done and prices and features compared, not a single V.32 modem made it onto the Best Overall list, or even onto the list of low-cost modems we recommend. The performance difference simply outweighs the minor cost differential, even when price is a major fac- tor. Our Best Overall selections highlight the fastest modems for one-way communica- tions. These are most suitable for users who connect to bulletin boards, send E-mail, log onto electronic services like CompuServe, and send data files with communications software (e.g., Procomm Plus) that supports ZMODEM, XMODEM, and YMODEM protocols. We also considered fax to be es- sential for a general-purpose modem and made that one of our selection criteria. Because two-way communications can be essential for users of RELAY and BLAST communications packages, we also identified the leading modems for this ap- plication. RELAY and BLAST use soft- ware protocols that handle full-duplex communication, al- though most communication software does not. We judged the best modems based on their throughput speeds for one-way and two-way communication, as appro- priate. Throughput speed represents two-thirds of each mo- dem's total score. Our second most important criterion was the modem's per- formance in our impaired-line tests, which measured how well each modem maintained its top speeds when faced with noisy telephone-line transmissions. The score is based on the average performance on impaired lines, measured as a per- centage of maximum performance. A modem scored 100 per- cent if it ran at top speed over all 25 of our simulated lines. Most modems dropped back on the line that simulated satel- lite transmission with long delays. Scores below 95 percent on this test indicate potential problems when making long-dis- SQUEEZE MORE SPEED FROM YOUR MODEM CABU Communication software must be fast enough to keep up with the modem and smart enough to use file transfer protocols that can tolerate the latency of error-correcting modems. Of the popular protocols, ZMODEM Is the best choice, followed by sliding-window Kermit and YMODEM-G. Proprietaf) protocols like BLAST can squeeze more performance out of many modems by transferring data in both directions simultaneously. A PC UART (universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter) can buffer only one to 16 characters; the PC must be able to read the UART constantly to prevent It from overflowing. Graphical operating systems like the Mac and, especially, protected-mode Windows can slow the computer to the point where It can't read the UART fast enough to prevent overflow. You may need a serial coprocessor card to achieve maximum speed with high-end modems in these environments. Fast modems need buffered UARTs In the computer for maximum effectiveness. A 16550 UART buffers up to 16 characters — enough to provide reliable operation at 115.2 Kbps. But some 16550s have bugs (fixed In the 16550A) that prevent their reliable use above 57.6 Kbps. Ail Macs have a UART with a three-character buffer — plenty for reliable 57.6-Kbps communication. The main consideration for a modem cable is that It wire the hardware handshaking lines (pins 4 and 5), carrier detect (pin 8), and DTR (Data Terminal Ready; pin 20), in addition to the required data lines (pins 2, 3, and 7). For best results, keep the cable length down to 6 feet or less. Don't assume that your modem will come with the cable you need; most do, but some don't tance connections, especially internationally. Finally, because these modems are called upon to perform a variety of tasks for people who aren't necessarily commu- nications experts, we evaluated them for features and ease of use, considering the quality of their documentation, whether status lights or LCD panels were infomiative, and the ease with which we could change default settings. We found price to be only a small differentiator: Although some good modems in this category sell for as much as $989 (the Zyxel U-1496Plus), the top five modems in this class all sell for between $300 and $600. All the modems listed under Best Overall support the V. 1 7 standard for fax speeds up to 14.4 Kbps. In general, avoid fax modems that don't fax at this rate, or you'll waste a lot of time faxing documents as V.17-compliant fax machines and fax modems proliferate. V.17 support doesn't cost extra: Even 1T4 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993 the least expensive modems have it. At $699 and $799, the two Multi-Tech modems that ranked in our Best Overall class are pricey compared to the $395 BocaModem, but Unix users can consider either Multi-Tech as a reasonable re- placement for a $949 Telebit T3000. Like the T3000, the Multi-Tech MT1432BA sup- ports spoofing, which makes it an excellent choice if you use UUCP's g-protocol. (See "Spoofing: Serious Speed Ben- efits" on page 186). The three Zyxel modems we tested scored a three-way tie for best two-way communica- tions modems. The $469 Zyx- el U-1496E is a real bargain — it performs just as well as the higher-priced Zyxels when used at V.32bis speeds, and it offers an attractive array of fea- tures, including caller ID, dis- tinctive ringing, and voice recognition. In addition, the U- 1496E achieves 16.8-Kbps communication speeds when used with other Zyxel modems. (For this application, we con- sidered test results at 14.4 Kbps; see "High-Speed Com- munications" on page 186 for the Zyxels' high-speed scores.) Unfortunately, the Zyxel mo- dems don't support Class 1 fax, the current standard. Many of the low-cost mo- dems, especially the Practical Peripherals PM14400FXMT and USRobotics Sportster, per- formed admirably in our speed and reliability tests, and we can recommend them without reservation. These modems are especially attractive if you don't need high-speed bidirec- tional throughput. For exam- ple, if you dial into bulletin boards and download informa- tion, a PM14400FXMT will perform at nearly the level of the Zyxel modems for a much lower price. The PM 14400- FXMT has an excellent feature set, including Class 1 , Class 2, and V.17 fax. Pick the PM- 14400FXMT for one-way ap- plications. If you use BLAST or RELAY, choose the Sport- ster; it's the best two-way com- municator among low-cost modems. BYTE BEST ALL-AROUND COMMUNICATIONS Need speed and -flexibili'ty? BEST OVERALL Boca Research 14.4K External BocaModem For general-purpose communications to bulletin boards and faxing, you can't do better than the BocaModem. Its one-way throughput tied for first place among modems in this category, and its ^^^p^ impaired-line score was the highest possible. The BocaModem's fax support is top-notch: It offers Class 1 and Class 2 compliance, as well as V.17 speed. Documentation was excellent, and the modem's complete set of status lights made it very easy to use. PRICE 1-WAV THROUGHPUT 2-WAY THROUGHPUT IMPAIRED-LINE TEST DTE RATE DOE RAH (KBPS) (KBPS) (7. OF THROUGHPUT) (KBPS) (KBPS) BEST Boca Research 14,4K External BocaModem $395 32.0 26.0 100 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Practical Peripherals PM14400FXMT $299 31.3 20.1 95 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Zoom Telephonies VFXV32bis $349 31.7 22.0 97 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKT $499 31.3 20.3 95 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Practical Peripherals PM14400FXSA $549 31.4 24.1 95 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Multi-Tech UT1432MU $699 31.4 21.4 99 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Multi-Tech UT1432BA $799 31.4 21.4 99 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-1496PIUS $989 32.0 31.3 99 76.8 19.2' Do you use RELAY or BLAST? TWO WAY Zyxel U-1496E The Zyxel U-1496E's performance in two-way communication was top-notch: The modem tied for first place on speed and scored an impressive 99 percent on the line-impairment tests. What's more, the U-1496E's feature list is among the most comprehensive for general use: The modem supports fax, voice, DTMF decoding, caller ID, distinctive dialing, and fax/voice switching. Zyxel actively upgrades modems in the field by sending new EPROMs to users as additional features become available. Zyxel does not license the Hayes guard-band patent or use TIES (Time Independent Escape Sequence), but we had no problem with false escapes. PRICE 1-WAV THROUGHPUT 2-WAY THROUGHPUT IMPAIRED-UNETIST DTIRATE DCERATE (KBPS) (KBPS) (% OF THROUGHPUT) (KBPS) (KBPS) BEST Zyxel U-1496E $469 31.8 31.2 99 76.8 16.8' RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-1496EPIUS $649 31.8 31.2 99 76.8 19.2' RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-1496PIUS $989 32.0 31.3 99 76.8 19.2' RUNNER-UP AMT Star 14421 $399 31.7 30.5 100 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP GVC FM144/144V $399 31.7 30.6 99 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP The Complete PC Tuito Modem Plus $399 31.7 30.6 99 57.6 14.4 Looking for low cost? LOW COST Practical Peripherals PM14400FXIV1T The 14400FXMT's one-way throughput score was just a hair behind that of the fastest performer, the BocaModem. Its one shortcoming was its impaired-line score of 95 percent, resulting from its failure on the two simulated satellite lines. If your communications don't travel through satellite links, the PM14400FXMT is comparable to the BocaModem and sells for nearly $100 less. The PM14400FXMT also doesn't compromise on features or ease of use: It offers Class 1 and Class 2 fax support, and its documentation is clear and informative. It's also one of the few modems that supports caller ID. PRICE l-WAV THROUGHPUT 2-WAy THROUGHPUT IMPAIRED-LINE TEST DTE RAH DCERATI (KBPS) (KBPS) (% OF THROUGHPUT) (KBPS) (KBPS) BEST Practical Peripherals PM14400FXMT $299 31.3 20.1 95 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Cambridge Telecom 1414XE $269 29.4 16.4 97 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP USRobotics Sportslerl 4400 Fax $299 30.3 25.5 99 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Zoltrix 144/144e $239 31.7 22.1 85 57.6 14.4 ' Maximum DCE rate; test scores reflect modem's performance at 14.4 Kbps. JULY 1993 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT 175 HowWe Tested Our modem performance tests subjected the modems to 25 telephone-line conditions and eight kinds of data transfer tasks using as many as four different modulation types. We used DOS, Win- dows, and Macintosh platforms to drive the data through the modems. Ours are among the first published tests using line-impairment conditions specifically designed to mirror real- world conditions. The impairment com- binations we used are based on the working papers of the EIA/TIA's (Elec- tronic Industries Association/Telecom- munications Industry Association) TR- 30.3 committee, which was consulted for the tests. Our test conditions cover a major subset of the lines discussed in TR-30.3's PN-3064 draft recommenda- tion for network simulation for modem testing. These test lines are based on a com- prehensive survey of the U.S. Although they are therefore reflective of the state of the telephone network in the U.S. only, they include impairments (e.g., satellite delays) that are also found in non-U.S. locales. THROUGHPUT TESTS Our unimpaired-line throughput tests are also unique. Many modem tests fo- cus on the ability to transmit data in one direction, but modems are often called on to perform two-way transmissions. The tests we ran show how well modems can simultaneously transmit and receive files. Our throughput tests rate a modem's ability to send data as quickly as possi- ble over an unimpaired line using stan- dard data-compression and error-cor- rection techniques. Throughput tests measure the performance of the data- compression and error-correction en- gines in each modem. All the tested modems support V.42 error correction and V.42bis data compression. We connected like pairs of modems via a PBX and ran the throughput tests from a Mac. We used four different files: a compressed file, a graphics file, a text file, and a database file. These files have potential V.42bis compression ratios of 1 to 1, 2 to 1, 3 to 1, and 4 to 1. Data files were developed at NSTL. For testing modems with a 57.6-Kbps DTE rate, we used Creative Solutions' coprocessed Hur- dler boards in a Quadra 950. By using coprocessors for each serial card (and a pow- erful computer), we ensured that modems would be sent data as fast as they could handle it. For modems rated at 115.2-Kbps DTE speed, we tested using a program called HowFast by Softart. HowFast requires dual 16550 UARTs and a 486 computer: We used a Hayes ESP board in a Compaq 486/33. We ran each modem pair using factory default set- tings, with the following ex- cepfions: Modems were con- figured to receive data from the computer at the fastest rates they sup- ported (up to 115.2 Kbps); modems were configured to use V.42bis data compression and V.42 error correction, even if the default settings specified MNP protocols; and all modems were configured to use RTS/CTS (hardware) flow control instead of XON/XOFF. For data-compression and error-cor- rection parameters, we chose defaults for dictionary and window sizes. We chose default sizes even if a modem sup- ported larger-than-default dictionary sizes for unidirectional transmissions (we assumed that users are unlikely to reconfigure the modem each time they conduct bidirectional transmissions). Once we got them configured, we set the modems to transfer the four types of files, ranging from 32 KB to 48 KB in length, at the fastest possible rates. We measured throughput for one-way and two-way transmissions. With a one-way test, modem A transmits each type of file four or more times to modem B; there is no transmission from modem B to modem A. For two-way tests, mo- dem A transmits each type of file four or more times to modem B, while modem B simultaneously transmits a different type of file to modem A. LI N E-l IVI P AIRM ENT TESTS The heart of our line-impairment testing was a TAS Series II modem tester. This Hie TAS (Telecom Analysis Systems) Seiies II modem tester enabled us to reKieate 25 telephone-line inpaainents; this heliied us ju^^ modem worlted under real-worid conditions. advanced telephone-line simulator can re-create almost any line condition that you may encounter anywhere in the world, even if you're sending data over satellite networks. This latest genera- tion of TAS equipment is more sophis- ticated than ever: It allowed us to ex- actly simulate the standard local-loop impairments in addition to usual central office impairments. Our 25 test lines simulate combinations of a variety of impairments: long satellite delays, phase roll, and noise, to name a few. The line-impairment conditions were developed by the EIA/TIA TR-30.3 committee, which also developed the TSB (Technical Systems Bullefin) 37 line conditions for testing V.32 modems. The 25 line conditions are not part of an official standard, but were developed to test modems that conform to the emerging CCITT V.Fast specificafion for high-speed modems. According to the developers, the 25 line-impairment conditions conform closely to the actu- al telephone network in the U.S. For our line-impairment tests, we con- nected like pairs of modems to the TAS system, which simulated a trunk line and local loops at both ends of the con- nection. We configured the modems to factory defaults, with the exceptions not- ed previously. Each modem transmit- ted a 32-KBps compressed file over a given simulated line at least four fimes. a.T6 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993 UMX is changing the world of compnlers. the world of business-qiiile simply, changing the world. It's revohilioiiizing office automation. It's required for U.S. government computer contracts. It's the backbone of information strategies worldwide. Thai's why you need UmWom-Wie magazine that keeps you up to date on the rapidly changing world of open systems computing. Each issue brings you the latest product trends and technical advances that can affect your business. The inside story on some of the biggest high-tech companies. Ea.sy-to-miderstand progranuning tips and tutorials that can help your company use UM to its fullest. And unbia.sed hardware and software reviews to help you invest wisely when you buy. UmixWoruj's ui-depth features go beyond dry teclmical fads to show how the pieces fit together-to tell you what's important about the advances and strategies that are changing your world. And UmWoRW consistently offers the freshest, most down-to-earth writing thai you'U find in any computer pid)Iication. Subscribe today and receive the next 12 issues of UmWoRU) for just Sl8.00-half the replar newsstand price. Save even more by ordering for two or tlu-ee years. You can't lose-every subscription to UmWoRU) comes with a no-risk guarantee*. Subscribe now! Gall toll-free: 1-800-257-9402 ext. 29 If you re into IMX, you need UnixWorld receive a full refund for the balance of your subscription. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories Inc. llNDtWORLD McGraw-Hill's Magazine of Open Systems Computing HowWe Tested [continued) We recorded throughput times and av- eraged the results. We measured throughput rather than performing a BERT (bit-error rate test) because most users will take advantage of error cor- rection. Line-impairment scores are given as a percentage of best-case throughput (determined by the throughput tests), and we present an average across all im- paired lines. There is a 1 percent margin of error on these scores (i.e., consider a score of 99 percent to be statistically equivalent to 100 percent). Approximately one third of the modems negotiated all the lines with- out any problem. Of the rest, most ran aground on the satellite Unes, but several modems had difficulty with long local loops. Satellite delays of the magnitude we tested are virtually nonexistent with- in the U.S. network, but they can be en- countered in other locations. Long lo- cal loops do exist within the U.S. network, and if you have one, you have few options short of mov- ing. (The local loop is the connection from your phone to the local phone company's switch). All the modems handled the most common lines well; it is the difficult Unes that show differences in the modem architectures. High-speed modems can "drop back" and pick a slower-than-maximum data speed when they encounter an im- paired line. The faster the modem, the more likely it is to need to drop back. While most 9600-bps modems were able to use their top speed on all impaired lines, the Motorola Codex 3260 Fast kept maximum performance only on SIMULATING REAL-WORLD IMPERFECTIONS Our impaimient tests were created by combining the following four different tnink-line types and seven different local loops. TRUNK LINES Digital lines have few impairments, but the typical PCM (pulse-coded modulation) that con- verts the analog signal generated by a modem to digital can cause quantization distortion. Ihis Is a particular problem for those who use their modems for long-distance calls, because most loi^-distance circuits today are digital. (R^nal telephone companies are in the process of digitizing their networks, but some are not as far along as long-distance canierj). D^l with Simulates the "worst case" scenario wHh digital bies: The d^ transmission passes through multiple a region with analog switches. This means that modems can be "hit" three times wKh PCM con- convenions version, and the associated difficulties. Anah^ Anah« ines typicaly present more impasments than digital faies. Even the best analog fines present some impainnents to modems. Callers in the U.S. typically encounter an analog line on a can that goes through a r^nal netwoii that hasn't completed the tiansfonnation to digital. Satellite Important for those making transcontinental calls. Problems occur when a delayed echo inter- feres with the transmitted signal. Echoes occur during the conversion between four-wire and two-wire transmission at the far end of the connections; sateffite delays arise during the time it takes the signal to travel to the satelite and back. Some modems can "cancel" the echo using DSP (digita signal processing) techniques. Those that can't do so won't be able to connect This was one of the most common faihires for modems that received a score of 95 percent or less in our tests. Our tests simulated a delay of 700 milliseconds, which was severe enough to stress-test today's modems, but also representative of what can occur in the real world. LOCAL LOOPS Our seven local-loop shmdations raided from a short, 2000-foot loop to 7000- 15,000-foot loops with and without bridge taps, to 30,000-foot loops with four or five kiading cods (which modify the frequency response of loops). Testing tem (dodmise from left): Alan lodi, Helefl HoUuw, Siva Ifajmar, anUiiiHird. mildly impaired lines. Modems like the Codex 3260 Fast are designed to take maximum advantage of every connec- tion, whereas previous generations of modems were more conservatively de- signed to deliver full speed even on the worst lines. Since most connections on the U.S. network are virtually unim- paired, the Codex approach makes a lot of sense. Even averaging 90 percent of its top speed, as it did on our tests, the Codex 3260 Fast is still the fastest mo- dem on the market. Modems don't only drop back; they also "fall forward" — that is, they can increase speed as the quality of connec- tion improves. Picking the right rate is tricky, and modem vendors employ dif- ferent strategies. The trick is to maxi- mize throughput by balancing higher speeds against increased risk of errors. We solicited input from all the vendors regarding the best configuration for each company's modem. Contributors Helen Holzbaur, Consultant/NSTL. worked as a network manager and systems administrator for Temple University for JO years. Jim Hunt , Vice President of Research and Development/NSTL, has tested scores of modems, as well as applications software and operating systems, during the last 10 years at NSTL Alan Joch, Senior Editor/BYTE, coordinates the combined testing between the BYTE Lab and NSTL. Siva Kumar, Technical Analyst/NSTL, specializes in hardware and network-operating-system testing. The Lab Report is an ongoing collaborative project between BYTE Magazine and National Software Testing Laboratories (NSTL). BYTE Magajne ami NSTL are both operating units of McGraw-Hill, Inc. 178 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORX JULY 1993 If you LKM to your computer with one of these... now you canMto your computer with THIS! voice RccocniTion miwm for Sound Blaster" compatible cards Opmtei|our computn i at the wuno! )co\otC voice h From the developers of the U.S. Air Force's "Bionic Ear" comes VOICE BLASTER, the world's first voice recognition software for popular sound cards. The DOS and Windows 3.1 voice recognition pro- grams included allow you to add voice conunands to popular education, business and entertainment pro- grams such as WordPerfect, F117A, Lotus 123, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe , DAC Easy, and himdreds more. Easy to install and use, you will be up and rvmning at the speed of sound in no time! Also included are DOS and Windows 3.1 record- ing, editing and playback programs which repre- sent leading edge PC sound technology. Voice annotation software included brings your Windows 3.1 word processor to life by adding your own recorded messages to your documents. The COVOX E/Q module and headset provided with VOICE BLASTER will improve your sound card's recording capability while giving you the best voice recognition possible. VOICE BLASTER will change the way you use your computer! VOICE BLASTER is available at CompUSA, Electronics Boutique, Egghead Software, Software Etc. and other fine computer retail outlets. Suggested retail price $119.95. To order call Covox at (800) 432-8970. Dealer inquiries (818) 446-9932. Copyright 1993 COVOX, INC. All products and corporate names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved. COVOX, INC. 675 Conger St. Eugene, OR 97402 (503) 342-1271 Circle 77 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 78). n/IODEMS FOR PORTABILIIY DATA Portable modems are essential if you need to access company data, run ap- plications remotely, or fax from the road. They can also do double duty by serving your desktop computer when you're back at the office. If you go that route, however, you'll have to accept a slight per- formance penalty. Our tests showed that, on average, desktop modems outperformed portables by a margin of about 300 bps. Porta- bility also adds to cost: The portable modems we tested cost an average of 40 percent more than their desktop counterparts. Pocket modems can run on either AC or battery power. The smallest modems, like the Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKT and the Hayes Optima 144 Pocket, use ex- ternal batteries. Slightly larger modems, like the USRobotics WorldPort 14400 Fax, the Multi-Tech MT1432MU, and the Megahertz P2I44, incorporate batteries inside the mo- dem case. The E-Tech modems and the Twin- com Voyager are almost as large as desktop modems, but they weigh less and include a battery. We chose our Best Overall modem based on its one-way data throughput score, its per- formance on difficult lines, the range of its features, and its ease of use. We selected two- way communications winners by ranking per- formance on two-way throughput tests. Be- cause portable modems might be called on to handle a more diverse range of line con- ditions than their desktop counterparts, we weighted the line-impairment scores second to throughput; the higher the percentages, the more likely the modem can handle whatever types of lines you encounter on the road. Overall, the performance scores of portable modems were closely matched, and we found features and ease of use to be the real differ- entiators between the winners and the run- ners-up. A clear, easily understandable status display, like the Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKT's, is essential and can avoid frustration when you're trying to trou- bleshoot a modem in your hotel room. The cream of the portable modem crop are the Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKT and the Multi-Tech MT1432MU. The set of indicator lights on each is easy to read, and both modems performed well in our speed tests. The PM14400FX PKT gets our vote for Best Overall based on its fast one-way SPEED LIMITS Don't assume that the fastest modem is always the best: You can never communicate faster than the slower mo- dem in any connection. For example, if all you use a modem for is to connect to CompuServe, the fastest data speed you'll achieve is 9600 bps. If you pay $800 to $1400 for one of the high- speed modems, such as the AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830 or the Mo- torola Codex 3260 Fast, your data transfer speed won't be any faster than if you use a $249 Practical Peripherals PM9600FXMT, a 9600-bps modem. CompuServe isn't unique. Most public on-line services offer 9600-bps access. Bulletin boards generally offer 14.4-Kbps V.32bis, and a good number of them offer 16.8-Kbps USRobotics HST. Public-access Unix hosts generally offer V.32bis, and many offer PEP and Turbo PEP at speeds of up to 23 Kbps. AT&T Mail supports 19.2-Kbps V.32terbo. K you control the modem on both sides of your communications link, you have many more options. You can take advantage of speeds above 14.4 Kbps. Telebit offers excellent unkiirectional throughput with Turbo PEP. Bidirectional throughput with PEP is limited because PEP is asym- metric; it is optimized for data flowing primarily in one direction. US- Robotics HST is also asymmetric, but HST is not as fast or as flexible as PEP. PEP uses a multicarrier approach that alkws it to balance the speed of the two channels, as well as to fall back in very small increments in the face of line impaimients. HST uses two fixed-speed channels and sim- ply changes directions as necessary. Both of these asymmetric modulations are generally outperformed by AT&Ts V.32tertx) and Zyxel's proprietary 19.2-Kbps modulation, and Mo- torola Codex's 24-Kbps modulation. FAX Most fax communication follows the V.29 standard, which specifies a maximum speed of 9600 bps. V.17-compliant modems (half of those in this review) can send faxes at speeds of up to 14.4 Kbps. V.17 includes other perfor- mance optimizations, including more fall-back speeds and optional fast connections. Sixty of the 69 modems tested support V.29; 37 sup- port V.17. V.17 support aside, fax modems have little effect on fax speed, be- cause most of the fax processing is done in the computer. Fax p%e data is typically not error corrected, and the computer must compress the data before sending it to the modem. Since eirors are not corrected, data transmission errors show up as errors in the final document. Modems that score well on the BYTE line-impairment tests will give you better overall fax quality. throughput and because it supports both Class 1 and Class 2 fax. Practical Peripherals' portable modem is also $200 cheap- er than Multi-Tech's. ISO BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993 However, the Practical Pe- ripherals pocket modem fails to connect in error-correction mode on the two lines simulat- ing long satellite delays. That is not to say that it can't be used on satellite connections — our delay of 700 ms is longer than most you'll encounter. The Multi-Tech MT1432- MU also supports spoofing of the most popular file transfer protocols. If you are forced to use a nonwindowing protocol like XMODEM or UUCP, a pair of Multi-Tech modems can put your old software into high gear. Although several other pocket modems were faster for full-duplex transmis- sion, none had the features of the PM14400FX PKT or the MT1432MU. The Megahertz P2144 is an alternative to the Practical Pe- ripherals modem, and it has the same price. The P2144 was the fastest pocket modem for one- way transfers, and it supports Class 1 and Class 2 fax. How- ever, it's not an easy modem to use: It holds the distinction of being the only modem we tested that had no status dis- play whatsoever. The Hayes Optima 144 Pocket is a good-looking new addition to the pocket market- place, but it is slower than the top two modems. It also has a problem with long satellite de- lays. E-Tech's UFOMate P1414- MX and USRobotics' World- Port 14,400 Fax are the fastest pocket modems for two-way data transfer. The E-Tech mo- dem takes the top spot on the basis of its lower price. The two modems have dif- ferent strengths. The P1414MX has a slightly better perfor- mance and has features that are unique among the pocket mo- dems we tested — caller ID and distinctive ringing. But the off- the-shelf WorldPort performed our tests flawlessly, while the P1414MX, the lower-rated E- Tech UFOMate P1496MX, and their Twincom Voyager twin required patches to their EPROMs in order to complete our tests. The WorldPort also did better on the impaired-line tests. BYTE BESX PORTABLE MODEMS Need desk-top performance -for -the road? BEST OVERALL Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKT ^jjjpm^j^ Practical Peripherals' pocket modem is nearly as fast as CHU^^l the fastest pocket modem on half-duplex tests, and it's a t^ Sjj^Sft pocket modem without compromises: It has an excellent ^^^^^ status display, which can help you quickly configure the modem when you're on the road. Other important ease- of-use features are a small form factor, a good-quality speaker, and excellent documentation and support. Class 1, Class 2, and V.17 fax also adds up to top-notch fax support. PMCE l-WAyTHMIUGNPUT 2-WAV THROUGHPUT IMPAIRED-LINE TEST DTE RATI DCERATE (KBPS) (KBPS) (% OF THROUGHPUT) (KBPS) (KBPS) BESt Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKT $499 31.3 20.3 95 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Mulli-TechMT1432MU $699 31.4 21.4 99 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Megahertz P2144 $499 32.0 26.1 97 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Hayes Optima 144 Pocket $599 31.2 18.3 95 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP E-Tecli UFOMate P1414MX $429 30.8 29.0 95 115.2 14.4 RUNNER-UP USRolxjtics WoridPort14,40O Fax $649 30.1 28.0 98 57.6 14.4 le fastest in -full-duplex? TWO WAY E-Tech UFOMate P1414IVIX With a leading score of 29 Kbps in the two-way throughput test, the E-Tech UFOMate P1414MX packed the most power for demanding two- way applications. In addition, its one-way throughput and impaired-line scores were competitive with the other contenders in this category. The P1414MX's rich feature set helped it to pull ahead of the pack to be- come the best two-way choice; it is the only pocket modem with caller ID and support for distinctive ringing. Unlike its lower-rated lookalike.the E-Tech UFOMate P1496MX, the P1414MX supports V.17 fax speeds. Negatives include uninformative status lights and the lack of Class 1 fax support. The Megahertz P2144 is a strong contender here, but it suffers from its lack of a status-light display. PRKE 1-WAYTHROUGHPUT 2-WAV THROUGHPUT IMPAIRED-UNETtST DTI RATE DC! RATI (KBPS) (KBPS) (% OF THROUGHPUT) (KBPS) (KBPS) BEST E-Tech UFOMate P1414MX $429 30.8 29.0 95 115.2 14.4 RUNNER-UP USRobotics WondPort14,400 Fax $649 30.1 28.0 98 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Megahertz P2144 $499 32.0 26.1 97 57.6 14.4 Cost-conscious? E-Tech UFOMate P1414MX The P1414MX supports 14.4-Kbps data and 14.4-Kbps fax, and it was the second fastest portable modem on two-way data transmission. But its most outstanding feature is its price: At $429, its price is $160 lower than the average price of the pocket modems given consideration for Best Overall. There are trade-offs, of course: The P1414MX is almost as big as a desktop modem (though lighter), and we had some initial data-loss problems (which were solved by an upgrade from E-Tech). Beware if you must communicate via satellite: The E-Tech modems were unable to connect over lines with long satellite delays. PRICE 1-WAV THROUGHPUT 2-WAV THROUGHPUT IMPAIRED-UNETEST DIE RATE DCERATE (KBPS) (KBPS) (%OFTHROUGHPtfT) (KBPS) (KBPS) BEST E-Tech UFOMate P1414MX $429 30.8 29.0 95 115.2 14.4 RUNNER-UP E-Tech UFOMate P1496MX $379 30.8 29.1 95 57.6 14.4 JULY 199.S BVTE/NSTL LAB REPORX 181 How Modems Connect Pitfalls, Near ana Far SATELLITE CONNECTION Satellite connections are essentially a thing of the past in the U£. telephone system, but they are still very much a part of the international network. Satellite calls are notable for their long delays, often accompanied by an audible echo effect. MODULATION STANDARDS VJ2 (9600 bps). Largely made obsolete by V.32bis tech- nology, V.32 modems can still offer inexpensive access to on-line services like CompuServe and Prodigy. Most on-line services do not yet offer V.32bis speeds, so for this application exclusively, paying more for the extra speed of V.32bis may not make sense. VJ2Ihs (14.4 Kbps). The current standard for corporate dial- up modems. Most bulletin boards and public- access Unix systems offer this speed. The typical 50 percent speed boost over V.32 modems comes at only an incremental price premium. VJast {28iKbps). V.Fast modems should hit the market late this year or early next year. These modems will probably command a high price premium over V.32bis modems, so expect both to coexist for a long time. The standard is stilt changing, so regard claims of "V.Fast upgradable" with caution. V32teflM {]B2 Kbps). A new "standard" offered by a coali- tion of modem vendors including AT&T, Penril, and Data Race. V.32terbo modems exist today and often cost only a little more than V.32bis modems. V.32tert)o looks like a good bet to supplant V.32bis, but many modem vendors are resisting it. DATA SPEEDS DEFINED PROPRIETARY P ROTOO O l_S H$T{16.8 Kbps). A proprietary speed offered by USRobotics. The company's Courier modems with HST are popular with PC bulletin board operators. If you make a lot of long- distance connections to a variety of bulletin boards, HST can mean cost savings on your phone bills. HST is asym- metric; it is effective only for one-way data transfer. Zyxd (16.8 Kbps). The Zyxel modems offer a proprietary 16.8- Kbps symmetric mode (i.e., in both directions simultane- ously). This capability gives Zyxel's low-cost modems an edge over V.32bis modems while providing its high-end modems with a good fall-back speed. Zyxd (197 Kbps). Zyxel modems running at proprietary 19.2- Kbps speeds produced some of the fastest times of the modems we tested, especially for bidirectional transfer. One drawback was that the Zyxel high-speed handshake confused some V.32bis modems, so they couldn't link up with the Zyxel modems at V.32bis speeds. (The work- around is simply to set the Zyxel modem to do a standard handshake.) PEP/TurtoPtP(23Kbps). PEP is a popular high-speed modula- tion that predates the V.32bis standard. It is mainly found in Unix environments; Telebit modems have become the standard Unix modem on the strength of PEP and their in- novation in areas such as UUCP spoofing. PEP never caught on with other modem vendors. Turbo PEP is the new update of PEP, with speeds up to 23 Kbps. Like PEP, Turbo PEP is based on multiple can-iers, giving it the ability to adjust to line conditions in increments much smaller than those of other modulation schemes. And like PEP, Turtx) PEP is asymmetric — bidirectional throughput suffers. Codex V.Fast (24 Kbps). Motorola Codex raised the ire of many modem vendors when it adopted the name "V.Fast" for its top-of-the-line dial-up modems. Motorola Codex claims modems supporting its proprietary 24- Kbps modulation will be upgradable to V.Fast, but no one will know until the standard is complete. While the company's scheme may not be V.Fast. it certainly is very fast— the Codex modem was clearly the fastest for one-way transfers. FAX SPEEDS V.27ter (4800 bps). Offers fax speeds of up to 4800 bps. Vi9 (9600 bps). Offers fax speeds of up to 9600 bps. All 60 modems that supported fax supported this speed. VJ7 (14.4 Kbps). Much of the world fax "network" is still 9600 bps or slower, but V.17 speeds are gaining popu- larity as prices tumble. V.17 also supports more incre- mental fall-back speeds and short retraining sequences. 182 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993 Links you anywtiere, anytime AT&T's new PCMCIA KeepInTouch™ modem No more missed opportunities! AT&T's new KeepInTouch modem lets you transfer data and faxes- directly from your PCMCIA portable computer-via the cellular or standard telephone networks. So even on the golf course, you can link to infor- mation services, download files, receive sales inquiries, and send proposals. And only the high-speed 14.4 Kbps KeepInTouch Card has AT&T's new Enhanced Throughput Cellular (ETC) Protocol* to ensure superior cellular perfor- mance. You get the job done quickly and successfully while reducing transmission costs. Plus AT&T's award-winning, software- defined technology lets you easily download new modem enhancements to protect your investment. So why tie yourself to a desk? With AT&T's new KeepInTouch Card, you're always in the right place at the right time! ,Si'j/<( ivccitv data and faxes ria wireless or wired networks! For the name of the dealer nearest you, or to Older direct, caU us at 1 800 554-4996 ext 9697 ATbT © AT&T 1993 Keq)InT()uch is a trademark of AT&T. Ail other procluas or seri ices mentioned arc the trademarks, ser^ ice marks, registered trademarks of iheir respective oftTicrs. • AT&T patent pending Circle 1 70 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 1 71 ). 10 Tips for Buying Modems Buy a modem with a DTE speed at least four times greater than the DCE rate: for example, 38.4 Kbps for a 9600-bps modem and 57.6 Kbps for a 14.4-Kbps modem. Lower DTE speeds can leave your modem starving for data as the data pump and compression engine run faster than the incoming data. Don't pay a premium to get 1 15.2-Kbps DTE speed on a V.32bis modem. If your environment is Macintosh or Windows, you probably won't be able to use that speed anyway. Without a serial coprocessor, few systems are fast enough to main- tain 1 15.2 Kbps under the over- head of a multitasking operating system. Don't buy a pocket modem to be a desktop modem. The pocket modems are considerably more expensive (and somewhat slower) than their desktop counterparts. Be wary of software bundles. Many offer excellent values, but others are simply collections of obsolete software that are not worth your time and energy to learn. For example, most of the Macintosh bundles include Mi- crophone 1.7. Ironically, this old- er version of Microphone does not support high-speed protocols; it supports only XMODEM and YMODEM. Be wary of compression claims. Use the modulation names such as V.32, V.32bis, and V.32terbo to guide you. Get a modem that will support V.17 (14.4 Kbps) fax speeds. V.17 fax is proliferating, and you can save yourself time and mon- ey by using the higher speed. Don't assume that your 14.4- Kbps data modem can fax at that speed: Many V.32bis modems (13, including the Telebit T3000) do not support V.17 and will fax only at 9600 bps. Get a modem that supports the Class 1 fax command set. Class 1 is an established standard that practically all fax software supports. Class 2 is not yet a standard, and the modems we tested all support an older (now incompatible) draft of the proposed standard. The exception to Tip 7 comes if you ever plan to write your own software to send faxes. Writing software to support Class 1 modems is painstaking and dif- ficult; Class 2 support is trivial. For bidirectional applications like net- work bridges, get a symmetric modem. If you have an asymmetric modem, con- figure it for V.32bis. Find out what recourse you'll have for bugs. We encountered bugs in modems ranging from inexpensive E-Techs to expensive UDS FasTalks. Vendors can usually fix bugs with new EPROMs, but ask how your dealer would handle them. ESCAPE SEQUENCES An escape sequence is the way a computer signals the modem to switch from trans- mission mode to command mode, it signals that the next segment of data coming down the data stream is to be interpreted as a command rather than transmitted. The simplest and safest way to put the modem into command mode is to configure the modem to enter command mode when the computer drops the RS-232-defined DTR (Data Terminal Ready) signal. Because this happens on a wire thaf s never transmitting data, the modem ahways knows that DTR transitions are signals. This is called out-of- band signaling. Since not every RS-232 connection has a line readily available to use to signal com- mand mode {e.g., those in Macs), modem vendors have developed different methods of in-band signaling. The problem in in-band si£pialing is distinguishing modem com- mands from normal data. Fax protocols use the ASCII code DLE for this purpose. But a OLE can appear in a real data stream. The computer then must do "byte stuffing" as it sends DLE DLE data to the modem: It has to replace each DUE with the sequence DLE DLE, to keep subsequent data from being interpreted as commands. Hayes introduced a different method of in-band signaling using guard bands. Hayes modems time-stamp characters as they arrive and use this time stamp as an additional data channel. A Hayes escape sequence is a pause fblhiwed by three escape characters folknved by another pause. (The defouH [pause] + + + [pause] escape character is ahways "+," aHhough the length of the pause and the escape character are user definable). The pause prevents the modem from mistaking escape characters found in a data stream for a command signal. Hayes ignited the fury of the rest of the modem industry when it received a patent for guard-band signaling and began to extract royalties for its use. Vendors not wanting to pay royalties have had to substitute other methods. A coali- tion of modem vendors, including Multi-Tech, TwinCom, Digicom, and others, adopted the TIES (Time Independent Escape Sequence) approach. TIES modems check to see if data after the escape sequence represents a valid AT command folhiwed by a return. Hayes responded with advertisements that portrayed the TIES approach as a bomb wait- ing to explode (taking your data with it). That led to lawsuits, and an out-of-court set- tiement between Multi-Tech and Hayes. Multi-Tech has recently proposed a new sequence, TIES out-of-band, which uses a break signal as the command character (a break is a distinguishable signal that can- not be mistaken for any character). The problem with this sequence is that rt is in- compatible with the Hayes sequence, so Multi-Tech will have to convince software vendors to support it Multi-Tech will continue to support TIES for Hayes- + + + ATH compatible software. Zyxel has its own algonthm, for which it claims compatibility with existing code. Since the Zyxel algorithm is proprietary, we can't comment on its strength or weakness. However, it caused no problem in our testing. 184 BYTE/NSXL LAB REPORT JULY 1993 The Simple Connection Behind Computers And Backpack Tape Drives lt*s fast. It's small. It's reliable. Backpack is the best selling parallel port tape drive on the market. We'd like to tell you why. With Backpack, tape backup is quick and simple. Just plug it into your printer port and it's ready to use. No hardware conflicts, no slots required. One model fits all IBM PCs, compatibles and portables, regardless of CPU speed. Backpack can store up to 250MB on a tape using data compression, is completely QIC80 compatible, and reads QIC40 tapes. With its compact size It's incredibly compatible. and I Mbps transfer rate. Backpack is the smallest and fastest parallel port tape drive you can buy. Micro Solutions is dedicated to the perfection of backup technology. CD-ROM, hard drive, and diskette Backpack drives are also available. Call today for ordering information and a dealer nearest you. Telephone 815.756.3411 FAX 815.756.2928 MiCroSalUtianS 132 west Uncoln Highway DeKalb, IL 601 15 See us at PC Expo, Booth #3778 Circle 1 1 5 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 116). MODEMS FOR HIGH-SPEED COMMUNICATIONS Think 14.4 Kbps from V.32bis modems is fast? Take a look at the proprietary speeds of to- day's fastest modems: 24 Kbps (Motorola 3260 Codex Fast), 23 Kbps (Telebit WorldBlazer), 19.2 Kbps (AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830 and Zyx- el U-1496EP1US and U-1496Plus), and 16.8 Kbps (US- Robotics Courier Dual Standard, Zyxel U-1496E). If you use long-distance telephone lines to set up net- work bridges, remotely control PCs, access leased lines, or create SLIP links, these modems could save you their cost and more in long-distance charges. But you can reap these benefits only if you control both ends of the line. For this category, we considered only the handful of modems now on the market that achieve data throughput speeds higher than 14.4 Kbps. Although CCITT's V.Fast will define faster standard communications, no such standard currently exists. Therefore, each of these high-speed modems uses its own modulation schemes, and each can communicate at its highest speeds only with another modem of its own kind. The exceptions to the both-ends-of the-line rule are Telebit's PEP and Turbo PEP, which can be found on a variety of public Unix hosts, including UUNET; Courier HST modems, which can be found on many PC bulletin boards; and Comspheres, which you can use with AT&T Mail (no surprise since AT&T manufac- tures these modems). Performance is, of course, the key criterion for this class of modems. We picked wirmers for both one-way and two-way communications. High-speed links for transmitting graphics files are excellent one-way applications, and asyn- chronous network bridges are prime examples of two-way applications. All the high-speed modems we tested can be run in either mode, but as the results show, many of the modems have an advantage in one mode over the other. The Motorola Codex 3260 Fast blew everything else away on the one-way throughput tests: It ran 23 percent faster than the second-place AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830. The Codex 3260 Fast also maintains its performance reasonably well on impaired lines, the second most important perfor- mance indicator in our evaluations. Impaired-Une reliability shows which modems can handle telephone-line impairments without dropping back to slower speeds, and although it hit 100 percent on just four of the 25 line tests, the Codex 3260 Fast maintained good throughput regardless of impairment type. The AT&T Paradyne Comsphere, the Zyxel U-1496Plus, and the Telebit WorldBlazer held their high speeds better on impaired lines than did the other high-speed modems. The Comsphere was within 5 percent of its maximum through- put on all but five of the 25 impaired lines, so you can expect to achieve 19.2-Kbps transmissions on most calls. The World- Blazer dropped more than 5 percent on 13 of the 25 lines; however, it falls back in lesser increments than do other modems, so chances of maintaining higher-speed coimec- tions are better. The Zyxel U-1496Plus performed within 5 Spoofing: Serious Speed Benefits Spoofing allows older software, using older protocols, to run effi- ciently at high speeds. XMODEM, for example, chokes high- speed modems that don't spoof, because XMODEM sends only 128 characters and then sits and waits for a response. Consequent- ly, the modem sits idle much of the time. Modems that spoof, such as those from Telebit, accelerate XMODEM and other so-called stop-and-go protocols by return- ing a false acknowledgment as soon as a packet is sent from the DTE to the modem. The spoofing modem then continues to re- ceive data from the DTE and continues to send to the remote site. Later, the modem "swallows" any actual acknowledgment from the other computer. This allows the modem to receive succeeding packets from the computer while it continues sending. percent of maximum on all but seven lines. The Comsphere's strong showing on impaired lines seems to contradict V.32terbo naysayers. Rockwell and Hayes, among others, have suggested that V.32terbo is a stopgap modulation scheme that's too weak for real network conditions (i.e., impaired lines). Based on our tests, V.32terbo looks like a good intermediate step between V.32bis and V.Fast if AT&T and other V.32terbo proponents can muster enough support. The Comsphere, the Codex 3260 Fast, and the high-end Zyxel U-1496Plus all have LCDs, which makes using them easy. Their menus make it easy to change defaults and are particularly useful for vertical applications like kiosks and automatic teller machines or for mainirame applications where a PC is not readily available. All the modems can be config- ured remotely; the Comsphere can even have its firmware replaced remotely. The Codex 3260 Fast and AT&T Paradyne Comsphere command a high price for their excellent performance. You can expect to pay as much as four times more than for a V.32bis modem; in return, you'll get a 50 percent boost in performance. Of course, you may save money on your phone bill and through increased productivity. We were disappointed with the Codex 3260 Fast's inex- plicably slow performance in our two-way throughput tests. We expected the 24-Kbps modem to outpace the slower Com- sphere and Zyxels, but the Codex 3260 Fast came in fourth. At press time. Motorola Codex was looking into the problem. 186 BYTE/IVSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993 The Comsphere 3830 was the top modem for sending data in both directions simultane- ously. The Zyxel modems are also very fast at bidirectional transfers, but they top out at a DTE speed of 76.8 Kbps. We tested the Zyxels at a DTE rate of 57.6 Kbps, because most en- vironments do not support the unusual 76.8-Kbps speed. With a 57.6-Kbps DTE connection, the Zyxel modems begin to starve for data on files that compress at better than 3 to 1 , as the compression engine and data pump outrun the serial connection. But all the Zyxel modems are faster than the Comsphere at sending files that compress at less than 3 to 1. Zyxel' s unusual handshake sequence uses a number of tones that confuse some V.32bis modems (e.g., the Hayes Optima 144 Pocket). Zyxel uses these tones to iden- tify other Zyxel modems so higher-speed Zyxel proprietary modulations can proceed. The Zyxel U-1496E connected to the Optima Pocket at only 2400 bps until we explicitly shut off the high-speed negotiation se- quence. With the U-1496E set to negotiate only to V.32bis, connection went smoothly. The Telebit WorldBlazer is still the only high-speed mo- dem to support spoofing, so us- ing older protocols like XMO- DEM and UUCP with it will achieve far better performance than with other high-speed modems. Get this modem if you can't or don't want to mess with changing old protocols. The WorldBlazer is well de- signed for this work: Its excel- lent one-way throughput is all that is necessary for spoofing applications, because very little data must traverse the reverse channel. HST from USRobotics is showing its age. The oldest of these proprietary modulations, HST has become a popular way to link to bulletin boards from long distance. The Couri- er Dual Standard was by far the slowest of the high-speed mo- dems we tested. It was, how- ever, still faster than V.32bis modems for one-way transfers of compressed files. BYTE BEST HIGH-SPEED MODEMS Need the -fastest modenn on the market? BEST OVERALL Motorola Codex 3260 Fast ^ At 24 Kbps, the Codex 3260 Fast is the fastest modem (jS^SSE. on the market today. Our tests also showed it to be ^yif^^i reasonably reliable, although line-impairment tests show ^^^SS f^^t it averages only 90 percent throughput over bad lines. It managed peak performance on only four lines, but 90 percent of 24 Kbps is still pretty impressive. However, there are drawbacks: Ease of use is only average; automatic baud detect is capped at 38.4 Kbps; the AT command set is unique to Codex, so there's a good chance your communications package won't support the Codex modem without custom configura- tion; and finally, the defaults often needed some tweaking for compression and flow control. The modem lacks spoofing, so be sure that your data transfer protocols won't leave this fast modem idling. PRICE 1-WAV THROUGHPUT (KBPS) BEST Motorola Codex 3260 Fast $1395 53.4 RUNNER-UP AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830 $795 43.4 RUNNER-UP Telebil WorldBlazer $1099 38.5 RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-1496PIIJS $989 40.6 RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-1496EPIUS $649 40.6 2-WAVTNROUGHPtlT IMPAIRED-tlNETKT DTE RATE DCERATE (KBPS) (% OF THROUGHPUT) (KBPS) (KBPS) 38.4 90 115.2 24 40.3 98 115.2 19.2 23.1 97 115.2 23 39.2 97 76.8 19.2 39.2 94 76.8 19.2 Looking -for full-duplex speed leader? TWO WAY AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830 The AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830 combines top-notch two-way communication performance with excellent usability. Its ability to handle DTE rates of 115.2 Kbps gives it the performance edge over the second- and third-place Zyxel modems. It also handled impaired lines well, as shown by its score of 98 percent. The Comsphere autobauds all the way to its top speed of 115.2 Kbps, and its menus are easy to configure. The Comsphere is designed to be easy to upgrade; we upgraded it from a V.32bis modem to a V.32terbo modem with a phone call. PRICE 1-WAYTHROUGHPUT 2-WAV THROUGHPUT IMPAIRED-UNE TEST DTIRATE DCERATE (KBPS) (KBPS) (% OF THROUGHPUT) (KBPS) (KBPS) BEST AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830 $795 43.4 40.3 98 115.2 19.2 RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-1496PIUS $989 40.6 39.2 97 76.8 19.2 RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-1496EPIUS $649 40.6 39.2 94 76.8 19.2 RUNNER-UP Motorola Codex 3260 Fast $1395 53.4 38.4 90 115.2 24 RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-1496E $469 36.6 33.3 95 76.8 16.8 Balancing high speed and low cost? LOW COST Zyxel U-1496EPIUS At $649, the Zyxel U-1496EPIus is less expensive than many of the V.32bis modems (all of which it outperforms handily). It has the best-case performance of the more expensive U-1496Plus and all of its features except leased-line support. We experienced poorer performance on impaired lines with the U-1496EPIus than with the U-1496Plus, but performance was still very good. (Zyxel was puzzled that the impaired-line performance differed from the U- 1496Plus's, but the issue was unresolved at the time of writing this report.) BEST Zyxel U-1496EPIUS RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-t496E PRICE 1-WAV THROUGHPUT r (KBPS) $649 40.6 $469 36.6 2-WAV THROUGHPUT (KBPS) 39.2 33.3 IMPAIRED-UNE TEST (% OF THROUGHPUT) 94 95 DTE RATE DCERATE (KBPS) (KBPS) 76.8 19.2 76.8 16.8 JULY 1993 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT i8'7 PRESENTING THE FULL LINE OF DATAPRO INFORMATION SERVICES Downsizing. Wireless. Client-server computing. IVIultimedia. ATM. Strategic planning and sound business decisions depend upon keeping up with the latest information technologies. But you probably need a supercom- puter to sort through all the publications that end up on your desk. Sure, consul- tants can help, as long as you're willing to pay as you go. Isn't it time you turned to Datapro information services? For over two decades Datapro's unmatched information services have helped users, buyers, and managers of information technology plan effectively. And Datapro has been there every step of the way — from mainframes and dumb terminals, through the PC revolution, to the rise of internetworks. Today, with its staff of over 400 spe- cialists and more than 100 expert ana- lysts, Datapro has the resources to address virtually every critical issue in computing and communications. An essential resource for anyone who must evaluate, implement, or manage technology. Whether you want a quick overview or are looking to build a complete library of research materials, Datapro's compre- hensive information technology services can help you make decisions quickly. Charts, tables, and graphs make it a snap to compare product features, functions, and prices. And once your system is up O Available on CD-ROM. and running, Datapro is there to help you manage and maintain it. That's why IT professionals use Data- pro to stay up to date. Sales and market- ing professionals count on us to help them track trends. And vendors turn to Datapro to size up the competition. Datapro's line of comprehensive information services can meet all yovir needs. With Datapro's complete line of infor- mation services, you're always in the know no matter what your concerns. Product and Technology Services O First Looks. O User Ratings. O Tech- nology Concepts. O Mariiet Overviews. O Comparison Columns. O Competitive Outlooks. O Product Reports. Q Manage- ment Reports. Business Services Datapro Online. Reprints. Feature Reports. Custom Publishing. I Consulting Services Help Desk. Assist On Demand. Surveys. On-Call Consulting. Educational Services On-Site Seminars. Computer-Based Training. Teieconsulting. International Services ® Datapro International. Market Research Services Northern Business Information. Send for a free demo disk today. DATAPRO NOW AVAILABLE ON CD-ROM. Datapro USA, 600 Delran Parkway, Delran, New Jersey USA 08075, Tel; 800-328-2776, Fax: 609-764-2812 Datapro International, McGraw-Hill Hoiee Shoppenhangers Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England SL6 2QL. ^ , Tel: +44 (0) 628 773277, FaX: +44 (0) 628 773628 «iif! Please send me more information on the followmg Datapro services: Product & Tech- nology Services □ Computer Systems □ Communications □ Free Demo Disk Business Services □ Datapro Online □ Reprints and Feature Reports □ Custom Publishing Consulting Services □ Help Desk □ Assist On Demand □ Surveys □ On-Call Consulting □ I'm interested in learning more about Datapro on CD-ROM 3 Name Title Organization Telephone.. Address City State Other Services □ Educational Services □ Datapro International □ Northern Business Information ..Zip.. DATA-ONIY APPLICATIONS Want the fastest in V.32bis? BEST OVERALL AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830 The Comsphere combines top-notch performance with excellent usability. Its ability to handle DTE rates of 115.2 Kbps gives it the performance edge over the Zyxel modems. Usability is excellent. The Comsphere autobauds all the way to its top speed of 115.2 Kbps. Its menus make configuration easy, but you will probably do fine with the defaults. The Comsphere is designed to be easy to upgrade; we upgraded it from a V.32bis modem to a V.32terbo modem by downloading software over the phone. Its impaired-line performance was a perfect 100 per- cent, and its best-case throughput was near the top. PRICE 1-WAV THROUGHPUT 2-WAVTNROUGHPtlT IMPAIRED-UNETISr DTE RATI DOE RAH (KBPS) (KBPS) (% OF THROUGHPUT) (KBPS) (KBPS) BEST ATST Paradyne Comsphere 3830 $795 31.3 30.7 100 115.2 19.2' RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-1496PIUS $989 32.0 31.3 99 76.8 19.2' RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-1496E $469 31.8 31.2 99 76.8 16.8' RUNNER-UP Zyxel U-1496EPI1JS $649 31.8 31.2 99 76.8 19.2' RUNNER-UP Motorola Codex 3260 $1095 29.3 30.5 99 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP GVC FM144/144V $399 31.7 30.6 99 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP The Complete PC Turbo Modem Plus $399 31.7 30.6 99 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP Motorola Codex 3260 Fast $1395 29.7 28.6 99 115.2 24' Need top V.32bis speed at a low price? LOW COST GVC FM144/144V The GVC FM144/144V is a low-cost alternative to the Comsphere. Its khaki paint job won't win any design awards, but its blazing two-way throughput might. While most under-$400 V.32bis modems are underpowered for two-way applica- tions, the GVC modem clearly has enough horsepower for the job; it has nearly the speed of the Comsphere and the top Zyxels for V.32bis communication. It is light on backbone features, however (e.g., it has leased-line but not automatic dial backup). It provides fast fax with V.17 speeds and Class 1 support. PRICE 1-WAVTHROUGHPUT 2-WAVTHROUGHPIIT IMPAIRED-LINE TEST DTE RATE DCERA1E (KBPS) (KBPS) (% OF THROUGHPUT) (KBPS) (KBPS) BEST GVCFM144/144V $399 31.7 30.6 99 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP The Complete PC Turbo Modem Plus $399 31.7 30.6 100 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP USRobotics Sportster 14,400 Fax $299 30.3 25.5 99 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP E-Tech UFOMateP1414MX $429 30.8 29.0 95 115.2 14.4 RUNNER-UP E-TechUFOMateP1496MX $379 30.8 29.1 95 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP CMS Enhancements XI 4400 Ext. Fax $399 31.6 30.6 85 57.6 14.4 RUNNER-UP CXRTelcom Action Fax 1445-FXD $435 31.0 24,5 95 115.2 14.4 ' Maximum DCE rate; test scores reflect modem's performance at 14.4 Kbps. BYTE B E S X When you need to communi- cate with an installed base of net- work modems or use a modem for terminal emulation with a mainframe, data throughput and speed standards are your main concerns. Often, an installed base of corporate modems limits you to less than cutting-edge speeds. The modems in this category are the fastest devices supporting standard modulations, and we didn't factor in fax support. When choosing modems for these applications, dispense with the fax and go all out for speed and performance. Modems with- out fax now tend to cost more than modems with fax. This may seem anomalous, but modems without fax capabilities are de- signed for mission-critical data- only applications. In this market, features like leased-line support and the ability to handle every probable kind of telephone-line impairment matter more than fax capabilities, which would sim- ply go unused. This is not to say that modems that include fax can't compete here: In fact, our low-cost pick includes solid fax- modem capabilities. However, fax support is more of a nice bonus than a selection maker. For these applications, we judged modems only on their data capabilities and limited our tests to modems running at V.32bis speeds. Throughput is important for network bridges and terminal-emulation applica- tions. We averaged two-way and one-way speeds. We then fac- tored in results from the im- paired-line tests. We found that most V.32bis modems can maintain high throughput in one direction, but relatively few can maintain high throughput in two directions si- multaneously. Most file transfer protocols transfer in only one di- rection at a time, so you may not care if your modem can handle more than that. You should care, however, if you want to use the modem as a network bridge. We counted remote configu- ration abilities highly. For ex- ample, if you're attempting to send sales results from a cash register to the corporate network, you won't have access to a PC to configure the modems for op- timum transmissions. Modems that let you change speeds, flow control, or other options easily from their display panels are a must for these installations. Like- wise, a modem's ability to auto- baud at its highest rate is essen- tial for network communications. Other important features are time windows, so you can determine when to do your backups; leased- line support; and dial backup, in case the leased line fails. The AT&T Comsphere is our pick for best data-only modem. Its DSP-based design makes it extremely flexible. The unit we tested was a V.32bis modem up- graded to V.32terbo. The Com- sphere achieves top performance and a perfect score on impaired- line tests. JULY 1993 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT 189 honoMlementions AT&T Paradyne's Comsphere 3830 is designed around a DSP, and its software resides in flash ROM. This gives it the dis- tinction of being the only modem we tested that allows instant remote upgrades. If you need to upgrade, you just download new firmware directly off the data line. Other modems, like the Dove Fax Pro, the Multi-Tech modems, and the Intel Satisfaxtion/400e, let you upgrade using software, but you can't do anything as radical as tum a V.32bis modem into one that supports V.32terbo. For most modems, even bug fixes require puUing the modem apart and replacing an EPROM. Dubious Achievements Telebit's WorldBlazer combines excellent one-way throughput with unparalleled spoofing support. Its pioneering innovation in the area of spoofing has already made it a standard in Unix shops, its support for heterogeneous environments is top-notch; you can pick your computing environment from one of more than a dozen sets of factory defaults. Our tests operate the modem in error-correction, data-compression mode, which is how most users will run them. So why do so many modems set the default to uncompressed, unreliable links? The Octocom Xpres- so 8396A gets the prize for longest AT command string required to reach a regular configuration: AT&F&C1&I2&K2E1*E1%G3&D2 ass-"-" / 3 V-U9i E-Tech proclaims that its UFOMate P1496MX modem supports 9600-bps fax/9600-bps data transmissions. Closer inspection reveals that this is a 2400- bps modem that achieves 9600-bps speeds in the unlikely event of constant 4-to-l V.42bis compression. A few manufacturers actually portrayed some modems as less than they are. Manuals for the Zyxel modems (U-1496E, U-1496EPlus, and U- 1496Plus) failed to mention the proprietary high-speed modes of 16.8 Kbps and 19.2 Kbps. The Multi-Tech MT1432MU pocket modem's box mentions 9600- <1 bps fax capabilities; in fact, it can support 14.4-Kbps fax. Don't ti7 to share a phone line with a Zoltrix 144/144e modem — it can cause problems with other modems on the same line even when it's turned off. The Zoltrix modem also creates an annoying clicking on the phone line after being used with communication packages that fail to reset it (e.g., anything that uses the Macintosh Communication Toolbox). Many pocket modems have little in the way of informative call-progress indicators. The Megahertz P2144 dispenses with lights altogether, however, delivering the inconvenience of an internal mo- 130 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993 so ADVANCED IT EVEN TURNS ITSELF OFE N anao, the technical leader in monitors has done it agaia In addition to being the top choice of today's graphics professionals and Windows users, Nanao's award-winning FlexScan F-Series monitors now have a remarkable energy-saving system — Power Save. Built into Nanao's new 17-inch FlexScan ¥550tW and 21-inch F760fW, Power Save has been designed to work with all screen saver software, including Wndows 3.1 and After Dark. Power Save activates when the blank screen of the screen saver appears, cutting operating power to less than 8% of total consumptioa It can also automatically power the monitor down to a stand-by mode when the computer is turned oft These irmovations add up to energy savings and longer monitor life, and have placed Nanao at the forefront of the Environmental Protection Agency's Enei^Star Program. Both the F550!'W and F760/W exhibit their super- iority in many other ways, as welL Each Invar Shadow Mask CRT has a new anti-reflective coating that eliminates reflection of ambient illumina- tion, without sacrificing the focus level and brighmess. Ultra-high resolutions with large SCTeens plus other features make them ideal for CAD/CAM, DTP and Windows applications. On top of that, they can power down. So when you're not working, neither are they. Nanao FlexScan monitors. Intelligently designed. Incredibly useful. And now, built to help protea our environment by reducing energy consumption. NANAO USA CORPORATION 23535 Telo Avenue, Torrance, CA 90505 (310) 325-5202 NANAO Superior In Every Detail 1-800-800-5202 Circle 1 1 8 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 119). ROLL CALL OF MODEMS XESXED THROUGHPUT TEST RESULTS' MAX SPEEDS' MANUFACTURER MODEM PRICE 1-WAY 2-WAY IMPAIRED LINES' DOE DTE ESCAPES AMT International Industries Star 14421 $399 31.7 30.5 14.4 57.6 Hayes Archtek America SmartUnk9614AV $399 29.1 16.0 97 14.4 57.6 Hayes AT&T Paradyne Dataport 1 4.4 Data Fax $339 29.6 17.7 97 14.4 57.6 Hayes ATI Technologies 9600ETC/E $389 20.3 11.5 100 9.6 57.6 TIES Best Data Products Smart One 1442FX $319 31.7 22.0 95 14.4 57.6 Hayes J Boca Research 14.4K External BocaModem S395 32.0 26.0 100 14.4 57.6 Hayes Cambridge Telecom Datasystem 1414XE $269 29.4 I6r4 97 14.4 57.6 Hayes Cambridge Telecom Datasystem 1414XP $349 22.7 12.1 97 14.4 57.6 Hayes Cambridge Telecom Discovery 9632AX $495 14.4 57.6 Hayes Cardinal Technologies 14400V32bis $399 31.7 22.1 92 14.4 57.6 Hayes Cardinal Technologies 96C)0V42 $349 22.1 21.1 100 9.6 38.4 Hayes CMS Enhancements XI 4400 Ext. Fax $399 31.6 30.6 85 14.4 57.6 TIES CXR Telcom Action Fax 1445-FXD $435 31.0 24.5 95 14.4 115.2 Hayes Digicom Systems Scout Plus $289 30.0 24.2 85 14.4 57.6 TIES Dove Computer Corp, Dove Fax Pro $449 31 .7 22.1 97 14.4 57.6 Hayes Global Village Communications Teleport Gold $499 29.5 16.8 97 14.4 57.6 Hayes Global Village Communications Teleport Silver $499 29.5 16.8 97 9.6 38.4 Hayes GVC Technologies, Inc. FM 144/1 44V $399 31.7 30.6 99 14.4 57.6 Hayes Hayes Microcomputer Products Accura 144/Fax 144 $339 31.2 18.3 95 14.4 57.6 Hayes Hayes Microcomputer Products Optima 144 $499 31.2 18.3 95 14.4 57.6 Hayes Hayes Microcomputer Products Optima 96 + Fax 96 $479 19.8 19.1 95 9.6 38.4 Hayes Hayes Microcomputer Products Ultra 144 $999 26.7 13.9 97 14.4 38.4 Hayes Hayes Microcomputer Products Ultra 96 $899 20.4 13.7 99 9.6 38.4 Hayes Intel Corp. Satisfaxtion/400e $499 31.4 24.6 92 14.4 57.6 Hayes Microcom DeskPorte $499 31.3 19.5 95 14.4 57.6 Hayes Microcom ■ai "7 99 14.4 57.6 Hayes Microcom OX/4232bis+ $899 32.4 20.4 84 ' 9.6 57.6 Hayes Motorola Codex otitiU rlus $795 29.6 16.7 100 14.4 38.4 Hayes Motorola Codex 3260 $1095 29.3 30.5 99 14.4 57.6 Hayes Motorola UDS FasTalk Fax32bx $845 32.2 29.5 100 9.6 57.6 Hayes Multi-Tech Systems MT1432BA $799 31.4 21.4 99 14.4 57.6 TIES Multi-Tech Systems MT932BA $749 21.2 16.7 100 9.6 38.4 TIES NEC N9635E Plus $1199 29.7 27.4 84 14.4 38.4 Hayes Octocom Systems Xpresso 8396A $1095 27.3 14.5 100 14.4 38.4 Hayes Penril DataCom Networks DX144 $595 31.0 26.3 100 14.4 115.2 Hayes Practical Peripherals PM14400FXMT $299 31.3 20.1 95 14.4 57.6 Hayes Practical Peripherals PM14400FXSA $549 31.4 24.1 95 14.4 57.6 Hayes Practical Peripherals PM9600FXMT $249 21.6 20.1 95 9.6 38.4 Hayes Results of tests are measured in Kbps. Maximum transfer rate In Kbps. Percentage of throughput. ^ Unable to run our tests; problem was unresolved at press time. - BYTE Best. X92 BYXE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993 FAX SUPPORT SOFTWARE (DOS; WINDOWS; MAC) WARRANTY (YEARS) CLASS 1 CLASS 2 V.17 PHONE TOLL-FREE NO. INQUIRY NO. Yes No Yes QuickLink Fax; QuickLink Fax; QuickLink II 5 (714)375-0306 None 1113 Yes No Yes BitFax, ArchCom; ArchFax Plus, ArchCom; QuickLink II 2 (818)912-9800 (800) 368-5465 1114 ■ Yes No No QuickLink II; QuickLink II; QuickLink II Lifetime (813) 530-2000 (800) 484-3333 1115 Yes No No None; none; none 5 (416) 756-0718 None 1116 ^^^^ Yes Yes Yes QuickLink II; WinFax; Microphone, STF 2 (818)773-9600 (800) 632-2378 1117 Yes Yes Yes Relay/PCLE, FaxWorks; Relay/PCLE, FaxWorks; QuickLink II, STF Fax 5 (407) 997-6227 None 1118 Yes Yes Yes BitCom/BltFax; BitCom/BitFax; none 5 (408) 980-0885 None 1119 Yes No Yes BitCom/BitFax; BitCom/BitFax; none 5 (408) 980-0885 None 1120 Yes Yes No ABC Fax; BitCom/BitFax; none 5 (408) 980-0885 None 1121 Yes Yes Yes QuickLink II Fax; QuickLink II Fax; QuickLink II Limited lifetime (717)293-3000 None 1122 No No No QuickLink II; QuickLink II; QuickLink II Limited lifetime (717)293-3000 None 1123 No Yes No QuickLink II; none; QuickLink 11 1 (714) 222-6000 None 1124 " Yes Yes Yes FaxMaker, Comit; FaxMaker, Connit; none 5 (408) 435-8520 None 1125 Yes No No DOSFax Lite; WinFax Lite; Microphone LC, STF Fax 5 (408) 262-1277 (800) 833-8900 1126 Yes No No None; none; AppleTalk remote switching software, SFT Fax, Dove PhoneWare Lite 3 (919) 343-5600 (800) 849-3297 1 127 Yes No Yes None; none; Global Fax with OCR 5 (415) 390-8200 (800) 736-4821 1128 Yes No No None; none; Global Fax 5 (415) 390-8200 (800) 736-4821 1129 . No Yes Yes QuickLink II; WinFax Lite; Microphone, STF 5 (201)579-3630 (800) 289-4821 1130 Yes No Yes Smartmm F7 F7 Fay nnnp' Smartpnm Fpk 2 f4041 840-9200 None 1346 Yes No Yes Smartcom EZ, EZ Fax; none; Smartcom, Fax 2 (404) 840-9200 None 1349 Yes No Yes ^mprtpnm F7 F7 Pay" nnnp' ^martpnm Fav 2 None 1350 No No No Smartcom EZ, EZ Fax; none; Smartcom, Fax 2 (404) 840-9200 None 1347 No No No ^mflrtpnm F-7 I--7 Pay nnnp* ^martrrim Fjiv 2 1348 Yes No Yes CrossTalk, Satisfaxtion, Faxability Plus; CrossTalk, Satisfaxtion, Faxability Plus; none 3 (503) 696-8080 (800) 538-3373 1351 Yes No No None; WinFax Lite; none t (617)551-1000 (800) 822-8224 1354 No No No None; none; none 1 (617) 551-1000 (800) 822-8224 1352 No No No None; none; none ' S^^H^^B 1 (617)551-1000 (800) 822-8224 1353 No No No None; none; none 2 (508) 261-4000 (800) 446-6336 1356 No No No None; none; none 2 (508)261-4000 (800) 446-6336 1355 Yes No Yes None; none; none 2 (205) 430-8000 (800) 451-2369 1370 No Yes Yes MultiExpress, MultiExpress-Fax; none; QuickLink II 5 (612)785-3500 (800)328-9717 1357 No Yes No MultiExpress, MultiExpress-Fax; none; QuickLink II 5 (612) 785-3500 (800) 328-9717 1358 No No No None; none; none 1 (214)518-5000 (800) 222-4632 1359 No No No None; none; none 2 (508)441-2181 (800) 989-8888 1360 Yes Yes Yes None; none; none 2 (301)921-8600 (800) 473-6745 1361 Yes Yes Yes QuickLink II Fax Win/DOS; QuickLink II Fax Win/DOS; QuickLink II Fax Lifetime (805) 497-4774 (800) 442-4774 1363 Yes Yes Yes QuickLink II Fax Win/DOS; QuickLink II Fax Win/DOS; QuickLink II Fax Lifetime (805) 497-4774 (800) 442-4774 1362 Yes Yes No QuickLink II Fax Win/DOS; QuickLink II Lifetime (805) 497-4774 (800) 442-4774 1364 Fax Win/DOS; QuickLink II Fax JULY 1993 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT 193 ROLL GALL OF MODEMS XESXED Ui THROUGHPUT TEST RESULTS' MAX SPEEDS' 0 MANUFACTURER MODEM PRICE 1-WAY 2-WAY IMPAIRED LINES' DCE DTE ESCAPES 0 w Supra Corp. Supra Fax Modem v.32 $380 22.1 21.0 100 9.6 57.6 Hayes (A Supra Corp. Supra Fax Modem v.32 bis $380 31.7 21.8 92 14.4 57.6 Hayes IQ Telebit Corp. T3000 $949 31.1 23.1 93 14.4 57.6 TIES N « The Complete PC Turbo Modem Plus $399 31.7 30.6 100 14.4 57.6 Hayes 1 > Twincom ^^^^HHHR 14.4/DF $399 31.7 22.1 14.4 ^Hayes " ' 0 US Robotics Courier V.32bis Fax $795 30.2 25.6 99 14.4 57.6 TIES z < USRobotics $299 30.3 25.5 99 14.4 N « 1 USRobotics Sportster 9600 Fax $249 20.9 20.4 100 9.6 38.4 TIES Ven-Tel \_/ 1 '-i'-t t CIA $599 31.7 21.8 95 14.4 57.6 Hayes i > Western Datacom WorldCom V.32bis $695 14.4 115.2 Hayes Xycomm Technologies QuickComm Spirit II $249 30.2 24.2 ST oo 14.4 57.6 Hayes Zoom Telephonies VFXV32 $269 22.1 21.0 100 9.6 38.4 Hayes Zoom Telephonies VFXV32bis $349 31.7 22.0 97 14.4 57.6 Hayes E-Tech Research UFOMate P1414MX $429 30.8 29.0 95 14.4 115.2 TIES (A E-Tech Research UFOMafe P14t)6MX $379 30.8 29.1 95 14.4 57.6 TIES Hayes Microcomputer Products Optima 144 Pocket $599 31.2 18.3 95 14.4 57.6 Hayes Megahertz P2144 $499 32.0 26.1 97 14.4 57.6 Hayes Microcom MicroPorte 4232bis Fax $699 31.9 19.7 86 14.4 57.6 Hayes IVI4 Multi-Tech Systems MT1432MU $699 31.4 21.4 99 14.4 57.6 TIES u ^ Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKT $499 31.3 20.3 95 14.4 57.6 Hayes J < Twincom Voyager $499 30.8 29.1 ifO 14.4 57.6 TIES 1 1 USRobotics WorldPortI 4,400 Fax $649 30.1 28.0 HO 14.4 57.6 TIES K USRobotics -^^^Hl HB/VorldPort 9696 Fax/Data $549 20.1 19.7 99 9.6 57.6 TIES 0 Zoltrix 144/144e $239 31.7 22.1 85 14.4 57.6 Hayes ^AT&T Paradyne Motorola Codex Comsphere 3830 3260 Fast $795 $1395 43.4 53.4 40.3 38.4 98 90 19.2 24 115.2 115.2 Hayes Hayes III s Telebit Corp. ,^.__«Mi8»Sp<9,4>falls mly on t<34,3>pl<15,3>. Here, indicates that you should move back offset bytes in the input string and copy length bytes. As anoth- er example, given the compressed data 0<1,200>1<1,100> 2<1,50>, the uncompressed data would be 0.. .01. ..12. ..2 (i.e., 201 O's, followed by 101 I's, followed by 51 2's). To create an LZ77 scheme suitable for DoubleSpace, we con- structed an algorithm that found good matches quickly and used very little data space. Since DoubleSpace is a part of every disk read and write on a compressed drive, it must be fast. And since it's resident in memory at all ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ times, it must be small. We also needed to choose an en- coding scheme that produced good compression but was easy to both encode and de- code. The final result is a good compromise. The performance impact of DoubleSpace is, on average, in the range of 5 per- cent to 15 percent slower than the performance of an uncom- pressed drive. But few users notice any change in perfor- mance. DoubleSpace requires 43 KB of memory and can be loaded high. The compression ratio ranges from about 1.4 to 1 for executable files, to 2 to 1 for spreadsheet and word processing files, to more than 3 to 1 for bit maps and other redundant files. The CVF Approach Like many commercial third-party on-the-fly data-compression programs, DoubleSpace stores all compressed data in a single file — what we call a CVF (compressed volume file) — that ap- pears to be a separate logical drive. A normal FAT (file allocation table) drive can be converted into a DoubleSpace drive, and the conversion process occurs in place without any disk reformatting or repartitioning. A system can have up to 255 CVFs; a CVF can hold up to 512 MB of data (that's the uncompressed value). A CVF implementation has several advantages over automat- ic file-by-file compression. Since it stores compressed data at the cluster level, MS-DOS doesn't have to decompress the entire file to randomly read or write to it. The CVF approach also dou- bles the reported size of the hard disk while reporting the un- compressed sizes of individual files. The file-by-file approach, by contrast, reports the same total disk size as before, while report- ing the compressed size of individual files. Since files, unlike hard disks, travel between systems, changes in their reported sizes as they are decompressed and copied to an- other location can create knotty compatibility problems. And since DoubleSpace effectively simulates a standard FAT drive structure, existing disk tools work with a DoubleSpace drive. Finally, since DoubleSpace stores clusters on a sector basis, the CVF approach solves the problem of cluster slack: Small files, even if they are not compressible, are stored in as few 512-byte sectors as possible, rather than taking a full cluster as they would 198 BYTE JULY 1993 PHOTOGRAPHY: MATTHEW MCVAY©1993 Hands Oni Under the Hood DoubleSpace Data Structures Uncompressed (drive H) Boot sector (1 sector) FAT (size varies) Root directory (size varies) File space CVF on a normal FAT drive. Some users worry that a CVF might be less safe than the normal FAT file sys- tem, because it puts everything in one file. Actually, a CVF is no more suscep- tible to damage than a normal FAT drive. Both contain a FAT, a root directory, sub- directories, and sectors that store actual file data; the CVF also has an additional data structure (called the MDFAT) that allows for optimal space allocation. As with a FAT drive, one bad sector in a CVF means that you lose just the file (or a portion of it) that contains the bad sector. A damaged FAT, root directory, or subdirectory sector is a more serious prob- lem, but these risks exist for both FAT drives and DoubleSpace drives. Inside the CVF A DoubleSpace CVF uses the naming convention DBLSPACE.nnw, where nnn is a number between 000 and 254 that represents the CVF's sequence number. DoubleSpace uses sequence number 000 when the CVF is created by compress- ing the contents of an existing drive (as opposed to creating an empty CVF from free space). When DoubleSpace mounts a DBLSPACE.OOO CVF, it refers to the CVF using the drive let- ter of the host drive — which is most often C — and refers to the host drive using a new drive letter (the default is H). The CVF's internal data structures include the MDBPB (Mi- crosoft DoubleSpace BIOS parameter block), the BitFAT, MD- FAT, boot sector, FAT, root directory, and sector heap (see the fig- DoubleSpace (drive C) MDBPB (1 sector) BitFAT (size varies) MDFAT (size varies) Boot sector (1 sector) FAT (size varies) Root directory (32 sectors) Sector heap (compressed file space) DoubleSpace uses the same data structures as an uncompressed hard drive but adds several new structures that allow data to be stored at the sector level, rather than by cluster. ure "DoubleSpace Data Structures"). The MDBPB contains an MS-DOS BPB as well as fields that describe the rest of the CVF. The BitFAT indicates which sectors in the sector heap are in use (1) or free (0). Its size depends on the maximum CVF size (which is stored in the MDBPB and chosen at the time the CVF is creat- ed). MS-DOS 6 rebuilds the BitFAT each time it mounts the CVF (including when the system restarts) by scanning the MD- FAT. This process verifies the integrity of both the MDFAT and the BitFAT. The MDFAT is a table of 4-byte en- tries that map each FAT cluster to sectors in the sector heap. Each entry points to the location in the sector heap that con- tains the data for the cluster, the com- pressed and uncompressed length of the cluster, whether the data is compressed, and whether the cluster is in use. If DoubleSpace can't compress a cluster, it stores the data uncompressed to avoid wasting space and to improve read speed. The boot sector in the CVF is present for compatibility only; MS-DOS 6 does not use it to boot the system. However, this sector is returned when MS-DOS reads sector 0 from the compressed volume. DoubleSpace uses a standard MS-DOS root directory (512 entries of 32 bytes each) and replaces the usual cluster file-space area of a normal FAT drive with a sector heap. Unlike a normal FAT drive, where file space is allocated in units of a cluster, DoubleSpace allocates sector-heap space in units of a sector. continued How DoubleSpace Stores Data Root directory FAT MDFAT Sector heap Name Size (KB) Cluster MY^DIR dir 37 READMETXT 12 42 • • • IMY_DIR directory Name Size (KB) Cluster BRICK.ZIP 24 65 • • • 37 • • • 42 43 43 • • • 65 66 66 67 67 f = Flag uncompressed (u) or compressed (c) us = Uncompressed sector count cs = Compressed sector count sec = Sector number If us cs sec u 16 16 1002 • • • • • • • • • • « • c 16 7 200 c 16 6 207 • • • • • • • • • • • • u 16 16 612 16 16 u 628 u 16 16 644 • • • • • • • • • • • • 200 -*■ 207 213 612 628 644 660 1002 1018 Cluster 42 Cluster 43 Cluster 65 Cluster 66 Cluster 67 Cluster 77 On a DoubleSpace Ame, files arui subdirectories map through the FAT and MDFAT to the sector heap. DoubleSpace stores files by sector rather than by cluster, and the MDFAT provides the link between the uncompressed logical clusters in the FAT and the compressed data in the sector heap's physical sectors. README. TXT uses two clusters that compress from 32 to 13 sectors in the sector heap. BRICK.ZIP can 't be compressed; it 's flagged as uncompressed in the MDFA T and uses a full 16 sectors per cluster. JULY 1993 BYTE 199 Hands On; Under the Hood Contents of a Compressed Drive Compressed volume (drive C) The DBLSPACE.BIN kernel file executes from the boot drive immediately after lO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS. Drive C then becomes the CVF, and the boot volume becomes drive H. The latter contains DoubleSpace 's hidden files. Note that lO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS are duplicated on the CVF for application program compatibility. When DoubleSpace re- quires disk space, it allo- cates one or more free sec- tors from the sector heap and sets the correspond- ing bits in the BitFAT to indicate that the sectors are in use. FAT-Compatible A DoubleSpace drive ap- pears to the MS-DOS file system as a normal FAT drive and has similar on- disk structures. The key difference is how Double- Space stores subdirectory data and data clusters (see the figure "How Double- Space Stores Data"). On a FAT drive, MS-DOS uses a simple multiplica- tion formula to translate a FAT cluster number to a logical sector number on the drive containing the cluster's data. Using a DoubleSpace drive, MS-DOS 6 finds clus- ter data by looking at the MDFAT entry that corresponds to the requested FAT cluster. Suppose an appUcation calls MS-DOS to read file data. MS- DOS finds the FAT cluster containing the desired data — call it cluster X — and then calls DoubleSpace to read this cluster. Dou- bleSpace examines the MDFAT entry for cluster X, finds the sector heap location for cluster X's sectors, reads those sectors into an internal buffer, decompresses them (if necessary), and returns control to MS-DOS. The cluster size varies on uncompressed hard drives, but a DoubleSpace drive always has 8-KB clusters. Therefore, the number of sectors read from the sector heap can range from one (if the cluster was compressed to a ratio of 16 to 1) to 16 (if the cluster was not compressed). Operations such as creating a file, deleting a file, and search- ing the disk for a particular file work exactly the same way on a DoubleSpace drive as they would on a FAT drive. The only dif- ference is that reading a subdirectory or data cluster requires a lookup in the MDFAT table, and probably decompression as well. Disk utihties are another matter. Any program that uses normal MS-DOS INT 21h file I/O operations or BNT 25h/26h direct- sector read and write operations will see a DoubleSpace drive as a normal FAT drive. However, the data for a contiguous range of clusters on a DoubleSpace disk is most likely not stored con- tiguously in the sector heap. That means that disk defragmenters that haven't been updated to support MS-DOS 6 will work safe- ly but won't produce physically contiguous files. (Many such products have already been upgraded to support DoubleSpace.) DoubleSpace's own disk utihties, CHKDSK and DEFRAG, op- erate in two phases when applied to a DoubleSpace drive. They first perform the same operations they would perform on a nor- mal FAT drive — working with the root directory, the FAT, sub- directories, and data clusters — before operating on the CVF's Uncompressed boot volume (drive H) / unique internal structures (the MDBPB, BitFAT, MDFAT, and sector heap). The Boot Process We integrated Double- Space into MS-DOS by making the compression system, DBLSPACE.BIN, a kernel file. Because DoubleSpace doesn't load as a device driver from CONFIG.SYS, you don't need to have two copies of CONFIG.SYS and AU- TOEXEC.BAT (one on the CVF and one on the uncompressed disk). You also don't need to main- tain duphcate copies of all files that are referenced in CONFIG.SYS and AU- TOEXEC.BAT (which are called boot files), syn- chronize changes to these files, or swap drive letters partway through processing CONFIG.SYS. On a system without DoubleSpace, the boot process begins when the CPU executes the ROM BIOS and loads the MBR (master boot record). The MBR searches the partition table for the active partition and loads that partition's boot sector. The boot sector then loads lO.SYS and initializes MSDOS.SYS. Finally, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT execute. In a DoubleSpace system, DBLSPACE.BIN loads right after MSDOS.SYS initializes. DBLSPACE.BIN then reads the ini- tialization parameters from DBLSPACE.INI and mounts the CVFs indicated in the ActivateDrive=X, Yn line. At this point, the uncompressed drive C becomes drive H, and C becomes the CVF (see the figure "Contents of a Compressed Drive"). DBLSPACE.BIN looks for DBLSPACE.INI first on the boot drive and then on the CVF. If it doesn't find the file, DBLSPACE.BIN unloads itself from memory. Since DBLSPACE.BIN does not load when DoubleSpace drives are absent, you can put DBLSPACE.BIN on every boot- able MS-DOS 6 drive without fear of wasting valuable memory space. And since the configuration information remains in DBL- SPACE.INI on the hard drive, you can boot an MS-DOS 6 sys- tem that uses DoubleSpace from a boot floppy disk that contains DBLSPACE.BIN, and the DoubleSpace drives will mount cor- rectly. The next step is to load DoubleSpace into a UMB. The kernel approach created its own problems here: DBLSPACE.BIN loads before the system's 386 memory manager loads in CONFIG.SYS, so no UMBs are available at load time. We solved this problem by writing a short program, DBLSPACE.SYS, and by adding code to DBLSPACE.BIN so that DoubleSpace can relocate itself into upper memory. DBLSPACE.SYS loads from CONHG.SYS after EMM386.EXE and HIMEM.SYS and contains the line DE- VICEHIGH=C:\DOS\DBLSPACE.SYS /MOVE. This line sig- nals DBLSPACE.BIN to move itself from conventional memory to upper memory. continued 200 BYXE JULY 1993 " DISK COMPRESSION IS INHERENTLY MORE FRAGILE ...USERS OF COMPRESSION SHOULD HAVE A COPY OF NORTON UTILITIES 7.0." PC Week -May 10,1993 The new compression teciinology can put you in a squeeze. You wanted ttie efficiency, but now you're worried about losing data. Here's some news that might help you relax. No other single product gives you the complete compressed data protection Peter Norton, the leader in TH-'r+- ® f? n data recovery software. Ot NortOU Utilities 7.0. It's the only utility specifically designed to recover data from DOS 6.0 DoubleSpace, Stacker and SuperStor com- pressed drives. Only vnth our Speed Disk® feature can you truly defragment the drives, making your recovery a fast, painless process. You also get the Norton Disk Doctor,® with its nine auto- mated repair functions specific to compressed drives. Plus the new Norton Diagnostics, which analyzes and tests all vital system components, including memory, video, CPU, system boards, communication ports, keyboard, mouse and more. You can't put a price on peace of mind. But we'll try. Take advantage of the offer below and dis- cover the ultimate security of Norton Utilities 7.0. It just might get you out of a tight spot. eNORTON UnUTES SYMANTEC. Purchase DOS 6.0 and receive Norton Utilities 7.0 for only $99. 00* Look for specially marked packages at your local dealer, or order direct by calling 1-800-453-1062 ext. AP94. Users of any previous version of Norton Utilities can upgrade to 7.0 for only $49.00 by calling the toll-free number above. *Offer good with proof of purchase for new and existing DOS 6.0 owners. Suggested retail price in U.S. dollars plus shipping and applicable taxes. Actual price may vary. Offer good while supplies last. VaUd in the U.S. and Canada only. For more information in Europe, call 31-71 3531 11. In Australia, call 61-2-879-6577. In Canada, call 1-800-465-2266. Everywhere else outside U.S., call 408-262-3570. The Norton Utilities, Norton Disk Doctor and Speed Disk are registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation. Quote reprinted from PC Week May 10, 1993. ©1993 Ziff Communications Company. Other names are trademarks of their respective holders. Compatible with Windows 3.0 and 3.1, DOS 3.3 and higher. ©1993 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Cilcle 161 on Inquiry Card. Circle 162 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 163). II . jdding images to your Windows appli- cations? Avoid storage problems witn fractal image compression, tfie technology that inspired PC Magazine to declare "The advantages of fractal compression are unmatched." This technology is now available to Windows 3.x developers in POEM ColorBox III, which pro- vides DLLs for: • Ultra-high compression; • Resolution independent images; • Background compres- sion; and • FTC-Ill coprocessor support For database, multimedia, archiving or other applications, ColorBox III is compre- hensive, easy-to-use and at $995, sup- ingly affordable. Call today for more information. Learn why ColorBox III can solve your image .torage problems. Iterated Systems, Inc. 5550-A Peachtree Plowy.,Sulte 650 Norcross, GA 30092 Tel: 1-800-4FRACTI' Fax: (404)840-0806 A Message To Our Subscribers FROM TIME TO TIME WE MAKE THE BYTE SUBSCRIBER list available to other companies who wish to send our subscribers material about their products. We take great care to screen these companies, choosing only those who are reputable, and whose products, services or information we feel would be of interest to you. Direct mail is an efficient medium for presenting the latest personal computer goods and services to our subscribers. Many BYTE subscribers appreciate this controlled use of our mailing hst, and look forward to finding information of interest to them in the mail. Used are our subscribers' names and addresses only (no other information we may have is ever given). While we believe the distribution of this information is of benefit to our subscribers, we firmly respect the wishes of any subscriber who does not want to receive such promotional literature. Should you wish to restrict the use of your name, simply send your request to the following address. BVTE Magazine Attn; Subscriber Service P.O. Box 555 Hightstown, NJ 08520 m Hands On Under the Hood Safety First DoubleSpace operations can be classified as either restartable or robust. Restartable operations, such as compressing a FAT drive or resizing a DoubleSpace drive, must complete. If such an op- eration terminates before completion, the data on the hard drive will be in an inconsistent state, and the computer will become in- operable. A robust operation such as CHKDSK or DEFRAG, on the other hand, is designed so that it can be interrupted with- out consequence; it does not have to complete. For either type of operation, we engineered DoubleSpace so that the computer can be restarted at any time without losing data. When DoubleSpace starts an operation that must be com- pleted, it modifies AUTOEXEC.BAT so that it automatically regains control after an interruption. Also, DoubleSpace per- forms all operations on the hard drive in a careful order to ensure that at least one copy of all user data is on the drive at all times and that DoubleSpace knows at all times what operation is being per- formed. In this way, DoubleSpace can pick up where it left off after an interruption with no data loss. Robust operations like CHKDSK and DEFRAG move data around on the DoubleSpace drive in a specific order so that no data loss occurs if the system reboots unexpectedly. Extending DoubleSpace Disk-tool vendors can take advantage of the DoubleSpace system API and the CVF specification to write DoubleSpace-aware disk defragmenter and repair utilities. And software and hardware developers can take advantage of the MRCI (Microsoft Real- Time Compression Interface), a client/server software interface that allows a compression client (be it DoubleSpace, a backup program, or a network protocol transport) to use compression without depending on the particular compression-server imple- mentation. This approach requires only a single copy of the com- pression server (a boon in the RAM-starved arena of MS-DOS) and allows compression-server improvements to occur without re- quiring corresponding revisions to the clients. The most obvious improvement would be to implement an MRCI server in hardware. This would have several benefits. The RAM occupied by the software server would no longer be need- ed and would be available to other programs (the present MRCI server occupies 14 KB). A hardware server is faster and can achieve better compression by performing more exhaustive searching for matches. And in a multitasking environment, the hardware server can free the CPU for other functions. MRCI-compliant hardware will have the greatest speed if it is implemented on a local-bus architecture. In the future, MRCI compression could even be built into CPUs. By contrast, an ISA- bus compression card would be at a distinct disadvantage, since the 8-MHz speed of the bus limits the amount of data that can be transmitted to and from the card. MRCI is currently limited to real- mode operation but will soon support enhanced-mode Windows. We focused on safety and ease of use in our design of Mem- Maker and DoubleSpace in the hope that a much broader audience will reap the benefits of increased conventional memory and disk space. Up to now, these benefits have been limited to a much smaller group of advanced users. ■ Benjamin W. Slivka is development manager, Eric Straub is lead program inanager, and Richard Freedman is lead product manager for MS-DOS 6 at Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, WA). You can contact them on BIX c/o "editors "or on the Internet at editors@bix.com. 202 BYTE JULY 1993 Hands On Beyond DOS Confessions of a DDK Developer The OS/2 Device Driver Development Kit fails sliort, but it's a start STEVE MASTRIANNI One cold February afternoon, after a long wait, I received a letter from IBM announcing the beta OS/2 2.0 Device Driver Development Kit. I eagerly signed and returned the form with a check for $15, and less than one week later, I finally had the elusive OS/2 DDK. I'd been hearing rumors about it for several months. IBM kept promising to deliver it, but delays dragged the process out, and IBM had to repeatedly ask developers to have patience. Sources close to IBM say that the problem was not the availability of the driver code. Instead, no one was given the responsibility to gather the code and produce the DDK. Rumors of legal problems with Microsoft also circulated. At last, the problems were resolved. A Dubious Beginning The DDK came on one CD-ROM, and the Win-OS2 drivers came on two floppy disks. I was eager to find out what took up all the space, so I began to install it immediately on a machine that was running the December 2. 1 beta code. The installation process asked for 50 MB of disk space. I had 52 MB free, so I figured I'd just make it. I was wrong. About 95 percent of the way through the installation, I got a general protection fault and that feared message "the system is stopped." Judging by the address of the fault, it appeared to be in a device driver, and my worst fears were realized when I found that the first several tracks of my disk were rewritten with data. The disk was no longer bootable. The FAT (file allocation table) was gone, as was all my data. Fortu- nately, this was a spare system that didn't contain any critical information. (I later found out that this was a known bug with the 2. 1 beta code. The device-driver code, I later dis- covered, requires 54 MB of disk space.) I reformatted the hard disk and reinstalled DOS and the 2. 1 beta code. I reinstalled much of my previous soft- ware, but I left approximately 100 MB free. This time the installation went perfectly, duly placing a gob of driver source code on my disk. All the drivers were installed: printer, SCSI, display, virtual, and physical. The instal- lation program lets you select only the drivers you want. That helps conserve disk space, but locating a particular driver is a tedious job. Wliat You Get The DDK includes the previously unreleased Microsoft CL386, a 32-bit C compiler that was used internally to create the 32-bit code for OS/2 2.0. IBM also used CL386 to build all the VDDs (virtual device drivers) for OS/2 2.x. Also included is a copy of MASM (Microsoft Macro Assembler) 5.1, although some examples require MASM 6.0. 1 was annoyed by this. Why couldn't the examples all use the same tools? A better question yet: Why does IBM develop OS/2 with different compilers and assemblers? This requires de- vice-driver developers to install Microsoft C 5.1, Mi- crosoft C 6.0, CL386, IBM's C Set/2, MASM 5.1, and MASM 6.0. In its defense, IBM says that it is working to correct this problem in a subsequent release of the DDK. Also, some simple tools are included with the DDK, such as a program that lets you quickly change a file's ex- tended attributes, a hardware palette-display program, a display test tool, a printer test tool, TOUCH, SED, MAP- SYM, LIB, and the resource compiler, RCPP. As for drivers, the DDK includes dozens. In the cate- gory of video-display drivers, the DDK includes a 16-bit JULY 1993 BYTE 203 Hands Oil Beyond DOS VGA driver, a 16-bit 8514/A driver, a 32-bit VGA driver, a 32- bit Super VGA driver, and a 32-bit device-independent driver. The virtual video counterparts are also included. Base video handlers for VGA, 85 14/A, CGA, XGA (Extended Graphics Array), and EGA top off the list of video drivers. The two floppy disks con- tain the source code for two seamless video drivers based on a Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1 VGA driver. In the printer category, IBM suppUes only two drivers: a Post- Script driver and a plotter driver, which appear to be OS/2 1 .3 source code. This makes sense, because IBM still supports these drivers on OS/2 1.3. You must compile the PostScript driver with CL386. For disk drives, the DDK includes the source code for the floppy driver, ASPI (advanced SCSI programming inter- face) driver, IDE driver, PS/2 SCSI driver, PS/2 floppy driver, and PS/2 DASD (Direct Access Storage Device) driver. For CD- ROM drives, the DDK includes the source code for the Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC, and Sony SCSI CD-ROM drives, as well as CD- ROM Device Manager. Drivers for the Mouse Systems mouse, PC Mouse/Logitech mouse, and VisiOn mouse are also included, although a virtual mouse driver is missing. Hunting Around The first place I looked was the PDD (physical device driver) section, since these are my favorite OS/2 device drivers. I've long been an advocate of writing PDDs in C. I supply a C-callable library that allows a PDD written in C to call the register-based OS/2 device helpers, and I was curious to see what IBM offered. IBM included a library with source code and make files, but ab- solutely no documentation. If you're a good MASM programmer, you can probably figure out the more-complex-than-necessary as- sembly language code and macros, and the way to call the func- tions by reading the assembly language include file — if you have the time. Also, the library contained several undocumented device- helper function calls. The library needs to be fully documented, and the documentation file placed on the CD-ROM for refer- ence. If the function calls are unsupported, IBM should make note of these so that developers won't use them in production code. But they should be documented nonetheless. I was pleased to see much of the driver code written in C. Since most driver op- erations are quick, it makes almost no sense to write them in as- sembly language. Drivers written in C can be written in half the time it takes to write one using MASM, and they're easier to de- bug and support. I didn't find the PDD reference, which is the PDD writer's bible. Nor did I find the presentation driver and VDD references. What's confusing about these omissions is that IBM has already released these in the Professional Developer's Kit. Not all driver writers, however, have need for the PDK, so they're left with virtually no documentation. IBM says it intends to supply these documents on future releases of the DDK. Trying to make sense of the DDK by wading through over 50 MB of code is extremely tedious. The DDK CD-ROM should in- clude the necessary navigational information in INF format. I'd also like to see the Control Program Reference manual on the DDK CD-ROM, since most of the calls to the device driver are performed with these APIs. When testing my drivers, I always have to refer to Control Program Reference because I find it im- possible to remember all the parameters and their ordering. Also noticeably absent from the DDK is an example of a file- system driver. The information about OS/2's IFS (installable file system) is sketchy at best, and it can be obtained only with special permission. Although a small skeleton IFS is download- able via CompuServe, IBM needs to do a better job in the IFS area by providing sample code and IFS documentation as a standard part of the DDK CD-ROM. There's just no excuse for not pro- viding the code. Other Improvements Needed The DDK is a good start, but it's extremely difficult to use with- out good documentation. Because IBM has committed to regular releases of the DDK, it should take the time to make the product better. Many of the source code examples contain hundreds of lines of code with no documentation whatsoever, and some never even state what the function does. IBM must provide more docu- mentation to let developers understand exactly what is on the CD and how to find it. Nobody has the time to fumble around the CD looking for something that may or may not be there. A debugger such as ASDT32 should be provided on the CD. The DDK is also lacking in examples of character drivers, such as a serial or parallel driver, a data acquisition driver, or a simple memory-mapped driver. These "other" drivers make up over half of the devices that will require OS/2 device drivers. The DDK should also include a tutorial for building device drivers with sample code. All these documents, including the device-driver ref- erences, should be supplied in several formats (e.g., INF, Read/2, ASCII, and PostScript). IBM must do a better job of supporting device-driver writers, especially since this has traditionally been OS/2's Achilles' heel. Currently, IBM operates a small BBS where device-driver writ- ers can ask questions and download sample code. However, the BBS is a single-user system and lacks the benefit of ongoing message threads, like you find on CompuServe or BIX. Period- ically, the questions and answers are merged into a file that can be downloaded, but this is not as helpful as a continuing message thread on CompuServe. IBM has announced that CompuServe is the official public support forum for OS/2 2.x. Therefore, IBM should support device drivers in the device-driver forum there, where a much wider audience of developers can benefit from the message traffic. Waking Up? IBM may finally be getting the message. A special group within the company has been formed to promote OS/2 device drivers — both pubUcly and internally. The DDK has become a product, and it now has a product manager assigned to it. IBM plans quarter- ly releases of the DDK, and each release should get better and bet- ter. Future releases will include drivers and tools for the follow- ing areas: pen computing, multimedia, XGA, 8514/A, SCSI, mice, keyboards, IFS, serial and parallel ports, touchscreens, and PCMCIA, as well as a large selection of tools and on-line docu- mentation. IBM has scheduled a three-day OS/2 DDK conference this month. The OS/2 2.x device-driver developers from the Boca Raton labs will attend to give talks and meet with developers. Perhaps the release of the DDK and the conference signal a turn- ing point for OS/2 device-driver developers. Stay tuned. ■ Steve Mastrianni is president of Personal Systems Software in Canton, Con- necticut. He specializes in device drivers, operating systems, and real-time ap- plications for OS/2 and Windows NT. You can reach him on BIX as "smas- trianni, " on the Internet at smastrianni@bix.com, or on CompuServe at 71501,1652. 204 BYTE JULY 1993 Hands Oil Some Assembly Required The Mac Extended The Mac operating system's modular design lets savvy programmers add new -features ERIC SHAPIRO ANO TOM THOMPSON uch of the Apple Macintosh's identity comes from its Toolbox code. Believe it or not, despite the fact that these rou- tines are frozen in the Mac ROMs, you can still change the Mac's identity. Apple does it all the time. MultiFinder retroactively added cooperative mul- titasking to all existing Macs; QuickTime added time- based data manipulation to the Mac's repertoire. This was possible because the Mac OS's low-level structure was designed to be easily extensible. Such extensions take the form of code patches that alter a program's thread of execution out of the ROM and into new code located in RAM. It's this new code that adds extra features. Easy Extensions You can patch the Mac OS in various ways. For example, some word processors patch the Mac's text-handling routines so it can work with huge chunks of text. (These patches apply only to the application's en- vironment, not to other running applica- tions). The application applies these patch- es when it launches and removes them just before it quits. The exception is MultiFinder under System 6.0.x. This System applica- tion applies specific patches and runs in the background for as long as the Mac re- mains switched on. You might, however, want to add a spe- cial feature that's present constantly, not just when a certain application runs. The QuickTime Extension, for example, sup- ports all applications, and Steve Chris- tensen's SuperClock Control Panel adds a permanent time display to the Mac's menu bar. The trick is to do what experts do to ap- ply a permanent feature: patch the operating system at boot time. Fortunately, the Mac OS gives you a hand here. A special ini- tialization mechanism scans the Control Panel, Exten- sion, and System folders at boot time for files of type INIT, cdev, and RDEV. These file types signal the soft- ware to open the file, load initiahzation resources of type INIT into memory, and execute their code. This code apphes the patches to the Mac OS. These INITs are called Extensions in System 7 par- lance, although INIT code can be found in Control Pan- els. They are powerful tools, but they're more compUcated to write than applications. Apple doesn't officially ap- prove of patching the Mac OS because it can create com- patibiUty problems. Nevertheless, it has supplied some in- formation. Tech Note number 256 discusses these issues, with a heavy bias toward using the MPW development tools. To add balance, we provide information on writing Extensions using Symantec's Think C compiler. Since we're tinkering with the Mac OS at a low level, a brief ex- planation of how the Mac OS operates is in order. Once you understand how it works, you'll know how and where to apply a patch safely. The Trap Mechanism The Mac OS gains its extensibility by leveraging off the 680x0 processor's exception handUng. An exception is an error condition that the processor detects as it runs a pro- gram. Such errors include attempting to access a memory address outside of physical RAM, trying to use a privi- leged instruction, executing an unimplemented instruction, and other abnormal conditions. When the processor detects an exception, it switches to supervisor mode, calculates an exception vector (which is an address that contains a pointer to a handler routine), and saves its registers on the stack. The processor then loads the address stored in the exception vector and jumps to it. The handler code at this address deals (presumably) with JULY 1993 BYTE 20S Hands On Some Assembly Required Trap Word Formats Toolbox trap word format 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 I i J J Unimplemented instruction code Flags Trap number Specifies Toolbox format Operating-system trap word format 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 0^0. ■ 1 , V J Unimplemented instruction code Flags Trap number Specifies operating-system fomnat Format of the opcode used to call Toolbox routines. Bit 11 is used to select the type of service requested. the error condition and returns execution to the program. As most Mac users know, the Error Manager fields some of these excep- tions, displaying the much-beloved bomb box. So far, this sounds no different from the way other processors handle exceptions. However, you can use a special unimple- mented instruction to expand the features of the 680x0 processor. This unimplemented instruction word is called the A-line op- code, because bits 15 through 12 equal the bit pattern for the hexadecimal "A." Exception handling is the same when the processor encounters this instruction, but the system jumps to handler code that emulates new functions. The A-line trap there- fore allows new operations to be added to the processor's in- struction set. Apple uses the A-line trap mechanism to implement its Tool- box and Mac OS routines. The figure above shows the format of this instruction word (commonly called a trap word or trap). Notice that bit 1 1 of the word (the 'Toolbox bit") signifies whether the trap is a Toolbox routine or a Mac OS routine. Originally, Toolbox routines were stack-based (i.e., they took arguments off the stack), and the Mac OS routines were register-based (with a few exceptions). Apple adds another level to this trap mechanism (see "Anato- my of a Trap" on page 207). When the processor hits an A-line trap during the execution of a Mac application, it jumps to a han- dler known as the Trap Dispatcher. The Trap Dispatcher first examines the trap word's Toolbox bit to determine the type of rou- tine being called. Then it uses the 8 or 9 remaining bits in the trap word as an index into a dispatch table. The entries in this table contain pointers to routines, so the processor jumps to a routine that provides the services that the trap requests. Finally, the processor returns to the Mac application. The Mac ROM contains a list of entries that get loaded when the Mac boots, and this is where the initial addresses in the dis- patch table come from. The Trap Dispatcher must determine whether the trap is a Toolbox call or a Mac OS call, because it maintains a separate dispatch table for these two trap types. While the Trap Dispatcher scheme adds some complexity to trap handling, it also provides great flexibihty. Since every call to the Toolbox or Mac OS is controlled by the dispatch tables. changing an entry in the table changes which routine services a trap. To add a new routine to the Toolbox (perhaps a QuickDraw GX trap), Apple loads the new trap code into RAM at boot time, locks it (so it can't move around in memory), and then plugs the code's start address into an empty slot in the dispatch table. Once you understand the workings of the Trap Dispatcher, you can patch a trap to add custom features to the Mac OS by modifying a dispatch table entry to point to your code. Instead of replacing a particular trap's routine, use the Trap Dispatcher to call your code to perform a task, and then call the original trap routine. This sounds simple, but it's a bit tricky. Remember, you're performing surgery as the Mac starts up, and your code can't rely on many of the resources made available to an application. Since it's on its own to access global variables or allocate mem- ory, such code is called stand-alone code. Global Issues When you launch an application, the Process Manager creates a memory partition, loads the application code into it, and sets up its heap, stack, and A5 world. The A5 world uses the A5 register to point to the application's global variables, QuickDraw globals, and jump table. The application code starts running once the Process Manager sets up this environment. With a few exceptions, extension code runs in another appli- cation's heap. Because the Process Manager didn't launch the application, the value in register A5 is meaningless. And you can't change A5 to correct the problem because the application already uses it for its own global variables. Fortunately, when Think C builds a code resource, the generated code uses register A4 as its globals pointer. This solves the problem of interfering with an application, but you still need a valid address in A4. Think C stores the program's globals inside the code segment itself, just past the actual machine code. References to these glob- als are just offsets from the start of the code, so you can make A4 point to the first byte of the code segment. A supplied Think C macro, RememberAO( ), saves a copy of register AO (which points to the code segment) within the code itself, where another macro can find it. This macro, SetupA4 ( ), loads the stored AO value into register A4. A RestoreA4 ( ) macro restores the previous value of A4. RemeniberAO( ) smacks of self-modifying code, and while programs we've written using these macros have worked reli- ably on even 68040-based Macs, we consider this technique tacky. Instead, we select the Custom headers option when build- ing the code segment. We then use Think C's built-in assembly language feature to write a macro that copies the segment's start address into A4. When our code finishes, another macro restores A4's original value. (See GET_GLOBALS ( ) in the useful-macros listing on page 207.) We also needed to initialize QuickDraw because we use it to show our Extension icon on-screen when the code loads at boot time. In addition, your Extension might use QuickDraw traps at some point. In a Mac application, you do this by calling Init- Graf (&qd.thePort) to initialize QuickDraw. In fact, qd.the- Port is the last field in a 206-byte structure allocated for us by our development systems. When the Process Manager sets up the A5 world, it loads the QuickDraw globals into this structure. Since Think C places its globals within code resources, we just al- locate an identical data structure in our global space and pass the last field's address, thePort, to InitGraf (). Be sure to use the fields in this structure instead of the globals qd.thePort, 206 BYTE JULY 1993 Hands On Some Assembly Required screenBits, black, and so on. This scheme works well as long as the combination of code and data doesn't exceed 32 KB. Think C has the ability to build multisegmented code resources (larger than 32K), but we haven't tried these techniques in such a situation. Peimanent Residence Most of a Mac's memory is a temporary heap region that the Process Manager slices and dices as it partitions and then loads or unloads applications. You don't want your code hanging around here. The safest place for it in the Mac OS is the system heap. The system heap is built at boot time and is off-limits to ap- plications. This haven is where drivers, system code resources, patches, and extension code hang out, and this is where we place our home-brew Extension. There are several ways to place code in the system heap. You can allocate a block of nonrelocatable and nonpurgeable memory in the system heap using NewSysPtr{ ) and then use Block- Move ( ) to copy the code from the file into this block. Think C has a feature that lets you set a code resource's attribute bits when you build it. By setting the System and Locked bits on the code seg- ment, you can coerce the Resource Manager into loading it as a nonpurgeable block in the system heap. But when the Mac OS closes your INIT file, the Resource Manager releases the code re- source, thinking that you are finished with it. To avoid this prob- lem, call Detach- Resource ( ) on the block immediately in your setup routine so the Resource Manag- er "forgets" about it when the file closes. The macro LOCK__ SELF ( ) in the useful- macros listing shows how this is done. Patching Traps Once you have stowed the code segment safe- ly away in memory and have your global vari- ables set up, you must make the Mac aware of it by modifying a dispatch table entry. Begin by seeing if the desired trap exists. Re- member that your neat hack might be running on all sorts of Macs, some of which may not have QuickTime, QuickDraw GX, or other nifty features. Also, since Extension files load in alphabeti- AnatomyofaTrap When an exception occurs O, program flow jumps to the Trap Dispatcher @, which uses the Toolbox bit in the trap word to select a dispatch table address. This address is used to locate and execute a routine in ROM or RAM @. The thread of execution then returns to the next instruction in the Mac program ©. cal order, it's possible that your QuickTime-patching Extension might load before the QuickTime Extension does. The Apple-approved way is to call the Gestalt Manager to ob- tain this information. However, the Gestalt Manager might be absent (definitely the case if the Mac is running an operating system lower than System 7). Or the Gestalt Manager might not be aware of the really new Mac OS features you want to patch. The functions listing on page 208 shows how to check for a de- sired trap's existence. You start by passing the target trap word to the IsTrapAvailable( ) function, and if the word exists, the program returns TRUE. Now you're ready to change the dispatch table entry. Apple provides two traps, NGetTrapAddress ( ) and NSetTrapAd- dress ( ), that facilitate this operation. The first function, given a trap number, provides the address of its handler from the dispatch table. The second function, given a trap number and the address of our own handler, plugs this address into the dispatch table. Even at this level, most of the low-level workings of the Mac remain hidden. All that's required is a trap number and the address of your routine. This setup also lets you add patches on top of patches. As long as everyone writes well-behaved code, a single trap might invoke several custom handlers before calling the ac- tual trap code. Patcli witli Caution You'll want your code to be robust and reliable. Since the code might be called from anywhere, you'll want to save the current en- vironment carefully and restore it when you're done. The macros PATCH_SETUP ( ) and PATCH_CLEANUP in the useful-macros listing help here. Since the Toolbox calls use Pascal calling con- ventions rather than C, you must set up your patch routines as Pas- cal routines. You do this in Think C by adding the pascal pre- fix to your routine declaration. If the routine returns a result, its value must be the correct size or it will corrupt the stack. Similarly, examine how the trap accepts arguments. Some traps take values that are pushed onto the stack, while others require that one or more arguments be Useful macros for writing Mac Extensions. /* Note: MainO must be the very first function in the file for this to work. */ #define LOCK_SELF() asm { \ lea main, AO \ dew _RecoverHandle \ move.l AO, -(SP) \ dew _HLock: \ dew _DetachResource \ ) ♦define GET_GLOBALS ( ) asm { \ move.l A4, -(SP) \ lea main, A4 \ } #define UNGET_GLOBALS ( ) asm { \ move.l (SP)+, A4 \ } #define PATCH_SETUP ( ) asm { \ movem.l a0-a5/d0-d7, -(SP) lea main, A4 \ ) /* Note: Save any global result into local variable before calling this macro. Then use local variable to return result. */ #define PATCH_CLEANUP ( ) asm { \ movem.l (SP)+, a0-a5/d0-d7 ) JULY 1993 BYXE 207 Hands On Some Assembly Required Functions that test for and patch a trap. /* Global f.OT oiriginal routine addiress . */ TrapType tType ; Stat ic void *g01dKey Tirap ; /* OujT custom iroutine^ which gets substituted. */ / * T r>f~iV ^f- ^-y^o Ti~inl l-if~iv V-\-i +- * / exteirn void OuirKey (void) / L i ype — (urapiNum tt uxuouu> r looxi rap i Uo i rap; return ( tType ) ; Boolean ChangeTirap (void) { \ /* (=nH f^^Tl-?lnT\m^=' M * / / / ci 1"^. vTt; 1 — L J_ cl_^ X y \ ) / Boolean patchFlag; /* This function is based on Inside Mac VI 3-8. */ #def ine kMenuKeyTrap 0xA93E J.oXJ_ a^^rt V dX Xd-L/J-C ^olltJXl- LX ct^l*J Lllli } patchFlag = FALSE; /* Assume the worst. */ S \ if (IsTrapAvailable (kMenuKeyTrap) ) TrapType tType; { /* Trap exists ; patch it . * / short numToolboxTraps ; gOldKeyTrap = PatchTrap ( kMenuKeyTrap, OurKey ) ; #def ine kinit Graf Trap 0xA86E patchFlag = TRUE; /* Flip flag to OK state. */ strict f •{ rte> VTTn i nrnl omonf- oHTfar-i flvZiRQir tr Lit; X XI icT JvUllXiU^Xt^llLcl i U± X L/ArtO } /* end if */ return patchFlag; tType = (trapNum & 0x0 800) ? ToolTrap : OSTrap ; } /* end ChangeTrap () */ if (tType == ToolTrap) I / * PatchTrap ; Modifies the dispatch table . */ I u xd^iNLun ct — ujvu ten g / Xicix^c::oL' 1t ox uxdpo /* St r ipAddress ( ) reguired because an app can */ pos sible. f switch to 32 — bit mode and call a patched trap. */ / XC3 XllX UijXclX cl U aU.O.Xt;tit) UJ. UJCtiflOxj : / XX \ iVVjt: 1^ ± X a._|JrtLJ.LJ,X o o \ j'LX 11 X UoX dX J. X op ^ -LtJOXXXdUJ void *PatchTrap (short trapNum, void *codeAddress ) NGetTrapAddress (0xAA6E, ToolTrap) ) { numToolboxTraps — 0x0200; /* Yes * / void *oldAddress ; else /* No ^ table is larger. */ TrapType tType; numToolboxTraps = 0x0400; if (trapNum > numToolboxTraps) tType = GetTrapType (trapNum) ; / Valid trap #? */ oldAddress — (void *) NGetTrapAddress (trapNum, tType) ; return (FALSE) ; /* Trap # larger than table. */ NSetTrapAddress ( (long) StripAddress (codeAddress) , ) /* end if */ trapNum, tType ) ; return ( (void *) StripAddress (oldAddress) ) ; /* Return trap address if != unimplemented trap. */ } /* end PatchTrap 0 */ return ( NGetTrapAddress (trapNum, tType) NGetTrapAddress (kUnimplementedTrap, ToolTrap) /* Determine if trap is Toolbox or Mac OS trap. */ ); TrapType GetTrapType ( short trapNum ) { ) /* end IsTrapAvailable 0 */ placed into certain registers. For the latter traps, you'll have to write some in-line assembly language code to process the ar- guments. Note that some Managers (such as the Hierarchal File System Manager and the Slot Manager) use one trap word as an entry point. A value in register DO acts as a selector that deter- mines the routine actually called when the trap fires. Examine the Toolbox descriptions in the Inside Macintosh se- ries (Addison- Wesley) to see what size arguments the trap uses and how it's set up. Or write a small routine that calls the trap, and use Think C's Disassemble menu command to create an assem- bly language code dump. Finally, check to see if the routine moves or purges memory. If the original routine didn't move memory, neither should your patch code. Patches fall into two categories. A head patch performs some preprocessing before calling the original trap code. Put another way, when your trap gets called, it first performs some prelimi- nary operations and then calls the actual trap routine. An exam- ple of this is when a keyboard event calls your code. You might scan for a certain combination of keys (perhaps cin option key held down) to determine whether or not to process the character. We created KeyTest.sea to demonstrate a head patch. (This program patches the Mac OS so that the system beeps when you hold down the Shift key.) In a tail patch, your code does postprocessing; it hands off execution to the trap first and then acts on the results that the trap passes back. You might call MenuSelect ( ) to see which menu and which menu item were chosen. Eric Shapiro has created an Oscar the Grouch Extension that works this way. (In this ex- tension, the Sesame Street character pops out of the Trashcan when you pick Empty Trash from the Finder's Special menu.) BellTest.sea demonstrates a tail patch. It patches the "About" item in the Apple menu so that the Mac beeps when you select it. Apple deems tail patches a bad thing because they c£in interact with the System Software patches that Apple uses to fix Toolbox bugs. These patches often rely on the return address on the stack to determine what trap called them, and a tail patch can defeat these checks. But obtaining menu choices or other situations make tail patches unavoidable. Don't say we didn't warn you. Code with Honor With a good understanding of the Mac's trap mechanism, it's possible to add permanent features to the Mac OS. Just remem- ber that Extension code operates outside the benign environment that the Process Manager sets up for an application, so you have little margin for error. ■ Editor's note: The complete listings for programs mentioned in this article are available electronically. See page 5 for details. Eric Shapiro is a Macintosh software author and president of Rock Ridge En- terprises, a Mac consulting firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan. You can reach him on BIX do "editors." Tom Thompson is a senior technical editor at large for BYTE. You can reach him on BIX as "tomthompson" or the Internet at tomt@bytepb.byte.com. 20S BVXE JULY 1993 YOUR DIRECT LINK CARD For free product Information, mall your completed card today. For quicker response, fax to 1-413-637-4343! 1. For FREE product information from individual advertisers, circle the corresponding inquiry numt)ers on Your Direct Link Card! 2. Print Your Name and Address Answer questions "A" through "E" and mail or fax card to 1-413-637-4343. 3. Product information will be rushed to you from the selected companies! wam FREE FiH out this coupon carefully. Please Print Company City Country Fax A. What is your primary job function/principal area of responsibility? (Check one) 1 J MIS/DIP 2 □ Programmer/Systems Analyst 3 □ Adminstfation/Management 4 □ Sales/Marketing 5 □ Engineer/Scientist 6 □ Other B. What is your level of management responsibility? 7 □ Senior-level 9 □ Professional 8 J Middle-level C. 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Box 558 Hightstown, NJ 08520-0558 U.S.A. lniliilMl.l...l.lll...li....l.l..l.l.l..l.l...ll Pournelle JERRY POURNELLE The DOS 6 Question A bout the time you read this, they should be do- ing flight tests on the DC/X out at White Sands. DC/X, which stands for Delta Clipper X, is a flying scale model of the SSX spaceship that General Graham, Max Hunter, and I have been involved with. The goal is to have a ship that will fly into orbit without dropping off stages (and thus will be able to take off from any location, not just rocket ranges), return, refuel, and fly into orbit again without refurbishing. It should also have the ca- pability of surviving an engine failure on takeoff. DC/X won't do that — it has only four engines, and you need at least eight — and it won't make orbit, but it does test many of the concepts needed for a proper spaceship. We went down to the rollout at the McDonnell Douglas plant in Huntington Beach, and it was a pretty impressive thing to see a space- ship — even a model — rolled out like we used to roll out airplanes. We won't have access to space for the rest of us until we have spacecraft that operate like airplanes, and DC/X gets us one step closer to that. At the rollout, DC/X program manager Paul Klevatt said that this was the first project he'd ever seen in which the software development wasn't the long pole in the tent. DC/X is con- trolled entirely by computers — they're using a 32-bit, 4.5-MIPS computer with off-the-shelf flight-control hardware such as the F-15 inertial navigation system — and the programs, being part of a Department of Defense project, are written in Ada. Originally there were plans for them to de- velop software from scratch, but there wasn't enough money for that; which, I suspect, may have been a blessing in disguise, because it led them to off-the-shelf CASE tools. One of those was Matrix X from Integrated Systems. This starts with a graphical representation and de- velops actual Ada code. According to Klevatt, "Our coding error rates are much lower than on previous projects, and debugging times have been much shorter." Anyway, she's a beautiful ship, and I'll sure be glad to see her flying. Everyone runs out of disk space, and it doesn't matter how much you have. Ezekial, my original Z80 system, had twin 64-KB flop- py disks to hold both programs and data, and I can recall thinking how luxurious double-density 8-inch floppy disks would be. Now, even with twin 330-MB hard drives, plus network access to the Pioneer read/write optical drive, I some- times find I have to stop and shift things around to install a new program. I can imagine what it must be like for people who don't have the hard- ware assets I do. One answer to the disk-space problem is com- pression systems, and the latest of these is DOS 6, which includes both file compression and memory management. While Microsoft's special introductory offer will be over before you read this, I suspect DOS 6 will still be far and away the lowest-cost way to get those goodies. DOS 6 works, or at least I had no great prob- lems with it; but for some reason, I don't get a warm feeling about it. I'm not sure why, since most of the reports I get are positive. I think it I'm sure DOS 6 will eventually catch on. But until I have some applications that need it, I'll use DOS 5.0, QEMM, and caching controllers. ILLUSTRATIONS: DIANE BIGDAei993 JULY 1993 BYTE 209 Pournelle may be a case of "be not the first by whom the new is tried." There's also some confusion about just what kind of compression system Mi- crosoft put into DOS 6. Microsoft has a lot of experience with DOS, but I'm not so sure they have all that much in integrat- ing file-compression programs. If you're a big fan of DOS 6, 1 won't fight with you. But if you have an IDE hard drive — as nearly all the Gate- way 2000 systems do — I think there's a better way to get file compression: Per- ceptive Solutions' WinStore caching con- troller. It works only with IDE drives (not SCSI), but WinStore incorporates the Stacker file-compression chip right on the controller. The controller has its own processor and memory. Thus, you get both file compression and disk caching with- out using up system memory. That's a great advantage, because memory is like- ly to be in shorter supply than disk space. Do note that while WinStore has the file-compression chip on the controller card, it isn't really integrated into the op- erating system. Your increased disk space looks to the outside world as if it were a new hard drive, but in fact it's an enor- mous hidden file. That means there's a small but real chance that a glitch in the compressed file system will make it im- possible to access any of that data. Of course, that can happen with DOS 6, too. The Stacker system for file compres- sion and management has been in use long enough to be trustworthy, and certainly Perceptive Solutions makes reliable cach- ing controllers: two of my major systems use them. (Another system uses a Distrib- uted Processing Technology controller.) All major compression systems main- tain special FATs (file allocation tables) that are supposed to make it impossible for you to lose all the compressed data. However, I have enough disaster reports from readers that I'm very pleased that Norton Utilities 7.0 understands DOS 6 compressed files and file systems. What- ever compression system you decide to use, get and learn Norton Utilities 7.0 be- fore you embark on it. The DOS 6 MemMaker memory opti- mizer and revised EMM386 are a hands- down improvement over DOS 5.0's EMM- 386.S YS, and for many these will probably be good enough. However, MemMaker is not as efficient as Quarterdeck's QEMM- 386 6.0. When I replaced a DOS 5.0/ QEMM system with DOS 6 and used MemMaker, I found I had 28 KB less DOS memory, largely because MemMaker isn't as aggressive about allocating unused memory. It also doesn't seem to be as good as QEMM in working with fully reentrant programs that understand how to use memory in small noncontiguous chunks. MemMaker isn't as simple to use as QEMM's Optimize. On the other hand, if you really need to play around to cadge memory, you'll have to go to QEMM's analysis tools. That takes some hard study, but it's also the most efficient memory re- covery system I know of. In general, QEMM works well with DOS 6. There are some load-high switch- es in DOS 6 that Optimize currently doesn't understand, but that just means you have to do some things manually. QEMM/DOS 6 is a good combination; but then so is QEMM/DOS 5.0. We're all running out of UMBs (upper memory blocks), especially those of us who use networks. I'm already having r cnoosi ree Good Reasons for Choosing Videx Bar Code Readers: Portable Durable Programmable Proven performers in any environment — ^from the office to the outdoors — ^Videx' s family of bar code readers leads the industry as the most portable, durable, programmable data collectors. Make your job easy. Keep track of time, attendance, assets, inventory, work-in-process, shipping and receiving with a bar code reader from Videx®. TimeWand® I, DuraWand®, and TimeWand II are designed for today's world of diverse applications and demanding environments. AU at prices that make them the obvious choice. 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Not stopping there, XVision also features transport- independent file transfer, local terminal emulation and an object-oriented, drag & drop desktop integrating DOS/XfWindows. XVision 5 ties it all together. Instead of another ball to keep in the air, XVision provides a real solution that finally frees you from the whole juggling act. XVision 5 The Smart PC X Server from VisionWare. All Trademarks are the prroperty of their respective companies. US Headquarters 1020 Marsh Road, Suite #220 • Menlo Park, CA 94025 1-800-949-8474 • Tel: (415) 325-2113 • FAX: (415) 325-8710 Corporate Headquarters 57 Cardigan Lane • Leeds LS4 2LE • United Kingdom /ISIONWARE Tel: +44 532 788858 • FAX: +44 532 304676 Circle 180 on Inquiry Card: Call me, I'm interested Circle 1 79 on Inquiry Card: Send Literature Pournelle memory trouble. Thus my recommenda- tion: where money is a primary factor, DOS 6 may be the right choice. In my judgment, however, it's worth the extra cost to use QEMM for memory manage- ment and, if you have an IDE drive, Win- Store for file caching and compression. Obviously WinStore will cost more than DOS 6, but given a choice between hard- ware and software solutions, I'll take hard- ware just about every time. I'm sure DOS 6 will eventually catch on. But until I have applications that need it, I'll stay with DOS 5.0, QEMM, and caching controllers. I keep promising to change my network over to NetWare, and when I do, I'll install a Procomp Pro-Val network controller in the server. Procomp makes network-aware controllers tested and ap- proved by Novell, and it will be interesting to compare the Pro-Val with the Distrib- uted Processing Technology controller that's in the Cheetah 386 now. For the mo- ment, though, I'm still wringing out Win- 'A NEW FACE ON YOUR HOST DATA. . VT EMULATION GIVES YOUR A A FACEUFT— THE WINDOWS :£! 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Canada V5J 5G1 Phone: (604) 431-0727 Fax: (604) 431-0818 1 KEAterm 340 KEWi5fc KEWerni. ZSTEM, PwMSMioa KEA and tfis[«(*e fc^ ajj tKtemariG of KEA Systems Isl fli oljier t«Bnd and predwa name CodVTight @ KEA SYSTEMS Lm 1993. Al ngtus msefved. dows for Workgroups. That's partly a matter of time — I have never had so many things to do — but it's also a matter of "good enough." W4WG can't do all the things a full-featured net- work operating system can, but it sure makes it easy to share files and gives me access to assets like the Pioneer CD-ROM drive and read/write optical drive. W4WG also works well with Traveling Software's LapLink V. I can attach a parallel cable to any system on the network, plug the other end into a laptop, and run LapLink V, and I have access to every network drive. That is useful enough that I don't need any fancier way to service my portables. Indeed, LapLink V has so many won- derful features — such as synchronizing directories so that both have all and only the latest files — that I'd be hard pressed to do without it. I only wish W4WG itself had some of the features. I've had astonishingly few problems with W4WG, but there have been some glitches. It is the easiest network software to install that I've ever worked with, so it's surprising that one of my worst panics came when I tried to install the Gateway 4DX2-66V with local-bus video. Previ- ously, all I'd done with the Gateway 4DX2-50V was to put in the Intel Ether- Express 16 card, cormect it to the network, and do an upgrade installation of W4WG over the Windows 3.1 that the machine came with. When it came time to add the 4DX2-66V, I expected no difficulties. At first all went well. I selected the Ex- press installation and let things run. When I got to the third floppy disk, it all came apart. Up popped "ATI Flexdesk Win- dows Driver Error. The ATI Flexdesk Windows driver requires Windows to be run in 386 enhanced mode. Select the 8514/A driver to use your ATI 68800 video board with a 286-based processor to use Windows standard mode." Then the installation aborted. To make it worse, I'd foolishly done this without making a full backup. There's no real excuse for that, but in my defense, I'll say that I'd installed W4WG in the other Gateway without problems; and if the system isn't on the network, backups aren't so easy to do. Indeed, that was one reason I wanted to add it to the network. Anyway, Setup had gone far enough that I couldn't get into Windows 3.1 either. Worse than that, attempts to install Win- dows 3.1 from the original Gateway disks ran into other problems, with various error messages about not being able to find needed device files I'd never heard of. I was dead in the water. I sent out panic messages and got a call 2i2 BYTE JULY 1993 Circle 103 on Inquiry Card. 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Drives and cmputerlKanjs nol mclurled. Pournelle from Lex in Microsoft technical support within an hour; a result that you probably can't get, but after you read this, you may not need to. Fixing things was relatively easy, if tedious. First, 1 was told to edit SYSTEM.INI and remove the line that says Setup- state = l. This line tells Setup that there was a failed attempt to install and gets in the way of things. Sec- ond, I logged on to C:\WIN- DOWS and ran Setup to se- lect VGA 3.0 (standard VGA) as the video mode. This is necessary because Setup launches Windows in stan- dard mode, and standard mode doesn't un- derstand ATI's Flexdesk. Setup asked for several floppy disks and eventually an- nounced that it was finished. Now to install W4WG again, i put in the first floppy disk, fired it up — and the system hung up fairly early in the procedure, well before I got to the third disk. OK, turn the machine off — it was hung good — and start over, this time with a bare-bones CONFIG.SYS and AUTO- EXEC.BAT. Same resuh. OK, maybe it's the floppy disks. I'd been using S'A-inch; change to 3'/2-inch. Same result. The machine hung to hard- ware reset quite early in the process. By now I was ready to panic, but Lex wasn't. Apparently this happens more often than you'd think, and there's a trick that will get you around it. Here it is. Reboot the machine and cre- ate a directory called C:\FOO (or whatev- er strikes your fancy). Copy the first three W4WG installation disks into that direc- tory, log on to it, and launch Setup from within it. When Setup asks what kind of in- stallation you want, say Custom rather than Express. Now follow instructions. After a while, it will run out of stuff from the hard disk and ask where to find the rest. Tell it which floppy drive, put the disk it wants in there, and Bob's your uncle. When Setup is done, it restarts Win- dows, this time in 386 enhanced mode, and configures your network, including your network card. When it asks which IRQ (interrupt request) you want to use, the default is 3, which probably isn't what you want; 5 is usually free, and that's the one I chose. The EtherExpress card is con- figured in software: no jumpers to set, just drop in the card. You'll also be asked to name your machine: since Gateway ma- chines come in cow-spotted boxes, the 4DX2-66V became SuperCow. I had one more glitch, but it was my fault. My network is called JERRY ONE, but I forgot and told the new machine to be on JERRYONE; so it couldn't find any other machines on the network. Howev- er, when I told it to go look for LITTLE CAT C (my name for the C drive on the Cheetah 386/25), it in- formed me that I could find that machine on JERRY ONE, so I didn't even have to retype to get logged on. No one seems to know why Setup sometimes has problems with floppy drives. It's a bit like the Sound Blaster Pro prob- lem I sometimes have. I launch a program that needs the Sound Blaster Pro card, the system informs me it can't do that because something else is using the card, and it iconizes the program. I double-click on that icon, the program launches, and there's sound. This, it turns out, is a known bug. Creative Labs may have a new driver on their BBS by the time you read this. But I do notice that as these machines get faster and their programs get more complex, we find more odd things that we just have to live with. Oh, well. I've been fighting to install Norton Speedcache-I- on my network server. This program works very well with DOS and Windows. It speeds up CD-ROM opera- tions something wonderful and appears to work well with the Pioneer CD-ROM drive and read /write optical drive. It likes Windows 3.1 just fine and speeds up nor- mal disk operations at least as much as Smartdrive. Of course, it doesn't have much effect if you have a good caching controller. When it comes to speeding up a system, hardware generally beats soft- ware every time. ITie controllers from Per- ceptive Solutions and Distributed Pro- cessing Technology have cache memory on the controller card, and thus don't use up your main system memory. My major systems now use controllers from those two companies, and I've yet to see the software that will improve their performance. The Gateway 4DX2-66V doesn't come with a caching controller, so I installed Speedcache+ on that. It in- stalls just fine without the manual. Once you have it going, there are some opti- mizations you can try, but the default in- stallation is painless. On the Gateway ma- chine, it works fine in both DOS and W4WG, but more on that in a minute. The bottom line is that Speedcache-h works very well indeed on vanilla systems. How it works isn't so easy to figure out. Speedcache-I- comes with a Disk Process- ing Test program that you can run under 214 15 V I I JULY 1993 PICTURE Picture This ... a real-time television monitor buUt right into your PC ... Now, picture using this monitor while running Windows^M applications at the same time ... And, picture taking that crystal clear video image and resizing (right down to icon size!) or clicking and dragging it to any position on the screen as easily as moving any other Window ... This is Win/TV™, the video overlay, frame and clip capture board from Hauppauge Computer. Picture Perfect ... Using Win/TV 2x16. Microsoft's Video for Windows™, you can capture full motion video, saving synchronized audio and video clips to disk. With Win/TVs "frame grabber" you can capture any video frame and save it to disk in the most popular formats like TIFF, TGA, PCX and BMP. Seemlessly integrate still and full motion video clips into multimedia applications such as databases, marketing and training presentations. Great for Microsoft PowerPoint, Asymetrix Compel, Corel Draw, Tempra and lots more! Picture Yourself ... owning your own "Windows on the World"! Access 122 channel television with Win/TVs built-in cable ready tuner, plus two optional video sources (video cameras, VCR's, laser disks, etc.) Maybe you want to work on you spreadsheets but don't want to miss an important news flash or a current stock market report. Keep an eye on current events while keeping control of your inventory! Whether you're enjoying live TV, grabbing a frame and exporting it to a desktop publishing document, or creating your own video clips with Microsofts' Video for Windows, you'll be wowed by the clarity of WinAV images. Get Win/TV and open a window on some fresh, new and exciting possibilities. Suggested retail: $495.00 ($549.00 with Video for Windows) Available from PC Connection, Microwarehouse, PC Zone, plus many other computer stores throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan. GSA# GS00K92AGS61 56 PSO 1 Trademarks: Win/TV: Hauppauge Computer Works; Windows, Video for Windows: Microsoft Corp.; Photoshop: Adobe Corp.; XPress: Quark. Circle 91 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 92). Capture the perfect video image with Win/TVs "frame grabber" - great for desktop publishing and presentations with impact! VidCap - D:\TEST.AVI File Edit Options Capture Help I reasurv AUCTION '-rear Notes - Sitj.ul . rear Notes - SI 0.758 Tjtai: S 35.8B Capture full motion video clips with Video for Windows (optional ) File Options Window Help Program Manager Video for Windows 1 .0 ^ «l ^ ia Player WmdsuifClip FIcleaseNi VidCap Media Browser VidEtlil 3X Resize or reposition your Win/TV window anywhere on the screen. The "always-infront" mode allows the video image to always be viewable. Hauppauge! Hauppauge Computer Works, Inc. 91 Cabot Court Hauppauge, NY 11788 In N.Y. tel: (5l6)434-l600 fax: (516)434-3198 800-443-6284 In Europe: (49)2161-17063 In the U.K.: 071-378-7309 Pournelie Windows, but there's no printed docu- mentation except for a reference to the on- line help system, and the help for the test has no instructions for use. I'm sure that given time I could figure it out, but I wasn't willing to put that much time into it; and since there were no examples, I soon got discouraged. Symantec says that Speed- cache+ will work better than Smartdrive, and I'm willing to believe that. Where I really need Speedcache+ is on my network server, because I don't have a caching controller for the Pioneer CD- ROM and read/write optical drives, and those are the very things that need caching most. I got it installed on the server, and the performance im- provement of my opti- cal drive was startling. It really has to be seen to be appreciated. Fair warning: if you use caching systems, get a UPS ( uninterrupt- " ible power supply). When I copy files to the optical drive through Speedcache+, it ARE YOU SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME DRAWING FLOWCHARTS? YOU NEED FLOW CHARTING™ 3. Every day, professionals worldwide save time and money using Flow Charting 3. It's fast, efficient, easy to use, and always produces presentation-perfect charts and diagrams. With Flow Charting 3's built-in flexibility, you can create customized charts using a variety of shapes, lines, and text — placed where you want them. Plus, Flow Charting 3 is now available in a LAN version. Making it easy to share files and set up work groups for specific projects. And it's backed with free technical support and a 90-day no-risk guarantee. So if you're spending too much time drawing charts, call for a free demo and see for yourself what makes Flow Charting 3 the best-selling flowcharting software. See your dealer today! Or for a free interactive demo disk,call 1-800-525-0082, ext. 112 International: 408-778-6557, ext. 112 Novell is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. „ ,, ... , j-, ^ , Excellence in charting the flow of ideas! Patton & Patten Software Corp. 485 Cochrane Circle, Morgan Hill, CA 95037 MmiN&RianiN Software Corporation all happens at blinding speed; but the op- tical drive's disk activity light shows that it may be half a minute before those files are written onto the glass disk. If I had a power fail- ure before the files were completely written, the conse- quences would be severe. I recom- mend that anyone whose work is valuable get a UPS, but it's particularly important if you use caching systems. Anyway, Speedcache-I- works fine with Windows and CD-ROMs, and with W4WG with a single CD-ROM; what I haven't been able to do so far is get it to work with my W4WG file server, which has the two Pioneer drives. On that ma- chine, when I load Speedcache+ and then run Net Start (which you have to get going before you launch W4WG), the system goes out to the land of lost bits. I'm work- ing with Symantec's technical-support peo- ple on finding out why, and I have no doubt the problem will be solved, probably well before you read this. Until then, Speedcache+ installs easily and intuitively, seems to work just fine with Windows and the various CD-ROM and optical drives we've got here at Chaos Manor, and gives noticeable speed im- provements for every drive we've tried it with (except, as noted, those that have caching controllers). If you use Smart- drive, you will love Speedcache+. Rec- ommended, but do be careful if you've got complex systems. There are some problems Sta- bilant 22 won't solve, but I'm as- tonished at how many it does take care of. The Pioneer CD-ROM drive resides back in the cable room (a horrible place infest- ed with monsters), where it runs off the Cheetah 386/25 we use as the server for the W4WG network. When I had prob- lems installing Speedcache-l-, I found I needed to get a telephone back into that room, which meant stringing together phone lines using those wonderful little Radio Shack connector gizmos that let you do that. You expect that if you have seven different telephone wires connected end to end you'll get a noisy line, and indeed that happened, so I used Stabilant 22 on each connection. The result was blessed silence. I periodically use Stabilant 22 on all my phone connections, including mo- dem phone lines. In case you don't know about Stabilant 22, it's a contact enhancer. It comes in a lit- tle bottle that isn't cheap, but don't worry 2X6 BYTE JULY 1993 Circle 124 on Inquiry Card. Discover the basic principle of connectivity.,. Defy the gravity of your connectivity problems. 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It helps eliminate noise in telephone lines, but for me the most important use of this stuff is inside my computers. I have a lot of fairly old equipment. My main ma- chine is a Cheetah 486/33 with an Intel OverDrive CPU, which makes it in effect a 486/66. You may recall that the Cheetah 486 won my 1990 User's Choice Award as the most useful machine of the year. The previous year's winner was the Cheetah 386, which is useful as a network server. Problems never come singly: when my attempts to install Speedcache+ crashed the Cheetah 386, recovery was compli- cated because the Cheetah 486 began to act flaky at reboot time. Sometimes it wouldn't boot at all — even from the "pan- ic" boot floppy disk, and if you have not made yourself one for every machine you have, go do that now — sometimes it would tell me the hard drive wasn't properly for- matted, and then it began telling me there were no hard drives at all. "Don't panic," I kept telling myself, as I thought about all the deadlines I'm fac- ing. I had everything backed up on DAT (digital audiotape) using the Palindrome backup system, so if worst came to worst. I could install Palindrome in a Gateway 486 and let it transfer over my whole work- ing environment. It would cost a couple of hours, but it would be no disaster. I didn't want to do that because I like this big Cheetah. It's not quite as fast as the Gateway 4DX2-66V because the latter has local-bus video, but unless I'm doing very complex video images, I can't tell the difference. That Cheetah has worked fine for years. I don't like opening up com- puters without need, but it was clear I'd have to get inside this one, so I did. It was dusty in there, and cables were bunched up in a way that might have been blocking airflow. I moved the cables. I also rein- stalled the CD-ROM drive. It's the one that comes with Creative Labs' Multime- dia Upgrade Kit; a fast, reliable CD-ROM drive, highly recommended. Alas, when I first installed it, I hadn't any proper rails for the hard disk cage, and I used a lash-up with gaffer's tape. This time I found some rails and did it right. Then I vacuumed things out and got a fan blowing into the open case while I tested things. This time it booted from a floppy disk all right, and once booted that way, it could find the hard drives. But it wouldn't boot from the hard drive. OK, that's progress, I thought; so let's see what else I can do. The ma- chine was filthy in there, so I took all the boards out. Some of the boards — including the caching controller — had discolorations on the contacts. I got out the Stabilant 22 and used that to polish up every board con- tact; then for good measure I used it on all the cable contacts as well. This time when I fired up, everything worked fine. I con- fess that before I actually put the cover back on, I used the reset switch several times and powered the system on and off a few times. My lack of faith wasn't justi- fied. It worked every time. If it ain't broke, don't fix it; but next THE PERFECT TDDL FOR PIDPiE WHO WANT AIL THE ANSWERS. AND AT S199 IT'S ALSO THE PERFECT PRICE. There aren't many PC problems that QAPlus/FE™can't detect. Our relationships with major computer and chip manufacturers keep QAPlus/FE state-of-the-art in PC diagnostics and system reporting. That's why it's the diagnostic tool of choice by power users and leading service organizations worldwide, including Intel, NCR, BancTec Service Corp., DEC and Sears. QAPlus/FE doesn't just provide the answers - it logs them for later analysis. You can even troubleshoot PCs remotely via a modem connection. And now, for a limited time, the perfect diagnostic is also perfectly priced. So you can join the 4 million people who have all the answers for just $199. Cain-800-DIAGSOFT to order QAPlus/FE for just $199. DIAGSOFT Stay out of trouble. QAPlus/FE and DiagSoft are trademarks of DiagSoft, Inc. BYXE JULY 1993 Circle 82 on Inquiry Card. Pournelle time you tiave to do any troubleshooting, use Stabilant 22. If it doesn't fix things, you will at least know that the problem isn't dirty contacts, and that's always worth knowing. Highly recommended. Of course, Stabilant 22 can't fix some problems. Once I had all my machines running again, I'd still get messages that some of the shared resources on the W4WG network weren't available. Natu- rally that caused another panic, but it shouldn't have, since there were plenty of clues as to what was wrong. The network was intact, but my big Cheetah 486/33 wasn't on it. That should have told me everything, but I wasn't thinking properly. Whenever I have mysterious failures in my system, I suspect all kinds of things, in- cluding a virus. The latest version of Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit had just come in, and this seemed a good time to use it. When I check for viruses, I like to do it right: I booted up the machine with a floppy disk that has remained write-pro- tected since I first formatted it. Then I ran Dr. Solomon's from its write-protected floppy disk. As it was running, I figured out what was the real problem. I learned early on that if you have a problem with a comput- er, chances are good that it's a cable. That's even more true of networks. If your net- work stops working, cables are a more likely culprit than a virus. I thought about that, looked behind the Cheetah 486, and lo!, the T connector for the Ethernet had come loose. It took about a second to con- nect it back, after which the network worked fine. Meanwhile, Dr. Solomon's told me there were no viruses in my sys- tem, which I'd known all along, but it's good for one's peace of mind to be sure. Indeed, peace of mind is the major val- ue of a good virus detector. Really good protection like Dr. Solomon's (which in- cludes 24-hour telephone advice if needed) isn't cheap; but a not-so-good virus de- tector that gives false alarms can induce you to do something stupid, like needless- ly reformatting your hard disk in panic. Don't laugh: I know at least three people who have done it. Reader Oscar Weingart reports that he has W4WG working with a 286 system. The 286 is a client only — it can get stuff off the network and send stuff to it, but others can't access it. At least one CPU in the system has to be a 386, and it can act as a network server. He reports that the net- worked Hearts game that comes with W4WG works fine. I've always thought that game was an insidious plot sneaked into W4WG by competitors. He also finds he can use Radio Shack cable and the Radio Shack "push on" connectors (about $1.50 each). I've been tempted to try that because some of my Ethernet cables are just too darned long, but so far I haven't done it. The CD-ROM scene continues to be complicated, with some cd- ROMs able to work across the network while others have to be installed on my local machine. Some companies are para- noid about letting their CD-ROMs be used on a network. One such company used to be World Library, whose Library of the Future won a User's Choice Award a few years ago. With 950 classical-literature ti- tles on one disc, it's still a bargain. The good news is that they're updating it, and the next one will work on networks. Meanwhile, I get a dozen CD- ROMs every month, some silly, some wonderful. I have Grolier's and Compton WITHOUT THIS SEAL.YDU HE ONLY TESTIHG YOUR LUCK. A computer must pass the most rigorous diagnostic hardware tests before it can wear the QAPlus Tested seal. So it's comforting to know that many leading chip and computer manufacturers, including Intel, DEC, Gateway 2000 and Hewlett-Packard, use QAPlus® products to ensure the compatibility and quality of their hardware. And many also bundle QAPlus'mto their systems so you can make sure they're performing to factory standards. If your present computer doesn't include QAPlus, we suggest you replace it with one that does. Or if that seems extravagant, buy a copy of QAPlus to quickly and easily keep your present computer on its toes. Calll-800-DIAGSOFT to order, or for the dealer nearest you. CMP/us is a registered trademark, and DiagSoftini the QAPlus Testedseal are trademarl!s of DiagSoft, Inc. DIAGSOFT' Stay out of trouble. Circle 83 on Inquiry Card. JULY 1993 BYTE 219 The World's #1 Event for From over 100 countries on six continents— from resellers to PC specialists, mass merchandisers to developers, systems integrators to CIOs and CEOs-the world comes to COMDEX! Only COMDEX brings together information technology advances and solutions from across all technologies. It's o//here: Netv^fork Computing, Multimedia, UNlX70pen Systems, Office Systems, OEM Sources, Mobile Computing, and more! (ccomiiPfiM/Canada July 13-15, 1993 -June 14-16, 1 994 • Toronto, Ontario c (San Jose, CA) can reach a vertical res- olution of 800 dpi and an optical res- olution of up to 1600 dpi. Phone: (800) 544-6243 or (408)434-1115. Circle 3.303 on Inquiry Card. DEC'S QUIET DOT-MATRIX PRINTER Able to automatically switch be- tween its resident Epson LQ 570 and IBM Proprinter X24e emu- lations, the DECwriter 95 ($319) is a 24- wire narrow-carriage PC printer. The 360-dpi printer from DEC (Maynard, MA) prints at speeds of up to 300 cps at a noise level of only 43 dBa. It includes two resident scalable fonts, a Windows 3. 1 printer driver, and a two-year warranty. The printer handles fanfold or cut-sheet pa- per, labels, envelopes, and up to four-part forms. An optional user-installed color kit ($55) lets Photographic-Quality Color Printing Tektronix says its newest dye-sublima- tion printer processes color images in just over 3 minutes. The new Phaser IISDX ($9995) also sup- ports Adobe Post- Script Level 2. The networkable printer uses proprietary Tek- Color color-matching algorithms suitable for color proofing in graphic arts applica- tions and scientific and engineering print- ing. A Phaser Print plug-in device for Adobe Photoshop in- creases the speed of printing Photoshop files by bypassing the Mac printer driver, Tektronix says. A driver for Windows 3.1 compresses scanned images such as photographs that are in Windows documents. Contact: Tektronix. Inc., Wilsonville, OR, (800) 835-6100 or (503) 682-7377. Circle 3.299 on Inquiry Card. you print in seven colors on each medium. Phone: (800) 344-4825 or (508) 493-7161. Circle X307 on Inquiry Card. PCMCIA TO SCSI SlimSCSI ($349) from Trantor Systems (Fremont, CA) is a 16- bit PCMCIA-to-SCSI host adapt- er that features Trantor' s propri- etary ASIC controller and con- figurable I/O-mapped address settings. The adapter's two-piece design lets you remove the ex- ternal connector and cable, leav- ing the card in place when car- rying your portable computer. Phone: (510) 770-1400. Circle 1304 on Inquiry Card. MICRO CHANNEL EXPANSION Arco-Electronics' (Hollywood, FL) AC-1079MC Slim Drive Adapter ($395) expands storage on Micro Channel-based com- puters. The adapter, which lets you mount one or two 2'/2-inch hard drives on it, supports drives from Seagate, Maxtor, and Con- nor. The Arco BIOS on the card allows disk mirroring via hard- ware. The redundant write mode protects data by writing it to the primary and secondary drives; if a drive fails, Arco provides a re- covery routine that allows data to be remirrored. Phone: (305) 925-2688. Circle 1306 on Inquiry Card. PORTABLE DATA FAX MODEMS PCMCIA Type 2-compatible, the RediCard V.32bis data fax modems ($595) from Data Race (San Antonio, TX) include MNP level 4 and V.42 error protection as well as MNP level 5 and V.42bis data compression. They support Group 3 fax protocols and have EIA-578/Class 1 fax commands. The RediCard mo- dems ship with Windows-based fax software. Phone: (210) 558-1900. Circle 1305 on Inquiry Card. DAT DRIVE RUNS FAST T Cristie Electronics (Gloucester- shire, U.K.) claims that its TS5450 DAT drive ($3108; £1999) reaches operational speeds of more than 14 KB per minute over standard PC parallel printer ports. Without data com- pression, the drive has a capaci- ty of 2 GB; with data compres- sion, the drive can achieve capacities of up to 8 GB. The TS5450 is available with a SCSI connection in lieu of the paral- lel port and comes with software for DOS, Windows, OS/2, Unix, Xenix, and NetWare. Phone: +44 453 823611. Circle 1309 on Inquiry Card. PALMTOP PERIPHERALS The S2P-95LX converter ($125) lets you connect the HP 95LX palmtop PC to any printer with a parallel port. From Imaging Sup- plies Express (Torrance, CA), the 5-ounce converter connects directly to the palmtop's four- pin serial connector and the print- er' s 36-pin connector. Phone: (800) 462-4309 or (310) 370-6882. Circle 3.323 on Inquiry Card. The Flashdrive (from $599) Vh- pound battery-powered external hard drive provides additional storage for your palmtop. From BSE (Flagstaff, AZ), the 17- inch-tall drive interfaces to any parallel printer port, letting you access your stored data from a variety of PCs. The internal bat- teries are rechargeable. Phone: (602) 527-8843. Circle 1324 on Inquiry Card. 226 BYTE JULY 1993 Hardware Wireless LAN Adapter Designed for peer-to-peer or client/server communications, tlie RadioPort/Parallei Wireless LAN Adapter ($599) lets you quicldy set up, add, remove, or relocate workstations without disrupting the rest of the net- work. Able to communicate at distances as far as 800 feet, the adapter plugs into your computer's parallel port; it sup- ports LANtastic and NetWare. Contact: Alps Electric (USA), Inc., San Jose, CA, (800) 825- 2577 or (408)432-6000. Circle 1300 on inquiry Card- SCSI STORAGE An intelligent multitasking SCSI bus-to-ISA bus host adapter, SCSI Cache ($315; £199) from Western Systems (Ruislip, Mid- dlesex, U.K.) supports as many as four adapters that in turn each support up to seven SCSI de- vices. With 2 MB of RAM, SCSI Cache also provides hardware disk mirroring for all operating systems. Phone: +44 81 845 8383. Circle 1315 on Inquiry Card. VOLTAGE REGULATION From Upsonic (Tustin, CA), the VR Series of UPS systems (from $279) includes voltage regula- tion to protect LANs, host com- puters, and file servers from brownouts. In addition, these UPSes provide surge protection and up to 10 minutes of battery backup power. Phone: (800) 877-6642 or (714) 258-0808. Circle 1320 on Inquiry Card. REMOVABLE CARTRIDGE DRIVES The Puma 105 ($1119) external S'/i-inch cartridge drive provides 105 MB of removable storage for DOS- or Windows-based PCs. The SyDOS (Boca Raton, FL) drive has an average seek time of 14.5 ms and a 64-KB buffer. A parallel-port adapter that comes with the drive includes a printer pass-through that lets you simul- taneously use the drive and your printer. An optional battery pack provides up to 5 hours of contin- uous use. Phone: (407) 998-5400. Cirele 1.326 on Inquiry Canl. From Mirror Technologies (Rose- ville, MN), the Mirror 105MB Syquest Removable Drive ($699) for the Mac offers an average seek time of 14.5 ms and a sus- tained data transfer rate of 1.7 MBps. The drive includes an em- bedded SCSI-2 controller. Phone:(612)633-4450. Circle 1327 on Inquiry Card. NOTEBOOK VIDEO ENHANCEMENT Designed for Toshiba notebooks. Phoenix Graphics' (San Diego, CA) VideoPak-1024 ($649) high- resolution accelerated video adapter enhances video capabili- ties in such areas as CAD, spread- sheets, and word processing. Res- olution-switcher software for Windows automatically config- ures Windows drivers for LCD and high-resolution modes. A PS/2-compatible keyboard port lets you connect a full-size key- board. Phone: (619) 283-9375. Circle 1308 on Inquiry Card. FLOPTICAL STORAGE Adambyte's (Mountain View, CA) Powerbox mobile storage system is now available in two floptical versions. As is the orig- inal Powerbox, the 200-f ($1449) and 500-f ($2399) are complete systems for use with the Power- Book. Features include a 200- or 500-MB on-line hard drive and an additional PowerBook battery. Phone: (415) 988-1415. Circle 1312 on Inquiry Card. PS/2 UPGRADE Designed to interface with indus- try-standard IDE hard drives, the MC70 Upgrade Kit ($394; £249) lets you add storage to the IBM PS/2. It plugs into the IBM hard drive adapter slot, replacing the adapter. From CDL (Woking, Surrey, U.K.), the MC70 supports up to two hard drives, which can be installed in the B drive bay. Phone: +44 483 756813. Circle 1.31.4 on Inquiry Card. POWERBOOK CABLE ADAPTER A palm-size 25- to 30-pin SCSI adapter, SCSI Boy ($29) from APS Technologies (Kansas City, MO) turns a standard 25- to 50- pin SCSI cable into a Power- Book-compatible cable. The lightweight cable's shell is made of anodized aircraft aluminum. Phone: (800) 235-2753 or (816) 373-5800. Circle 131.8 on Inquiry Card. CROSS-PLATFORM COLOR PRINTING The CrayonFX Color Printer ($1495) is a thermal-wax-trans- fer printer that prints from Mac QuickDraw and Windows appU- cations. From LaserMaster (Eden Prairie, MN), the 203-dpi printer includes Apple's ColorSync technology for color matching and 50 TrueType fonts that au- tomatically scale on-screen and in the printer. You can use the LocalTalk and parallel-port in- terfaces simultaneously and con- nect to a network via AppleTalk and Windows for Workgroups. Phone: (800) 477-7714 or (612) 944-9330. Circle 1310 on Inquiry Card. SEEING IS COMMUNICATING From Datapoint (San Antonio, TX) comes the Minx Link Point- to-Point System ($16,500), a desktop video workstation with integrated camera, monitor, speaker, and microphone that provides two people with direct video communication. Expan- sion capabilities let you build a video network for multiple users. The system includes a codec and Minx control software. Phone: (800) 334-9968 or (210) 593-7910. Circle 1313 on Inquiry Card. T ERGONOMICS ON A KEYBOARD An ergonomic PC keyboard, the MiniErgo ($179) from Mar- quardt Switches (Cazenovia, NY) is designed for people who use their computers for exten- sive word processing or data-en- try work. Developed in Germany by Marquardt's parent company, the MiniErgo features a sloping V-shaped configuration with a large resting area for hand and palm. Sculptured key caps are in the standard QWERTY pattern. Numerical keys are embedded and are also available as an op- tional number pad. Phone: (800) 282-3746 or (315) 655-8050 Circle 1311 on Inquiry Card. JULY 1993 BYXE 22T What's New Hardware KEYBOARD KIT FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED Adhesive labels ($21 .95) that ad- here directly to the top of your keyboard's keys feature the key- top legends of a 101-style key- board in a combination of raised braille characters and high-con- trast large print. The size, spac- ing, and height of the braille dots comply with ADA specifications. From Hooleon (Cottonwood, AZ). Phone: (800) 937-1337 or (602) 634-4503. Circle 1317 on Inquiry Card. PORTABLE ETHERNET ADAPTER Featuring lOBase-2 and lOBase- T interfaces, the Dual Interface Pocket Ethernet Adapter ($295) from Kingston Technology (Fountain Valley, CA) connects to any portable or desktop PC via the parallel port. The adapter sup- ports the enhanced parallel port and is the latest in Kingston's EtheRx line of Ether- net LAN products. Phone: (714)435-2600. Circle 1333 on Inquiry Card. SINGLE-BOARD VOICE COMPUTER The MA590 ($240; $A333) sin- gle-height Eurocard intelligent voice-output card has on-board memory sockets for several min- utes of tape recorder-quality recording and playback at 10-kHz audio bandwidth. The Microcon- trol (Pymble, Australia) card in- cludes multitasking voice-pro- cessing monitor firmware. Phone: +61 2 449 1546. Circle 1316 on Inquiry Card. PANASONIC'S COLORFUL NOTEBOOK An active-matrix TFT color dis- play and a 120-MB hard drive are major features of the CF-580C ($4499) 486 notebook from Pana- sonic (Secaucus, NJ). The 25- MHz computer includes a built-in numeric coprocessor, 8 KB of in- ternal cache memory, 3.3-V nick- el-metal-hydride batteries, Su- perStor disk-compression soft- ware, and a minitrackball. Phone: (800) 742-8086 or (817) 685-1210. Circle 1321 on Inquiry Card. SCANNER DIGITIZES COLOR T The Pro Imager 7650C color flatbed scanner ($1 1,495) from PixelCraft (Oakland, CA) digi- tizes color and gray-scale reflec- tive images in sizes of up to II by 17 inches. The scanner has variable resolutions of up to 1200 dpi and ships with QuickScan and ColorAccess software. The scan- ner/software combination is de- signed to offer a desktop color- separation solution that rivals more expensive systems. Phone: (800) 933-0330 or (510) 562-2480 Circle 1319 on Inquiry Card. Super Server Tatung's Super COMPserver 10 Series (from $15,990) desk- top servers are compatible with Sun IVIicrosystems' Sparc- station 10. The entry-level model 10/30 features 32 MB of RAM, a 36-MHz SuperSparc chip, a 1-GB hard drive, built-in ISDN capabilities, graphics accelerator cards, and CD-quali- ty 16-bit audio. Configurable with up to 10 storage devices, the unit includes Open Windows 3 and the Solaris 1.1 or 2.1 operating environment. Contact: Tatung Science & Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA, (408) 435-0140. Circle 1301 on Inquiry Card. REMOVABLE STORAGE The IncreMeg 6000 ($19,500) hard disk storage subsystem from MountainGate Data Systems (Or- ange, CA) provides up to 7.2 GB of formatted on-line capacity via up to six 3'/2-inch removable drives. Designed for secure stor- age, exchange, and transport of data for applications such as video/audio editing, mission planning, simulation, and data acquisition, the IncreMeg 6000 supports DOS, OS/2, Unix, Mac, and Sun platforms. Phone: (800) 556-0222 or (714) 998-6900. Circle 1322 on Inquiry Card. TURN YOUR PC INTO AN OSCILLOSCOPE A 12-bit, PC-based oscilloscope card from Gage Applied Sci- ences (Montreal, Quebec, Cana- da), the CompuScope 1012 (US $4995) provides a 10-mega-sam- ple-per-second sampling rate on two simultaneous channels. Other features include a 65-dB dynamic range, 384 KB of mem- ory depth per channel, program- mable input gain, internal or ex- ternal trigger capability, and programmable input coupling. GageScope software ships with the card, so you don't have to write any programming code. Phone: (514)337-6893. Circle 1328 on Inquiry Card. DOUBLE THE VIEWING The Nth Double Edge ($1295) graphics board from Nth Graphics (Austin, TX) lets you run two col- or-graphics screens at once on two side-by-side monitors. You can see a large overview of a sin- gle application or view two full- screen applications and switch be- tween them. The board includes 2 MB of VRAM and lets you pan, scroll, drag, and redraw screens. Phone: (800) 624-7552 or (512) 832-1944. Circle 1329 on inquiry Card. 228 It V I I- JULY 1993 Decisions, decisions, decisions. Decider, decider, decider. Down -sizing, upgrading, multi- platform envi- ronments. Today's computer hardware issues are more numerous, more difficult, more critical than ever. So how do companies make decisions? According to a new IntelliQuest study, they turn to the only person qualified to decide. Some- one like Bob Barrett. A person with 18 years in computers. Who oversees a technical staff of 75. And whose buying decisions and approvals affect nearly 3,000 users worldwide. In other words, they turn to the BYTE reader. A full 92% of whom control the products and brands their companies buy. If you want to reach an audience as influential as this, then yours is an easy decision— advertise in BYTE. BYTE reader Robert N. Barrett, Vice President Management Information Systems, M/A-COM, Inc. It doesn't g ) 1992 BYTE, a McGraw-Hill publication. For a presentation of the Ma Quest study, What's New Hardware MAKE VIDEOTAPES ON YOUR MAC ► Designed for making high- quality presentations and videotapes on your Mac, the L-TV Pro LC ($449) and L- TV Pro NuBus ($499) sup- port NTSC and PAL video standards. The interface cards support up to 16-bit video, which is optimized for Quick- time movies and photographic- quality pictures. From Lapis Technologies (Alameda, CA), the cards' four modes of opera- tion are video recording, presen- tation, dual display, and TV only. Composite video and S-Video connections are standard. Phone: (800) 435-2747 or (510) 748-1600 Circle 1335 on Inquiry Card. VIEW COMPUTER IMAGES ON TV The pocket-size Presenter Plus 2 ($429) from Consumer Tech- nology Northwest (Beaverton, OR) lets you present images gen- erated in DOS or Windows ap- plications on your TV screen. The device connects a comput- er's VGA port to a TV's video input port. Output is in NTSC, S- Video, and VGA formats. Phone: (800) 356-3983 or (503) 643-1662. Circle 1337 on Inquiry Card. PRINT MULTIPART FORMS From the Facit division of Aheam and Soper (Manchester, NH), the D4000 ($2299) 80-col- umn multipart forms and label printer handles up to six-part forms and pressure-sensitive la- bels. A straight paper path, front- mounted heavy-duty tractors, and the capability to print on paper from 3 'A to 9 'A inches wide are features of the 300-dpi printer. Facit' s FormStore software lets you store up to six forms settings in the printer's memory. Serial and parallel interfaces and a key- pad panel are built in. Phone: (603) 647-2700. Circle 1336 on Inquiry Card. MULTIPLE-RESOLUTION SCANNER A floor-standing scanner with a small footprint, the Visionscan VS-1250 ($9428; £5990) scans at speeds of up to 36 A4 portrait pages per minute at 200 dpi. You can also select resolutions of 240, 300, and 400 dpi. From Advanced Recognition (Windsor, Berkshire, U.K.), the scanner has a built-in 100-sheet page feeder and a man- ual paper-thickness adjustment. Phone: +44 753 855442. Circle 1332 on Inquiry Card. STACKABLEHUB Standard Microsystems Corp. (SMC, Hauppauge, NY) lets you stack up to eight of its Elite 38 12TP ($995) IGBase-T hubs to form a 1 12-port logical repeater. When you add field-upgradable Network Management Modules ($1695 each), the hub allows in- band and out-of-band manage- ment and is compatible with any SNMP manager. Phone: (800) 762-4968 or (516) 435-6255. Circle 1334 on Inquiry Card. NOTEBOOK HAS LONG BAHERYLIFE With power management based on PicoPower Technology's Evergreen chip set, the Compu- Add 425TX notebook ($1895) runs on battery power for up to 5 hours under normal operation and 3 hours under heavy opera- tion, the vendor says. The Com- puAdd (Austin, TX) machine features 4 MB of RAM (ex- pandable to 8 MB), a PCMCIA slot, a 120-MB hard drive, an in- ternal fax modem slot, and a built-in trackball. Simulscan capability allows simultaneous display on the monochrome LCD and on an optional exter- nal color Super VGA monitor. Phone: (800) 627-1967 or (512) 250-1489. Circle 1330 on Inquiry Card. VERSATILE IDE HARD DRIVE The palmDrive 210i ($999) Irom ProTege (Laguna Hills, CA), an external IDE drive, interfaces with your PC through the com- pany's Stealth controller and de- vice management software. The drive has access times of 12 ms, data transfer rates of 2.25 MBps, and drive buffer-to-host transfer speeds of 10 MBps. It coexists with IDE, SCSI, ESDI, RLE, and MFM controllers without changes to the PC BIOS. Phone: (800) 995-4453 or (714) 586-8004. Circle 1331 on Inquiry Card. LIGHTWEIGHT NOTEBOOK Epson America's (Torrance, CA) ActionNote 4SLC/25 notebook (from $1399) weighs 5 'A pounds and has built-in power manage- ment features. The basic config- uration includes 4 MB of RAM, an 80-MB hard drive, a backlit monochrome LCD, a dual dis- play with an external monitor, and system and video BIOS RAM. Phone: (800) 289-3776 or (305) 265-0092. Circle 1338 on Inquiry Card. MAKE THE CD-ROM CONNECTION Future Domain's (Irvine, CA) SCSI CD-ROM kit ($69) lets you easily connect a CD-ROM drive to your PC. The kit in- cludes a SCSI controller card, PowerSCSI universal applica- tion interface software, and NLM software for NetWare 3.11,3.12, and 4.0 that lets file servers use a CD-ROM as a read-only volume. With PowerSCSI you can access several different SCSI periph- erals, each connected through a different interface, simultane- ously under Windows. Phone: (714) 253-0400. Circle 1325 on Inquiry Card. Local-Bus Multimedia The Mega M46D2LM ($3895) local-bus muttimedia system has 8 MB of RAM, 256 KB of cache RAM, 2 MB of VRAM, and 1 MB of DRAM. The MPC-compliant system includes a Pro Audio Spectrum 16 sound card, speakers, a microphone, and headphones. The medium-tower system can read multises- sion Photo CDs and includes Windows NT driver support. Contact: Megamedia Computer Corp., San Jose, CA, (800) 634-2334 or (408) 428-9920. Circle 1302 on Inquiry Card. 230 BYTE JULY 1993 O Your Direct BYTE introducesYour Direct Link - An enlianced service for BYTE readers tfiat gives you free information on products - faster and easier! In the NEW Direct Link section, here's what you'll find: Alphabetical Index to Advertisers Including Phone Numbers Now dial companies directly. Product Category Index to Advertisers Order information on individual products or complete product categories. Redesigned Editorial Index Free information from companies covered in articles, columns, or news stories. New Enhanced Direct Link Card Receive free information quickly by filling out and mailing or faxing Your Direct Link Card today! Send for FREE product information by filling out Your Direct Link Card found in the back of every issue. Buy It Thtough BYTE! BVTE I I (A m What's New Software STATISTICAL SOFTWARE ▲ QI Analyst ($395 until Septem- ber 30; $695 thereafter) SPC (statistical process control) soft- ware for quality improvement runs under Windows 3.1. From SPSS (Chicago, IL), QI Analyst is designed to help businesses improve processes, cut waste, and reduce nonconformance to quality improvement require- ments. The package provides 23 SPC charts, capability statistics, Shewhart control tests, and re- ports. Phone: (800) 543-2185 or (312)329-2400. Circle X283 on Inquiry Card. NO MORE MEMORY LEAKS Bounds-Checker for Windows ($199) from Nu-Mega Tech- nologies (Nashua, NH) can trap common bugs such as memory and heap-related corruption prob- lems; library routine overruns of strings, arrays, and structures; re- sources that were not freed; and errant parameters that were passed to API routines. Phone: (603) 889-2386. Circle 11.35 on Inquiry Card. DATABASE MANAGEMENT MADE EASY SQL Manager for SQL Base (US$795) from Nakiska Systems (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) com- bines database management, monitoring, and reporting for Windows users. Features include an intuitive interface, point- and-click commands, database maintenance, database trend information, server activity mon- itoring, and system catalog re- porting. Phone: (403) 945-7087. Circle 1137 on Inquiry Card. MODELING AND SIMULATION SOLUTION A data analysis and numerics software package from Micro- Math Scientific Software (Salt Lake City, UT), Scientist ($495) transparently processes standard and differential equations. The graphics editor supports annota- tion, editing, and grouping. Phone: (800) 942-6284 or (801)943-0290. Circle 1136 on Inquiry Card. TALK, DON'T TYPE A speech-recognition command- and-control tool that works in Windows, IBM VoiceType 2 ($2195) lets you vocally enter text and control applications into programs such as WordPerfect, 1-2-3, and dBase. With a base vocabulary of 7000 words, the program accepts replacement words that you define or draw from a backup list. The Dragon Systems' (Newton, MA) pro- gram adapts to individual voice patterns. Phone: (617) 965-5200. Circle 1273 on Inquiry Card. VIRTUAL REALITY DESIGN TOOL Continuous, DSP-based (digital signal processor) operation in Real-Time Convolver ($1895) lets you design a virtual reality system in real time. The program supports impulse responses up to 25,000 points and sampling rates up to 100 kHz for mono or binaural real-time audible simu- lation. This Signalogic (Dallas, TX) software is compatible with the company's Hypersignal- Acoustic audio signal analysis environment. Phone: (214) 343-0069. Circle 1138 on Inquiry Card. COLOR YOUR BUSINESS GRAPHICS The Palette Chooser and the Ex- plorer components of ColorUp ($99.95), an intuitive color soft- ware utility from Pantone (Carl- stadt, NJ), provide professional- ly designed color palettes and an encyclopedia of color informa- tion and experiments. Colors are optimized for specific output me- dia, and palettes are easily ex- ported. Phone: (201)935-5500. Circle 1140 on Inquiry Card. CREATE INTERACTIVE PRESENTATIONS AniMage ($395) from Digital ChoreoGraphics (Costa Mesa, CA) lets you create interactive annotated animated graphical presentations. You can merge text, graphics, and animation into a single presentation and inter- act with it via the pan, zoom, re- play, skip, and scroll options. You can then distribute the pre- sentation and a presentation play- er on a floppy disk. Phone: (714) 548-1969. Circle 1142 on Inquiry Card. Develop and Maintain Unix Software Sextant for C ($2500), an integrated hypertext environment for developing and maintaining Unix-based C applications, provides navigation and visualization capabilities that let programmers manage large and complex projects. The software assists in code reuse and reengineering and allows multiple views to be dynamically linked. You can configure the language-sensitive editor and fully integrate it into the environment. Features include color coding, filtering, and synchronization among specifications, code, and documents. Contact: Sextant, Inc., Ann Arbor, Ml, (313) 973-8888. 232 BYXE JU1.Y 1993 Smart Communicating Communications software for Windows 3.0 and 3.1, Smartcom for Windows 1.0 ($49 througli July; $149 tliereafter) combines tlie GUI of a Windows application witli tlie features and performance of a DOS program, according to Hayes. Smart Buttons let you access common commands and frequently used scripts with the click of a button, and the SCOPE scripting language allows you to automate tasks and to create interface-driven scripts for transparent operations. Hie Communications Editor includes ANSI.SYS functionality so that you can add color and graphics to text messages. Contact: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc., Norcross, GA, (404)441-1617. Circle 13.32 on Inquiry Card. SAFE FILE TRANSFER FileRunner ($99.95) for the Mac lets you network among your desktop computers and Power- Books. The MBS Technologies (McMurray, PA) program syn- chronizes any number of Macs via its Tru-Sync feature, which automatically identifies and transfers updated and new files and folders. Overwrite Safeguard protects your data and wams you if the same file is changed on more than one computer. File- Runner creates a log of all trans- fers and compensates for changes in time zones. Phone: (800) 860-8700 or (412) 941-9076. Circle 1278 on Inquiry Card. WINDOWS SOFTWARE FOR FINANCIAL ANAUrSTST Leading Market Technologies (Cambridge, MA) has moved Expo to Windows 3.1 ($2995). Expo graphically monitors and analyzes market data, providing predefined analytics and letting you create custom analytics. A worksheet can contain up to 100 graphics windows; you can relate each window to others, spread- sheet-style, by for- mulas you define. Graphics, analyses, and decision rules from financial mar- kets are automati- cally updated as you enter new data. Phone: (617) 494-4747. Circle ±2S2 on Inquiry Card. SPEED UP WINDOWS WORK When you power up your PC, Fantastic Recall ($49.95 until September 1; $79.95 thereafter) lets you start where you left off in Windows. With no special hardware required, this package from Binar Graphics (San Ra- fael, CA) automatically restores the application you were working in via a single keystroke. Phone: (800) 228-0666 or (415) 491-1565. Circle 1281 on Inquiry Card. WINDOWS PAINTING Color Wheel ($395), an image- processing program from Pacif- ic Gold Coast (Glen Cove, NY), lets you quickly create designs using object-oriented procedures that let you change the shape, size, color scheme, and attribut- es of new or prefabricated ob- jects. Major components of the software are object and overlay manipulation, color and palette management, special effects and editing, and OLE. Phone: (516) 759-3011. Circle 1271 on Inquiry Card. NEURAL WINDOWS DataSculptor ($495) shortens the time needed to solve data-analy- sis and manipulation problems. The NeuralWare (Pittsburgh, PA) data-translation, analysis, and transformation tools work in an object-oriented environment. You select tools and functions as you would building blocks; you connect the blocks to create reusable solutions to data-pro- cessing problems. Phone: (412) 787-8222. Circle 1272 on Inquiry Card- Software Update WinMaster 1.5 ($129.95), PC- Kwik (Beaverton, OR), adds new module KwikFind and enhancements to Toolbox, Kwiklnfo, PowerScope, and KwikVault. Phone: (800) 759-5945 or (503)644-5644. Circle 1285 on Inquiry Card. LANDesk Manager 1.5 ($995 per server), Intel (Santa Clara, CA), adds alert log, scripting, event manager, and Quick Windows screen control; en- hances control panel with Network Device Table. Phone: (800) 538-3373, (503) 629-7354, or +44 793 431 155. Circle 1286 on inquiry Card. HiJaait Pro 2.0 ($169), Inset Systems (Brookfield, CT), adds improved user interface, new graphics formats, and support of the Aldus Graph- ics Import Filter specifica- tion, the WordPerfect for Windows API, and TWAIN. Phone: (203) 740-2400. Circle 1287 on Inquiry Card. Linkage 3.1 (developer's kit, $20,000), Cimlinc (Itasca, IL), adds enhancements in computer graphics, data inte- gration, floating licenses, and text handling. Phone: (708) 250-0090. Circle 1289 on Inquiry Card. Golden Retriever 2.0b ($99), Above Software (Irvine, CA), adds File Save and File Open commands, version-control field in File Record, Uninstall option, and enhancements to Desk, File Manager, and ASCII file viewer. Phone: (800) 344-01 16 or (714) 851-2283. Circle 1293 on Inquiiy Card. JULY 1993 IS V I I 233 What's New Software TECHNICAL GRAPHING IN WINDOWS ► EasyPlot for Windows ($399) technical graphing software lets you quick- ly analyze, manipulate, and plot large amounts of data. The Turbologic fea- ture virtually eliminates delays normally associat- ed with Windows screen rewrites by anticipating screen updates and storing key accelerator information, accord- ing to Spiral Software (Brook- Une, MA). Other features include the Text Toolbar, Clipboard Plot- ting, and the Data Editor. Phone: (617) 739-1511. Circle 1.279 on Inquiry Card. GUI DESIGN TOOL XVT-Design++ 1.0 for PCs ($1395) and workstations ($3095) provides a GUI tool for creating C++ applications. From XVT Software (Boulder, CO), this interactive design tool for EX Supply Pressue (pa^ user interfaces incorporates a C++ code fragment editor and a C++ application framework that includes GUI objects. Phone: (303) 443-4223. Circle 3.144 on Inquiry Card. BASIC PROGRAMMING ON THE MAC A visual interactive program- ming environment for BASIC on the Mac, VIP-BASIC ($295) provides precoded Procedures, integrated Resource Editors, and the Dispatcher for building ap- plications in BASIC. From Mainstay (Agoura Hills, CA), Mac and Windows Conferencing Eile EdR hjeiBiBc £iinferei>ce Jew fidmln Behug Wn