SEPTEMBER 19S0 A McGRAW-HILL PUBLICATION 63 of the World's Most Influential People in Personal Computing Predict the Future, Analyze the Present PAUL ALLEN, Microsoft/Asymetrix □ STEWART ALSOP, P. C. Utter □ ANDY BECHTOLSHEIM, designer/Sun Microsystems D GORDON BELL, VAX designer/ Stardent Computer □ JIM B^INN, graphics/Cal Tech □ GORDON CAMPBELL, early chips/Chips & Technologies □ ROD CANION, Compaq G PAUL CARROLL, Wall Street Journal □ JOHN CAULFIELD, optics/University of Alabama □ JOHN COCKE, first RISC computer/IBM Fellow D ESTHER DYSON, Release 1. □ DOUG ENGELBART, groupware/Stanford University □ DAVID EVANS, graphics/Evans & Sutherland □ FEDERICO FAGGIN, early microprocessors/ Synaptics □ LEE FELSENSIEIN, Osborne-1/Golemics □ BOB FR ANKSTON, spreadsheet/Lotus □ BILL GATES, Microsoft □ DANNY HILLIS, Connection Machine/Thinking Machine:; □ TONY HOARE, programming theory/Oxford University □ GRACE HOPPER, COBOL/DEC □ BRIT HUME, ABC News Chief White House Correspondent □ BILL JOY, SPARC/ Sun Microsystems □ PHILIPPE K AHN, Borland On Technology □ ALAN KAY, Fellow □ JOHN KEMENY, BASIC/ programming/AT&T Bell Labs consultant D GARY KILDALL, □ DONALD KNUTH, TeX/ D TOM KURTZ, BASIC/True BASIC TRS-80 designer/Adaptive Plus andBYTEWEEKDJIM MARKOFF, BYTE/Ate* York MCCLURE, CAS: and consultant □ TOM computer-aided engineering/ MINER, Amiga designer/ MORI, superdistribution/ Japan □ NICHOLAS Media Lab □ TED NELSON , (Autodesk) □ BOB NOYCE, SematechDKENOLSEN, PAPERT, Logo/MIT Artificial D CHUCK PEDDLE, early □ DICK PICK, Pick Operating POURNELLE, BYTE columnist and dBASE III/Ratliff Software C and Unix/AT&T Bell Labs independent developer □ KEN SAKAMUR A, Japan D DICK SHAFFER, Computer Letter Microsoft □ MICHAEL SLATER, Microprocessor □ BILL STALLINGS, networking/ C+ + /AT&T Bell LabsD JONATHAN and EDN News U JOHN WARNOCK, PostScript/ Adobe Systems □ TERRY WINOGR AD, natural language/Stanford University D NIKLAUS WIRTH , Pascal and Modula-2/Swiss Federal Institute ofTechnology (ETH) D STEPHEN WOLFRAM, Mathematica/ Wolfram Research □ ED YOURDON, CASE and object orientation/consultant anniversary SUMMIT D MITCH KAPOR, Lotus and 1-2-3/ Dynabook and Smalltalk/Apple True BASIC □ BRIAN KERNIGHAN, □ JACK KILBY, integrated circuit/ CP/M/Digital Research Stanford University □ STEVE LEININGER, □ RICH MALLOY, BYTE MANZI, Lotus □ JOHN Times □ CARMA object orientation/ MCWILLIAMS, Amdahl □ JAY Ventritex □ RYOICHI University of Tsukuba, NEGROPONTE, MIT hypertext/Xanadu integrated circuit/ DEC □ SEYMOUR Intelligence Laboratory microprocessors/THStyme System/Pick Systems □ JERRY □ WAYNE RATLIFF, dBASE II Production D DENNIS RITCHIE, D JONATHAN SACHS, Lotus 1-2-3/ TRON Project/University of Tokyo, □ CHARLES SIMONYI, software developer/ Report D ALVY RAY SMITH, graphics/Pixar consultant □ BJARNE STROUSTRUP, TITUS, Mark-8 designer/ EDN Magazine 09 440235 $3.50 U.S.A./S4.50 IN CANADA 0360-5280 IT. /olume buyers I, call us now. -ke you. Satisfied. THE DELL SYSTEM 325 25MH* 386 and DELL SYSTEM 310 20 MHz 386. The best combination of performance and value available in their class. STANDARD FEATURES: • Intel* 80386 microprocessor runnings* 25 MHi (Dell 325) and 20 MH: (Dell 310). * Minimum 1 MB of RAM, optional 2 MB or 4 MB of RAM* expandable to 16 MB (using a dedicated high-speed 32-bit memory slot). ■ Advanced Intel 82385 Cache Memory Controller with 32 KB of high-speed static RAM cache. • Rage mode interleaved memory architecture. •Socket for WEI7EK 3 167 math coprocessor. ■5.25" 1.2MBor 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive. ■ I parallel and 2 serial ports. • 8 industry standard expansion slots (6 available). • 12-month On-Site Service Contract provided by Xerox?' **CommercUd Lease Plan. Lease far as low as $13 l/monrh (325) and $U2!month (310). *• Xerox Extended Service Plan pricing starts at $370 (325) and $251 (310). 325 31C 40 MB VGA Monochrome System $3,599 $2,999 80 MB VGA Color Plus System $4,099 $3,499 80 MB Super VGA Color System {800 x 600) $4,199 $3,599 190MBSuperVGA Color System (800 x 600) $4,699 $4,099 Prices listed include [ MB of RAM. 100, 330 and 650 MB hard drive configurations also available. THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 320LX 20 MH: 386SX. One of the fastest SXs around. STANDARD FEATURES: • Intel 80386SX microprocessor running at 20 MIL. •Minimum 1 MB of RAM* optional 2 MB or 4 MB expandable to 16 MB (8 MB on the system board). • VGA systems include a high-perfonnance 16-bit video adapter. • L1M 4,0 support for memory over 1 MB. • Socket for 20MHi80387SX math coprocessor. •5.25" 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette dtive. • Integrated high-performance hard disk interface and diskette controller on system board (ESDI-based systems include a hard disk controller). • 1 parallel and 2 serial ports. • Enhanced 101-key keyboard. • 200-watt power supply. • 8 industry standard expansion slots (7 available). • 12-month On-Site Setvice Conttact provided by Xerox* **Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $98/mm\th. ^Xetox Extended Sendee Plan pricing starts at $261. 40 MB VGA Monochrome System $2,599 40 MB VGA Color Plus System $2,899 80 MB SuperVGA GMor System (800x600) $3,199 100 MB Super VGA Color System (800x600) $3,399 Prices listed include I MB of RAM. 190, 330 and 650 MB hatd drive configurations also available. I ll I If l l ll THE DELL SYSTEM 3 I6SX y^^ 16 M H: 386SX and DELL Ik— J| SYSTEM 210 12.5 MH: 286. 12-1 89 mainstream computers. STANDARD FEATURES: • Intel 80386SX microprocessor running atl6MH:(Del!3l6SX)and80286 microprocessor nmntng at 1 2. 5 MH: (Dell 210). • Minimum 512 KB of RAM, optional 640KB. lMBor2MBofRAM* expandable to 16 MB (8MB I3I6SX1 and 6 MB [210] on system b»atd). • LlM 4.0 support for memory over 640 KB. • Socket for Intel80387SX (316SX) and 80287 (210) math coprocessor. •5.25" 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive. • 1 parallel and 2 serial ports. • 3 full-si:ed 16-bit AT expansion slots available. • 12-month On-Site Service G>ntmct provided by Xerox.' 1 - **Commcrciai Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $73/montri (316SX) tntd $62/mont!i(210J. Xerox Extended Service Plan pricing starts at $ 196 (316SX) and $158 (210). 316SX 20 MB VGA Monochrome System 40 MB VGA Color Si. 949 $2,449 Plus System 40 MB Super VGA G^lor System (800 x 600) 80 MB Super VGA Color System (800x600) Prices listed include 1 MB of RAM. 2MB versions of the above systems ai available fot an additional $200. 100 and 190 MB hard drive configura available. 210 Si, 649 $2,149 52.549 52.249 52,749 $2,449 THE DELL SYSTEM 316LT 16 MH: 386SX. This full-featured, battery- powered 386SX laptop costs less thtm most 286 laptops. STANDARDFEATURES: • Intel 80386SX microprocessoriunnrng atl6MH:. • Minimum 1 MB of RAM, optional 2 MB of RAM* expandable to 8 MB (on the system hoard using 1 MB SIMMs). • LlM 4.0support for memory over 1 MB. • Adjustable and detachable 640 x 480 VGA Liquid Crystal Display. • One industry standard half-sire 8-bit expansion slot. • So ket for 16 MH: Inrel 80387SX math coprocessor. •3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive. •83-key keyboard with embedded numeric keypad and separate cursor control keys. • 1 parallel, 1 serial, and external VGA monitor port. •G>nnectot for 101-key keyboard or numeric keypad. • Two removable and rechargeable NiCad batteiy packs utilising Dell's "Continuous Power Battery System" (patent pending). • AC Adaptet. • 12-month On-Site Service Contract provided by Xerox." **CommcTcial Lease Plan, lease for as loiv as S 120/month. A Xemx Extended Service PUm pricing suirte at $303. 20MB, 1MBRAM $3,199 20 MB. 2 MB RAM $3,399 40 MB, 1MB RAM $3,499 40MB.2MBRAM $3,699 THE NEW DELL i486 33 MHz and 25 MHz EISA SYSTEMS. The best value in high performance PCs, combining i486 performance, 32-bit EISA I/O bus, and the industry's top rated service and support. STANDARDFEATURES: • i486 microprocessor running at 25 MHz or 33 MHz. • EISA architecture (downward compatible with ISA). •Standard 4 MB of RAM* expandable to 16 MB on system board, using optional 1 MB and 2 MB SIMMs. • VGA systems include a high performance 16-bit video adapter. • Socket for WEITEK 4167 math coprocessor. •5.25" 1,2 MBor3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive. • 5 half-height drive bays. • Dual diskette and hard drive controller. • Six 32-bit EISA (ISA compatible), plus two 16-bit ISA expansion slots. • High performance, IDE (80 MB, 100 MB, 190 MB), and ESDI (330 MB, 650 MB) hard disk drives. • Enhanced 101-key keyboard. • 1 parallel and 2 serial ports. • 231-watt power supply. • 12-month On-Site Service Contract provided by Xerox. A **Commercial l^ase Plan. Lease for as low as $232lmonth (425E) and $286/month (433E). ^"Xerox Extended Service Plan available. Call for pricing. 80 MB VGA Monochrome System 190 MB VGA Color Plus System 330 MB Super VGA Color System (800 : 650 MB Super VGA Color System (800 : 425E 433E 56,399 S 7.S99 $7,199 S 8,699 600) $8,099 $ 9.599 600) $9,299 $10,799 Prices listed include 4 MB of RAM. 100 MB hard drive configurations also available. The Dell Systems 433 E and 42 5 Bare Class A devices sold (or use in commercial environments only. 'Performance Enhancements: within the 6cm megabyte of mr.™,*. 128 KB (316SX.316LT and Zl0>or 384 KB (320LX. 325, 425E and 43} E) of memory is reserved for ^^^ -'''.''.'..,■. :. hased on 36-month, open-erd lease. Leasing arranged by Leasing Group. Inc. In Canada, configurations ;ind prices may vary DKLL SYSTEM is a reentered trademark and Dell. 4 33H ,,nd 425t arc It demarks of Dell Computer Comer tlo „. l m( .| js a R . m ,eted trademark and i486. 436 and 366 are tt.kiem.irk> of Intel Corporation. I R.scd on Compos published rrice list dated Match 5. 1990 lot Compaq OstPrt) 386/3) m»del84. with 387 coprocessor. 94 MB liarj dm« and video graphics monochrome monitor; and Dcskl'to 46625 model 120. 120 MRliarJ Jmt and video grar*>Ksm..no- chmme nvimwr. UNIX is i registered trademark of AT6tTm the Unite J Stales arvd other countries. Oilier trademarks and trade names .vcusoiroMcruitv the entmes claiming the nuiks and names ct rhcir produces. DellGimpntcrCorpot itxm Jrsclarmsanypri>ptieiaiy interest intrikiirmarksandti.kic rtimcs other than inmn "On sire service may m.t hcavail.iMc in tcrt.nnloc;u» reciter and an H(hS6/tS()88, H()2iS6 or S03S6 microprocessor. For optimum per- formance, FoxPro fakes complete advantage of any available EMS (expanded memory) or a math coprocessor. Trademark/Owner: FoxPro. Fo.\BASE+/Fox Software: dBASE III PLUS. dBASE IVJ Ashton-Tate. k Fox Software i Nothing Runs Like The Fox: Fox Software. I nc (419)874-0162 1 34 W. South Boundary FAX: (419) 874-S67S Perrvsburg. Ohio 4355 I Telex: 6503040827 FOX Circle 121 on Reader Service Card A laptop designed that while your your lap will stay p mmm EPSON *Third party drive port available from Manzana Microsystems, Inc. Epson is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation. with the knowledge needs may expand, retty much the same Introducing the Equity LT 386SX Laptop Adding power, speed and peripherals to a personal computer is a constant test of design innovation. Configuring a laptop to meet expanding needs becomes an even more demand- ing challenge because size, weight, and battery life come dramatically into play. Epson® engineers have / met that challenge with \ their new Equity LT 386SX, featuring one of the most powerful micropro- cessors available in a battery-powered J r Epson s unique, removable laptop. It is a design Of both distinC- hard drive: key component of the tiveneSS and Common Sense. most flexible laptop ever made. capacity, and a shock indicator that alerts the user to the occasional hard knock. The modular design of Epson's entire lap- top series suggests a new standard for custom- ized performance. The user can easily install or remove options such as a modem, extended Epson's Datasafe hard drive can be removed, making it easy to transport, or store separately for added security. With an optional* drive port, the hard drive can plug directly into a desktop computer. It offers a choice of 20 MB or 40 MB RAM, external keyboard, or 2/3 length industry standard card. The VGA screen can also be removed or left in place when using an external monitor. The Epson laptop indicates its own vital signs — battery life, speed, and disk drive in use — on a unique LCD status bar, and even has the good sense to turn off its own screen and hard drive when not in use. The LT 386SX offers a degree of speed, power and flexibility once limited to desktop computers. In fact, there is one feature of this remarkably engineered bit of technology that a desktop can only envy. Its size. Engineered For Th e Way You Work. *F^!^C J INI '— ■■ ©1990 Epson America, Inc.. 2780 Lomita Blvd., Torrance, CA 90505. (800) 922*8911. EDITORIAL ■ Fred Langa Happy Anniversary! To celebrate 1 5 years of publication, we've thrown you a party Senior Editor Ken Sheldon was standing in my door, a box in his hands. "Would you like to see the original, hand-assembled proto- type of the first IBM PC motherboard?" he asked. "I have it here." I knew that Ken was working on an ar- ticle on the first PC as one of many spe- cial articles for this anniversary issue- but the actual original prototype IBM PC motherboard? Holy smokes! Naturally, I said yes, and Ken then carefully unwrapped his prize. There it was: sire of all the PC progeny. Undoubt- edly, this mass of hand-wiring and tem- porary sockets was among the most sig- nificant technological artifacts of our time. I felt as if I should be wearing gloves to handle it. This was IBM's own original PC pro- totype—one of only two built. The other had been shipped to Microsoft in 1980 for development of the original PC soft- ware. What a treasure! You can see and read more about "The Creation of the IBM PC" on page 414 in this issue. But don't stop there, because that's just a sample of the gems that you'll find in this Special 15th Anniver- sary Issue. For example, in addition to a full, nor- mal complement of features, reviews, First Impressions, news, and columns, we also have the "BYTE Summit," be- ginning on page 226. In it, 63 world lead- ers of the microcomputing industry- drawn from both the business and tech- nological communities— address the 13 most important questions that will shape the industry for years to come. The "BYTE Summit" amounts to a sneak preview of the future, provided by those who will build that future. Why are we doing all this? Why pack so much into one issue? In a phrase, to say "Thank you." With this issue, BYTE completes its 15th year of publication— the only gener- al-circulation computer magazine ever to reach this milestone. You and a half mil- lion other readers around the globe have made it possible, and we wanted to pull out all the stops to give you a truly mem- orable issue. And what a 15 years it's been. BYTE was born along with the microcomputer industry, back when the idea of a com- puter of your own was still a novel con- cept. In fact, small computers weren't even called "personal computers" until BYTE coined the term, in our May 1976 issue. That's not the only common computer term that was born in BYTE. The Oxford English Dictionary, called the "final ar- biter of the origins and use" of the En- glish language, cites BYTE as the source for such computer terms as backslash, boot, bulletin (as in bulletin board), CD- ROM, clone, hacker, lap (as in laptop), transportable, user, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), and half a dozen other terms. BYTE not only was there at the start, but it helped define the whole genre as it grew and matured from a hobbyist pas- time to a cornerstone of modern busi- ness. As the computer industry changed, our readers' needs changed, and so did BYTE. For example, as off-the-shelf products proliferated, BYTE published the industry's first microcomputer re- views and the first comparative reviews. BYTE also created the first magazine- sponsored computer lab and provided the first widely used microcomputer bench- marks. Today, thanks to you, BYTE has reached record-high circulation levels and— because of your growing needs— is turning out more information than ever before, as you can see from the size of the issue you're holding. That information falls into two broad categories: buying and using today's hardware and software, and understand- ing the emerging technologies that will become the tools of tomorrow. As al- ways, BYTE is platform-independent, covering all major architectures and all significant operating systems. About a year ago, as BYTE entered its 15th year, I added up the text file of what we had published to that point and found that it topped some 150 megabytes— well over a billion bits. Now, as we're well on the way toward the second billion bits, we're deeply honored that you've chosen to read BYTE, and we pledge to continue to do our best to meet your high stan- dards. Happy anniversary! —Fred Langa Editor in Chief (BIX name "f langa") 10 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 New Turbo Debugger® & Tools See through your code Our new Turbo Debugger® & Tools 2.0 gives you the vision to take a closer look at your code. You can see a bug and kill it. See an execution bottleneck and get rid of it. See opportunities to fine-tune for maximum speed and go for it. Turbo Debugger & Tools is a professional pro- grammer's three-step secret for faster, more reliable applications. Step 1: Turbo Debugger 2.0 shows you where the bugs are Turbo Debugger® 2.0 has again advanced the art of debugging. It lets you go forward and also backward through your code TURBO DEBUGGER & TOOLS with a brand-new technique called reverse execution. With it, you step backward— undo- ing program execu- tion-to locate bugs previously passed over. And with our Turbo Drive'" tech- nology, you can debug the largest programs using 286 protected mode or 386 virtual mode. Turbo Debugger also supports object-oriented debugging in Turbo C++ and Turbo Pascal.® Circle 44 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 45) Step 2: Turbo Profiler "NEW" shows you where the bottlenecks are Turbo Profiler'" is the world's first interactive pro- filer for DOS. With it you can see exactly where improvements to your programs will cut through execution bottlenecks and deliver maximum speed. Turbo Profiler gives you a histogram of time- critical statistics, like how often each routine is called, how much time is spent in each routine, and how system resources are being used. Step 3: Turbo Assembler lets you put on the speed You can really put the pedal to the metal with Turbo Assembler,® the world's fastest MASM- compatible assembler. Replacing time-critical seg- ments using Turbo Assembler is the fast-track to Turbo-charged programming. Works with any compiler Turbo Debugger & Tools is available separately, or bundled together with Turbo C++ Professional or Turbo Pascal® Professional 2nd Edition. It also sup- ports any Microsoft® compiler supporting CodeView, any compiler generating .MAP files, and programs compiled by any DOS compiler at the machine- code level. BORLAND New Turbo Debugger & Tools Turbo Debugger 2.0 ■ New user interface with mouse support ■ Debug programs of any size with Turbo Drive on 286, 386 and remote debugging ■ Object-oriented debugging-browse class hierarchies, inspect objects ■ Walk through linked lists ■ Keystroke record/playback gives "instant replay" ■ 13 different program views, including breakpoints, watch and CPU Turbo Profiler ■ Tells how many times a line or routine is executed ■ Shows which files are accessed and for how long ■ Tells how efficient your overlays are ■ Displays interrupt usage and call history ■ 9 different program views Turbo Assembler 2.0 ■ Optimizing multipass assembler with NOP squishing ■ More compatible than and twice as fast as MASM Order now! Special limited time offer: Get Turbo Debugger & Tools for only $99^ (suggested retail price S149 95 ) * Registered owners of Turbo Assembler & Debugger, Turbo C® Professional or Turbo Pascal Professional can upgrade to Turbo Debugger & Tools for $59 95 . Call 1-800-331-0877 Code: MD23 "Oiler expires August 30, 1990. Oiler good in United States and Canada only. Turbo Assembler. Turbo Debugger. Turbo C, Tubo C-H-. Turbo Drive. Turbo Pascal. Turbo Pfoliler and Turbo Debugger & Tools are trademarks or registered trademarks ot Borland International, Inc Copyright ©1990 Borland International, Inc. All rights reserved. BI-1341 NEW OnrniKey/ULTRA iff Everything \fou Vknt 12 SF-keys on the top— use them as duplicates or to access CTRL, ALT, SHIFT combination commands with just one stroke! Period/Comma Lock key locks out < >• Repeat Rate select key lets you set rate • from 3-120 CPS inside DOS or a program 12 F-keys on the left— where your fingers naturally find them for fast CTRL, ALT, SHIFT key commands Quality lifetime double injected keycaps Weighs almost 5 lbs. Stays put on your desk— no matter how fast you type! Dvorak and AMIGA keytops available More features than any keyboard ever made! The touch that made Northgate OmniKey famous! 0/?]/7}/vey/ULTRA has the same crisp feel that rocketed Northgate to the top spot in keyboard design. The secret? ALPS tactile mechanical key switches that let you know each keystroke has registered with a precise "click". Double the function keys! You get 12 F-keys on the left— where you naturally reach for them. PLUS 12 programmable SF-keys on top perform SHIFF, CTRL or ALT functions. What a time saver in Word Perfect, Lotus and macro intensive programs! Caps Lock Switchable keys-ULTRA flexibility! Switch CTRL, ALT and CAPS LOCK at the left. Keep them as shown above or put them in the ^^^^^ standard IBM enhanced layout; CAPS LOCK NEXT TO "A", ALT next to space bar, CONTROL under kJ SHIFr. Right ALT and CTRL flop too Alt But that's just the beginning. With Om/}/7vey/ULTRA, you can even swap Backslash and Asterisk ... it's up to you! ; In A Keyboard! SF-Select key lets you program SF keys to perform CTRL, ALT and SHIFT functions Interchangeable BACKSLASH and ASTERISK Separate numeric keypad with extra equals key— Excel users love it! Separate cursor pad with extra down arrow— you get BOTH diamond and inverted T cursor arrangements! comma Period Lock Famous Northgate Functions! Never type U>S>A> when you want to type U.S.A.! Our Period/Comma Lock key locks out < > even when shifted! Instantly change Repeat/Delay rate from 3-1 20 CPS- Select just press Rate Select key! Zip through spreadsheets! Double down arrow cursor pad! Both diamond and inverted T cursor control options. An extra down arrow key adds so much flexibility! Separate numeric keypad, too! Cursor control is free at all times. Added equals key, too! And that's not all! Dip switches give you unmatched compatibility with IBM type systems: PC, AT, XT, Tandy, AT&T, Amstrand and AMIGA. FCC Class B Certified, too. Use the Keyboard Ofthe90's RISK FREE FOR 60 DAYS! Users all over the world told us what they wanted in their ultimate keyboard! We Heard You ... Now Here's Omni Key /ULTRA! The keyboard for everybody— combines the best of all popular layouts! No matter what layout you prefer— function keys on left or top, diamond-shaped or inverted T cursor controls ... you get it with O mniKey /ULTRA! Use OmniKey /ULTRA for 60 days! If it doesn't live up to everything we promise, return it. We'll refund every penny— including ground shipping charges! Keep your keyboard and it's backed by THE INDUSTRY'S STRONGEST WARRANTY- FIVE FULL YEARS! Any problems due to materials or workmanship we'll repair or replace OmniKeylVLTRA at no charge! OmniKey/ULTRA Another Northgate "Smart Tool For Business* 1 * 1 ONLY oo $149 FOB Minneapolis Use OmniKey/ULTRA Risk Free for 60 days! Phone for the Dealer Nearest You or Place Your Order Direct! 800-526-2446 CHARGE IT! We accept your VISA, MasterCard or Northgate Big *N' Credit Card. 1 IOURS: Mon. - Fri. 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sat. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Central. Dealer and Distributor prices available. FAX Your Order! 612-476-6443. Notice to the Hearing Impaired: Northgate now has TDD capability: Dial 800-535-0602. /' NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYSTEMS 1 Northgate Parkway, Eden Prairie, MN 55344 ©Northgau- Computer Systems, Inc. 1990. All rights reserved. Northern:, Omni Key and the Big'N'logo are trademarks of Northgate Computer Systems. Other brand names arc trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Specifications subject to change without notice. Subject to occasional inventory shortages. Circle 205 on Reader Service Card BYTE EDITORI N CHIEF Frederics. Langa MANAGING EDITOR Anne Fischer Lent NEWS New York: Managing Editor: Rich Malloy Associate News Editor Andrew Reinhardt Petertjor ough: Senior Editor, Microbytes: D. Barker Associate News Editors, What's New: David Andrews, Martha Hicks Editorial Assistant: Amanda Waterf ield San Francisco: News Editor: Owen Linderholm Associate News Editor: Jeffrey Bertolucci London: Senior Editor: Colin Barker BYTE LAB Managing Editor: Michael Nadeau Technical Director: Rick Grehan Senior Editor: Dennis Allen Technical Editors: Alan Joch, Robert Mitchell, Tom Yager Testing Editors/Engineers: Stephen Apiki, Stanford Diehl, Howard Eglowstein, Stanley Wszola STATE OF THE ART Senior Editor: Jane Morrill Tazelaar Technical Editor: Robert M. Ryan FEATURES SeniorEditor: Kenneth M. Sheldon Technical Editors: Janet J. Barron, Ben Smith SENIOR EDITORS, AT LARGE TomThompson, Jon Udell SPECIAL PRO JECTS Senior Editor: Gene Smarte SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jerry Pournelle CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Bill Catchings, Don Crabb, David Fiedler, Hugh Kenner, MarkJ. Minasi, Wayne Rash Jr., Mark L. Van Name CONSULTING EDITORS Jonathan Amsterdam, Nick Baran, Laurence H. Loeb, Trevor Marshall, Stan Miastkowski, Dick Pountain, Phillip Robinson, Peter Wayner COPYEDITING Chief Copy Editor: Lauren A. Stickler Copy Administrator: Cathy Kingery Copy Editors: Susan Colwell, Jeff Edmonds, Judy Grehan, Nancy Hayes, Margaret A. Richard, Warren Williamson EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Office Manager: Peggy Dunham Assistants: Linda C. Ryan, June Sheldon ART Director: Nancy Rice Assistant Director. Joseph A. Gallagher Art Assistants: Jan Muller, Lisa Nardecchia Technical Artist: Alan Easton PRODUCTION Director: David R. Anderson Senior Editorial Production Coordinator: Virginia Reardon Editorial Production Coordinators: Barbara Busenbark, Denise Chartrand TYPOGRAPHY Systems Manager: Sherry Fiske Applications Manager: Donna Sweeney Typesetter: Christa Patterson ADVERTISING SERVICES (603) 924-6448 Director of Advertising: Lisa Wozmak Assistant: Christine W. Tourgee Customer Service Supervisor: Linda Fluhr Senior Account Coordinator: Lyda Clark Account Coordinator: Dale J. Christensen Materials Coordinator: Karen Cilley Advertising Assistant: Roxanne Hollenbeck Creative Services Manager: Susan Kingsbury Production Artist: Lillian J. Wise Quality Control Managerial Chiu Li Production Coordinator: Rod Holden ADMINISTRATION Publisher's Assistant: Donna Nordlund MARKETING AND PLANNING Director: L. 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McGraw (1 860-1 948). ■i'j JJ Copyright © 1990 by McGraw-Hill, tlm | Inc. All rights reserved. BYTE and 1 BVIl: are registered trademarks of McGraw-Hill, Inc. Trademark registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. & Member Audit Bureau of Circulation 14 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 85l4Aresdutioa YGK price. If you want the ultimate VGA graphics standard, and you've resigned yourself to paying a premium of hundreds of dollars to get it, you'll find our newest monitor pleasant viewing indeed. The PanaSync C1381 gives you a sharp 1024 x 768 pixels, with 0.28 clot pitch. And virtually infinite color resolution. It's compatible with the most popular VGA boards, as well as analog RGB, MCGA, SuperVGA, and— of course — 8514/A standards* It's comfortable in virtually any IBM -compatible or Mac II environment.** And it's a masterpiece of ergonomics. With front- mounted controls, tilt/swivel stand, plus a non-glare tinted black- matrix screen. All this at a suggested retail price comparable to many of the ordinary VGA monitors on the market right now. For more information, simply call toll-free 1-800-742-8086. PanaPro™ Monochrome Desktop Publishing Monitors with Video Adapters. M1900 MP ME M1900 M2 Piffle «■ as -I Peripherals, Computers, Printers, Copiers, Typewriters and Facsimiles Panasonic, Office Automation/^^tt PanaSync™ Multiscanning Color Monitors. (MacSE) (Mac II) M3-R (IBM XT/AT & PS/2 Model 30) Circle 217 on Reader Service Card * VGA, MCGA and 8514/A are trade- marks of International Business Machines Corf). * IBM XT, AT and PS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corf). Macintosh is a reg- istered trademark of Apple Computer Inc. An optional cable is required for Macintosh. The ultimate portable for the ultimate program. Toshiba has combined the ultimate battery- operated portable, the T3100SX, with the ultimate program, Microsoft® Windows™ 3.0, to create the ultimate work environment TheT3100SX gives you everything you need to get down to business. Including the brute strength of the 386SX™ microprocessor. And there's no better screen in a portable. It has a brilliant 640 x 480 VGA gas plasma display and a 100:1 contrast ratio. All the other capabilities to unleash the power of Win- dows are there, too. Like 1MB of RAM that's expandable to 13MB. A choice of a 40MB or 80MB hard drive model. And 3 hours of battery life so you can work wherever you need to. Plus from now through the end of the year we'll give you Windows 3.0 free with every T3100SX. Put the latest in 386SX computing power to work for you. Turn on theT3100SX. And open a few windows TheToshibaT3100SX. Take it. See how far you can go. Since the T3100SX is battery operated, you can use powerful 386 applications wher- ever you choose. 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In Touch with Tomorrow TOSHIBA Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Computer Systems Division Circle 302 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 303) XEROX Ventura Publisher introduces the Gold Series. It simply does more, any way you look at it. And now there are several new ways to look at it. Because the desktop publisher that does more for you now does it all in the three leading PC environments. The Gold Series introduces new Ventura Publisher 3 editions for DOS/GEM, Windows 3.0, and OS/2 Presentation Manager. That means new ease of use and learning as well as compatibility with hundreds more software applications. All three new editions can use documents from Ventura Publisher 1.1 and 2.0. It does even more than before. The Gold Series gives you much more than a choice of environments. At no extra cost, each edition includes our Professional Extension and Network Server. So you also get such advanced DTP features as interactive table creation and scientific equation editing, cross referencing, and vertical justification. And you get networking. So several users can edit and proofread simultaneously as well as share stylesheets and network resources. On Novell, IBM, 3COM, and other Windows- and OS/2 Presentation Manager-compatible networks. Whether you're designing a newsletter or publishing a directory, you'll do it faster and more effectively with Ventura Publisher. Unique features give you more flexible and precise type control, and automate many steps other programs make you repeat over and over. Ventura Pubisher is the one DTP program that can handle all your publishing and design projects. If you want to do more in desktoppublish- ing, doesn't it make sense to use the program that does the most? Call today for more information about the new Ventura Publisher Gold Series. (800) 822-8221 in USA; (800) 228-8579 in Canada. For training information, call (800) 445-5554. Ventura Software Inc., a Xerox company. Ventura Publisher Gold Series It simply does more. Ventura Publisher" is a trademark of Ventura Software Inc., a Xerox company. XEROX* is a trademark of XEROX CORPORATION All other product names or trademarks are property of their respective owners. © 1990, Ventura Software Inc. Circle 312 on Reader Service Card MlCROBYTES Research news and industry developments shaping the world of desktop computing Edited by D. Barker The Lotus Case: Judge Rules User Interface Is Protected by Copyright When U.S. District Court Judge Robert Keeton issued his final declaration in the look-and-feel lawsuit filed by Lotus Development against Paperback Software, he wrapped up at least the first phase of one of the most closely watched legal cases ever to hit the computer industry. Judge Keeton's decision was firm and unambiguous, and if it sticks, it could deal a deathblow to software cloning, even in the form of a "compatibility" option such as that offered in Borland's Quattro Pro. Although Keeton's ruling would not provide precedence for similar court cases being heard elsewhere in the country (e.g., Apple's suit against Microsoft over Windows), it's a significant decision in the legal wran- gling over the protection of noncode aspects of software. Keeton tossed aside the nebulous concept of look and feel in favor of the more prosaic principle of "structure, sequence, and organization" to find that 1-2-3's user interface is a creative "expression" worthy of copyright protection. If the logic holds firm through subsequent court chal- lenges — some observers predict it won't — it could become more difficult for software engineers to create products that don't infringe. Among the giant look-and-feel cases twisting their way through the courts, the suit filed in 1987 by Lotus against two companies that make 1-2-3 work- alikes, Paperback Software (VP- Planner) and Mosaic Software (Twin), might have been the cleanest. The battle between Apple and Microsoft/Hewlett- Packard over Windows is complicated by messy contractual and licensing issues, while the suit filed by Ashton- Tate against dBASE doner Fox Software involves tricky questions about the copyrightability of computer languages and of products derived from publicly funded research. At its most basic, the Lotus case promised to answer the question of how much copying is too much. As in any copyright case, the judge had to first determine whether 1-2-3 was indeed copyrightable and then whether the defendants' products "/ conclude that a menu command structure is capable of being expressed in many if not an unlimited number of ways, and that the command structure of 1-2-3 is an original and nonobvious way of expressing a command structure. "The user interface of 1-2-3 is its most unique element, and is the aspect that has made 1-2-3 so popular. That defendants went to such trouble to copy that element is a testament to its substantiality. 11 1 must disregard defendants experts' predictions of doom for the computer programming industry if copyright is extended to the user interface and other nonliteral elements of computer programs. . . . Rather, this legal issue must be resolved in such a way as to extend copyright protection, clearly and unequivocally, to those nonliteral elements of computer programs that embody original expression." — Judge Robert Keeton violated that copyright. There is virtually no legal dispute over the right to protect underlying source and object code, and in any event there was no evidence here that Paperback Software had copied 1-2-3 code. The problem was whether by imitating 1-2-3's menus and commands the defendants had acted unlawfully. In making his determination, the judge said that he had not found the concept of look and feel, as expressed in earlier lawsuits outside the software industry, to be helpful; rather, he relied on Lotus's definition of a user interface, as determined by the structure and organization of menus, the macro language, the use of function keys, and so on. Keeton quickly pointed out that Lotus doesn't own the concept of an electronic spreadsheet. He also found certain elements of 1 -2-3 's user interface to be nonprotectable; for example, he said that the use of a rows-and-columns screen airangement with horizontal and vertical cell addresses was not copy- rightable because Lotus didn't invent it and it was essentially the only way to organize a spreadsheet. If the realization of an electronic spreadsheet involved no creativity beyond what was dictated by the concept itself, 1-2-3's user interface would not be copyrightable. But Keeton found the organization and wording of the program's descending menu tree to constitute the essence of its commercial and intellectual value. According to Esther Schachter, editor of Computer Law and Tax Report, Keeton looked at the "gestalt" of 1-2-3, rather than at specific words or screens, to determine that it is indeed an original work. The judge also said that even though commands such as Print or File Retrieve are functional in nature, that doesn't preclude awarding protection to the overall menu scheme. The most important point in support of 1-2-3's nonunique originality came from alternative products on the market. Paperback Software argued that 1-2-3 was a market standard and that achiev- ing success required making a program "compatible" with the standard's keystrokes, macros, and file format. But Keeton saw the success of programs such as Microsoft Excel and Computer Associates' SuperCalc4 as evidence that other, incompatible spreadsheet designs were technically feasible and commer- cially viable. After finding that 1-2-3's structure was original, the judge had to determine whether that structure represented a "substantial" part of its expressiveness. continued SEPTEMBER 1990 • BYTE 19 MICROBYTES NANOBYTES One plaintiff happy with U.S. District Court Judge Robert Keeton's ruling in the Lotus/Paperback Software case is Ashton-Tate (Irvine, CA), which sued Fox Software and The Santa Cruz Operation way back in 1988 for allegedly violating the look and feel of its dBASE products, a suit that Fox said has "absolutely no merit." "We think the judge should be given a Nobel prize," Stan Witkow, vice president and general counsel for Ashton-Tate, told BYTEWEEK. Weighing in with a different opinion was the League for Programming Freedom, which planned to protest the Lotus lawsuits with its second march to the company's headquarters in Cambridge, MA. "The Lotus victory sets a precedent that threat- ens to bollix the entire software industry. . . . Imagine if there were a copyright on the layout of keys on the typewriter," the league said in its official statement. "We are marching to call public attention to the new monopoly that is being rammed through the courts." Besides cof ounder Richard Stallman (MacArthur Fellowship winner and father of the Free Software Founda- tion), the league's membership includes AI pioneer Marvin Minsky and Lisp inventor John McCarthy. The National Science Foundation is working with industry and academia to develop an advanced computer network expected to transmit 1 billion bits of data per second. More than $100 million for the project has come from corporations, including IBM, AT&T, MCI, and the regional Bell telephone companies. Among the universities involved are MIT, the California Institute of Technol- ogy, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California at Berkeley. Government laboratories in the project include Lawrence Livermore (California), Los Alamos (New Mexico), and the five super- computing centers. NSF official Stephen Wolff said he is confident that "new sorts of wonderment will ensue" from the project. Weather forecasting, three-dimensional medical imaging, and multimedia teleconferencing are some of the applications planned for the network. "That the answer to this question is 'yes' is incontrovertible," he wrote. "The user interface of 1 -2-3 is its most unique element." Chilling? The value of Keeton's decision as legal precedent will remain unknown until future cases have passed through the courts. Paperback Software has vowed to appeal. The resolution of this knotty problem might end up in the U.S. Supreme Court if Congress doesn't act first to provide legislative clarification. Some analysts said that the Keeton decision greatly expands the definition of copyright protection for software. The judge apparently found the copyright violation so obvious and egregious that he was able to pronounce in fairly sweeping terms that the structure and organization of 1 -2-3 represent its primary value. A more subtle case of copying might have required a finer definition of structure. But Keeton also complained in his decision about the lack of solid precedents and said that he opted for a strict reading of congressional statutes. In that sense, the decision is quite narrow: He refused to consider the defendants' wish that he forge new copyright law by drawing a "bright line" to limit software copyrighting to the underlying code. To do so would exceed his jurisdiction, Keeton said. Keeton also declined to consider — although he did take testimony on the subject over Lotus's objections — philosophical questions about the "chilling effect" of a finding for Lotus. He wrote that numerous experts, including VisiCalc coauthor Dan Bricklin, testified against extending copyright protection beyond underlying code. But he concluded that the views of these experts contradict the evident intentions of Congress in its 1976 and 1 980 copyright statutes. Tom Lemberg, chief counsel for Lotus, not surprisingly argues that protecting the user interface actually helps software innovation. "We see it as a great victory for innovation because it provides a framework that allows people to invest in engineering and be protected enough to recover their investments," Lemberg said. "If the law protected the right of a programmer to copy the de facto standard, then there would be no need to innovate." "99% Different" Doesn't Count A few key elements of Keeton's decision could spell trouble for Borland, subject of Lotus's latest legal action, and other companies that incorporate what can be construed as 1-2-3-like menus. The judge quoted from earlier decisions that "the piracy of even a quantitatively small fragment . . . may be qualitatively substantial," and "a laundry list of specific differences . . . will not preclude a finding of infringe- ment where the works are substantially similar in other respects." "If one publishes a 1000-page book of which only a 10-page segment is an unauthorized reproduction of copy- righted material, and if the 1 0-page segment is a qualitatively substantial part of the copyrighted work, \l \s not a defense to a claim of infringement that the book is 99% different from the copyrighted material." Other cases, particularly the suit between Apple and Microsoft, might have more to say about the problem of defining originality and copyright in a standards-based software environment. A finding as broad as Keeton's could cause nothing but confusion when independently developed applications use similar screens, menus, and file formats. And if we ever achieve the world of small, interchangeable program "objects" envisioned by Bill Gates and other software developers, we'll be in a real legal mess. — Andy Re in hard t Macintosh Veterans Conjuring New Magic Two of the prime forces behind the Macintosh are heading up a new Apple spin-off to develop "personal intelligent communicator" products. Bill Atkinson, principal designer of MacPaint and HyperCard, and Andy Hertzfeld, author of most core Macin- tosh software, along with Marc Porat, ex-manager of business development at Apple's Advanced Technologies Group, will be the "executive team" heading General Magic, Inc. Just what's going on with GMI has been a topic of quiet but rampant speculation, since the new company was green-lighted by Apple 90 days before it was publicly announced. Apple would say only that the "concern will address market segments outside of Apple's mainstream business." But deducing from their past work and continued 20 BYTE • SEPTEMBER 1990 ljfc**«1«* mi2\i £§" OFNCIAl COM O MANUAL 1948 Still writing code with the same old tools? You're only as good as the tools you use. An excellent reason to acquire the new Microsoft® Windows™ Software Development Kit Tools tailo r-made to build applications for the huge new Windows market. Including a specially made CodeView® debugger for Windows that easily debugs even the largest applications. And all the "how to" J help you'll ever need— from the extensive hard copy and online documentation to the sample source code to the comprehensive IBM @ CUA style guide. Plus some sophisticated analysis tools and improved resource editors. All of which suggests that if you're not Offer good only in the 50 United States. Payment in U.S. funds (plus a $7.50 shipping and handling fee and applicable sales tax). Please allow ttw to four weeks for ilelii h n: © 1990 Microsoft Corporation. All rights t 1 1 the Microsoft ■uid Making it all make sense and Wind- ■ ttcrosoft Corporation. IBM 'is a registers" ' ' " * ' . ^ . ,, ., •, Nutrition Corporation which does not i m I lows SDK and is not affiliated with Microsoft. using our SDK, then you're trying to write tomor- row's programs with yesterday's tools. But that's a situation you can easily fix with the following official code numbers: (800) 323-3577 Dept.M24 Call now to update your old kit with the Windows version 3.0 SDK at $150 per kit. Or call us just to answer your questions. The sooner you dial, the sooner you can really go to work on Windows apps. Instead of just toying around with them. (800) 323-3577 fJCTf Making it all make sense" teksfor delivery. ©1990 Microsoft Corporatim CodeVie tered trademark of Ink > i ' I V MIDNIGHT k thereg narkofSandoz We Wrote The Book Appreciate Microsoft I ABC Flowcharter™ for easier flowcharting than ever before. Converter for simple con- version of applications from HyperCard® to ToolBook® Micrograf x® Designer™ for easy artwork creation from imported images. ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS INNOVATES AGAIN™ Now when you buy any Zenith Data Systems hard drive 286 or 386 desktop PC, you get Microsoft Windows™ v.3.0 preinstalled plus a free Microsoft Mouse. Giving your Windows applica- tions a common look, so you can pick up new applications easily. Almost seamlessly. And, you get something more. Manufacturers' rebates of up to $450 on today's most advanced software Superbase® 4. Relational appli- cations database. Powerful, yet easy to learn and use. designed for Windows v.3.0. Everything from Aldus® PageMaker™ to Microsoft Word™ for Windows. Purchase a qualifying Zenith Data Systems hard drive desktop PC today. And receive up to $450 in rebates. But hurry, this offer is good for purchases made through September 28, 1990. For more information and the name of your nearest Medallion Reseller, call 1-800-523-9393. On How Tb Fully Windows \fersion 3.0. I . .-.: , •■ •, ..- .. AJdmlh^Miker Performance ""of PageMaker "3'B'I Improved by New Windows 3.0 Aldus® PageMaker® for design and production of professional- quality documents. Corel® DRAW! The ideal illustra- tion program for novices or professionals. MM) | •.* C-.lEj« | l^a^ V^'Si "%£*£? %am Microsoft® Excel™ for powerful spreadsheets, with spectacular charting. ■ %£%+* -*^B| 1^ „*[['''' Windows Workstation™ Network- ing with Windows made simple. Mm Tn^' A Wop Pkvtwb * Ami® Professional for total "word publishing" with text and page layout tools. DynaComm® An ideal communi- cations solution —in synchronous or asynchronous versions. tmiatmtmw ■ i-n-ir 1 ' :*.m>-*L' ■»..!.»;?» Ai.<;t J*i*-itw- i. t + -< . ..■■.■•-• — - :■?-•• •»:■ -- ■:■ .... l-- r t LLLII b,;x:; ',r^vV^:y^ Microsoft Word for Windows™ for quickly combining text, graphics and data. The Microsoft Mouse. The industry standard for fingertip control. The Zenith Data Systems Sphere The universal symbol of simplicity, the sphere perfectly represents The Seamless Solution™ from Zenith Data Systems. ZENITH data systems Groupe Bull CA-Cricket Presents™ for creat ing sensational presentation graphics. _ - . a 'mmrnm 1. Legacy™ for advanced word processing and "WYSIWYG" page layout. Limit one rebate per coupon. Void where prohibited. Other restrictions apply. See rebate book forf ull details available at participating locations. Offer not available through Zenith Data Systems Education Resellers, or on software sold at education pricing. Not available in conjunction with any other offer. Where indicated, product and company names are trademarks of their respective holders. Graphics simulate Microsoft® Windows Version 3.0, a product of Microsoft Corporation.© 1990 Zenith Data Systems Corporation Circle 327 on Reader Service Card MICROBYTES NANOBYTES PostScript laser printers are taking a dive in price. QMS (Mobile, AL), which has tended to set price trends in this field, zapped $1000 off its eight-page-per-minute models. The 68000-controlled PS 810 and 820 now sell for $3995 and $4995. QMS also knocked $500 off its 68020- based Turbo models, which now sell for $5995 and $6995. Meanwhile, Oce Graphics (Mountain View, CA) reduced the price of its color printer by $2000; the thermal printer now sells for $8990. While lawn-conscious Americans were mowing their yards this summer, several top computer makers were mowing their prices. Tandy (Fort Worth, TX) did its usual hot-weather trimming, lowering the price of the 2800 HD laptop from $3499 to $2999 (and, until the end of this month, throwing in a free cellular phone) and cutting the 1000 TL/2 from $1299 to $999. As a "competitive pressure move," Zenith Data Systems (Mt. Prospect, IL) pruned $300 off its Z-386 SX desktop computer. The company shaved a similar amount off the price of the SupersPort 286e portable. And with new versions in the works, NEC Technologies (Wood Dale, IL) took the price-whacker to its UltraLite laptop, buzzing off as much as $1000. The 2-MB model is now $1999; the 1-MB model, $1599. Novell (Provo, UT) plans to start shipping this fall a family of products for enabling NetWare 386 LANs to communicate with IBM mainframes. The software and associated architecture, collectively called NetWare 386 Communication Services, supports mainframe links over Token Ring networks and Synchronous Data Link Connection links. The family of connectivity packages will consist of NetWare 386 Services for SAA 1.0, which runs on the server, and NetWare 3270 LAN Workstation packages for Windows 3.0, DOS, and Macintosh systems plugged into the network. Software that will allow OS/2 or Unix workstations on a NetWare LAN to communicate with a main- frame will be released in 1991, said Gerry Machi, director of marketing for Novell communications products. information from sources familiar with the project, GMI is working on a hand- held device for writing and sending electronic messages. Some Apple watchers say that the machine will use a pen and tablet and be capable of reading handwritten input. HyperCard evolved from a minimalist Rolodex program that Bill Atkinson wrote in 1985; it used a card as an information container. A machine smaller than the Mac might require a smaller information container in a smaller working environment — say, a "postcard" instead of a "desktop." Those postcards need addresses if you want to send them anywhere, and Atkinson has already shown that he can make a hypertext-linked database out of cards, with a proprietary data-compres- sion scheme that minimizes storage requirements of those cards. This compression scheme would be essential in such a system. Andy Hertzf eld codes mostly in assembly, which allows him to write fast and tight programs. Such programs would be perfect for a hand-held machine. Marc Porat's background includes setting up large-scale networks. It's likely that these postcards will be delivered by way of a special network; according to some sources, the GMI machine will operate with both radio waves (using Motorola's Ardis network, one source said) and telephone lines. Porat's latest stint at the Ad- vanced Technologies Group has kept him up on the latest R&D, such as work going on in handwriting recognition. The fact that Apple has a nonexclusive license to manufacture what GMI conjures up implies that there's another manufacturing concern involved in this, but quietly. Insiders say that Sony is involved; that company has had a long relationship with Apple, providing it with power supplies and disk drives. Sony recently introduced a product called the CPT-1 that has been, interest- ingly enough, impossible to find in stores around San Francisco. The CPT-1 has a pen attached to it that lets you use handwritten characters as input. If Sony were to provide pen hardware and screens for GMI, it could also supply the same hardware to other computer companies. GMI's communicator might very well use a pen instead of a key- board. You can select an icon with a pen instead of a mouse. If this machine is to be more useful than an automated FiloFax, it will have to print things out. If it has a thermal printer, why not use it as a fax machine as well? Observers also speculate that this device will have an internal modem that's fax-compatible. In any case, the device that GMI will produce won't be immediately forth- coming. One Apple insider put it this way: "Think of what the Macintosh was envisioned as in 1 98 1 . That had changed drastically by 1982, and it didn't ship until 1984. They have a vision; now they need time to develop it." — Laurence H. Loeb Experimental Holographic System Promises Massive Data Storage, Rapid Access After several years of research, Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. (Austin, TX) says that it has developed a working model of holographic data storage. The federally funded MCC says that within two years, it could have prototype storage systems with a capacity of up to a gigabyte, read access times of between 1 and 10 us, and write times of approxi- mately 100 us. This would mean an average data transfer rate of between 100and800MBps. MCC says that a future commercial product derived from this technology could store 1.125 terabytes and be capable of read times as low as 100 ns and write times of 10 us; the data transfer rate could be as fast as a phenomenal 50 gigabytes per second, MCC officials say. The eventual cost of such a data storage device would be about the same per bit as magnetic drives and optical disks, says MCC. Previous attempts at manufacturing holographic data storage systems failed because it proved impossible to retain the data for more than a few reads. One of MCC s patents concerns a new technique involving static electric fields and polarized laser beams, which allows for a much higher rate of data retention. The other patent concerns the use of an array of crystallites to store data, rather than the previous technique of using a single large crystal. Holographic data storage works by embedding holographic patterns inside a crystal. Holograms are formed when a reference beam and an image beam of laser light intersect. Multiple holograms continued 24 BYTE • SEPTEMBER 1990 Other laser printers ra+Avjii one standard dot size. HP makes it a ASTRONOMY IS |~| 111 ' > * LOOKING THE HIR8CH REPORT OF THE SKIES VOL 6, NO, 4, FALL 1880 STAR SHORTS Reported by The Star Every day billions of teor-burst communlca- dust particles enter In- tlon a practical and to Earth's atmosphere, economical alternative Now scientists are to the use of tele- working to make me- (continued on paga 2} Vou Cetft See the Greet Well from the Moon/ Everyone has heard an astronaut, it's dlffl- that you can see the cult even seeing conti- Great Well of China nents. You may be able from the Moon. Or from to see the Great Wall Earth orbit. Or even from orbit- but, In gen- from Mars. Certainly oral, it's difficult even you cannot see the to see familiar objects; Great Wall from the the planet's swift mo- Moon. According to (continued on paga 3) Voyager's Lest Picture Show: Whan Voyager 2 was launched 12 years ego, who could have Imagined these photos at this point in time. 1^— ^— c O H More on planetary explosions Inside, m BLACK HOLES? Scientists ere still unable to confirm the existence of even a single black hole, despite widespread belief that such things should exist. Tracking down these invisible objects isn't easy, because they can only be studied Indirectly by the effects they have on their surroundings. There ere several types of places that (continued on pegs 31 MIRROR, MIRROR it's a chore, but all reflecting tele- scopes require cleaning their reflective mirrors. Eventually, the aluminum coat- ing on their mirrors deteriorates end needs replacing. For large Instruments, the process requires removing the tela- Icontlnued on page 61 CHAIblREACTION I A 1 ' J ^t H t M I C A 1 I I T T I R mtiTOii twin ■ IH!UI«UIII.SM ■ Now I .en lis In Metal- Orgunle ilnomtotry IWhnt'u Now In Superconductivity? Antlmutter Bottled Fifty Yean Ago Motnl-orgiinic ehomiitry bridges tho grip botwoon organic And trior* gnnic chemistry. It can load to Important new products (for example, poison untldotoi) A cholsw.such hi ELYI'A above (containing carbon, hydrogon, oxygen and nltrogon atoms) can surround ion* of metals and romovo them from unwanted plncoi. (continued next page) It was almost exactly three years ago theta ccrtimlc material that euperconducu above llq uld nitrogen temperature was discovered, Within days of the discovery, electronics, power transmission, and transportation were being redoflnod In everyone'elmaglnation Yet superconductivity was not a now phonomenon, Tho effect was first observod In mercury in 1911, and, since then, more than 8000 ele- ments, Alloys, and compounds have been (bund to superconductl (continued nextpagt) A dovlce testod may give Investigators a glimpse of what an antimat- ter world might look liko. Tho device cools antimatter to a temperature a few degroes above absolute xoro and stores It for several days *t n time, (continued next page) Rumor ho* It that boforo WWII, our chomists were experimenting with a distilling procoss to lower the calorlos of ordinary beer, Abandoning tho research at tho onset of world war, researchors then pursued the development of a sholf-stablo ration. Don't beliovo all rumors. D Introducing the new HP LaserJet III printer with Resolution Enhancement technology. The rules have changed. Now the name of the game is Resolution Enhancement technology. You'll call it the best thing to happen to laser printing since the very first HP LaserJet printer. It gives you clearer resolution. Curves that really curve. And edges that are never jagged. Instead of a "one-size-fits-all" dot, HP's built-in intelligence varies dot sizes. So they can fill areas where © 1990 Hewlett-Packard Company P E 1 2003 they could never go before. For clearer, more professional-looking documents. Resolution Enhancement technology shrinks dots to fit in curves and diagonals where they've never gone before. whole newball game. A x ¥7* Mirror HNORTH «/5h NORTH HXnOSHr/3 HinosH S9j8uy "Angles dty&S. ms\ «fe ^s> <* c* ^ mm wmmm mmmmm I But there's more than better print quality. 14 bit-mapped fonts and 8 internal scalable typefaces provide thousands of options. And enhance- ments to our PCL5 printer language, including our HP-GL/2 graphics language, let you print portrait and landscape on the same page. Reverse and angled type. Spirals. Even shaded text. You can also plug in Adobe PostScript® software. For all its new features, the $2,395* list price of the HP LaserJet III is a good deal less than the HP LaserJet Series II printer it replaces. With the same hardware compatibility, wide range of applications, 8 ppm print speed, and software compati- bility, including WordPerfect 5.1 and WordStar® 6.0. And the same reliability as the rest of the HP printer family. So call 1-800-752-0900, Ext. 1007. Ask for our booklet on Resolution Enhance- ment technology and where to find your nearest authorized HP dealer. We'll put you in a whole new league. There is a better way. n HEWLETT PACKARD 'Suggested U.S. list price. WordStar is a U.S. registered trademark of WordStar International Incorporated. Adobe and PostScript are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. MICROBYTES NANOBYTES Intel (Santa Clara, CA) has a new single-chip cache memory control- ler for 386-based systems that's designed around the advanced cache built into the i486. Intel claims that the new 386 SmartCache chip (more formally called the 82395 DX), which integrates 16K bytes of static RAM with the cache controller, is the equal of 128K-byte memory caches. The new million-transistor chip incorporates 1000 cache tags as well as the control logic and static RAM. The chip uses a caching technique called write-buffer, essen- tially a write-through cache with a 128-bit buffer. This eliminates much of the typical delay associated with write-through caches, which need to write directly to memory and use CPU cycles and bus bandwidth to do it. The CPU can return to processing while the cache controller handles the buffering to memory. Hoping to help establish standards in object-oriented computing, the Object Management Group (Fram- ingham, MA) has issued a "request for information" on technologies that will help it define its Object Request Broker, the means by which objects handle requests and responses. The ORB is the "primary message delivery vehicle" in an object- oriented system, a spokesperson explained. A common ORB could result in a transparent mechanism for swapping information between different types of computers in a distributed environment, the OMG says. If you're interested in working with the OMG, phone (508) 820- 4300 or fax (508) 820-4303. The new wristwatch pager from AT&E (San Francisco) and Seiko could change the definition of remote communications. The Seiko Receptor MessageWatch Receiver's most remarkable achievements are in miniaturization: The device contains a digital watch, an LCD, an FM receiver, and microelectronics (intelligence and memory) in a package slightly larger than a wrist- watch. The chip set used in the Receptor might find its way into laptop computers, AT&E says. The paging system relays messages using phone networks and subcarrier FM channels. are stored in a single crystal by altering the angle at which the beams enter the crystal. At the intersection point of the two beams, a standing wave is formed, similar to light interference patterns. The pattern is stored by a charge field that captures photo electrons from the beam. If the reference beam is retrans- mitted to the crystal, the holographic image is regenerated and can be read. However, during this readout, the electronic charge pattern is weakened, and after a few reads, it disappears. MCC's technique to get around this involves using a strong electric field 90 degrees out of phase and converting the electron charge pattern to an ionic charge pattern. This ionic pattern is not destroyed by reads in the same manner as the electron pattern. "We have not yet assessed if you can let this pattern sit for years and years," warned MCC's Jerry Willenbring. Another technique that MCC has developed and patented involves using an array of crystals rather than a single large crystal. Although in theory there should be no difference in the storage capabilities, using an array has a number of practical advantages, including eliminating "cross talk." Cross talk is an interference problem caused by the laser beam activating an adjacent hologram that interferes with the data readout. Using an array of crystals eliminates cross talk between adjacent holograms. MCC plans to use stacks of pages to store data and is limiting each crystal to a single stack. Using multiple small crystals in an array also has cost benefits. It's far more difficult to artificially grow large crystals than small ones, so it's cheaper to use a cluster of bonded crystals rather than a single large ciystal. Also, an array can be scaled and enlarged as required, whereas a single large crystal cannot. MCC plans to have a working storage device by early 1992 and to have commercial products by 1995. The holographic storage modules will be ideal for computer storage applications, as well as for use in digital high- definition TV, video, and audio. — Owen Linderholm EFF: Bringing Bill of Rights into Computer Age Lotus founder Mitch Kapor and several industry colleagues have formed an organization they say will fight to ensure that the Bill of Rights covers computer-based communication and electronic information. The purpose of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (Cambridge, MA) is to combat viola- tions of civil liberties, Kapor says, as well as to educate government poli- cymakers, law enforcement agencies, and the public about computers. The EFF has taken heat from some members of the industry because they see it as simply a "hacker defense fund," and some law enforcement officials are not necessarily in favor of it. "It's as if NOW started a foundation to come to the assistance of [people charged in] rape cases," says Don Ingraham, chief of the high-tech crime team and an assistant district attorney for Alameda County in northern California. "We don't know what to think of it." He says he doesn't under- stand why the computer industry would defend people trying to break into their systems. But Kapor says that is not the organization's purpose. "Unauthorized entry into computer systems is an improper act," he stresses. "It ought to be illegal. It's not the mission of the foundation to provide legal defense for people who break into computer systems. If people are ripping off credit card numbers and posting them on bulletin boards, there are laws about that, and I hope they're appropriately enforced," Kapor says. It is important that freedoms provided in the Bill of Rights be associated with electronic information as well as information on paper, says Russell Brand, senior computer scientist for Reasoning Systems and a government consultant on computer security. "Paper is archaic," he says. "If your civil rights become attached to paper, they become archaic, and you lose. The Bill of Rights has to be attached to all forms of technology." Even in the case of suspected criminals, due process needs to be followed. "Privacy issues start with the people you hate," he says. Ingraham points out that authorities have to be able to search computers for incriminating evidence; otherwise, it's like freeing people from being searched as long as they can afford a computer. And the computer itself, as well as the hard disks containing data, must be seized to guarantee that the evidence came from a defendant's computer rather than that of the DA's office, he continued 28 BYTE • SEPTEMBER 1990 MOW YOUR SOFTWARE CAN TEST ITSELF. ■0 our customers expect software that works. All the time. The key to software quality is exhaustive testing. It's also an engineer's worst nightmare. But it doesn't have to be. Because now you can automate your soft- ware testing. Introducing the Atron Evaluator. The first and only non-intrusive automated PC-based software testing tool. The Atron Evaluator automatically runs your soft- ware regression testing programs. All of them. All day. All night. Giving you thoroughly tested, higher quality software. The Atron Evaluator is hardware-based. And since it's non-intrusive, software behavior is tested with- out the risk of alteration. Once your tests have run, you can refer to automatically generated test reports to double-check test results. The Atron Evaluator saves time. And time makes you money. Development cycles are shortened, so your software gets to market sooner. And while your test programs are running, you can be more produc- tive. Start a new project. Or go home. For more information about the Atron Evaluator, call us at 1-800-283-5933. And put an end to your worst nightmares. Automatically. A Division of CADRE Technologies Saratoga Office Center 12950 Saratoga Avenue Saratoga, California 95070 Circle 30 on Reader Service Card In Europe, contact: Eiverex Limited, Enterprise House Plassey Technology Park, Limerick, Ireland Phone: 061-338177 QA Training Limited, Cecily Hill Castlt- Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 2EF, England Phone: (0285) 5888 MICROBYTES NANOBYTES Apple Computer reversed its 1987 decision to spin software develop- ment off into a separate company and will keep Claris as a fully owned subsidiary. Claris, which had planned excursions into Windows and maybe even the exotic lands of OS/2 and Unix, will now focus its development and marketing efforts on its flagship applications, such as ClarisCAD; extensions to Apple's system software; and products that link the Macintosh with other computing environments. "There will be a greater emphasis on software as a point of differentiation in coming years in the industry," said Apple spokesperson Chris Escher. "We want to maximize our software differentiation and get optimized applications out there." Dayna Communications plans to soon ship a new series of Ethernet cards for Mac lis and SE/30s. The new DaynaPort for Ethernet cards are based on technology licensed from Novell's Kinetics division and will cost $495. Mr. Jobs' Journal: Former BYTE West Coast bureau chief Nick Baran plans to launch this month a newsletter covering the NeXT Computer and related subjects. Baran' s Tech Letter will aim to provide users and developers with news and analysis of products and technology issues. A subscription to the monthly, advertising-free publication is $125. For more information: P.O. Box 876, Sand- point, ID 83864, (208) 265-5286. Sorry you bought those Billy Joel compact disks? Want to swap that Paula Abdul for The Ramones? Call the Compact Disc Exchange (San Francisco), a new electronic BBS for buying and selling music CDs. There's also an area for "gabbing about music," says system operator Wayne Gregori. For every disk you sell (the average price on the board is about $10), CDE takes "a small percentage of the sale as a fee." As Gregori says, the system is especially useful for music listeners living in small towns or rural areas, where you're more likely to find used 45s than used CDs for sale. To go on- line, dial (415) 824-7603. says. Ingraham stresses that law enforcers do follow the laws. "If the argument is with the way the stuff is seized, then they're barking up the wrong tree." With the EFF, Kapor hopes to educate law enforcement officials on technical fine points. "We haven't spoken yet with law enforcement officials, but we're trying to find occasions to get across a table from each other and talk." One of the group's first steps was a grant to Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, which will use the money for its Computing and Civil Liberties Project. CPSR will also conduct "policy roundtables" with computer users, hackers, lawmakers, the FBI, and industry representatives. — Sharon Fisher Superconductor Chips Now Rolling Off the Line Superconductors hold mighty potential, but researchers are still working on real-life applications. Now a small Silicon Valley start-up is doing something that should lead to supercon- ductor-based products. Conductus (Sunnyvale, CA) has started producing superconductor chips that could be the brains of superf ast computers and advanced communications systems. Superconductors allow electricity to pass through them with little or none of the resistance that constricts the flow of electricity in conventional conductors. Conductus doesn't do any supercon- ductor research itself but focuses on combining new superconductor technology with existing semiconductor manufacturing methods to build commercially viable products. Conductus has developed a process that involves placing a thin layer of superconducting film on top of the semiconductor. The technique deposits yttrium barium copper oxide on a 1-inch wafer that's then sliced into chips. The devices have found their way into a number of niche products, Smith said, including a bolometer, which is an infrared sensor for use in space satellites and chemical instruments, and the SQUID (or superconducting quantum interference device), a sensor for detecting magnetic fields. Among Conductus's current custom- ers are a number of "big companies" that Smith declined to identify. Com- puter behemoth Hewlett-Packard is among the company's investors, according to a spokesperson. Conductus is focusing on niche markets because those markets aren't profitable enough for large Japanese and American corporations, many of which are currently developing superconductor applications. The company says that it expects to produce about 1 2,000 chips annually, which will sell for as much as $1000 each. — Jeffrey Bertolucci AMD Selling 80287 Coprocessor for $99 Advanced Micro Devices (Austin, TX) has developed a fully compat- ible version of the Intel 80287 coproces- sor and is selling it for $99. The AMD 80C287 is the first Intel- based coprocessor from AMD, which currently makes versions of the 286 processor and other ICs. The AMD chip is based on the Intel microcode for the Intel 80287 and is thus completely compatible, AMD says. The significant difference between AMD's coprocessor and Intel's is the price. AMD is charging only $99 for the 10-MHz version of its 80287 clone, while the Intel chip has a street price of at least $179 for the 8-MHz version and around $210 for the 10-MHz version. AMD has also introduced a low-power version, designed for use with laptops and notebook-size computers. — Owen Linderholm WHAT WILL THE NEXT 15 YEARS BRING? We'd need a dozen Kreskins and an expert system to answer that, but with your help, we can get a handle on the future of computing. If you, your company, or your research group is working on a new technology or developing products that will significantly affect the world of microcomputing, we'd like to hear about it. Phone the BYTE news department at (603) 924-928 J. Or send a fax to (603) 924-2550. Or write to us at One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Or send E-mail to "microbytes" on BIX or to "BYTE" on MCI Mail. An electronic version of Microbytes, offering a wider variety of computer-related news on a daily basis, is available on BIX. 30 BYTE • SEPTEMBER 1990 Windows Sprouts Win Introducing Wingz™ for Windows 3-0 and OS/2 the only spreadsheet to offer versions in the same package, each separately developed and optimized It's also the only spreadsheet with HyperScript®— the easy way to build custom applications without programming knowledge. With Wingz-Datalink you can access Femote Informix SQL databases, such as INFORMIX®- Online. And Wingz is the only PC spread- sheet to combine numbers, text and 3-D graphics in one window, on , one page, with one product. "For sheer spreadsheet power,Wingz outperformed 1-2-3/G and Excel in PC Week's spreadsheet benchmark tests!' (pc week 7191m Free Test Fli ght For a free demonstration of Wingz, simply drop by your local dealer. Or, for only $9.95, we'll send you a demonstration version. Just call 1-800-331-1763 (in Canada, 416-566-7024). Wingz is also available for the Apple® Macintosh® Unix® versions support Open Look,™ OSF/Motif™ and NextStep.™ mfL U INFORMIX ® ©1990 Informix Software, Inc. Informix and HyperScript are registered trademarks and Wingz is a trademark of Informix Software, Inc. Other names indicated by * or ™ are trademarks of their respective manufacturers. Circle 146 on Reader Service Card j&crr T t T I -_t I I I t 1 i-asmB Pretty. ^ _____-—! j A PC that looks good in your myriad functions, in addition to our 286, 386™ and 486™ E MffVufl r office won't look good for long CPU cards in a full range of processor speeds. Our CPU card out in the plant. designs use Very Large Scale Integrated circuits and pro- Heat murders microproces- grammable array logic devices to reduce component counts sors. Dust decimates disk by 50-60% which enhances reli- drives. Vibration victimizes ability and resistance to physical video cards. stress. Ultimately, the design f^n^si^^y's 448 ' An y or a11 can wreck Y our contributes to our remarkably ullra . fast32 . bm0386>A r entire operation. lone Mean Time Between Fail- equivalent cpu board B386S. rr, * ,. ,. r ,* ^t.t.n ™ r,r,r, -, ™ ™^ Available at 16, 20, 25, 33 MHz. Texas Microsystems line of ures (MTBF): 70,000-100,000 rugged, reliable ISA Bus products and systems are specif i- hours, calculated against the MIL Standard Handbook 217E. cally engineered for those brutal industrial environments that ^ You won't find that kind of card selec- eat pretty PCs for breakfast. 1 tion — or MTBF — among the leading PC To ensure maximum reliability we design and manufac- makers. ture from scratch practically everything that goes into our — ' You won't find them torturing their systems, like passive backplanes which we pioneered for systems like we torture ours, either, microcomputers in 1983. These backplanes accommodate a - - m / Not only do we perform extensive full compliment of convenient, plug-in components, all com- ■E3llSV N "shake, rattle and roll" tests on each patible with IBM®. They're why our Mean Time To Repair ^:!.!^», r ; "tJS ffff\ new design, we pretest all our sys- (MTTR) is a phenomenal 10 minutes. Sp^liii: y- ^c ^^ [± Q_ terns before they leave our dock. We You won't find passive backplanes — or lower MTTR — Mission Critical Benchtop 2003-. burn them in at 55°C / 1 31 °F for 48 c ,i i j. /•/•• -rt/^ 10 option slots and 2 drive bays. ■. • i , • i ,1 in any of the leading office PCs. r J hours straight just to make sure they We also build industrial-strength option cards to handle can take the heat at your plant. Pretty tough. What's more, we shock-mount our disk drives to stand up to vibrations surpassing Richter scale proportions and we use only high-reliability power supplies that can go 100,000 hours MTBF. With all that reliability designed into our products, is it any wonder that we guarantee better support than the other leading PC makers? Every system we offer comes with a full one-year, on-site warranty. Theirs don't. We also offer a toll- free number for technical and sales information, a regional network of sales engineers, engineering support for systems integration and a guarantee to meet shock specs. Of the lead- It's- No- Comparison Texas Microsystems COMPAQ IBM PS/2 Passive Backplane Yes No No 100,000-hour MTBF power supply Yes No No Shock-mounted disk drives Yes No No Maximized MTBF Yes No No Positive pressure, filtration Yes No No Operation at 55°C/131°F Yes No No 48-hour burn-in at 55°C/131°F Yes No No Maximum expansion slots available 14 5 5 1-year, on-site warranty Yes No No Toll-free support number Yes No No Regional sales support Yes No No "Shake, rattle and roH" testing Yes No No ing PC makers, Texas Microsystems has the longest history of design using Intel microprocessors: 15 years in all. You' 11 find our systems hard at work in harsh operating environ- ments at 70 of the Fortune 100 companies. Granted, the leading office PCs may be prettier than ours, but our in- dustrial-strength systems are de- signed to be more reliable. That reliability makes our systems look a lot better where it really counts: Your production line . Mission Oitical Rack-mount 2001: ]() option slots and 3 drive bays. For technical or sales information, call 1 -800-627-8700 TEXAS SYSTEMS Texas Microsystems, Inc. 10618 RockJey Rd • Houston, TX 77099 713-933-8050 • Fax 713-933-1 029 Circle 293 on Reader Service Card Letters and Ask BYTE BYTE Readers Speak on the Future of Computing Editor's note: In his May editorial, BYTE editor in chief Fred Langa asked you, our readers, to submit your opinions of the best and worst microcomputing trends or events, as well as your visions of the future of computing. The following letters are some of your responses. The best development is the IBM PC with its open architecture. The PC spawned an explosion in the use of personal com- puters. The power in the PC allowed many individuals to "do their thing" without having to be accountable for the time and money needed, because they did it on their own. The worst development is MS-DOS. While it was a pioneering effort and had some good features, much more work should have gone into the user interface. The future will bring more for less. Displays, memory, mass storage, print- ers, modems, and so on will provide bet- ter quality and performance for the price. Quality and support will mean something. The market will require companies to support what they sell. A total rejection of the look-and-f eel law- suits will produce technical advances. Standards will be developed by design rather than by default. These standards will ensure that the term compatible means something. By 1995, all software will have "smart" installation programs. PCs will be "aware" of the new software. Users will be able to select options by using menus, keywords, voice commands, and touch. The government will provide on- line database services at little or no charge. Text and video data compression standards, implemented in hardware, will provide immediate viewing with a limited bandwidth for communications. Computers that can talk and understand speech, and cost under $1000, will bene- fit deaf and blind people. By the year 2000, we will see very-low- power optical storage in the hundreds of gigabytes to permit a two-level disk ac- cess. Less-used programs and data will be "automagically" moved to the second level; frequently used files will reside in the smaller, faster first level. The system will manage disk storage transparently. A standard "data access" computer with a phone connection will replace the tele- phone. Education for any subject will be available electronically. It will be part of a national education system that provides access to any individual. You will be able to subscribe, using one source, to on-line data from all databases according to your area of interest. Very little or no distinction will exist between portable and home computers by 2005. Unplug your monitor, key- board, and local "ISDN-Net," and then pick up your computer and go. Low power consumption and rapid-recharge batteries will power personal computers for 24 hours. By 2010, all the above will be avail- able in one package, with software pre- configured to meet the needs of the aver- age family, for less than $1000. Dayne Walker Oronoco, MN The best developments over the last 15 years are the emergence of very-large-in- struction-word processors, high-level languages such as Prolog, and concepts such as object-oriented programming and the Linda language. The worst was that it took so long. My wish list for the next five to 15 years includes the following: • greater portability of software across platforms; • replacing the keyboard with a micro- phone; • a high-resolution (32-bit), full-color, electroluminescent LCD touchscreen, with handwriting recognition abilities, to replace all pointing devices; WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Please double-space your letter on one side of the page and include your name and address. Letters two pages in length or under have a better chance of being published in their en- tirety. Address correspondence to Letters Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Pe- terborough, NH 03458. You can also send let- ters via BlXmailc/o "editors. " Your letter will be read, but because of the large volume of mail we receive, we cannot guarantee publication. We also reserve the right to edit letters. It takes about four months from the time we receive a letter until we pub- lish it. • mass storage with gigabyte capacity and no moving parts; • integrated telephone and computer and a worldwide commitment to broadband ISDN; and • computerized newspapers, books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and the like, which would reduce the cost of publishing and make it possible for hypertext-like cross-referencing . T. Christiansen Copenhagen, Denmark What I want is simple: Immortality and infinite power. Lacking that, the more time I can save, the better; the more in- formation I can usefully obtain, the bet- ter; and the more fun I can have while doing both, the better. I will project a pair of reasonable bounds. Naturally, what I project will be wrong, because technological progress is not reasonable. First, the lower bound: a machine that costs no more than a month's pay for a middle-class home- owner—a family car kind of computer. By 2005, this machine will be 15 to 30 times faster than an IBM AT and will have a math coprocessor, 16 megabytes of RAM, as much as 1 gigabyte of optical storage, a high-definition television (HDTV) screen, and full sound-synthe- sis ability. The main uses of family ma- chines today are text processing and games. In 1995, we'll be able to add household monitoring and security, database and home financial records, and limited communications. By 2000, most municipalities will have forced cable companies to install two-way amps. Wherever this occurs, there should be an explosion of remote services. By 2005, perhaps we will have the option of voting from home, if veri- fication technology has advanced far enough. Second, the upper bound: a standard office computer for technical profession- als—a machine such as the one I call my "electric secretary." By 2005, this ma- chine will run more than 250 times faster than an IBM AT and have a math copro- cessor, 256 MB of RAM, 4 gigabytes of optical storage, an HDTV screen, and full sound-synthesis ability. By 1995, wherever two-way cable is continued 34 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 Great Moments in C-Prograrnmer History && Onthethirdday) Eeidentif kdthenecdf or an advanudproductiviiy toot. If you're feeling overwhelmed by im- possible deadlines, don't despair. Vermont Views™ 2.0 combines a menu- driven screen designer with a C library of over 550 functions to combat program- ming stress. Have Fun Again With Vermont Views, you'll visually create user interfaces in a fraction of the time required to code them. Include pull-down menus, window-based data-entry forms with tickertape and memo fields, scrollable re- gions, choice lists, context-sensitive help, and other state-of-the-art features. Quickly create and refine operational prototypes. Use DOS graphics without GUI hassles. LAYOUT INTtSTOCE OPTIONS SVSTtT) fet (fS> Hunt [pint (SSifl-rS) hit Kive Sj« t% You'll enjoy interactive development without the limitations of 4GL's. When the extensive capabilities of Vermont Views don't meet special needs, attach your own process- ing functions to menus, forms, fields, and keys. We've designed it so you won't run into dead ends. A Better CASE Rapid prototyping is the latest CASE tech- nology. But, with most systems, you must throw the prototype away when coding begins. With Vermont Views, the prototype becomes the application. Menus and data-en- try forms are usable in the final appli- cation without change. Names of functions for retrieving, processing, and storing data can be specified as the prototype is created. Notes can be attached to forms and fields to help you complete and document the appli- cation. Vermont Views objects are checked for validity when created, so integration and testing go more quickly. Easy Graphics Vermont Views GraphEx™ makes it easy to enhance your DOS applications with graphics. All Vermont Views windows, menus and forms work in CGA, EGA, VGA, and Hercules graphics modes. Use your favorite graphics package to create charts, graphs, and other images to accompany text displays. Pop-up, overlap, and restore graphics and text windows. Free Test Drive Try a working copy of Vermont Views designer for free. Ask for our Test Drive Kit CaH 800-848-1248 Fax 802-848-3502 Please Mention "049" A Universal Solution Create a single interface and port it among PCDOS, OS/2, UNIX, XENIX, and VMS. Use Vermont Views with any database that has a C-language interface (most do). Create interfaces for any roman-based language. Develop safely on networks with our form- locking version. Truly a universal solution for your interface development needs. Sweet Music 'Vermont Views . . . will have themost timid designer riding high in the saddle in no time" — Edgar Bartholomew, Unix Review, April 1990 "At a recent field staff meeting, we were able to get a consensus.. . using the Designer on a big screen TV. Changes can be posted real-time and afimc- tioning prototype results... The form designer is GREAT " — Randy Jones, Beta Tester No-limit Trial Reduce stress by calling 800-848-1248 and ordering Vermont Views now. There is no risk. You can return it for a full refund — anytime. Vermont Creative Software Pinnacle Meadows, Richford, VT 05476 Phone: 802-848-7731 Telex: 510-601-4160 LETTERS available, companies will become heavy users of remote data services. After that, it is all blue sky. Depending on the busi- ness climate, the nation— and perhaps many nations together— could become a gigantic wide-area network. Larry J. Van Stone Stillwater, OK Alan Huang's breakthrough in photonics and the computer on a chip are the two best computer developments over the last 15 years. The U.S. losing world and do- mestic market share for semiconductors, computer manufacturing, and robots, as well as the threat of losing HDTV and supercomputer markets, are the worst developments. What I want in the near future in- cludes an affordable laptop computer for work, learning, and leisure, and an af- fordable work/leisure multimedia win- dow. While I cannot always get away to enjoy the mountains here in Montana, I want technology to bring the mountains to me. As I work, I want an active win- dow on my monitor where I can choose the weather, the scenery, the location, and a TV channel. I also want to be able to play a game and to choose the color and music. This window would include interactive multimedia help for all com- puter programs. I believe that several technologies will be more fully developed. One is the at- tached computer— putting on your com- puter will be as common as putting on your clothes. Should it be attached as a vest? In the shoes? Or directly to the body? Implanted computers would never for- get a name of someone you met. Instant- ly, the implanted computer would be able to reveal the name of the individual and related information. Another development will be activat- ing computers and robots with body sig- nals. One look at the computer or robot would turn it on to perform tasks. Physi- cal and emotional body signals, such as temperature, cholesterol count, and stress levels, would activate computer- ized equipment and robots from a dis- tance. The computer would then prepare the environment to receive the human. Finally, interactive virtual reality will permit you to choose a role and make choices during a video or movie. Jeanette J. Bieber-Moses Billings, MT I would be delighted to contribute to BYTE's anniversary issue. I've often wondered how BYTE has gotten along without me for so long. I've been a devot- ed reader (off and on, to be honest) for nigh onto 10 years. I noticed that you've invited quite a few others— over a mil- lion—but I like big parties. The future of computing lies in com- puters providing friendly companion- ship. We will see expert-system shells preloaded with cultural literacy (includ- ing, e.g., some law, science, music, his- tory, and business), and with that elusive and sophisticated competence, common sense. Machines will be comfortably skilled at natural-language input and output. Each of us will have a computer that goes with us everywhere and gets to know us. It will provide instruction when wanted, play games (including simulat- ing and modeling our fantasies and cre- ative inspirations), and counsel us when we are down in the dumps. It will laugh at our jokes and be amazed, impressed, and outwitted as needed. It will also humbly (but with satisfying bouts of jeal- ousy) encourage us to be involved with other friends, relatives, our jobs, and the activities in life that make comput- ers worthwhile— or is it the other way around? Richard Crews San Rafael, CA Beyond the number games of bigger ma- chines with more speed for the buck, there will be a continued migration of functions into the operating system. The next candidates for this migration will probably be graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and databases. For those who program in compiled languages such as C, the operating sys- tem becomes the environment, and, me- diated through standard library routines, it is becoming possible to write high-per- formance software that uses almost any of a system's capabilities in a way that is portable to other machines. The GUI is the last needed piece for this to happen. It is easy to see why it came last; it is the most real-time and idiosyncratic of the interfaces, making it the hardest to stan- dardize. Just as file systems arrived a short generation after disk drives, databases are going to layer on top of the file sys- tems to provide a more general way to ac- cess all the objects in a computer. The re- source fork in Macintosh files is one early indication of the need. The basic idea is not that your file system will con- tain databases, but that it will be a data- base with the present directory tree structure as one index in it. This environment spells the end of the TSR approach, and it leads toward a more consistent look and feel as more of the user interface becomes a system service. But it doesn't tell where the exciting new applications will come from. For that, I'll keep reading BYTE. Eric Jensen Bedford, NH I would like to be able to wear my com- puter. I would like my computer's output to be a nearly seamless part of my senso- ry world. My computer should take its input directly from my nervous system . It should monitor and help maintain my bodily functions. Its use should extend my life, as its use enhances the quality of my life now. I don't want to be tied to a desk or a desk-like situation (as with a laptop) to be able to do all this neat stuff. This technology should lead to the de- struction of all forms of authoritarian- ism. Is that radical enough? The best developments in computers over the last 1 5 years have been the avail- ability of public domain and shareware software, without which I could not af- ford to do much computing, and BBSes— the ideal medium for all us ex-high school nerds. The worst developments have been the dominance of the segmented Intel archi- tecture and MS-DOS, which is really no friendlier than Unix, and the emergence of men and women with M.B.A.s, boring suits, and not the slightest trace of imag- ination. Charles Bridgeland Urbana, IL Don't Forget CocoNet BYTE has done a truly outstanding job in the past in reporting breakthrough trends and new products. It was therefore with great disappointment that we noted our absence from your June article, "DOS and Unix: On Speaking Terms" by Tom Yager. It is especially surprising in light of the favorable review of our product, CocoNet, that you published in your Feb- ruary issue (Reviewer's Notebook). Our product is unique, and it has sev- eral key advantages to solutions noted in the article. It is not enough to provide a TCP/IP DOS LAN on Unix. This simply creates yet another "island of comput- ing" that is divorced from the main- stream of PC LANs, which are NetBIOS or IPX (NetWare) based. Moreover, what is really required is a high degree of inte- gration between Unix and DOS file sys- tems, peripherals, and applications. Unix users must see Unix, and DOS users must see a DOS environment, re- gardless of file or application location. continued 36 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 bbqqs y \ S 7 ■ i ■ & ^ Full Line of DDI ExecuTower Systems: 486™/33 MHz EISA (256K Cache) 486™/25 MHz ISA (128K Cache) 386™/33 MHz ISA (128K Cache) 386SX™/16 & 20 MHz ISA Standard Systems Include: ExecuTower System Unit VGA Video Card 1024x768 512K Video RAM Super VGA 14" 1024x768 .28mm Color Monitor 1.2 MB 5V4" & 1.44 MB 3 'A" Floppy Disks 2 Serial, 1 Parallel Ports 101-Key Enhanced Keyboard Microsoft Compatible Mouse MS-DOS 4.01 All Systems Run MS-DOS®, OS/2®, UNIX®, XENIX® All Systems DELIVERED with MS-DOS Installed, Configured and READY TO RUN! Also Available: SCSI Hard Disks: VGA Monitors: (formatted) Size Type Resolution Dot Pitch 85 MB, 28ms 14" Mono 1024x768 N/A 110 MB, 18ms 14" Color 1024x768 .28mm 183 MB, 18ms 16" Color 1024x768 .28mm 338 MB, 15ms 20" Color 1024x768 .31mm 440 MB, 16ms 20" Color 1280x1024 .31mm 678 MB, 15ms 1050 MB, 15ms 486 and 386 are trademarks of Intel Corporation. MS-DOS and XENIX 2 re registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. OS/2 is a registered trademark of IBM, UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T. Anniversary Special!* FREE HP Laserjet IIP Printer! OR Hard Disk Size Upgrade! OR 20" Color Monitor! OR Cash Rebate! (with Purchase of Standard DDI 486 ExecuTower System, We Support You 100% 30-day Money-back Guarantee One-year Warranty Parts & Labor ■ 24-hour Parts Replacement ■ Toll-free Technical Support Also Available: I On-site Service— NATIONWIDE K Extended Maintenance Contract M Corporate Leasing H Custom Configurations OS/2, UNIX, XENIX Technical Support Complete VGA Color, 85 MB System Prices Start At $2,195! ♦Anniversary offer available for a limited time only! Call Us TOLL-FREE For Details On Free Offer! Call 1-800-331-1090 FAX 1-401-884-0770 Digital Distributing, Inc. 20 Cavalier Drive, E. Greenwich, RI 02818 (401) 885-6697 Circle 90 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 91) ASK BYTE CocoNet provides a full NetBIOS LAN from any 386 or 486 Unix personal computer, integrating with existing Novell networks transparently. It runs on Ethernet, StarLAN, and Arcnet, and shortly will be released on Token Ring. It integrates with TCP/IP with NFS. It is smaller, faster, easier to install, and more reliable than TCP/IP solutions alone. It offers a higher degree of inte- gration between DOS and Unix, allow- ing simultaneous access to shared files, applications, and resources transparently from each user's environment. Charles M . Robins President At land x Corp. Boca Raton, FL ASK BYTE Tandy TX Revisited James Erwin wrote with several very good questions about the Tandy 1000 TX in the May issue. While your responses concerning the 8-bit bus of the Tandy TX were correct, there was a major inaccura- cy in your description of the video capa- bility. Pages 24 and 3 1 of the Tandy Practical Guide to the Tandy TX (which comes with every new Tandy TX) details the video interrupt switch and three other switches that the user can toggle. You can make the Tandy TX fully configurable for virtually any monitor by changing DIP switch 4. For example, I am using a multisync Super VGA monitor and a Par- adise 512K-byte VGA board on one Tandy TX. On another, I use a Hercules- compatible graphics card and a Tandy CM-5 high-resolution monochrome monitor. Quite a lot of controversy has sur- rounded the options available for the Tandy TX. The four interrupt switches toggle interrupts 5 through 7 and the video mode. I am using a Tandy TX, networked with Artisoft's LANtastic, which is running quite nicely. All I had to do was toggle interrupt 7 to allow the LAN cards to operate. William L. Kennon San Diego, CA Thank you for the clarification. —Lab Staff Computer- Aided Translation I have two questions. First, are there any programs available for translating text from one language to another? Second, could you please direct me to any desktop publishing clubs? My main interest is desktop publishing on Apple computers. Robert I. Feldman Lompoc, CA There are a number of language-transla- tion software packages out there. Trans- lation Support Systems from Automated Language Processing (P. O. Box 87819, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, (801) 584- 3000) can handle words and phrases. Two packages from International Com- puter Products— Learn Spanish and Learn German— are for educational use. Contact International Computer Prod- ucts at 346 North Western Ave. , Los An- geles, CA 90004, (213) 462-8318. Also check out MultiTrans from Microlytics (Two Tobey Village Office Park, Pitts- ford, NY 14534, (716) 248-9150). PC Linguist from Microtrans (348 Turnstone Dr., Livermore, CA 94550, (415) 447- 0596) supports only Russian-to-English- and-back as I am writing this. However, the company hopes to have added support for other languages by the time you read this. Give Microtrans a call and see. Last but certainly not least, if all you are looking for is automated word-at-a- time translation, there's always DAK's pocket Language Barrier Blaster, a hand-held calculator-style translator that "understands" English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian. Contact DAK Industries (8200 Remmet Ave. , Canoga Park, CA 91304, (800) 325- 0800). On the topic of desktop publishing clubs, try contacting the PC Publishers of Northern California at (415) 661-9270. Although you state that you are most in- terested in Apple software and these guys are MS-DOS-minded, perhaps someone there can direct you to an Apple-specific group.— R. G. Curious About Coprocessors We read with interest a recent Under the Hood in BYTE concerning the Cyrix CX-83D87 math coprocessor ("Math Coprocessors, " January). Could you provide us with more information? We are a small team of programmers, and we are looking for replacements for the Intel coprocessors (which, in Italy, cost an arm and a leg). We are also interested in further information about the IIT- 2C87 and 3C87. Mannori Simone Florence, Italy For more information concerning the Cyrix coprocessor, contact Cyrix Corp. (1761 International Pkwy., Richardson, TX 75081, (214) 234-8388). Vm sure the people there would be happy to send you technical documentation. BYTE reviewed the IIT-2C87 copro- cessor in the September 1989 issue (Re- viewer's Notebook). Contact I IT at 2540 Mission College Blvd., Santa Clara, CA 95054, (408) 727-1885, for more infor- mation about its coprocessors. — R. G. Eternal Paper Do you know of a source for acid-free paper for computer printers and photo- copiers? Paper longevity is desirable be- cause you never know what information on hard copy will be important in the far future. A national heritage of data on paper disappears when 15- to 50-year- old paper crumbles. Because of the pres- ervation of the Warsaw telephone direc- tories by the New York Public Library, many of the survivors of the Holocaust were provided with their sole source of documentation for reparations. My science fiction collection, which I started in the 1960s, is rapidly deterio- rating. Although CD-ROM and electron- ic storage media have their advantages, books have their own peculiar random- access qualities that might never be equalled. Charles Knickerbocker East Lansing, MI There are probably others, but Finch, Pruyn & Co. of Glens Falls, New York, makes a full line of acid-free papers. Contact your local distribution house, and ask for Finch Laser Opaque or Finch Opaque Xerographic paper. There's another thing to remember about long-term paper storage: The print- ing itself may be adversely affected by ul- traviolet light or heat. After printing your literary gems on acid-free paper, make sure to store them in a dark, cool, dry place. Losing an important 15-year-old printed document can be tragic, but CD- ROM technology may prove to have some problems of its own. I have audio com- pact disks that date back to 1 983 that are no longer playable. I'd like to believe that the bad disks were simply a product of an immature manufacturing process. But until we know more about a CD's life span, I'm not ready to give up on paper, either.— H. E. Foreign Formats I often receive data on 5 l A -inch floppy disks from other laboratories. The data is either in ASCII files or a form of BASIC. While the disks are ostensibly formatted in an IBM -compatible fashion, I often continued 38 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 Here's what they say about Zortech C+ + " Zortech is a truly fine compiler... If you've been waiting for a major player to offer a professional C++ development system for OS/2 and Windows, as well as DOS, wait no longer... Zortech has it! " Richard Hale Shaw, PC Magazine, p.38, March 13, 1990 '" Zortech has done a commendable job with C + + 2.0 and I recommend it highly.. The debugger is impressive. ..Get the Developers version... it's worth the money." Bruce Eckel, Micro Cornucopia, pp. 8-1 7, March 1990 " Zortech C++ is one of the best MS-DOS products I've had the luck to use I can highly recommend the Zortech 2.0 release." Scott Robert Ladd, Dr. Dobbs Journal, pp. 64-73, January 1990 "We have devoted virtually a full issue to evalua- tion of C Compilers . . . . it's an easy choice. We pick zortech: 3 J. D. Hilderbrand, Editor, Computer Language, p. 7, May 1990 AT&T™ C + + V2 Specification / Multiple Inheritance / Type Safe Linkage / Pointers to Members Compiler Features / Native code compiler with separate global optimzer / Improved MSC Source Level Compatibility /MS Windows / CodeView'"* Compatible / Fast Graphics Library with C + + interface / Easy to use TSR functions / Standard Library Source Code included with Developer's Edition S Seamless LIM/EMS Support via new handle pointers or directly via EMS library functions. / Full MS Mouse Library J OS/2 Compiler Option / 99% ANSI C Compatible / Improved code size/ speed PRICES C + + Compiler $199.95 C++ Debugger $149.95 C + + Tools $149.95 Library Source $149.95 Save $200 -Get the Developer's Edition for only $450 (includes all the above Items). OS/2 Option $149.95 C++ Video $499.95 C + + Source Level Debugger / Also Debugs C / Assembler Debugging with access to registers and memory. / 7 6 Debugging Windows / Multiple Statement Lines / Break/Trace/Watchpoints / Dual Monitor Support /Full C + + name unmangling for easy use Compatible * D , , .. 7 . . [7 L , • Block memory write protect C++ Tools Classes / 25 C+ + Classes with full source code / Includes new Text User Interface Classes / Event Queue, BCD Maths, Linked Lists, Money, DOS error handling classes, text windows and editing classes, virtual arrays, time and date handling, directories and filenames, tnterupt vectors, etc... USA: Zortech Inc. 4-C Gill Street WOBURNMA01801 Voice: 617-937-0696 Fax: 617-937-0793 EUROPE: Zortech Ltd. 106-108 Powis Street LONDON SE18 6LU Voice: 44+ 81-316-7777 Fax: 44+ 81-316-4138 "ANNOUNCING V2. 7 " 640K Memory Barrier Smashed 1 . • New VCM™ (Virtual Code Manager) technology • New Rational DOS Extender technology for compiling/ debugging massive programs • New Virtual C+ + Source Level Debugger requires only 4k RAM! • New Remote Debugging via serial port • New Powerful Environment with Browser • New Completely Revised & Expanded C++ Tools • New Improved Compiler Optimization Zortech VCM™ for DOS With Zortech 's Virtual Code Manager (VCMJ you can compile standard MS-DOS applications containing up to 4Mb of code. VCM is a sophisticated virtual memory system that dramatically improves performance over conventional overlay methods. Naturally, our debugger understands VCM tool Rational™ DOS Extender Technology... Version 2 . 7 incorporates this new technology for compiling and debugging really big programs on 286, 386 or 486 based PC's. You can also use V2. 1 together with Rational Systems DOS Extender (purchased separately) to produce your own applications which can access memory beyond the 640k DOS limit. C++ Debugger in 4k RAM! Zortech' 's Virtual C++ Source Level Debugger can now locate itself in extended memory on 386 machines. This requires only 4K of conventional RAM! STOP PRESS - NEWS FLASH 386 Compiler/Debugger Option (using Phar Lapp DOS Extender), UNIX 386 Compiler and OS/2 Debugger all available soon. Also new C++ Classes and Addison Wesley ZTC++ book. ORDER/UPGRADE HOTLINE 1-800-848-8408 ASK BYTE have difficulties reading them. Is there a program to help me read such disks? On another topic, what hypertext-like programs are available for IBM PC com- patibles? V . Ackerman St. Leonards, N. S. W. , Australia In response to your first question, I'm afraid you haven 't described your prob- lem clearly enough. I'm not sure what you mean by "difficulties. " Can you at least get a directory of the disk? If not, it 's likely that somebody's drive is out of alignment— either yours or the drive of whoever is sending you the disks. Try reading the disk on someone else's ma- chine. If you can do it, the sick drive is probably your own. Also, be certain that you are not trying to read a floppy disk formatted to a high- er density than your system can handle— you can 't read a 1. 2 -MB disk in a 360K- byte drive. You mention that the files may be BASIC files. Are you trying to read an in- terpreted BASIC program listing as you would read an ASCII file ? If so, you '11 see lots of strange characters, owing to the fact that BASIC "tokenizes "files when it saves them to disk. You can read the file by running your BASIC interpreter, enter- ing LOAD " ", and typing in LIST. If you want to save the file in human-readable form, type SAVE "MY- FILE.BAS" ,A, which will copy an ASCII version of the program into the file MY- FILE.BAS. Finally, assuming none of the above suggestions works, you might try some form of disk utility software, such as the Norton Utilities. You '11 have to do some real coal-miner's duty to dig the data off the disk; it depends on how desperate you are to recoup the files. The Norton Util- ities are available from Peter Norton Computing, 100 Wilshire Blvd., Ninth Floor, Santa Monica, CA 90401, (213) 319-2000. And, yes, there are a number of hyper- text-like programs for the PC. Here are a few that you could look for: Guide Owl International 2800 156th Ave. SE Bellevue, WA 98007 (206) 747-3203 Coretext Samna, Inc. 5600 Glenridge Dr. Glenride Center Atlanta, GA 30342 (404) 851-0007 Plus Spinnaker Software One Kendall Sq. Cambridge, MA 02139 (617)492-1234 Object-Script Matesys 2001 L St. NW, Suite 801 A Washington, DC 20036 (202) 785-0770 -R. G. Chickens, Eggs, and Compilers I am still amazed at compilers; how can a compiler translate a program into ma- chine language? Is the compiler con- structed using assembly language? If so, how do you make an assembler, such as Microsoft's Macro Assembler? Further- more, how do you create an operating system, since that must be built before anything else? Kabul Suwitaatmadja Bandung, Indonesia Your one-sentence questions would re- quire pages to compose an adequate re- sponse. I '11 handle those that I can here and then suggest some books that should get you the rest of the way. Currently, commercial compilers are written in high-level languages such as C or Pascal. Of course, since the source code for the compiler has to be compiled by another compiler, you 're understand- ably led into a chicken-and-egg question: Who wrote the first compiler? Although there was no single primor- dial compiler, it is true that in the prepu- bescent days of the digital computer, most work was done in machine lan- guage. Programmers sat in front of a panel of switches and toggled bit patterns in one memory location at a time. (In fact, when IBM released FORTRAN , cir- ca 1957, the company had to embark on a large sales campaign to convince its ma- chine-language-entrenched customers of the benefits of a high-level language.) You can get a taste of what it must have been like to put a high-level language to- gether in machine language by scanning through early issues of Dr. Dobbs Jour- nal of Computer Calesthenics and Orth- odontia, where you '11 find the source code for Tiny BASIC (a later version of Tiny BASIC for the 68000 appeared in a more recent issue). Granted, that limited version of BASIC ran on CP/M machines, but I have seen a Tiny BASIC for MS-DOS available from several of the public do- main and shareware software houses. For further reading in compiler con- struction, I suggest Programming Lan- guage Translation: A Practical Approach by Patrick D. Terry (Reading, MA: Addi- son-Wesley, 1986) and Compiler Design in C by Allen I. Holub (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1990). For information concerning the design and implementation of operating systems, look for Operating Systems: Design and Implementation by Andrew S. Tanen- baum (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- Hall, 1987).— R. G. They Just Fade Away I have a problem with the plasma screen on my Ogivar Technologies 286 laptop computer: It's dying. When the problem first appeared a few months ago, it was negligible. Only a few pixels on the edge of the screen were dead (i.e., dark spots appeared on the orange screen). Recent- ly, the situation has deteriorated rapidly. About one-half of the screen is affected with the dying pixels. It looks as though someone left finger scratches all over it. Characters in the affected areas are only partially visible, which makes them dif- ficult to read. Can you help? Brett Cui New York, NY You 're not alone with your dying plasma screen. A number of plasma screens are dying a similar death; it largely depends on the quality of the individual manufac- turing runs. I asked Ogivar about your computer, the Ogivar 286 System 4, and the people there haven 't heard about any of their screens dying like that. I would encour- age you to return the unit to them for re- pair. Contact Ogivar at 7200 Trans-Can- ada Hwy. , Ville-Saint Laurent, Quebec, Canada H4T 1A3. Call the company first at (514) 737-3340 to make arrangements. Your unit apparently has a one-year war- ranty, and you may be able to arrange a warranty repair, even if it's past the per- iod. Ogivar 's customer-support people were sympathetic to your problem and seemed eager to resolve it. — H . E . FIXES The lapAdapt plug adapter listed in the May What's New section allows devices with a standard American three-blade grounded plug to be connected to British and European grounded plugs while maintaining the integrity of the ground. It doesn't function as a current adapt- er/converter. ■ 40 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 Announcing a First in Data Acquisition Software. TFnInag(CH08,CH88> :Hor 3 P !*sdb Pha«e(CHW,CH8e»8,592):lfcmB 4 Ml hlAki hi. A Irtl UUJ^J- Sn.i-iL ««sn(CHBe,CH80.e,592):ltenB 61 Throughput and Ease of Use. Without Compromise. Data Acquisition ■ Selection of channel, gain, clock source, clock rate, and trigger for analog input operations ■ Selection of DAC, clock source, clock rate, and trigger for analog output operations ■ Errorless data transfers to/from hard disk or memory at speeds up to 250kHz ■ Digital I/O and counter/timer operations ■ Supports DT2831, DT2821, OT2801 and DT2901 series boards Signal Processing with STATPACK ™ Module ■ FFT; inverse FFT; auto spectrum; cross spectrum,- power, spectral analysis, transfer function; Hamming, Hanning, or Blackman windowing ■ Bessel, Butterworth, or Chebyshev filters; low- pass, high-pass, bandpass, bandstop, or allpass; even order (second to tenth); arbitrary configurations ■ Arithmetic operations,- logical AND, OR; loga- rithmic, trigonometric functions; squares and square roots; bit mask; scaling; signal generation Display ■ Display data at maximum resolution of graphics adapter ■ Display data during acquisition ■ Display files up to 100 windows ■ Browse large files rapidly Select, label, and scale display Display titles, gridlines, move axes Perform statistical analysis Import/export data files from/to other industry-standard software packages -Fred Molinari, President At last, no more software trade-offs! GLOBAL LAB" provides fast and easy-to-use mouse/menu control of data acquisition and signal processing functions, while fully supporting the industry's fastest throughput rates. So, if you're looking for software that will fully support Data Translation, IBM PC and PS/2 Series I/O boards, look to GLOBAL LAB. It's the only software that won't compromise your position. Call (508) 481-3700 In Canada, (800) 268-0427 DATA TRANSLATION ® World Headquarters: Data Translation, Inc., 100 Locke Drive, Marlboro, MA 01752-1192 USA, (508) 481-3700, Fax (508) 481-8620, Tlx 951646 United Kingdom Headquarters: Data Translation Ltd., The Mulberry Business Park, Wokingham, Berkshire RG11 2QJ, U.K., (734) 793838, Fax (734) 776670, Tlx 94011914 West Germany Headquarters: Data Translation GmbH, Stuttgarter Strasse 66, 7120 Bietigheim-Bissengen, West Germany 7142-54025, Fax 7142-64042 International Sales Offices: Australia (2) 662-4255; Belgium (2) 466-8199; Canada (416) 625-1907; China (1) 868-721 x4017; Denmark 42 27 45 11; Finland (0) 3511800; France (1) 69077802; Greece (1) 361-4300; Hong Kong (5) 448963; India (22) 23-1040; Israel 52-545685; Italy (2) 82470.1; Japan (3) 502-5550, (3) 5379-1971, (3) 355-1111; Korea (2) 718-9521; Netherlands (70) 399-6360; New Zealand (64) 9-545313;Norway (2) 53 12 50; Portugal (1) 545313; Singapore 7797621; South Africa (12) 803-7680; Spain (1) 555-8112; Sweden (8) 761 78 20; Switzerland (1) 723-1410; Taiwan (2) 3039836 GLOBAL LAB and STATPACK are trademarks and Data Translation is a registered trademark of Data Translation, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Circle 83 on Reader Service Card What's New HARDWARE SYSTEMS Portables Feature Color and Desktop Performance Full-color VGA 386 porta- bles are now available from several manufacturers. The new Dauphin has a high-contrast, active-ma- trix (or thin-film transistor) LCD screen like the Macintosh Portable. But the Dauphin system takes the technology a step further with a just-re- leased color LCD combined with fluorescent backlighting by Hitachi. The Dauphin system is an 18-pound 386SX laptop. It fea- tures a 3 ! /2-inch 1 .44-MB floppy disk drive, a 20-MB hard disk drive, and a 92-key keyboard. Price: $9995. Contact: Dauphin Technol- ogy, Inc., 1125 East St. Charles Rd., Lombard, IL 60148, (708) 627-4004. Inquiry 1120. For a portable with color and 386/486 performance, Dolch Computer Systems of- fers the Hitachi thin-film tran- sistor, active-matrix color screen with its new 386 TFT- Color Portable and 486 TFT- Color graphics and your choice of 386 or 486 performance are combined in the 20-pound Dolch portable. Color Portable. Each system weighs about 20 pounds. Standard features on the 25-MHz 386 TFT-Color Porta- ble include 32K bytes of RAM cache, 2 MB of RAM, and a 5 ^-inch floppy disk drive. The 25-MHz 486 TFT- Color Portable includes 8K bytes of RAM cache, 2 MB of RAM, and a 5 '-4-inch floppy disk drive. Price: 386, $11,990; 486, $16,990. Contact: Dolch Computer Systems, 2029 OToole Ave, San Jose, C A 95 13 1,(408) 435-1881. Inquiry 1121. The Sun Moon Star CD-ROM system comes inexpensively bundled with eight CD-ROM disks and a 40- MB hard disk drive packed with conventional software. If you need a lower-cost 386 portable and can forgo color, you might consider the MP200 from Micronics. The 25-MHz 386 measures 4 by 16 by 14 l A inches, weighs 14 pounds, and has a 10-inch 640- by 480-pixel backlit LCD or gas-plasma display. Standard features include 1 MB of RAM (expandable to 8 MB) and 32K bytes of cache memory. Also included are a 40-MB 25-ms hard disk drive and a 3 V6-inch 1 .44-MB floppy disk drive. Price: $6500. Contact: Micronics Com- puters, Inc., 232 Warren Ave., Fremont, CA 94539, (415) 651-2300. Inquiry 1122. Sun Moon Star Bundles CD-ROM, Disks, and 286 The Sun Moon Star CD- ROM system consists of a 12-MHz 286 with 2 MB of RAM, a 40-MB hard disk drive, two-channel audio out- put, a 14-inch color VGA monitor, and a CD-ROM drive. The CD-ROM drive comes with automatic installation software along with Micro- soft Bookshelf, Microsoft Small Business Consultant, Microsoft Stat Pak, Hotline II Executive, Software Tool- works Illustrated Encyclope- dia, Software Toolworks World Atlas, Software Tool- works CD Game Pack, and the CD Audio Guide. The hard disk drive comes preloaded with DOS 3.3, GEM/3 Desktop, GEM Draw, PFS: First Choice, and Checklt. Price: $2995. Contact: Sun Moon Star, Personal Computer Division, 1941 Ring wood Ave., San Jose, CA 95131, (408) 452-7811. Inquiry 1123. 386SX Touchscreen Portable TheDatellite300Lisa 7-pound 16-MHz 386SX portable without a keyboard. You enter information via the VGA-resolution touchscreen that you use like a clipboard, saving completed forms on a 3 V* -inch 1.44-MB floppy disk drive, a 40-MB hard disk drive, or a 120-MB hard disk drive. Standard features of this 12%- by 10- by 2%-inch porta- ble include 1 MB of RAM (expandable to 16 MB), a par- allel port, a serial port, a 4- hour battery, and DR DOS. The system also comes with an application-generator soft- ware package. Price: Floppy disk version, $5995; with 40-MB hard disk drive, $6995; with 120-MB hard disk drive, $7995. Contact: MicroSlate, Inc., P.O. Box 2207, Stamford, CT 06913,(203)357-9901. Inquiry 1124. 42 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 HARDWARE asmmao! Tiny Printer Doesn't Compromise on Paper or Speed The BJ-lOe is an inexpen- sive 4-pound portable printer that lets you use stan- dard 8 Vi -inch- wide paper in- stead of hard-to-handle ther- mal paper. It uses a 64-nozzle bubble- jet print head and snap-in ink cartridges that each print about 700,000 characters in a high-quality mode. If you're in a hurry, the BJ-lOe prints in both direc- tions at up to 360 dpi. It emu- lates both the IBM Proprinter X24E and the Canon BJ-130e and offers a high-quality mode in which it can print at up to 83 cps. The input buffer is 3K bytes with an additional 34K bytes reserved for fonts. You connect it to your computer's parallel port, and it draws power from its included Im- pound AC adapter or from an optional battery. Pitch selection includes 10, 12, or 17 cpi in addition to proportional spacing. The printer measures 12% by 8J4 by 1% inches. Price: $499; print cartridge, $25; battery, $50. Contact: Canon USA, Inc., Printer Division, One Canon Plaza, Lake Success, NY 11042,(516)488-6700. Inquiry 1125. Nisca's Gray-Scale Scanner Fits in Your Hand The Niscan/GS is a hand- held scanner that can scan up to 256 levels of gray with hardware gray scaling and at Canon 's BJ-lOe printer is small, inexpensive, and light. resolutions of from 25 dpi up to 400 dpi in either 16 or 256 levels of gray. The width of the scanning window is 454 inches, and the unit can scan images up to 1 1 inches long. The scanner comes with an interface board for the IBM PC and GEM-based scanner con- trol software. The software of- fers a number of advanced gray-scale editing capabilities: adjustment of image bright- ness and contrast without hav- ing to rescan; scaling, crop- ping, and cutting and pasting; flipping, rotating, and zoom- ing; and paint tools for touch- ing up. It also lets you gam- ma-correct images (gamma correction is a technique for globally adjusting individual shades within an image to en- hance details or tone down bright areas). You can save images as PCX, IMG, or TIFF files. Price: $369. Contact: Nisca, Inc., 1919 Old Denton Rd., Suite 104, Carrollton, TX 75006, (800) 245-7226. Inquiry 1126. Cheaper Color PostScript Printing with Seiko Unit The ColorPoint PS is a thermal-transfer printer built around a controller based on Intel's i960 RISC processor. For a PostScript interpreter, it uses Phoenix- Page from Phoenix Tech- nologies. The unit prints at 300 dpi and comes with five communi- cations interfaces: serial, parallel, AppleTalk, and two SCSI. The system scans each port looking for data from the different computers. It also comes with 35 LaserWriter NT -equivalent fonts. The ColorPoint PS comes with 6 MB of memory. The standard ColorPoint PS prints an 8^- by 10% o -inch image on an 8V2- by 1 1-inch page. The printer also comes in an optional B size that can print images as big as 10% by 16% inches. Price: $6999; B size, $9999. SPREAD THE WORD Your new product is important to us. Please address information to New Products Editors, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peter- borough, NH 03458. Better yet, use your modem and mail new product information to the microbytes.hw or microbytes.sw conferences on BIX. Please send the product description, price, ship date, and an address and telephone number where readers can get more information. Contact: Seiko Instruments USA, Inc., Graphic Devices and Systems Division, 1130 Ringwood Court, San Jose, CA 95131, (408) 922-5800. Inquiry 1127. Device Makes Photographic Prints The UP-3000 color printer produces near- photographic-quality 4- by 3- inch prints with 256 levels of color from a palette of more than 16 million colors. You can use the device, which is about the size of a 9-pin printer, to print from your computer (via the RS-232C port) or from RGB analog, composite video, and still video devices. Using a dye-transfer ther- mal printing technique with 5 12 elements on the thermal head, the UP-3000 can pro- duce full-size 4- by 3-inch images, four images on the same sheet, or 25 "thumb- nail-size" images on a single page. It takes about 80 sec- onds to produce a print, wheth- er you're simply printing from the screen or from a pic- ture (i.e., making a mirror image), or whether you've added comments to the prints outside the picture area. Standard equipment on the 17- by 5- by 17 V4 -inch printer includes front-panel controls, remote control, 40 sheets of printing paper, and a menu- driven monitor display. You can adjust image and color with controls for separate red/ green/blue mixing, sharp- ness, picture focus, brightness, and hue. Price: $3895. Contact: Sony Corp. of America, Sony Dr. , Park Ridge, NJ 07656, (201) 930-6432. Inquiry 1128. continued SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 43 WHAT'S NEW HARDWARE A D D - I N S Modules Convert 386 Systems to 486 Systems Interested in high-speed i486-based systems? Two com- panies have i486 CPU mod- ules that plug into your 386 motherboard and let you take advantage of the i486. The new Trans486PX CPU Translator Module from TransComputer is a small (2V2- by 2 1 /2-inch) board that has all the circuitry needed to make a 386 system think it is talking to an ordi- nary, if somewhat fast, 386. The manufacturer claims that the module can deliver a three- to fivefold increase in performance. But the module may not work right away with every 386-based system. Trans- Computer says that right now it works only with "standard" 386-based machines, including most systems that use Chips & Technologies chip sets. Not included in this standard list, however, are computers from IBM, Compaq, AST, Ad- vanced Logic Research, and Epson. Price: Without an i486, $486; with an i486, $1686. Contact: TransComputer, Inc., 1257 Tasman Dr., Sunnyvale, CA 94089, (408) 747-1355. Inquiry 1129. According to Feith Sys- tems, the Feith 486 Gold Card, an i486 CPU module for your AT&T WGS 386, lets your existing software run from two to four times faster and is compatible with all DOS and Unix software. The module also features an on-chip floating-point pro- CPU modules from TransComputer and Feith Systems can add 486 performance to your 386-based system. cessor, a memory cache, and 8K bytes of unified code and data cache. Price: $5295. Contact: Feith Systems and Software, Inc., One Bala Plaza, East Lobby, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004, (215) 667-5575. Inquiry 1130. Accelerate Your Graphics An inexpensive way to quickly display graphics on VGA and higher-resolu- tion monitors is by using Num- ber Nine Computer's Graph- ics Xccelerator in conjunction with a video controller. In VGA mode, the #9GX is as much as 25 times faster than VGA cards without a graphics accelerator. Each #9GX has a 60-MHz TMS34010 processor, 512K bytes to 2 MB of video RAM, and up to 4 MB of DRAM. It speeds graphics on computers with ISA and EISA buses and is compatible with screen resolutions ranging from standard VGA (640 by 480 pixels) up to 1280 by 1024 pixels with 256 colors. It can also address a bit map as large as 4096 by 4096 pixels. You can increase the resolution, color depth, and speed by adding more memory and changing the driver. Price: $895. Contact: Number Nine Computer Corp., 725 Concord Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, (800) 438-6463 or (617) 492-0999. Inquiry 1134. continued VGA Boards Reduce Eyestrain Several manufacturers have introduced VGA controllers that are designed to reduce eyestrain, with refresh rates of between 70 and 75 Hz rather than the customary 56 or 60 Hz. The Sigma VGA Legend, with a refresh rate of 72 Hz, displays graphics at 1024 by 768 pixels, 800 by 600 pixels, and 640 by 480 pixels. Each board includes 512K bytes of RAM and is user-expandable to 1 MB (for high-resolution display with 256 colors). Supported monitors in- clude the Nanao FlexScan 9070, NEC's MultiSync 4D and 5D, Sony's CPD-1304, Mitsubishi's Diamond Scan 16L and 20L, Hitachi's Hi- Scan 20, and the Relisys RE-1520. Price: $449; 1-MB version, $569. Contact: Sigma Designs, Inc., 46501 Landing Pkwy., Freemont, CA 94538, (415) 770-0100. Inquiry 1131. Genoa Systems says that its Super VGA control- ler cards provide flicker- free resolution using anew appli- cation-specific IC chip. The company's 16-bit (Model 6400A) and Micro Channel architecture (Model 6600A) graphics controller cards provide 70- to 75-Hz screen refresh rates at a screen reso- lution of up to 1024 by 768 pixels. Price: Model 6400A, $499; Model 6600A, $549. Contact: Genoa Systems, Corp. , 75 East Trimble Rd. , San Jose, CA 95131, (408) 432-9090. Inquiry 1132. Tatung's inexpensive OmniVGA/HR video controller cards offer a 70- Hz vertical operating fre- quency, 1024- by 768-pixel resolution, and backward compatibility with Super VGA, VGA, CGA, EGA, Hercules, and Monochrome Display Adapter monitors. Model 512 can concur- rently display up to 256 colors; Model 256 can dis- play up to 16 simultaneous colors. Price: OmniVGA/HR-256, $289; OmniVGA/HR-512, $339. Contact: Tatung Company of America, Inc., 2850 El Presidio St., Long Beach, CA 90810, (213) 979-7055. Inquiry 1133. 44 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 DBMS Case Study: Security for the Goodwill Games M The Problem The 1 990 Goodwill Games: 2500 athletes in 22 events at 15 locations, drawing hundreds of thousands to watch them perf oim A show-place for international good- will. A potential target for terrorists. A challenge for security agencies. With only 3,000 off-duty officers to fill 30,000 as- signments, there's no room for confusion in scheduling. And scheduling must respond to last m inute changes, as event times slip, as dignitaries arrive on short notice, or as threats arise. Hand-schedu ling can't meet the challenge. But the Games' Integrated Police Planning Group (IPPG) found that no automated system had ever been developed for securing such events. Automated Manpower On-line Scheduling The Application (AMOS) matches personnel to scheduling require- ments, taking into account special training, language skills, and other factors. AMOS prepares an assign- ment sheet for each individual, explaining the assignment, when and where to report, how to get there - even where to park. AMOS responds to changes quickly. The database is large and complex, yet thanks to the innovative dbJVISTAffl Database Management System Specifications TM combined technology of the underlying db_VIST A database engine, search, match, and update times are negligible. Data integrity is assured by avoiding data redundancy. That means the information is reliable. The Solution AMOS was created by Raima's services subsidiary, Vista Development Corp., using the dbJVISTA III DBMS. "We looked for months for a database that was fast, flexible, and could handle a huge volume of data while still maintaining speed," said Sgt. Alan Bernstein of the IPPG. "We also wanted to find a company that could not only furnish the product, but provide the development services." They discovered Raima and db_VISTA III. Your end users may not be fighting terrorists, but they still need fast, reliable information to get their jobs done. If you develop applications for MS-DOS, MS Windows, UNIX, QNX, OS/2, VMS, Macintosh, and other environments, db VISTA III is the solution. Command center personnel can adjust schedules without delay or confusion, thanks to dh_VlST'A Ill's ability to handle large volumes of data with speed and accuracy. High performance. C language portability. Complete C source code available. No royalties. Network data model. Relational B-tree indexing. Relational SQL query and report writer. Single & multi-user. Automatic recovery. Built-in referential integrity. Complete schema revision capability. Supports: VMS, UNIX, QNX, SunOS, XENIX, Macintosh. MS-DOS. MS Windows. OS/2 compatible. Most C Compilers and LANs supported. Call 1-800-db-RAIMA Circle 331 on Reader Service Card (1-800-327-2462) [E] RAIMA" Imll CORPORATION Raima Corporation 3245 146th Place S.E., Bellevue, WA 98007 USA (206)747-5570 Telex: 6503018237 MCI UW FAX: (206)747-1991 International Distributers: Australia: 61 24197177 Brazil: 5 5 1 1 829 1 687 Central America: 506 28 07 64 Denmark: 45 4 2 887249 France: 33 I 46092784 Italy: 3 945 58471 1 .Japun: 813 473 7432 Mexico: 52 83 49 53 00 The Netherlands: 3 1 02159 46 814 Norway: 47 244 8855 Sweden: 46 013 124780 Switzerland: 41 64 517475: Taiwan: 886 2 552 3277 Turkey: 90 1 152 0516 United Kingdom: 44 0992 500919 Uruguay: 598 2-92 0959 USSR: 01 32 35 99 07: 812 292 19 65; 0142 437952 West Germany: 49 07127 5244 Copyright ©1990 Raima Corporation. All rights reserved '" "Gtitutwill Games'' is a trademark of the Turner Broadcasting Company, db is registered in the U.S. Patent atidTradeinark Office. The IBM RISC System/ Designing on any other workstation Whatever you Ye creating, you'll sail into a whole new age with any of the lour POWERstations in the RISC System/6000 family. Because POWER (Perform- ance Optimization With Enhanced RISC) processing can give you performance you've probably only dreamed about: up to four instructions per machine cycle, 42 MI PS and 13 M FLOPS. Suddenly, complex designs don't take eons anymore. The four RISC System/6000 POWERstations feature a range of graphics processors from grayscale to Supergraphics to satisfy any graphics demand. Great news for Power Seekers working on animation, scientific visualization, medical imaging and engi- neering solutions like CADAM7 CAEDS™ and CATIA! And for electrical design automation, there's IBM's all new CBDS™ and an arsenal of over 60 EDA appli- IBM is a registered trademark and RISC System/6000 and CAEDS are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. CADAM is a trademark of CADAM INC. CATIA is a trademark of Dassault Systemes. CBDS is a trademark of Bell Northern Research Corporation. HAGAR THE HORRIBLE Character(s) © 1990 King Features Syndicate. Inc.© IBM Corp. 1990, all rights reserved 6000" family. will seem downright primitive. M&btM? cations from more than a dozen vendors. With every POWERstation, you can get an almost unimaginable palette of 16 million colors, which gives you 3 D images so realistic, they fairly leap off the screen,with super sharp resolution of 1,280x1,024 pixels. And when its time to call in the heavy artillery, the POWERstation 730 draws nearly one million 3D vec- tors per second. Like all POWERstations, it can come complete with its own graphics processor, freeing the POWER processor to rapidly create and analyze your designs. All at prices that won't sink anybody's budget. So if you're tired of paddling upstream with yesterday's performance, call your IBM marketing representative or Business Partner to find out more about the RISC System/6000 family. For literature, call 1 800 JBM-6676, ext.991. Civilization never looked so good. For the Power Seeker. ^V ^r— — Circle 141 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW HARDWARE • OTHER Share a PostScript Printer Among PCs and Macs If you need to connect both PCs and Macs to a single PostScript printer, you should consider Bridgeport, a small peripheral from Extended Systems. Macintoshes connect to Bridgeport through the Local- Talk interface (which sup- ports up to 3 1 Macs), and as many as two PCs can connect through the serial and parallel interfaces. Integrated Laser- Writer emulation lets your Mac print PostScript files to non- Apple printers. Bridgeport supports sev- eral printers, including Hew- lett-Packard's II, IID, and III printers equipped with a Post- Script cartridge; IBM Laser- Printers equipped with Post- Script; QMS PS810 Turbo printers; Apple LaserWriter IINT and IINTX printers; and other compatibles. Price: $495. Contact: Extended Systems, Inc., 6123 North Meeker Ave., Boise, ID 83704, (208) 322-7575. Inquiry 1135. One BridgePort lets you inexpensively share a PostScript printer among two PCs and as many as 31 Macs. "Camera" Prints on a PostScript Printer The Dycam 1GS is a bat- tery-operated still- video camera you use to take pic- tures, display and edit them on your Mac, and print them on your PostScript printer. Dy- cam plans to introduce a PC version later this year. The charge-coupled device operates much the same as an ordinary film camera. You point and shoot, and an audio- output shutter click confirms that you've captured the image. The Dycam 1GS has shutter speeds of 1 /30 to 1/1000 second, depth of field from 2 feet to infinity, a "per- fect portrait" field of view, and a variety of beeps to signal that you're about to take a bad picture, that the Dycam 's battery is low, and other Two New Cartridges for Your LaserJet Printers The Charisma cartridge, for all Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printers, lets you plug in up to four extra sin- gle-chip modules to add functions to your printer. It contains all the font and symbol sets from the stan- dard HP A-through-Z font cartridges, as well as a num- ber of additional symbols and fonts (including extra large). Elite has announced 12 modules for Charisma, including traditional type- faces. The company also plans to provide a service to allow you to place any graphics image on a module. Images include company logos, let- terhead, or other commonly used and complex figures. Price: $399; modules, $99 to $149. Contact: Elite Business Ap- plications, 28 Route 3 North, Millersville, MD 21108, (800) 942-0018 or (301) 987-9050. Inquiry 1138. Pacific Outlines I and II are font cartridges for your LaserJet III printer that Pacific Data Products claims are better than and cost one-third the price of Hewlett-Packard's outline fonts. Together, the font car- tridges contain 5 1 typefaces, which are selectable up to 999.75 points in quarter- point increments. They in- corporate fast Intellifont font-scaling technology and are fully compatible with LaserJet III drivers used with the HP scaling-font cartridges. Price: $299 each. Contact: Pacific Data Prod- ucts, Inc., 9125 Rehco Rd., San Diego, CA 92 12 1,(619) 552-0880. Inquiry 1139. problems. After you snap your pic- tures, you drop the unit into a cradle that connects it to your computer's serial port. Soft- ware running on the Mac in- cludes a menu selection for uploading the images at a rate of about 20 seconds per photo- graph. You can then display and edit the image using such packages as Digital Dark- room. Maximum image quality is rated as 376 by 240 pixels in 256 shades of gray. The unit weighs 10 ounces. Optional accessories in- clude a kit with a recharger, another recharger that plugs into an automobile cigarette lighter, and a laptop cable and cable adapter. Price: $995. Contact: Dycam, Inc., 9546 Topanga Canyon Blvd . , Chats- worth, CA 91311, (818) 998-8008. Inquiry 1136. Turn One Parallel Port into Two The Parallel Port Multi- plexer is a tiny device that turns a single parallel port into two, complete with a 1K- byte TSR program to assign the ports to peripherals and a 6-inch cable. Manufacturer Xircom de- signed the 3 Vi -ounce device so that laptop users could simul- taneously use a printer and its Pocket LAN adapters for Ethernet and Token Ring net- working. But the Multiplexer is compatible with all parallel peripherals that need a DB- 25 interface. The Parallel Port Multiplexer measures 2% by 2 1 / 2 by 1% inches. Price: $95. Contact: Xircom, Inc., 22231 Mulholland Hwy., Suite 114, Woodland Hills, CA 91364,(818)884-8755. Inquiry 1137. continued 48 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 .'.IP rti \ Instant Mainframe. Just Add SCO. Not too long ago, a few dozen people sharing the same pro- grams, resources, and information on a single computer at the same time meant only one thing — a mainframe. Powerful, big, expensive, and proprietary. More recently, the same people could be found doing exactly the same things — simultaneously sharing programs, resources, and information — on a minicomputer. A lot cheaper, a lot smaller, yet powerful enough to do the same jobs. And just as proprietary. Then along came the latest generation of personal computers. And now, the same people are more and more likely to be found doing exactly the same things — simultaneously sharing programs, resources, and information — on a PC. And not a whole officeful of PCs networked together, either, but a single PC powering the whole office at once. A lot cheaper, a lot smaller, yet still easily powerful enough to do the same jobs. Built to non-proprietary, open system standards that allow complete freedom of choice in hardware and software. And running the industry-choice multiuser, multitasking UNIX® System V platform that gives millions of 286- and 386-based PC users mainframe power every business day. The UNIX System standard for PCs— SCO." The SCO family of UNIX System software solutions is available for all 80286-, 80386-, and 804 86 -based industry-standard and Micro C banner'* computers. IIMX is a registered trademark of AT&T. SCO and die SCO logo are trademarks of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. Microsoft and XENIX are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. OS/2 and Micro Channel are trademaita of International Business Madiines Corporation. 1-2-3 is a registered trademark of Lotus Development Corporation. dHASE II] PLUS is a registered tiademark of Ashton-Tate. 1/89 ©1989 The Santa Criu Operation, Inc., 400 Encinal Street, P.O. Box 1900, Santa Cruz, California 95061 USA The Santa Cru2 Operation, Ltd, Croxley Centre. Hatteis Une, Watford WDI 8YN, United Kingdom, +44 (0)923 816344, FAX: +44 (0)923 817781, TELEX: 917372 mm c Today, SCO UNIX System solutions are installed on more than one in ten of all leading 386 computers in operation worldwide. Running thousands of off-the-shelf XENIX® and UNIX System-based applications on powerful standard business systems supporting 32 or even more workstations — at an unbelievably low cost per user. And with such blazing performance that individual users believe they have the whole system to themselves. Running electronic mail across the office — or around the world — in seconds. Running multiuser PC communications to minis and mainframes through TCP/IP and SNA networks. And doing some things that no mainframe — or even DOS- or .OS/2 "based PC — ever thought about, such as running multiple DOS applications. Or networking DOS, OS/2, XENIX and UNIX Systems together. Or running UNIX System versions and workalikes of popular DOS applications such as Microsoft® Word, 1-2-3®, and dBASE III PLUS.® Or even letting users integrate full-featured multiuser productivity packages of their choice under a standard, friendly menu interface. Today's personal computer isn't just a "PC" anymore, and you can unleash its incredible mainframe-plus power for yourself — today. Just add SCO. For more information, call SCO today and ask for ext. 8562. THE SANTA CRUZ OPERATION (800) SCO-UNIX (726-8649) (408) 425-7222 FAX: (408) 458-4227 [•-MAIL: . . . !uunet!sco!info info(ascoCOM Circle 259 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW Arnet Offers Serial Boards with Surge Protection Serially networked PCs and peripherals now have more protection from power surges with Arnet' s new serial- port expansion boards, the company says. SurgeBlock protection is now part of five new boards. They include the Octaport, which features 64K bytes of dual-ported RAM, a 10- MHz 80C186 processor, an eight-port cable, and Simul- Print, a software driver that supports multiscreen sessions and lets users of terminals swap programs with a single keystroke while in other applications. Smartport-8 is an eight- port board with 64K bytes of dual-ported RAM, 64K bytes of RAM (expandable to 512K bytes), a 16-MHz 80C186 processor, SimulPort (terminal paging software), and Simul- Print. You can expand Smart- port-8 to 16 or 24 ports. Smartport-16 is a 16-port board that features all the functions of Smartport-8 and is expandable to 24 or 32 ports. Price: Octaport, $1095; Smartports, $1595 to $2995. Contact: Arnet Corp., 618 Grassmere Park Dr., Suite 6, Nashville, TN 372 11, (800) 366-8844 or (615) 834-8000. Inquiry 1140. System Sleuth on the Trail of Windows and the Mac Dariana Technology Group has modified Sys- tem Sleuth, its DOS program for analyzing and diagnosing a computer configuration, to work with Windows 3.0 and the Macintosh. System WinSleuth is a Windows 3.0 program that fer- Arnet's Octaport is a serial-port expansion board that guards against energy spikes by bleeding offovervoltage before it can reach and damage chips. rets out information about hardware and software config- urations, attached periph- erals, and memory. Dariana Technology says that every- thing from the DOS program has gone into WinSleuth, ex- cept where the use of protected mode will interfere. Win- Sleuth might not be able to find out as much information about areas like interrupts as System Sleuth does, the com- pany concedes. WinSleuth keeps track of how Windows is managing memory and informs you of the size of the largest remain- ing contiguous block of mem- ory. This allows you to find out if there is still enough memory left to run Windows. The program also tracks all the device drivers in the system and can report their capabilities. System MacSleuth pro- vides information about Apple- Talk and the devices con- nected to a Mac via AppleTalk. It identifies the type of system, desk accesso- ries, INITs, SCSI devices, slots, cdevs, and drivers. Price: $149 each. Contact: Dariana Technol- ogy Group, Inc., 7439 La Palma Ave., Suite 278, Buena Park, CA 90620, (714) 994-7400. Inquiry 1141. Learn to Enhance Your Group's Schedule Advanced Concepts says that Office Minder 1.10, a groupware package, works on Novell, 3Com, Banyan, and compatible LANs. Enhance- ments include support for multiple file servers, wide- area networks, and remote communication with Message Handling System-compatible E-mail products. Office Minder 1 . 10 in- cludes a TSR program for E- mail, telephone messaging, group scheduling, project management, and resource management. Standard fea- tures are text editing, screen capture, and file attachments; ASCII import and export; shared to-do lists; appointment reminder alarms; and auto- dialing from embedded text. Office Minder runs in 2K bytes of RAM for simple mail notification, 56K bytes for messaging, and 86K bytes for a full-function system. Price: $695 per server. Contact: Advanced Con- cepts, Inc., 4129 North Port Washington Ave., Milwau- kee, WI 53212, (800) 222- 6736 or (414) 963-0999. Inquiry 1142. Forval's External Modem Speeds Data at 14,400 bps The SA14400 is an exter- nal modem that transmits data without compression at 14,400 bps using an extended V.32 protocol for 14,400-bps data transmission. The CCITT standards body is bound to designate 14,400 transmission as V.32bis, the company says. The SA 14400 also in- cludes the V.42bis compres- sion algorithm that effective- ly quadruples data transfer rates and allows the modem to transmit at 57,600 bps. If it can't talk to a V .42bis mo- dem, it defaults to the MNP-5 data-compression algorithm for 28,800-bps data transmis- sion rates. And of course it's compatible with the standard V.32 rate of 9600 bps and the older data transmission protocols. Because you can program the new modem's firmware via a data call over a standard phone line, you can receive up- dates that improve the modem's performance or add future standards by calling Forval using the modem itself, Forval says. Some PC systems are no longer able to keep up with data transmissions at higher speeds and start to lose charac- ters, so Forval's internal 14,400-bps modem uses a cus- tom VLSI chip to buffer the data to the AT bus. Price: Introductory price, $996; $1245 thereafter. Contact: Forval America, Inc. , Modem Division, 6985 Union Park Center, Suite 425, Midvale, UT 84047, (800) 367-8251 or (801) 561-8080. Inquiry 1143. continued 50 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 CRRRV-I The World's First & Original Book-Size Desktop Computer SAVES YOUR ENVIRONMENT Good Wt. (Monitor, CPU, Keyboard) = 59 lb. Footprint (W/Keyboard) = 4 sq. ft. BETTER Wt. (Monitor, CPU, Keyboard) = 13 lb. Footprint (W/Keyboard) = 1 sq. ft. CARRY-I 8088 10MHZ XT/AMI BIOS /256K RAM expandable to 640k/One to two 720KB 3.5" FDD/ Serial/Parallel/Game/CGA/MGA/Standard keyboard connector/1 6Watt Power adapter Dimension: 240mm x 185mm x 45mm Weight: 1.9kg CARRY-I KEYBOARD 82 Key/XT-AT Autoswitch Dimension: 310mm x 145mm x 27mm Weight: 0.7kg CARRY-I 80286 12MHZ, Wait State AT/AMI BIOS with Diagnostic/1MB RAM/20MB, 40MB HDD optional/One to two 1.44MB 3.5" FDD/2 Serial/1 Parallel/CGA/MGA/Standard keyboard connector/30Watt Power adapter Dimension: 240mm x 185mm x 45mm Weight: 2.1kg CARRY-I MONITOR 9", Dual Frequency Weight: 3.4kg I ITfflWl FLYTECH TECHNOLOGY CO, LTD. (HEAD OFFICE) 2 FL.. NO. 8. LANE 50. SEC. 3. NAN-KANG RD, TAIPEI. TAIWAN, R.O.C. TEL: (02)785-2556 FAX: (02)785-2371 . 763-7970 TELEX: 22233 FLTCO FLYTECH TECHNOLOGY (U.S. A), INC. 3008 SCOTT BLVD., SANTA CLARA, CA. 95054 U.S. A TEL: (408)727-7373, 727-7374 FAX: (408)727-7375 FLYTECH TECHNOLOGY HANDELS-GMBH MENDELSSOHNSTRASSE 53, 6000 FRANKFURT AM MAIN 1 , WEST GERMANY TEL: (069)7..6-081, 746-453 FAX: (069)749-375 FLYTECH TECHNOLOGY (H.K.) LTD. B12, 8 FL, BLOCK B, TONIC INDUSTRIAL CENTRE, 19 LAMHING ST., KOWLOON BAY. KOWLOON, HONG KONG TEL: 305-1268 FAX: 796-8427 Exclusive Distributors: Authorized: CANADA: ISRAEL: SPAIN: BELGIUM: BUDGETRON INC. MLL COMPUTERS SYSTEMS LTD. AT ELECTRONIC, S.A. CELEM S.A. 1320 SHAWSON DRIVE, UNIT 1 9 HABONIM ST., RAMAT GAN, P.O.B. 5195 NUNEZ DE BALBOA, BOULEVARD DE L'OURTHE, 29 MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO, L4W 1C3 TEL: 972-3-7515511 114 OFICINA 717, 28006 MADRID B-4920 EMBOURG TEL: 1-416-564-7800 FAX: 972-3-7516615 TEL: 34-1-564-5434 TEL: 32-41-676434 FAX: 1-416-564-2679 ITALY: FAX: 34-1-41 1!0869 FAX: 32-41-676515 FRANCE: PRIMA COMPUTER TRADING ITALIA U.K.: BELGIUM: M3C L'lNFORMATIQUE DU SUCCES VIA UMBRIA. 16/A-42100 REGGIO EM CENTERPRISE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED DATATECH MICROSYSTEMS S.P.R.L 64, AVENUE CHARLES DE GAULLE 95160 TEL: 39-522-518599 HAMPSHIRE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS PARK, CHAUSSEE DE VLEURGAT 184 MONTMORENCY FAX: 39-522-518599 CROCKFORD LANE. CHINEHAM, BASINGSTOKE. B-1050 BRUSSELS TEL: 33-1-34175362 HAMPSHIRE RG24 OGO TEL: 32-2-6462290 FAX: 33-1-42355916 NETHERLAND: TEL: 44-256-463754 FAX: 32-2-6460937 KN FAX: 44-256-843174 HONG KONG: SCHIPHOLWEG 343, 1171 PL BADHOEVEDORP PARKLY TECHNOLOGY LTD. TEL: 31-2968-84141 FAX: 31-2968-97436 WEST GERMANY: B12, 8FL„ BLOCK B, TONIC INDUSTRIAL MACROTRON AG CENTRE, 19 LAMHING ST., KOWLOON BAY, NORWAY: STAHLGRUBERRING 28, D-8000 MUNCHEN 82 KOWLOON. SECUS DATA A/S TEL: 49-89-4208-0 TEL: 852-3051268 FAX: 852-7968427 GRENSEVN 88. 0663 OSLO 6. NORGE TEL: 47-2-722510 FAX: 47-2-722515 Circle 120 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW CONNECTIV Share Your PS/2 with Unix and a C/X System DigiBoard says that the DigiChannel MC C/X System now lets your PS/2 inexpensively support 16 Unix users through one add-in slot and a C/CON-16 concentrator box, a small peripheral. You can also expand the basic pack- age to support 32, 48, and 64 users with more C/CON-16 concentrator boxes. Two synchronous channels link the DigiChannel C/X adapter card with two con- centrator boxes. You can daisy chain an additional concen- trator box to each original con- centrator to provide flexibili- ty and allow for up to 64 concurrent users. Micropro- cessors on the DigiChannel C/X adapter card and the concentrator boxes work to- gether to decrease the work- load on the host CPU and to in- crease system throughput. The C/X adapter card in- cludes its own 10-MHz 80186, 128K bytes of RAM, and an 85C30 serial communications controller driving two full- duplex RS-422 synchronous channels. Price: Basic package, $2195; separate C/CON-16, $1395. Contact: DigiBoard, Inc., 6751 Oxford St., St. Louis Park, MN 55426, (612) 922-8055. Inquiry 1144. Fax Server Alerts You to Received Faxes NetFax is an add-in card and software you use with a dedicated PC to create a fax server for your NetWare net- work. It gives you the normal features of plain-paper printing when connected to a printer, plus remote faxing to or from The DigiChannel MC C/X System, with one board and one C/CON-16 box, lets your PS/2 inexpensively support 16 Unix users; with four boxes, you can support 64 users. any PC on the network. What's unique about this new version of NetFax is its abil- ity to alert you when it receives certain faxes, All The Fax says. When you're waiting for a particular fax, you simply tell NetFax the Transmit Termi- nal Identification line (i.e., the header) that the sending fax transmits at the top of every page it sends. (Most fax ma- chines have a setup utility that lets you automatically trans- mit the date, time, and com- pany name— up to 20 charac- ters—on the TTI line of each transmitted fax.) NetFax watches for that TTI line and sends you a "fax waiting" message through NetWare's Disk and File Management XTree Co. now offers two new versions of its disk and file management software for NetWare ELS and NetWare Advanced/ SFT/386. XTreeNet 2.0 gives ad- ministrators a visual display of their directory tree. There they can manipulate the files to access, edit, view, delete, rename, list, print, or copy any combination of files any- where on the network. X- TreeNet 2.0 is designed to help users eliminate dupli- cate files, access the most re- cent copy of any document, and move or copy files to local storage devices. Peer-to-peer capabilities allow you to view, copy, de- lete, and edit files on distant workstations from desig- nated workstations (rather than from the file server). With the Autoview feature, you can split the screen and browse through multiple files on the left while dis- playing their contents on the right. And each copy of XTreeNet 2.0 comes with file viewers that enable you to see formatted views of files in Lotus 1-2-3, dBASE, Xy Write, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, Multimate, Paradox, and other popular programs. System requirements are DOS 3.1, 256K bytes of RAM, and NetWare ELS or Advanced/SFT/386. Price: NetWare ELS, $249; NetWare Advanced/SFT/ 386, $495. Contact: XTree Co., 4330 Santa Fe Rd . , San Luis Obis- po, CA 93401, (800) 634- 5545 or (805) 541-0604; in California, (800) 551-5353; in Canada, (416) 866-8592. Inquiry 1147. message/broadcast facility when the fax comes in. Then you use DOS commands (NetFax uses no TSR program) to download the fax to your workstation from the fax server. In practice, many compa- nies don't use the TTI line for more than the time and date, and in those cases NetFax won't help you. But the com- pany says that its TTI method is a less expensive routing method than using other com- panies' fax routing equip- ment designed for the tele- phone company service called Direct Inward Dialing. You load about 50K bytes of NetFax software on the Net- Ware server, on the NetFax server, and on each worksta- tion. For your NetFax server you must dedicate at least an XT with 640K bytes of RAM and a 20-MB hard disk drive. Price: $995 per network. Contact: All The Fax, Inc., 917 Northern Blvd., Great Neck, NY 11021, (800) 289- 3329 or (516) 829-0556. Inquiry 1145. UPSes for NetWare Broadcast Alerts of Power Failures The MPS 1200 and 1500 are uninterruptible power supplies (providing on-line power rather than backup power) for your Novell LAN. They supply 1200 VA and 1500 VA of on-line power, respectively. Network Monitor, the as- sociated software, alerts all LAN users of impending power failures. It works as a value-added process on a file server running NetWare. Price: MPS 1200, $1699; MPS 1500, $2199. Contact: Unison Technol- ogies, Inc., 23456 Madero, Mission Viejo, CA 92691, (714) 855-8700. Inquiry 1146. continued 52 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Times Change. The Need To Protect Doesn't. O RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES 9292 Jeronimo Road, Irvine, CA 92718 TEL: (714) 454-2100 ■ (800) 852-8569 (Outside CA) FAX: (714) 454-8557 ■ AppleLink: D3058 Rainbow Technologies, Ltd., Shirley Lodtie, 470 London Road Slough, Berkshire SL3 8QY,TEL: 0753-41512 -FAX: 0753-43610 hether you're protecting frontiers and temples in Manchuria, or software and data on the PC or Mac, the Great Wall is a lesson Rainbow Technologies has learned very well. Software developers must deal daily with the consequences of unauthorized copies and millions of dollars in lost revenue. At the same time, both individual and corporate users must be able to make and distribute copies within legal guidelines. Today's information-driven companies must secure their data files against theft and unauthorized access. No less than protecting personal wealth and tangible property, guarding data files is a necessary invest- ment in competitive survival. Protecting "intellectual property' is the security challenge for the '90s. Which is why Rainbow Technologies builds a little of the Great Wall into every key it makes. For developers, the Software Sentinel™ family of keys protects IBM, PS/2 and compatible software, while Eve" guards software for the Mac. Rainbow's DataSentry™ is the solution for PC data protection. Software and data protection from Rainbow Technologies. Information on how you can have a little piece of the Great Wall to protect your software and data worldwide is as close as a toll-free call. Copyright ©1990 Rainbow Technologies. Inc. Circle 253 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 254) SKNVSUUGINOVfcU. ■ ^SAMSUNG/NOVELL PCtexTX\ma\l'2a& PCterminal/286 ^ SMJlSVmGINOVELL PC\ern\\na\l2B6 & SAMSUNG/NOVELL PCteTm\na\/286 LMH 386AE FILE S How to plan your LAN. You'll need a pencil. That's to write down the telephone number on the next page. Which will connect you with Samsung's nationwide network of resellers. And the i Samsung/Novell co-labeled line of LAN hardware. It's pretty much that simple. With one call you can plan on substantial savings over the big name computers which, despite high clock rates and even higher price tags, are not really optimized for networking. And you can plan on 100 percent compati- bility with all versions of Novell's NetWare* because Samsung's LAN hardware was co- designed by Novell. Just like the label says. THE TESTING WENT IN BEFORE THE LABEL WENT ON. Both the Samsung 386AE and PCterminal/286 have been tested exhaustively and certified by Novell for compatibility with all popular networking hardware and software products. As a matter of fact, Samsung's 386AE is one of 3 fileservers certified by Novell to run NetWare 386. For example, engineers at Novell success- fully tested the PCterminal/286 LAN Work- station in no less than 1200 different network configurations... with 50 units running at once! That's a claim no other computer manu- facturer can make. NETWORKING VS. NOTWORKING. What's the difference? Take our 386AE Fileserver, for instance. It includes Novell's Advanced BIOS, and eight expansion slots to accom- modate multiple network interface cards and disk controllers. Plus an oversize power supply capable of driving dual high capacity hard disks and tape i 1989 Samsung Informiilioii S\-stems A rod iraclcinarks of IS'owll. Ii SAMSUNG/NOVELL SAMSUNG/NOVELL PCterminal/286 PCterminal/286 £ SAMSUNG/NOVELL PCterminal/286 m back-up system. Plus 4 megabytes of main memory for disk caching. Then there's Samsung's PCterminal/286 Diskless Workstation which includes a built-in Ethernet inter- face and Novell's Remote Boot EPROM. And not to be overlooked is our 16-bit SE2100 Ethernet Interface Card which provides up to twice the throughput for the price of an 8-bit card. THE SAMSUNG COMMITMENT. With 4 million monitors and half a million PC and LAN computers sold in 1988 alone, it's clear that Samsung has made a serious commitment to the marketplace. In all, Samsung offers no less than nine different PC and LAN computer models with seventeen color and monochrome monitors! And, as a 31-billion dollar international corporation, Samsung has the resources to provide continuous support for its customers. So why not begin your network planning today? For the name of the Samsung reseller nearest you, write: SAMSUNG, 3655 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95134, or call 1-800-446-0262. eg SAMSUNG Circle 257 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 258 WHAT'S NEW PROGRAMMING (i) Uicu Features Support Info Hun MetaWindow Puts TV in Your Computer Screen With the MetaWindow graphics toolkit, you can develop applications that let an end user work in one ap- plication while viewing live video that appears in a re- sizable, movable window. A program that lets stockbrokers view a live feed from Finan- cial News Network while using another program to buy and sell stocks is one possible MetaWindow application. MetaWindow applications can run on DOS, Unix, OS/2, and Windows systems that in- clude a New Media Graphics VideoWindows digital video card. The card supports live or taped video. A program written in C or Pascal can call the more than 250 routines of the object module library. Price: $250. Contact: Metagraphics Soft- ware Corp., 4575 Scotts Valley Dr., P.O. Box 66779, Scotts Valley, CA 95066, (408) 438-1550. Inquiry 1148. Two Parallel Programming Environments Top Level Common Lisp (TopCL) 2 .0, for develop- ing Unix System V- and X Window System-based multi- processing programs, re- lieves you of the programming hassles of synchronicity through its use of future objects. Top Level describes a fu- ture object as a promissory note or blank check. Once you specify a fork, the system immediately returns a future object, the value of which is undetermined until a compu- tation is complete. TopCL reduces the num- rrifT Miqn \MW 4| SaLur. H 1 I-+P Cant. M |; ] *jllue Un 1*1 Bright H "H Egrrcozo Dn/ll DTimi (Ulup | Applications created with the MetaWindow graphics toolkit let you watch full-motion images from a standard American or European video source. ber of function calls required to fork a computation, allow- ing you to fork small computa- tions efficiently, with little overhead. The program includes Meta Debug, an external de- bugger, and a foreign func- tion interface for calling existing software. TopCL runs on PCs and workstations based on the Intel 80x86 and i860, Motorola 88000, and National Semicon- ductor 32x32 chips. The company also plans to release a version for OS/2. Price: $3300 for a system for a two-processor PC. Contact: Top Level, Inc., 196 North Pleasant St. , Am- herst, MA 01002, (413) 256-6405. Inquiry 1149. An Abstract Machine in the Strand 88 parallel programming language en- capsulates hardware-dependent features so that applications can run across all platforms that Strand Software supports. Strand's foreign function interface supports sequential C and FORTRAN applications. Strand 88 Buckingham, the newest version, includes a profiler, a task scheduler, and a resolvent analysis tool. It also runs 50 percent faster than the previous version. Strand runs on PC-based transputer systems, multi- processor machines, and workstations running on Unix/V 386. Price: $1500 and up. Contact: Strand Software Technologies, Inc., 15220 Northwest Greenbrier Pkwy., Suite 350, Beaverton, OR 97006, (503)690-9830. Inquiry 1150. New Linker Gives DOS Programs Virtual Memory The Virtual Memory Linking feature of the .RTLink/Plus 4.0 linker gives DOS applications virtual memory capabilities similar to those of OS/2 and Windows without requiring a hardware upgrade. With VML, DOS programs execute in conven- tional memory and up to 32 MB of expanded memory. In most situations, one command during link time adds VML capability to a program without requiring source code changes or the programming analysis of over- lays. The linker manages available memory and discards infrequently accessed pages when more memory is needed to bring in a page. Instead of bringing pages into memory through a refer- ence to a piece of data, the VML feature does it through calls or jumps to code symbols. The VML feature of the linker initially supports Micro- soft C, while the linker itself is compatible with all DOS programming languages. Pocket Soft will continue to add VML support for other programming languages. Price: $495. Contact: Pocket Soft, Inc., 7676 Hillmont, Suite 195, Houston, TX 77040, (713) 460-5600. Inquiry 1151. Develop SQL Applications in Windows With two products from Coromandel, you can build and run transaction- based or Structured Query Language-based data man- agement applications under Windows 3.0. Integra SQL offers a high- level programming interface based on embedded SQL statements and a low-level in- terface for directly manipu- lating tables and performing record operations. It auto- matically handles data man- agement, query optimization, and data integrity, the com- pany says. C-Trieve/Windows is a library of routines for building transaction-based applications. Price: Integra SQL, $695; C-Trieve/Windows, $395. Contact: Coromandel Indus- tries, 108-27 64th Rd., Forest Hills, NY 11375,(718) 997-0699. Inquiry 1152. continued 56 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 PcJuultii /< ■ ... for the guaranteed best prices and fast delivery! Call today for your FREE catalog!! (800) 445-7899 International: (201) 389-9228 Corporate: (800) 422-6507 Fax: (201) 389 JA 'Division of Voyager Softzvarc Corp 1163 SftrezusSury ftvenue Skrtzosbury, 9{1 07702 J&J^ WHAT'S NEW SOFTWARE • BUSINESS Sketch Out Projects with Qwiknet Project Software & De- velopment has added a graphical user interface to Qwiknet Professional 2.0, a multiproject management program for in-depth schedul- ing and cost analysis on the IBM PC. The program's drawing- board feature lets you sketch out a project, instead of re- quiring that you build critical- path method schedules with tabular forms and advanced constructs. A windowing sys- tem lets you navigate through screens, and a pick-and-drop function lets you copy infor- mation from one field, screen, or file to another without typing. Version 2.0 lets you define an activity's duration as a function of its resource allo- cation where appropriate. What-if analysis and the abil- ity to schedule up to 250 proj- ects with a common resource pool, so that all resources are used without being double- booked, are included in the program. Price: $2500; $8600 per four- concurrent-users package. Contact: Project Software & Development, Inc., 20 Univer- sity Rd., Cambridge, MA 02138, (617) 661-1444. Inquiry 1153. Qwiknet 's new drawing-board interface for managing projects. Tasks and portions of tasks in yellow are complete, while those in blue haven 't been finished. A Database/ Spreadsheet Companion Feldstar says that Analyst 1 combines the calculation ability of spreadsheets with the historical tracking of data- bases so that you can develop and maintain analyses over ex- tended periods of time in a single model. The program doesn't replace a DBMS or spreadsheet, but it lets you identify and graph trends from historical data. With the program's rela- tional database capabilities, you can track the perfor- mance of your sales staff by various products and multiple time periods that you choose. You compare these relation- ships using reports and line, Intex Breaks the 640K-byte Barrier for 1-2-3 release 2.0 With Beyond 640 for 1- 2-3, users of Lotus 1- 2-3 release 2.0 can exploit expanded memory, access- ing up to 4 MB of memory for their spreadsheets, Intex reports. The program moni- tors your memory use, and as you approach the conven- tional memory limit, Be- yond 640 kicks in and lets 1-2-3 store its entire spread- sheet in expanded memory, making the Memory Full error message obsolete. The program works with 1-2-3 releases 2.01 and 2.2, and EMS 3.2 or 4.0. Price: $95. Contact: Intex Solutions, Inc., 161 Highland Ave., Needham,MA02194,(617) 449-6222. Inquiry 1157. bar, pie, and wave charts. You can export data from a spreadsheet to Analyst 1 by printing the spreadsheet to a file unformatted. You then in- sert a date into the first col- umn so that Analyst can use it. Analyst 1 runs on the IBM PC with 512K bytes of RAM. Price: $199. Contact: Feldstar Software, Inc., P.O. Box 871564, Dal- las, TX 75287, (214) 407-1006. Inquiry 1154. Softview's Intelligent Business Forms Package Sof tview, developer of the MacInTax tax prepa- ration program for the Mac and IBM PC running Win- dows, has released a forms- design program with an under- lying technology that lets you create and modify forms without having to start from scratch. The if:X Forms Designer lets you make last-minute changes, such as adding a company logo or resizing a form, without requiring you to rearrange its elements. The program can insert, copy, and move pieces of a form with a single command. As you design the form, you can trans- pose columns and exchange noncontiguous elements. When you transfer data from the if:X Forms Designer to another application, such as Excel, through the Clip- board, text retains its font style and style information. Tabular data exchanged either way retains its structure. The if:X Forms Designer runs on the Mac Plus with 1 MB of memory. The current version of the program doesn't have the calculating capabili- ties present in MacInTax, but that feature will be added in the next version, scheduled to ship next year. Price: $279. Contact: Softview, 1721 Pa- cific Ave., Suite 100, Oxnard, CA 93033, (800) 525-1065 or (805) 385-5000. Inquiry 1155. Date Sensitivity Added to Accounting Package Cyma's new versions of its Professional Account- ing Series 2.0 for Unix, Xenix, and AIX running on the IBM RISC System/6000 let you create entries or gener- ate reports for previous or fu- ture periods without disturbing current period data, which removes the pressure of period closings. PAS 2.0, which is also available for DOS, in- cludes a report generator and a macro feature. You can run the program's seven modules separately or integrated with other mod- ules: general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, inventory and order processing, job control, and system manager. Price: $495 to $1195 per module. Contact: Cyma, 1400 East Southern Ave., Tempe, AZ 85282, (800) 292-2962 or (602)831-2607. Inquiry 1156. continued 58 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 . (^ Programmer's Paradise (800) 445-7899 If you need to develop Microsoft® Windows applications fast, Actor can cut your development time in half. Actor, by The Whitewater Group, is the most popular object-oriented development system for the Windows environment. Actor 3.0 provides you with comprehensive windows classes that offer complete support for all Windows 3.0 functions, messages, and styles. List: $695 Ours: $559 ~*-*KT. K-o.Mc*. ") <■ * Microsoft® Windows TM 3.0 ITS HERE! The Microsoft Windows 3.0 Graphical Environment gives you the ability to work with all your applications within an exciting visual environment. Version 3.0 breaks the 640K DOS memory barrier. Run multiple large applications that can exploit up to 16MB oi memory. And the visual user shell makes it easy to complete directory, application and file management tasks from within the environment. Windows 3.0 was designed to work under networks. Network resources are readily available since 3.0 allows you to connect and disconnect to file servers and printers from within the Windows environment. A variety of useful desktop applications such as CardFile, Windows Write, a keystroke recorder and a full color painting program are also included. So get ready to get much more done with less effort with Microsoft Windows 3.0, the graphical environment that offers truly personal computing. List: $150 Ours: $99 J ■-■ ■ ' * '- ., r—= c--j e ' Zortech C++ Developer's Edition 2.1 The first and only native code C++ compiler supporting Microsoft Windows 3.0. Extensive documentation is provided on how to write C++ programs for Windows...and 50K of example Windows code is included! Version 2.1 also features improved optimization and code generation custom C++ development environment with browsers, and a virtual 386 debugger. List: $450 Ours: $399 C_talk/Views A complete application development environment for Microsoft Windows. Over 50 object classes are provided to act as building blocks for a Microsoft Windows program. The JTalk/Views framework provides an architecture for program design, and a structure for building reusable program parts. List: $450 Ours:$375 V 'A r/ G O * C> « t J - * ^ C OJ \t»»Z& u ■'-:■&*!?&&<.< NEW! C++/Views Over 60 C++ object classes such as Containers, Collections, Sets, Dictionaries and Files, Streams and user interface objects supporting views, j graphics, dialogs, controls, editors, menus, printers and more. A perfect complement to Zortech's C++ Developer's Edition and X.' the Microsoft Windows Development Kit. SPECIAL BUNDLE: \^ Us t $495 ours $4ts OJ Zortech C++ Developer's Edition C++/Views $450 $495 $945 Together: Programmer's Paradise SPECIAL! Both for only $595 ^^^^^^ -', /!, ' ( J , Programmer's Paradise®... We'll Beat The Competition's Advertised Prices! LIST OURS 386 CONTROL PROGRAMS DESQview386w/QEMM 220 169 Microsoft Windows 3.0 150 99 VM/386 245 209 895 839 395 339 VM/386 Multiuser VM/386 Multiuser Starter 386 DEVELOPMENT TOOLS 386 ASM/LinkLoc 1 295 Lahey F77L-EM/32 (w/ OS/386) 1 290 MetaWare High C 386 895 Novell C Network Compiler/386 995 895 239 495 1295 895 Paradox/386 PC-lint 386 Phar Lap 386 ASM/LINK WATCOM C 8.0/386 Prof. WATCOM C 8.0/386 Standard ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE Advantage Disassembler ASMFlow MS Macro Assembler OPTASM Resource Sourcer w/ Pre-Processor SpontaneousAssembly Turbo Debugger & Tools Visible Computer: 80286 BASIC COMPILERS MS BASIC Prof. Devel. System Power Basic QuickBASIC True BASIC BASIC LIBS/UTILITIES db/LIB DiaLogic CraphPak CraphPak Professional P.D.Q. ProBas ProBas Toolkit ProMath QBase and Quickscreen QuickComm QuickPak QuickPak Professional QuickPak Scientific QuickScreen QuickWindows Advanced C COMPILERS C Network Compiler 695 LatticeC6.0 250 Lattice C 286 (w/ extension) 495 Microsoft C 6.0 495 MS QuickC 2.5 99 MS QuickC w/QuickAssembler 199 Top Speed C Standard 199 Extended Edition 395 OS/2 Professional 495 Turbo C 2.0 99 WATCOM C 8.0 Professional 495 WATCOM C 8.0 Standard 395 295 99 150 150 150 170 395 150 100 495 129 99 100 139 95 79 149 129 159 99 99 149 149 79 169 79 99 149 1145 1035 849 799 629 179 435 1099 719 279 89 105 129 129 149 359 99 89 349 89 69 69 125 85 70 129 115 149 94 94 125 119 70 149 70 90 119 559 155 395 339 69 139 155 315 445 69 419 335 C++ C++/Views NDPC++ Turbo C++ Turbo C++ Professional Zortech C++ Debugger Zortech C++ Developer's Edition Zortech C++ Tools Zortech C++ Video Course C-COMMUNICATIONS Breakout II C Asynch Manager 3.0 Essential Communications Creenleaf CommLib Creenleaf ViewComm SilverComm C Asynch Library View-232 C-FILE MANAGEMENT AccSysfordBASE or Paradox Btrieve Devel. System C-ISAM Codebase IV CQLw/PASS c-tree dBCIII dBC III Plus db_FILE Bundle Essential B-Treew/ source FairCom Toolbox - Prof. Edition FairCom Toolbox - Special Informix Products Paradox Engine XtrievePLUS C-GENERAL LIBRARIES BlackstarC Function Library C TOOLS PLUS/6.0 C Utility Library Creenleaf Functions Creenleaf SuperFunctions Power Search Turbo C TOOLS/2.0 C SCREENS Creenleaf DataWindows Hi-Screen XL Panel Plus QuickWindows Advanced (C) Vermont Views Vitamin C VC Screen C-UTILITIES/OTHER Clear + C Shroud C-Terp Code Runner Heap Expander PC-lint PCYACC Professional PDK#3 TimeSlicer 495 419 495 479 200 CALL 300 CALL 150 129 200 165 450 399 150 500 129 449 249 189 189 139 329 259 359 287 399 319 249 209 395 595 225 295 395 395 250 500 295 198 1095 695 CALL 349 449 209 219 349 315 229 439 249 149 789 509 CALL 495 349 595 459 99 79 149 109 249 199 229 179 299 239 149 109 149 109 395 315 149 129 495 395 169 149 495 CALL 225 165 149 125 200 169 198 149 300 219 149 135 80 70 139 105 495 459 99 89 295 279 CASE TOOLS EasyCASE Plus Professional Pack Personal CASE COBOL LANGUAGE Micro Focus: COBOL/2 w/ Toolset Personal COBOL MS COBOL Realia COBOL SCREENIO CODE GENERATORS Logic Gem Matrix Layout 2.0 dBASE Black Box PRO-C DATABASE DEVELOPMEN Clarion 2.1 Clipper 5.0 Data Junction Advanced dBASE IV dBFast/PLUS dCE FlashTools! Flipper FoxPro FUNCKy Library Magic PC R&R Report Writer R&R Code Generator Say What?! SilverComm Library 2.0 Tom Rettig's Library UI2 Version Two DEBUGGERS (DOS) MultiScope OPTDEBUC Periscope 1/5 12K Periscope II Periscope ll-x Periscope IV/1 6, 25 MHz Turbo Debugger & Tools DOCUMENTING/ FLOWCHARTING Clear+ C-Clearly Flow Charting III Interactive Easyflow Paginate Source Print The Documentor Tree Diagrammer EDITORS BRIEF 3.0 Edix EDT+ EMACS Epsilon KEDIT4.0 MKSVi Multi-Edit Professional Norton Editor SLICK Editor Sage Professional Editor w/Mouse SPF/PC VEDITPLUS EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Link & Locate ++ Link & Locate ++ Extended Paradigm Locate FORTRAN LANGUAGE Grafmatic Lahey F77L Lahey Personal FORTRAN 77 MS FORTRAN Plotmatic RM/FORTRAN WATCOM FORTRAN 77/386 GRAPHICS LIBRARIES Baby Driver Essential Graphics Font-Tools Font Window Graf/Drive Plus Developer's Graphic 5.0 Graphics-MENU Data Entry Data Entry w/source GSS Graphics Devel. Toolkit HALO HALO Window Toolkit Icon-Tools/Plus Menuet MetaWindow MetaWindow Plus PCX Effects PCX Programmer's Toolkit PCX Text Slate w/ graphics Turbo Geometry Library 295 265 395 355 199 179 1800 1499 149 129 900 629 995 849 400 375 99 69 200 159 59 50 399 339 ENT CALL CALL 795 519 299 269 795 489 345 295 295 249 89 79 195 169 795 489 195 179 499 429 150 129 150 129 50 39 249 209 100 80 595 479 179 135 150 129 595 475 175 125 145 105 CALL CALL 150 99 195 169 130 115 250 199 150 125 100 79 99 74 295 245 99 74 199 CALL 195 155 295 269 325 265 195 159 150 125 149 129 179 159 75 59 195 154 295 249 395 319 245 199 185 CALL 395 349 479 395 295 265 135 119 595 535 99 89 450 299 135 119 595 499 1095 CALL 250 199 399 319 150 119 125 109 299 269 395 319 179 159 99 89 224 199 595 509 395 279 595 419 150 119 325 279 250 209 325 289 99 89 195 175 149 135 448 415 200 179 LINKERS/LIBRARIANS Plink86plus Plink/LTO PolyLibrarian II .RTLink .RTLink/Plus OS/2 TOOLS Brief CASE:PM for C Epsilon MS OS/2 Pres. Manager Softset MS OS/2 Pres.ManagerToolkit MultiScope for OS/2 PCYACC Repository Explorer Smalltalk/VPM TopSpeed Modula-2 (OS/2) Vitamin C (OS/2) Zortech OS/2 Compiler Upgrade PASCAL LANGUAGE Asynch PLUS B-tree Filer MS QuickPASCAL Object Professional Power Tools PLUS/5.0 Topaz Turbo Analyst TurboMACIC Turbo Pascal 5.5 Turbo Pascal 5.5 Professional Turbo-Plus 5.5 Turbo Professional 5.0 SMALLTALK Smalltalk-80(386) Smalltalk/V Smalltalk/V 286 Smalltalk/V PM SOURCE MAINTENANCE MKS Make MKS RCS MKS Software Mgmt. Team PolyMake PVCS Professional SMS TLIB 5 Station LAN WINDOWS (MS) TOOLS Actor 3.0 Asymetrix Toolbook Bridge Toolkit Case:W C-Talk/Views dBFast/Windows DialogCoder MS Windows Development Kit MultiScope for Windows Object Graphics ProtoView RFFlow Whitewater Resource Toolkit WindowsMAKER WinTrieve WNDX GUI Toolbox LIST OURS 495 395 695 619 149 295 135 265 495 419 199 CALL 1495 1420 195 159 150 105 500 349 449 345 695 625 995 895 495 369 495 449 345 279 150 129 149 115 125 109 99 69 150 109 149 109 75 67 99 89 199 179 150 105 250 175 199 159 125 109 595 535 100 85 200 169 495 395 E 149 119 189 149 299 239 149 125 495 419 495 399 139 109 419 339 s 695 559 395 CALL 695 659 795 759 450 375 395 335 499 435 500 349 379 289 395 319 695 625 79 69 195 169 595 535 395 339 499 449 NEW RELEASES GUIDO by South Mountain Graphical user interface library for C. Includes pull-down, pop-up, vertical and horizontal menus, windows, text and list boxes. Create high-level objects. List: $249 Ours: $199 w/source List: $499 Ours; $399 C Shroud by Cimpel Source code obfuscation tool. Translates a program from its original C source into an encoded format that can be compiled but not readily understood by humans. Distribute to a wide variety of computer equipment without risking your investment in proprietory software. List: $198 Ours: $149 MICROPORT UNIX Recently purchased by Abraxas, Microport products are again available- including Microport System V/386, Release 3 multi-tasking, multi-user UNIX, and DOS Merge which allows two operating systems, DOS and UNIX to operate on one computer. - Call for pricing - Guaranteed Best Prices! (800) 445-7899 HAXcetera Want more product information on the items in the gold box to the right? Try F AXcetera !! Just pick up your FAX phone and dial 201-389-8173. Enter the ¥ AXcetera product code listed below each product description-information will be faxed back to you instantly! XENIX/UNIX Epsilon 195 169 Interactive Products CALL CALL LPI-COBOL 1495 1199 LPI-FORTRAN 995 799 MetaWare High C 895 849 Microport Complete-286 (unltd.) 899 809 Microport Complete-386 (unltd.) 1 1 98 1079 Microport-Other Products CALL CALL MKS RCS 395 335 MKS Trilogy 119 105 SCO 286 Complete 1495 1195 SCO 386 Complete 1595 1275 SCO (All other products) CALL CALL VEDIT PLUS 285 249 ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS APL*PLUS 695 549 Dan Bricklin's Demo II 199 159 IntegrAda 795 719 Janus Ada/Compiler System 360 319 Lattice RPG 1600 1285 Meridian AdaStudent 50 45 Meridian Ada Developer's Kit 1195 1095 MKS AWK 99 79 Personal Rexx 150 139 APPLICATION SOFTWARE COMMUNICATIONS BLAST II Carbon Copy Plus Laplink 111 PC Anywhere III Procomm Plus SideTalk DESKTOP PUBLISHING Adobe Products Corel Draw! Gem Desktop Publisher HALO DPE Lattice HighStyle MKSSQPS PageMaker Ventura Publisher 250 199 150 145 99 120 CALL 595 299 195 375 495 795 895 200 495 695 239 129 99 99 63 99 CALL 399 169 139 319 479 509 549 179 315 625 MATHEMATICS Derive MathCAD Mathematica 386 SCIENCE & ENGINEERING AutoCAD Release 10 3000 CALL AutoSketch 1 50 95 ChiWriter 150 129 CSS 495 469 DADiSP 895 759 Design CAD 3-D 400 292 Drafix Windows CAD 695 CALL EXACT 475 380 Our Guarantee... ^ Products listed here are backed by the following guarantee": Should you see one of these products listed at a lower price in another ad in this magazine, CALL US! We'll beat the price, and still offer our same quality service and support. Terms of Offer: • Offer good through September 30, 1 990 • Applicable to pricing on current versions of software listed; Sept. issue prices only. • Offer does not apply towards obvious errors in competitors' ads. • Subject to same terms and conditions. LIST OURS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING (continued) Generic CADD Level 3 LABTECH Acquire LABTECH Notebook MICRO-CAP III Oread PCB PC TEX SCHEMA III STATCRAPHICS Systat Tango PCB Series II TECH*GRAPH*PAD V SPREADSHEETS Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3.0 Microsoft Excel Quattro Professional SuperCalc5 UTILITIES 386 MAX Professional above DISC Dr. Switch DeveloperPak FASTBACK Plus HeadRoom2.0 Help Build Hold Everything MACE 1990 Magellan Memory Mate MKS Toolkit Move'em Norton Commander Norton Utilities Norton Utilities Advanced PC Tools Deluxe Pizazz Plus SitBack Software Carousel SpinRite II XTreePro Gold WORD PROCESSING Ami Microsoft Word for Windows WordPerfect 5.1 SOFTWARE FOR SUN WORKSTATIONS Basmark QuickBASIC C Programmer's Toolbox/ Sun Edix EMACSforSun Eroff Informix Lotus 1-2-3 for Sun Lotus 1-2-3 for Sun Server Lotus 1-2-3 for Sun Node Mathematica for Sun MetaWare High C NeuralWorks Professional II Panel Plus(Sun3) WordPerfect for Sun Programmer's Policies Phone Orders Hours 8:30 AM-7 PM EST. We accept MC,Visa, AMEX. Domestic shipments, please add $5 per item for shipping/ handling by UPS ground. For domestic COD shipments, please add $3. Rush service available. Mail or FAX Orders POs are welcome. Please include phone number. International Service Phone number required with order. Call or FAX for additional information. Dealers and Corporate Accounts Call for information. Unbeatable Prices We'll beat the competition's advertised prices. Prices subject to change without notice. Return Policy 30 days. Due to copyright laws, we cannot take back software with the disk seal broken unless authorized by the manufacturer. Returned product must include R.A. number. 350 289 195 179 995 779 1495 1269 1495 CALL 249 229 495 449 895 586 595 449 595 559 395 319 595 479 595 389 495 319 495 329 495 319 129 114 119 64 99 89 189 109 130 109 249 179 199 159 149 129 195 CALL 70 47 249 199 89 79 149 99 100 65 150 99 149 95 149 79 99 90 90 72 89 75 129 109 199 129 495 349 495 CALL CALL CALL 495 449 425 339 395 369 CALL CALL CALL CALL 695 CALL 995 CALL 495 CALL CALL CALL 895 849 4095 CALL 1595 1355 495 CALL SpontaneousAssembly SpontaneousAssembly is a must-have product for the serious software developer. This assembly language library lets you produce the fastest, tightest possible programs with the same ease you'd expect from a high-level language. It includes an impressive col- lection of over 700 functions and macros for high-speed text windowing, heap management, array searching and sorting, critical error management, 32/64 bit integer math, and much more! Comprehensive 750+ page manual. Full source code. No royalties. Easy integration with C. "If you program in assembly language, you gotta nave SpontaneousAssembly." - Michael Abrash basetwo DEVELOPMENT List: $395 Ours: $ 199 VAXuUra #261 4-0001 TLIB™ 5.0 TLIB™ 5.0 is the world's best Version Control System for source code, documentation and binary files. It has the sophisticated features you need at a price you can afford. It creates and maintains compact, annotated libraries containing all past and current versions of each file and a complete revision history including date, author, comments, etc., for each version. TLIB also has: check-in/out locking, manual & automatic branching, integration with Opus™ MAKE and Slick™ MAKE, and truly amazing speed. ^^^ n j. o ± o r± List: $ 139 Ours: $109 A \^Burton Systems Software F AXcetera* 1611 -0001 BRIEF 3*0 - The Programmer's Editor Edit Your Programs More Productively Than Ever Before q> ■ ,. The program that set the standard for program editing ,-DOlUtlOn continues to lead the industry. New BRIEF 3.0 features Systems include: multiple keystroke macros, a new C-like macro language, a source level macro language debugger for both macro languages, "smart" indenting and template editing for Ada, C, Cobol, BASIC, FORTRAN, Modula-2, and Pascal, and the ability to "zoom" your current window to full screen size. You'll also get the features over 60,000 current users have come to rely on: unlimited windows, Undo, compile within BRIEF, a LISP-like macro language, and much more. List: $199 Ours: CALL ¥ AXcetera #1271-0001 ATTENTION CORPORATE CUSTOMERS, Call Your Corporate Hotline (800) 422-6507 Select from over 4,500 titles-and we special order too! Get quick delivery at great prices on Microsoft, Borland, Lotus... etc. (We buy software directly from all the major publishers, and keep plenty of stock on hand.) Ask about volume purchase agreements, contracts, and personally assigned inside and outside sales representatives (CORSOFT Division). International: 201-389-9228 Corporate: 800-422-6507 Customer Service: 201-389-9229 Canada: 800-445-7899 Fax: 201-389-9227 ¥ AXcetera: 201 -389-81 73 Call or Write for Latest Free Catalog! 1-800-445-7899 A Division of Voyager Software Corp 1 1 63 Shrewsbury Ave., Shrewsbury, NJ WHAT'S NEW SOFTWARE *»*■""""= AND ENGINEERING Graphically Programmed Motion Control on the Mac National Instruments and nuLogic have teamed up to provide an environment for developing motion-control pro- grams for the Mac without requiring you to write a single line of code. The system combines nu- Logic's three-axis servo mo- tion-control card for NuBus- based Macs and its interface for LabView 2, the graphical programming environment for data acquisition, analysis, and instrument control. With the system, you can program applications for robotics con- trol, machines, and produc- tion automation systems by placing and connecting icons that represent controls such as knobs, slides, and switches. The number of machines a system can control depends on how many slots your Mac has and how many axes must be controlled for each machine. With two controller cards, you can control three two-axis machines, for example. You need a Mac II with LabView 2, the controller card, and the Virtual Instru- ment Library for Motion Control. Price: LabView 2, $1995; VI Library, $195; nuControl con- troller card, $1795. Contact: nuLogic, Inc., 945 Great Plains Ave., Needham, MA 02192, (617) 444-7680. Inquiry 1158. File Edit Operate (uiitiuh lltinclnms TuuK bUiiia a OJiDiiij" ^^^^ jy////////////^^^^^ Un rssilHw Velocity AxH 3 0.. [TOO I [U [ PLAGE nuLqgjc'Ine ~n- '■ — ~~ : — r ■.- As LabView 2 controls a pick-and-place machine for odd-shaped components, it displays at right information on insertion force , number of boards completed per hour, and total insertions while letting you control the conveyor speed in the lower left window. Solve Heat-Transfer Problems with Your PC or Mac Whether your field of engineering is mechani- cal, electrical, chemical, or civil, you'll likely encounter a heat-transfer problem that re- quires several hours or days to solve. A program called Heat Transfer on TK can reduce the time it takes to solve such problems by a factor of 100, according to Universal Tech- nical Systems. The menu-driven program is based on, and ships with, the textbook Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer and 200 heat-transfer models. Once you find the correct model and insert the real-life numbers, the program's equa- tion solver returns the solution. The program is available for the IBM PC, the Macin- tosh, and Sun, IBM, Hewlett- Packard, and Apollo Unix workstations. TK Solver Plus is required. Price: Heat Transfer on TK, $595; TK Solver Plus, $395. Contact: Universal Techni- cal Systems, Inc., 1220 Rock St., Rockford,IL 61101, (800) 435-7887 or (815) 963-2220. Inquiry 1159. Analyze and Manipulate Signals on the Mac BV Engineering's Signal Processing Program (SPP) can perform linear and nonlinear time-domain wave- form analysis, forward and reverse fast Fourier trans- forms, and other analyses on analog signals. It can graphi- cally display signals, spec- tra, and transfer function data, and it can generate and simu- late analog signals. SPP runs on the Mac 512KE or higher with Finder 5.3 and System 3.2 or higher. Price: $349.95. Contact: B V Engineering, 2023 Chicago Ave., Suite B13, Riverside, CA 92507, (714) 781-0252. Inquiry 1160. Acquire Data While You Do Something Else Trilobyte has released a product for engineers and scientists who need to ac- quire data from lengthy experi- ments but don't want to tie up their PCs. Data Demon lets you re- ceive data from instruments while you perform other tasks. The program can hold up to 32K bytes of received data in one buffer. A memory-resident por- tion of the program performs the actual data collection, while another portion down- loads the information. Price: $99. Contact: Trilobyte, Inc., 596 Abolicion, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico 00918, (809) 758-0341 or (809) 767-1839. Inquiry 1161. continued Find the Hidden Information with IXL Intelligence Ware says that its IXL program for in- duction in extremely large databases can find unex- pected patterns and correla- tions in large data sets. Un- like a query language, which requires you to formulate and test a hypothesis, IXL forms its own queries and automatically tests for them. By combining AI, statis- tics, and database capabili- ties, the program saves you from having to test numerous hypotheses when you're try- ing to pinpoint the reasons for problems like sporadic defects on an assembly line. The program has uses in any application involving large data sets. The program supports up to 64,000 columns per data- base and runs on the IBM AT or higher. The program is compatible with dBASE, Lotus 1-2-3, XDB, and In- terbase file formats. Price: $490. Contact: IntelligenceWare, Inc., 9800 South Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 730, Los Ange- les, CA 90045, (213) 417- 8896. Inquiry 1162. 62 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 We've got a new 2MB WORM. Now we're fishing for ideas from you. Introducing the Optical Card, the remarkable new personal data storage and retrieval medium from Canon. An IBM AT-compatible RW-10 Reader/Writer uses a laser to read and write up to two Megabytes of digitized text, graphics or sound on the Optical Card (shown here actual size). Data can be added, but not erased, and isn't susceptible to magnetic or electrostatic fields. The Optical Card and RW-10 combine speed, high reliability and convenience that just cry out for the development of entirely new systems applications. And that's where you come in. Don't let this "big one" get away. Find out more about the Optical Card by calling Bruno Dosso at Canon at 516-488-6700. © i990Canon U.S.A., Inc.. trie Canon Plaza, Lake Success. NY 11042 Circle 57 on Reader Service Card Canon WHAT'S NEW SOFTWARE OTHER PC-Write Lite Supports Cyrillic Characters The new version of PC- Write Lite supports the Cyrillic character set for creating documents in Slavic languages such as Russian. You use the Caps Lock key to switch from Roman to Cy- rillic characters. If you have an EGA or VGA graphics adapter, you can see the Cy- rillic characters on the screen as you type. If you don't have such an adapter, you need to change your adapter card's character-set ROM to support those characters. Otherwise, with a non-EGA or -VGA screen, you can print Cyrillic hard copy, but you '11 see the IBM extended character set on the screen as you type. Version 1 .02 also lets you create new character sets to support Greek and Hebrew, chemistry formulas, phonetics, and anything else with sym- bols. A Russian spelling checker is available to add complete Russian language support. The program requires 384K bytes of RAM with the spelling checker, 256K bytes without it. Price: $79; spelling checker, $29. Contact: Quicksoft, 2 19 First Ave. N, Suite 224, Seattle, WA 98109, (206) 282-0452. Inquiry 1163. A Menuing Program for Unix A program called Menu- Magic lets even novice Unix users handle up to 98 percent of the day-to-day sys- tem administration tasks, such as maintaining printers and spoolers, putting users on the system, and backing up files. By using the Caps Lock key on a VGA or EGA screen, PC- Write Lite lets you switch between English and Cyrillic characters. If you type in the wrong alphabet, you can switch each word or an entire document to the correct alphabet. The program also includes a developer's toolkit for creat- ing custom functions. MenuMagic supports the major flavors of Unix, in- cluding AT&T, SCO, Intel, Interactive, and IBM AIX. A version for the X Window System will be released later this year. Price: $495; Xenix version, $345. Contact: TKi, P.O. Box 2049, Roswell,GA 30077, (404)640-1515. Inquiry 1164. Two Programs for Unattended Computing If you're tired of perform- ing mundane operations such as database sorts, mail merges, and system backups, Auto-Run can help by letting your PC run a variety of every- day tasks at any time of the day or night. When you decide which operations to automate, you use Auto-Run's Memorize command, which lets the pro- gram watch and learn the keystrokes. You then tell it at what time and on which days to run the task. You can use the program to send and receive data, update a spreadsheet, and perform many other operations. Version 2.0 provides pass- word protection. You can set up a task to prompt you for a specific action during an Auto- Run session, and you can also tell Auto-Run what to do if it gets an error message. Auto-Run is not a TSR pro- gram. It requires 36K bytes of RAM on the IBM PC. Price: $149. Contact: AutoSoft, Inc., 1850 Lake Park Dr., Suite 105, Smyrna, GA 30080, (800) 252-7144 or (404) 436-7144. Inquiry 1165. You can instruct Auto- mate/Anytime to process batch files, generate reports, and perform system backups. When backing up, the pro- gram can compress files to as little as 15 percent of their original size. At the prescribed time, Automate/Anytime interrupts the current operation, per- forms its task, and brings you back to the initial operation. The program supports unat- tended operation. Automate/Anytime is a TSR program that requires 20K bytes of RAM. Price: $149. Contact: Complementary Solutions, Inc., Suite 202, 4470 Chamblee-Dunwoody Rd., Atlanta, GA 30338, (404) 454-8033. Inquiry 1166. Word Tool Knows Politics + Delay = Filibuster Microlytics has devel- oped a new word utility that can function like a dic- tionary in reverse. Instead of requiring you to look up a particular word's meaning, In- side Information lets you type in a few words of descrip- tion. You can ask, "What's the word for. . .," and Inside Information returns a list of appropriate candidates. Beneath the program's seven general classes (e.g., na- ture, science, and technol- ogy) lie subclasses, categories, and subcategories. Inside Information holds over 65,000 words, most of which are defined. In addi- tion to the reverse dictionary, you can search for words di- rectly or by descending a hier- archical tree structure. The program uses several indexing techniques, including "word nerding," developed by Xerox. This technique asso- ciates dissimilar words with similar meanings (e.g., "AIDS" and "HIV 4-") and links them. The program is currently available for the Mac and IBM PC. A version for Windows will ship by the end of the year. Versions for each plat- form are binary compatible, allowing you to put the pro- gram on a network server. Price: $119. Contact: Microlytics, Inc., Two Tobey Village Office Park, Pittsford, NY 14634, (716)248-9150. Inquiry 1167. continued 64 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 BVTE Regional Midwest PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE: ALEX PIETERSEN © 1989 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 64MW-1 REGIONAL What's New MIDWEST Users Groups Past, Present, and Future Well, what do I do now?" This question has been asked countless times as new PC users stare at the just-unwrapped collection of parts that they must assem- ble into a working computer. From the beginning of the PC revolution, the answer has often been, "Join a users group." What began a s a n assem- bly of users trying to learn more about the new machines is now a social institution. From the beginning, users groups have provided technical support to novices and expert users, beta testers for new products, feedback to hard- ware and software vendors on their new products, and much more. The first issue of BYTE dedicated two pages to users group news, including a no- tice that the Amateur Com- puter Group of New Jersey had held its first meeting on June 13, 1975. That group continues to operate to this day and is often associated with the Trenton Computer Festi- val. For our 15th anniversary issue, BYTE asked several users group officers across the U.S. to reflect on the status of users groups and their challenges in the future. Playing Mom to 700 People With the responsibility of co- ordinating more than 50 users groups and 700 volunteers of the Boston Computer Society, Pam Bybell says that her job is "sort of like Mom, with lots of children screaming at once." A s manager of users group support for the BCS, which currently boasts a member- ship of about 40,000, Bybell helps volunteers refine their ideas and find the necessary resources for putting their ideas into action. Bybell says that the BCS struggles to some degree with the same problems facing smaller groups and offers sev- eral strategies to deal with common problems, particular- ly volunteer burnout. "One thing we try to get across to a group is that you have to have a deep bench," she says. Often, a person who starts a users group or spe- cial-interest group is by nature creative, exciting, and driven. At first, this person may think nothing of orga- nizing meetings, putting out a newsletter, and running the group mailing list. Several months into the job, however, you've got a prime candidate for burnout. That's why dele- gating tasks, though difficult, is so important, she says. "If you learn nothing else as a volunteer, you better learn to delegate," Bybell stresses. She often cites the Truck Theory to drive this point home. The Truck Theory says that if a volunteer were hit by a truck and died, and the group too would die, then that per- son is doing too much. She also says that if an activity isn't fun, you shouldn't be doing it, and notes that group members are quick to recog- nize trouble and political infighting. As for the challenges for continued Attention U.S. BYTE Subscribers Watch for the next BYTE DECK mailing that will be arriving in your mailbox soon! Use this as a fast, convenient tool to purchase computer products and services. It's loaded with essential hardware and software products that you should be aware of when making your buying decisions. . .and it's absolutely FREE! If you have a computer product or service, and would like to reach 275,000 influential BYTE magazine subscribers, please give Ed Ware a call today at (603) 924-2596. BYTE Here's what a BYTE Deck advertiser has to say: ' 'Galacticomm does a lot of card-deck advertising, and the BYTE Deck has consistently out-pulled every other deck we have ever used. ' ' Timothy Stryker, Galacticomm, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, FL 64MW-2 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 1326 on Reader Service Card Now You Dorft Have To Be An Egghead To Understand UNIX 8 And Open Systems. If you're a business or technical manager, senior executive, power user or reseller, finally there's a UNIX/open systems trade show just jor you. UNIX SOLUTIONS was developed to provide the practical knowledge and useful information you need to better understand the power and flexi- bility of a corporate open computing environment operating under UNIX. Come see all the latest business applications as well as those currently under development. Evaluate the hardware, networking equipment, peripherals and services that can get your company up and running. Come leam from a truly unique conference program. The 40-session agenda has been expressly designed to de-mystify open systems computing. Discover how and why you should implement a system of your own. Hear consultants, corporate end-users and resellers discuss their first-hand experiences building cost-effective corporate systems. Come to UNIX SOLUTIONS. Where you don't have to be an egghead to appreciate the benefits of UNIX and open systems. Don't pass up this valuable, once- a-year opportunity. To receive your free information package, return the coupon. For immediate action, call (617) 449-6600; fax (617) 449-6953; or telex 174273. r 1 need answers. Tell me more about UNIX SOLUTIONS in Anaheim, October 3-5, 1990. Send me information about: □ Attending the conference. □ Attending the exhibit floor. □ Exhibiting. Name ~l Title Company _ Address City State . Zip/ Postal Code . Country . Phone (_ Fax ( Best time to call . I_ Mail to: UNIX SOLUTIONS. Direct Marketing Services, 300 First Ave.. Needham. MA 02194 USA J Z'VaVAV S O L U T I O N S EXPOSITION AND CONFERENCE*** Introducing The Open Systems Trade Show Where UNIX Gets Down To Business. October 3-5, 1990 • Anaheim Convention Center • Anaheim, CA Circle 1316 on Reader Service Card »1990 . The Interface Group . 300 First Avenue, Needham, MA 02194 USA . UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T. J REGIONAL WHAT'S NEW USERS GROUPS PAST the BCS and other groups in the next few years, she cites a few. One is that groups must serve an expanding range of users, from novice to corporate member. Another is recon- ciling the role of the group to the corporate environment. Many times, she says, corpo- rate members "tend not to understand that a volunteer can't be called at work" for technical support. One improvement Bybell sees is in the area of support provided by hardware and software vendors. Here, she says, "things are light-years better" than in earlier days. Like other groups, the BCS is also becoming involved in community service to non- members, matching mentors to other nonprofit organiza- tions, acquiring used equip- ment for the organizations, and, in some cases, donating time to get the machines up and running. So what makes the BCS so successful? According to By- bell, the secret is "letting volunteers do the things they want." Computing Down East Rowan Wakefield remembers the first computer fair spon- sored by the Island/Reach Computer Users Group and how surprised participating vendors were by the early- morning rush of people. By 8:15 a.m., he says, the hall was packed "shoulder to shoulder with people. Around here, people just get started early." The fair, which attract- ed about 30 exhibitors and 800 people, was going strong until a blizzard hit around 4:30p.m., sending people home. The "here" that Wakefield refers to is the area near Ban- gor, Maine, where group members live in towns such as Deer Isle, Blue Hill, and Bar Harbor. In three years, the group has increased its mem- bership from 30 to more than 300. Wakefield, president of the club, says the occupations of members range from "lob- stermen to retired newspaper editors ... to teachers and writers." Wakefield saw the need for a multiplatform group when he attended an Epson users group meeting and only one other person showed up. He and two others envisioned a ge- neric users group in a rural area that could provide useful services. About 30 people showed up for the first meet- ing, and the group was on its way. Wakefield says that one way the group fights burnout is to contract out the production of its newsletter to a prepress production house. Members write the stories, which are transmitted to the editor via the Celebration Station BBS, a popular BBS run by Noel Stookey, of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame. However, burn- out is still an issue: Wakefield says he will not seek reelec- tion for the next term. As the group matures, Wakefield sees the emphasis shifting from growth to pro- viding more services for cur- rent members. The group plans to sell a book called 50 Ways to Make Money With Your PC, which is based on one of the group's most suc- continued Oui . . . Si . . . Ja. . . now the answer is Yes wherever you go internationally-thanks to our new Q-TEL International Database. Q-TEL speaks everyone's language when you're talking about one single source of tele- communications rate, tariff and regulatory information. Domestically, you've already seen how our Q-TEL Databases (Q-TEL 1000, Q-TEL 5000 Plus, Q-TEL 7000 and Q-TEL 9000) can define a better bottom line for you. Now watch how the newest Q-TEL database translates into maximum cost savings for you internationally. 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Call: 1-800-526-5307 ext: 290 ccSD First -Rate Informal ion \ik 64MW-4 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 BET ON A DERBY WINNER. . . 386/33-200 PRO i Intel 80386-33, 32-bit 4M RAM Installed/64K Cache 1.2M 5.25" and 1.44M 3.5" Drives 200M Hard Drive/15ms/IDE 14" Super VGA Color Monitor 1 6-bit VGA 1 024x768 with 5 1 2K i 2 Serial/1 Parallel/1 Game Port MS DOS™ v4.01 and GW BASIC i Super Tower Case $3,695.00 Add $500.00 for 330M, 16ms Hard Drive 386SX/16-65 KEY , Landmark speeds: 10/20MHz 2M RAM Installed 1.2M 5.25" and 1.44M 3.5" Drives 65M Hard Drive/33ms/l : 1 Interleave i 14" VGA Color Monitor ■ 1 6-bit VGA 800x600 with 256K ■ 2 Serial/1 Parallel/1 Game Port ■ MS DOS™ v4.01 and GW BASIC ■ Eight-in-One by Spinnaker Software ■ Dexxa Mouse with Paint Program ■ Conventional or Slim-Line Case $1,995.00 386/25-68 PRO Intel 80386-25, 32-bit 4M RAM Installed 1.2M 5.25" and 1.44M 3.5" Drives 68M Hard Drive/25ms/l:l Interleave 14" Super VGA Color Monitor 16-bit VGA 1024x768 with 512K 2 Serial/1 Parallel/1 Game Port MS DOS™ v4.01 and GW BASIC Super Tower Case $2,595.00 Add $300.00 for 1 00+M Hard Drive 286/12-40 KEY Landmark speeds: 10/16MHz 1M RAM Installed 1.2M 5.25" and 1.44M 3.5" Drives 40M Hard Drive/33ms/l:l Interleave 14" VGA Color Monitor 16-bit VGA 800x600 with 256K 2 Serial/1 Parallel/1 Game Port MS DOS™ v4.01 and GW BASIC Eight-in-One by Spinnaker Software Dexxa Mouse with Paint Progam Conventional or Slim-Line Case $1,695.00 Add $50.00 for 65M Hard Drive 386SX/16-68 PRO i Landmark Speeds: 10/20MHz 2M RAM Installed i 1.2M 5.25" and 1.44M 3.5" Drives 68M Hard Drive/21ms/l : 1 Interleave 14" Super VGA Color Monitor 16-bit VGA 1024x768 with 512K 2 Serial/1 Parallel/1 Game Port MS DOS™ v4.01 and GW BASIC ■ Super Tower Case $2,095.00 DERBYTECH OFFERS 100% IBM Compatible Systems National Toll Free Technical Support Full One Year Warranty All systems are built in the USA 30 Day Money Back Guarantee 72 Hour Burn-in Testing Hours: 9:00 to 6:00, M-Th Cen 9:00 to 5:00, F-SatCen Shipping in Continental US: Key Packages: $35.00 Pro Packages: $45.00 We accept (with no surcharge): ■w-ft w ^ffl^ffi rijof*©! perbyTeBl, rJerbyTe c L *", 1-800-24-DERBY ■* °mpu+e 7 1 8 - 1 5th Avenue / East Moline / Illinois / 6 1244 / (309) 755-2662 Circle 1314 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 1315) ^nipu+e- REGIONAL WHAT'S NEW USERS GROUPS PAST cessf ul workshops. Wakefield claims that he isn't a high-tech person but is fascinated by the role of tech- nology in society. "Regardless of the subject, the group's role has been keeping up with the leading edge of change and helping members under- stand it. Users groups have the responsibility to interpret or translate these impending changes and what they mean for the guy on the street." The $20,000 Question Take a users group that's growing by leaps and bounds. Add an all-volunteer staff, particularly a treasurer who volunteered for the job think- ing it might require just one weekend a month. Add a $100,000 annual budget, and you get a recipe for a disaster waiting to happen. In the case of the Portland Macintosh Users Group, this combination resulted in a dis- crepancy of about $20,000 be- tween what the group thought it had and what it really had, according to former PMUG president Allan Foster. He says that the discrepancy fu- eled a very nasty political bat- tle that polarized the board of directors and general members alike. [Editor's Note: After a lengthy internal investigation, no formal charges were filed in the case.] Of course, PMUG is not the only users group to suffer from inner turmoil. Almost every users group at some time sees clashes among members with different agendas. For ex- ample, the Houston Area League of PC Users last year revised its bylaws, a process that generated considerable controversy among special- interest group leaders and other officers. The process also resulted in the abrupt res- ignation of key officers. According to Foster, these growing pains are natural as users groups evolve from club status to something that more closely resembles a pro- fessional society. And as new members enter the group, conflicts arise concerning the purpose of the group. When PMUG first formed, Foster says, the group met in someone's living room. At that time, the group consisted "basically of peo- ple who'd just hooked up their 128K Macs and were won- dering what to do with all that power." The group now has about 1300 members. Often, as a group's mem- bership increases, you still have the same people volun- teering their time for the group. But as Foster points out, "It's easier to manage a group of 200 with four or five volunteers than a group of 2000." During the missing-funds controversy, Foster says, he decided he'd had enough. As accusations and counter-accu- sations were made at meet- ings and in the newsletter, Fos- ter thought, "Hang on, I've got a real life and there are other things I can be doing." "What the controversy told me was 'Oh, I don't want to be a part of this,'" he says. He describes the new leadership as "a decent bunch, ones who care about the group." What can a group do when faced with massive growth? Foster says that one possible solution is to hire a paid staff, as the Berkeley Macintosh Users Group and the Boston Computer Society do. "But you have to get above a critical mass to be able to do that," he points out. Another solution is to pay consultants their usual fee for conducting work- shops and cover the fee with a nominal tuition charge. A more obvious solution is to recruit more volunteers. But, somehow, the group's management structure has to change. As Foster says, "There's no way that a person who stood up and was going to [act as treasurer] on the weekends is going to manage a $100,000 budget." Ask Not What Your Group Can Do for You "What's in it for me?" The next time you're asked this as you try to recruit a new member, instead of explaining the virtues of the general meetings, software library, and free advice, you might try this response: "If you have to ask, we're not sure you're our kind of member." This approach seems to work just fine for the Central Kentucky Computer Society. According to newsletter editor David Reed, the group en- courages new members to get involved from the beginning instead of just showing up for the main meetings. The group, which will cel- ebrate its sixth anniversary next month, now has about 600 members. Attendance at the monthly general meetings has increased from about 40 to 150. The attitude of the group as a whole was reflected last April, when the CKCS spon- sored a computer show. Ac- cording to Reed, the board of directors expected about 20 volunteers to help run the show. But on the day of the show, the number was closer to 50 volunteers. It's this kind of enthusiasm that pays off: Reed estimates that the group added 100 new members as a result of the computer show. He notes that the group encountered burnout two years ago. "So we just expanded the board of direc- tors," he says. In addition to editing the newsletter and working as a news editor for the Lexington Herald-Leader, Reed moder- ates the Users Group Ex- change (UGX) on BIX and par- ticipates in the Association of PC Users Groups BBS. He says that the BBSes are becoming a good way for group editors and presidents to share infor- mation, discuss problems, and, in UGX, download daily news feeds for their own BBSes and newsletters. Reed thinks that BBSes are also a good vehicle for users groups to use to iron out ethi- cal problems. "The good groups are trying to influ- ence the less-than-pure groups," he says. Flipping Between Two Sides of the Coin One side of the coin says that users groups need to be enter- tained by vendors with slick product demonstrations and free products. The other side says that the groups provide valuable technical assistance for users while helping vendors in the product development process by acting as beta test- ers and suggesting new fea- tures. Jay Bartlett is intimately familiar with both sides of the coin. As president of the Gold Coast Macintosh Users Group of Miami, Florida, and mar- keting manager for Tactic Soft- ware, he understands the im- portance of the users group as a marketing vehicle for ven- dors. He also knows how hard it can be to schedule the monthly meetings at which so many members expect to be entertained. continued 64MW-6 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 A Higher Standard of Standard Features DATAStation 386/25™ $3,995 I 80386-25 CPU 4MB RAM 128K Cache RAM 1.2MB 5Va" and 1.44MB 3.5" Drives 200MB, 15MS SCSI Drives 16 Bit VGA with 512K 14" 1024 x 768 VGA Color Monitor ■ External SCSI Port ■ 1 Parallel & 2 Serial Ports ■ 101 Key Keyboard ■ MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01 Options: ■ 40MB, 80MB, 100MB, 320MB Hard Drives TECH T 386SX $1,895 ■ 80386SX-16 CPU ■ 1MB RAM expandable to 8MB on motherboard ■ 1.2MB 5V4" or 1.44MB 3.5" drive ■ 40MB IDE hard drive ■ 16-bit VGA with 512K ■ 14" 1024 x 768 VGA color monitor ■ 1 parallel, 2 serial & 1 game ports ■ 101 key keyboard ■ MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01 TECH 1 286 .. . .$1,495 I 80286-12 CPU I 1MB RAM expandable to 8MB on motherboard I 1.2MB 5% " or 1.44MB 3.5" drive I 40MB IDE hard drive 1 16-bit VGA with 512K I 14" 1024 x 768 VGA color monitor I 1 parallel. 2 serial & 1 game ports I 101 key keyboard I MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01 Call For System Options PONI Microsystems 386SX-LT... $2,995 ■ i80C386SX-16 CPU ■ 1MB RAM expandable to 6MB ■ VGA with 256K ■ 1.44 MB 3.5 " diskette drive ■ 40MB hard drive ■ 85 key keyboard ■ External ports for floppy drive, keyboard and VGA monitor ■ Parallel and serial ports ■ UL, CSA, FCC-B approved PONI Microsystems 286 " LT $2,495 ■ 80286-12 CPU ■ 1MB RAM expandable to 6MB ■ VGA with 256K ■ 1.44MB 3.5 " diskette drive ■ 40MB hard drive ■ 85 key keyboard ■ External ports for floppy drive, keyboard and VGA monitor ■ Parallel and serial ports ■ UL, CSA, FCC-B approved SCO WSSXBSEMEMESWSmEHmm 6-User Computer Systems Ready To Plug In And Install Your Application Software Authorized Xenix ....$9,995 6 WYSE terminals 1 main computer 386-25MHz-128KB cache 8MB RAM 8 serial ports 1 parallel port 3.5" 1 .44 floppy drive 200 MB hard drive 150MB tape drive 2400 Baud modem Communications software 1 Xenix operating system installed 6 cables with labels for terminals Authorized Novell ...$14,995 6 386SX workstations 1MB RAM Monochrome monitors 1 150MB tape drive 1 2400 Baud modem Communications software 1 main computer 386-25MHz-128KB Cache 8MB RAM 2 serial ports 1 parallel port 3.5" 1.44 floppy drive 200MB hard drive 1 Novell ELSII Netware operating system, Ethernet cards All cables and connections Options: Printers • Word Processing • Maintenance Contracts Spreadsheets • Accounting • Larger Hard Drives • Custom Configurations TECH CITY 800-828-3110 6 A.M. 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All lits include* l i ' u.iwace; insiallal >n snftnarc and insi.t'1 , , il \F-A|\ drivers jvailable. SCSI vcrsiims are .,n,\Mc for .iddiln. al S150. pi REGIONAL WHAT'S NEW USERS GROUPS PAST, PRESENT, AND Bartlett says that in addi- tion to providing input for product features, users groups act as a proving ground for hardware and software products. "Vendors can't pos- sibly test their applications with every other application out there, especially in the Mac market," he observes. (Tactic Software sells a num- ber of utilities for the Mac, in- cluding Icon-It, which puts icons on the screen for easy ac- cess, and Clairvoyant, a tool for writers.) Because his users group is located in a large metropolitan area, Bartlett says, he can often attract good speakers from major developers. Eventually, however, members come to expect high-quality presentations every month, but they don't provide much in- put as to what they want to see. "We need their input," he says. "But these people are sit- ting in the back with their shades on, and as soon as the break comes, they're gone." Bartlett thinks that users groups aren't the only organi- zations with this problem. "There are always going to be those who do the work and others who follow, be it com- puters or Little League." Three Meetings Are Better Than One One of the realities of attend- ing users group meetings is the dog-and-pony show, in which vendors extol the virtues of their products to an attentive audience and then sell or do- nate the product to members after the meeting. These shows are valuable to the vendors as a marketing tool and to the users who want to see the lat- est products. Conflict occurs when you take a users group such as the New York Personal Com- puter Group, which tries to stay away from product-ori- ented talks for its general meetings while booking speakers with a wide knowl- edge of the industry. The group solves this conflict with the sponsored general meet- ing concept. In sponsored general meet- ings, which are arranged on an as-needed basis, the group makes personal invitations to individual members to attend company presentations. Ac- cording to NYPC president David Hoffman, one reason for the group's success is this in- dependence. The group holds its mailing list tightly to its vest. Founded in 1982, NYPC has more than 50 special-inter- est groups. The SIGs' month- ly meetings provide a third type of meeting format. For the past three years, the group has also sponsored the Inter- galactic Users Group meeting, which, among other things, features a newsletter competition. The North Texas PC Users Group, based in Dallas, does a variation of the three-format meeting. For its general meet- ings, the group meets at the Infomart with about 50 other users groups and sponsors three programs over the course of the day. Each program re- volves around a general theme or a specific product. Over the years, users groups have gained respect from the user community, vendors, and local dealers, Hoffman says. "The concept of users groups is still alive and well. Although many of the groups have leveled off, it's still a great idea, and it's amazing to see what the volun- teers can do." From Humble Beginnings to Supergroup Jonathan Rotenberg re- members the first few months of the Boston Com- puter Society, when the group consisted of just a few peo- ple, some of whom didn't even own a computer, meeting in a high school library. "It would be so discouraging. At times I thought, if I don't show up to- night, this will be the end of theBCS." As a tenth grade student, Rotenberg was trying to con- vince his high school to buy a computer so that he and others could learn how to program. To make himself more credible to school authorities, he de- cided to research computers. He soon discovered, though, that the kind of information he needed was scarce. In late 1976, Rotenberg saw a flyer for a radio talk show starting on the Boston University radio station and contacted the host of the show to ask if he knew of any local users groups. He didn't, but he mentioned that several other people had asked him the same question. The two decided to form such a group. Rotenberg still hadn't convinced his school administrators to buy a com- puter, but they did let him use the library for the first meeting of theBCS. Two people showed up for the first meeting. "One of them had wandered in by ac- cident," Rotenberg says. How- ever, six people showed up for the second meeting, and by the fifth meeting, the group was inviting guest speakers. At one of the meetings, the radio show host, who had been introducing the guest speak- ers, failed to show up for the presentation by Wang. Roten- berg, whose voice at the time was changing, got up and very nervously introduced the guest speaker. The next day, the radio show host said that his priorities had changed and he could no longer run the meetings. Rotenberg says he later learned that the host had shaved his head and joined a commune in Austria. Rotenberg thought the BCS would fold when he left Boston to attend Brown University. But members of the group moved the BCS paperwork and equipment out of Roten- berg 's parents' house to a tiny storefront space at Center Plaza. Occasionally, street people wandered into the office, which occupied about 400 square feet. The group hired a part- time receptionist, and Roten- berg took a bus home from school on the weekends to help run things. Rotenberg re- turned one day to find a letter of resignation from the recep- tionist. Her replacement, Mary McCann, eventually became the group's executive director and editor of the BCS Update. It was from these inauspi- cious beginnings that the BCS eventually became the world's largest computer users group. "I had no idea the BCS was going to turn into a real organization," Rotenberg says. "There was really no master plan behind it. In the tenth grade, I was just trying to convince school officials to buy a computer." 64MW-8 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Professional Level Performance 386-25 FC Cache System NEC DELL NORTHGATE CPU SPEED (MHz) ■ VIDEO SPEED (CP/ms) 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 — 1000 500 • Intel 80386 25 MHz CPU » 2 MB 80ns RAM (exp. to 8 MB) ► 64K Cache Memory ► 1 .2 MB High-Density Floppy Drive ► 89 MB Formatted Hard Drive (16 ms) ► 2 High Speed Serial Ports and 1 Par. 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MANLOVE 4165 RESOURCE CONCEPTS COMPUTER OUTLET MONITORS 14-VGAMULTISCAN 1 024 x 768 .28 DOT NEW 18 MO. WARRANTY $395.00 12" AMBER MONOCHROME NEW90DAYWNTY. $59.95 12" GREEN MONOCHROME NEW 90 DAY WNTY. (OEM DISCONTINUED) $49.95 12" VGA MONO PAPER WHITE PHOSPHORUS DEMO 90 DAY WNTY. GRAPHIC BOARDS EGA I - HERC. COMP, AUTO. SWITCH, XT /AT $49.95 79.00 EGA MRU - 640X480, 16 COLORS, 132 COL, HERC. COMP 91.00 VGA 640 - 640X480 W/256K 8 BIT 103.00 AVGA - AUTOSWITCHING VGA 800X600 W/256K 8 BIT 115.00 VGA EM-16 PLUS — 1024 x 768 256 COLOR, 256K EXP TO 1 MEG. 16 BIT 195.00 VGA 800/16 - 800x600 W/256K 16 BIT 128.00 EVGA - 1 6/256K - 800X600 W/256K 1 6 COLOR UPGRADE TO 512K& 1024x768 1 76.00 EVGA- 16/512K- 1024X768 W/512K 16 COLOR 212.00 ML-VSI - 800X600 W/256K-EXP TO 512K & 1024x768, 16 BIT 215.00 ML-ADV - 640X480 FASTEST 8 BIT AVAILABLE XT/AT/PS2 130.00 VGA/T1017 - 800x600 W/256 EXP TO 1024x768 16 BIT 119.00 HARD DRIVES & CONTROLLERS KALOK - KL320 3.5" 20MB 40MS (MFM) KALOK - KL330 3.5" 30MB 40MS (MFM) MINISCRIBE - M8438 3.5" 32MB 68MS (RLL) MINISCRIBE - M8051/AKS 3.5" 42MB 28MS (IDE) KITW/CONTROLLER CONNER - CP3044 3.5" 40MB 25MS (IDE) 229.95 254.95 239.95 429.95 412.00 WD GEN2-PLUS XT (MFM) 2HD WD1004-27XXT(RLL)2HD WD1006V-SR2AT(RLL)DUALFD/HD 1:1 WD 1003-WA2 AT (MFM) DUAL FD/HD 2:1 PTI-21 7 AT (IDE) W/MULTI I/O PTI-215 AT (IDE) DUAL FD/HD WD 1007A-WA2 AT (ESDI) OEM PK. NO MANUAL PTI-158 XT/AT HI DEN FLOPPY CONTROLLER (4 DRIVES) MOTHER BOARDS K V20/12MHZXTTO1MB 8088/10 MHZ XT 286/12MHZ AT MINI (2 SER/1PAR) W/CPU TO 1 MB 286/12MHZ AT NOT MINI VSLI CHIP SET W/CPU TO I 286/1 2MHZ AT G2 CHIP SET W/CPU ID TO 8 MB 286/1 2MHZ AT NEAT CHIP SET W/CPU TO 8 MB 286/16MHZ G2 CHIP SET W/CPU TO 8 MB 386/20MHZ ACC CHIP SETSER NO CPU TO 8 MB 386/25MHZ ACC CHIP SET NON CASH NO CPU TO 8 386/25MHZ VSLI CHIP SET W/CPU TO 8 MB 386/25MHZ OPTI CHIP SET W/64K CASH NO CPU 386/33MHZ VSLI CHIP SET W/CPU TO 8 MB MB MB (T-10112) (PIM-TB10) (PTM-1230C) (T-1011) (T-1012) (PTM-1233) (T-1013) (T-1014) (T-1015) (PEM-2500) (T-1016) (PEM-3300) 49.95 49.95 129.95 55.00 69.95 33.95 125.00 47.00 72.00 83.00 201.00 152.00 169.00 215.00 196.00 294.00 316.00 1100.00 496.00 1600.00 ADD ON CARDS MONOCHROME TEXT ONLY CARD (MTO) MGP(PII-143C) CLOCK CARD (PII-1 46) CGA CARD OEM PK RS 232 CARD XT/ AT (PII-1 08) NO SLOT CLOCK ON CHIP XT PRINTER CARD PAR XT/AT (PII-1 09) I/O PAR, SER - XT/AT (PTI 210) FDCXTW/CABLE(PII-101) XT/AT HI DEN 4 DRIVES (PII-1 58) 640K RAM CARD XT (PII-1 29) 386 RAM CARD EXP TO 8M (PEI-301) ETHERNET CARD GAME CARD (PII-1 16) ELIMINATOR GAME CARD (GRAVIS) AT IDE CONT. WITH S/P/G (PTI-21 7) AT IDE HD/FD CONT (PTI-215) JOY STICK PC/XT/AT ROC ANALOG JOYSTICK XT/AT (GRAVIS) ENBEDDED H/D CONT. AT (PTI-216) 2400 BAUD INTERNAL MODEM MICROSOFT BUSS MOUSE XT FLOPPY CONTROLLER OEM PK 6.00 35.00 22.00 29.95 19.00 20.00 12.00 26.00 19.00 47.00 22.00 74.00 167.00 12.00 31.33 69.95 33.95 13.33 45.00 47.00 73.95 39.00 14.00 CABLES KEYBOARD EXT (KB-0506) 2.86 MONITOR EXT (MR-0906) 3.93 PAR. PRINTER 6FT (PA-1 806) 3.50 PAR. PRINTER 10FT (PA-1810) 4.95 RS232 M/F 6FT (RSA-2506) 5.00 RS232 M/M 6FT (RSA-2506M) 5.00 SERIAL F/F 1 0FT (RSA-251 OF) 5.50 SER. MOD. 9F/25M 6' (SR-06) 4.20 VGA EXT CABLE (PS15M15F) 8.67 LINE CORD (LC) 3.00 MONITOR/CPU POWER EXT 2.87 XT HARD DRIVE (XTHD) 2 PC 3.95 RS232 M/M 10FT (RSA-2510M) 6.33 AT HARD DRIVE lATHDFD) 3 PC 5.00 RAM UPGRADE 150NS 120NS 100NS 80NS- 256K x 9 IBM SIMM 1M x 9 SIMM 1M x 1 DIP 256K x 1 DIP 256K x 4 DIP 64K x 1 DIP 64K x 4 DIP 15.00 20.00 2.00 .75 2.50 2.25 8.75 1.25 2.75 28.00 85.00 7.50 2.50 9.25 1.75 3.25 COPROCESSORS V-30 REPLACES 8086 8087-3 (5MHz) 8087-2 (8MHz) 8087-1 (10MHz) 80287-6 (6MHz) 80287-8 (8MHz) 5.00 85.00 115.00 159.00 120.00 180.00 80287-10 (10MHz) 80387-16 (16MHz) 80387-20 (20MHz) 80387-25 (25MHz) 80387-33 (33MHz) SPECIALS SERIAL MOUSE MICROSOFT BUS MOUSE IBM AT 512 MEMORY EXP BOARD FOR 51 70 AT WORDSTAR 2000 PLUS 3.0 KEYTRONICS 1 01 KEYBD XT/AT DEMO'S 90 DAY WNT. KEYTRONICS 101 KEYBD PS/2 DEMO'S 200W POWER SUPPLY AT (RECONDITIONED) WD 1007A ESDI CONTROLLER, OEM PK MONITOR TILT & SWIVEL BASE HARD DRIVE MOUNTING KIT 3.5 TO 5.25 MITSUBISHI 1.2 FLOPPY SONY 1.44 FLOPPY W/5.25 MOUNTING BRACKET TEAC 1.44 FLOPPY W/MOUNTING BRACKET OVER COUNTER KEYBOARD DRAWER UNDER COUNTER KEYBOARD DRAWER POWER SUPERVISOR & SURGE PROTECTION CPU STAND (PLASTIC) 40 M INTERNAL TAPE BACKUP (WANGTEK) 35.00 95.00 8.75 3.00 9.75 210.00 300.00 350.00 450.00 550.00 29.95 39.95 50.00 75.00 25.00 25.00 25.00 1 25.00 3.95 7.00 50.00 75.00 78.00 28.00 18.67 25.33 6.67 175.00 )# 9026 CALL OR WRITE FOR FREE CATALOG P.O.s Accepted from Government, Universities and Fortune 500 Companies Only WE BUY EXCESS AND OVERSTOCK INVENTORIES!!! SEND LIST OR CALL!!! 1 5203 Midway Road • 1 Block North of Beltline • Addison, TX 75244 • FAX (214) 386-5642 • Phone (214) 386-5515 • Toll Free (800) 962-7795 TEXAS RESIDENTS ADD SALES TAX • PRICE MAY VARY.FROM RETAIL STORE • PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE • SOME ITEMS LIMITED TOSTOCK ON HAND • TERMS COO. CASH. MC/VISA OR PRE-PAID 64MW-10 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Cirxle 1320 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 1321) Microcom Computers A HRW Technologies Company Custom Configuration Computer Systems Pre-Configured Computer Systems Standard System Features: *Teac 5.25' 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB Diskette Drive * 1:1 Interleaved Hard/Floppy Drive Controller * Enhanced 101-key Keyboard w/Tactile Click Feedback * 2 Serial, 1 Parallel & 1 Game Port * High Capacity 200 Watt System Power Supply * Real Time Clock/Calendar with Battery * Small Footprint Case (14.875' W x 1 6.25* D x 6.75" H) (Optional Cases Available) Options/Upgrades: Mini-size Desktop Tower Case Add $50 Full-size Tower Case Add $150 2 MB RAM {Upgrade from 1 MB) Add $125 4 MB RAM {Upgrade from 1 MB) Add $350 Second 5.25* 1 . 2 MB or 3.5' 1 . 44 MB Diskette Drive $85 Microsoft Mouse with Windows 3.0 $163 internal 2400 Baud Modem $99 DOS a30 or 4.01 $69 Our Commitment to Service * Free 4 Month On-Site Servicing Nationwide * 1 Year Warranty on Parts & Labor * Toll-free Technical Service & Support * No Surcharge on Credit Card Purchases * Comprehensive 72 Hour Burn-in Testing on AH Systems * All Systems Madewith pride in the USA * Guaranteed 100% IBM Compatible * Best Quality at an Affordable Price 286/12 Standard System $499 • Standard System Features plus: ' 80286 Processor running a! 12 MHz • 512 KB RAM Standard (Expandable to 8 MB RAM) • Wait State Performance for 16 MHz Effective Throughput • Landmark = 16.0 MHz - Norton SI = 15.4x • AMI BIOS with MS-DOS, Novell & Windows Support ' for 1 MB RAM, add 550 MICROCOM 266/12 286/12 System Features, Hard Drive, Monitor & Video Card 286/12 Super VGA System $1,499 • 286/12 Standard System with 1 MB RAM • 42 MB Hard Disk w /Quick 28 ms Access Time • Second 5.25" 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB Diskette Drive • High Performance 16-bit 512K VGA Graphics Card w/ 1024x768 Capability • 14" Color Super VGA Monitor with 800 x 600 Resolution and 0.31 dot pitch •DOS 3.30 or4.01 Included Hard Drives: MB/Ms 20/40 42/28 65728 80/18 105/18 No Video $749 $849 $949 $1,149 $1,249 Mono $674 $974 $1,074 $1,274 $1,374 VGA-Mono $1,049 $1,149 $1,249 $1,449 $1,549 SVGA $1,299 $1,399 $1,499 $1,699 $1,799 Hires $1,399 $1,499 $1,599 $1,799 $1,899 386SX/16 Standard System $699 Standard System Features plus: • Intel 80386SX Processor running at 16 MHz • 1 MB RAM Standard (Expandable to 8 MB RAM) • Wait State Performance for 21 MHz Effective Throughput • Landmark = 21.0 MHz - Norton SI = 18.4x • AMI BIOS with MS-DOS, OS/2, XENIX, UNIX, Novell, Windows & 386-Specific Software Support MICROCOM 386SX/1 6 386SX/16 System Features, Hard Drive, Monitor & Video Card 386SXJ16 Super VGA System $1,699 • 386SX/16 Standard System • 42 MB Hard Disk w /Quick 28 ms Access Time 'Second 5.25" 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB Diskette Drive • High Performance 16-bit 512K VGA Graphics Card w/1024x 768 Capability • 14" Color SuperVGA Monitor with 800 x 600 Resolution and 0.31 dot pitch •DOS 3.30 or 4.01 Included Hard Drives: MB/Ms 42/28 65/28 80/18 105/18 205/18 No Video $1,049 $1,149 $1,349 $1,449 $1,799 Mono $1,174 $1,274 $1,474 $1,574 $1,924 VGA-Mono $1,349 $1,449 $1,649 $1,749 $2,099 SVGA $1,599 $1,699 $1,899 $1,999 $2,349 Hires $1,699 $1,799 $1,999 $2,099 $2,449 386/25 Standard System $1,199 Standard System Features plus: * Intel 80386DX Processor running at 25 MHz * 1 MB RAM Standard (Expandable to 8 MB RAM) ' Wait State Performance for 34 MHz Effective Throughput • Landmark = 345 MHz - Norton SI = 29.7x • AMI BIOS with MS-DOS, OS A XENIX, UNIX, Novell, Windows & 386-Specific Software Support micruc for64KBCac 386/25 Systerr OM 366/25 he, add $300 i Features, Hard Drive, Monitor & Video Card 386/25 Super VGA System $2,199 • 386/25 Standard System • 42 MB Hard Disk w /Quick 28 ms Access Time •Second 5.25" 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB Diskette Drive • High Performance 16-bit 512K VGA Graphics Card w/1024x 768 Capability • 14" ColorSuper VG A Monitor with 800 x 600 Resolution and 0.31 dot pitch •DOS 3.30 or 4.01 Included Hard Drives: MB/Ms 42/28 65/28 80/18 105/18 205/18 No Video $1,549 $1,649 $1,849 $1,949 $2,299 Mono $1,674 $1,774 $1,974 $2,074 $2,424 VGA-Mono $1,849 $1,949 $2,149 $2,249 $2,599 • for 64 KB Cache, add $300 • Landmark = 45.9 MHz - Norton SI = 39.6x SVGA $2,099 $2,199 $2,399 $2,499 $2,849 Hires $2,199 $2,299 $2,499 $2,599 $2,949 386/33C Standard System $1,699 Standard System Features plus: • Intel 80386DX Processor ru nning at 33 MHz • 1 MB RAM Standard (Expandable to 8 MB RAM) • 64 KB Static RAM Cache for Increased Performance •7 Million Instructions Per Second (MIPS) Operation • Landmark = 56.0 MHz - Norton SI = 45.9x • AMI BIOS with MS-DOS, OS A XENIX, UNIX, Novell, Windows & 386-Specific Software Support MICROCOM 386/33C 386/33C System Features, Hard Drive, Monitor & Video Card 386/33C Hires System $2, 999 • 386/33C Standard System • 105 MB Hard Disk w/Quick 18 ms Access Time • Second 5.25" 1.2MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB Diskette Drive • High Performance 16-bit 512K VGA Graphics Card w/ 1024x768 Capability • 14" Color Hi-Res VGA Monitor with 1024 x 768 Resolution and 0.28 dot pitch •DOS 3.30 or4.01 Included Hard Drives: MB/Ms 42/28 65/28 80/18 105/18 205/18 No Video $2,049 $2,149 $2,349 $2,449 $2,799 Mono $2,174 $2,274 $2,474 $2,574 $2,924 VGA-Mono $2,349 $2,449 $2,649 $2,749 $3,099 SVGA $2,599 $2,699 $2,899 $2,999 $3,349 Hires $2,699 $2,799 $2,999 $3,099 $3,449 486/25C Standard System $4,299 Standard System Features plus: • Intel 80486 Processor running at 25 MHz • 4 MB RAM Standard (Expandable to 8 MB RAM) • 64 KB Stalk RAM Cache for Increased Performance • Over 11 Million Instructions Per Second (MIPS) Operation • Landmark = 117.0 MHz • AMI BIOS with MS-DOS, OS/2, XENIX, UNIX, Novell, Windows & 386-Specific Software Support MICROCOM 486/25C 486/25C, System Features, Har.d Drive, Monitor & Video Card 486/25C Hires Sys tern $5,999 • 486/25C Standard System • 205 MB Hard Disk w /Quick 18 ms Access Time • Second 5.25" 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB Diskette Drive • High Performance 16-bit 512K VGA Graphics Card w/1024x 768 Capability • 14" ColorHi-Res VGA Monitor with 1024 x 768 Resolution and 0.28 dot pitch •DOS 3.30 or4.01 Included Hard Drives: MB/Ms 80/18 105/18 205/18 340/18 650/16 No Video $4,949 $5,049 $5,399 $6,099 $7,099 Mono $5,074 $5,174 $5,524 $6,224 $7,224 VGA-Mono $5,249 $5,349 $5,699 $6,399 $7,399 SVGA $5,499 $5,599 $5,949 $6,649 $7,649 Hires $5,599 $5,699 $6,049 $6,749 $7,749 Microcom Computers 1 Customers include: Xerox, GTE, Motorola, Raychem, General Electric, Eastman Kodak, SEGA of America, Toshiba, Genetech, Holiday Inn, U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. Food & Drug Adminstration, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Lawrence Uvermore National Laboratory, U.C. Berkeley, U.C. San Francisco and many, many more MasterCard] To Order - Call Toll Free 1-800-248-3398 Open from 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. PST, Monday-Friday Microcom Computers 48890 Milmont Drive, Fremont, CA 94537 - Teh (415)623-3628 -Fax: (415)623-3620 3650-18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 - Tel: (415)255-2288 - Fax: (415 255-8873 Prices are subject bo change without notice. Not responsible for typographical errors. CA residents please add 7.25% sales tax. No surcharge on credit card purchases. Personal and company checks require 2 weeks clearance. All trademarks acknowledged. Tower Is a registered trademark of NCR Corporation. Microcom Computers reserves the right to substitute any and all items with equivalent or better parts. All benchmarks and specifications are for your Information only and may van/ from system to system. Prices do not Include shipping and handling. Circle 1317 on Reader Service Card SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 64MW-11 REGIONAL WHAT'S NEW MIDWEST Step Back 550 Million Years If Bill and Ted had used this time machine on their excellent adventure, they could have found themselves surrounded by dinosaurs rather than French nobility. The Time-Machine Earth lets you view Earth's geologi- cal history as far as 550 mil- lion years in the past or 40 mil- lion years in the future. The program lets you see the land the dinosaurs walked or view the results of the comet that may have caused their extinction. You can view maps of the globe that show the positions of the oceans and continents at any period. A blink comparison function lets you toggle be- tween views of two eras, and you can superimpose images of different time periods. The program runs on the IBM PC with 256K bytes of RAM. Price: $69.95. Contact: Sageware Corp., 1282 Garner Ave., Schenec- tady, NY 12309, (518) 377-1052. Inquiry 1004. Put a Stock Analyst in Your IBM PC An on-line stock trading program called MyWay helps you manage diverse portfolios by providing buying According to the theory of continental movement, shown by Time-Machine Earth, the continents may soon, in geological terms, fit together like a puzzle. For you and me, that means tens of millions of years from now. and selling recommendations based on your trading style and financial resources, Money- Won reports. MyWay acts like an ana- lytical decision support sys- tem, calibrating stock posi- tions and issuing precise recommendations . MyWay can calculate rates of return on an annual basis and includes commission costs in all its figures. It also oversees your position in the market through a profit report module and lets you do what- if analyses. MyWay runs on the IBM PC with 5 12K bytes of RAM and a modem. The program interfaces with most on-line fi- nancial information systems. Price: $395. Contact: Money Won, Inc., Ten Tower Office Park Dr., Woburn, MA 0180 1,(800) 463-6639 or (418) 622-2211. Inquiry 1006. Fetch Missing Files from Within DOS Applications Zaphod Industries' File Fetch utility lets you find missing files without having to exit your current MS-DOS application. You can search for other files across subdirec- tories, local drives, and net- work drives while you're still within your current applica- tion, the company reports. When the program finds the file, it returns the file path to your current application's prompt line, awaiting further action by you. This saves time and helps to prevent typos. Price: $39.95. Contact: Zaphod Industries, P.O. Box 442, Northwood, NH 03261, (603) 942-5077. Inquiry 1005. Why Put Great Ideas on Boring Paper? OK, so you can't mea- sure it by MIPS, mega- hertz, or MFLOPS, but that doesn't mean that your laser or dot-matrix printer paper must always be the same old unglamorous, plain vanilla stock. PaperSelect offers a paper kit that contains hundreds of sheets of paper and enve- lopes in many styles, colors, weights, and finishes. The kit includes a paper selector that contains swatches and specifications of every paper available from the company and a catalogue. Price: $14.95, refundable with your first order; free with orders of $25 or more. Contact: PaperDirect, Inc., 57 Romanelli Ave., South Hackensack, NJ 07606, (800) 272-7377 or (201) 342-6432. Inquiry 1007. Create Fractal Images from Simple Patterns Cedar Software's new fractal drawing program for the IBM PC starts with a simple pattern that you create and draws the rest, generat- ing complex fractal images. Once the program is done drawing the image, you can spin, skew, grow, shrink, and otherwise manipulate any part of it. You can then carry all the changes through all levels of the drawing. Fractal Graf ics consists of templates of abstract art, let- tering, scientific models, and other fractals. Price: $79. Contact: Cedar Software, Morrisville, VT 05661, (802) 888-5275. Inquiry 1008. Write a Will with Your PC Jacoby & Meyers Law Of- fices has teamed up with programmers of the College Explorer program to create WillPower, which helps you write your will. WillPower provides legal information about the state in which you live or own prop- erty and helps you plan finan- cially for spouses and chil- dren, establish trusts, name guardians, designate an exec- utor, and address other consid- erations in creating a will. The program runs on the IBM PC with 5 12K bytes of RAM. Price: $49.95. Contact: Jacoby & Meyers Law Offices, 1 156 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036, (800) 233=3109 or (212)536-7600. Inquiry 1009. 64MW-12 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 VGA PORTABLE LIGHTEST & SMALLEST CRT PORTABLE 5 YEARS PORTABLE EXPERIENCE Nobody does Portables better than BSI BSI specializes in COLOR VGA CRT Portables, Gas Plasmas, LCDs, and Laptops. Now for the first time you can have the power, speed and memory of a desktop in the portable format without having to sacrifice COLOR VGA graphics when changing locations. Our lightest and smallest "take it anywhere" portable is your best choice for both a compact work station and dynamic portable on the road. We can custom configure your portable to 486, 386, 286 and 8088 systems in VGA, EGA, CGA or monochrome portable, to meet your specific needs. If you prefer to build your own portable computer and/or put your own brandname, we can provide barebone units, parts and assembly information to help you. Please call us today to get the best dealer pricing. LAPTOP LT5400 386SX VGA PLASMA VGA Plasma Screen, 640x480 Res. External VGA Monitor Adaptor 80386SX System Board 1 MB RAM on Board. CUpto 4MB) A^fi 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Drive. Cj2-» •) k \e> (5.25" External FDD Optional) " QO Sa 40MB, 25ms Conner IDE Hard Drive 100MB. 19ms Hard Drive + $400 1 Parallel and 2 Serial Ports. 87-Key Keyboard, Carring Bag. One 16-Bit Exp. Slot Available. LAPTOP LT3600 286-16 VGA LCD VGA LCD Backlit Screen, 640x480 Res. External VGA Monitor Adaptor 286-16 MHz System Board ^^ C&® 1MB RAM on Board. §^* (Expandable to 2 or 5MB Optional) CO° 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Drive. (5:25" External FDD Optional) 40MB, 25ms Conner IDE Hard Drive 100MB, 19ms Hard Drive + $400 1 Parallel and 2 Serial Ports. 84-Key Keyboard, Carring Bag. 2-3 Hours Rechargable Battery. One 16-Bit Exp. Slot Available. S* i\e* BSf Prices subject to change without notice Call (or return policy 386-33 100MB COLOR VGA PORTABLE • Built-in SONY 8.5" Color VGA Monitor 0.26mm Dot Pitch, 800x600 Resolution • Speed Digital Display. 3 Drive Bays ■ 220W P/S 1 10/220V. 4 Exp. Slots • 86-Key Detachable Keyboard • 386-33 MHz CPU, w/32K Cache Memory • 1 MB Memory on Board (To 8MB) • VGA Graphic Card (256K, 800x600 Res.) (51 2K, 1024x768 Res. + $50) External Monitor Adaptor ef& • 1 .2MB or 1 .44MB FDD ffAP \\ • 1 00MB 25ms HDD (To 500MB) % D ^ -o^ • Serial/Parallel/Game Ports && • Carrying Bag. Weight 27 Lbs. • Dimensions: 17.5(W) x 14.1 (D) x 6.8(H) • 7 expansion Slots Model Optional HDD 286-12 386SX 386/25 386/33 486/25 40MB 2209 2469 2839 3239 4859 100MB 2629 2889 3259 3659 5279 150MB 2909 3169 3539 3939 5559 200MB 3019 3279 3649 4049 5669 345MB 3809 4069 4439 4839 6459 VGA AMBER CRT PORTABLE 65MB AT • Built-in 9" Amber VGA Monitor • Speed Digital Display. 3 Drive Bays • 205W P/S 1 10/220V. 4 Exp. Slots • 86 Keyboard, Detachable Keyboard + $30 • AT 1 2 MHz System, 1 MB Memory (To 4MB) • VGAGraphicCard (256K, 800x600 Res.) • Run 48 Grey Scales VGA Internally Run Color VGA Externally qQ • 1 .2MB or 1 .44MB FDD k ^>^ • 65MB 25ms HDD (To 500MB) §* 1 • Serial/Parallel/Game Ports • Carrying Bag. Weight 26 Lbs - Dimensions: 17.5 (W) x 14.1 (D) x 6.8 (H) HDD 286-12 386SX 386/25 386/33 486/25 40MB 1479 1739 2109 2509 4129 65MB 1639 1899 2269 2669 4289 100MB 1899 2159 2529 2929 4549 150MB 2179 2439 2809 3209 4829 200MB 2289 2549 2919 3319 4939 345MB 3079 3339 3709 4109 5729 AMBER CRT PORTABLE 65MB AT Built-in 9" Amber Monitor Speed Digital Display. 3 Drive Bays 205W P/S 1 10/220V. 4 Exp. Slots 86 Keyboard, Detachable Keyboard + $30 AT 12 MHz System, 1MB Memory (To 4MB) Mono or Color Graphic Card Amber EGA Display (option) + $100 qOl 1 .2 MB or 1 .44 MB Floppy Drive a ^O v 65MB 26ms Toshiba Drive $fV ^ Carrying Bag Weight 26 lbs. Dimensions 17.5(W) x 14.1(D) x 6.8(H) 9440 Telstar Ave., #4, El Monte, CA 91731 For Order Only Call Toll Free 1-800-872-4547 1 -81 8-442-0020 Calif. Customer Support: (818) 442-7038 All order will be shipped by UPS COD cashier's check. Company check on approval IBM PC XT/ AT are registered trade marks ol IBM Inc. Circle 1312 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 1313) HDD 286-12 386SX 386/25 386/33 486/25 40MB 1209 1469 1839 2239 3859 65MB 1369 1629 1999 2399 4019 100MB 1629 1889 2259 2659 4279 150MB 1909 2169 2539 2939 4559 200MB 2019 2279 2649 3049 4669 345MB 2809 3069 3439 3839 5459 COLOR EGA CRT Portable Available ■ 386-33 100MB VGA PLASMA PORTABLE ■ 640x480 VGA Plasma Display ■ Detachable 101 -key Keyboard • 200W P/S, 1 1 0/220V. 3 Drive Bays • 386-33 MHz CPU, w/32K Cache Memory • 1 MB Memory on Board (To 8MB) • 1.2MB or 1.44MB FDD *. • 100MB 25ms HDD (To 500MB) *OV3 • Serial and Parallel Ports ttJJ^ • External Monitor Adaptor 3? • Carrying Bag. Weight: 26 Lbs. • Dimensions: 16"(W) x 9.75"(H) x 8.5"(D) HDD 286-12 386SX 386/25 386/33 486/25 40MB 2019 2279 2649 3049 4669 65MB 2169 2429 2799 3199 4819 100MB 2399 2659 3029 3429 5049 150MB 2659 2919 3289 3689 5309 200MB 2759 3019 3389 3789 5409 345MB 3529 3789 4159 4559 6179 CGA PLASMA PORTABLE 65MB AT • 640X400 CGA Plasma Display ■ Detachable 86-Key Keyboard - External RGB Monitor Adaptor #• rA* HDD 286-12 386SX 386/25, 386/33 486/25 40MB 1469 1729 2099 2499 4119 65MB 1619 1879 2249 2649 4269 100MB 1849 2109 2479 2879 4499 150MB 2109 2369 2739 3139 4759 200MB 2209 2469 2839 3239 4859 345MB 2979 3239 3609 4009 5629 CGA LCD PORTABLE 65MB AT • 640X200 Res. Backlit LCD CGA Display 640x400 Res. CGA Display + $120 ■ 200W 1 1 0/220V P/S. 6 Exp. Slots ' Detachable 86-Key Keyboard ■ AT 12MHz System, 1MB Memory (To 4MB) • 1.2MB or 1.44MB FDD • 65MB 25ms HDD (To 500MB) *Q • Serial/Parallel/Game Ports a 3^* • External Monitor Adaptor § T* 1 • 16"(W) x 9.5"(H) x 7.5"(D), 23Lbs HDD 286-12 386SX 386/25 386/33 486/25 40MB 1209 1469 1839 2239 3859 65MB 1349 1609 1979 2379 3999 100MB 1579 1839 2209 2609 4229 150MB 1829 2089 2459 2859 4479 200MB 1929 2189 2559 2959 4579 345MB 2679 2939 3309 3709 5329 Bg«MWiM»i:iftiaMqaj»i:iaiiiirsi»igHil (Run 386 Window and Unix) •VGA LCD PORTABLE AVAILABL See us at QcOflifWFall '90 November 12-16, 1990 Sahara Hotel Las Vegas. Nevada Booth S9106 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 64MW-13 REGIONAL WHAT'S NEW MIDWEST CompuAdd Debuts First Laptop CompuAdd's first laptop computer, based on the 16-MHz 386SX processor, comes with Windows 3.0, DOS 4.01, the DOS Help utility, and the LapLink com- munication program. The 316SL also has 2 MB of mem- ory (expandable to 6 MB), a 40-MB hard disk drive, a 3 Vi- inch floppy disk drive, and a VGA screen. The system can display 16 shades of gray on the 8- by 6- inch VGA screen. If that's not good enough, you can con- nect an external monitor via a VGA video port. The 316SL weighs 1 1 Vz pounds. Price: $2895. Contact: CompuAdd Corp., 12303 Technology Blvd., Austin, TX 78727, (512) 250-1489. Inquiry 1010. Point of Sale for Smaller Retail Companies The Electric Merchant point-of-sale program for the IBM PC lets retail clerks easily record sales, print re- ceipts, and look up stock in- formation while providing management with security, customizable reporting, and inventory control, Software Creations says. With the Electric Mer- chant, clerks can save any sale before ringing it out, for making and printing sales quotes without having to later re-ring the entire sale. You can set up the program so that, when entering transactions, clerks have to enter only a product identification code, not an additional vendor code. Clerks can access infor- mation on more than 20,000 separate items from anywhere in the system to provide cus- The CompuAdd 316SL uses 12-V and nickel-cadmium batteries and ships with power-management software. The 316SL weighs 11 Vi pounds. tomers with the most up-to- date product information. You can set up the system to tell you when a store has reached a minimum number of products. Business reviews include store sales history on any day, sales tax reporting, error checking, and cost of goods sold. The program tracks each sale by category, salesperson, and payment type. Price: $995. Contact: Software Cre- ations, Inc., 10035 Adamo Dr., Tampa, FL 33619, (800) 767-3279 or (813) 684-8291. Inquiry 1011. Transfer DXF Files Without Losing Information AutoSight DXF Handler II modifies complex parts of a CAD drawing, such as blocks, text layers, and hatch patterns, to preserve that in- formation when you transfer files in the DXF format. The program converts complex seg- ments of a drawing to simpler elements, eliminating the time and labor required to edit and move DXF files among ver- sions of AutoCAD and other CAD systems. Database Finds Quotes by Any Subject or Keyword With the PennComp Quotemaster Plus, writers, speakers, and edi- tors can quickly find an ap- propriate quotation for a speech or article by subject, time period, keyword, or author. The program contains more than 3000 quotations, which you can search by any text string, eliminating the need to poke around in the back of a quotation book's index, the company says. In addition to the Primary Literary base of 3000 quota- tions, four other quote bases, each with 500 quotations, are available for humor, suc- cess, contemporary, and motivational quotations. Quotemaster Plus runs on the IBM PC with 5 12K bytes ofRAM. Price: $89; additional quote bases, $25 each. Contact: PennComp, 4031 Villanova St., Houston, TX 77005, (800) 326-6145 or (713)669-0965. Inquiry 1012. The utility works with dif- ferent versions of AutoCAD ranging from release 2 up to release 10, according to AutoSight. Price: $195. Contact: AutoSight, Inc., P.O. Box 362086, Melbourne, FL 32934, (407) 242-5865. Inquiry 1013. Pop-up Mail for LANs Requires 7K Bytes Nouveau is a pop-up mail system designed for the rapid entry and retrieval of messages on any DOS-based network. A TSR program, it lets you send and receive mes- sages of up to 900 characters. When you activate the pro- gram, Nouveau displays a window with a list of messages that you haven't read. Price: $25 per workstation. Contact: Integra, P.O. Box 72063, Marietta, GA 30007, (404) 973-3586. Inquiry 1014. Pop-up Calculator Solves Time-Based Problems With QS-Timecalc, you can carry out a variety of time-based calculations on employee time cards, client billing charges, computer us- age logging, and totaling time- based processes. You can make the program RAM-resi- dent and use it with your cur- rent IBM PC payroll or billing application, Quingen says. Price: $39. Contact: Quingen Systems, Inc., 530 Causeway Dr., Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480,(919)256-9119. Inquiry 1015. 64MW-14 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 BOTH WENT TO HARVARD WHICH ONE WENT TO SCAN-TECH? Yes, SCAN-TECH will pump you up, like no business degree ever could, by introducing you to one of the most powerful forces affecting your business today. Automatic ID -Where computers meet the real world. From Bar Coding to Radio Frequency. From OCR to Magnetic Stripe, to Voice and Vision. Auto. ID is giving business real powerto manage data..with new hardware, software and EDI applications for the real world of business. Giving business a hard body- Productivity plus. No business can afford to overlook the productivity gains offered by Auto. ID systems. From inventory to point-of-sale. In manufacturing, retailing or anywhere in between. The show that started it all is at it again. SCAN-TECH 90 has become one of the most important business automation events anywhere. Now we're offering you a whole new component on total productivity enhancement-Plus the knowhow you'll need for smooth implementation. An MBA can go a long way, but you won't find more powerful tools to shape up your business than the ones at SCAN-TECH 90. ForyourFREEcopyoftheSCAN-TECHBUSINESS POWER PAK, call 800-338-0206 (412-963-8588 in PA) SCAN-TECH OCTOBER 2-4, 1990 SEMINARS BEGIN OCTOBER 1ST INTERNATIONAL AUTO. ID SHOW AND SEMINAR GEORGIA WORLDCONGRESS CENTER • ATLANTA SPONSORED BY USA Circle 1322 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 1323) THE TECHNOLOGY THAT'S CHANGING BUSINESS. SEPTEMBER 1990 • BYTE 64MW-15 iuilf for Speed, for Comparision! lease Call Toll Free: 1 -800-562-1 07 1 riced □ MYODA LT5200 SERIES Flexibility of a Laptop with the true power and expandability of a high-performance Desktop computer. MYODA has designed and built these machines with the needs of today's demanding users in mind. Just look at our features and then compare them with other machines costing twice as much and you will see why we are the clear choice for professional users. We offer true expandability with 2 FULL SIXTEEN BIT SLOTS, MEMORY IS EXPANDABLE TO 8MB.VGA SCREEN, EXTERNAL VGA, MONITOR PORT, EXTERNAL FLOPPY, DRIVE PORT. There is even a true 386-25 running at WAIT STATE available wrth 32KB CACHE MEMORY. And they all come withaCONNER,40MB HARD DRIVE & a 3.5/ 1 .44MB FOPPY DRIVE, AMI BIOS FREE DOS 4.01 or 33 with every LT5200 order Model Cpu Inrernal Slots Screen FD HD EXT.FD Port Max Memory Price 5200CD 5200SX 5200NV 386-25 386 16. 286-16 2x16 Bit 2x1 6 Bit 2x1 6 Bit VGA ,GAS plasma VGA GAS plasma VGA GAS plasma 3.5/1 .44 3.5/1 .44 3.5 1.44 40MB IDE 40MB IDE 40MB IDE YES YES YES 8MB 8MB 8MB $3599 S2999 S2399 Larger Hard Drives Also Available. Call for Details Get up to $300 in rebates MYODA LT-3500 $1499 Here is your chance to pick up on the biggest bargain in Laptops anywhere. The LT-3500 is packed with features. The 80286-12 MHz CPU runs at wait state, ready to blaze through those tough applications. There is also a 40MB fast hard drive and an internal 3.51.44MB diskette drive • Intel 80286 CPU wait state • 3.5/1 ,44MB floppy drive • 6/1 2 MHz clock speed • 40MB(28msj hard drive • EGA GAS plasma display • 2 serial/ 1 parallel/CRT port • 1 MB installed 4MB max • Free carrying case Laptop Accessories • External 5.25/1 .2MB floppydrive • 5 hour battery pack withlZV inverter • Expansion chasis 2x8 bit, 2x16 bit (For LT-3500 ony) • Numeric keypad *0 ro 8 CO Qi o i? rn 2j (N o s/l a 00 00 m y & to in o *~ CO 6 Z rn u_ rvj m .6 p= u S^ &g ^6 SP fi£ »# ro o 65* ■£ o v> ^ m — o d urn M 01 i_ 3 Risk free guarantee. Two year warranty. *> IBM approved ID. Best price. Fast delivery. Call today 1-800-234-4232 or 617-273-1818 cec Capital Equipment Corp. Burlington, MA. 01803 PS/2 and Micro Channel are trademarks of IBM development of new authoring tools. Owl International's Guide, Apple's Hyper- Card, Microsoft QuickBASIC, and other such programs will let the ordinary user develop sophisticated educational pro- grams. We'll have a lot of false starts. The centralists will try to dictate the form and content of educational software, and for a while they will succeed, as they have generally succeeded in controlling text- books. But they will not be successful enough. Large U.S. corporations are al- ready concerned that the schools aren't producing graduates with enough educa- tion to be put to work without extensive reeducation and training. Most compa- nies remain snowed by educationist hype, but business by its very nature de- mands results; and there will come a time when business itself will, in self-de- fense, begin educating not only its em- ployees, but their children. I have earlier proposed that large cor- porations provide their employees not only day care, but on-site schools for their children; and that they demand that the teachers in these schools get results, not offer excuses for why the kids didn't learn anything. I think this will happen; and that these and other private schools will be a sufficient market for educa- tional software that actually accom- plishes something. Meanwhile, many classroom teachers will despair of changing the system and will begin to make use of educational software that works. After all, most teachers don't want kids to fail. Many have been taught so many "diagnostics," which is to say excuses for failure, that they no longer expect the children to suc- ceed; but most teachers hate that, and if they can be shown that there are methods that work, they'll adopt them. It will be a long and difficult battle, as difficult as anything that has happened yet; but in my judgment, the small com- puter will bring decentralization— pere- stroika— to the American school system as surely as it has brought glasnost to the U.S.S.R. The Real Hit of the Show Normally, it's a bit hard to pick the most impressive item at Comdex: not only is there a lot to choose from, but there's no way to be sure that what they're demon- strating is real. This time it was easy: a week before I came to Comdex, Larry Aldridge of Sterling Microsystems (3164 East La Palma, Suite K, Anaheim, CA 92806, (714) 632-7429) brought over the new Cheetah Gold 486. Larry puts together systems based on the Cheetah mother- board. The Gold 486 is itself one fantas- tic bit of hardware; and in it was the Per- ceptive Solutions, Inc. (PSI) hard disk drive controller. The PSI Hyperstore 1600 card uses configuration modules to run as an MFM, RLL, ESDI, or SCSI controller; in the SCSI version, it will let you chain CD-ROM drives to the controller. What- ever configuration, this system is fast, blindingly fast, so fast I'd have suspected a trick if I hadn't been running this my- self. Now understand, to get the kind of performance I'm getting, you need a su- perfast computer like the Cheetah Gold 486; hanging the PSI controller on your old AT will improve performance, of course, but you need a really hot ma- chine to take full advantage of it. When you have both, the result is little short of amazing. As an example, nor- mally to run DataDesk Animator, you want to load the images into a RAM disk or into extended memory. With the PSI controller, you don't have to: this will run those images directly off the hard disk at any speed you'd ever want. It does it smoothly, with no jerks or glitches; in- deed, the disk light blinks with percepti- ble pauses between blinks. Of course, the light isn't supposed to stay on; the PSI system uses all kinds of tricks with cache memory to anticipate what the pro- gram will need and be ready to provide it. As PSI Vice President Eric Lenington put it, "If that light stays on, we haven't done the job right." I haven't had the PSI controller long, but I'd say the company has done the job heroically. DPT My Cheetah 386 has a Distributed Pro- cessing Technology (DPT) hard disk drive controller, which was the fastest controller we knew about back when Big Cheetah was put together. That control- ler has been in continuous use, 16 hours a day of hard usage and left turned on the other 8 hours about 90 percent of the time, and has performed extremely well. Bill Godbout used to say that if the error rate is large enough to measure, it's too large; I feel the same way. In the past year plus that I've used the DPT control- ler with Big Cheetah, I've had precisely two incidents in which I got retry errors in reading or writing to the hard disk. In both cases I tried to get them to repeat, couldn't, and finally saved all my work and hit the Reset button just in case. My guess is that the problem had nothing to do with hardware at all, but was some clash resulting from multitasking under Desqview; and neither incident lost me any data. In other words, the DPT controller has 72 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 60 on Reader Service Card CHAOS MANOR been both very fast and very reliable for over a year, and I can unhesitatingly rec- ommend the product. I told the DPT people about the PSI controller's performance. They were aware of the company. DPT has not been standing still and has improved their con- troller since they sent me the one I use. The upshot is they'll send their newest, the PM3011/70, which I'll install in the Cheetah Gold 486; meanwhile, I'll put the Hyperstore 1600 into Big Cheetah. Then I'll run speed tests, so we can see just what performance is due to the com- puter and what's due to the controller. I should have that information next month. Meanwhile, I love it when two really competent outfits compete to give us bet- ter performance; the whole industry benefits, especially when it's something as fundamental as a hard disk drive con- troller. Stay tuned. New Speed Tests Everyone has system and disk speed tests. The BYTE Lab has one you can get copies of. So do most other magazines. I even devised one myself: filling two ma- trices, multiplying them together, and summing the elements of the result. Mine had the advantage of doing a lot of both floating-point and integral arith- metic. For disk speed tests, I tend to use the Coretest utility; this gives you a lot of in- formation and compares your machine with a number of "standard" machines. The Coretest index is based on both data transfer rate and seek times, and people I trust say it's the best speed index there is (see table 1). For general speed testing, I've tended to use my matrix test, but in fact I got away from doing that during the past year or so. At Comdex, Robert Hurt handed me yet one more system test. I've known Hurt for some time, and I tend to respect his judgment. Anyway, it's called the Landmark System Speed Test and is dis- tributed by Hurt's Landmark Research International. They needed it: they were demonstrating what they called "the fastest computer in the world," to wit, a 486 jacked up to 44 MHz. The chip was cooled by a gadget known as Icecap, which stands about 4 inches tall— they had to saw away part of the disk bay to get it into the machine— and has some kind of active refrigeration. The Landmark test's great merit is that you can't peg the meter: it will mea- sure computer speeds beyond anything we're likely to have in this century. Inci- dentally, Landmark has some other neat IS IS 8 Mbytes of fast 32 bit memory . Works in all Micro Channel™ computers. Fast LIM 4*0 driver included. Provides extended and expanded memory. Easy switchless in I £ion. Automatic configuration for DOS, OS/2 or UNIX. Risk free guarantee. Two year warranty. IBM approved ID. Fast delivery. From $299 to $1249 with 8 Megabytes. PC Magazine "Hot Prospect 5 ' 1/16/90. Call today 617-273-1818 or 1-800-234-4CEC cec Capital Equipment Corp. Burlington, 'M A. 01803 PS/2 and Micro ' are trademarks of IBM stuff, including a kit for cleaning, test- ing, and aligning floppy disk drives; write for their flier. Core International makes disk systems as well as the test program. It's hard to tell just how accurate the Landmark test is, but I've just tried it on nearly every machine in the house, and it seems to work just fine; certainly the re- sults are about what you'd expect (see table 2). It also shows the very respectable per- formance of the Premier 9000, and the truly awesome speed of the Cheetah Gold 486 with the Hyperstore 1600 con- troller. DRDOS I'm often credited with making CP/M the standard back in S-100 days. True or not, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Digital Research; the full story of why the company didn't make a deal with IBM— and how Seattle Engineering got its first DOS, which it sold to Micro- soft—hasn't yet been told in print. Per- haps one day I will. I've been experimenting with a beta version of DR DOS 5.0; this version works with Microsoft Windows 3.0, al- though I understand that Microsoft tried a number of tricks to prevent that. What it doesn 't work with is the new Cheetah Gold 486. "Timing problems," I'm told, that will be fixed Real Soon Now. In fact I rather hope so, because there are good features in DR DOS. DR DOS's main claim to fame is enormous tempo- rary program areas; we were getting as much as 639K bytes of free memory with VGA! (It would be 1 K byte larger— yes, 640K bytes of free RAM— but the Hy- perstore 1600 uses IK byte out of main memory.) It's said to work with Desq- view. It has a number of features MS-DOS doesn't have or doesn't do well. It also comes with a quite competent 386 mem- ory management program, standard, that claims "VCPI compatibility"— meaning that programs that use extended mem- ory, such as Lotus 1-2-3, AutoCAD, and Mathematica, can run directly. I'd sure like for DR DOS to be a suc- cess, if only to give Microsoft some com- petition: look how much better QuickBA- SIC got when Borland came out with Turbo Basic. Alas, we've run into problems. We can't make their 386 memory manager work with AutoCAD; nor will QEMM- 386 5.0 behave properly with DR DOS. Desqview runs only with no memory manager installed at all. I want DR DOS to work, but it's not quite there yet. However, when I sent a draft of this column to Digital Research, continued SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 73 Circle 129 on Reader Service Card Finally, a fast, powerful text editor that integrates your favorite programming tools and uses no memory! CHAOS MANOR Pius Mouse support Pull-down menus Columnar blocks 1000 Level Undo Regular Expressions Small 70K, super fast DOS, UNIX/XENIX, FlexOS Also VEDIT $69, VEDIT Jr. $29 FREE Evaluation Copy CaN1-800-45-VEDIT The new VEDIT PLUS is the productivity breakthrough programmers have been looking for. Run not only popular com- pilers, but all of your favorite tools from within the editor. When shelling to DOS, VEDIT swaps itself and any desired TSRs out of memory to give you more memory than when you entered VEDIT. Only VEDIT gives you the advantages of a powerful and flexible editor without giving up the convenience of an integrated environment. VEDIT offers stunning performance, ver- satility and ease of use. Completely writ- ten in assembly language, it's small and lightning fast. Edit text and binary files of any size, even 100+ megabytes. Installa- tion is trivial; VEDIT.EXE and an optional help file are all you need - no overlays, no configuration files. Other features include multiple file editing, windows, unlimited keystroke macros, "hot keys", context sensitive help, word processing, automatic indenting and total configurability. VEDIT has been the choice of 100,000 programmers, writers and engineers since 1980. VEDITPLUS adds a powerful "off the cuff" macro programming language, complete with source level debugging. VEDIT PLUS - $185 for DOS, $285 for UNIX/XENIX. Call for a free demo today. Greenview P.O. Box 1586, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 (31 3) 996-1 299 * Fax (31 3) 996-1 308 74 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 ■ CORETEST RESULTS | Table 1 : The Coretest measures the performance of data throughput of its hard disk drive system. a computer based on the Machine/ controller Data transfer (KB/sec) Average Track-to-track seek (ms) seek (ms) Performance index Cheetah 486/ PSI 1519.5 0.3 0.7 223.7 Cheetah 386/ DPT 620.2 1.4 1.1 42.0 Premier 9000 788.8 15.1 2.8 8.3 IBM PS/2 80 (70-MB) 800.0 36.0 15.0 6.3 Compaq 386/20 375.0 26.0 4.0 4.3 Kaypro 386/ Perstor 159.8 25.2 3.9 3.1 Zenith Z-248 241.7 31.8 6.7 3.2 IBM XT (10-MB) 85.0 79.0 31.0 1.2 ^E^^^^E K SYSTEM SPEED TEST RESULTS Table 2: The Landmark System Speed Test rates the computers in megahertz relative to an IBM AT running at 6 MHz with an 80287 math coprocessor. Machine CPU (MHz) FPU Video (MHz) (characters/ms) Cheetah 486 82 196.0 13211 Premier 9000 (386) 49 N/A 13211 Cheetah 386 22 44.0 8922 Goldstar 386 19 N/A 1962 3 Kaypro 386 15 15.7 7744 Zenith Z-248 (286) 10 5.3 473^ 1 Tseng Laboratories video chip. 2 Video Seven. 3 Paradise Systems Super VGA. 4 EGA. it sparked a flurry of activity; we now have a DR DOS that appears to work with 386 machines; and they're working on the 486 version. More next month, but it looks as if they are moving on this. Ad Lib Visual Composer I am not musical. I can't sing, I don't play any instruments, and I can't read music. However, Mrs. Roberta Pour- nelle was a music major in college and has sung professionally; the result is that I'm a founder member of the Los Ange- les Opera Association, and we go to all the opening nights. Despite not being musical, I've always liked what's usually called "classical music," and since what I grew up to re- gard as "popular music" no longer exists except as "golden oldies," I tend to keep my radio fixed on KUSC, the local good- music station. I have, therefore, devel- oped some store of knowledge about clas- sical opera. I've also learned to hate most modern opera. As for minimalism, as KUSC's Jim Sveda says, common sense tells you there isn't much there, even if politeness makes us pretend there is. It was with some trepidation, there- fore, that I went to the world premiere of two "fantastic" modern operas based on the children's books by Maurice Sendak: Higglety Pigglety Pop! and Where the Wild Things Are. In fact, they were quite interesting: the staging was excellent, the actors were good, the costuming was superb. The only problem was the music by Oliver Knussen: there wasn't much, and certainly there were no arias; in fact, there wasn't a bar of it that couldn't have been something else. I'd be willing to bet that with the pos- sible exception of the conductor, no one hearing the same opera again with simi- lar but different music would know the difference— with the possible exception of a very irritating repetitive atonal line always ending in the word hot sung in a continued Every thingYni Ever Vfomed In UNIX. And Less. $99.95.* OK. We know it's hard to believe. So just consider this. Coherent™ is a virtual clone of UNIX. But it was developed independently by Mark Williams Company. Which means we don't pay hundreds of dollars per copy in licensing fees. What's more, Coherent embodies the original tenet of UNIX: small is beautiful. This simple fact leads to a whole host of both cost and performance advan- tages for Coherent. So read on, because there's a lot more to Coherent than its price. SMALLER, FASTER. . .BETTER Everybody appreciates a good deal. But what is it that makes small so great? For one thing, Coherent gives you UNIX capabilities on a machine you can actually afford. Requiring only 10 megabytes of disk space, LESS IS MORE! Coherent For the IBM-PC/AT and compatible 286 or 386 based machines. Santa Cruz Operation's XENIX 286, Version 2.3.2 No. of Manuals 1 8 No. of Disks 4 21 Kernel Size 64K 198K Install lime 20-30 min. 3-4 hours Suggested Disk Space 10 meg 30 meg Min. Memory Required 640K 1-2 meg Performance* 38.7 sec 100.3 sec Price $99.95 $1495.00 *Byte Execl benchmark, 1000 iterations on 20 MHZ 386. Hardware requirements: 1.2 meg 5V4" or 1.4 meg 3Vi" floppy, and hard disk. SCSI device driver available soon. Does not run on MicroChannel machines. Coherent can reside with DOS. So you can keep all your DOS applica- tions and move up to Coherent. You can also have it running faster, learn it faster and get faster overall perform- ance. All because Coherent is small. Sounds beautiful, doesn't it? But small wouldn't be so great if it didn't do the job it was meant to do. EVERYTHING UNIX WAS MEANT TO DO. Like the original UNIX, Coherent is a powerful multi-user, multi-tasking development system. With a complete UNIX-compatible kernel which makes a vast world of UNIX software available including over a gigabyte of public domain software. Coherent also comes with Lex and Yacc, a complete C compiler and a full set of nearly 200 UNIX com- mands including text processing, program development, administrative and maintenance commands. And with UUCR the UNIX to UNIX Communication Pro- gram that connects you to a world-wide network of free soft- ware, news and millions of users. All for the cost of a phone call. We could go on, but stop we must to get in a few more very important points. EXPERIENCE, SUPPORT AND GUARANTEES. Wondering how something as good as Coherent could come from nowhere? Well it didn't. It came from Mark Williams Company, people who've developed C compilers for DEC, Intel, Wang and thousands of professional programmers. We make all this experience avail- able to users through complete techni- cal support via telephone. And from the original system developers, too! Yes, we know $99.95 may still be hard to believe. But we've made it fool-proof to find out for yourself. With a 60-day money-back no-hassles guarantee. You have to be more than just a little curious about Coherent by now. So why not just do it? Pick up that phone and order today. You'll be on your way to having everything you ever wanted in UNIX. And for a lot less than you ever expected. 1-800-MARKWMS (1-800-627-5967 or 1-708-291-6700) 60-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! Mark Williams Company 60 Revere Drive Northbrook, IL 60062 •Plus shipping and handling. Coherent is a trademark of Mark Williams Company. UNIX is a trademark of AT&T. XENIX is a trademark of Microsoft. Circle 48 on Reader Service Card CD-ROM CHAOS MANOR 5$*^ fi\ ^ jljft ft mn® Guaranteed Lowest Prices! Microsoft CD-ROM Special CD-ROM drive kit with Bookshelf $849 CD-ROM drive kit with Bookshelf and Programmers Library (LAN) 1 1 69 Bookshelf essential writing reference Call Programmers library on-line reference Call Stat Pack business research statistics 145 Small Business Consultant management tool 120 NEC CD-ROM Special CDR-72 CD-ROM Drive ext.. PC & Mac SCall CDR-82 CD-ROM Drive int.. PC Call CDR-35 CD-ROM Drive ext.. smallest, tightest Call Clip A rt 3D 2.500 3-D images. PC & Mac Call Image Folio 4.000 photos. VGA format. PC Call Type Gallery Adobe or Laserjet typefaces Call Image Gallery Clip ait library, PC & Mac Call Photo Gallery Tiff format photos. PC& Mac Call PC Sig Library IPCSIGI The definitive shareware and public domain software collection. 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Dept.Q, 141 New Road, Parsippany, NJ 07054 Fax#201-80cV2676 Call: 1 -800-828-4766 ordereonly (201) 808-2700 information 76 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 falsetto rising tone. So it goes. But it got me to thinking. I recently in- stalled the Ad Lib Synthesizer Card in the Cheetah Gold 486. 1 confess I did that largely for games: many games now use the Ad Lib sound system. The Railroad Tycoon game sounds great with the Ad Lib system. The card doesn't require any software overhead, so except for using up a slot, it's no problem to have it there; and adding it gives your PC about the same sound capability as the Mac. The Ad Lib card came with the Visual Composer program. This, it turns out, is extremely easy to use: when you invoke it, the program comes up with a display of a piano keyboard over on the left. Click on a key, and it plays. You can also click in the grid-lined space out to the right of the keys, and any notes put there will play when you tell the program to play your "tune." You can put in notes in the "first voice," adjust them until you like them, and then add the "second voice." Notes put in that voice will play simultaneously with those in first, but nothing you do in second voice mode will affect first voice. When you have those two right, you can add a third— up to 1 1 voices, each inde- pendently editable. You can play any sin- gle voice, or all at once. There is also a whole bunch of preset instrument sounds you can add. When we got back from the opera, I put up Visual Composer and began noo- dling around. The results are a bit weird, but I like it better than what I heard at the Music Center. I've heard that the opera Holy Blood and Crescent Moon was writ- ten on a computer by a man who doesn't read music. Maybe I'll be able to do something of the sort. As a writer, I should be able to do my own libretto. I suppose if I do attempt an opera, I'll need the MIDI Supplement, which lets you attach a MIDI device, play on that, and record the result. I'll also need In- strument Maker, which lets you create new instrumental sounds. The program will copy, cut, paste, and transpose. The notation is not stan- dard music notation, and if there's a way to get it to print in standard notation, I haven't found it. This is a severe limit to using it for professional work. There are better programs for the Atari ST and the Amiga that really do print out in standard music notation, but the Ad Lib card and program are a start. I know you can do some pretty good music for it, because many games now have tunes as well as sound effects. I would be willing to bet that in five years there won't be many PCs without really good sound capability. Incidentally, I play the Ad Lib music through a $25 set of battery-powered am- plified speakers I got at Radio Shack; I can also input it into my stereo system. Either works fine. LANtastic Artisoft started off as a tiny little outfit at Comdex with a display out in the periph- ery; now their booth is right near the BYTE booth, which shows there's some justice in the world, because Artisoft's LANtastic is one neat product (see "Net- works of Peers," June BYTE). My friend Greg Bear, retiring presi- dent of Science Fiction Writers of Ameri- ca (I can say from experience that retir- ing from that job is one heck of a relief), uses LANtastic in an unusual way. He has a 286 machine set up as a server: it has a backup hard disk drive, an Amdek Laserdek CD-ROM drive, and some other stuff. This links with LANtastic to his 386 system running Windows/386. In one window of that, he has the CD-ROM with Microsoft Bookshelf running un- derneath WordPerfect 5. 1 . The window has to be 544K bytes in size; anything smaller would crash. Fortunately, LAN- tastic takes up only about 16K bytes of regular RAM; the rest is stuffed up into extended memory. With Windows/386, you can just manage. I intend to set up my system that way, with two Denon CD-ROM drives, the Maximum Storage WORM (write once, read many times) drive, and a Bernoulli Box on a 386 clone server; the whole mess will link with the Cheetah Gold 486 through LANtastic. While I'm at it, I'll set up Mrs. Pournelle and John Carr with LANtastic networking capability as well. The only reason I haven't done it yet is that I'm still experimenting with DR DOS; pretty soon I'll decide whether to keep that or dump it, and I can get to work. Whether I'll use Windows or Desqview isn't yet decided. LANtastic is available either as coax- ial connected Ethernet or in the older 2-megabit-per-second twisted-pair con- figuration. It's a true peer-to-peer net- work—no net server required, so my des- ignation of the "service machine" as a "server" isn't really correct. They've re- cently greatly improved the installation procedure so that it's understandable for ordinary people. They have also added speech-synthesizer capabilities: you can now telephone over LANtastic and leave a message in your own voice. They're working on a program that will let you program speech synthesis as well, but continued THE NEW STANDARD FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE STATISTICAL SOFTWARE CSS & COMPLETE STATISTICAL SYSTEM WITH DATA BASE MANAGEMENT AND GRAPHICS A powerful, comprehensive, elegant, and super-fast statis- tical package for IBM (PC, AT, PS/2) and compatible computers. I The CSS optimized user interface with fast hierarchical menus incorporates elements of artificial intelli- gence; even complex analyses require only a few keystrokes (batch processing is also supported). I CSS features compre- hensive , state of the art implementations of: Basic statistics, Multi-way frequency tables, Nonparametric statistics, Exploratory data analysis with analytic graphs, Multiple regression methods, Time series analysis with modeling and forecasting (inch full MIMA), General ANOVA/ANCOVA/ MANOVA, Contrast analysis, Discriminant function analysis, Factor analysis, Principal components, Multidi- mensional scaling, Item analysis/Reliability, Log-linear analysis, Cluster analysis, Non-linear estimation, Logit/ Probit analysis, Canonical analysis, Survival and Failure Time analysis (Censored data), Quality Control analysis, and much more. I All statistical procedures are integrated with fast data base management and instant, presentation quality graphics (over 100 types); full support for all mono and color graphics boards (incl. VGA) and over 100 plotters and printers (incl. the HP and Postscript standards). I All CSS screen output is displayed via customized Scrollsheets™ (i.e., dynamic, user controlled, multi-layered tables with cells expandable into pop-up windows); all numbers in a Scroll- sheet™ can be instantly converted into a variety of presentation quality graphs; contents of different Scroll- sheets™ can be instantly aggregated, combined, compared, plotted, printed, or saved . I The flexibility of the CSS input/ output is practically unlimited: CSS offers an intelligent interface(read/write)to all common fileformats(Lotus, Sym- phony, dBII, dBIII + , DIF, SYLK, . . . ) and special utilities to easily access data from incompatible programs; graphics can be saved in files compatible with desktop publishing pro- grams (Aldus, Ventura). I CSS data files can be as large as your operating system (DOS) allows; OS/2 version coming soon. I CSS precision exceeds the standards of all common precision benchmarks. I lechnical note: The CSS user interface and all I/O were written in Assembler and bypass DOS; graphics and data management were written in Assembler and C; the computational algorithms were written in Assembler and optimized Fortran. I $495 (plus $5 sh/h); 14-day money back guarantee. ^_^^^ Circle 274 on Reader Service Card 8 StatSoft 2325 East 13th Street ■ Tulsa, OK 74104 - (918)583-4149 Fax: (918) 583-4376 Overseas Offices: StatSoft of Europe (Hamburg, FRG), ph: 040/4200347, fax: 040/4911310, StatSoft UK (London, UK), ph: 0462/482822, fax: 0462/482855, StatSoft Pacific (Melbourne, Australia), ph: 613-497-4755, fax: 613-499-7410, StatSoft Canada-CCO (Ontario), ph: 416-849-0737, fax: 416-849-0918 Available From: CORPORATE SOFTWARE and other Authorized Representatives Worldwide: Holland: Lemax BV 02968-94210; France: Conceptel (1) 45669700; Sweden: AkademiData 018-240035; Korea: Geul Bang (02) 272-1973. CHAOS MANOR ITEMS DISCUSSED Alignlt Floppy Drive Genlock Overlay Module . . . $399 LANtastic 2.57 Maintenance $199 TVGA Video Card $799 2-Mbps starter kit $525 Landmark System Speed Test USVideo additional adapter cards .... $249 2.0 $59 62 Southf ield Ave. Artisoft, Inc. Landmark Research International One Stamford Landing 575 East River Rd. 703 Grand Central St. Stamford, CT 06902 Artisoft Plaza Clearwater, FL 34616 (203) 964-9000 Tucson, AZ 85704 (800) 683-6696 Inquiry 991. (602) 293-6363 Inquiry 986. HyperMap Inquiry 995. Cheetah Gold 486 $4995 (price not available) PC-Write Lite 1.02 $79 Cheetah International, Inc. Cognivision Research Quicksoft, Inc. 1003 West Cotton Valencia, 93, Pral 1,08029 219 First Ave. N, Suite 224 Longview, TX 75604 Barcelona, Spain Seattle, WA 98109 (214) 757-3001 34 (3) 323 63 22 (800) 888-8088 Inquiry 987. Inquiry 992. (206) 282-0452 Inquiry 996. Computer Books Hyperstore 1600 $899 Baen Books configuration modules: PM3011/70 ...$1150 260 Fifth Ave. MFM $310 Distributed Processing Technology New York, NY 10001 RLL $340 132 Candace Dr. (212)532-4111 ESDI $430 P.O. Box 1864 Inquiry 988. SCSI. Perceptive Solutions, Inc. $400 Maitland, FL 32751 (407) 830-5522 Coretest $20 2700 Flora St. Inquiry 997. Core International Dallas, TX 75201 7171 North Federal Hwy. Boca Raton, FL 33487 (800) 486-3278 Railroad Tycoon ...$59.95 (214) 954-1774 Microprose Software (407)997-6055 Inquiry 993. 180LakefrontDr. Inquiry 989. Hunt Valley, MD 21030 Instrument Maker ...$49.95 (301) 771-1151 Inquiry 998. DR DOS 5.0 $199.95 Personal Computer Music System Digital Research, Inc. ..$219.95 Box DRI Synthesizer Card ..$149.95 70 Garden Court Visual Composer ...$99.95 Monterey, CA 93942 Visual Composer/MIDI (800) 443-4200 Supplement ...$39.95 (408) 649-3896 Ad Lib, Inc. Inquiry 990. ■ 50 Stanford St., Suite 800 Boston, MA 02114 (800) 463-2686 Inquiry 994. that's not out yet. One reason, perhaps, that LANtastic hasn't received more notice is that it just works. Unlike Novell networking, which literally requires thousands of dollars of schooling to sell, LANtastic is simple and easy to use. True, Novell has many sophisticated features, like security and internetworking, but most people don't need them. If you need an inexpensive peer-to- peer network, LANtastic is the clear choice. It gets a well-deserved Chaos Manor User's Award. Recommended. Winding Down I'm out of space, and I haven't had a chance to talk about the USVideo TVGA Video Card, which allows us to run Mrs. Pournelle's Reading Program, mix in a camcorder video of her explaining it all, and put the whole thing on videocassette. This is one of the most exciting things that we've done recently. The game of the month is Microprose Software's Railroad Tycoon; I'd hate to tell you how much time I've wasted with that. If you ever liked to play with trains, you will love this. One of the most interesting programs this month is HyperMap from Cognivi- sion Research. This makes visual data- bases on an EGA or VGA system. The book of the month is by Geoffrey Hosking, The Awakening of the Soviet Union (Harvard University Press). The computer book of the month is by Doug- las W. Nance, Fundamentals of Pascal (West Publishing); mirabile dictu, a readable introductory textbook that's both systematic and thorough. Next month, a whole bunch of stuff on Windows 3.0 and Desqview. ■ Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psy- chology and is a science fiction writer who also earns a comfortable living writ- ing about computers present and future. Jerry welcomes readers* comments and opinions. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Jerry Pournelle, c/o BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Please put ycur address on the letter as well as on the envelope. Due to the high volume of letters, Jerry cannot guarantee a personal reply. You can also contact him on BIX as 'jerryp. " 78 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 A system with this much power doesrit deserve anything less. UNIX* System V/386 PC users no longer have to settle for a spreadsheet that's anything less than the industry standard. Because now, Lotus® 1-2-3® for UNIX System V gives you all the power and perfor- mance of 1-2-3. Along with new features that let you make the most of your UNIX or XENIX® System V/386 PC. So you can work with true 3D work sheets. Take advantage of file linking. Create high-impact business graphics. Access data bases quickly and easily. In fact, do every thing you can do with Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3.0. And macros, keystrokes, and files are compatible with other 1-2-3 releases. So you can not only use any work you've done with 1-2-3 up to Lntiisl-2-3M!Xixs>stni]V now, you can also share information with other 1-2-3 users, regardless of their plat- form or environment. At the same time, you get full advantage of your UNIX system's capabilities. Like multi- tasking, so you can work on one job while your computer is completing work on others. Background processing, that lets you run 1-2-3 applications at preset times. And with the Multi-user Edition, you can even save money by having a group of users share a single spreadsheet package. Call 1-800-343-5414, extension CDK-0112, for more information about 1-2-3 for UNIX System V. And start using the best spread- sheet you can get. Instead of settling for just any spreadsheet you can get. Introducing Lotus 1-2-3 for UNIX System V- © I9IJ0 Lotus Development Corporation. Lotus and 1-2-3 are registered trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. *UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T. XENIX is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. J h 8V all talk about "...thin enough to roll up like a poster with a narrow border that maximizes the active footprint." Architectural Record - Jan., 1990 "The twelve ounce GridMaster is flexible, only 1/32 in.-thick and. ..gives you a resolution of 1 ,000 lines per inch with accuracy to 0.01." BYTE - What's New - March, 1990 "A dramatic innovation..." Architectural and Engineering Systems- Feb., 1990 "Can be used with all graphic applications." MacWorld -April, 1990 Now, take advantage of the unique, full function electromagnetic digitizing tablet of the future. GridMaster. It's the incredibly convenient new digitizer that's just 1/32" thin, weighs just 12 oz., and is so unobtrusive you won't know it's there till you need it. GridMaster's a full professional specifications digitizer ready to meet your needs for CAD, publishing/presentation, video/ animation or virtually any graphics application. Its easy to use and delivers resolution of 1 000 LPI, with pen tilt correction resulting in accuracy of 0.01". An absolute positioning digitizer, it maintains user-set configurations implemented by cursor, on-tablet menu or host download commands. It comes fully equipped with comprehensive utilities & drivers, built-in diagnostics, & pen or four-button cursor, with 1 6-button cursor available. 1 2" x 1 2" & 1 2" x 1 8" sizes. Grid Master . **, Q NUMONICS 101 COMMERCE DRIVE, MONTGOMERYVILLE, PA 18936 TOLL-FREE: 1-800-247-4517 Circle 210 on Reader Service Card EXPERT ADVICE THE UNIX /bin ■ David Fiedler Future History Who says there is no Unix business software? Therearemanygreatmyths in the computer industry, like "With just a minor modification to this software, our computer will run your entire business. " One I hear a lot is, "There aren't any good business applica- tions available yet on Unix." And yet there are almost 400 pages of application programs listed in UniForum's 1990 Unix Products Directory. I'm not going to reveal a secret con- spiracy involving evil DOS software ven- dors bribing computer tabloid writers. There aren't any. Neither will I recite the litany of reasons why this unfortunate state of affairs did occur. And, in spite of the growing popularity of this column, I'm under no illusions: Misconceptions and prejudices of this magnitude don't go away after being exposed to logic. Without getting on any soapboxes, though, I' d like t o make sure the facts are clear. There are at least a dozen Unix spreadsheets and even more word proces- sors. Accounting packages and DBMS platforms abound. There are many per- sonnel, sales, project management, and office-automation programs. And then there are vertical market packages. If your company is involved in farming, construction, medicine, retail sales, law, finance, real estate, manufac- turing, insurance, or a host of other in- dustries and professions, there are many packages to choose from. Do you run a bank? Perhaps a blood bank? A speak- ers' bureau? A funeral home? Are you a yacht broker? An importer? Do you sell off-road accessories? Lumber? There are packages for all these and more. Enough already. The point is that Unix applications do exist, and the main reason they do is, clearly, that companies are using Unix in the real world. After all, how much difference is there be- tween typing "123" under DOS and typ- ing " 123" under Unix? And if that's not good enough, there are over 70 windowing and menu pack- ages available that you can use for friend- ly front ends. Let's See What Develops Even with all the applications available now, there's plenty of room for more, es- pecially better ones. I know there are many developers reading this column, so here's some free advice, guaranteed to be worth at least what you paid for it. Look at the rapid growth in several technology areas: high-performance CPUs (both RISC and more traditional designs, such as the i486), high-resolu- tion graphics (SuperVGA and 8514/A on the IBM PC end, and low-cost worksta- tions on the other end), digital signal processors, and homogeneous networks. The end result is surely going to be high- performance interconnected worksta- tions with video and audio I/O. The key here is that things will have to be stan- dardized at some level so that they will all work together. From the software end, you want to be developing on one of two main fronts. Users will demand applications that are not only intuitive (from a real user's point of view), but work intelligently and invisibly with whatever resources are available. In other words, the application should automatically find and use things like color graphics, a mouse, voice I/O, network connections, and printers. It shouldn't require a guru to install or a supervisor to type chmod commands. The other way to succeed is to make the glue that holds all this together. De- velop a program that can locate resources across a network, for instance. Write a universal driver for a pop-up window. continued ILLUSTRATION: KEN CONDON© 1990 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 81 THE UNIX /bin Figure out a way to wrap applications software in a self-installing package so you don't need that guru. Develop soft- ware that makes network administration easier. Invent an expert system that will generate optimally intuitive software. Then sell all this stuff to the developer in the previous paragraph. Daze of Future Past It's certainly hard to believe that 15 years have passed since I saw my first issue of BYTE. Fifteen years is an appreciable period of time in anyone's life, and it is several generations in the computer in- dustry, of which even Unix is but one small part. In 1975, Unix was already six years old, but it had still been ported only to Digital Equipment architecture, and it had just been rewritten in C (from assem- bly language) two years before. Com- puter scientists outside Bell Labs had learned of the existence of Unix a little Staying Cool For smooth integration of DOS and UNIX, ICE.TEN is still the industry standard. It provides memory resident Wyse 60 or SCO Color Console ANSI emulation (deja vu), easy file transfer (ucopy), and a DOS command shell (dshell) for UNIX or Xenix. Introducing Host Print™ Now with Host Print, ICE.TEN.PLUS allows a DOS application to print transparently to any UNIX or Xenix printer. Perfect with Word Perfect with WordPerfect With either version you'll get clean performance software, fine-tuned for the best UNIX and Xenix applications. Mature software that works perfectly the first time. A Nice Price ICE.TEN is $295 per 386 UNIX (or Xenix) host, including both DOS and UNIX software for the UNIX host and up to eight DOS machines. ICE.TEN.PLUS is $395 per 386 UNIX (or Xenix) host. It allows an unlimited number of DOS PC's. It has features of the standard version, plus Host Print, VT220 emulation, and speeds up to 1 15K baud. Wired for ethernet? ICE.TCP is DOS TCP/IP with ICE.TEN emulation. For more hard, cool facts, just give us a call. James River Group Inc 125 N First St Minneapolis MN 55401 USA 612-339-2521 James River Group ^incorporatedA over a year before that, with the publica- tion of the paper The Unix Time-Sharing System by Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson in the Communications of the ACM. And the first "modern" revision of Unix, called version 6, was still about a year away. Without gazing nostalgically at the past too long, I think it's important to re- alize how far Unix has come before I talk about where it is going. Those who have been involved almost exclusively with Unix have seen it grow into a major force in the industry. Yet, until quite recently, Unix has not had much impact on the public, compared to, say, hardware prod- ucts such as the IBM PC and the Apple Macintosh. On the other hand, how many software products are still around, let alone grow- ing as fast as Unix, 20 years after their introduction? This in spite of the confu- sion created by the relatively large num- ber of revisions and semicompatible ver- sions of Unix that have existed at just about every moment of its life span. A Patch of Blue Sky The next 15 years is almost too far ahead to predict, at least in terms of the com- puter industry. It seems clear, however, that Unix itself will cease to be a major issue, just as "to C or not to C" is no longer the question for many software de- velopers. After all, how many other technical issues do manufacturers as di- verse as Apple, AT&T, Compaq, Cray, Data General, DEC, IBM, and Sun agree on? Even now, people are starting to use the term "open systems" to avoid being associated with Unix exclusively; yet "open systems" is little more than a eu- phemism for "Unix and Ethernet." In the years to come, Unix— or what- ever name the megaconsortia of the fu- ture give it— will be the core of a com- pany's information resource network (except for those companies too small to have more than one computer). Whether the users deal with Unix directly (which I think is unlikely) or with a front end, such as a graphical user interface (GUI), is a moot point; Unix will someday be as ubiquitous as microprocessors are today. The reason has nothing to do with its many benefits to developers. It is simply that there's no other nonproprietary sys- tem that supports multiple hardware plat- forms, not to mention networking and other standards. Users and developers have agreed that it's the training and sup- port costs that make or break software, and a common standard for all types of computers— not just Intel-based ones— is continued 82 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 ,#■' ■%> ^ ' ^^^•^^^IPR y ;^ ^ ; « < «»# # _UH\X Review ..^gjjf^'^'V-" fc^.^W' .. ^^^B^St^* ^>, T/?e e/tf/Ve MK\S documentation package proved excellent in every respect" Daniel McAuliffe, IEEE Computer, Jan. 1 990 Powerful UNIX™ Tools for DOS and OS/2. We can tell you that MKS Toolkit offers both experts and novices the purest form of UNIX utilities in a DOS or OS/2 environ- ment. Fortunately, we don't have to. Software reviewers, universities, and major corporations all over the world are discover- ing MKS Software and how it can help their programmers and software developers make the most of their creative talents. Reduce Keyboard Shock With our proprietary code, the MKS Toolkit offers you more than 150 UNIX System V.5-compatible tools for DOS or OS/2. With MKS Toolkit, your computer or clone becomes a comfortable environment for shells, string matching, editing, file ma- nipulation, and more. Productivity increases because all the familiar commands are at your fingertips. "MKS software is absolutely the best in its class. Don't mix environments without it." Grover Riqhter Director Hybrid Systems, NovellNetware Product Division Site Licences MKS Toolkit reflects its users' needs. Organizations such as AT&T, H-P, ITT, and NCR - all heavily committed to the UNIX system - use MKS Toolkit to create a standard operating environment. Universities, from Harvard to UCLA, use MKS Toolkit to enrich personal research computing environ- ments and double the bandwidth of their PC teaching labs. The National Institute of Stan- dards and Technology uses MKS Toolkit as a standard operating environment for experts and as a POSIX training tool for neophytes. Interconnectivity MKS Toolkit interacts well on standard PC and PS/2 networks. Combined with Novell Netware™ , the most popular LAN for PCs, MKS Toolkit creates a UNIX time sharing system in DOS or OS/2 organiza- tions. UNIX shops can now hook up all their PC's using PC-NFS™) and MKS Toolkit, enabling you to use a PC as a Unix worksta- tion and off-load your mini or main machine. POSIX Tools MKS is an active participant on the POSIX 1 003 standards committee. This in- volvement reflects MKS's commitment to tracking the shells and utilities standard to the fullest extent possible under DOS or OS/2. Apart from mult-tasking and constraints on file names under DOS or OS/2, MKS Toolkit follows the POSIX standard. MKS achieves this by building the underlying POSIX system on DOS or OS/2 before moving utilities. POSIX Training Government departments and organiza- tions choose MKS Toolkit as a cost-effective means of familiarizing personnel with the POSIX environment - now a Federal government standard for computing. Cost-effective Learning Tool If your organization is committed to moving into the UNIX environment, then MKS Toolkit is the perfect learning path. DOS or OS/2 users retain the familiar world of the PC keyboard and programs and move effortlessly to a UNIX environment on their desktop. Exposure to new commands and functionality now becomes an integral part of the novice's working day. "With this package, you can become familiar with the UNIX environment on your microcomputer, with DOS only a keystroke away." Byte Magazine, May 1 989 MKS Programming Platform MKS Toolkit is the heart of the MKS Programming Platform. MKS Platform helps smooth out the details of programming and software development by adding time-saving utilities such as: MKS RCS (Revision Control System), MKS Make™ (automated program builder), MKS LEX & YACC™ (compiler learning and construction tools). Also available is MKS SQPS™ an enhanced version of the Documentator's Workbench™ with complete trof f tysetting capabilities. In all, you simply cannot find a more complete set of commands and utilities to get you from DOS or OS/2 to UNIX or POSIX. With MKS Toolkit or Platform, you get there fast, stress-free, and with no extra investment in hardware. ^3 1CM D I F u " 20 day money back guarantee. For more information, or to order, call: 1 -800-265-2797 (continental U.S. only) 1-519-884-2251 (outside continental U.S.) 1-519-884-8861 (FAX) 35 King Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 2W9 MKS, MKS Make, MKS Toolkit. MKS RCS, MKS LEX & YACC are trademarks of Mortice Kern Systems Inc. UNIX is a trademark of AT&T. Circle 189 on Reader Service Card Put The Power Of UNIX In Your PC. Circle 99 on Reader Service Card THE UNIX /bin SINGLE BOARD /AT COMPUTERS 80486-25MHZ now • 25MHz 80486 CPU w/lnternal CACHE & Co-Processor • Up to 1 6Mb of SIMM Memory • 8Kbytes of Internal CACHE • 1 28Kb or 51 2Kb Secondary CACHE Daughter Cards Available • 2/4 Way page Interleave Memory • BIOS Shadowing • Reset/Speaker/Keylock Connector • ROM Based Utilities • On-Board Lithium Battery "19 Years of Quality Service" B Diversified Technology An Ergon Co. 1-800-443-2667 112 E State St. • Ridgeland, MS 39157 80386-25MHZ now • Up to 25MHz CPU w/CACHE • Up to 8Mb of RAM Memory Supports up to 20Mb with DTI's Memory Daughter Card • Optional 80387 Math Co-Processor • Multi-Function I/O Cards Available 80386-33MHZ3rdQtr • 33MHz 80386 CPU •32,64 or 128Kb of CACHE • 6 or 8MHz Bus Speed • Up to 32Mb RAM •COM 1 & COM2 (Up to 11 5Kb) • LPT1 w/Bidirectional Mode • Up to 2 Floppy Drives • Future Domain Compatible SCSI Port • PS/2 Mouse Port • IDE Disk Drive Port /AT is a tradename of the IBM Corp. the only way to go. What you think of now as DOS will be no more than a front end for Unix. That's happening now, with interface products from companies such as Locus and Vi- sion ware. There's no reason to kick peo- ple out of a familiar operating environ- ment, but there's equally no reason to keep your firm in the dark ages of data processing by not sharing data and re- sources. A Real Product Of more concern to users will be what I call the Graphical Operating System Hack (GOSH) or Multimedia User Envi- ronment (MUSE)— two terms that I will be glad to donate to the public domain. These are what today are known as GUIs but will evolve into intelligent multitask- ing environments that will themselves be available across multiple software and hardware platforms. IXI Software's current X. desktop product is an early example of this type of thinking. While it was originally writ- ten for Unix, there are ports under way for both DEC'S VMS and IBM's MVS. X. desktop is a complete graphical front end that lets a user deal with files, direc- tories, and applications without knowing anything about the underlying operating system. It's a perfect analogy to Unix, which was designed to let a user or pro- grammer deal with files, directories, and applications without knowing any- thing about the underlying hardware. When was the last time you, as a user, cared about hexadecimal load points? Yet many computer users routinely dealt with such problems not very long ago. Of course, the technical developments occuring even now make it obvious that your GOSH- or MUSE-based worksta- tion of the future will have audio and video extensions that will greatly in- crease the complexity, if not the useful- ness, of current hardware and software. After the dust of new standard-making settles, though, you'll finally have com- puters that will do more of what people really need them for. Just wait till you see MegaRogue Turbo Plus, with live dragons! ■ David Fiedler is executive producer of Unix Video Quarterly and coauthor of the book Unix System Administration. He has helped start several Unix-related publications. You can reach him on BIX as "fiedler. " Your questions and comments are wel- come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. 84 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 269 on Reader Service Card THE TOOLBOX B A R M ! *^k TOW USE 4GL SPEED & C SOURCE CODE l^fel POWER WHEN DESIGNING YOUR DBMS I ^^p Whether you need the development Jm, ^P speed and convenience of 4GL program- ming or the low-overhead power capabilities of C source code, The ToolBox by FairCom can meet the requirements of any professional developer! INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH TOOLS Develop applications the way you want with The ToolBox's industrial strength tools. c-tree® DATA FILE MANAGEMENT ■ Portable. Used in over 100 system environments ■ Optional client/ server architecture ■ Variable length records ■ Key compression ■ Ascending/ Descending key segments ■ Dynamic space reclamation ■ Fixed & variable length key fields ■ Advanced, high-speed B+ trees d-tree INTERFACE DEVELOPMENT ■ Prototype generation is easy with the RUN utility ■ C-tree interface streamlines data base operations ■ Dynamic Development — Interface/ Resources mgmt, ■ Complete screen handler creates entire windows ■ HELP management assists with pop-up menus, etc. ■ Menu management — Pop-up, Pull down, Lotus, etc. r-tree® REPORT GENERATION ■ Create or change reports without C programming ■ Multi-file access with virtual fields & records ■ Complete layout control with conditional page breaks, conditional output and headers/footers for each break ■ Dynamic format specifications w/ horizontal repeats ■ Powerful set functions & automatic accumulators ■ Arbitrarily complex selection criteria SOURCE CODE POWER AND 4GL FLEXIBILITY Now you can create applica- tions using the methods you like - whether it's 4GL con- venience ( Special Edition) or the C source code power (Professional Edition) of The Toolbox Series from FairCom. No matter which one you choose, both products boast unparalleled portability and performance. NORISK,30DAYMONEY-BACKGUARANTEE Order The ToolBox and use it for 30 days. No risk. If The ToolBox doesn't meet your development needs, just return the entire package for a full refund. CALL(800) 234-8180 TOORDER YOUR COPYOF THE TOOLBOX TODAY! FAIRCOM CORPORATION 4006 West Broadway Columbia, Missouri 65203 (314)445-6833 ■ FAX (314) 445-9698 THE TOOLBOX PRICE LIST The ToolBox, Professional Edition s l,095 DOS, Unix, Xenix, VMS, OS2 Full source, single and multi-user support. The ToolBox, Special Edition s 695 Microsoft, Borland, Xenix, OS2 Object Libraries, single user only. Upgrade to Professional Edition s 400 Includes overnight delivery. Circle 115 on Reader Service Card Hard Disks Die. Hard disk manufacturers want us to believe that hard disk technology is absolutely _ ^ reliable ... but experience teaches otherwise. We depend upon data storage to be flawless, but hard disk technology isn't. Surface defects, head alignment drift, and low-level format aging cause hard disks to fail. A hard disk drive's low-level format fades with use. The drive's read/write heads lose their delicate alignment and move away from the original low-level format information. These new data track locations intersect unseen surface defects that were once harmlessly located between tracks. DOS 's chilling "Abort, Retry, or Fail ?" message inevitably results. Precious data is soon lost. If left unchecked, data storage becomes more an act of hope and faith than one of science. A return to science. The problem is known and understood, and the solution is clear. While a drive's data can still be read, the drive must be given a new, realigned and strong low-level format. Then all current surface defects must be located and managed. This process prevents hard disk data loss. An act of prevention. Gibson Research Corporation's SpinRite™ software program reads hard-to-read and impossible-to-read data from a DOS hard disk, nondestructively low-level reformats the drive's surface while optimizing the sector interleave factor, analyzes and scrubs each track of the drive for surface defects, and relocates any endangered data to safety. SpinRite easily restores hard disk drives to better-than-new condition with their data intact. Before any data is lost, SpinRite detects that a drive is "softening" then determines and eliminates the cause. SpinRite readily recovers data that the system cannot read. SpinRite II. A return to science. An act of prevention. SpinRite won Byte Magazine's prestigious Award of Distinction and continues to win computer industry praise and acclaim. It has proven itself to be effective in preventing hard disk failure. SpinRite will work for you. SpinRite II features a detailed technical log, as well as support for DOS 4 and large device driver partitions. It is available immediately from local software retailers or directly from Gibson Research with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Suggested retail price: $89. To receive additional literature or to purchase SpinRite II, call toll-free: (800) 736-0637. , D„ ni L tr . c^r, ■;.,.> r**-A /iUfCfj i fi>c. r-nn EXPERT ADVICE MACINATIONS ■ Don Crabb ^ Is the Mac really the best machine for desktop publishing? In my line of work, I occasionally use desktop publishing (DTP) soft- ware to produce some pretty basic camera-ready items— stationery and business cards for my consulting company, an occasional flier or short brochure for my university department, that sort of thing. But I'm no pro, that's for sure. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I was supposed to talk about the hot- test DTP tips at the recent MacWorld Expo. Well, I'm a member of the Expo's advisory board, so I wanted to give it my best shot. For me, it meant getting to know DTP from the point of view of the pros who live that life every day. Along the way, I found out something very in- teresting: The Macintosh's reputation as the microcomputer of choice for DTP work is well deserved. Surprising Facts First, most of the professional desktop publishers I talked with weren't ardent MacFolk. This surprised me, as I ex- pected just the opposite. But the dozen or so people I worked with in Chicago, Bos- ton, San Francisco, and Cupertino were not in that league. They use the Mac for their DTP work because it suits their work flow the best. They've tried other systems, including high-end 386 and 486 machines running DOS and Windows or OS/2 along with PageMaker or Ventura Publisher; several have also tried a Sun SPARCstation and a NeXT Computer, both running Unix and FrameMaker. The overall consensus was that the Mac is the best compromise of perfor- mance, an easily learned interface, ex- pandability, known value, and reliabil- ILLUSTRATION: DON DUDLEY © 1990 The Place to Be for DTP ity. These desktop publishers also men- tioned the ease with which they can sell or upgrade an older Mac to get a high- powered Mac Ilci or Ilf x. The Mac is the machine of choice for people in this type of work. What I next learned startled me. It's the software, not the Mac's WYSIWYG display, that first got their interest. An- other surprise: It wasn't page-layout soft- ware like PageMaker, but high-resolu- tion drawing software that won them over. Virtually all the desktop publishers I consulted have commercial art back- grounds, so they understand color and graphical elements better than I do. The raft of good monochrome and color drawing programs for the Mac (e.g., Illustrator, FreeHand, PixelPaint Professional, MacDraw II, ImageStudio, and Cricket Draw) convinced them that the Mac is the place to be for DTP. They all mentioned that DOS, Windows, and OS/2 machines (or Unix workstations) couldn't come close to the array of spe- cialized drawing software on the Mac. Less Surprising Facts Finally, though, I started to validate a few things I expected (whew!). Page- Maker is the most popular page-layout program for DTP, but Quark XPress is close behind. PageMaker 4.0 excels at flowing text, and its typographic features (e.g., hyphenation, kerning, and lead- ing) are much improved over version 3 .0. It also includes a useful Story Editor that most of these desktop publishers believe is a huge improvement over the largely nonexistent editing tools in 3.0. According to these experts, Quark XPress provides more features than PageMaker does, but it's also harder to use. However, Quark XPress does four- color separations with aplomb, and its graphical placement capabilities and ty- pographic features are more accurate continued SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 87 Circle 315 on Reader Service Card NOW!— Non-DOS Formats for 3% and 5V4 inch disks COPIES MOST FORMATS FLAWLESSLY. NEW: The V3000 now supports non-dos formats, i.e., Unix, Xenix, NCR, etc., in addition to all IBM formats. Attach a Victory V3000 Autoloader to your IBM/PC or Macintosh, enter one or more jobs, and walk away! The system automat- ically copies 5^4 or 3 ] /2 inch disks — up to 180 per hour. Switching the copy drive takes less than a minute. Auto-Dup tests the quality of each copy, sorting the disks into one of two output bins. Do-It-Yourself Servicing. The Autoloader's simple component de- sign and diagnostics for checking drive align- ment and speed allow you to maintain the system without outside service. Call (800)421-0103. And ask about Victory's family of affordable Autoloaders that sup- port Serialization and Custom Label Printing. RYV VICTORY ENTERPRISES Technology, Inc. Victory Plaza 1011 E. 53^ Street Austin, TX 78751-1728 (512) 450-0801 Internationally call BFI: Frankfurt (49-6074) 40980, London (44-622) 882467, Milan (39-2) 33100535, or LOADPLAN: London (44-1) 2007733 or Melbourne (61-3) 5254088. QuickTrace Vector Based Graphics The Automatic Tracing Program QuickTrace is an automatic tracing tool which converts scanned "dot" images into vector based graphics. Instead of drawing by hand, try QuickTrace. It will help you to easily and quickly enter graphics like logos, maps and clip art, which would otherwise be difficult and time-consuming on your PC. 1 lOr DTP (Illustrator. PageMaker, Harvard Graphics) Convert into EPSF, CGW, Micrografx PIC, DRW ■ for AutoCAD DXF ■ for Lotus Freelance Plus PLEASE CONTACT: 212-605-2339 $245 .$295 $245 ML Information & Control Lab. Co. Nakajima Bldg.. 5F. 1 1-22. Shinjuku 5-chome. Shinjuku-ku. Tokyo 1 60. Japan Phone:3-352-4746 / Fax:3-357-7114 ^m Mitsubishi International Corporation Technology Affairs Dept. 520 Madison Avenue. New York, NY 10022 Phone:212-605-2339 / Fax:212-605-1847 • QuickTrace is a trademark of Information and Control Laboratory Co.. Lid »Micrografx is a registered trademark of Micrografx, Inc •AutoCAD is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc »lotus and Freelance are registered trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation •Illustrator, is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. •PageMaker is a registered trademark of Aldus Corporation. ©Harvard Graphics is a trademark of Software Publishing Corporation MACINATIONS than PageMaker's. That's why they use PageMaker for longer, less critical publi- cations, while Quark XPress is reserved for smaller, snazzier pieces. I was also reminded of the kinds of damage that page-layout programs can do in the hands of inexperienced users. Each of my DTP friends showed me some "publications"— done by novices— they had been asked to "fix." Conclusion: Mac page-layout pro- grams can produce high-quality docu- ments in the hands of experienced users. But that's also their biggest collective weakness. To use one of these systems, you have to already know a lot about how a fin- ished publication is supposed to look and how it gets to that finished stage. You need to know how graphical elements (i.e., photos, charts, tables, and the other visual devices) should be placed, how text should be flowed around your graphical elements, how much white space should appear between characters and lines, and what "feeling" the whole document is trying to give you. The Mac has made a generation of computer users literate in the basic two- dimensional ways of graphics-based desktop computing. The problem is that publications aren't really 2-D entities. They have a pseudo "third dimension" operating all the time, even if it's just text on a page. A well-designed publica- tion draws you into it, as if it were a 3-D environment that you could wrap around yourself. A poorly designed publication draws you nowhere; it leaves you flat and doesn't immerse you in its alternate uni- verse. If you think I'm overstating this effect, think back to the time you read that really good book. The problem is that the Mac makes all its users think that they can do anything, as long as they have the proper software. You say you need to create a four-color glossy recruiting publication for your company? Punch up Word, PageMaker, and FreeHand, and you're on your way. You've got the Mac behind you. You can do anything. It's the power to be your best. That's the problem. While the Mac can be a powerful computing engine, it can't make you a subject matter expert— or at least not overnight. The Mac does such a good job of taking us over the start-up learning hump that we forget about that niggling little problem of sub- ject matter expertise. There are worse problems to have in the realm of personal computing, I think. Like the problem of getting started continued 88 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 145 on Reader Service Card Take Our Course In C And The First Lesson You'll Learn Is In Economics. NTSC or PAL Formats CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION 4lS00 COMPLETE C VIDEO COURSE # 295 yOU SAVE $i,zo5 "I heartily recommend... ...an excellent bargain." GARY RAY PC WEEK C's power and portability make it the language of choice for software developers. Unfortunately, learning C can be a very costly proposition. Classroom instruction is, in a word, expensive. And many C video courses carry hefty price tags. include ^define NAMLEN 15 #define NUMMARK 4 struct person ( char name[NAMLEN] int mark[NUMMARK]: The top C video course at the lowest possible price But now, there's The Complete C Video Course from Zortech. It's the ultimate C training tool for home or work. And all it costs is $295. You get ten videos with 36 lessons covering all levels of programming skill. A comprehensive, easy-to-follow 365 page workbook. And even a free C compiler. Free C compiler included Yes, that's right. The Complete C Video Course includes our famous C compiler (it runs on any MS-DOS machine) with linker, library manager, full graphics library and on-line help. It's the choice of professional programmers everywhere for fast code, fast development and fast debugging. Learn C in as little as two weeks Speaking of speedy with The Complete C Video Course you can learn C in only two weeks. Compare that with the up to four months it can take to learn C in class. Each lesson averages 1 7 minutes of clear, concise instructions. Used in conjunction with our workbook you'll find they provide everything you need to know to become proficient in programming in C. Save your company thousands If you think The Complete C Video Course is a great way for you to save money learning C, think about how much it could save your company. Use it instead of sending programmers to school and you'll save thousands. What's more, The Complete C Video Course is even tax deductible. C is unquestionably the most valuable programming language you can master. And now you can get everything you need to become productive in it from course to compiler to tools for an economical $295. Mail the coupon or call our hotline to receive it ASAP. • • • ZORTECH Look at all these C video pluses * Only $295 complete. * Ten videos with 36 lessons. * Comprehensive 365-page workbook. * Free C compiler with linker, library manager, full graphics library and on-line help. * Compiler and hardware independent. * Designed to help you learn C in as little as two weeks. * Tax deductible. CIR40NAL COWHJItR WOBID Zortech Inc. 4-C Gill Street Woburn, MA 01801 Voice: 617-937-0696 Fax: 6 1 7-937-0793 WINNER • Yes, rush me The Complete C Video Course including free C compiler for $295.00 (VHS only) • Please include (No. ) extra workbooks at $29.95 each. • I'd like to order (No. ) extra C compilers with this course at the special price of $49.95. Name/Company. Address Phone. City . . . State. . .Zip. Here's my check for. VISA/MC# Exp. Date Prices do not include shipping i — i The Complete C Video Course $295 Order Hotline (800)848-8408 JMPtoa Higher Level of Discovery With JMP Software for Statistical Visualization Make a quantum leap in data analysis with JMP software for your Apple Macintosh®. JMP combines traditional statistics with today's most innovative graphics. Discover more. A Fit regression and Analysis of Variance models, but see them in a new way with leverage plots, showing how each point contributes to each hypothesis test. A Fit means, but see the significance of their differ- ences visually with comparison circles. A Analyze high-dimensional data and extract principal compo- nents, but see both the points and variables in the same graph with a biplot, one that spins in 3D. A Ex- amine a correlation matrix, but see more with a matrix of scatterplots with density ellipses. See high- dimensional outlyingness of points with Mahalanobis distance plots. A See your data always displayed in a familiar spreadsheet grid. Interact more. A Point and Click to view, edit, or manipulate your data... to get an analysis... to identify r points. ..to customize... to get context-sensitive help... to choose colors and marker symbols for your points in every graph. A Point and Click on a calculator panel to make formulas for variables. A Point and Click on your data in one graph, and the corre- sponding points will be highlighted in all the other graphs instantly. A Click and Drag to change the in- tervals for histograms instantly... to spin your 3D graph smoothly in real time... to resize any graph. Cut and Paste your data within JMP or to other applications. A Cut and Paste reports to other applications or jour- nal them to a file. Understand more. A JMP is simple to use, so you can spend your time studying your data, not your software. A JMP pres- ents statistical results visually, so you are always looking at graphs as well as numbers, finding patterns, and noticing points that don't fit pat- terns. A JMP organizes its statistical methods in a unified way. You approach your data more directly with fewer frustrations regarding the statistical recipes. You always have a method that takes into account the variable's measurement level: nominal, ordinal, or interval. Mac WEEK says "JMP is powerful and easy to use. The programmers' delight in writing JMP is evident throughout and makes the program intuitive and a pleasure to use." A Free Video Preview For a free video preview of JMP, call our JMP Sales Department at (919) 677-8000. In Canada, call (416) 443-9811. Or, write us at the address below. UtVIr From SAS Institute Inc., the number one name in data analysis software. SAS Institute Inc. □ JMP Sales Dept. Box 8000 □ SAS Circle □ Cary, NC 27512-8000 Phone (919) 677-8000 □ Fax (919) 677-8123 To use JMP, you need an Apple Macintosh with 1+ meg, 2 meg recommended. JMP is a trademark of SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Copyright © 1990 by SAS Institute Inc. Printed in the USA. Circle 260 on Reader Service Card Circle 313 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 314) MACINATIONS in the first place. Pretenders to the Mac throne should keep that in mind as they try to duplicate and exceed the machine that put the personal into personal com- puting and windows on desktop com- puters everywhere. Windows 3.0— An 85 Percent Mac? This, of course, brings me to Microsoft Windows 3.0. 1 beta-tested this baby and now use the release version. Of all the windowing systems that have tried to beat the Mac at its own game, Windows 3.0 is the first one that could really do it. OS/2, while much improved, still seems bloated for what it does. Compared to OS/2, Windows 3.0 seems almost lean. It will even run on a 640K-byte XT! Also, it automatically configures to your hardware on start- up—getting the most functionality out of an 8086-, 286-, or 386-based system with 1 megabyte of RAM, and a 386-based system with more than a megabyte of ex- tended RAM. If you want to know more about Windows 3.0, see Jon Udell's ex- cellent First Impression "Three's the One" in the June BYTE. My bottom line is simple. Windows 3.0 gives you about 85 percent of a Mac on almost any kind of PC, and that could be enough to induce Mac software developers to look at IBM platforms lovingly. Tip of the Month: On Location Mitch Kapor is one of the really bright guys in the computer business. Founder of Lotus Development, Kapor now heads a small start-up company called On Technology. Its first product, a desk ac- cessory (DA) called On Location, por- tends good things for the company. On Location lists for $129.95, which is much too high for what it does. It pro- vides an active index of files and file con- tents on your disks that can be searched at high speed. You can get much of what On Location does in other DAs and util- ities, including CE Software's excellent DiskTop, but On Location is arguably faster and easier to handle. But it's also buggier. I have been using version 1.0 since March, and I like it. But I don't like the fact that I've had to recreate the indexes at least a dozen times because of a repeat- ing "This index is damaged" problem. This is especially troublesome, since it takes On Location over an hour to index a big disk. It takes about 2 Vi hours to do a Jasmine DirectDrive 180 of mine that holds 170 MB in 9200 files, and that's on a processor-cached 8-MB Mac Ilci. On slower Macs, the indexing performance is even slower. Once the indexes are ITEMS DISCUSSED DiskTop $99.95 CE Software, Inc. 1854 Fuller Rd. P.O. Box 65580 West Des Moines, IA 50265 (515)224-1995 Inquiry 981. On Cue 1.3 $59.95 Icom Simulations, Inc. 648 South Wheeling Rd. Wheeling, IL 60090 (708) 520-4440 Inquiry 982. On Location 1.0 $129.95 On Technology, Inc. One Cambridge Center Cambridge, MA 02142 (617) 225-2545 Inquiry 983. PageMaker 4.0 $795 upgrade from 3.x $150 Aldus Corp. 411 First Ave. S Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 622-5500 Inquiry 984. QuarkXPress 3.0 $795 Quark, Inc. 300 South Jackson St. , Suite 100 Denver, CO 80209 (303)934-2211 Inquiry 985. created, the searches are done in real time, and blindingly fast, even on less prodigious iron than the Ilci. On Location also has intermittent start-up trouble with some shareware IN- ITs, especially SuperClock, and with Icom Simulations' On Cue menu-bar ap- plication launcher. For what On Loca- tion costs, and considering that it's the company's only product, On Technology needs to get version 1 . 1 out quickly, with a large dollop of robustness added. Drop- ping the list price to $75 wouldn't hurt, either. ■ Don Crabb is the director of laboratories and a senior lecturer for the computer science department at the University of Chicago. He is also a contributing editor for BYTE. He can be reached on BIX as "decrabb." Your questions and comments are wel- come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. TIME mil REAL UNIX- Is Not ItlsTechnology. VenturCom's real time UNIX product family has the only real time kernel for standard hardware platforms which is AT&T's UNIX System V. Not a simple UNIX clone. Not just UNIX on top of a real time executive. Real UNIX provides designers with SVID and POSIX standards, RFS and NFS, X-windows, Streams, complete development tools, multiple DOS under UNIX tasks. And early access to future technologies. Real time adds performance and functionality to UNIX with preemp- tive and biased scheduling, contiguous file system, average interrupt latency of 50 fis, bounded context switches, memory lock- ing, asynchronous I/O, and much more. Ask us about VENIX™ for 80286/80386 PCs and Single Board Com- puters; KIT* for other UNIX versions, such as Interactive System's 386/ix™ and small, diskless, and ROMable UNIX kernels. Find out why Foxboro, Toshiba, GE, and many others are using VenturCom's real time UNIX products. VenturCom Real Time/Real Unix 215 First Street Cambridge, MA 02142 (617)6614230 Nippon VenturCom, Inc. Tokyo 102 Japan 03-234-9381 UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T 386/ix is a trademark of Interactive Systems Corp. VENIX, FTXare trademarks of VenturCom, Inc. SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 91 TOOLS '91 Technology of Object-Oriented Languages and Systems International Conference & Exhibition CNIT Paris (La Defense), March 4-8, 1991 FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS Program Chairman: Jean Bezivin, Conference Chairman: Bertrand Meyer . * ■ TOOLS '91 will continue the tradition of excellence and practicality which have es- tablished TOOLS as the major international conference devoted to the practice of object- oriented programming. TOOLS '91 will include tutorials, workshops, invited pre- sentations, submitted papers, and an exhibi- tion of industrial and research object-ori- ented tools. The conference format will include: □ Tutorials (on March 4-5) address- ing major topics in the field of object- oriented methods, languages, tools and applications:: Invited presentations by interna- tional object-oriented experts. Submitted papers on important practical aspects of object-oriented techniques. An industrial exhibition of object- oriented tools, languages, environ- ments, databases and their applica- tions. The conference will once again be held in the exciting new CNIT center in Paris (La Defense), a business arid conference center devoted entirely to technologies of the future. submitting a paper TOOLS l 91 is now soliciting papers on all Q Q Q aspects of object-oriented technology. All submitted papers should have a strong practi- cal bent and emphasize applications. A non- exhaustive list of suggested topics includes: □ Reports of actual experiences with object-oriented tools and methods. G New developments in the technology. '□ Development and use of reusable component libraries. Q Management and educational issues. If you intend to submit a paper, check the appropriate box on the coupon below to re- ceive a copy of the Guidelines for Authors and maximize your chances of acceptance, Submissions may be made in the form of either full papers (8 to 15 single-spaced paged) or extended abstracts (5 or more pages including basic bibliography). Submissions will be evaluated by the International Program Com- mittee, chaired by Professor Jean Bezivin of the University of Nantes. Six copies of each submission should be sent to: TOOLS '91 Attn: Jean Bezivin Laboratoire d * i n form at iq ue Faculte de.s Sc iences et Techn iques U niversite de Nantes 2 , rue de (a Houssin iere 44072 Nantes Cedex - France IMPORTANT DATES All submissions must be received by November 1. 1990 to be considered for inclusion in the conference. Submissions should be in English. Notification of acceptance will be mailed by December 15; final manuscripts will be due Janu- ary 15. THE INTERNATIONAL OBJECT-ORIENTED WEEK One of the most exciting parts of TOOLS is the International Object-Oriented Programming Week, a set of meetings on topics related to the theme of TOOLS. Friday, March 8 has been set aside for ihdependently organized events, such as User Group meetings or standardization committees; The TOOLS "91 organizers will help coordinate such events if they fall within the scope of object- oriented techniques, and will include the an- nouncements in the final TOOLS program. If you are interested in setting up such a meeting, please contact TOOLS 1 91 for details at the Paris or Goleta address below. Electronic Mail: uunetlgewub.grcTo-prng.fr! bezivin {from the US) geocub.grec o - p ro g . IV ! be/, i vi n ( from Europe ) NOTE: Tools Pacific A special edition of the TOOLS conference will be held in Sydney (Australia) during the last week of November 1990, to reflect the growing activity of the object-oriented field in the Pacific Area. For Information, please contact Myriam Wever, 8 Jane Street, Balmain, NSW 2041 Australia. FAX +6 1 -2-8 1 0-3726 or one of the addresses below. TOOLS '91 SOL 14, rue Jean Rey 75015 Paris - France Phone:+33-1-40 56 03 58 Fax:+33-1-40 56 05 81 In the US please contact: TOOLS '91 ISE 270 Storke Road, Suite 7, Goleta, CA 931 17 USA Phone:(805)685-1006 Fax: (805) 685-6869 Circle 284 on Reader Service Card □ Please send me subsequent announcements relative to TOOLS k 91 □ I wish to submit a paper. Please send me the Guidelines for "Prospective Tools Authors". This will be □ a full paper □ an extended abstract Title: □ My company is interested in exhibiting. Please send me exhibitor information. □ I would like to purchase the proceedings of: □ TOOLS '89 □ TOOLS '90 Please send me an order form. Name and address (please type): First Name Last Name Company Name Company Address City, State, Zip, Country Phone: Fax _ E-mail EXPERT ADVICE DOWN TO BUSINESS Wayne Rash Jr. * moving down to Micros Mainframe-quality decision-support systems are beginning to appear on microcomputers Throughout the years of growth in the microcomputer industry, a great variety of applications have moved from the world of the mainframe to the world of the micro- computer. A few major areas began with small computers and moved to their larger cousins. There have, however, been some classes of applications that have resisted moving, because of their size and complexity or because of the number of users that they must support. Those areas include large databases and decision-support systems (DSSes); now it appears that they will move to micro- computers as well. I discussed the role of Structured Query Language database servers last year (see the November 1989 BYTE), and that move of the SQL database func- tions from the mainframe to the micro- computer-based LAN continues. In what may be an even more important move, mainframe-quality DSSes are beginning to appear on microcomputers. While this trend is new, it's also clear that the move will be inexorable. The reason is cost. What's a DSS? To explain why cost is such a factor, I'll look at what a DSS really is. While, in the broad sense, a DSS is any software that allows you to see information in a way that helps you make a decision, the term is normally used in a more restric- tive sense. In the past, DSSes have been taken to mean large, complex financial or mathematical modeling software that will support a wide variety of queries 51 >• with a great deal of flexibility. Now that they are moving to microcomputers, of course, they mean the same thing. Over the years, DSSes have been so important to large corporations and agencies that companies have been will- ing to purchase and support mainframe computers dedicated to them. Despite the hundreds of thousands or millions of dol- lars involved, the ability to perform the complex modeling was profitable. Many DSSes were custom software, designed specifically for the organiza- tions that they were to support. While some still are custom systems, now there are also commercial DSS packages avail- able in the mainframe and minicomputer worlds, and they are very popular. These packages enable users to link standard modeling functions in such a way that verified functions can take information, pass it from one function to the other, and produce a result or group of results. You can, for example, project finan- cial performance for a year for an entire business or division. You can also project or analyze such diverse business charac- teristics as production-line performance or the effect of foreign currency changes on profitability. Micro DSS Packages Two packages have arrived on the market that attempt to bring the power of the mainframe DSS to the desktop. As you might expect given their ancestry, both are massive, complex, and enormously powerful. They are also unlike nearly anything else in the industry. Using them is not a trivial matter— but then, the re- sults they produce and the importance to the businesses that use them are not triv- ial, either. Business Wits is the initial product of- fering from Decisus, a new subsidiary of the Xerox Corp. From its introduction, Business Wits has been billed as a DSS, continued ILLUSTRATION: MARY ANN SMITH© 1990 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 93 DOWN TO BUSINESS ITEMS DISCUSSED Business Wits $695 Advanced Financial Applications $ 1 95 Banking and Investment Applications $195 Statistics and Sampling Applications $195 Decisus, Inc. 9938 Via Pasar, Suite A San Diego, CA 92126 (800) 433-0307 Inquiry 1101. SPSS for OS/2 $995 SPSS Advanced Statistics for OS/2 $495 SPSS Tables for OS/2 $495 SPSS Trends for OS/2 $495 SPSS, Inc. 444 North Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60611 (312)329-3500 Inquiry 1102. Stats $475 Know Ware P.O. Box 17788 Boulder, CO 80308 (800) 759-5669 Inquiry 1103. and it's a classic example of such sys- tems. SPSS for OS/2, on the other hand, makes no claim to be a DSS, although it does fit the definition. Gathering Your Wits Business Wits is a collection of well over 100 functions designed to support analy- sis of business activities. These functions have been written so that calculations can be taken from an initial set of data and passed through the functions as needed. The package will support graphing, and with it you can create data files for use by other packages. What's important about Business Wits is that the standard functions have been chosen specifically for use in a DSS. The specific choice of functions means that the software will perform a wide variety of interest calculations, but it's tough to use it to find the amount of your next car payment. Of course, it's not designed for that. Instead, Business Wits uses calcu- lations to support projections such as the present value of future payments, or to figure such a value in terms of foreign currency fluctuations. The hundreds of functions that come with Business Wits are designed so that they can't be changed by the end user. Decisus had each function validated for correctness and conformity with gener- ally accepted accounting standards; al- lowing changes would make the valida- tion meaningless. But if you need a function that Business Wits doesn't sup- port, you can create it. Number Crunching SPSS for OS/2 is the desktop version of a successful DSS already in use on main- frames and minicomputers. The soft- ware requires OS/2 1 . 1 or higher, and it continued FAST SCSI STOI I VGE Compatible wiir ■ -miga, A-Hive- En. I n • ■• - - ; '■■■ . •Room for 2-ffl ... ' . $119, *IncJ< all interna! cables $169, Half She: ; o h\ • I Dri •••} ' low powers i • : Hermit Crab-Portable Hard Drive (1.H"\S£"\1S" ) 32MB • ... ■ • iol2m -99, Hermit < SCSI Hard Drive 32MB to 760MB $299 „ Cartridg Hard Dri | $519. 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EPR0M models are ultraviolet erasable. • Programming utilities included with" programmable models; LAN utilities for remote programming of Flash EEPROMs available for Flash models on request. • List prices with memory ICs from $195. OEM prices available. MM CURTIS, INC. vtSA ' | 2837 North Fairview Ave.* St. Paul, MN 55113 612/631-9512 -Fax 612/631-9508 • IBM PC, XT. AT, PS/2 and PC DOS are trademarks of IBM; MS DOS is a trademark of Microsoft 94 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 307 on Reader Service Card Circle 80 on Reader Service Card I Take the Oops & Downs out of your next presentation. Foil Color Paint Company 1880 PNJKtti Silts Tired of fumbling with slides? Fiddling with transparencies? Losing your audience? Well, it's time to use an LCD projection panel from In Focus Systems. It lets you project information just as it appears on your computer screen. Even bright, brilliant colors. So you make stronger presentations. And easily hold any audience. What's more, the 640x480 display works with IBM® compatibles, and the Macintosh® family, too. For more information or the name of the dealer nearest you, call 1-800-327-7231, today. Then take the oops and downs out of your next presentation. And put the audi- ence in the palm of your hand. 1-800-327-7231. Sec it. Believe it. IN FOCUS SYSTEMS, INC. Circle 143 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 144) 1110 Southwest Mohawk Street, Tualatin, Oregon 97062. 1-800-327-7231. Oregon, 503-692-4968. FAX, 503-692-4476. sh art: registered n.ulciti.irks of their respective comp.inie DOWN TO BUSINESS supports Presentation Manager (PM) but will also work without it. SPSS performs various statistical and numerical analysis functions, and it lets the functions start with given information and pass the re- sults through a series of processes to pro- duce a result. The only way to describe SPSS is that it's truly massive. The base system and the add-on libraries require that you have at least 4 megabytes of memory and 15 M B of available hard disk space. The sys- tem will run better if you have more memory and a math coprocessor. These machine resources are similar to what you'd find on a minicomputer running the same application. Despite its mainframe heritage, SPSS takes advantage of PM's graphical user interface, and you can use your mouse to select commands that will build the com- mand file that actually analyzes your data. If you aren't one of those who de- light in typing in commands from mem- CC Compiler Ads Are Confusing." hey all claim that their products are the fastest and most powerful. Buzzwordslikeoptimized, integrated, and modularare everywhere— never meaning quite the same thing. We'd like to be more direct. We'll tell you what you can do with our compiler— then you make the comparisons. DUAL PERFORMANCE You have two compilers in one integrated package— Quick for speed applications development and optimizing for the best code generation— with a simple menu option to move between the two. ■ FLEXIBILITY You can interface directly with C or any other language. Write only one set of sources for DOS and OS/2, run the most complex applications with no change. ■ COMPATIBILITY You can generate code | cdmpatible with Microsoft Windows, using all window facilities. And develop Presentation Manager applications with no additional "| software. ■ OPTIMIZATION You get true global optimization, [ using data flow analysis and proprietary techniques, not just the | standard peephole optimization and automatic assignment of J variables to registers. ■ ENVIRONMENT You have many features you won't find in any other environment— like the ability to organize your code into separate libraries and set compiler options both globally and on a per-module basis. And a ~ make facility that is so well integrated, you don't even know it's [ ! there. ■ TOOLS You get a debugger, profiler, object librarian [ and overlay linker with unique capabilities. And a runtime library with surprises like interrupt driven serial communications, true ^^ multitasking, graphics, and mouse interface modules. |~ Stony Brook Professional Modula-2 (both the Quick and optimizing compilersf or DOS andOS/2) for $295. Stony Brook QuickMod (for DOS or OS/2) for $95. Stony Brook— we eliminate the confusion. ■ The fine print version of this information with all the details, including our benchmark performances, will be mailed to you within 24 hours if you call our 800 number. 800/624-7487 805/496-5837 ZSSSn*** 805/496-7429 Fax 187 East Wilbur Road, Suite 9 Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 SOFTWARE Your Partner in Software Development -91989 Gogesch Micro Systems. Inc. ory, the PM support makes SPSS ac- cessible. Learning Curve Both of these DSSes are complex sys- tems, and they require that the user have some knowledge of the subject. You will never be able to use Business Wits suc- cessfully, for example, if you don't understand at least the basics of business math and finance. You will be able to use the software, but you won't be able to produce meaningful results. The same concept applies to SPSS: Unless you understand mathematical analysis and statistics, you'll get little benefit from this package. In addition, both packages are suff i ciently complex that they require you to have some training to be really useful. The user interfaces are well designed, and even the rank beginner can produce output, but you must have training in the use of the systems to take advantage of their power. In this way, they are like their mainframe cousins. The immense power and flexibility, though, mean that you can do nearly anything you want to do if you know what you are doing. This power and flexibility are some- thing new in personal computing. In the past, users took decision support to mean packages such as Stats from Know Ware. Stats lets you view and analyze figures and statistics related to your business. While it is a very useful package, and with it you can see trends in your busi- ness you might not catch otherwise, it is not in the same league as the other pack- ages discussed here. It's not a DSS, and it makes no claims to be one, but for busi- nesses that don't need or don't want to try a full-blown DSS, software like Stats makes an excellent bridge. Your organization will get used to using personal computers in decision making and in analyzing business opera- tions. Then, once the time comes when a move to a full DSS makes sense, your or- ganization will be used to the concept, and the infrastructure will be in place to take advantage of the power of a DSS. Growth Area? DSSes will be one of the business areas in which microcomputer applications will grow in importance as the millenni- um draws to a close. Now that personal computers finally have enough power to support and run actual mainframe appli- cations, those applications will begin to migrate to the desktop. The reason for this, as I mentioned earlier, is cost. As businesses find themselves in a continued % BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 275 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 276) ADVANCED MS-DOS BATCH FILE imoGitunnwi SELECT 5 BOOKS for only $ 4^ (values to $131.75) 2809 S29.95 Counts as 2 When it's new and important in business or personal computing, The Computer Book Club has the information you need . . . at savings of up to 50% off publishers' prices! 15002PS18.95 15004P 324.95 3359P S16.95 9808 S34.95 raa n i 15013P $26,95 3440P S17.95 All books are hardcover unless number is followed by a "P" for paperback. 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Those who can manage, ana- lyze, and interpret information on a desktop will have the competitive lead over those who must use mainframes, because they will have used fewer re- sources to accomplish the same end. The role of microcomputers is clear. Despite their size, personal computers can offer the individual user more com- puter resources than he or she can get from the company mainframe, because the mainframe must be shared with dozens or hundreds of other users. Your personal computer, on the other hand, offers performance comparable to some minicomputers, and it is yours alone to use. For this reason, applications (such as DSSes) that once were considered to be useful only in the province of the cor- porate mainframe environment are now moving to the individual, giving the indi- vidual the power once reserved for the corporation. DSSes are one of the first of these mainframe systems to make the move, because they were often used only by a few users in any corporation regardless of the platform. Now that personal com- puters are powerful enough, it makes more sense to give the user a powerful microcomputer and save the money spent on using the mainframe. To date, most of the DSSes have been limited in scope. They have been pack- ages like Stats, which, although useful, lacks the scope and power of a true DSS. Power has a price, of course, and the price is the level of performance required to support these systems. On the other hand, performance requirements will be one factor that will drive the next genera- tion of hardware. SPSS and Business Wits are still packages that have func- tions that once required a mainframe, and to replace the mainframe, the micro- computer must have similar power. The 1990s will see the power arrive, and the power of the user will grow with it. ■ Wayne Rash Jr. is a contributing editor for BYTE and technical director of the Network Integration Group of American Management Systems, Inc. (Arlington, VA). He consults with the federal govern- ment on microcomputers and communi- cations. You can contact him on BIX as "waynerash," or in the to.wayne con- ference. Your questions and comments are wel- come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. State of the art power protedion tor stale of the art power American Power Conversion 600LS UPS Your premier file-server deserves premier Uninterruptible Power Source (UPS) protection. The UPS 600LS from American Power Con- version features sine wave output, automatic diagnostics, advanced surge suppression and continuous line filtering. 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High Tech b a s 3707 North Canyon Road, Provo, Utah 84604 • TEL: 801-224-6550 • FAX: 801-224-0355 Circle 305 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 306) EXPERT ADVICE OS/2 NOTEBOOK ■ Douglas A. Hamilton Mastering OS/2 Threads OS/2's unique style of lightweight multitasking taxes developers and rewards users Don't make me wait! When I select Print, insert a new value into a spreadsheet, or resize a desktop publishing window, I don't want to be ignored while the appli- cation grinds away. None of us likes to wait, and applications designers have heard that message. So spreadsheets today come with background recalc features, for exam- ple. But these features have taken forever to arrive, and they still aren't universally provided. If everyone knows what the problem is, why don't they just go ahead and fix it? The answer is that background any- thing under DOS or Windows has to be custom-made. OS/2 is the first and only widely distributed system to provide a specific mechanism for dealing with problems of this class without building everything from scratch. OS/2 lets a de- signer cleave off compute- or I/O-bound activities as separately scheduled threads and thereby ensure crisp user interaction at all times. Modes of Concurrency When I talk about threads, I'm talking about concurrency: doing more than one thing at a time. The whole idea is to avoid having a processor sit idle when it could be doing something useful, and to be sure that what it is doing is most im- portant. Key factors that determine the perfor- mance of a concurrency mechanism are the time required to create and switch be- tween tasks and the ease with which tasks can share information. Because threads carry less state information than normal OS/2 or Unix processes, the sys- tem can create and switch among them quickly. Because they share memory, tasks enjoy high-bandwidth communica- tion. The idea isn't completely new. Re- searchers in the Unix community, par- ticularly at the Carnegie Mellon Univer- sity Mach project, have talked about lightweight processes for several years. But OS/2 is the first commonly available system to implement this strategy. A thread is a simple flow of control within a process. Its state consists of an instruction pointer, a stack, a register set, its priority, and certain types of semaphores. Everything else— memory (i.e. , instructions and data), file descrip- tors, even the current disk and direc- tory—is shared with the other threads in the process. Threads, like interrupt rou- tines, require the designer to identify critical sections and implement resource- sharing protocols. Threads run inside processes, which in turn run inside screens. The progres- sion from threads outward to screens en- tails more and more "fire- walling" on the part of OS/2. But the most important distinction is that while processes and screens are nor- mally used for sharing the processor be- tween applications, threads are uniquely a way of sharing the processor inside an application. That means more responsive single-user applications and, just as im- portant, high-performance server appli- cations. Distributed databases that man- age transactions using threads, rather than entire processes, can be highly effi- cient. Where Are the Applications? So now I'm back to almost the same question: If everyone knows what the problem is, and if OS/2 provides the means of solving it, why don't you see continued ILLUSTRATION: BETH KROMMES © 1990 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 101 Circle 159 on Reader Service Card People are talking about us. F77L-EM/32 Port 4GB mainframe programs to 80386s with this-32-bi(*^-g^i»Lj|iJ^iler. The Winner of PC Magazine's 198fljk|j«ipl Excellence Award just gopher. 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Everything has to be reentrant, compiled with the right op- tions, and linked with the right libraries. Any shared resources have to be sema- phored, and all that semaphoring has to be carefully constructed to avoid race conditions anywhere that could result in "deadly embrace." If the term deadly embrace is a bit fuzzy, trust me, writing your first multithreaded application will give you a good visceral feel for it. Whenever a thread needs to "own" something, you have to invent a mecha- nism for the purpose. For example, when building the Hamilton C shell, a highly multithreaded command processor for OS/2, I had to come up with a way for a thread to maintain the notion of a current directory. It would hardly have been acceptable if a script running quietly in the background could suddenly, without warning, change the foreground current directory. Building a high-performance mechanism to re-create a current direc- tory notion for each thread turned out to be a challenging project. Debugging can be a real treat. Since the kernel's decisions about what thread gets to run next depend on what segments are loaded, setting a breakpoint can (by forcing a segment to be loaded) cause a different execution order. Here's the software analog of the hardware bug that disappears when you put the scope probe on it. Not for the Faint of Heart When I began working on the C shell in the summer of 1987, 1 worried a lot about possible competitors doing the same thing (i.e., building Unix-style tools for OS/2). It seemed like an obvious need, and I knew others were equally capable of writing such things. But mostly, that didn't happen. I wondered why. One thing that I suspect is that most people who did try to build OS/2 applica- tions came from the DOS world. Swamped by the sea change to multitask- ing and multithreading, they had diffi- culty making headway. Time invested with DOS, unless it was spent working on device drivers (which raise acute issues of concurrency), isn't good train- ing for OS/2 threads. Documentation didn't help. I remem- ber opening my first OS/2 Software De- velopment Kit (SDK) and reading that "a continued on page J JO 102 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 MINUTE .MAN UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLIES TOTAL POWER PROTECTION • BLACKOUTS • UNDERVOLTAGE • BROWNOUTS • SURGES • OVERVOLTAGE • SPIKES • EMI/RFI STANDBY UPS MODELS • 250 VA To 2300 VA • Sinewave output - 1 millisecond transfer time • Communications interface and external battery packs available for extended run times ON-LINE UPS MODELS • 500 VA To 5,000 VA • Static By-pass Standard • True On-Line - Sinewave output • Communications Interface an external battery packs available 1455 LeMay Drive Carrollton, TX 75007 for extended run time NETWORK MANAGER • Shutdown software for unattended operation • Only software to communicate with LANs and WANs • Novell 286 VAP and 386 NLM • SCO Xenix SLIMLINE & UPRIGHT MODELS UNICATI0NS INTERFACE For Unattended System Shutdown COMPATIBLE WITH: • Novell • LAN Manager • ALTOS • BANYAN • VINES • System V UNIX • Custom Configuration Any System NOVELL Monitor Boards Available PARA SYSTEMS, INC. <-AX: (2 1 4) 446-90 1 1 TELEX: 1 4027 5 OMEGA [-800-2 38-7272 FOR L.A.N. NOVELL LABS TESTEDand APPROVED NetWare Compatible "Distributed In over eighty countries" Circle 218 on Reader Service Card No more foam peanuts D 3V2" format available from us. Specify when ordering. s package includes both 5 1 /4 ;/ and 3V2" disks. B 3V2" format available from manufacturer by request. Call us for details. CP— copy-protected; NCP— not copy-protected. The four-digit number next to each product is the product's ITEM NUMBER. Please refer to this number when ordering. Thank you. SOFTWARE We only carry the latest versions of products. Version numbers in our ads are current at press time. Products listed here in red work under Microsoft Windows. Adobe Systems ... NCP 6591 B Illustrator Windows 1.0 $279. 7547 H Adobe Type Manager for Windows. 59. 6590 HStreamline Windows 1 .0 229. 7392 HAdobe PostScript Cartridge 249. (Entire Adobe Type Library, from 1 to 133 is available. Call for more information.) Aldus ... NCP 1332 DPageMaker 3.01 499. Alpha Software ... NCP 5104 HAIpha Four 1.1 319. Application Techniques ... NCP 1214 HPizazz Plus 2.0 69. Ashton-Tate ... NCP 4450 DdBASEIV 1.0 499. Asymetrix ... NCP 7384 Toolbook 1.0 for Windows 309. Autodesk ... NCP 4519 DAutosketch 2.0 95. Avery ... NCP 6006 HLabel Pro 1 .0 49. 7336 HLabel Pro 1.0 for Dot Matrix 49. Adobe TypeM onager Rated til Alpha Software ... NCP 5104 HA/jp/m Four 1. -/-The award-winning fully relational database management & application development system for business people ; not programmers. Offers sophisticated reports and customized applications . . $319. Before Adobe Type Manager: ZEEiOOEE S@S ill 5 Adobe Type Manager (ATM) kings the qudhij' of PostScript outline font; to yoxn PC display «*)HPL«*>rJnprrtwt•- ■ ^ A Custom Applications ... NCP 7474 UPreedom of Press 2.2-Print PostScript language files from your PC to over 50 non- PostScript printers. Comes with 35 scalable PostScript fonts and works with any applica- tion that can produce PostScript files . $255. Reference Software ... NCP 4396 ®GrammatiklV1.0 . 52. 7483 HGrammatik Windows 1.0 Revolution Software ... NCP . 52. 4480 SVGA Dimmer 2.01 (screen saver) RightSoft ... NCP . 19. 4155 HRightWriter3.1 Samna ... NCP . 54. 5799 ® Ami Professional 1.2 Softlogic Solutions ... NCP 309. 3542 DSoftware Carousel 4.0 Software Publishing ... NCP . 55. 3499 □ PFS:First Publisher 3.0 . 99 3478 □ PFS:First Choice 3.02 105 3496 □Professional Write 2.2 165 3482 □Harvard Graphics 2.3 Symantec ... NCP 339 3425 □Q&A3.0 229 3431 □Timeline 4.0 Systems Compatibility ... NCP 469 6564 □Software Bridge 4.1 . 79 fefo Seh Micro Logic ... NCP 6787 Mnp Select -M-The fastest most excit- ing new way to deal with notes ; ideas ; plans ; contacts ; and all your RANDOM informa- tion. Easy yet powerful. Endless uses . $55. ®: ALL ITEMS SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY. PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. Newsprint and boxes ^Qr RightSoft ... NCP 4155 B/?/gte Writer 3. f-Make your business writing clear ; concise and powerful. Award winning RightWriter checks your grammar ; style, word usage and punctuation. Works with most popular word processors. . . $54. TIMESLIPS ... NCP 2987 DTimeslips III 3.4 169. 6994 □PercentEdge 1 .0 69. Timeworks ... NCP 6253 HPublish-lt! 1.1 115. TOPS ... NCP 6675 DTOPS Network Bundle 3.0 159. 3720 Flashcard2.1 (AppleTalk network card; 1 year warranty) 155. Touchstone Software ... NCP 7420 HCheck It 2.1 89. Traveling Software ... NCP 4190 Battery Watch 2.0 (3V 2 " only) 35. 5179 HLapl_inklll3.0 95. True BASIC ... NCP 3561 HTrue BASIC 2.1 52. Vericomp ... NCP 6771 HMemory Master 1 .0 45. WordPerfect Corp. ... NCP 3804 DWordPerfect 5.1 265. 6685 HDrawPerfect 1.1 279. Stone & Associates ... NCP 3439 mnd Math- WILL YOUR CHILD COMPETE... at the college of your choice? Excellent math skills equal academic success! 2nd Math teaches basic math skills, fractions-even pre-algebra $27. WordStar International ... NCP 6791 DWordStarProf. 6.0 $279. Xerox ... NCP 3812 DVentura Publisher Gold 3.0 559. XTREE ... NCP 6161 BXTreePro Gold 1 .4 75. ZSoft ... NCP 7016 BPC Paintbrush IV Plus 1.0 119. RECREATIONAL/EDUCATIONAL Broderbund ... CP 5701 □Where/Time Carmen Sandiego? ... 32. 6295 HThe Playroom 32. 5851 HSimCity 33. Electronic Arts ... NCP 5804 BDeluxe Paint II (Enhanced) 89. Microsoft ... NCP 2858 DFIight Simulator 4.0 39. Penton Overseas ... NCP HVocabuLearn/ce Levels I & II (French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, and Hebrew) each 39. Qualitas ... NCP 7539 D3^MAX5^-Powerful new MAXIMIZE feature finds and uses all the memory you paid fon Automatic install makes this industry standard memoiy manager indispensable for all level of 386 users . $75. Sierra On-Line ... CP 6023 H Leisure Suit Larry III 39. 6796 BCodename: Iceman 39. 6972 HConquestsof Camelot 39. Software Toolworks ... NCP 6436 OHuntforRed October 20. 4659 HChessmaster2100fCP y ) 35. Stone & Assoc. ... NCP 3438 HYoung Math (ages 5 to 8) 22. 3439 H2nd Math (ages 7 to 16) 27. True BASIC, Inc. ... NCP eKemeny/Kurtz Math Series: 10 titles each 45. HARDWARE Manufacturer's standard limited warranty period for items shown is listed after each company name. Some products In their line may have different warranty periods. Corel Systems ... NCP 5506DCordDRAWl 12-The world's leading PC illustration software now comes with even more value: CoreITRACE ; over 100 typef aces ; over 300 clip-art images ; a Pantone license-all bundled in for free $329. American Power ... 2 years 7108 APC Smart-UPS 400 339. 6812 200DL (stand-by power source) .. 155. 6811 360SX (stand-by power source). . . 255. 7107 450AT (stand-by power source). . . 339. 7106 520ES (stand-by power source). . . 399. 7105 600LS (stand-by power source). . . 469. AST Research ... 2 years 1299 SixPakPlus384kC/S/P 179. 6795 SixPak286512k 209. 4107 RAMpage Plus 286 512k 419. 6980 VGA Plus (w/512K)(800x 600 res) 229. Boca Research ... 5 years 7001 BOCARAM/AT PLUS (0-8 Meg) (UM 4.0 extended) 125. 7061 BOCARAM/XT OK (U2 Meg, /_/M4.0J 99. 7135 TophAT (16-bit backfill 51 2K to 640K) 99. 6998 I/O Boardfor AT 59. 6999 I/O Board for MicroChannel S/S/P . 109. 6995 SuperVGA (800 x 600, 16/8 bit). .. 135. 7026 1024 VGA (16 bit non-interlaced, 512K) 219. Bravo Communications 7400 2 Pos. Laser Compatible Switch Box 109. Brother International ... 1 year 5787 HL-8e Laser Printer 1699. 5788 HL-8Ps PostScript Laser Printer . 2949. CH Products ... 1 year 7341 Gamecard III Plus (for MicroChannel PS/2s) 49. 7340 FlightStick 49. 7345 Rollermouse (Trackball) serial 85. bus 99. Compucable ... 2 years 1604 2-Position switch box 25. Cuesta .. . 1 year 1 608 Datasaver 400 Watt (power backup) 429. Curtis ... lifetime 1694 Emerald SP-2 36. 1707 RubySPF-2(6o^/ersj 55. 1708 Ruby-Plus SPF-2 Plus 65. 7358 Command Center 93. Glass Filter Plus (anti -glare screen with radiation protection, specify screen size) each 65. PC Clout. Diamonds in the rough. (Or, why you're always safe with us.) An early fall afternoon. The sky is bluer than the IBM logo and there's enough electricity in the air to light up Yankee Stadium. You could be at Candlestick, Wrigley, or Fenway, munching a frank, and yelling, "It's outta here!" But the players are suspiciously furry and there's a level of play you rarely see anymore, even in the big leagues. Welcome to the silicon sandlot of Marlow, NH (pop. 563). Where the only game that's played is hardball. And where we don't take American Express. (Just VISA, MC, and Corporate P.O.s.) Students of the game know that when it comes to PC mail order we wrote the book: toll-free tech support, latest versions only, and price lists complete with up to-date stats on warranties, disk size, and copy protection. Give us a call next time you need to know the score on any PC product. We'll never leave you out in left field. Get into the swing of things. We have a reputation for always going to bat for our customers. Well now you can go to bat for yourself anytime you like with your very own 32" "R.G. Johnson" bat, custom- made and hand-crafted in New England from solid ash by R.(3's grandson Bob. This cracker-jack offer is free to everyone who places am order of $1000 or more between now and November 30. Go for the fences with the PC Connection Bat featuring our own heavy-hitting mascots. Offer not available to accounts on net terms. One per customer. ©COPYRIGHT PC CONNECTION, INC., 1990. PC CONNECTION AND THE RACCOON CHARACTERS) ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF PC CONNECTION, INC., MARLOW. NH. All recyclable. Targus ... lifetime 7028 Foliopac 1 $79. 4899 Nylon Laptop carrying case 55. 6037 Premier leather carrying case .... 199. TheComplete PC ... 2 years 5140 TheComplete Page Scanner 549. 5828 TheComplete Communicator 559. Tripp Lite ... 2 years 6199 Isobar 4-6 ( 4 outlets, 6 ft. cord) 49. 6200 Isobar 6-6 (6 outlets, 6 ft. cord) 59. Video 7 ... 7 years 5883 1024iVGA (includes 512k) 269. 4931 VRAM VGA 512k 379. DRIVES IOMEGA ... 1 year 5116 Bernoulli II Single 44 Meg Internal 995. 5117 Bernoulli II Dual 44 Meg External 1969. 5113 44 Meg Cartridge Tripak fiW). . . 249. 2499 PC2 Controller 169. 7551 Bernoulli II Transportable 4 4 Meg . 1299. Mountain Computer ... 1 year 2917 40-60 Meg Internal Tape Drive 379. 5502 83-152M Ext. Tape Drive 799. 5500 83-152M Int. Tape Drive 629. 5190 DC2000 Pre-formatted Cartridges ea. 35. FormWorx ... NCP 7311 Hftm* Publisher for Windows 1. 2-Desktop publishing designed especially for creating professional-quality forms. Use unique object-oriented design techniques & import graphics. Over 600 forms included! . . $ 145. Pacific Rim ... 1 year 5010 1 .2 Meg External (forPS/2's) 215. 6602 1.44 External (for PC/XT/AT) 239. Plus Development ... 2 years 6425 Hardcard II 40 Meg (19 ms) 599. 6424 Hardcard II 80 Meg (19 ms) 699. Seagate .. . 1 year 2285 20 Meg Int. Hard Drive ST225 (\n /controller and cables, 65 ms) . . 275. 2286 30 Meg Int. Hard Drive ST238 (w/controller and cables, 65 ms) . . 289. 4554 40 Meg Int. HD ST251 -1 (28 ms) . . 359. TEAC ... 1 year 4951 720k Drive (specify XT or AT, 31/2") . 75. 4670 1 .44 Meg Drive for PC/XT (3W). . . 89. 4326 1 .44 Meg Drive for AT (includes Bastech software utilities, 3 1 h" copyprot.) . 109. MISCELLANEOUS Checkfree 6360 CheckFree (electronic checking srv.) $25. CompuServe 7546 DOS Membership Kit 23. DISKS Maxell ... lifetime 2789 5 1 /4" MD2-D 360k Disks (Qty V) ... . 12. Reflection Technology ... lyear 7127 Private Eye- A large screen in a small box. A tiny virtual display which offers a full-size, 12 ;; IBM CG A auxiliary screen to PCs & laptops. View privately in planes or meetings. Brighter than LCDs $499. I fi^ E ButtonWare ... NCP 6419 ftPC-Ftle 5.0-The most friendly comprehensive database available. It includes letter-writing with mail merge ; business graphing, and a powerful report writer. It also works directly on dBase files $75. MEMORY 6556 256k DRAMs (700 nanosecond). . . call 3248 256k DRAMs ( 120 nanosecond). . . call 4366 1 Meg x 9 SIMMs (100 nanosecond) call 5510 1 Meg x 9 SIMMs (80 nanosecond) call 5746 1 Meg Chips (80 nanosecond) .... call OUR POLICY • We accept VISA and MASTERCARD only. • No surcharge added for credit card orders. • Your card is not charged until we ship. • If we must ship a partial order, we never charge freight on the shipment(s) that complete the order (in the U.S.). • No sales tax. • All U.S. shipments insured; no additional charge. • APO/FPO orders shipped 1st Class Mail. • International orders U.S. $250 minimum. • Upon receipt and approval, personal and company checks clear the same day for immediate shipment of your order. • COD max. $1000. Cash, cashier's check, or money order: • 120 day limited warranty on all products. * • To order; call us Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 1 :00 AM, or Saturday 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM. You can call our business offices at 603/446-3383 Monday through Friday 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM. 2790 5V4" MD2-HD 1.2Mb Disks (Qty. V). . 19. 2792 3V2" DS/DD 720k Diskettes (Qty. V). . 14. 2793 3V 2 " DS/HD 1 .44Mb Diskettes (Qty. V) 27. Sony ... lifetime 3291 5V<" DS/DD 360kDisks(Qty 10) . . . . 10. 3292 5V 4 " DS/HD 1.2Mb Disks (Qty. 10)... 19. 3297 3V 2 " DS/DD 720k Diskettes (Qty. V). . 13. 3298 3V 2 " DS/HD 1 .44Mb Diskettes (Qty. 10) 22. 6659 QD 2000 Tape Cartridge 19. Iomega ... lyear 7551 Bernoulli II Trmsportiible-The compact version of the Bernoulli Universal family removable media drive ; offering users the freedom to easily move his/her Bernoulli drive from one AC outlet to another $ 1299. SHIPPING Note: Accounts on net terms pay actual shipping. Continental US: • For heavy hardware items such as printers, monitors, Bernoulli Boxes, etc. pay actual charges. Call for UPS 2nd-Day & Next-Day-Air: • For all other items, add $3 per order to cover UPS Shipping. For such items, we automatically use UPS 2nd-Day-Air at no extra charge if you are more than 2 days from us by UPS ground. Hawaii: • For monitors, printers, Bernoulli Boxes, computers, hard drives, and power backups, actual UPS Blue charge will be added. For all other items, add $3 per order: Alaska and outside Continental US: • Call 603/446-7721 for information. ©COPYRIGHT PC CONNECTION, INC., 1990. PC CONNECTION IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF PC CONNECTION, INC., MARLOW, NH. THE RACCOON CHARACTER^) ARE TRADEMARKS OF PC CONNECTION, INC. Nothing obnoxious. . The Intel I Coprocessor I Intel ... 5 years 4275 Connection CoProcessor-Sends and receives faxes from within many popular applications. Communicate without inter- rupting your work. Includes Central Point's PC Tools Deluxe 6.0 $529. Datadesk ... 3 years 6901 Switchboard 175. Diconix ... 1 year 5655 150 Plus Printer (Parallel) 359. Epson ... 1 year We are an authorized Epson Service Center. 1906 FX-850(80 col., 264 cps, 9 pin) . . . call 1904 FX-1050 (736 col., 264 cps, 9 pin) . . call 5183 LQ-510 (BO col., 180 cps, 24 pin). . . call 1930 LQ-850 (80 col., 264 cps, 24 pin) . . call 6765 LQ-1010 (736co/., 180 cps, 24 pin) call 1917 LQ-1050 (736 col., 264 cps, 24 pin) call 5184 LX-81 0(80 col., 180 cps, 9 pin). . . . call 1052 Printer-to-IBM cable (6 feet) 15. 5th Generation ... 1 year 7157 Logical Connection Plus 512k. . . . 599. Hayes ... 2 years 2307 Smartmodem 2400 349. 7391 Ultra 9600 Modem 899. Hercules ... 2 years 2318 Graphics Card Plus 189. Hewlett-Packard ... 1 year 6754 LaserJet III (w/toner) 1699. 6582 LaserJet IIP (w/toner) 1069. Intel ... 5 years 6421 2400B MNP Internal Modem .... 199. 2352 2400B Internal Modem 2 (for PS/2) 249. 5119 2400 Baud External Modem 179. 6420 2400EX MNP Modem 229. 2346 Inboard 386/PCw/1 Meg (w/free Ami) 519. 4266 Above Board Plus 512k 419. 4267 Above Board Plus I/O 512k 449. 5336 Above Board Plus 8 2 Meg 599. 5342 Above Board Plus 8 I/O 2 Meg . . . 629. 4272 Above Board 2 Plus 512k 469. 5396 Above Board MC 32 0k 359. 4275 Connection Coprocessor 529. MATH COPROCESSORS 7385 80287XL (for 80286 CPU's) 229. 4750 80387SX (for 80386SX CPU 's). . . . 309. 2371 80387 (for 76 MHz 80386 CPU's). . 349. 2372 80387-20 (for 20 MHz 80386 CPU's)399. Keytronic ... 3 years 4518 101 Plus Keyboard 99. 5800 5802 5464 5151 6029 4297 6669 7012 2897 2898 6007 5997 4306 4799 5085 Kraft ... 5 years 3 button Thunder Joystick $29. Trackball 69. Logitech ... limited lifetime C9 Mouse for PS/2's 69. HiREZ Mouse (C9) 85. Trackman (Trackball) serial 85. bus 89. Sea nM an Plus (hand scanner) ... 185. Micron Technology ... 2 years Intensify 2 Meg Expansion for HP LaserJet II (upgradeable to 4 Meg) . 219. Beyond Memory Board for PS/2 Model70(2/WeoJ 265. Microsoft ... lifetime Mouse with Paintbrush 109. Mouse with Windows 3.0 149. MicroSpeed ... 1 year PC-TRAC Trackball serial 75. bus 85. Mouse Systems ... lifetime Trackball (7 yr. wrnty.) serial 75. bus 85. PC Mouse II w/PC Paint-f 89. NEC ... 2 years Multisync 2A(VGA Monitor) 499. Multisync 3D Monitor 689. Intel ... 5 years Above flo^s-FREE Quarterdeck QRAM and Manifest with any Above Board or piggyback; now through December 31 ; 1990! see Intel listing for prices. 7512 3202 3200 7053 6779 7072 7054 Orchid Technologies ... 4 years ProDesigner VGA II (7024 x 768J. . 299. PC Power & Cooling ... 1 year REPLACEMENT POWER SUPPLIES Turbo Cool 150 (25° - 40° cooler) 129. Silencer 1 50 (84 % noise reduction) 115. InnerSource 2210 (internal backup) 399. Pacific Data Products ... 1 year 25 Cartridges in One! (for U 11, IIP, ID) .275. 25 Cartridges in One! (for U III) 349. Memory upgradefor LaserJet IIP/Ill 1Meg.... 179. 7055 2 Meg. . . . 249. 1-800/776-7777 MMC 760B PC Connection 6 Mill Street Marlow, NH 03456 SALES 603/446-7721 FAX 603/446-7791 Intel ... 5 years 2346 Inboard 386/PC with Free Samna Ami- Gives you 80386 processing power ; 1 Mb RAM ; and Samna ; s powerful Windows- based word processor (regularly at $129). 30 Day Money Back Guarantee $519. 6839 Memory upgrade for LaserJet II 1 Meg 179. 2 Meg 249. 7158 Pacific Page (PostScript Cartridge for Laser Jet IIP/HI) 379. Practical Peripherals ... 5 years 3101 1200 Baud Internal Modem 65. 3100 1200 Baud External Modem (mini) . 77. 3103 2400 Baud Internal Modem 135. 3102 2400 Baud External Modem 179. 5286 2400 Baud Int. MNP Modem (Lev. 5) 175. 5285 2400 Baud Ext. MNP Modem (Lev. 5) 209. 4542 2400 Baud Internal Modem for PS/2. 229. 7008 P /NET (peripheral sharing) 1189. Reflection Technology .. 1 year 7127 Private Eye (virtual display) 499. SAFE Power Systems ... 2 years 4562 Safe 425W (standby power bkup) 329. 6747 Safe400S (new) 399. SOTA Technology ... 2 years 5111 SOTA 286i-12 (72 MHz accelerator) 269. 5402 SOTA 386i-16 (76 MHz accelerator) 389. Intel ... 5 years MNPModems-featur.es data compression error correction & a built-in buffer providing compatibility with OS/2. 6421 2400B MNP Internal Modem $199. 6420 Z400EX MNP Modem 229. ®: •DEFECTIVE SOFTWARE REPLACED IMMEDIATELY. DEFECTIVE HARDWARE REPLACED OR REPAIRED AT OUR DISCRETION. Circle 155 on Reader Service Card OS/2 NOTEBOOK REAL-TIME MULTITASKING KERNEL 8086/88, 80x86/88 Z80, 64180, 8080/85 80386 68000/10/20 Fast, reliable operation Compact and ROMable PC peripheral support DOS file access C language support Preemptive scheduler Time slicing available Configuration Builder Complete documentation Intertask messages Message exchanges Dynamic operations — task create/delete — task priorities — memory allocation Event Manager Semaphore Manager List Manager InSight™ Debugging Tool THE BEST Join over 600 developers such as IBM®, Xerox, Hewlett Packard, Hayes, Hughes Aircraft and NASA. CHOOSE AMX The best low-cost, high-performance real-time multitasking system available today. No Royalties Source Code Included Demo Disk $25 US _ „ . Manual only $75 US Ca " for P nces for AMX 86 $3000 US other processors. (Shipping/handling extra) IBM is a registered trademark of IBM Corp. Z80 is a trademark of Zilog, Inc. AMX, AMX 86, InSight are trademarks of KADAK Products Ltd. KADAK Products Ltd. 206-1847 West Broadway Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6J1Y5 Jl: Telephone: (604) 734-2796 IF Fax: (604)734-8114 thread is a dispatchable element used by MS OS/2 to track execution cycles of the processor." Three years later, that still doesn't tell me anything. Then came the infamous MTDYNA .DOC. At first, you couldn't use the C library if you wanted to use threads, be- cause the library routines weren't reen- trant. In the spring of 1988, a new release of the C compiler brought the multi- threaded library and headers and a 1039- line read-me file, MTDYNA.DOC, bur- ied on one of the disks. For two years, that was the only official documentation for most of us. Other roadblocks have been the con- stantly changing "musical header files." I know I've not been alone in just dread- ing each new SDK or Toolkit release. Each one seemed to bring a new set of seemingly gratuitous changes to all the names defined in the headers. First it was all uppercase, then mixed case; first English, then Hungarian. Each release meant nothing would compile until I'd made all the same gratuitous changes to all my own source code. Least Common Denominator The other big reason that there aren't many great multithreaded applications is that once you write one, it's not portable. Conversely, if you're porting something in from another environment, you don't just add threads and stir. To really use threads, you have to weave them pretty tightly into the fabric of your product. And let's face it: It's one thing to be non- portable if you're selling to an installed base of 50 million users, and quite an- other to a base of only 300,000. Not surprisingly, most of the first wave of applications for OS/2 have been ports from DOS or Windows. Micro- soft's own Word 5.0 and Excel are two very disappointing but typical examples of programs that do absolutely nothing to take advantage of OS/2. Neither Word nor Excel will do background printing; Excel doesn't even let you move its win- dow around while it prints. The arrival of Windows 3.0 clouds things further. With the upcoming capa- bility of OS/2 2.0 to run Windows bina- ries unmodified, many developers may think that the right answer is the purely opportunistic one: Write it for Windows, and if it works on OS/2, fine, but don't do anything special. In other words, don't use threads. What's the Prognosis? In my view, the prognosis is mixed. On the technical side, things have improved. Documentation is much better. Many books show how to write a multithreaded program. From discussions I see on BIX and elsewhere, most developers seem to be gaining the familiarity and experience they need. OS/2 2.0 promises a new, improved semaphore application programming in- terface that's touted as easier to use, al- though I'm skeptical. In my experience, it's not the semaphore primitives that are at fault, it's that semaphores are inher- ently tricky. Race conditions are just plain tough to avoid and even tougher to debug. I see nothing that changes that. Some version 2.0 changes appear to be more musical headers. For example, the so- called FS (fast, safe) semaphores intro- duced with great fanfare last year are gone. What possible reason could there have been to introduce these semaphores at all if they were going to be eliminated so quickly? But the biggest impediments to seeing all those great multithreaded applica- tions now and through the rest of the year will be nontechnical. If sales of OS/2 continue at current levels, don't expect much. Still, there's hope. Although Windows 3.0 will likely give all of us in the OS/2 community gas pains, it may ultimately be the best thing that could happen to OS/2. If you have the hardware to run Windows 3.0 acceptably, OS/2 should run fine also. OS/2 2.0 will make the mi- gration easier. I have one DOS box right now, and, for me, it's one too many, con- sidering how often I bother with it. But I admit even I was strangely captivated to see multiple DOS applications like good old Lotus 1-2-3 running in Presentation Manager windows under OS/2 2.0. Ultimately, competitive pressures will grow as more users and developers learn just what can be done with threads. Un- like breakfast cereal, where you can eat the whole box and still have no idea whether it's any good for you, most folks figure out pretty quickly whether new software is any good for them. Take heart: OS/2 threads, used properly, are very good for you— enough so anyone can notice. ■ Douglas A. Hamilton is the founder of Hamilton Laboratories in Wayland, Mas- sachusetts, and the author of the Hamil- ton C shell, a command processor and utilities package for OS/2. He can be reached on BIX as "hamilton. " Your questions and comments are wel- come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. 110 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 xtended-DOS 640K DOS Go Beyond 640K DOS. Build multi-megabyte programs with Phar Lap's 386| DOS-Extender.™ If the DOS 640K limit is driving you nuts, get all the memory you want with 386| DOS-Extender from Phar Lap? Large-scale benefits. By turning DOS into a true 32-bit operating system, 386 1 DOS-Extender shatters the 640K barrier. It lets you create protected mode applications that use all the memory in the machine - up to 4 gigabytes. You work within a flat, 32-bit address space. No more suffering with overlays, bank-switched EMS, or segmentation. With full 32-bit memory and power, you can finally build workstation-class applica- tions for the PC. Your Extended-DOS programs will run considerably faster, have room for more features, and be more re- sponsive than those in 16-bit DOS. And if that's not enough, add Phar Lap's 386| VMM" virtual memory manager. With true demand-paging, 386 1 VMM enables your application to grow bigger than availa- ble RAM. Both code and data are automati- cally swapped to disk as needed. Total compatibility. Because 386 1 DOS- Extender is embedded into your program, it is invisible to the end-user. Your program looks exactly like any other DOS applica- tion. There's no new operating environment for your end-users to buy or learn. Every 80386 PC that can run MS-DOS or PC-DOS can run 386 1 DOS-Extender. It is completely compatible with all DOS-based software, including TSRs and network managers. 386| DOS-Extender is backed by a full complement of 32-bit languages. Choose your favorite from among C, Fortran, Pas- cal, Ada, Assembler, and others. And with Trademark holders: 386IL)iS-Extender ,H and38<3 1 VMM' M - Phar Lap Software, Inc.; Interleaf Publisher'" - Interleaf, Inc.; Paradox 1 " Software, \nc; Kda % - Vi.S.DepLoflefense; MS-DOS® - Microsoft Corp.; AutoCAD® - Autodesk, Inc.; IBM® - IBM Corporation, i Circle 222 on Reader Service Card Phar Lap, you'll be using the finest, most widely used 386 software development tools in the world. Proven success. AutoCAD 386, IBM Interleaf Publisher, and Paradox 386 are just a few of the hundreds of Extended-DOS applications already being shipped with 386 1 DOS-Extender. Utilizing this exciting new technology, industry leaders are keep- ing their competitive edge by delivering the speed and power that 386 users have been waiting for. So if DOS is looking smaller than ever, call Phar Lap today. And see what it's like beyond 640K. PharLap386| DOS-Extender. We open a world of memory. Phar Lap Software, Inc. 60 Aberdeen Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 617-661-1510 FAX 617-876-2972 - Borland International. Registered trademark holders: Phar Lip® - Ptotr Uip 1 1989 Phar Lip Software, Inc. Upto32 Simultaneous PGto-Mainframe Connections with No Impact on Your DOS or UNIX Applications! Your applications shouldn't have to compete with 3270 communications for your PC's scarce resources. That's why we deliver our Supports NetView, HLLAPI I 3^andOmSownAPL I DataTalker 3270 high-perfor- mance PC-to-mainframe con- nectivity software on powerful co-processor boards with on- board memory. With DataTalker 3270, you can offload all communica- tions processing and screen storage to the co-processor, freeing your DOS or UNIX system for applications processing. As a result, users can perform up to 32 simultaneous mainframe sessions without affecting performance. DataTalker 3270 provides full emulation of IBM 3278 terminals and 3274 controllers, along with 32 LUs, 512K RAM, file transfer (INDIFILE), BSC or SNA support, and IBM 3287 printer em- ulation. Line speeds of up to 56K baud are supported. | Adds only IK to DOS appli- cations, 40 K to UNIX To learn more, call us today at 1-800-233-2536. Or write to us at 3796 Plaza Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108. FAX: 313/662-1965. CLEO CLEO Communications A Division of Interface Systems, Inc. AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE! In Europe, call Sintec Peripherals Ltd. in Slough, England, at 0753-811888 (FAX: 0753-811666). EXPERT ADVICE NETWORKS ■ Mark L. Van Name and Bill Catchings a Unite or Die For LANs to continue their explosive growth, networks must become essential parts of everyday life Like mainframes and minicom- puters before them, LANs are rapidly approaching a critical juncture at which they must either make a major leap forward or face diminishing sales. Mainframes and minicomputers never made that leap, but we hope that LANs will. To do so, they must evolve from a merely useful tech- nology into an essential one. Current LAN applications won't take LANs over this hurdle. The vast majority of today's LANs let their users share files and printers. Those functions are important, to be sure, but cheaper solu- tions—such as peripheral-sharing de- vices and sub-LANs— are available. The future of LANs will involve a union of three of today's hottest applica- tion areas: groupware, database servers, and multimedia. Each of these areas holds a key component that the others lack. Alone, each will undoubtedly enjoy a great deal of success, but together, either united into stand-alone applica- tions or as pieces in a cooperative sys- tem, they have the potential to help LANs take that next step forward. To see why, we'll briefly consider each area individually. Groupware Many industry observers have hailed groupware as the class of killer applica- tions that will "make" LANs. Indeed, the idea of groupware— software that helps people work together better— is a good one. Most groupware products aim first at the central problem of any group interaction: communication. Not surprisingly, E-mail is typically the cornerstone of most groupware pack- ages. For example, the heart of Higgins, a package from Enable Software (Ball- ston Lake, NY) is a strong E-mail sys- tem. Higgins's other features, such as group scheduling, are closely linked to its E-mail. With a basic communication mecha- nism in place, different groupware pack- ages concentrate on other aspects of group interactions. For Syzygy from In- formation Research (Charlottesville, VA), the focus is project scheduling. Syzygy uses a central database of proj- ects and resources to let users coordinate work on potentially large endeavors. Notes from Lotus Development (Cam- bridge, MA) concentrates on managing shared documents. And so on. All those goals are worthy ones, but they are neither particularly new nor enough to maintain the phenomenal growth rate that LAN sales have enjoyed to date. Many of the same features have been available for years in such mini- computer "office automation" (read "groupware") packages as Digital Equipment's All-In-1 and Data Gener- al's CEO Mail (CEO stands for Compre- hensive Electronic Office). The mini- computer packages definitely helped minicomputer sales and even landed many new sales, but the march of tech- nology is still, for the most part, leaving minicomputers behind. Database Servers Like groupware, database servers, the usual center of the oft-touted "client/ server" architecture, have played the role of LAN savior for some time. They hold the promise of many LAN users not just sharing files, but also running trans- actions against the same data sets. Before long, these LAN database servers will continued ILLUSTRATION: JOE GAST© 1990 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 113 NETWORKS ship in large quantities. The primary feature of these LAN database servers will be one that has long been available on minicomputers: con- currency control, the good management of multiple users of a single database. In- stead of the file-locking or manual rec- ord-locking of most current LAN ap- plications, these servers will provide integrated transaction-management sys- tems that correctly handle multiple si- multaneous users. Solid, record-level concurrency controls are a crucial aspect of sharing data, and they are generally lacking in LAN applications. LAN database servers also will bring to LANs a feature that is not available from minicomputers: the ability to move a large part of the application process- ing—the client portion— off the server system and onto the client systems. This step, however, is not as new as it might seem. Most minicomputer database sys- tems already run as their own processes, with applications as separate processes. The client/server architecture involves little more than moving the application process from the server machine to the client machine and making sure that the p„ roducts in the areas of groupware, database servers, and multimedia must work together in cohesive packages. two processes can communicate effi- ciently—not a trivial task, but certainly not one that represents a major step for- ward. Regardless of their technical virtues, database servers alone won't save LANs. Like office automation packages, data- base systems prolonged the life of mini- computers and mainframes and in some cases even gave those large systems new jobs as powerful central servers, but they were not enough to maintain the high sales growth that those systems once enjoyed. Multimedia People don't communicate solely with the written (or typed) word. Sound and visual information are a key part of the interactions in any office. No matter how automated an office gets, people will still hold meetings, want to see each other's faces, and just talk. A picture will still be worth a thousand words. The current push toward multimedia on many different fronts is the computer market's recognition of this fact. Most of the push is coming in two areas. The one that gets the most ink these days is the multimedia presentation, in which often- dazzling, MTV-like demonstrations combine traditional computer displays, animation, video, and digital audio. The other, only slightly quieter area is the re- wiring of America with fiber-optic cable and other high-bandwidth technologies. Fiber-optic cable's high capacity gives it the potential to bring computer data, telephone calls, TV, and streams of other data surging into our homes and continued Customer Sui • • it rt BBS ...for the IBM PS/2, XT, AT and compatibles. Support your customers via modem. Electronic mail between your customers and you gives them the answers they need, 7 days a week! • They can upload questions and problem reports to you • You can download updates and product information to them • Multiple users may be online at once, on one computer • SIGs, teleconferencing, and questionnaires too • Very easy to install and configure, works under MS-DOS • Works with COM1/COM2/COM3/COM4, or multi-port serial cards or multi-modem cards Only $59 for the complete 2-line software! ^^ Call our "demo" system with your modem: (305) 583-7808 0GALACTICOMM © 1990 Galacticomm, Inc. • 4101 S.W. 47th Avenue, Suite 101, Fort Lauderdale FL 33314 • Voice: (305) 583-5990 114 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 123 on Re ode r Service Card Announcing the end of the SCSI compatibility crisis: The SCSI disk controller from DPT that's so intelligent, it doesn't need special software drivers! SEE US AT BOOTH #1497 NE1W#RLD90" SEPTEMBER 11-13 DALLAS CONVENTION CENTER f/\akcs the aratk. LU'iikaixt ^crPAjosc drivers SCSI connectivity hassles are a thing of the past! SmartConnex makes it possible for the first time to run SCSI disk drives without special software drivers or BIOS ROMS that cause compatibility problems. Just plug in SmartConnex and you're all set— exactly as though you were using a standard ST506 drive. And, you'll enjoy optional connectivity to hundreds of other peripherals with appropriate software, including tape and optical drives. rf 7^. X> m '0. compatihili-kf SmartConnex is compatible with all PC ATs and operating sys- tems, and is guaranteed to work with all existing AT applications. So it isn't necessary to buy new programs or make any changes to system software. No matter what operating system or SCSI disk drive you use, you won't have to worry about controller compatibility. A &260O 31. £t or\booM SmartConnex's on-board 68000 processor and custom-designed ASIC chips make it the highest-performance controller on the market. Its unique design pushes the fastest SCSI disk drives to their top performance limits! SmartConnex costs less and performs better pan other prod- ucts— it's that simple. When you consider cost along with Smart- Connex's other great advantages, there's no smarter move! 3ocMed butk^ie^: lypT Distributed Processing Technology was the first to develop caching disk controllers and hardware disk mirroring for micro- computers, and is the recognized leader in the industry. Our products have been at work for over a decade, speeding up minis and mainframes. We offer a 1-year warranty, clear documenta- tion, and outstanding technical support. Put* Smar+(2c>Me/ &>-£Ae i&st / Call today and find out more about the end of the SCSI compati- bility crisis— with SmartConnex, from DPT. DPT Distributed Processing Technology 132 Candace Drive Maitland, FL 32751 Phone: (407) 830-5522 FAX: (407) 260-5366 Circle 96 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 97) Circle 202 on Reader Service Card NETWORKS Introducing NeuralWorks™ EXPLORER Stock Market Forecasting r*i felwork U,*t* ftrtarwoa (hklwr Expert Systems MeuralWare, Inc. presents MeuralWorks Explorer, a neural network tutorial that pro- vides the novice user with a method of learning neural network theory as well as an environment in which to build practical applications. Available on both the MAC and PC Price $199.00. Visa and Mastercard accepted. The MeuralWorks product line is currently used in: • Oil Exploration • Medical Diagnostics • Industrial Inspection • Credit Approval • Process Control • Insurance Underwriting • Economic Modeling • Noise Filtering • Signal Processing • Fraud Detection • Bankruptcy Prediction • Targeted Marketing NeioralWare, Inc. Penn Center West, Bldg. IV, Suite 227 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1 5276 412-787-8222 businesses on a single glowing cable. Both of these areas— particularly the high-bandwidth technologies— have the potential to help LANs, but they are still young. We're only just beginning to deal well with sharing text documents on LANs; sharing multimedia presentations is necessarily a step or two behind. Fiber-optic cable has the potential to be great, but it's still relatively expensive, and we're just learning how to use it well. All Together Now If LANs are to make the crucial transi- tion from useful to essential, products in the areas of groupware, database servers, and multimedia must learn to work to- gether in cohesive packages. Each offers an answer to some of the crucial weak- nesses of the others. Consider the follow- ing cases in point: • Groupware provides textual communi- cation (e.g., E-mail) and the ability to share selected information (e.g., proj- ects and documents), but the database core is rarely strong enough to let many users work simultaneously without com- promising the integrity of the shared data. • Database servers handle the above problems, but they don't yet deal well with crucial information like text and graphics. • The database systems now commer- cially available also don't do a good job with truly distributed databases, where single logical databases are spread across multiple servers— a must in almost any organization with multiple sites. Concur- rency problems are hard enough on a sin- gle-system database, but they become ex- tremely difficult when the data is on multiple machines. The theoretical answers to these problems have been around for years, but vendors are just now beginning to ship systems with two- phase transaction commits and the other necessities of distributed databases. • Groupware and E-mail products are also facing their version of this distrib- uted data problem, because it is increas- ingly important for users on different servers in a local- or wide-area network to be able to exchange messages. Many of these products now can work with multi- ple servers, but, as on a single server, they generally do so without a strong database core. • Multimedia packages let people merge voice, video, and computer-generated graphics with more traditional data, but they are generally not integrated with databases or with underlying communi- cation (e.g., E-mail) technologies. • The high bandwidth of fiber-optic cable offers the potential for LANs to move the large amounts of data that these complex unions necessarily involve, but first we must figure out how to store and manage such integrated messages. A system that unites all these elements, a network in which your personal com- puter is your gateway onto a network of shared information of all kinds— from today's record- and file-oriented data to voice and video— now that's a system that you'll rapidly find essential. We don't expect such a system to come from a single vendor. We don't even want it to come from one vendor. Instead, such a system will probably be a set of cooper- ating products from several different vendors. For that to happen, these different technologies must be able to work togeth- er cleanly. Standard interfaces, such as the E-mail MHS (Message Handling System) and X.400 protocols that let dif- ferent packages exchange messages, are an important part of the answer. They let vendors of different components concen- trate on their particular slices of the pie, knowing that, as long their products use the standard interfaces, they will be able to work with the important products in the other areas. Equally important are new capabili- ties that each of these products must offer the others. Databases, for example, must provide tools for storing and managing text and graphics better. Groupware and multimedia packages must, in turn, yield their data management problems to the more capable hands of the database sys- tems. You get the picture. If such systems actually appear, being tied to a network will be as natural as holding a meeting or making a call— and as crucial to successful business. Per- sonal computers, and the networks that link them, will become information ap- pliances much like telephones and phone networks, and they'll be just as essential. With such systems, the question about LANs will not be who needs them, but rather, who can afford not to have one. ■ Mark L. Van Name and Bill Catchings are BYTE contributing editors. Both are also independent computer consultants and freelance writers based in Raleigh, North Carolina. You can reach them on BIX as "mvanname " and "wbc3, " respectively. Your questions and comments are wel- come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. 116 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 Our Printer Sharing Unit Does Networking! An Integrated Solution Take our Master Switch 1M , a sophisticated sharing device, combine it with MasterNet™ networking software for PCs, and you've got an integrated solution for printer and plotter sharing, file transfer, electronic mail, and a lot more. Of course you can also share modems, minis, and mainframes or access the network remotely. Installation and operation is very simple. Versatile Or you can use the Master Switch to link any computer or peripheral with a serial or parallel interface. The switch accepts over 20 commands for controlling the flow of data. It may be operated automatically, by command, or with interactive menus. Its buffer is expandable to one megabyte and holds up to 64 simultaneous jobs. The MasterLink™ utility diskette for PCs comes with every unit and unleashes the power of the switch with its memory-resident access to the commands and menus. Other Products We have a full line of connectivity solutions. If you just want printer sharing, we've got it. We also have automatic switches, code- activated switches, buffers, converters, cables, protocol converters, multiplexers, line drivers, and other products. Commitment to Excellence At Rose Electronics, we're not satisfied until you're satisfied. That's why we have thousands of customers around the world including large, medium, and small businesses, factories, stores, educational institutions, and Federal, state, and local governments. We back our products with full technical support, a one-year warranty, and a thirty-day money-back guarantee. Call now for literature or more information. (800) 333-9343 . &i&e a 1£&ie fo yaun c&mfmten, . P.O. Box 742571 • Houston, Texas 77274 • Tel (713) 933-7673 • FAX (713) 933-0044 • Telex 4948886 Circle 255 on Reader Service Card «Mft^ Cure For The Common Clone IMAGINE. 386SX power, 200 IMB-HD, 8 MB RAM, 1 024 x 768 VGA with an internal modem—and it fits in a briefcase! Introducing the Brick? A 386sx with enough power, storage and graphics capability to run the most demanding applications. And it's the first desktop PC that's quiet enough, small enough and elegant enough not to be banished instantly to the floor. This remarkable computer measures 3"x8"xll" and weighs only 8.3 lbs. More Practical Than A Portable The Brick offers an alterna- tive to the usual trade-offs associated with laptops. Simply keep a full sized monitor and keyboard at your home and office, and carry just the Brick in between. You save half the cost, half the weight, and all the hassle of coordinating files between multiple machines. You can have one machine with all your files wherever you need it. A Powerful And Quiet Desktop Bricks are available with a 16 or 20 MHz 386sx; a 387sx coprocessor; 1 to 8 MB RAM; and your choice of a 40 (25ms), 100 (25ms), or 200 MB (16ms) hard disk. Bricks also deliver superb VGA graphics with 1MB video RAM supporting 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768 resolu- tion for CAD, DTP or Win- dows. As an added benefit, the Brick is very quiet. Its rugged aluminum case serves as a heat sink so the whisper fan rarely runs. 832k for DOS The Brick provides another welcome bonus: an extra 192k of memory above the DOS 640k limit. This unique feature allows you to load resident programs, such as a network or TSRs, into a contiguous 192k block of The Brick fits in half a briefcase, leaving room for everything else you have to carry. Circle 111 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 112) ^1 f#I «P»J high memory, and still leave the lower 640k free. The regu- lar Brick shown above also accepts an internal ISA 16- bit half length card, while the "Stretch Brick," shown at right, accepts one full and one half length card. Great Value Complete Brick systems start at just $2,495. For your convenience, we also offer pre-installed software packages - including the DESQview™ or the new Windows® 3.0 environ- ments - and top-rated applications. For example, the system (shown above) including all standard Brick features with optional color VGA monitor; 4 MB RAM; and a 100 MB hard disk pre-programmed with DESQview 386, Quattro®, Sprint®, askSam™, DOS™ and Tree86™ is only $3,995! With this package, we also include our exclusive interactive "Talking The Brick 3"x8"x 11" Only 8.3 lbs. Tutorial" that quickly teaches you how to use each program. Yes, the Brick actually talks. Optional paper white VGA LCD display with back-lit super twist technology. Guaranteed Satisfaction Because we are a direct selling manufacturer we have a direct interest in the com- plete satisfaction of each and every customer. To ensure that satisfaction, A COMPUTER 1-800 set A hel Ergo offers: a 30-day money back guarantee, a One Year Warranty, unlimited 800- line support and our exclu- sive Advanced Diagnostics via modem. Free Catalog You'll find complete information on all Brick systems, plus a full comple- ment of enhancements including FAX and network- ing cards, tape backup unit, cases, monitors and more in our 32-page catalog. Why not call for it today? Ergo also offers a line of traditional 386 computers, from 16 to 33 MHz, starting at just $1,895. Call us at 1-800-633-1925 and well help you select the system that best meets your needs. $2,495 System Includes A Stretch Brick A 16 MHz Intel 386sx A 1 MB RAM, Exp. to 8 MB A 40 MB hard disk with password protection A Mono VGA monitor A 16-bit full and 8-bit half card expansion slots Standard Features A 1024 x 768 VGA controller with 1 MB video RAM and EGA, CGA, MDA support A 101 keyboard A 2,400 bps modem A 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy A 2 serial &. 1 parallel port A World wide AC power A Hypertext manual A 832k DOS capable A LIM 4.0 EMS support A One Year Warranty A Freight included Free 32-Page Catalog ^ i 1-800-633-1925 COMPANY Ergo Computing, Inc., One Intercontinental Way, Peabody, MA 01960 Short Takes BYTE editors' hands-on views of new and developing products RasterOps Accelerator Backpack Legacy Norton Utilities 5.0 Hard Facts RasterOps Accelerator Speeds Mac Graphics A Mac II combined with a 24-bit color video board produces dazzling graphics. It makes the Mac a useful tool for professional art, graphic design, image manipulation, and color desktop publishing. However, working with near- photo-quality images or fancy graphics is slow. That's be- cause you're working with 32- bit pixels (only 24 of the bits actually contain color data, hence the term 24-bit color). This means the Mac must muscle around about a mega- byte or more of data when the screen is redrawn. A faster Mac does little to help the situation: Even a 24- bit color screen redraw on a Mac Ilfx using a 640- by 480- pixel display is a trifle poky. The solution is to off-load some of the QuickDraw graph- ics operations performed by the Mac's CPU onto a dedi- cated graphics coprocessor. Several vendors — Radius, SuperMac, and even Apple — have introduced graphics boards that accomplish this. Now there's the RasterOps Accelerator, which off-loads and boosts the speed of certain QuickDraw operations like fills and window movement. Like Radius, RasterOps uses a separate NuBus board that contains the accelerator logic. The Accelerator can't gener- ate video signals itself: It boosts screen performance by minimizing CPU-to-NuBus traffic and directly manipulat- ing the frame buffer of a sepa- rate NuBus video board. An Accelerator cdev/ INIT patches QuickDraw so that certain drawing operations become coprocessor com- mands. It is these commands, not the usual pixel data, that the CPU writes out onto the NuBus. This reduces the amount of data that passes through the slow NuBus inter- face logic. These commands are executed by the Accelera- tor, which then modifies the frame buffer's contents at NuBus transfer rates. The Accelerator supports both NuBus block transfers (a spe- cial mode where up to 64 data bytes are rapidly sent across the bus) and bus locking (the Accelerator owns the bus con- tinuously over numerous transfers). This last feature provides a claimed 25 percent to 50 percent boost for accel- erated graphics operations. Finally, like the Radius and Apple graphics boards, the Accelerator operates as a NuBus bus master. This lets it control and accelerate not only its Imager 8L and Imager 24L video boards, but other NuBus video boards that support block transfer operations (e.g., Apple's 8*24 card and Radius's DirectColor/24). The Accelerator's bus-locking fea- ture also boosts the speed of video boards that support this capability, such as RasterOps video boards and Apple's Mac II 8-bit board. The Accelerator provides four single in-line memory module sockets, where you can mount four 1- or 4-mega- bit-density, 80-nanosecond SIMMs to create a RAM buffer that is 4 or 16 MB in size. The Accelerator inter- cepts special graphics func- tions (called GWorld) and routes the off-screen image data they work with into this THE FACTS RasterOps Accelerator 32-Bit QuickDraw and without RAM, $495; 4-MB 2 MB of RAM. RAM expansion kit, $795 RasterOps Requirements: 2500 Walsh Ave. Mac II running System Santa Clara, C A 95051 6.0.3 or higher with (408) 562-4200 Inquiry 999. buffer. This lets the Accelera- tor operate on the image in its local buffer, rather than wait for the Mac's CPU to write it to the frame buffer. GWorld functions are new; not many Mac applications take advan- tage of them, so the buffer can serve as a RAM disk. You don't need this RAM for the board to operate. I tried the Accelerator with its version 1 .0 software, a Ras- terOps Imager 24L 24-bit color video board on a Mac Ilci and a Mac Ilfx running System 6.0.5. Both machines were equipped with 4 MB of RAM and an 80-MB hard disk drive. The Mac Ilci drove a 1024- by 768-pixel monitor, while the Mac Ilfx drove a 640- by 480-pixel monitor. Screen updates and desktop drawing were noticeably faster with the Accelerator. I used PageMaker 4.0 to create a 6- MB test file populated with two 24-bit PICT images, two 24-bit TIFF images, and sev- eral typefaces. I then scrolled about the document's pages and recorded the times. De- pending on the position and type of image on the pages, scrolling rates improved by from only a few percent to nearly 50 percent. I also tried Apple's 8*24 board with the Accelerator and observed a perfor-mance improvement of about 1 1 percent peak — not as fast as RasterOps' own board, but an improvement. I also installed 4 MB of RAM on the Accelerator, and when I re- booted, a RAM disk of that size appeared on the desktop. Both the Accelerator and the Imager 24L worked reliably. The fact that the Accelerator works with other vendors' boards and multiple boards is aplus. Ifyou plan on doing lots of 24-bit color work on your Mac, you might want to check out the Accelerator. — Tom Thompson 120 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Stuff Your Data into a Backpack You wouldn't take Micro- Solutions Computer Prod- ucts' Backpack on a hike, but it does hook up to the back of most computers, and it adds an extra external floppy disk drive (either VA- or 5/4-inch) to your system with an abso- lute minimum of fuss and bother. Backpack's biggest selling point is that it doesn't need an expansion slot or special gad- gets to get connected; it sim- ply plugs into a parallel port. And that doesn't mean that you lose a printer port, because Backpack has a jack on its own panel where you plug in your printer. The drive and the printer cooperate and manage to share the port without get- ting in each other's way. To install the Backpack, I plugged it into my computer's parallel port, hooked up its power supply, and switched it on. Then the installation soft- ware installed the device THE FACTS Backpack MicroSolutions Computer 5/4-inch (360K-byte or Products 1.2-MB), $425; 3^-inch 132 West Lincoln Hwy. (720K-byte or 1.44-MB), DeKalb,DL 60115 $349 (815)756-3411 Inquiry 1000. Requirements: IBM PC, PS/2, or compatible with a parallel port. driver that Backpack needs and copied a special format- ting program to my hard disk. It was then a simple matter to reboot the system and get to work. Backpack became the next drive (E) on my system. No muss, no fuss. The Backpack that I tested was the newest version, han- dling the new 2.8-megabyte extended-density disks that will undoubtedly soon become a standard. Backpack format- ted an ED disk in just a bit more time than a 1.44-MB floppy disk, showing a format- ted capacity of a healthy and handy 2,93 1 ,7 1 2 bytes. Back- pack also handles 720K-byte and 1.44-MB floppy disks flawlessly. Backpack expects a fully IBM-compatible parallel port, and some ports on low-cost clones aren't. They may work fine with a printer, but Back- pack gets terminal indigestion. You should try before you buy. Of course, at about $10 a crack, the special ED disks are expensive. You have to decide if you really need the storage space (and want to spend the extra $75 the ED drive costs). If not, there are MicroSolu- tions' lower-capacity (and lower-cost) alternatives. The drives aren't cheap, but if you need to add a drive to a computer that doesn't have room for one, or want to add some utility to your laptop, Backpack fills the bill. — Stan Miastkowski Legacy: Processing Words Under Windows 3.0 If a Macintosh is the com- puter fortherest of us, NBI's Legacy must be the word processor for those rich in free space on their hard disk. Legacy is a flexible and powerful program in most ways, but it is a disk-space pig. How so? Well, a file contain- ing four printable ASCII char- acters takes up 15,322 bytes of storage space when stored in Legacy (.CHP) format. By way of comparison, the same file in Amf Pro (.SAM) format takes up 4183 bytes on the disk; in Word for Windows (.DOC) format, 1754 bytes; in Microsoft Windows Write (.WRI) format, 640 bytes; and in raw ASCII, 6 bytes. As the amount of text in the file grows, the disparity be- tween it and the disk space used shrinks, of course. For example, this entire Short Take, before editing, required 3393 bytes of disk space as an ASCII file. In Legacy format, it took up 1 8,706 bytes, and in Word for Windows format, 5338 bytes. This means that if your writing runs to memos, single-page letters, and other short compositions, Legacy is probably not the program for you. However, if you're look- ing for a program that adds some desktop publishing capa- continued SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 121 SHORTTAKES bility to a full-featured word processor, Legacy should be on your check-it-out list. Legacy requires DOS 3.2 or higher and Microsoft Win- dows 3.0, so you may need to upgrade your software. It's a full WYSIWYG word proces- sor and allows screen images of up to 200 percent of actual page size. I found its draft- mode screen to be rather clut- tered: Draft mode, in addition to displaying the actual text, also displays all tokens as a guide to what the formatted page would look like. All the expected word pro- cessing features (e.g., cut, copy, and paste; search and replace; style sheets; spelling checker; thesaurus; automatic footnote, list, and endnote THE FACTS Legacy higher, Windows 3.0, $495 a Windows-compatible display device, and Requirements: a mouse. A286-or386-based computer with at least NBI, Inc. 640K bytes of RAM 3450 Mitchell Lane (1 MB is recommended), Boulder, CO 80301 a hard disk drive (20 MB (800)624-1111 minimum is recom- (303)444-5710 mended), DOS 3.2 or Inquiry 1001. generation; hyphenation; headers and footers; and mail merge) are there. Dynamic Data Exchange and file link- ing are supported. It can import and export text files in 15 different formats and import and export graph- ics files in 13 different formats. Tabular data in Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel format can be imported, also. Formatting and page layout are very powerful. There's no limit to the number of text, graphics, or table frames that can be used on a page. (A frame is simply a virtual box that holds a specific type of data. By having unlimited frames, it is — at least in the- ory — possible to build such complicated documents as a newspaper's supermarket ad or an illustrated page for an electronics component supply catalog.) A built-in editor can create vector graphics using object-oriented methods, much as high-end design pro- grams like Micrografx De- signer and Corel Draw can do. Text can flow across pages and columns into linked frames. Type sizes range from 1 to 792 points, and in normal, bold- face, italic, overstrike, under- line, superscript, and subscript. — George Bond New Norton Utilities Puts on a Too-Happy Face Norton Utilities 5.0 is loaded (or perhaps more accurately, weighed down) with a huge array of features that can be lifesavers for files, hard disk drives, and even whole systems. They're all tied together with a new Common User Access-like textual (pseudographic) inter- face that (for the first time) works with a mouse. Ever since 1982, when Pe- ter Norton released his semi- nal unerase utility and got the PC utility business off to a rousing start, the thing that I've liked best about Norton soft- ware is that it's always been lean, mean . . . and superb. Previous versions of NU were never chocked with features. They just did their job with a minimum of hassle. Sure, naive users could do real damage to a hard disk if they didn't know what they were doing, but that was part of the game. In NU 5.0, Norton has un- fortunately succumbed to the blatant featuritus that's re- cently affected the PC utility business. It's a cruel and com- petitive world out there, and today's conventional wisdom says you have to stuff your products with every possible feature under the sun, and then add a few more. Don't get me wrong. Some of NU 5.0's new features are ground-breaking, as Norton attempts to stay ahead of arch- competitors like Mace Utilities and PC Tools. In the limited space I have here, I can't do more than scratch the surface of the long list of what the new NU can do. All the old familiar NU abilities are still in NU 5.0. Some have been vastly ex- panded. Norton Disk Doctor II is the most obvious example. Like the original, it does a highly competent job of diag- nosing (and recovering from) even the most esoteric hard disk problems. But in a nod to competitors like Disk Techni- cian and SpinRite II, it now includes various levels of schedulable disk diagnosis and interleave tuning. If your drive's being occasionally cranky, you can even run a diagnosis that will chunk along for a few days. Going beyond fixing a whole disk, Norton has come up with a new File Fix utility that attempts to recover the THE FACTS Norton Utilities 5.0 $179 Requirements: IBM PC, AT, PS/2, or compatible; hard disk drive required to run advanced diagnostics. Peter Norton Computing 100 Wilshire Blvd., Ninth Floor Santa Monica, CA 90401 (213)319-2000 Inquiry 1003. contents of corrupted files. The first release of NU 5.0 works with Lotus 1 -2-3 and dBASE files, and the Norton folks say that file fixers for other popu- lar applications are in the works. No utility can recover all damaged data; there are just too many variables involved. But NU comes close indeed. NU 5.0 is the first Norton Utility that works on a net- work, and new utilities like Disk Monitor and Diskreet are designed for connectivity. Disk Monitor (a TSR pro- gram) keeps a record of all continued 122 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 CrossCodeC for l he 68000 Microprocessor Fan • , <^-. ^ et CrossCodeC Embedded systems designers have already used CrossCode C in over 577 different applications. CrossCode C comes with four powerful tools to help you program your 68000-based ROMable applications From C source to final object, each tool takes you one step closer to your finished ROMable design CrossCode C is designed specifically to help you write ROMable code for all members of the Motorola 68000 fam ily . Four powerful tools take you from C source to object code: 1. COMPILER: To get truly ROMable code, you have to start with a truly ROMable compiler. Here are three CrossCode C features that you won't find in any ordinary C compiler: • Compiler output code is split into five independent memory sections that you can assign into ROM or RAM as you please. • You can optimize the code for your application because)?*™ control the sizes of data types. For example, you can optimize for speed by using two byte itits, or get maximum versatility by using four byte ints. • You can easily write assembly language routines that call C functions and vice versa, because the compiler uses simple, well documented parameter passing conventions. 2. ASSEMBLER: CrossCode C comes with a Motorola-style assembler that has all the features that assembly language programmers require. In fact, you could write your whole application with it: •The assembler features an advanced macro language, conditional assembly, "include" files, and an unlimited size symbol table. • Detailed cross references show you where you've defined and referenced your symbols. • After a link, you can actually convert your "relocatable" assembler listings into "absolute" listings that contain absolute addresses and fully linked object code. 3. LINKER: The CrossCode C linker is designed to handle truly huge loads. There are no limits on the number of symbols in your load or on the size of your output file. And you can always count on full 32 bit target addressability, because the linker operates comfortably in the highest ranges of the 68030's address space. 4. DOWNLOADER: CrossCode C comes with a downloader that puts you in touch with all EPROM programmers and emulators. It can convert your load into Motorola S-Records, Intel Hex, Tek Hex, Extended Tek Hex, and Data I/O ASCII Hex. You can also produce a binary image and convert that image into any format you might want. In all formats, bytes can be split into EPROMs for an 8, 16, or 32 bit data bus. Why Wait Once you start using CrossCode C, you may just wonder how you ever got the job done before! It's available under MS-DOS for just $ 1 995, and it runs on all IBM PCs and compatibles (640K memory and hard disk are required). Also available under UNIX, XENIX, and VMS. CALL TODAY formore information: 1-800-448-7733 (ask for extension 2002) Outside the United States, please dial PHONE: 1-708-971-8170 FAX: 1-708-971-8513 SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS, INC. DEPARTMENT 22 4248 BELLE AIRE LANE DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS 60515 USA CrossCode™ is a irademark of SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS, INC. MS-DOS® is a registered irademark of Microsoft. UNIX® is a registered trademark of AT&T. XENIX® is a registered trademark of Microsoft. SHORTTAKES disk reads and writes, and of who does them. Diskreet (get the pun?) lets you store files in an encrypted form with password protection. Even better, the newest incarnation of File Find works across multiple drives (and across a network). Since I'm always tucking files away in some odd directory, File Find is the util- ity that I use most. NU 5.0 keeps delivering surprises. A case in point is File Save, which essentially assigns priorities to files so that when you delete them (accidentally or on purpose), the areas they're stored on aren't immediately overwritten the way DOS normally does. It works like this: Say you've purposely erased an old ver- sion of a spreadsheet file and you realize several days later that you shouldn't have. With- out File Save, chances are its area would already have been overwritten. But if you used File Save and gave the files high priority, there's a good chance you can still recover the original file by using NU 5.0's unerase utility. Probably the biggest change in NU 5.0 is the System Infor- mation utility. In previous versions, it was a single screen of essential data about your system. In NU 5.0, it's been vastly expanded. The new SI gives you 20 screens full of data, from the essential to the esoteric. The whole thing's capped off by a little graphics show that presents your system's Norton SI rating on a graph and compares it to some other common hardware. Topping off the list of new bells and whistles are Norton's first caching utility and a vastly improved disk sector editor (with split screen, cut and paste, and data links). Last, and certainly not least, Norton's unerase utility is faster and much easier to use. The Norton folks say they've redesigned their utili- ties for today's "real business world," with many computer users who don't have lots of technical expertise. True. Norton Utilities 5.0 is chock full of text screens filled with explanations and helpful sug- gestions. But I can't help but feel that by stuffing in features and making it so user- friendly that it's almost bothersome, something's been lost for ad- vanced users. There was some- thing to be said for living dan- gerously. — Stan Miastkowski Hardware Directory Fits on Your Hard Disk One of the nice things about this industry is that when you go to buy some- thing, there are so many choicesavailable. But that can easily be frustrating as well. How do you keep up with all the new products that become available? How do you decide among them? A new software product for IBM systems that's called HardFacts attempts to solve this problem. This product in- cludes approximately 6 mega- bytes of data on about 6000 hardware products. Almost every type of hardware prod- uct is included, from light- weight laptops to desktop i486-based systems, from keyboards to color monitors, and from scanners to tape backup systems. HardFacts includes a large amount of information about each product. For most prod- ucts, this entails about 50 pieces of information. Also, if the product has been reviewed in a magazine or has won any awards, that information is included. HardFacts mentions both the list price of the prod- uct and the street price, along with its distributors. HardFacts was created using Nantucket's Clipper database manager and has a fairly straightforward user in- terface. When you are looking for a particular product, Hard- Facts lets you easily narrow the criteria for your search. For example, HardFacts presents you with a large number of product categories. If you are interested in look- ing at tape backup systems, you simply select that category from the list. You can then choose to look at a list of all 140 tape backup systems, or you can narrow the search simply by selecting criteria from a criteria menu. You can, for example, select to see only those backup systems with capacities of less than 40 MB. Of course, in any product like this, the value of the prod- uct depends on the quality and timeliness of the information presented. HardFacts solves the problem of timeliness by providing monthly updates for its database on a yearly sub- scription basis. As for the quality of the information, I will have to wait for a shipping version of the product before I give the final word. A prere- lease version I worked with contained some good informa- tion. You can also judge the quality for yourself, since HardFacts has a 30-day money-back guarantee. But no matter how good the database is, once you zero in on a particular product, you will usually want to see a bro- chure on it as well. And Hard- Facts has a good solution for this. For most products, all you need to do is call a special tele- phone number using the phone that's connected to your fax machine and feed in your sub- scription number and the code number of the product you are interested in, and the Hard- Facts folks will fax you the manufacturer's spec sheet. HardFacts is a fairly expen- sive product and is not for everyone. But it is one of those products that can surely be used by everyone at one time or another. The question is whether you will need it often enough to justify the cost. For people who purchase or work with large amounts of hard- ware, HardFacts will be ex- tremely hard to pass up. ■ — Rich M alloy THE FACTS HardFacts $695 Requirements: IBM PC or compatible with 640K bytes of memory and a hard disk drive with 6 MB of free space. HardFacts 292 Cabot St. Beverly, MA 01915 (508) 927-1370 Inquiry 1002. 124 BYTE • SEPTEMBER 1990 Here'sHow^CfeProtect Y)urSoftwareAndProfitsBetter. WellNeverTHL . the world how we protect your hard work. But then, why should we? It's not that we're hard to get along with. On the contrary. We'll show you how our unwordy approach to software protection can actually work better for you. We'll deliver the best balance of guaranteed copy control and cost-effective installation. Unlike other manufacturers, our hardware is uniquely custom-wired for each developer and supplied with a specific enoypted intetrogation routine for maximum security The precise routines assume responsibility for all hardware, software and timing issues so your time and money isn't wasted engineering protection schemes. V^MICROPHAR The Products That Protect Your Revenues ► PROTECHKEY Identically reproduced packages. ► MEMORY KEY MACINTOSH MEMORY KEY NEC MEMORY KEY Active protection, modular packages, customized packages, serialization, demo control, access control. ► MEMORY-ONE KEY Customized packages, modular packages ► MICROPROCESSOR KEY Non-operating system specific protection based on RS232C communications for minicomputers, workstations, etc. In EUROPE: MICROPHAR, 122 Ave. Ch. De Gaulle 92200, Neuilly Sur-Seine FRANCE Tel: 33-1-47-38-21-21 Fax: 33-1-46-24-76-91 For distributors in: • BELGIUM/NETHERLANDS, E2S (091 21 11 17)- GERMANY, Delta Xmit (0621 41 08 178) • IRELAND, TMC (021 87 37 1 1 ) • ITALY, Siosistemi (030 24 21 074) • PORTUGAL, HCR ( 1 56 18 65) • SPAIN, Hal 2000 (023 37 3105) •SWITZERLAND, SAFE (024 21 5386)- UNITED KINGDOM, Market.! (1 44684 31) MARKETING, INC. 1-800-843-0413 In the U.S., the AMERICAS & the PACIFIC: PROTECH, 9600-J Southern Pine Blvd., Charlotte, NC 282 1 7 Se Habla Espatiol Tel: 704-523-9500 Fax: 704-523-7651 Hours: Mon-Thurs: 8:30-7:00 ET, Fri: 8:30-5:30 ET *Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc *NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Information Systems, Inc. FOR A DEMONSTRATION PACKAGE OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE WRITE OR CALL. For Europe Circle 232 on Reader Service Card For Americas & Pacific Circle 233 on Reader Service Card THE BEST USE IN 1DWM NOW SCREENN _J ©1990Sun Microsystems, Inc. ,?D Sun Microsystems and the Sun logo are registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. OPEN LOOK is a trademark of AT&T. All other products or services R INTERFACE PLAYING AT A EAR YOU. The OPEN LOOK" user interface. It's a real hit with independent software vendors, in-house developers and end users. In fact, over 300 applications are in development today. By people like Lotus! INFORMIX^ Island Graphics^ Interleaf® and Frame! And it's the most popular front end to UNIX! For a number of reasons. First of all, it makes UNIX easy to use. Because there are no complicated UNIX commands. It also looks better than any other interface. From its icons to its 3D elements. And makes users more effi- cient. For example, our drag and drop feature gives them a simple, intuitive way to move files around the desktop. Our push-pin icon makes it even easier to use. And OPEN LOOK gives users the same interface across multiple plat- forms, so they learn it once. And enjoy access to a huge range of network resources. As a developer, you'll see it's also the easiest to work with. Because it's part of OpenWindows," a complete develop- ment environment. With the tools you need to create applications faster than ever. And ready-made features, like our DeskSet" graphical productivity tools, that you can give users right away. Of course, the business reasons to choose OPEN LOOK are just as strong. OPEN LOOK is the standard interface of AT&T's UNIX System V.4, so it's included at no charge. And it will run on over 20 platforms, including DEC® HP/ and IBM! Since it's portable across multiple platforms, you only write your application once. Which saves thou- sands of man-hours. Finally, with OPEN LOOK, you have the full support of a company that leads the workstation industry in worldwide shipments? We've put together a videotape that shows you exactly what OPEN LOOK is all about. Just call us at 1-800-624-8999 (ext. 2068), and we'll send you a free copy. Then find a nice comfortable seat close to your screen. Because the closer you look, the better we get. #sun ^9r microsystems mentioned are identified by the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or organizations. *Source, International Data Corporation, 1990. 36.3% market share. Circle 280 on Reader Service Card FIRST IMPRESS N S The NEC ProSpeed SX/20: Take It and Leave It Expansion options that let laptops serve as both portable and desk- top computers aren't new, but NEC Technologies' new Pro- Speed SX/20 just might provide the best of both worlds in terms of totability and power. Running at 20 MHz and weighing just under 13 pounds with battery, the SX/20 not only outperforms its 16-MHz SX competitors, it's also lighter than al- most all of them. The optional Docking Station provides everything you need to transform the portable into a full-featured desktop unit. The machine's list price ($5999 for the SX/20, including keyboard and monitor; and $1199 more for the Dock- ing Station) might seem steep, but $7198 is less than what you'd pay to buy top- Speed and light weight separate this desktop/laptop from its SX competitors Michael Nadeau brand desktop and portable PCs. Speed and flexibility are just two of the SX/20' s virtues. Standard features include a 2 1 /2-inch 40-megabyte Prairie- Tek hard disk drive; a 3 l/2-inch 1 .44-MB floppy disk drive; a detachable 83-key keyboard; a pull-out handle; serial, RJ- 1 1 , printer, and external monitor ports; 1 MB of RAM (expandable to 5 MB); and the best 640- by 480-pixel VGA LCD screen I've seen. MS-DOS 4.01, setup diagnostics, an EMS 4.0 driver, a disk- cache utility, and a RAM disk make up the standard software. I tested a preproduction unit. NEC was still working on the BIOS (doing mostly performance tuning), but otherwise the system was essentially the same one that should be available in September. Its crisp black-on-white VGA display is one of the NEC ProSpeed SX/20 's most appealing features. Both text and graphics appear sharp and well-defined. 128 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL AVIS © 1990 R S T MPRESSIONS PRELIMINARY BYTE LOW-LEVEL BENCHMARK SCORES The NEC ProSpeed SX/20's CPU performance is better than that of the Compaq 386/20 SX desktop system 's. The Goupil Golf is a 16-MHz 386SX system also designed to work as both a portable and a desktop. CPU Disk Video NEC ProSpeed SX/20 2 . 05 Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 1 .76 Goupil Golf 2.18 1.11 2.91 1.86 5.33 8.21 4.33 Note: Benchmark results are indexed to show relative performance; higher numbers indicate better performance. For all indexes, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT running MS-DOS 3.30 « 1 . Traveling Light Make no mistake; it's not easy lugging around 13 pounds of computer, even if it's just from your office to your home. NEC compensates for that fact by pro- viding considerable processing power in a relatively small form factor. The BYTE low-level benchmarks indicate that the SX/20 is an able performer (see the table). And NEC promises speed gains once the BIOS is finalized. At 13% by 3% by 10% inches, the SX/20 fits snugly under your arm and is compact enough for you to carry by the handle without banging it on your legs as you walk. It will also fit into most brief- cases, and NEC sells an optional carry- ing case. If you don't need the battery, you can simply pop it out and snap in the AC converter, thus saving yourself a pound of weight and the hassle of carry- ing the converter separately. By compar- ison, the recently introduced Compaq SLT 386s/20 is larger and more than a pound heavier. The SX/20 will be among the first to use PrairieTek's 28-millisecond, 2*/2- inch 40-MB hard disk drives. This small form factor conserves space but limits disk storage options until higher-capacity 2 1 /2-inch hard disk drives become avail- able. By contrast, Compaq offers up to 120 MB of hard disk storage on the SLT 386s/20. The optional Docking Station provides a 5V4-inch drive bay for addi- tional mass storage. Battery life is an adequate 2 l /2 hours. The nickel-cadmium unit recharges in 2 hours using the AC converter with the machine off, or in 5 hours when the machine is in use. An optional battery COMPANY INFORMATION NEC Technologies, Inc. 1255 Michael Dr. Wood Dale, IL 60191 (708) 860-9500 Inquiry 858. charger can charge two batteries at a time. Other options include a 2400-bps modem ($399) and a 2400-bps modem with 9600-bps send/receive fax capabil- ity ($699). These modems install in a slot located under the keyboard tray. The keyboard is intelligently designed and has a good feel, although the keys are not quite full-travel. The cursor-control keys are in the familiar inverted "T" configuration, and all 12 function keys reside on the top row. Fold-out legs on the detachable keyboard provide a suffi- cient typing angle. For video, NEC uses a backlit LCD design that's a variation of film-twisted nematic technology. By removing one layer of glass on the screen and replacing it with a film layer, NEC claims to have reduced the weight of the screen by about 35 percent and improved contrast by roughly the same amount. A high-qual- ity dif f user evenly distributes the fluo- rescent backlighting. The result is a crisp and easy-to-read black-on-white text dis- play. When running Windows 3.0, how- ever, I found myself frequently adjusting the brightness and contrast controls after switching from one graphical application to another. A standby switch puts the CPU into low-power mode and shuts down every- thing else except memory; if you push it again, the machine comes back on to where you left it. A reset button, an un- usual but welcome feature on a portable, is recessed into the side of the unit, out of harm's way. A password security feature is standard. Meanwhile, Back at the Office For power and features, the SX/20 lacks little, yet by itself it's not a suitable office system for most businesses. That's where the Docking Station comes in. This unit provides two AT-standard 16-bit expan- sion slots, two serial ports, one parallel port, two RJ- 1 1 ports, external keyboard and video ports, and a drive bay. When docked, the SX/20 redirects blocked par- allel, serial, and RJ-11 ports to the cor- responding ports on the Docking Station. It also maintains two sets of AUTOEX- EC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files-one for the portable configuration and one for the desktop. NEC says this makes for a "one-touch transition" between porta- ble and desktop configurations. The SX/20 locks into the Docking Sta- tion by means of a 16-bit bus interface at the rear of the unit. Once the unit is at- tached, you can use the system on the desktop or as a floor-standing unit. With the Docking Station, you can expand memory up to 16 MB. Who Is It For? The NEC SX/20 is not for everyone. It's among the most powerful of the battery- operated portables, but it's also one of the more expensive. In the desktop con- figuration, you're limited to just two ex- pansion slots and one drive bay. And $7198 will buy comparably equipped laptop and desktop systems from reputa- ble vendors with lower list prices. (To be fair, NEC estimates that the price for a fully decked-out laptop/desktop version of the SX/20 could be as low as $5000 after discounts.) For those who depend on a laptop as much as their desktop and who require the horsepower to run com- pute-intensive applications, the SX/20 looks like a slick solution. Combining desktop and portable sys- tems into one unit is an important trend. More and more businesses are finding ways to use portable PCs to maximize the productivity of their personnel while they're away from the office. It makes sense to have one system that can serve double-duty— not just because it might be cheaper to equip people that way, but be- cause it creates a better, seamless link between work done on the road and work done in the office. ■ Michael Nadeau is the managing editor of the BYTE Lab. You can reach him on BIX as "mi ken." SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 129 Laser printing OKIDATA introduces OK3LASERS. A full line of business smart laser printers that's compatible with both HP® and your budget. Personal to PostScript® OKHASERS deliver the same tank tough™ performance and reliability that OKIDATA has built into more than 3,000,000 printers. OKHASERS by OKIDATA ... a printer for every business. Call 1-800-OKIDATA for the tank tough dealer nearest you. OKIDATA* ^k an OKI AMERICA company We put business on paper. OKIDATA is a registered trademark of Oki America, Inc., Marque deposee de Oki America Inc. OKILASER™ is a trademark of Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. Tank tough™ is a trademark of Oki America, Inc. HP, Adobe IbstScript, Macintosh are tiademarks of their icspective corporations. Circle 213 on Reader Service Card A. <& «*. v. %S%^ £<&* C?KN / ^ \SEW T "nOO Small. Personal. Affordable. 4 pages per minute. 17 fonts. Holds 200 sheets. A genuine laser. A genuine bargain. OKP£AIEft™800 For heavy duty use. 8 ppm. 26 fonts. Expandable to PostScript® and dual bins. A real workhorse. Prints up the side, across the other, drop shadows, stretch letters, outline, fill, and sets fonts up to 2 " instantly, 8 ppm. OKP£AXER™840 True Adobe PostScript? Perfect for desktop publishing on DOS or Macintosh® systems. 8 ppm. WHBmmmBamtm PRODUCT WYSIWYG WORD PROCESSORS Word Processors That Build Character The BYTE Lab compares 15 WYSIWYG word processors for the Macintosh and the PC Howard Eglow stein, Stan Wszola, and Tom Thompson Word processing programs have been with us since the birth of microcomputers. Then, as now, they gave many people a tool to rapidly produce and modify large documents. The document's appearance was originally a secondary issue, par- tially because the printer technology at the time didn't give you much choice; you had to settle for the monospaced character font in the printer's ROM. The situation has certainly improved since then. Today, you can select a par- ticular typeface for your document and expect it to show up on the screen. It doesn't have to be a monospaced font, either. Even better, many laser printers will reproduce the document's typeface faithfully, at 300-dot-per-inch or better resolution. Now that you have better control over the look of the output, you need a good idea of how the document will appear be- fore you commit it to paper. Will adding that table of cost-justification figures to the business report bump the text ex- plaining the costs to another page? Can you add a logo to the company's letter- head? How will it look? Any word processing package gives you a tool to organize your thoughts and correct your grammar before you com- mit it to paper; WYSIWYG helps you make it look attractive. 132 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Typing, or Typesetting? Character-based word processing isn't dead— far from it. Modern word proces- sors offer a lengthy list of formatting fea- tures, and they usually provide a sub- stantial preview mode to let you check on the final output. When choosing a word processor, choose WYSIWYG when the look of what you write is almost as im- portant as the content. Drawing a line be- tween WYSIWYG and desktop publish- ing is somewhat harder; at some point, you'll finish composing your text and concentrate on the layout. Even the best of the WYSIWYG word processors fall far behind a DTP package for final for- matting. If you find yourself spending lots of time adjusting fonts and moving graphics, maybe you should be using a DTP package instead. Like DTP packages, WYSIWYG word processors allow you to integrate text and graphics onto the same page. Drawing tools, graphics file import functions, and graphical manipulation functions let you insert symbols, logos, and illustra- tions directly into your document. File import functions let you place high-reso- lution graphics, and usually the text will automatically flow around the image. The products that we've looked at for this Product Focus cover the entire spec- trum of word processors, from full-fea- tured packages such as Ami Professional and Microsoft Word to rather specialized packages such as InText and Mind Write. Seeing Is Believing To test these products, we ran them on a variety of machines. We ran the DOS products on a 20-MHz Compaq 386 with a VGA monitor and 6 megabytes of mem- ory. For the lower-end products, we wanted to see how they performed on a low-end machine. Another Compaq did the trick— a Compaq Plus portable, with the original 4.77-MHz 8088 and 640K bytes of memory. Although Windows 3.0 will run on the Plus's internal CGA, the 8088 is hardly the processor to use for se- rious Windows work. We didn't bother testing the Windows word processors on the Plus. We ran all the Macintosh products on two systems: a Mac SE with 4 MB of memory, and an SE/30 with 2 MB. We found the general performance of all the word processors to be adequate on the SE. Of course, the Mac SE/30's 16-MHz 68030 had more than enough horsepower to keep up with even the fastest typist. All the test machines had hard disk drives with at least 8 MB of free space. Our PC compatibles used an HP LaserJet III with a PostScript cartridge for output, and the Macs used a networked Laser- Writer IINT. To get a feel for overall performance, we asked each of the word processors to perform general functions that typify the way you'd use a word processor. The ASCII text-import and save-to-disk tests provide information on general disk han- dling. Printing is another typical use for a word processor; we printed out a 45K- byte text document that consisted of 17 pages of 10-point text, and a more com- plex document with many font changes, a graphic, and double columns. Using the search-and-replace function to locate 10 occurrences of a phrase in the 45K bytes of text gave us a hint of how the products handle lengthy documents. Finally, holding down either the cur- sor keys or the mouse button and scroll- ing from one end of the document to the other gave us some measure of the screen performance. The results are shown in the figure. Don't let the numbers influ- ence you too much, though. The true test of a word processor is its ease of use, and on the Mac SE, most of the word proces- sors were acceptable. The only package in this review that we judged acceptable on the Compaq Plus was BetterWorking Word Publisher 5.0. For anything else, we recommend a 10-MHz or faster 286 machine. Functionality is harder to gauge, and continued :■ PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL AVIS © 1990 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 133 WYSIWYG WORD PROCESSORS The WYSIWYG packages are divided into two groups; the PC packages are on the left, and the Mac packages are on the right. Only a few of the packages, such as Ami Professional and Microsoft Word, have a complete list of features (%=yes;0=no). Product name Ami Professional BetterWorking InText The Universal WinText Word for 1.2 Word Publisher 5.0 1.53 Word 1.5 1.54 Windows 1.0 Price $495 $59.95 $295 $395 $195 $495 Hardware needed Editing PC 1 PC 2 PC 3 PC* PC 5 PC 6 Spelling checker • • • • • Thesaurus • • o • o Outliner Limited function • o O o Mail merge • • o O • Undo Math functions • o o • • Tables only o o O o Equation editor O o • O o Automatic timed save • o o o • Context-sensitive help Draft mode • • o o o • • o o o Maximum no. of windows 1 1 (2 files) 1 Memory- dependent 4 8 WP import formats WP export formats 13 13 ASCII ASCII ASCII 2 8 9 ASCII 2 8 8 Long document features Create index/table of contents Cross-referencing • • O O • • O O O O Page marks • • O O • Customization tools Macro learn mode • o • O o Macro editor • o O O o Macro programming language • o o O o Customized main menu O o o O o Dynamic Data Exchange links • o o O o Groupwork editing Document notes • o o O o Strike-through • o o • • Document summary • o o O o Formatting Style sheets • • o O o Conditional page breaks • o o • o Widow/orphan control • o o • o Automatic hyphenation • • o o • Snaking columns • • o o o Side-by-side columns • • o o o Kerning and tracking control • o o • o Document queues • • o o o Prints in background • • o o • Graphics File formats imported 6 3 2 O 3 12 Sizes/crops/rotates graphics • Sizes o Sizes, crops Sizes, crops Moves graphics frames • • o O • Print-preview mode Flows text around graphics Drawing program o Print mode only o O O O Page preview • • O • • Lines, boxes, borders • • • Polygon drawing O • • Drawing program • O o o O Table editor • O O o o • Minimum system requirements: 1 286, 640K bytes of RAM, graphics card (Hercules, CGA, EGA, or VGA), DOS 3.0, mouse, and a hard disk drive. 2 8088, 512K bytes of RAM. graphics card, DOS 2.1 , mouse fordraw mode, and one floppy disk drive. 3 8088, 512K bytes of RAM. graphics card, DOS 2.1 , two floppy disk drives, and a hard disk drive. 4 8088, 640K bytes of RAM, graphics card, DOS 3.0, and a hard disk drive. 5 8088. 512K bytes of RAM, graphics card. DOS 3.0. and a hard disk drive. 6 286, 640K bytes of system RAM, 1 MB of expanded RAM, graphics card (EGA or better recommended), DOS 3.0, and a hard disk drive. 7 Mac Plus, 1 MB of RAM (2MB recommended), a hard disk drive, and an 800K-byte floppy disk drive. 8 Mac Plus, two 800K-byte floppy disk drives, and System 6.0. for that we contrived a complex docu- ment typical of the applications for which you might use these word processors. Our test document had seven formatting changes. The text itself was set in two- column format, but the title on the first page was a single column of centered text. The first page also contained a 2- by 2-inch graphic, scanned at 300 dpi as either a TIFF-, PICT-, or PCX-format graphics file. Word processors unable to read any of those formats could get the image from the Clipboard in Windows or the Mac environment. In that case, the image resolution dropped to the standard screen resolution of 72 or 75 dpi. More Than Just a Pretty Typeface All the packages that we looked at have the basic word processing features and more. You can enter text, edit it, cut and paste, and search and replace— every writing function, with varying levels of ease. Most of these packages are rich in features. They have so many capabilities 134 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 FullWrlte Professional 1.1 $395 MacWrlte II 1.1 $249 Microsoft Word 4.0 $395 MlndWrlte 2.1 $195 Nlsus 2.11 $395 QuIckLetter 1.03 $124.95 WordMaker 1.01 $124.95 WordPerfect forthe Mac 1.0.4 $395 WriteNow 2.2 $199 Mac 7 Mac 8 Mac 9 Mac 10 Mac" • • O • • w/macros O • • O Memory- dependent 3 3 • • • • • • O O • • o • o • • • • o o • PICT • • o • • • o Mac 1 2 • O O o • o o o o o 10 2 2 O O O O O O • o o o o • o o o o o o • • PICT o o o • o o o Mac 13 • O O • • o o o o o 10 2 2 O O O O O O O O O o o • o o o o o o o • PICT Sizes • O O o o o Mac 14 O O • O o Memory- dependent 8 7 • O • • o o o o o • o o • PICT Sizes, crops O O • O o o Mac 15 • • O • • Format only • • • O • o • o o o • • O O o o O O O o o • o O O • • o o o O o Memory- dependent 5 o Memory- dependent 5 5 O O Memory- dependent 7 22 4 24 7 2 24 7 4 • O O • • O O O O • O O O O O o O • o o O • o o o o o O • • O O O O O O O O O o O o O • • O o • o o o o o o o • • • o o • o o • • • • • o • • • O • o o o • PICT Sizes O O O O O • • • • o Letter pairs • • • o o o o o • PICT o o o o o o o o • • • • PICT Sizes, crops • 3 • • 8 • • • O • • • O • • • • o • o o o O 9 Mac 51 2KE, two 800K-byte floppy disk drives, System 3.2, and Finder 5.3. 10 Mac 512KE and two 800K-byte floppy disk drives. " Mac Plus, 1 MB of RAM (2 MB recommended), and two 800K-byte floppy disk drives. 12 Mac 512KE and one 800K-byte floppy disk drive. 13 Mac 512KE, one 800K-byte floppy disk drive (a second 800K-byte floppy disk drive or hard disk drive is recommended), and System 4.1 . 14 Mac 512KE, two 800K-byte floppy disk drives, and System 4.1 . 15 Mac 51 2KE, one 800K-byte floppy disk drive, System 2.0, and Finder 4.1. that we found it hard to try every feature on every package. If you're an average user, you will probably use only 80 per- cent of the capabilities of any particular WYSIWYG word processor. You'll de- sign your own page style, pick a few fonts, and do most of your work using those few options. We've listed all the major features available for all the WYSIWYG packages in the table above. For ease of compari- son, we've separated the table into PC- compatible and Mac-based products. There is a difference in design philoso- phy between the PC and Mac products that in some cases prevents a direct com- parison. For example, all the Mac prod- ucts share the resources of the Mac OS, taking advantage of the general ease of moving data from one Mac product to another. The PC packages that run under Win- dows can also share data with other continued SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 135 FOCUS WYSIWYG Word Processors BYTE BENCHMARK RESULTS: WYSIWYG WORD PROCESSORS MACINTOSH FullWrite Professional 1 .1 Mac Write II 1.1 Microsoft Word 4.0 MindWrite 2.1 Nisus2.11 QuickLetter 1 .03 WordMaker 1 .01 WordPerfect for the Mac 1 .0.4 WriteNow 2.2 MS-DOS Amf Professional 1 .2 BetterWorking Word Publisher 5.0 lnText1.53 The Universal Word 1 .5 WinText 1.54 Word for Windows 1 .0 □ X] K I] 10 20 40 □ 45K-byte ASCII import □ 45K-byte file save 50 1 00 200 □ Print 45K-byte text □ Scroll 300 400 Loading and saving files, printing, and text scrolling are the functions you '11 use most often. BetterWorking Word Publisher was particularly quick with file I/O. Print speed is largely printer dependent. We tested the Macintosh products with a LaserWriter 1INT; we measured the PC times on an HP LaserJet III with the PostScript cartridge. If your editing involves a lot of cutting and pasting, a fast scroll is essential— Word for Windows, Ami Professional, Nisus, and MacWrite II all did an exceptional job moving through text. QuickLetter could load only 3 IK bytes of the test file. The Universal Word printed in HP LaserJet mode, not PostScript. All times are in seconds. applications; the non-Windows-based packages don't have that luxury. Mac product designers rely on the Macin- tosh's ability to automatically give their software access to data from every other Mac application. For that reason, people who design products for the PC have to incorporate more features than would be necessary on a Mac. On a Mac word pro- cessor, you can paste in a graphic that you drew in MacDraw. On a PC, if your word processor doesn't have a drawing package, you may have to live without fancy graphics. MultiFinder on the Mac- intosh provides background printing on LaserWriters to any application. Under Windows, the Print Manager/Spooler does the same for Windows applications. Most of the packages use or provide a direct Mac or Mac-like environment. The work environment consists of a win- dow with mouse and keyboard interface, pull-down menus, and function selection by clicking the mouse buttons. If you feel at home with the Mac, then all the Mac- based packages should be easy to learn. For those who are more comfortable with the keyboard, most packages do a fair job of mapping keystrokes to commonly used functions. We tested the PC-based packages under both Windows 2.11 and Windows 3.0. Windows 3.0 is considered by most to be very Mac-like, and Ami Profession- al, Word for Windows, and WinText all use this to their advantage. The others? Well, the interfaces are a bit different. The relative importance of each fea- ture depends on the type of document you require. Most of these packages should prove more than adequate for memos, form letters, brochures, and contracts. Ami Professional 1.2 With the release of version 1.2, Sam- na's Ami Professional fully sup- ports Microsoft Windows 3.0 (see photo 1). There's simply no two ways about it- Ami Professional is a serious word pro- cessor. It has full word processing and editing capabilities; paragraph control with choice of fonts, alignment, and spacing; page-formatting control; and a spelling checker, a thesaurus, and an in- dex and table of contents generator. Products such as Ami Professional and Word for Windows make the line be- tween word processing and DTP a thin, gray one. Ami Professional has the standard look and feel of a Windows application. It takes full advantage of all the Win- dows features, including Dynamic Data Exchange. With DDE, you can set up links between Ami Professional and Ex- cel so that any changes made in the spreadsheet will update the Ami Profes- sional document automatically. File handling is another of Ami Pro- fessional's strengths. Besides handling the usual ASCII, it can import and ex- port to or from most of the competitors' products. Ami Professional's index fea- ture enables you to create multiple-level indexes. Go through your document and mark words that you want in the index. The program will then build an index or continued 136 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 They Left out Features.... We Left out the COMMA!! The only thing missing... is the comma in the price. It you look at the chart on the right you willseepriceschargedbyourcom- petition. All but one contain a comma. DesignCAD 3D sells tor $399.00. Period. No Comma! In order to draw the complex pic- tures shown below it is desirable to have the following 3D features: • Interactive design with 3D cursor • Blending of surfaces • Boolean operations such as add, subtract, and intersection • Complex extrusions • Cross sectioning • Block scaling • On screen shading • Shaded output to printers and plotters All ofthesecompetitorsleftoutone or more of these desirable features in their standard package. They didn't forget the most horrible fea- ture -the comma. DesignCAD 3D offers ALL the listed features plus many more! If DesignCAD 3D has the power to create the 3D objects shown below, imagine how it could help with your design project! DesignCAD 3D sells for $399. We left outthe comma. We didn't think you would mind! PC MAGAZINE SAYS... DesignCAD 3D, the latest feature- packed, low -cost C ADD package from American Small Business Computers, delivers more bang per buck than any of its low-cost competitors and threat- ens programs costing ten times as much. For a low-cost, self-contained 3D package... DesignCAD 's range of features steals the show. " $399 AutoCAD AEC $1 ,000.00 AutoShade $500.00 Solids $995.00 IGES translator $1 ,995.00 DataCAD Velocity $2,000.00 BYTE MAGAZINE SAYS... "At $399, DesignCAD 3D was the least expensive package we saw, yet it was one of the more powerful. ..Don't be fooled by the remarkably low price, this program can really perform. " May 1989, page 178 Complete 3-Dimensional design fea- tures make it easy for you to construct realistic 3-D models. With full solid- object modeling capabilities you can analyze your drawing to determine the volume, surface area or even centerof gravity! DesignCAD 3-D even permits you to check for interference between objects! Aeronautical Engi- neers can now find the centerof grav- ity for a new airplane design with a couple of keystrokes. The Architect can determine the surface area of a roof for decking in a matter of minutes. The Civil Engineer can calculate the volume of a lake or dam in seconds. The Mechanical Engineer will know for sure if certain parts fit together without interference. The uses for DesignCAD 3-D are only limited by YOUR imagina- tion! HOW DO I GET ONE? DesignCAD 3-D and DesignCAD 2D are available from most retail computer stores, or you may order directly from us. If you have questions about which program to purchase please give us a call. All you need to run DesignCAD 3-D is an IBM PC or compatible com- puter with 640 K RAM memory and a hard disk. Both products support most graphics cards, printers, plotters and digitizers. Free Information and a demo disk are available by faxing (918) 825- 6359 or telephoning: 1 -(91 8) 825-4844 American Small Business Computers • 327 South Mill Street • Pryor, OK 74361 U.S.A. Circle 2 3 on Reader Service Card FOCUS WYSIWYG Word Processors iPro-FUTURE.SAM Hit- Hi< View Style Page Frame Tools A □ ^ Lay in? Font.. Align : |mi in ; . e Normal LJol.i Publishiw ■ rMi . Nunc mRrstrodwii R Mine Above Hed Subbed Undetline " "U Word Underline AV Caps... :■ pr-i <. Insert Typeface: 1: tlonWeu ?A Pt Spacing: L8B Hyphen: Off 1 4 ^-J »- tit HED: Laying out the Future I SUBHED: ricreased capabilities and color should give Desktop Publishing a rosy future. BVIJAT l>r Mm an J Mar* / V TOG IV A top ruHi.-hnv h-> j<>,vn up lime t** * iv.Ih* ,hi-< } Our perspective on thv futuiv of desktop publishing ii from ih.<]itures for computer equipment h.K>n c*n ultimately me^n the difference betwe4« suyin^ in business *.; a i>rofit4l>le entity or struggling month to month Discussion of ~om«* current issues I'.«an^ desktop uubhshlBg will serve as a ^'ood »unmg point to le*d into whnt the future holds for desktop publishing 'StfiEED'First, Some li*cK fc it>und!l:IVIl6UHHKI>r In November of 19S7. we surt«wi L>g« Alter P,*^e. a small fullservio* Advertising Agency in RutUnd. Vermont Most of our business oomes from sdia!! to medjumsixed companies Desktop publishing own be lucrative: we've doubled our s.tini 4il.v biochures, newsletters ■«nd \*\i' idvnuu pi^i-^nv, to ndio'IA' .-^mi... ,/.'■ f V . Circle 192 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 193) ,16'' (15V), 0:28mm dot pitch CRT r Scan Frequency: Automatic Adjustment - H:20kHz-50kHz' [■ : V:50Bz^8Qhiz^ ' ^^^^ •;'■: Front^moun ted corftpls ' for eak~y,&cce$s\ t ' %& ^^QlibptS^f^r^fessionaf^g^ ] ^ - s mA^rf^r^¥^GA }'ap3b 1024 X?68)T ' EGA and Mac E compatible Jfk &r ;;i_Ti^*-l„ ->.— .rtffiS^^r. •j£ii ^. — j.j_ — Images created by Jerry D. Fiynn. Design Engineer. McDor^-il Douglas Space Systems „ - —'•'-'.- — "- > Company. Kennedy Space Center. Florida, '> 1990 U>r " l< these new features, LANtastic still has the smallest RAM overhead of any network. LANtastic version 3.0. Call 602-293-6363. Developers. Artisoft offers a Voice Programmer's Interface so you can create your own "talking" software using the LANtastic Voice Adapter. Order it directly from Artisoft. i ! i 1 Li N # ARTISOFT Revolutionizing Connectivity *Manufacturer's suggested retail price. Before voice messages can be sent from one PC to another, optional LANtastic Voice Adapters must be installed on both PCs. ^Manufacturer's suggested retail price is 5249 for LANtastic 2Mbps adapters and S349 for LANtastic Ethernet Adapters. © 1990 ARTISOFT. LANtastic is a trademark of ARTISOFT. Circle 28 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 29) PRODUCT FOCUS WYSIWYG Word Processors and handling of imported graphics is limited. Nevertheless, MindWrite has a good outliner and a Clipboard function that allows you to cut and paste more than one item at a time. The result is that MindWrite seems crafted more for the creation of words than for their ap- pearance. Of all the word processors we looked at on the Mac, MindWrite has the easiest and most versatile outliner. You create a topic by simply typing new text; you make subsequent topics by pressing Re- turn and typing more text. You make sub- levels within a topic either by dragging text to the right with the mouse or by typ- ing Command-r and typing text. If you want to exit a level and start a new topic, you either drag text to the left or type Command-1. There's no limit to the number of sub- levels a topic can have, and you can also select and drag sublevels to other parts of the outline, or even make them topics. MindWrite assigns either diamonds or numbers to items in the outline, depend- ing on a user selection. If you're using numbers, they're automatically updated continued Word pro 1 5 WYSIWYG ' Sow ard [E glowsteBi Word processing pn gave many folks a tc Plain Tent Bold Document... xiild character Underline EfflOdffiS §€£rU §g = Switch Free TSR Memory, Share Data Switch-It uses your hard disk or EMS memory for swapping. You have full memory (up to 600K) available for every program, even if you have only 640K of RAM, and your memory- resident programs run free, in zero RAM! No more TSR conflicts or crashes. That's why PC Magazine stated "Switch-It proved to be remarkably free of glitches." • Scans your hard disk and builds a menu of programs • Cut & paste functions • TSR manager & com- mand line editor • Network, mouse & graphics support • Requires only 26K RAM In Canada call: 800-663-6157 Order Toil Free: 800-848-0286 Visa/MasterCard accepted. Include $5 s/h (overseas $15). Technical Info: 508-879-0744 Switeh-It™ $99.95 Free ET-Phone™ with Switch-It Purchase. Every imaginable phone directory and dialing function for your PC, including 2000 built-in phone numbers. $79 if purchased separately. Better Software Technology, Inc. , 55 New York Ave. , Framingham, MA 01701 ligions, movies, or clothing styles; you will naturally gravitate toward one that "feels" right, which means that the word processor works the same way you do. You can ask your friends which ones they like, or you can read reviews in maga- zines. Just remember that you're not nec- essarily going to like the popular one or the one with the most features. Are you planning on using your word processor to create newsletters? In that case, you won't care about counting words, retrieving foreign text files, or creating outlines. What you need for newsletters is a powerful formatting ca- pability, preferably one with good graph- ics support. Novice users may find the whole idea of a monolithic word processor much too scary. Let's face it: If you're using a word processor for day-to-day business correspondence, you're simply not going to use most of the features in a full-fea- tured product. It's comforting to know that they're there, yet too many features can be confusing. So save some money and buy a simpler package with just the features that you'll use. In word process- ing, less is often more. Sometimes you simply don't have a choice. In an office environment, it's likely that your network is made up of both Macs and PCs. In that case, it's handy to choose a word processor that works on both platforms and can share binary word processor files back and forth across platforms. In other cases, you need to share files with other users on the same platform. You might try borrowing a word pro- cessor from a friend or officemate and spending some time with it. Don't let anyone pressure you into using a full-fea- tured package if you don't need it. Last- ly, read the documentation. Some of the manuals in this review were difficult to use. For the popular products, many third-party books are available. Kiss Your Typewriter Good-Bye For the sort of editing that you might do in preparation for placing text in a DTP package, we liked Ami Professional and Word for Windows under DOS. Both have very good editing features and a draft editing mode. Choosing between the two is tough, but Ami's poor word- counting macro makes us lean toward Word. Word provides word and character counts as a standard item in its Summary Info box. On the Macintosh, any of the word processors that we reviewed would suf- fice. If we were forced to pick one, we continued 150 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 37 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 38) A SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR GREATNESS. $3599 EDi TOR'S CHOICE W:-tlfXlv0Si0M' : t" '? ■# 'wBiiiS\ i ■■ \ ■ *■-■ i Jfc-j-'* «r ■'•*' "*•' w~ 'it '•'■' '*> "*> '•»' Hssm THE DELL SYSTEM 325 25 MHz 386. An even better value at these low prices. STANDARD FEATURES: • Intel® 80386 microprocessor running at 25 MHz. • Standard 1 MB of RAM, optional 2 MB or4 MBof RAM* expandable to 16 MB (using a dedicated high-speed 32-bit memory slot ) . • Advanced Intel 82385 Cache Memory Controller with 32 KB of high-speed static RAM cache. • Rage mode interleaved memory architecture. • Socket f or WEITEK 3167 math coprocessor. • 5.25" 1.2 MBor 3.5" 1.44 MBdiskette drive. • 1 parallel and 2 serial ports. • MS-DOS® compatible and Novell certified. • 8 industry standard expansion slots (6 available). **Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as loiu as $131/month. 40 MB VGA Monochrome System $3,599 80 MB VGA Color Plus System $4,099 190 MB Super VGA Color System (800x600) $4,699 330 MB Super VGA Color System (800x600) $5,499 Prices listed reflect 1 MBof RAM. lOOand 650 MB hard drive configurations also available. Who are we to argue with the experts. The leading computer publications in nine countries, including all the major ones here in the U.S., have voted the Dell System® 3 25 the number one, or une or uno 25 MHz 386" based personal computer in their respective markets. The Editors of PC Magazine chose to give it their prestigious Editor's Choice award. PC Week polled corporate volume buyers who voted it top in all 12 attributes measured (among competition including every major PC manu- facturer), and called the Dell™ 325 an exceptional value. At an exceptional price. A price that includes the best documentation in the business and diagnostic and utilities diskettes. A full 30-day satisfaction, or your money back guarantee with no questions asked. Toll-free technical support and a one-year limited warranty. And next business day on-site service from the Xerox Corporation^ TO ORDER, CALL NOW. 800-365-1240 IN CANADA.CALL 800-387-5752 FOR NETWORK/UNIX® INFO 800'678-UNIX HOURS: 7 AM-7 PM CT M-F 9 AM-2 PM CT SAT Best of all it's from the company that finished #1 in customer satisfaction, 6 out of 6 times in PC Week polls of corporate volume buyers for PCs. It's a machine you can afford to buy or lease today, and expand with it in the future. All it takes is one free call to order aboveandbeydndthecall. a great Dell PC now. DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION aq f"Qnp HE IQ 1 'Performance Enhancements: Within the first megabyte of memory, 384 KB of memory is reserved for use by thesyslem to enhonceperfomionce.Systernphotographed with optional extras. Prices ondspecificalionssubjecttochangewilhout notice. — 1 Dell cannot be responsible for errors in typography or photography. In Canada, configurations ond price may vary. DELL SYSTEM is a registered trademark and Dell is a trademark of Dell Computer Corporation. Intel is a registered trademark and 386 is o trademark of Intel Corporation. MS-DOS is o registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T in the United States and othercountries. Other trademarks and trade names ore used to identifytheentitiescioiming the marks and names ortheir products. Dell ComputerCorporation disclaims any proprietaiy interest in trademarks and trade names otherthan its own.^On-site sen/ice may not be available in certain locations. Shipping, handling and applicable soles tax ore not included. For information on and a copy of Dell's 30-doy Total Satisfaction Guarantee, limited warranty, and Xerox's Service Contract, please write to Dell Computer Corporation, 9505 Arboretum Blvd., Austin,! X 78759-7299, ATTN: Warranty. ©1990 Dell Computer Corporation, All rights reserved. Circle 86 on Reader Service Card PRODUCT FOCUS WYSIWYG Word Processors would take Mind Write for its outliner or Nisus for its clever word counter and ex- cellent macro language. MindWrite is a little thin on formatting features, but that's OK if the formatting is completed in a DTP package. It's responsive, and it has an outliner that nothing else could touch. Some word processors do a superb job of formatting pages— particularly handy for doing newsletters. If not Ami Profes- sional, try Word for Windows. If you want to save some money, the baby in this review, Better Working Word Pub- lisher, is an amazingly capable package. Having fine control over your layout is somewhat moredif f icult with Word Pub- lisher, but for a product that runs fine on floppy disk-based 8088 machines, it's downright awesome. WYSIWYG is the Mac's realm, and, again, any product in this review would probably do the job. It was hard not to like Microsoft Word 4.0 and Full Write 1000 DPI! From Your HP LaserJet Series II or III It's true! We can turn your existing Series II or III printer into a 1000x1000 TurboRes™ Plain-Paper Typesetter! National TeleVAR™ (Raster Devices Direct) intro- duces the 1000 Enhancer Kit™ for your HP Series II or III printer. By using a new imaging technology called TurboRes™ on our PC-based controller, we can transform your 300 dpi printer into a state-of-the-art Plain-Paper Typesetter that gives you print quality previously undreamed of, even on devices costing over $20,000. Send us your HP Series II or III laser printer and we will do the rest. We factory install a video board and connector in your Series II or III, and supply a PC/XT/AT or MCA 6Mb printer controller, 135 scaleable fonts, direct driver software for Windows (such as PageMaker, CorelDRAW!, Micrografx Designer, Word for Windows, etc.), GEM (such as Xerox Ventura Publisher, GEM Artline, etc.) and Word Perfect. CALL NOW! 1-800-468-1732, Source Code #103 (In MN: 612-941-4919) and ask about the 1000 Enhancer Kit for your Series II or III printer. The 300 dpi barrier will fall by the way- side as you experience 1000x 1000 TurboRes. Note that all your existing PCL functionality remains unchanged, so your printer can live in both worlds —PCL and 1000x1000 TurboRes! National TeleVAR PrePress Systems Specialists Formerly Raster Devices Direct, Inc. ©1990. Raster Devices Direct, Inc., National TeleVAR and 1000 Enhancer Kit are trademarks of Raster Devices Corporation. TurboRes is a licensed technology and a trademark of LaserMaster Corporation. All other product and brand names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies. AH prices and specifications are subject to change without notice. Please call for current pricing and warranty details. VISA, MASTERCARD AND AMERICAN EXPRESS ACCEPTED Professional, although a more basic edi- tor might be enough for most desktop publishing text preparation. In that envi- ronment, WriteNow 's and WordMaker's lack of multiple-column support would be a nonissue. The full-featured packages do feel somewhat stuffed with menu choices. It's likely that a novice at word process- ing would take one look at these big pack- ages and head straight back for the secu- rity of the old typewriter. We would feel better about WinText if it was updated to run under Windows 3.0. InText was slanted toward scientific applications. Although it was not part of this review, Ami (Ami Professional's little brother), at $199, might be a good choice. It has most of Ami Professional's features, ex- cept for the thesaurus and drawing pack- age. Windows doesn't provide the range of word processors that the Mac has had for years. In the Windows environment, it might be better to pick a full-featured product and ignore the features that you don't need. Mac users have it much easier. Both WordMaker and WriteNow follow the Macintosh interface guidelines down to the last punctuation mark, and once you get them started, you instantly feel as though you have been using them for years. WriteNow comes with a thesau- rus; WordMaker does not. If you don't want to be that basic, Mac Write II gives you the same ease of use, but with a bit more power, better file import/export capability, and a slightly higher price tag. For mixed computing environments, lWord (for Windows and the Mac) is an obvious choice. The two versions can easily transport documents back and forth across serial links or networks, preserving full formatting in the pro- cess. If you're incorporating a Mac into a DOS WordPerfect shop, why not use the real thing? WordPerfect for the Mac is a superbly crafted product, and it does seamless translation to and from the DOS environment. If you're starting a mixed environment, Word might be bet- ter than WordPerfect, simply because the Windows and Mac versions are much closer in feel than the Mac and DOS WordPerfect versions. ■ Howard Eglowstein and Stan Wszola are testing editors/engineers for the BYTE Lab. You can reach them on BIX as "heg- low stein " and "stan, " respectively. Tom Thompson is a BYTE senior technical edi- tor at large. He can be reached on BIX as "tom-thompson. " 152 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 200 on Reader Service Card AN EVEN SMALLER PRICE TO PAY FOR GREATNESS. $2999 EDITOR'S CHOICE I '.f.':f'.'r..:i«iiiiiift«p' »"» t 'n&iatat THE DELL SYSTEM 310 20 MHz 386. The best combination of performance and value available in its class. • MS- DOS* compatible and Novell certified. • 8 industry-standard expansion slots (6 available). ^Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $112/month. 40 M B VGA Monochrome System $2,999 80 MB VGA Color Plus System $3,499 80 MB Super VGA Color Plus System (800 x 600) $3,599 190 MB Super VGA Color System (800 x 600) $4,099 Prices listed reflect 1 MB of RAM. 100, 330 and 650 MB hard drive configurations also available. STANDARD FEATURES: • lntel®80386 microprocessor running at 20 MHz. • Standard 1 M B of RA M , optional 2MB or4MBofRAM*expandabletol6MB (using a dedicated high-speed 32-bit memory slot). • Advanced Jnre/82385 Cache Memory Controller with 32 KB of high-speed static RAM cache. • ftge mode interleaved memory architecture. •Socket for WE1TEK 3167 math coprocessor. • 5.25" 1.2 MBor 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive. • 1 parallel and 2 serial ports. PC Magazine described the Dell System® 3 10 as the best price performance package on the market. We've now lowered the price, which makes it an even better package. The Editor's of PC Magazine also described the Dell™ 310 as being "Fast enough to bum the sand off a desert floor." Now, that's some performance. Which we think, makes it the best 20 MHz 386™ PC on the market. That's why the Dell 310 easily outperforms the Compaq DeskPro 386/20e and the IBM PS/2 Model 70421 on both the MIPS Test and the Norton Computing Index. And leaves them cold when it comes to price. Whether you buy or lease. A price that includes a full 30-day satisfaction or your money back guarantee, one- year limited warranty, toll-free technical support, and next- day, on-site service from Xerox Corporation^ As well as the most comprehensive documentation in the business. And if you consider that the Dell 310 comes from the company that's finished #1 in customer satisfaction 6 out of 6 times in PC Week polls of corporate volume buyers for PCs, then the price you see above is a small one indeed to pay for greatness. So give us a call and we'll tellyou more about how you can own the Dell 310. call. Even the call is a small price. It's free. TO ORDER, CALL NOW. 800-365-1240 IN CANADA, CALL 800-387-5752 FOR NETWORK/UNIX®1NFO 800-678-UNIX HOURS: 7 AM-7 PM CT M-F 9 AM-2 PM CT SAT COMPUTER CORPORATION ABOVE AND BEVONDTHE ah f"Qnf llFJO 1 "flerfofmanceEnhonceroenteWrthiii the first megabyte of memory 384 KB of memory is reserved for use by the system to enhanceperfomx>nthout notice. I _ _ 1 Dell cannot be responsible for errors in typography or photogrophy. In Canada, configurations and price moy vary DELLSY5TEMisa registered trademorkand Dell is a trademark of Dell Computer Corporation. Intel iso registered trademark and 386 is a trademark of Intel Corporation. MS-DOS is o registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is o registered trademark of AT&T in the United Statesand other countries. Other trademarks and trade names ore usedto identify theentities claiming the morks and names or their products. Dell Computer Corporation disclaims any proprietaiy interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own. ^On-site seivice may not be availoble in certain locations. Shipping, handling and applicable sales tax ore not included. For information on and o copy of Dell's30-day Total Satisfaction Guarantee, limited warranty, and Xerox's Service Contract, please write to Dell CamputerCorparation, 9505 Arboretum Blvd., Austin,1X 78759-7299, ATTN: Warranty. #1990 Dell Computer Corporotion. All rights reserved. Circle 87 on Reader Service Card BVTE reviews SYSTEM Tom Yager REVIEW DEC'S Latest RISC The DECstation 5000 packs some serious performance into a compact box. The expansion cabinet atop the main unit holds the hard disk drive. DECstation Model 5000/200CX Company Digital Equipment Corp. 146 Main St. Maynard, MA 01 754 (508)897-5111 Components Processor: 25-MHz MIPS R3000 with 128K-byte cache; MIPS R3010 math coprocessor; LSI Logic LR3220 memory buffer controller Memory: 16 MB of DRAM, expandable to 1 20 MB; 1 28 K by es of static RAM cache Mass storage: 665-MB SCSI hard disk drive Display: 16-inch Sony Trinitron monitor; 32-bit DEC graphics adapter (displays 1024 by 864 pixels with 256 simultaneous colors) Keyboard: DEC VT220-compatible I/O interfaces: Three serial ports; thin- wire Ethernet port; SCSI port; video port; three Turbochannel expansion slots Price System as reviewed: $28,500 Inquiry 854. Walk into the temperature-con- trolled computer room of any university or Fortune 500 com- pany, and you'll almost certainly see minicomputers from Digital Equipment Corp. As users like these have turned to smaller, less expensive machines, DEC has worked hard to diversify, introduc- ing workstations such as its DECstation 3100 (see "DEC's RISC Powerhouse," November 1989 BYTE). DEC's newest entry, the DECstation 5000, offers the best desktop performance the company has to offer, and it illustrates DEC's in- creasing commitment to standards. Despite this new system's kinship to earlier DECstations, the 5000 is much more than a rehash. The juice flows from a 25-MHz MIPS R3000 RISC micropro- cessor, backed by a 128K-byte static RAM cache. My review system, a Model 5000/200CX, came equipped with 16 megabytes of memory, an external 665- MB SCSI hard disk drive, and a copy of Ultrix, DEC's flavor of Unix. A 256- color, 1024- by 864-pixel graphics adapter drives the 16-inch Sony Trinitron display. The review system's list price came to $28,500; an 8-MB diskless (and displayless) system sells for $14,995. The 5000 accommodates up to 120 MB of RAM and 21 gigabytes of disk space. Its SCSI connector lets you attach up to seven devices. Enhanced graphics options range from simple two-dimen- sional vector acceleration to a complex 3-D pipeline. The system unit is a sleek 3 Vi inches high, but the pizza box-size external hard disk drive doubles the total system height. Driving the Turbocharged Bus The 5000 incorporates DEC's new Tur- bochannel 32-bit bus architecture. This internal I/O channel routes data to ex- pansion boards through three 44-pin slots. The Turbochannel specification lets the bus operate at any speed from 12.5 to 25 MHz; the 5000's bus cranks at full throttle. How fast is that? Claims like this are hard to prove, but DEC says 154 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 UNIX BENCHMARKS DECstation 5000/200CX Opus PM/8000/30 DECstation 3100 Everex Step 386/33 1.3 5.2 | 2.8 | 1.8 2.3 7.3 20.8* 18.2 11.1 6 m □, C Compiler I I DC Arithmeti >tic I I Tower of Hanoi I I D System Loading | | Dhrystone2 I I Floatingpoint D HIGH-LEVEL Pi LOW-LEVEL PERFORMAI Time Index C Compiler 1.57 1.32 * Dhrystone2 DC Arithmetic 0.12 5.25 (without registers; Dh Tower of Hanoi 0.20 2.80 Arithmetic (1 7-disk problem) (10,000 iterations) Arithmetic overhead System Loading 1 Register 1 concurrent background Short process 3.47 1.17 Integer 2 concurrent background Long processes 3.80 1.53 * Floating Point 4 concurrent background Double processes 5.96 1.61 8 concurrent background processes 9.39 1.84 Time Index 31250 2.26 Time Index 0.10 2.32 2.32 2.30 2.30 1.63 1.30 7.20 1.26 1.52 1.36 1.36 7.31 10.17 ' Cumulative index is formed by summing the indexed performance results for C Compiler, DC Arithmetic, Tower of Hanoi, System Loading (with 8 concurrent background processes), Dhrystone 2, and Floating Point tests. 1 System loading was performed using Bourne shell scripts and Unix utilities. Note: All times are in seconds unless otherwise specified. Figures were generated using the BYTE Unix benchmarks version 2.6. Indexes show relative performance; for all indexes, an Everex Step 386/33 running Xenix 2.3.1 - 1 . N/A = Not applicable. Throughput System call overhead (5 x 4000 calls) Pipe throughput (read and write 2048- x 5 12-byte blocks) Pipe-based context switching (2 x 500 switches) Process creation (1 00 forks) Excel throughput (100 execs) Fllesystem throughput (1 600 1024-byte blocks in Kbytes/sec.) Read Write Copy 0.21 0.21 0.10 0.20 1.12 5.24 4.38 6.30 6.15 3.06 393 N/A 393 N/A 169 N/A that the Turbo-channel's peak DMA per- formance is 93 megabytes per second. The Turbochannel communicates with connected devices by exchanging messages. Each board receives a 4-MB chunk of address space (thetop 32 MB of the system's 512-MB range is reserved), and commands and data pass through these memory-mapped regions. A pro- prietary protocol governs the format of these exchanges. DEC is making the pro- tocol available to third-party vendors, along with the rest of the Turbochannel specification. Internally, the Turbochannel does it all. All the outside-world interfaces deal with the CPU through an internal chan- For a description of all the benchmarks, see "The BYTE nel. The 5000 's standard interfaces in- clude thin-wire Ethernet, SCSI, and a trio of serial ports, one of which accepts the keyboard and mouse. The Sony Trinitron display has be- come a standard among workstation ven- dors, and with good reason. The screen is cylindrical, giving it a flatter appear- ance, and the color rendition, sharpness, and image quality are impressive. Of course, there's more to using a workstation than staring at the screen, and here the 5000 could use a little work. Like the DECstation 3 100, the 5000 uses a VT220 terminal keyboard. That may make veteran users of DEC equipment happy, but I couldn't get used to the odd Unix Benchmarks," March BYTE. VT220 placements, which include rele- gating the Escape and Backspace keys to unlabeled function keys. The 5000 also comes with the same awkward mouse. It's round, heavy, and a tubby 3 ! /2 inches in diameter. Bring On the BSD Users who find the keyboard and mouse aggravating may take comfort in the Ultrix Worksystem Software bundle. The foundation for UWS (I tested version 2.2) is Ultrix, DEC's version of BSD Unix. BSD has earned a reputation as an environment for hackers, but DEC has added enough value to make it a continued SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 155 Announcing the fastest new $99 way to deal with notes, ideas, lists, plans, projects ... Surprisingly, ihere is a whole new world of uses for your computer! You can now deal with all the countless bits of RANDOM INFORMATION you handle every day: plans, notes, lists, actions, contacts, ideas, and much more. INFO SELECT™ will not only give you instant access to this important information ... it will help you make better decisions and see important new relationships. Try INFO SELECT risk-free. "First rate" -Jonathan Matzkin, PC Magazine INFO SELECT is like having a PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY that gives you perfect superfast recall of up to 64,000 items of information. INFO SELECT is even better than a personal secretary. You can ask for information and gel the answer — faster than a secretary could walk into your office! When Harry calls you on the phone, you'll display the six windows on Harry before he finishes his first sentence! No more embarrassing pauses or scrambling for information. Jo you forget things like which day you placed an order or important numbers? If so, you need INFO SELECT - the software that remembers almost everything for you. INFO SELECT is the next generation of the award winning TORNADO™ software. Best of all, INFO SELECT is easy to learn. You'll know the basics in 15 minutes. INFO SELECT has an introductory price of just $99.95! Try it RISK-FREE with our 30-day money back guarantee. But hurry - this is a limited lime offer. Order today and get ready for a new dimension of computing. Micro Logic POB70 • Depl603 Hackensack, NJ 07602 Tel: (201) 342-6518 Fax:(201)342-0370 IT (800) 342-5930 BASIC OPERATION: You will sec several windows of different s'r/.c$ tiled on your screen. Windows can hold: notes, plans, lists, facts, letters, contacts, and much moiuv You can: open a new window, type into it, and shape it; edit an existing window: resize, remove, or print a window; browse through windows with the arrow keys: search foragmup of windows related by a word or phrase; and much more. FEATURES: five overview modes: hypertext fast son; line draw: tickler: dialer: search by text or date; add columns of numbers: EMS: import / export: efficient on portables; stand-alone or memory-resident: and much more. Dam is structured in multiple stacks of intelligent text windows; uses a unique ca.sy powerful system of parallel text processing and progressive resolution searching without keywords. LAN version available. SPECIFICATIONS: 10 megabytes max: text searches to 700kb/sec; up to 32K per window; up to 64.0(H) windows per infoba.se; takes just 7K in swap mode: forlBMs and compatibles: not copyprotected. MAIL ORDERS: Send name, address, phone number, and payment by check. Visa, or MC lo addtess shown. Please include S3. 50 shipping (% 15 outside continental USA). TORNADO OWNERS: INFO SELECT includes everything in Tornado and much more. Call today for our special limited time trade-up offer. EUROPEAN CUSTOMERS: Contact Atlantex U.S.A. (203) 655-6980. © 1990 Micro Logic Corp. U.S.A. REVIEW DEC'S Latest RISC contender for serious users as well. Even System V users owe a lot to BSD: The C shell, the Berkeley socket network interface, the vi editor, and many other enhancements to Unix have their origins in BSD. These transplant well to System V, but it's good to work in an environ- ment where all these things come togeth- er and combine with other Berkeleyisms that haven't yet found their way to Sys- tem V. Little touches, like the intelligent TTY drivers (which can delete words and won't backspace past the beginning of a line) and the job control mechanism, are easy to get used to. The base Ultrix operating system on the review system (version 3.1) combines the features of BSD 4.3 and AT&T Sys- tem V Unix. The core environment is pure BSD, and the operating system han- dles all system administration in a BSD- standard manner. A set of libraries and header files provides System V compati- bility and lets you port System V applica- tions to Ultrix. Since the System V Inter- face Definition (SVID) forms the basis for the Posix and X/Open operating-sys- tem standards, DEC has smoothed the road to compliance with these standards. The 5000 supports TCP/IP, NFS, and the proprietary DECnet through its stan- dard thin-wire Ethernet interface. The TCP/IP and DECnet protocols can share the same cable, so the DECstation can be part of a network that includes not only other Unix workstations and systems, but VAXes, terminal servers, and other DECnet-specific devices. I quickly had the 5000 connected to BYTE's Unix lab network, and I had no difficulty sharing files and data with systems from other vendors. DEC is active in the development of the X Window System and has some of the industry's foremost X experts on its payroll. So it's not surprising that the 5000's DECwindows graphical user in- terface is fast and clean. Beyond its X foundation, the environment created by DECwindows is quite comfortable. DECwindows runs only on DEC hard- ware, but there's a lot to like about it. The interface is much more Mac-like than OSF/Motif s. It's mainly a mono- chrome interface; the defaults set up black and white as standard, even on a color display. Unlike Motif, DECwin- dows looks as good in monochrome as in color. But next to Motif, DECwindows looks boring. On closer inspection, how- ever, the services that DEC has added to X put most other vendors to shame. The session manager provides log-in services and adds a primitive desktop manager from which you can launch ap- plications. One of those applications is dxterm, the DECwindows terminal em- ulator that's fast, stable, and robust. Without such programs, it's impossible to run text-based applications under X. The one that's shipped standard with X (xterm) is notoriously bad. Another exciting feature of DECwin- dows is Display PostScript. Licensed from Adobe and enhanced by DEC, this is more than just a utility for displaying PostScript-format files. DEC has modi- fied it to become an integral part of X, allowing programmers to mix traditional X functions with those from Display PostScript. Without it, X remains a se- verely limited application environment, lacking scalable fonts and a workable graphical description format. Developers must often work up their own solutions to these issues, adding sig- nificantly to the time it takes to bring a product to market. Display PostScript on the 5000 responded well and managed to display every raw PostScript file I threw at it. Images appeared with surprising speed, laying to rest any notion that Dis- play PostScript might not be fast enough for demanding applications use. For the programmer, DEC provides just about everything that you could want from X. In addition to libraries for build- ing DECwindows applications, DEC also ships GKS (Graphical Kernel Sys- tem), OSF/Motif, and PEX (the PHIGS extension to X). The PEX package builds 3-D capability into X, extending the server to support the creation and draw- ing of 3-D objects. As mentioned, there is also support for building PostScript ca- pability into applications. This killer combination represents one of the most powerful X software bundles available. Putting It All Together As the benchmark table illustrates, the DECstation 5000 has earned the flagship spot in DEC's line. It outguns its prede- cessor, the 3100, by a wide margin. Also interesting is the contrast with machines using another RISC processor, the Mo- torola 88000. While the 33-MHz Opus Personal Mainframe handily bests the 5000 in Dhrystones and other integer tests, in the domain of floating-point, the 5000 shows amazingly well. The DECstation 5000 is a top-shelf workstation. The excellence evident in performance, software, and company reputation combine to place this system at the head of its class. ■ Tom Yager is a technical editor for the BYTE Lab. You can reach him on BIX as "tyager. " 156 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Introducing DADSSP 2.0 Now Supporting Popular A/D Boards NEW! Data Acquisition Support Enter Worksheet DADiSP(ta) - Ver 2.00A (c) 1989 DSl DADiSP. The Big Picture in Data Analysis DADiSP — interactive graphics and data analysis soft- ware for scientists and engineers. DADiSP 2.0 delivers unprecedented power, through easy-to-use menus. Choose from hundreds of analysis functions and graphic views — from tables to 3-D. Simultaneously display multiple windows, each with different data or analyses, for unlimited perspective on your toughest data analysis problems. Build your own analysis worksheets — build and display an entire data analysis work sheet, without programming. And DADiSP's powerful graphic spreadsheet automati- cally recalculates and updates the entire worksheet if you change your data or an analysis step. Do serious signal processing...the way you always pictured it! FFTs, digital filter design, convolutions, waterfall plots, and more — all at the press of a key. Let your instruments do the talking — use DADiSP 488 to bring data from your instruments directly into a DADiSP window for immediate viewing and analysis. Flexible, expandable, customizable — annotate your graphs and send them to printers, plotters, or publishing packages. Create your own macros, automate routine tasks, and run any program written in any language from within DADiSP. DADiSP even lets you build your own menus. A proven standard — already used by thousands of engineers and scientists world- wide, in a whole range of applications like medical research, signal processing, chemis- try, vibration analysis, communications, manufacturing quality control, test & measurement, and more. DADiSP supports the IBM PC and PS/2, SUN, DEC VAX, HP 9000 and Concurrent families of personal computers and workstations. GET THE PICTURE! CALL TODAY 617-577-1133 Ask for our Evaluation Disk. For more information, write to DSP Development Corporation, One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, or FAX: 617-577-8211. Development Corporation Australia-Inter world Electronics, 03 521-2952; England-Adept Scientific, (0462) 480055; Biosoft (0223) 68622; France-SM2I, (1) 34810178; Sacasa, 69077802; West Germany-Datalog, (02166) 46082; Stemmer Electronik, 089-809 02-0; Israel-Racom Electronics, 03-491-922; Italy-BPS Computers, (02) 61290221; Japan-Astrodesign, 044-751-1011; Netherlands-Computer Engineering Roosendaal, 01650-57417; New Zea\and-GTS Engineering, (09) 392 464; Sweden-Systek, 013 110140; Switzerland-Urech & Harr AG, 61 611325; laiwan-Advantech, 2-351-2117 Circle 103 on Reader Service Card Recently Byte magazine performance tested 26 VGA monitors. 26! Of the 26, one monitor stood out above all the rest In a burst of eloquence, Byte's Testing Editors called that monitor "a rose among the thorns." * We call it the CM-1 296 You'll call it "remarkable. We'll send you a free reprint of the Byte article, complete specifications of the CM-1296, and detailed information about all the monitors in our line. Just send us your business card, or call 1-800-827-2850, ext 213. Tatung Company of America, Video Display Division, 2850 El Presidio St., Long Beach, CA 90810 ® Engineering at its best. * S. Diehl, H. Eglowstein, BYTE, 3/90 Circle 287 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 288) Lamont Wood REVIEW Windows 3.0 Software Tool for End Users Icon-based commands, buttons you "press" with the mouse, pop-up screens, data displayed in boxes— it's mouth-watering stuff. So mouth-water- ing that you had hoped someone might come up with a way to make such power accessible to the end-user programmer— in other words, to someone who wants to whip out a Windows 3.0 application this week, without having to spend two years learning C. The answer might be ToolBook, a $395 package from Asymetrix, a little- known firm in close proximity (geo- TooiBook 1 .0 Company Asymetrix Corp. P.O. Box 40419 Bellevue, WA 98004 (206)637-1600 Hardware Needed IBM PC or compatible with a 286 or higher processor, 640K bytes of RAM, at least 256K bytes of extended memory, a hard disk drive, Windows-compatible graphics, and a mouse Software Needed DOS 3.1 or higher; Windows 3.0 or higher Price $395 Inquiry 888. ToolBook applications, such as DayBook, take full advantage of the Windows 3. graphical user interface. graphical and otherwise) to Microsoft. ToolBook provides that graphical pro- grammability for Windows 3.0, and you don't need a degree in computer science to use it. Yet ToolBook is not a crippled devel- opment system. For instance, Tool- Book's programming language, Open- Script, has nearly 600 commands, constants, functions, and other key- words. You could make a career out of ToolBook, and I expect a lot of program- mers will. With ToolBook, an application is called a book. Each book is a stack of pages, and when you create an object (which ToolBook calls a container), it's akin to pasting a paper cutout on a clear sheet of gel. The bottom page is the back- ground, and the contents of the fore- ground page are superimposed over it. You can rapidly flip pages, replacing one with the next. And, yes, you can do ani- mation this way, placing slightly differ- ent pictures of the same thing in the same spot on successive pages and then flip- ping through them. The examples that come with ToolBook include a running horse, a sailboard in use, a turning globe, and balls bouncing around in the background of an application. Besides animation, you can also create hypertext links to form automated foot- notes. You can designate hotwords with- in text, and when you invoke the words, a linked body of text is displayed— pre- sumably a definition or an exposition on a related subject. Clearly, ToolBook parallels Apple's HyperCard toolkit for the Macintosh, with its HyperTalk programming lan- guage. HyperCard uses stacks of cards, while ToolBook uses books with pages. ToolBook, however, seems to have more features— for instance, it can handle color, and the size of its windows is not fixed. With ToolBook, the book as a whole, plus each page and each object, can have its own script file, and each can pass commands to the others. Clicking on an object is not necessary— the mere pres- ence of the mouse cursor atop an object can trigger an action, if that's what the script calls for. And you can assign books password protection. There are two operating modes in ToolBook— reader and author. Reader is for running or testing applications, and author is for writing applications. Scripts are written on a special screen that you can invoke after selecting an object in author mode. The screen includes a syn- tax checker, and unlike with HyperTalk, there is a debugging facility with which you can add breakpoints to your pro- gram. In addition, there is a command window that you can invoke in author mode; from it, you can type individual OpenScript commands to test their re- sults. OpenScript, like HyperTalk, uses very English-like command words and syntax, and the meanings of many pro- gram lines are immediately apparent, such as get the first word of the text of the recordfield comment (using "the" is optional). You need to declare variables, but you don't have to worry about variable types— as long as a vari- able contains numeric data, OpenScript will perform numeric operations on it without fussing. In keeping with the attempt to make programming seem natural, you can use the pronoun "it" as a local variable to re- fer to the last-mentioned data item, what- ever it was. For instance, the program- ming example above could be followed by put it into the commandwindow, and OpenScript would understand. (Hyper- Talk also uses "it," but you don't see it used much elsewhere.) Writing Your Own Book To test ToolBook, I set out to write a file query application that would work with some dBASE data I had. The program continued SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 159 Windows 3.0 Software Tool for End Users Listing 1: ToolBook's OpenScript isn *t difficult to understand. This program goes through a dBASE file by repeatedly sending the buttondown condition to an existing subroutine for a button labeled Next (i.e. , get next record). It also uses an existing system (global) variable from the main program called currentrecord (i.e. , the current file record number). The variables are declared and set in the opening lines. Then, the first if . . . end if checks the first file record. The following do . . . until loop walks through the rest of the file. The ongoing total is displayed in a box called iresult. to handle buttondown local tot, total system svcurrentrecord set tote to set total to if text of recordfield code = "1" put text of recordfield amount into tote set total to sum(total, tote) put total into text of field iresult end if do send buttondown to button "Next" if text of recordfield code = "1" put text of recordfield amount into tote set total to sum( total, tote) put total into text of field iresult end if until svcurrentrecord=294 end buttondown (see listing 1) filtered through a 294- record dBASE file with fields called Date, Amount, Code, and Comment, adding up the Amounts in the records where the Code field equaled 1 . I took advantage of the dBASE Brows- er Book that came with ToolBook and adapted it to my needs. To simply access the file and get the data on the screen, I had only to input the filename and then make about four mouse-clicks . Then things bogged down. The script file for the Browser Book was long, com- plicated, and replete with calls to system- level subroutines or dynamic link librar- ies. Certainly, it didn't lend itself to tinkering. Using its subroutines from a script for a particular button proved workable, but then the second problem arose— OpenScript looks like English, but it isn't. After all, it's easier to read a foreign language than to write it. When it comes time to write something, a novice is like- ly to foul up the grammar— but a reader may still figure out the meaning, thanks to common sense. Computers, however, lack common sense. The result is like constantly repeating a magic spell to a genie who will not respond until you get it precisely right. Of course, this is true with every pro- gramming language. However, in the case of OpenScript, the language seemed so natural that I was constantly am- bushed by sticky little points: Put the text of recordfield comment into it will work, while put the text of rec- ordfield comment in it or put record- field comment into it will not. Using the command window to test commands became essential— slowly, I learned the dialect. And once you learn it, there's little the Windows 3.0 world offers that is not at your disposal. You can add scroll bars to text displays. You can run other pro- grams, including other "instances" of ToolBook, from within ToolBook. You can change the shape of the cursor, make use of whatever fonts are installed in Windows, use colors at will, have bar graphs that draw themselves as the data is totaled, and so on. You can even do Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) links, although there is no mention of Struc- tured Query Language. In author mode, ToolBook has a graphics facility so that you can draw screen objects. Thus, screen objects can be irregular— for instance, to get infor- mation on Idaho, you could click any- where in a map of that state. In Hyper- Card, you can stack a map of Idaho with a button, but you would still have to click the button within the map rather than just the map. The program also comes with a selec- tion of canned clip art for livening things up, including the 16 different drawings of the globe used for the turning-world animation. There are a tutorial, exten- sive help files, interesting programming examples, canned scripts for handling things like data validation and Windows tools, and two manuals. There's little to ask for— except, perhaps, the time to learn it all. Software for the Preponderance of Us ToolBook is a full-featured program- ming language. It's suitable for cooking up user-friendly business applications, but you can also use it to create elaborate games and educational courseware. Ac- tually, about the only kind of interactive application that it's unsuited for is com- munications—there are no modem-han- dling functions. However, you could probably get around that through DDE links to a separate Windows-based com- munications package. Perhaps ToolBook's fate is to become as ubiquitous in the PC world as Hyper- Card is in the Macintosh world. Consider that Asymetrix was founded by Paul Al- len, previously known for having co- founded Microsoft (maker of both MS- DOS and Windows) with Microsoft's present head, Bill Gates. Allen left Microsoft around 1983, but Asymetrix's funding was secured by Allen's equity position in Microsoft, and Allen was re- cently renamed to the Microsoft board of directors. Meanwhile, Microsoft has an- nounced that a run-time version of Tool- Book (with a ToolBook application called DayBook) will be included with each English language copy of Windows 3.0. And Microsoft Press has come out with a guide called ToolBook Com- panion. Basically, ToolBook has Microsoft's clout behind it, and you might as well think of ToolBook as part of the Win- dows 3.0 environment. Now that you have a Windows that lives up to its po- tential, you can think of Windows 3.0 as part of the PC environment. So you're likely to see a lot of ToolBook. One thing that you are sure to see a lot of is powerful, Windows-based ap- plications, whether for a single chore for an individual user, for departmental ap- plications, or for sale at the national level, because the tool is definitely avail- able. ■ Lamont Wood is a freelance computer journalist and consultant who lives in San Antonio, Texas. He can be reached on BIX as "Iwood." 160 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 The new look of power* 286 processing in a computer that's notebook size, L4" thin and 4.4 lbs. light. Introducing the TI TravelMate™ 2000 notebook computer — from the company that pioneered portable computing solutions* Since inventing the first portable data terminal in 1 969, TI has led the way in packing more and more functionality into smaller and smaller products. Now TI bri ngs you the next generation in por- table computing — the TravelMate 2000. This sleek, 4.4-lb. notebook computer gives you the power of a PC-AT® in an ultrathin 8Vi" x IT' package. It's designed to fit your workstyle — wherever you work — in the office, at home or on the road. Just slip it in your briefcase with your file folders, journals and other business materials, and you're revK\\ to go. ©I W0 TI MOM TravelMate is a rrademark of Texas Insrruments. AT is a LapLink is a rraJernark cit 'Traveling Software, Inc. Large VGA screen with leadership display technology* You'll appreciate the technology behind the 1 0" diagonal VGA display. It's a remarkable feature for a computer that's notebook size. The high-resolution 640 x 480 supertwist screen easily handles demanding windowing and graphics applications. Circle 292 on Reader Service Card More features to meet your application needs* The TM 2000 has the power to run your favorite software - 12 MHz 80C286 processor, 20MB hard disk drive and 1MB of RAM. A built-in, rechargeable battery lets you work up to two hours. With an optional add-on battery, you can work up to five hours — enough for coast-to-coast flights. You also get a full-function AT enhanced keyboard, so you can work with the same feel of your desktop PC. In addition, we've loaded MS-DOS® and LapLink™ in ROM, and preformatted the hard disk. For more information call 1*800-527-3500. Texas ^^ Instruments ejzistercJ trademark or International Business Machines Corporation. MS-DOS is a re.uisti'reiJ trademarkof Microsoft Corporation. Tom Thompson REVIEW The Mac at 40 MHz Feared with Apple *s 8*24 display board, the high-performance Mac Ilfx soars as a personal workstation. If you measure power by clock speed, Apple's Macintosh computers always seem to come up short. Even the Mac Ilci putters along at 25 MHz, versus many 386-based PCs' 33 MHz. The newest member of the Macintosh modu- lar family, the Mac Ilfx, changes that. The Mac Ilf x's 68030 CPU and 68882 FPU race along at 40 MHz; I/O proces- sors off-load serial, mouse, and floppy disk drive activities; and a much-needed 32K-byte cache of fast RAM boosts per- formance. (For more information, see the First Impression "Apple's Special fx," April BYTE.) No doubt PCs soon will run at this speed, but that doesn't di- minish the fact that the Ilfx got there first, doing what the Mac does best: pro- viding a consistent user interface, seam- less data exchange, and gorgeous 24-bit color graphics. I tested a Mac Ilfx equipped with 4 megabytes of RAM, an 80-MB hard disk drive, and a Macintosh Display Card 8*24. I also evaluated a beta copy of A/UX 2.0, Apple's version of Unix. Af- ter extensive testing, I've determined that the Ilfx is indeed a fast machine, es- pecially in its floating-point perfor- mance. Combined with A/UX 2.0, the Ilfx becomes a powerful Unix machine. Taking It Out for a Spin During its design, the Ilfx carried the code name F-19. BYTE Lab tests show that the Ilfx performs like its jet fighter namesake: The machine flew through most jobs with its afterburners on. The CPU and memory subsystems run about 60 percent faster than those of the Mac Ilci, reflecting the increase in the Ilfx's clock speed. The FPU subsystem's num- Mac Ilfx Company Apple Computer, Inc. 20525 Mariani Ave. Cupertino, CA 9501 4 (408)996-1010 Components Processor: 40-MHz Motorola 68030; 40-MHz Motorola 68882 math coprocessor Memory: 4 MB of 80-ns SIMM DRAM Mass storage: 3 1 /2-inch 1 .44-MB SuperDrive; 80-MB internal SCSI hard disk drive Display: 1 3-inch 640- by 480-pixel AppleColor RGB monitor; Macintosh Display Card 8«24 24-bit color NuBus board Keyboard: 63-key standard keyboard I/O interfaces: 2 mini-DIN-4 ADB ports; two mini-DIN-8 RS-232C/RS-422 serial ports; DB-25 SCSI connector; internal SCSI connector; internal floppy disk drive port; stereo sound port Price $11,896 Inquiry 851. ber-crunching power has doubled. I was disappointed, however, with the disk I/O subsystem tests. Where the test made heavy use of the CPU, perfor- mance jumped, while purely disk-inten- sive jobs showed little improvement over the Ilci. True, the Ilfx can use SCSI DMA to improve disk I/O throughput, but the current version of the Mac OS (6.0.5) doesn't make use of this feature. Nor, it turns out, will the long-awaited System 7.0. SCSI DMA requires a preemptive multitasking operating system to func- tion properly (i.e., to release the CPU so that it can carry out other tasks). System 7.0, unfortunately, still uses Multi- Finder for cooperative multitasking. Since Unix is a preemptive multitasking operating system, it's ironic that for now only A/UX users stand to benefit from this feature. Fortunately, A/UX 2.0 promises to look more like a Mac than you might expect (see "A/UX 2.0: Unix with a Friendly Face," August Short Takes). Hex, Lies, and Backup Tape Not long after the Ilfx's introduction, ru- mors of major software incompatibilities 162 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 SCREEN: JET FIGHTER FILE COURTESY OF DENEBA SOFTWARE Mac llfx Mac I lei Mac llx Mac II MacSE Mac llfx Mac I lei Mac llx Mac II MacSE MACINTOSH BENCHMARKS APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCE 6.5 6.9 5.3 25.3 5.7 49.8 26.9 16.8 13.7 5.0 □ Word I I Scientific/ Processing I I Spreadsheet I I Database I I Engineering I I Compilers □ LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE 12.4 3.8 3.8 6.7 I I CPU I— I FPU LJ Disk I I Vii Video cropped up. This was inevitable, as the new llfx design consolidated more func- tions into custom application-specific ICs. During this process, registers disap- pear and I/O addresses change, causing software that's hard-coded for a particu- lar hardware setup to break. Applications that stick to using Mac Toolbox and OS calls don't have problems, since these calls are hardware-independent. To investigate these rumors, I tested a large number of applications. Most of the debuggers worked— an amazing feat, considering how close they operate to the hardware. Jasik Designs' MacNosy and Debugger V2, the premier industrial- strength disassembler and debugging package for the Mac, functioned just fine, as did Icom Simulations' TMON 2.8.4 debugger. Some graphics soft- ware, such as Adobe Illustrator 1 .9. 3 and PhotoMac 1.1, crashed; they couldn't deal with 32-Bit QuickDraw, which Applehas embedded inthellfx's ROMs. This isn't a new problem: Users first en- Except for the conventional benchmarks, all results are indexed; for each test, a Mac SE = 1 . and higher numbers indicate faster performance, In the Dhrystone test, higher numbers indicate faster performance; in the LINPACK tests, lower numbers are better. The floating-point benchmarks use the SANE library. Comprehensive test results for all tested machines are available on request. CONVENTIONAL BENCHMARKS LINPACK (single) Double LINPACK Dhrystones Mac llfx 125 116 10,752 Mac I lei 150 151 5725 Mac llx 233 241 3680 Mac II 364 348 2861 MacSE 2319 4229 805 countered it with the Mac Ilci. The solu- tion is to get an upgrade from the applica- tion vendor (Illustrator 1.9.5 and Photo- Mac 1.52). More serious problems surfaced with software that hammered directly on the Mac Ilf x's serial and Apple Desktop Bus ports, or the Super Wozniak Integrated Machine (SWIM) controller for the flop- py disk drive. The I/O processors (IOPs) that manage these devices get in the way of these programs and cause trouble. For a full description of the Mac benchmarks, see "Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks, " June 1988 BYTE. Farallon's SoundEdit had mouse-han- dling problems (from IOP interaction with the ADB signals), and a beta version of Adobe Photoshop using key-disk copy protection crashed when the application asked for the disk (from IOP interaction with the floppy disk drive controller, and a case against copy protection if I ever saw one). I normally use Traveling Software's LapLink Mac III to rapidly transfer the 8 continued SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 163 REVIEW The Mac at 40 MHz MB of benchmark files from one Mac to another via a serial cable. Not this time, though: Launching LapLink caused the Ilfx to seize up. Apple now supplies a Compatibility cdev that reroutes the serial data so that the offending software still works. Traveling Software supplied a disk with this cdev, and it corrected the problem. I suspected that telecommunications software might be a casualty of this IOP/ serial port interaction, but I'm pleased to report that I was wrong. White Knight 1 1 .07 let me connect to BIX and down- load files without a hitch, as did Mac- Acknowledge 1.02 and America On- line's software. I tried some SCSI peripherals to check for SCSI hardware interaction. An Apple scanner worked, as did Apple's CD- ROM drive. (Apple experienced a minor gaffe when the then-current CD-ROM driver failed to work with the Mac Ilci.) I was also able to back up and restore files to an Irwin cartridge tape unit. High Flyer The Ilfx's processing power makes it useful as a CAD workstation. AutoCAD release 10 c5 whipped through display- ing the sample files, making real-time CAD work possible. This is also the image-processing engine I've always wanted in a Mac. Adobe Photoshop 1.0 and Data Translation's PhotoMac 1.52 both inhaled megabytes of 24-bit TIFF image data and performed filtering and color corrections on the images with amazing speed. For those who want to push the Ilfx to the limit, there is Connectix's Maxima. It's an INIT that maps memory in such a way that you can have up to 14 MB of RAM for your applications (the normal limit is 8 MB, because of where the Mac ROMs reside in memory space). Addi- tional memory gets allocated to a RAM disk. I used 4-MB single in-line memory modules from Connectix to upgrade my Ilfx to 32 MB. I made 14 MB of memory available to MultiFinder, and I desig- nated the remaining 18 MB as a RAM disk. So, even without A/UX, you can still get lots of memory for your work. And all that additional RAM will come in handy when System 7.0 arrives, since it will eliminate the 16-MB memory ceil- ing that the existing 24-bit Mac OS has imposed. My only complaint about the Mac Ilfx is its price. A basic system with 4 MB of RAM, an 80-MB hard disk drive, and a 13-inch color monitor and 256-color board costs $11,896. Admittedly, you aren't going to buy a Ilfx for word pro- cessing. It will be for demanding CAD, business, and engineering jobs that re- quire every clock cycle that you can af- ford. In short, many people will buy the Ilfx as a workstation. But even from this perspective, the price is steep, and many potential buyers might shop around for alternative workstations. For Mac IIx owners, the cost of a motherboard upgrade ($2999) and 4 MB of Ilfx memory ($999) will buy into Mac Ilfx power at a reasonable price. But for the rest of us, if you need the most power- ful computer that Apple has to offer, you had better have your checkbook handy. ■ Tom Thompson is a senior editor at large with a B. S. E. E. degree from Memphis State University. He can be reached on BIX as "tomjthompson. " CONTINUOUS TONE PRINTING ON A STANDARD LASER PRINTER Turn your Laser Printer engine into a digital airbrush that will print 256 shades of gray. A must for images from photos, fingerprints, medical, microscopy, I.D. cards, etc Where dimensions and detail make a difference. • Fast — improve printing speed • Near continuous tone — unique technology • Plain paper output ...5t a copy Laserport is a printer controller for Canon, HP, Brother. PC/AT compatible, works with Pagemaker® Ventura® and DOS drivers, For details call us today . . . 1-800-727-3130. ft—*-* K# Products mentioned are trademarks of their respective manufacturers. 164 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 100 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 101) We've got the guts, you get the glory. DTK is a Intel 386 registered trademark and Bare Bone is a trademark of Datatech Enterprises Co., Ltd. is a trademark of Intel Corporation. XT and AT are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation. If' I Whether you're building systems or simply upgrading existing hard- ware, you can bet your reputation on DTK. We offer clearly superior 80386, 80286 and 8088-based Bare Bone™ systems with FCC, UL, CSA and TUV certification. Plus motherboards and fully compatible add-on cards. All built to deliver the performance and reliability today's sophisticated computer users demand. More Guts. Choose from a dozen Bare Bone systems designed to fit every need — and every desk. Including a 33MHz 386 file server with cache memory. Or select from an extensive line of motherboards (our XT and AT compatible models are widely regarded as industry standards). Want LAN adapters? Or VGA, I/O, or disk controller cards? Maybe you need to gain an extra slot or two with multiple function cards. DTK can provide the solutions. At prices you'll really like. Better Quality. Our substantial R & D capabilities and stringent QC procedures mean you can depend on us for the most reliable, highest per- formance products available today And tomorrow. Our inspection con- forms with MIL-STD-105D, and our boards enjoy an overall reliability rate of 98%. So why take chances? We've got all the guts you need at prices that are hard to beat. Go for the glory. Call or write DTK COMPUTER, Inc., 15711 E. Valley Blvd., City of Industry, CA 91744. Tel: (818) 333- 7533 Fax: (818) 333-5429 BBS: (818) 333-6548. Chicago, IL (312) 593-3080 ■:■■ __ Edison, NJ (201) 417-0300 ■ Houston, TX (713) 568-6688 H Miami, FL (305) 477-7440 mm I I ■ West Germany (0211) 656031 Clearly superior. Circle 104 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 105) Multitasking Aren't you glad Windows and OS/2™ aren't the only way to multitask and window on the PC. It's all very well to look at screen after screen of colorful graphics and new programs. But the brutal truth is that these envi- ronments require exten- sive, expensive hardware upgrades for 80% of PC users. Not to mention new i , r , DESQview lets you run all these programs in multiple windows and multitask r 6 * them— all without major modifications to the computer you own now. And without It all adds up to $1,200 to replacing or even upgrading your favorite programs. $2,500 per PC— and that's for u . . running in multiple windows, running the hardware and software alone. To say nothing about a major investment in the time it will take to learn new ways of working. If all you want is enhanced productivity from your PC, that's too high a price to pay. DESQview does it all. For less. DESQview runs the programs you know and love in multiple windows, multitasks them and even lets you choose whether or not to use a mouse. And it does it all today. In fact, DESQ- view' s been doing it for over four years now. People all over the world are using DESQview to manage customized work environments like those shown here. They are using it to cut and paste data between programs sorts and recalculations in the background, and they're operating in text and graphics modes in windows side-by-side. With no drama, no fireworks and no huge memory or disk space requirements. In fact, DESQview runs on 80386, 80286 and even 8086 and 8088 PCs. Its low memory overhead means you don't have to buy a faster computer to com- pensate for the demands of a complex, memory-hungry 'graphical' operating system. And DESQview builds on and extends DOS— the most robust, stable operating system available for your computer. Plus, you don't give up any flexibility in choosing programs. Not only does DESQview run virtually all DOS programs, it runs most Windows programs as well. No wonder major corporations all over the world have chosen to standardize on DESQview. Introducing DESQview 226. More productive because it multitasks more programs. The latest generation of DOS programs is getting better. Lotus 1-2-3 v2.2 and Release 3, Metro, Freelance, Microsoft Word, Auto- CAD 386, Ventura Publisher Prof essional— all are smarter about using memory. And DESQview 2.26 makes them work even better. Mice are steadily becoming more popular, and v2.26 provides improved support for mouse menus within windows. At the same time, for those who just aren't comfortable with mice, it also provides much greater flexibility for EEPgq I 9 a a BYTE A *V * ft D OF ! Mi UR'S CHOICE f |)!l< >H\ OtOKf TEGH Professional .Solutions Award 1989 Best Operating l-nvimnimni N:-.-,i:r |h- li. !5S7 Fefruary 2B ISO Some of : DESQview' r s recent awards. assigning and reassigning special keys within windows. Our users asked for more support for 3270 and other terminal emulation. DESQview v2.26 has it. You asked for support for a wider range of hardware: CD-ROM, scanners, comm ports, etc., v2.26 has it. And you asked for help in handling troublesome TSRs. DESQview helps straighten them out. without tears r3— Soreadsbect-Solut ions- rwi — Enero ld-Bai am mwrnrsm Quarterdeck's family of products is designed to enhance the way you work. At Quarterdeck, our philosophy has always been to increase your productivity in logical, economical steps— not to reinvent a system that works for you. Our best known product, DESQview, has over a million rging into da Close Uindou C r5 — Uulcan 21 records In tabl Rearrange E ■ none Zoon Microsoft »o address TM I =3 File Edit Utew Inspr Announcing the Fc Under', urth Annual Filmmakers t» — nage i ian Lotus Magellan tl -i neip tor utsyvieu ? 1 ;l Quit DESQuieu uriTiiTni- AUTOEXEC. BflK , »i ITMi:- 1 i .HftT AUTOEXEC. (JDK AUTOEXB SAU I iinttnMii i itn ■ urtrii. linK i ONFIG QDK 1 1IMI IG DH Bftf HH.IlriT 0CI hi 1 M, path * AM prow ■ i 1 to let you move utilities, drivers and TSRs out of 'lower 7 memory and into idle memory locations 'up high/ giving your programs as much as 130K more elbow room. QRAM makes it easy to optimize your memory. Even if you've never used anything but 1-2-3 before. users. And hundreds of thousands of people use our QEMM, the expanded memory manager for users of 80386 PCs and IBM PS/2 1 models 50 and 60 that makes it easy for your programs to break the 640K memory barrier. Our newest products, Quarterdeck Manifest and QRAM help you understand and optimize the critical first megabyte of your PC's memory. Manifest does for memory what PC Tools Deluxe does for disks. It guides you 'under the hood' of your PC, showing how Hie vast majority of programs run in DESQview— even Windows 2.0 programs! And some programs take special advantage of DESQview to enhance their opera- tion. FNN NewsReal and products using Spreadsheet Solutions' @DV 'Hot Links', for example, use windowing, multitasking and interprogram communications. your memory is being used; even which parts of RAM are faster. You'll see where TSRs, utilities, drivers and buffers work, and find all the pockets of idle memory. QRAM is our memory optimizing utility Quarterdeck products help you get the most from the software and hardware you own today. To find out more about our family of productivity enhancement products, return the coupon below with the appropriate boxes checked. Or see your authorized Quarterdeck dealer. Quarterdeck Office Systems, 150 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405 (213) 392-9851 Fax: (213) 399-3802 DESQview System Requiianente IBM Personal Computer and 100% com- patibles (witn 8086, 8088, 80286, or 80386 processors) with monochrome or color display; IBM Personal System/2 • Memory: 6-10K recommended; for DESQview itself 0-145K • Expanded Memory (Optional): expanded memory boards compatible with the Intel AboveBoard; enhanced expanded memory boaids compatible with the AST RAMpage; EMS 4.0 expanded memory boards • Disk: two diskette drives or one diskette drive and a hard disk • Graphics Card (Optional): Hercules, IBM Color/Graphics (CGA). IBM Enhanced Graphics (EGA), IBM PS/2 Advanced Graphics (VGA) • Mouse (Optional): Mouse Systems, Microsoft and compatibles • Modem for Auto-Dialer (Optional): Hayes or compatible • Operating System: PC-DOS 2.0-4.0; MS-DOS 2.0-3.3 • Software: Most PC-DOS and MS-DOS application programs; programs specific to Mic osoft Windows 1.03-2.1, GEM 1.1-3.0, IBM TopView 1.1 • Media: DESQview 10 is available on either 5 J /4 M or 3-'A" floppy diskette. Trademar s are property of their espective holders: IBM, OS/2, PS/2, Interleaf, TopView, Lotus, 1-2-3, Metro, Freelance, AutoCAD, Ventura Professional Publisher, PC Tools Deluxe, Intel, Above Board, AST, RAMpage, Hercules, Mouse Systems, Hayes, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word, GEM, FNN NewsReal, Sprcadshret Solutions. YESI Qty Product I need increased productivity now! DESQview 386 v2.26 Multitasking windowing environment G DESQview v2.26 Multitasking windowing environment G~ V Send Into 5- 1 1\ 3- 1 /i Price EachTotals QEMM-386 version 5.0 □ QEMM-50/60 version 5.0 □ QRAM with Manifest Quarterdeck Manifest S219.95 $129.95 $99.95 $99.95 $79.95 559.95 Payment G Visa G MasterCand Expires _ Acctj* Name Address City Shipping & Handling $5 in USA/ $10 outside USA California Residents add 6.75% Title Grand Total State _Zip_ Circle 248 on Reader Service Card For a limited time, the B and A in BASF stand for Bon Appetit. A good appetite will come in handy with BASF's ' 'Wine and Dine' 'Game. Because every time you buy BASF diskettes, you could win prizes you can really sink your teeth into. You could be one of the Grand Prize winners who'll enjoy an all-expenses-paid trip for two to the restaurant of your choice, anywhere in the U.S. It includes all trans- portation, meals and hotel for 6 nights. Or one of the thousands of 2nd Prize winners who'll dine in style with an American Express "Be My Guest" Restaurant Certificate worth $100.00. There's even a second-chance drawing for a 3-day, 2-night mini- vacation. Look for game tickets in specially marked packages. At BASF, we believe in satisfying your appetite. For the best in data protection. And the best in exquisite dining. Offer for limited time only. Call your BASF dealer today. Try it. Depend on it. H BASF © BASF Corporation Information Systems, Crosby Drive, Bedford, MA 01730-1471. Circle 35 on Reader Service Card Laurence H. Loeb REVIEW Two Different Approaches to Mac Portability The Outbound performs comparably to the Mac Portable, but it needs the ROMs from your Mac Plus or SE to operate. Note the IsoPoint pointing device below the space bar. The Dynamac SE/30 offers uncompromising performance in a hefty 1 8-pound box. In introducing the Mac Portable last year, Apple succeeded in freeing the Mac from its power outlet, but many users found the machine underpowered and overweight. Fortunately for those who don't want to leave their Mac appli- cations behind when they travel, the Mac Portable isn't the only game in town: Outbound Systems' Outbound Laptop System offers comparable performance in a lighter box, and Dynamac's SE/30 will appeal to users for whom portable power is critical. Mac Light: The Outbound Outbound Systems markets the Out- bound Laptop System (formerly the Wal- laby) as a hardware add-on to a Mac Plus or SE. This conceptual paradigm bypass- es the issue of ROM usage that is vital to the Outbound' s operation: Your dealer must transfer the needed Apple ROMs from your Mac Plus or SE to the Out- bound. The now-ROMless Mac will not operate unless you "dock" the Outbound to it using a special cable. The Outbound uses the same 15.67- MHz CMOS 68000 CPU as the Mac Por- table, but it costs substantially less. The 9% -pound plastic lunchbox case is also much lighter than the 16-plus-pound Por- table. My review unit included an inter- nal 3 1 /2-inch floppy disk drive that can use IBM- or Mac-formatted floppy disks. The machine has only one drive bay, however, so users who opt for the in- ternal 40-megabyte hard disk drive must forgo an internal floppy disk drive. My review machine included 2 MB of RAM (expandable to 4 MB) and 4 MB of battery-backed RAM in single in-line memory modules for the nonvolatile RAM disk. You can expand the silicon disk to 16 MB using 4-MB SIMMs. The base system, with 1 MB of RAM and no RAM disk, has a list price of $2999; the hard disk drive model is $3999. Out- bound doesn't sell extra RAM. Fluorescent backlighting in the Out- bound's 640- by 400-pixel black-and- white LCD ensures visibility in low-light situations where the Mac Portable is un- usable; in other respects, the Portable's active-matrix LCD is superior. LCD la- tency times on the Outbound produce smearing on fast-moving text or graphics screens, and finding the cursor can be problematic. When I jiggled the mouse, the cursor disappeared; at rest, the thin I-bar cursor is hard to see. Adjusting the screen contrast helps somewhat. The Outbound's lead-acid battery pro- vides about 3 Vi hours of power. Power conservation functions include Control continued SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 169 Advertisement Two Different Approaches to Mac Portability Outbound Laptop System Company Outbound Systems, Inc. 4840 Pearl East Cir. Boulder, CO 80301 (303) 786-9200 Components Processor: 15.67-MHz Motorola MC68C000 Memory: 2 MB of RAM Mass storage: 3 1 /2-inch 1 .44-MB internal floppy disk drive; 4-MB battery- backed silicon disk, expandable to 1 6 MB Display: 9 3 /4-inch, 640- by 400-pixel, backlit, black-and-white LCD Keyboard: 62-key Mac SE-type layout with IsoPoint pointing device I/O Interfaces: Printer port; serial port; external monitor port; host connector/ expansion port for optional SCSI adapter Size 12 1 / 3 x 7 4 / 5 x 3% inches; 9 3 / 4 pounds with battery and hard disk drive Price System as reviewed: $3499 Inquiry 856. Panel settings that invoke CPU sleep mode, dim backlighting, and spinning down the hard disk drive when the ma- chine is idle. The keyboard uses the standard Mac SE layout, without the numeric keypad. It can attach to the case or stand alone when in use. Remote keyboard connections in- clude an infrared link and a telephone- style cord. You attach the keyboard to the Outbound with a metal rod that fits into a hole under the screen. I found that the mechanical linkage in this arrangement made the keyboard wobble unacceptably. Outbound Systems uses the IsoPoint pointing device, located under the space bar, in lieu of a mouse. This is a rolling cylinder that sits inside a plastic slider that, in turn, sits inside a frame. You roll the cylinder for up-and-down pointer movement; the slider handles left-to- right motion. You press on the spring- loaded frame to perform a mouse-click. To achieve accuracy, you have to make horizontal and vertical movements sepa- rately. As a device for point-and-shoot selections on files or menu items, it works fine. For other tasks, you will be a lot happier buying the nonstandard mouse for $129. The Outbound comes with serial and 170 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Dynamac SE/30 Company Dynamac Computer Products, Inc. 555 17th St., Suite 1850 Denver, CO 80202 (800) 234-2349 (303) 296-0606 Components Processor: 15.67-MHz Motorola 68030 CPU; 68882 math coprocessor Memory: 8 MB of SIMM-mounted RAM Mass storage: 3 1 /2-inch 1 .44-MB SuperDrive floppy disk drive; 200-MB 16-ms Conner Peripherals hard disk drive Display: 9-inch, 640- by 400-pixel, gas- plasma display Keyboard: 62-key Mac SE-style I/O interfaces: SE/30 Direct Slot; two serial ports; SCSI connector; external floppy disk drive port; two ADB ports; audio port; two external monitor ports; two RJ-1 1 jacks (on modem) Size 13 1 /2 x 15 1 /2 x 3 1 /2 inches; 18 pounds with hard disk drive Price As reviewed: $12,995 Inquiry 857. printer mini-DIN-8 ports. There's no SCSI port on the Outbound itself, but you can plug an optional SCSI adapter into the host/adapter slot. When it's docked to the Mac, the host Mac takes control. Your Mac Plus or SE can then access the Outbound 's faster CPU, display, mem- ory, and disk storage, while the Out- bound's serial ports and keyboard are disabled. A special cdev lets you use either the Mac's display or the Out- bound's as the main screen, or both can operate as a single screen. When I docked the Outbound to a Mac Plus to use the Plus's external SCSI hard disk drive, the combination still booted off the Outbound's RAM disk. Since the Mac Plus has no start-up device setting, there's no way to get around this. This means that Mac Plus owners must store INITs that they use only in docked mode in the Outbound's limited silicon-disk memory. Fortunately, you can use Fifth Generation Systems' Suitcase II to bring in fonts and desk accessories that you need from the SCSI disk when the Out- bound is docked. The Outbound ran neck and neck with the Mac Portable on the CPU, FPU, and video tests, but its fast silicon disk result- continued HOW TO AUTOMATE A SMALL BUSINESS by W. Gary Robertson Automating a small business such as a doctor's office, accounting or legal firm can be challenging. Budgets often are limited and technical personnel non-existent. Having a reserve of computer hardware ready to support new employees is uncommon. As these businesses grow, existing systems become strained. While larger organizations may be well served by a minicomputer, main- frame, or server-based network, these often are beyond the scope of a smaller business. System cost, ease of use, training, and maintenance are important considerations. Multiuser systems, particularly DOS-based ones, typically perform best in each of these categories. Multiuser systems save money by allowing one computer to support multiple users through terminals attached to the CPU. They also avoid the hardware expense and maintenance inher- ent in server-based LANs. DOS-based multi- user systems require minimum retraining, and allow employees to use familiar applications. The automation of Dr. Susan LeGrand's medical practice illustrates how a multiuser system can affordably and easily computerize a small business. When Dr. LeGrand established her practice she didn't own a computer. Paperwork quickly became impossible to manage, so she pur- chased an 80386 computer for insurance filing, accounting, patient records, and maintaining a large hospital census. As her practice grew, Dr. LeGrand hired an assistant for her office manager. Dr. LeGrand considered purchasing a second computer and a LAN, or purchasing a multiuser operating system that would allow an inexpensive termi- nal to be a second workstation. The multiuser system cost $2,054 for the software, extra RAM and terminal, compared to $3,326 for the computer, interface cards and software for the LAN. Dr. LeGrand chose The Software Link's DOS-compatible multiuser operating system, PC-MOS. "Conceptually, the multiuser approach seemed ideal," Dr. LeGrand commented, "and when it was the least expensive, the decision was easy." The system was installed over a weekend, avoiding office hour downtime. "Everything looked and worked the same," Dr. LeGrand said, "And we could continue to use our exist- ing software and communication program." System administration and maintenance is handled remotely by the PC-MOS distributor, J.S. Walker & Co. of Charlotte, NC. "Having two workstations has really improved productivity," Dr LeGrand said. "And I can add up to three more workstations by simply installing RAM and terminals." W. Gary Robertson is co-founder of The Software Link, Inc. Circle 297 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 298) All the power of The Software Link's PC-MOS operating sys- tem. All the benefits of both individual and networked PCs. All in one high-performance, low-cost, multi-tasking system. With no terminals and no addi- tional PCs — unless you want to optionally use your old XTs or ATs. The UnTerminar UnNetwork.™ It's the ideal multiuser system for personal computer users. UnTerminal monitor-keyboard workstations cost less than terminals. Less than text-only "intelligent I/O" solutions. Less than fiber-optic graphics solutions. An independently operating UnTerminal workstation out- performs them all. With faster UnNetwork. Inexpensive monitor-keyboard workstations replace costly ter- minals and PCs on the UnTerminal™ UnNetwork™ Run multiuser and popular PC programs at the same time - with no terminals or PCs— or use any XTs and ATs you happen to have. The UnTerminal Video Network Adapter supports up to 4 Hercules-compatible workstations. The UnTerminal Video Network Graphics Adapter"* supports up to two color graphics workstations— resolu- tion up to 800x600. The UnTerminal Connect Card makes an XT or AT into a multitasking, multiuser workstation. screen refresh — text and graphics. Instant switching between single and multiuser screens. Running popular DOS applications. And making every user feel like the only user. Just add PC-MOS, monitors & keyboards. The Software Link's PC-MOS multiplies the power of your PC. Why pay extra just to get the boxes? You can run up to eight color or 16 monochrome UnTerminal workstations per system — and save thousands. Distributed by The Software Link, Inc. For more information, call: The Software Link, Inc. at (800) 451-LINK or (404) 448-5465. 1 ^■r. V Bjj ,1 Hercules compatible graphics using the UnTerminal (VNA). hti /.../ J I !Uuy W/ J_/. / jlmlmlri r i i "7 Color graphics embedded in data- base using the UnTerminal (VGNA). 800 x 600 VGA graphics using the UnTerminal (VGNA). Now XTs and ATs can be UnTerminals, too. Hotkey between local and host applications using the UnTerminal (VCCA). The PC-MOS UnTerminal PC-MOS MULTIUSER SYSTEMS WITHOUT TERMINALS The Software Link, Inc., 3577 Parkway Lane, Norcross, GA 30092. Phone: (800) 451-LINK or (404) 448-5465, FAX: (404) 263-6474, Telex: 4996147 SWL1NK. PC-MOS is a trademark of The Software Link, Inc. UnTerminal, UnNetwork, Video Network Adapter, Video Connect Card Adapter and Video Graphics Network Adapter are trademarks of Advance Micro Research, Inc. THE SOFTWARE LINK Circle 299 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 300) REVIEW Two Different Approaches to Mac Portability MACINTOSH BENCHMARKS Dynamac SE/30 Outbound Mac Ilex Mac SE/30 Mac Portable MacSE APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCE 3.9 3.2 2.3 6.4 3.8 19.7 2.6 1.9 2.5 3.1 N/A 17.0 18.0 9.3 5.0 □ Word I II || | Scientific/ I I Spreadsheet I I Database I I Processing I I Spreadsheet I I Database □ Engineering I I Compilers Dynamac SE/30 Outbound Mac Ilex Mac SE/30 Mac Portable MacSE LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE 4.6 1.2 4.2 2.5 2.1 ,1.5 Lo.3 I I CPU l_J FPU l_l Disk LJ CONVENTIONAL BENCHMARKS L1NPACK (single) Double LINPACK Dhrystones Dynamac SE/30 235 249 3708 Outbound 1096 2012 1744 Mac Ilex 237 250 3735 Mac SE/30 232 241 3754 Mac Portable 1154 2107 1633 MacSE 2319 4229 805 The Outbound was unable to run the Scientific/Engineering tests. Also, the Outbound's RAM disk invalidates the low-level disk test results. The Mac Portable did not include an FPU. so it could not complete the FPU tests. Except for the conventional benchmarks, all results are indexed; for each test, a Mac SE = 1, and higher numbers indicate faster performance. In the Dhrystonetest, higher numbers indicate faster performance; in the LINPACK tests, lower numbers are better. The floating- point benchmarks use the SANE library. Comprehensive test results for all tested machines are available on request. For a full description of the Mac benchmarks, see "Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks," June 1 988 BYTE. ed in 50 percent faster performance over- all on the application tests. When docked to a Mac, however, the Outbound be- comes an extension of the host Mac and takes a substantial performance hit. On the Mac Plus, CPU and video perfor- mance dropped by about 50 percent. But the Outbound/Mac Plus combination still was faster than the stand-alone Mac Plus. The Dynamac Dynamac is no newcomer to Mac users; its original Dynamac SE appeared well before Apple's Mac Portable. The Dyna- mac SE/30 consists of a Mac SE/30 motherboard that Dynamac has put into a black plastic case. The orange 640- by 400-pixel gas-plasma display opens to re- veal the keyboard in a typical clamshell laptop arrangement. But this is no laptop. The 18-pound system is nearly twice as heavy as the Outbound, runs only on AC power, and is far more powerful than the Mac Portable or the Outbound. Like the Mac Portable, this is a no- compromise approach to lugging a Mac around. You don't buy this machine as an adjunct to your desktop system; it be- comes your desktop system. The basic machine includes the Mac SE/30 motherboard with a Motorola 68030 CPU and a 68882 math copro- cessor, 2 MB of RAM, a 40-MB hard disk drive, and a 3 ! /2-inch 1 .44-MB flop- py disk drive for $9995. My test machine included a 200-MB 16-millisecond Con- ner Peripherals hard disk drive and 8 MB of RAM, and it carries a hefty list price continued 172 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 We developed a PostScript solution because the perfect printer is just a dream. -Lac acif icPage brings the high quality output of an expensive PostScript printer within reach. Just plug the cartridge into a HP LaserJet Series II, IIP, IID * or III printer with 2 megabytes of additional memory. The results are beautiful. PacificPage supports Adobe Type 1 fonts and Bitstream QEM fonts. And has 35 scalable resident fonts with Bitstream "rules" similar to Adobe's "hints." So, you'll get quality output with every character. And you'll get it fast. Recent bench- marks show PacificPage IIP prints an average of 10% faster than Apple Laser- Writer IINT with most applications. PacificPage with a IIP is also less expensive than a IINT. Low price, high quality output and speed. It's a combination you can't afford to miss. PacificPage can help make your dream of the perfect printer a reality. To learn more, call or write: Pacific Data Products, 9125 Rehco Road, San Diego, CA 92121, (619) 552-0880. Fax: (619) 552-0889. PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS *I(D duplexing featuie not supported in PostScript mode. © Copyright 1990 Pacific Data Products Inc. PhoenixPage is a registered trademark of Phoenix Technologies Ltd. Copyiight 1987, 1988 Phoenix Technologies Ltd. PacificPage and PacificPage RE. are trademarks of Pacific Data Products, Inc. PostScript and Type 1 are registervd trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. Apple, MaciiYtosYi and LaserWriter HNT are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. 115M is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corp. LaserJet Series 11 and 111 aie registered trademarks of Hewlett-Pack.nd. All other company unU product names are trademarks of the company or manufacturer respectively. Circle 215 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 216) REVIEW Two Different Approaches to Mac Portability of $12,995— much more than a compara- bly equipped Mac SE/30. Other standard items include an Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) mouse, an internal 2400-bps fax/ data modem, a Sharp Wizard electronic organizer, Mindshare software, a cable for downloading information to the Wiz- ard, and a carrying case. At the rear of the case are the power switch, interrupt and reset buttons, a small fan, and two RJ-11 connectors for the internal modem/fax board. Also lo- cated at the rear are a SCSI port, two ADB ports, an external floppy disk drive port, two DIN-8 serial ports, and two DB-15 connectors for black-and-white and 8-bit Apple color monitors. Dyna- mac mounted the Apple SuperDrive floppy disk drive up front. The gas-plasma screen has no controls for contrast or brightness, but both were fine. I found the display easy on the eyes after many hours of use. The integrated full-size keyboard doesn't detach and When allyou have is a hammer, everything looks like anail. It's always important to use the right tool for the job. Quintus products, whether it's Quintus Prolog 3.0 for workstations— the embeddable Prolog— or Quintus DOS Prolog and MacProlog for PC's— give you the productivity you need with the flexibility to apply them exactly where they are needed. All this plus the tremendous functionality of Prolog itself. Prolog's declarative nature means that you can focus on the "what" rather than the "how." Intergraph's family of RISC workstations and servers offers you a unique development platform that includes a comprehensive package of development tools— languages , support utilities, editors, graphics libraries, and much more. Each Intergraph tool is carefully designed for the development of powerful interactive graphics applications. Quintus and Intergraph Productivity Tools— a combination you should definitely have in your toolbox. Quintus prompt that makes a DOS user feel right at home. To simulate a color DOS display, Merge takes over all the colors (16 in the case of VGA), resulting in a strange color shift when the DOS win- dow is selected. This is normal and even desirable. I was able to install many ap- plications that use color text and have them behave predictably in the DOS win- dow. The window is also capable of dis- playing CGA graphics, an interesting feat considering that memory-mapped graphics have to be converted to X in- structions. CGA graphics works well, and an application can talk to the window as though it were a CGA display. It also supports 40-column text, 640- by 200- pixel graphics, and all the other CGA modes. When you change modes, the window changes size automatically to match the screen size of the mode. Merge runs under the virtual 8086 built into the 386 and i486, so you can't run protected-mode programs or any- thing written specifically for the newer Intel processors. This is something of a handicap, since there is a lot of software now that just assumes you've got at least a 286. Still, Merge had to work with what Intel gave it, and it does work. For the mainstream DOS productivity applica- tions, it performs admirably. A single session on the Dell System runs at rough- ly the same speed as that of an IBM AT. The Altos performed much better, of course. For those times when your native dis- play is the only way to go, you can ask Merge to turn over the entire screen to DOS. A hot-key sequence brings up a menu, and clicking on Zoom makes the switch— in my case, to VGA. I was able to run everything that talks to real VGA with reasonable performance. Could you run Merge all the time? Ab- solutely. I found it provided faithful em- ulation and excellent stability. A fringe benefit is that, since Merge runs as a cli- ent of Unix, you can run DOS programs that crash. In most cases, Merge just re- sets itself, and you're back in business. continued 178 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 J HI M If IMre Driven by Success Make Sure life a Quality Drive* To be successful in today's business environment, you need drive, determination and commitment. You also need the right products supporting you — keeping things running smoothly, on track and on schedule. Products that consistently meet operating specifications, and provide the dependability you can rely on. Products such as Mitsubishi disk drives. Just like you, Mitsubishi Electronics is also driven by success. We manufacture the latest in memory storage technol- ogy, and offer one of the broadest ranges of flexible drives in the industry today. Whatever your memory requirements, Mitsubishi has the drive you need— from 720 KB and 1.44 MB 3.5" models to 360 KB and 1.2 MB 5.25" models, with a vari- ety of mounting and bezel configurations. As one of the largest suppliers of flexible disk drives in the world, Mitsubishi® continues to earn its reputation for product quality and design innovation. zJZL Mitsubishi also manufactures rigid disk drives that have the same incomparable dependability as the flexible drives. Every 5.25" rigid drive supports the high-density mode of the newer (RLL) controllers, with up to 65 MB formatted memory, as well as the standard-density mode of the (MFM) controllers used in today's most popular systems, with up to 42 MB for- matted memory. So when you're looking for reliable, high capacity disk drives, look to Mitsubishi. We'll make sure you get a qual- ity drive. For the authorized Mitsubishi reseller nearest you, call 1-800-556-1234, ext. 54 in the U.S. and Canada (in California 1-800-441-2345, ext. 54). MITSUBISHI ELECTRONICS Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc., Information Systems Division, 991 Knox Street, Torrance, CA 90502, Mitsubishi Electric Sales Canada, Inc., 8885 Woodbine Avenue, Ontario L3R 5G1. © 1989 Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc. Mitsubishi is a registered trademark of Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Tokyo. Image courtesy of Software Publishing Corp. Circle 186 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 187) REVIEW Open Desktop: relief for the Unix-Wary In no case have I seen it crash Unix or otherwise affect other processes. Ordinarily, Merge uses the Unix file system to store application data. To a DOS program, Unix files are made to look like DOS files. Filenames that don't fit the eight-plus-three DOS naming con- ventions are squashed in a nonintuitive way. There was no right way to handle this problem, so any solution that simply makes the files available is passable. You can also use the real DOS partition on your hard disk drive. Another plus is that you can map Unix networked disk drives into Merge's DOS as well. Stringing the Nets Open Desktop includes a boatload of net- working solutions: TCP/IP (the Unix standard), Sun's NFS, and Microsoft's LAN Manager. The LAN Manager mod- ule operates as a client only, and while SCO will sell the server portion, I rec- ommend sticking with NFS. shippngssoo y n j versa | Cartridge (includes one adapter) 75.00 Multicolor Adapter (specify printer) 40.00 Epson only Maclnker mod.27iEP 45.00 Imagewriter only Maclnker™ mod.234iM 45.00 "3pP^^ SF) Universal Spool Maclnker 75.00 m d Heat Tran sfer Adapter 25.00 ** Extra Ink Bottle, black 3.00 pint 1 8.50 Colored Ink Bottle 4.00 extra reservoir 5.50 All models delivered complete with bottle of ink, ink meter , reservoir, reservoir cover. ... . _ .. . -«:.. i I i i t t t % RMSon DEC minis \ and DB2 on IBM * mainframes. And only Oracle provides a set of integrated tools for portable application development, office automation and CASE. It also has interfaces to the most popular programming languages. All this is backed by the largest service and support organization of any software company in the world. Call 1-800-ORACLE1 ext.4993 i § i i Query to remote OS/2 Server Query to dBASE application to "^A Que ^ ^^ d|J|JHt/0UUII IU ^^ VAXVMS ik "HVf ^ ^ Update from 1-2-3 % spread sheet to DB2 A ORACLE Server \ \ \ t i i $ V Supports virtually all operating systems: OS/2, VINES, UNIX, Netware 386, VMS, MVS. \ Supports virtually every vendor's Network: Novell's SPX/IPX, NetBIOS, Named PipesX V Allows access to other vendor's databases: DB2, SQUDS, RMS. V Multiple user interfaces including dBASE and 1-2-3. \ Complete set of programming tools. Supports multiple programming languages, C, COBOL, FORTRAN, PL/1, Ada. Call 1-800-ORACLE1 ext. 4993 and sign up for the Client/Server Forum in your area. to buy ORACLE Server for OS/2 for $3699 and get six months of free upgrades and phone support. Or you can try the 3- user Developers Version for $1299. Because no one wants to be all hooked up with no place to go. ORACLG" Compatibility • Portability • Connectability ©1 990 Orade Corporation. ORACLE is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. All trade names referenced are the service mark, trademark, or registered trademark of the respective manufacturer. Call 1 -800-ORACLE1 for hardware and software requirements. Stanford Diehl REVIEW G Is for Graphics Why in the world would we need another Lotus 1-2-3 for OS/2? Lotus already offers 1-2-3 re- lease 3.0 for OS/2, but now there's 1-2- 3/G as well. As with release 3 .0, much of 1-2-3/G's impressive power stems from the underlying features of OS/2, but its real draw is its graphical interface. If you buy into the GUI revolution, Lotus fi- nally has something for you. Of course, a graphical interface deliv- ers more than just a pretty face. Some of the spreadsheet's features are more readily tapped and are more powerful using a mouse. Although release 3.0 works like a champ under OS/2, it still uses the old character-based interface, which fits awkwardly in the Presentation Manager environment. Lotus 1-2-3/G Lotus 1-2-3/G Company Lotus Development Corp. 55 Cambridge Pkwy. Cambridge, MA 021 42 (617)577-8500 Hardware Needed IBM AT or compatible (386-based PCs recommended); 4 MB of RAM; hard disk drive Software Needed OS/21.1 or higher Price $695 Inquiry 887. With the PM windowed interface, you can keep a number of worksheets on the desktop. Note the th ree-dimensional structure and the third scroll bar for scrolling across pages. The graph in the window displays spreadsheet changes interactively. gives you the same windowed environ- ment of PM while retaining keystroke compatibility with the original 1-2-3. The Graphical Advantage The 1-2-3/G graphical interface is invit- ing and responsive. I'm not completely sold on the advantages of using a mouse for spreadsheet work, but mouse or no mouse, you can't help but appreciate hav- ing multiple windows on the desktop. Moving data or linking data from one sheet to another is much easier when you can view and access both sheets at the same time. You simply open a file in its own window. You can then resize it, minimize it, cut and paste to other win- dows, and interact naturally with other PM applications on the desktop. The page-preview features of 1-2-3/G, while nice to have, are awkward and in- flexible. So, I fired up PageMaker OS/2 in its own window and pasted 1-2-3/G's spreadsheets and graphs into Page- Maker. I could then place the spread- sheet elements anywhere on the page by simply clicking and dragging, printing the document, minimizing PageMaker, and returning to my spreadsheet work. When I needed PageMaker again, it waited a click away. Once you've got your windows effectively placed, you can save the whole bundle in a single desktop file. The PM interface also provides Dy- namic Data Exchange, which lets you link your spreadsheet data to other PM applications. For example, you could paste a spreadsheet to a word processor and link it so that whenever you change the spreadsheet numbers, the word pro- cessor document is automatically up- dated. Unfortunately, the potential of DDE— like that of OS/2, in general— suf- fers from a lack of OS/2 applications. Of course, 1-2-3/G also boasts true three-dimensional operation, but, ironi- cally, that very capability makes its graphical perks less useful. True 3-D places all your related worksheets in a single structure. You could, for example, put each of your monthly sheets on sepa- rate pages of your 3-D spreadsheet. Your annual totals could also reside within the single structure. The monthly totals could be summed by referencing them as a range cutting through the 12 pages. Under this scheme, autonomous win- dows are not such a big win. Then again, the program makes mov- ing around in a 3-D spreadsheet easier by adding a third scroll bar. In addition to the scroll bars that let you move down rows or over columns, the third scroll bar moves you through multiple pages. I found this useful only when I had to flip through a lot of pages. Otherwise, I turned a page by pressing Alt-PageUp or Alt-PageDown. Predictably, the graphing tool im- proves under a graphical interface. The graph comes up in its own window and menu bar. You can move objects, such as the title or a legend, by clicking and drag- ging them. You can also add markers or annotations and move them about just as easily. By strategically overlapping your graph window and spreadsheet window, you can see how changes to your data af- fect your graph. There's a full range of graph types available, and 1-2-3/G can map your color bars or pie slices to black- and-white patterns. So you can keep your on-screen graphs as solid colors and print them as monochrome patterns without reconfiguring graph options. The Performance Trade-Of f Release 3.0 wins hands down when it comes to questions of performance (see the figure). Using our standard spread- sheet benchmarks (for details, see "Not Just for Numbers Anymore," February BYTE), release 3.0 again showed its ex- ceptional speed. This performance ad- vantage becomes significant when spreadsheets become big and complex. I also ran into some disturbing prob- lems with 1-2-3/G, mostly related to the Undo feature. When I was working with large files and would load a spreadsheet into a window and then try to retrieve a different spreadsheet into the active win- dow (an operation that should throw the first spreadsheet away), I hit the dreaded continued 182 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 CERTIFIED 4X4 POWER The IIT Advanced Math Coprocessor is the only Math Coprocessor with the power of 4X4. The Future is Now - Ask for the Math Coprocessor with Certified 4X4 Power See what EVOLUTION COMPUTING and SCHROFF DEVELOPMENT say about the power of 4X4: • "Evolution Computing agrees with IIT - The future is now. The ability of FastCAD 3D/FastCAD Render Man and all IIT math coprocessors to support matrix transformations provides the user with unparalleled speed and performance." — EVOLUTION COMPUTING • "SilverScreen will benefit greatly from £he coprocessor's ability to move matrix transformation onto tike chip itself," says Jeff Howe, Schroff Manager of R&D. "We did not have to change any of SiLvecScreen's code to be able to run wicb afmp of the IIT math coprocessors. With the implementation of the 4X4 instruction sibt by the IIT products, SilverScreen now offers the user the ultimate in 3-D performance! Workstation functionality is n©w available at the TSOS level." — SCHROFF DEVELOPMENT The Most Advanced Math Coprocessor The 4X4 matrix transformation instruction is an exceptionally powerful addition to a floating point processor when work- ing with three-dimensional CAD. Plug in the IIT Advanced Math Coprocessor for remarkably increased productivity. IIT Sets New Standards • Built-in 4X4 matrix instruction set • Advanced CMOS technology for higher reliability mt • Fewer cycles to execute existing instructions • 3C87 instruction set in the 2C87 • Twenty-four additional 80-bit numeric registers Full Line of 2C87 and 3C87 Math Coprocessors • Completely compatible with existing 287 and 387 sockets Warranted Compatibility • Software and socket compatible • Backed by one of the strongest 5-year limited warranties in the industry /Made in USA • Benchmark software included Look for the 4X4 Symbol - Plug in the Power These software innovators are some of many developers to incorporate the strength of 4X4, the most powerful number-crunching tool available. Call your local dealer and ask for the IIT Advanced Math Coprocessor, the one with the power of 4X4. Or call Specialty Software Development Corp. at (512) 327-8608 for the name of the dealer nearest you. ffdc Marketed by: SPECIALTY SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT CORP. 1001 Capital of Texas Highway So., Bldg. I Austin, Texas 78746 • 512/327-8608 Circle 270on Reader Service Card IIT, HT-2C87 and IIT-3C87 are trademarks of Integrated Information Technology, Inc. Intel is a registered trademark, and 286 and 387 are trademarks of Intel Corporation. G Is for Graphics THE PERFORMANCE COST K/!athmix j i Sort i 13 SAVAGE Load i i «.. i i i i i i i Recalc i i i i Link/3-D i i , , -I RECALC Short 1 i Long i i 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 Time (seconds) 1 I Excel for OS/2 ED Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.0 □ Lotus 1-2-3/G Figure 1: Lotus 1 -2-3/G pays a performance penalty for its graphical interface, as it is significantly slower than its sibling, 1-2-3 release 3. 0. Shorter bars indicate better performance. (For a complete explanation of the spreadsheet benchmarks, see "Not Just for Numbers Anymore, " February BYTE.) memory barrier. It was disconcerting, given that I was working on a Compaq 386/20 with 6 megabytes of real memory and another 4 MB of swap space on disk. The memory problems did not occur under release 3.0, nor did they occur with the Undo feature disabled. The trou- ble, then, was obvious: 1-2-3/G was re- taining the discarded spreadsheet file in memory so the Undo option could get it back. That's understandable, even desir- able, and easily disabled. You can blame it, though, for not han- dling memory limitations gracefully. I got a message that Undo was being dis- abled, closely followed by a memory warning. I clicked the OK button, at which point the program sometimes froze. I could still access the Task Man- ager and shut down 1-2-3/G, but by kill- ing the task, I would lose other files on the desktop. At other times, 1-2-3/G would load an empty worksheet with the same filename as the worksheet it failed to retrieve. There is one big advantage for 1-2-3/G that goes beyond the graphical interface. Lotus calls it the Solver, and that's just what it is. You can easily set up complex models and what-if scenarios. You spec- ify adjustable cells (such as the price you charge for an item), constraint cells (such as the number of items in your in- ventory), and a cell to maximize (such as profits). The Solver then returns many solutions for the defined problem. For testing purposes, I set up BYTE Bakeries as a model. The worksheet listed a variety of pastries and, for each pastry, reported the cost to make them, the selling price, and the number made. I selected the number-made entry for each pastry (the adjustable cells) and entered a series of simple logical formulas that set maximum and minimum values for each of the number-made entries (the con- straint cells). I was also constrained by the total cost of all pastries, representing the limit of my current resources. I then asked Solver to optimize the profits en- try. Solver returned several possible solutions so I could decide which mix of pastries would maximize my profits. In the same way, you could pick the optimal mix of stock investments for a portfolio. The Solver surpasses the sim- ple what-if capabilities of most spread- sheets. If you do a lot of spreadsheet modeling and what-if calculations, the Solver alone could justify the switch to 1-2-3/G. Finding the Right Fit It sounds strange to call a Lotus spread- sheet a niche product, but 1-2-3/G may fill the bill. I would recommend it for specific situations. If you have dedicated Lotus users along with users just learn- ing spreadsheets, 1-2-3/G offers a mid- dle ground. The old users can still em- ploy the slash key, while new users should feel less intimated by the point- and-click interface. In fact, if you're sold on the PM interface, 1-2-3/G could be the perfect vehicle for weaning your 1-2- 3 junkies off the keyboard and onto the mouse. Users who include their spreadsheets in other applications will also benefit with 1-2-3/G. Pasting to PageMaker or linking to a database is smoother under the graphical interface. Finally, users who have modeling chores that require the sophistication of the Solver can jus- tify the 1-2-3/G investment. However, if you're a single user who is already productive with the old Lotus in- terface, there's not much incentive for going to a graphical interface just for the sake of having one. You'll find release 3.0 less frustrating and more stable. Those who spend the bulk of their day within the Lotus environment will be more productive under release 3.0. In fact, that is 1 -2-3/G 's biggest drawback: It's hard to upstage a program as good as Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.0. ■ Stanford Die hi is a testing editor/engineer for the BYTE Lab. He can be reached on BIX as "sdiehl." 184 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 HARDWARE Christopher R. Gibson REVIEW 9600-bps Modem Brings Apple Networks Closer Together Shiva's NetModem V.32 offers 9600-bps communications as a shared network device or as an internetwork router, thanks to its built-in AppleTalk connector (top). Advances in LAN technology have made shared computer resources a fact of life in many companies. Shiva promises similar rewards for far- flung Apple networks with its NetMo- dem V.32, which places wide-area-net- work (WAN) technology into the hands of small businesses. Thanks to a built-in NetModem V.32 Company Shiva Corp. 155 Second St. Cambridge, MA 02141 (617)864-8500 Hardware Needed Macintosh-family computers or related peripherals attached to a LocalTalk network; LocalTalk connectors and cabling; a dedicated phone line (when used as an internetwork router) Price $1999 each (two are required for internetwork routing} Inquiry 855. AppleTalk connector, the NetModem V.32 can connect AppleTalk networks or allow traveling employees full dial-in access to company Macs and peripher- als. It also offers a major performance improvement over its predecessor, the NetModem 2400. The NetModem V.32's foundation is a 9600-bps V.32 modem. The V.32 proto- col allows the modem to communicate dependably with other V.32 modems at full speed over ordinary phone lines. But once you pull the new NetModem out of its box, you'll see that it is not an ordi- nary modem. In back, it offers three con- nectors: phone, power, and AppleTalk. The significance of the AppleTalk connector may not be immediately ap- parent, but it is the key to the NetModem V.32's power. It enables the NetModem to take advantage of the AppleTalk net- working protocols included in every Mac. Thus, the device can become a shared modem available to every Mac on a network, and it can serve as a remote router (or half-bridge). As a router, it can connect two remote AppleTalk networks to form one internetwork, allowing each node to transparently share all the re- sources of both remote networks, wheth- er they are 1 mile or 1000 miles away. Just Add AppleTalk Installing the NetModem is as easy as adding any other device to an AppleTalk network. Each Mac that will use the Net- Modem to dial out needs the NetModem software installed on its start-up disk. Shiva's Internet Manager application examines, sets up, manages, and per- forms troubleshooting on AppleTalk in- ternetworks. I found it to be handy when configuring the NetModem. You can also use it for Shiva's innovative method of updating NetModem V.32 firmware: Instead of requiring you to replace ROM chips, the NetModem V.32 can simply download an image file from disk into its battery-backed-up RAM. In general, using the NetModem V.32 as a dial-out modem is identical to using its slower cousin, the NetModem 2400. Through the standard Chooser desk ac- cessory (DA), you can select any NetMo- dem connected to the network. If the NetModem is busy, the software records your request; it then notifies you when the device becomes available. If you have several NetModems on your network, you can even select a pool of NetMo- dems, so that if one is busy, another in your pool can be used. Once a NetModem has been selected and the connection to your Mac is estab- lished, using the NetModem V.32 is much like using any high-speed modem. It uses the standard Hayes AT command set and responds in much the same way as a dedicated modem. A small display ap- pears in the menu bar and mimics the display lights normally found on the front of a modem. Even the sounds from the modem are transmitted over the net- work to your internal speaker. Remote-Routing Power But the NetModem V.32's real power lies in its remote-routing capabilities in an internetwork. For this, you need two remote AppleTalk networks, each with a NetModem V.32 (or one with a NetMo- dem V.32 and one with a Shiva Tele- Bridge or EtherGate). To create the internetwork, a user in one network initi- ates the call; the NetModem in the other remote network answers and automati- cally forms the connection. The software that controls the initia- tion of the connection is accessed through a standard Control Panel DA. A Dial Out window lets you set up minia- ture scripts for the various remote net- works you will be calling. These scripts include phone numbers, connect speeds, and access limitations. The Internet Manager application con- continued SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 185 9600-bps Modem Brings Apple Networks Closer Together ANSFER TIMES The NetModem V '.32 outshined the baseline 2400-bps modem in direct transfers. More significantly, the NetModem 's times as a 9600-bps router for LocalTalk transfers were close to those for direct transfers. At 9600 bps, the NetModem averaged one transmission error per 7 OK bytes transferred. Dial-in access gave comparable times. Creating moderate to heavy intranetwork traffic during testing, in the form of large file transfers between various nodes on one network, did not significantly affect internetwork performance. Direct modem-to-modem transfers File size (bytes) 2400-bps modem NetModem V.32, 9600 bps LocalTalk transfer NetModem V.32 as a router* 10K 25K 50K 100K 200K 500K 0:44 1:48 3:35 7:10 N/A N/A 0:12 0:29 1:02 2:08 4:05 10:12 0:21 0:37 1:08 2:12 4:29 10:16 ' Routing benchmarks measure transfers between a simple four-Macintosh network and a complex 20-Mac- intosh network connected through remote routing. Transfers in both directions yielded comparable times. All transfers were made using ZMODEM and MacBinary II. Times are in minutes:seconds. N/A = Not applicable. NetModem V.32s to connect my Apple- Talk network in California to a friend's AppleTalk network i n Tennessee. We ac- cessed each other's file servers and printers and sent E-mail transparently. Dial-in access is the single-user equiv- alent of remote routing, with two differ- ences. First, the Mac initiating the call can use any modem to make the connec- tion. Second, only single users can be connected, not networks. The dial-in ac- cess software that Shiva ships works via the Control Panel as seamlessly as the re- mote-routing software. For $99, the company also sells software that allows PCs the same dial-in capabilities. The slower NetModem 2400 also of- fered this ability, but it used a DA called Async AppleTalk and suffered from irri- tating slowness and occasional crashes. Shiva has done a good job reengineering dial-in access in the NetModem V.32. Also, I think a speedier 9600-bps mo- dem is much more suitable for this use. figures the NetModem V.32 to limit ac- cess to particular AppleTalk zones (if your network has them) and specifies separate passwords for dialing in, dialing out, or making configuration changes. Once connected, people on both net- works can use resources on the entire in- ternetwork. To test remote access, I used A Sense of WANder In tests using two remote networks, the NetModem V.32's performance was continued Com From these bestselling books f£VJK BASIC Programming Inside & Out v / The standard reference for all professional GW- BASIC, BASIC, QuickBASIC and Turbo BASIC programmers. Includes demo programs and routines you can easilyadaptforyour own programs. Describes sound, graphics, using ML, BASIC compilers, database management, create a help screen editor with pulldown menus. 600pagebook with companion disk containing 360K of BASIC source code. ISBN 1-55755-084-0. $34.95 Tips & Tricks for your PC Printer Takes the hassle out of working with PC printers. Learn how to setup and connect your printer. Learn to use the many features built into the popular printers, but rarely used because they're so difficult to understand. The companion disk has several practical printer utilities: online printer HELP, printer control aid, printer font editor and more. 400 page book with companion disk. ISBN 1-55755-075-1. $34.95 Tips&lHcks PC Printer^ yz*~ Available at B Dallon Booksellers, Waldens, and Software Etc. and at other bookstores nationwide. In the UK contact Computer Bookshops 021-706-11 88. In Canada contact Addison-Wesley 41 6-447-5101 Order Toll Free: 1-800-451-4319 Ext. 29 In US and Canada Turbo Pascal Internals Gives you "know how" to program faster, easier, tighter and better. Find out how to use Turbo for system programming tasks-writing TSRs, performing multi- tasking, using SAA windowing, implementing expanded and extended memory. Learn now Turbo generates machine code, handles the mouse, scans the keyboard, uses UNITS and OOPS, performs fast screen display and more. This book/disk combination includes more than BOOK of source code on two diskettes. 750 pages with 2 diskettes. ISBN 1-55755-080-8 $49.95 PC File Formats and Conversions is for every PC user who needs to exchange data between different application programs. Details the file formats for major software applications. Use IMPORT/ EXPORT functions in many applications. Includes conversion program on the Companion diskette. 280 page book with companion diskette. ISBN 1-55755-059-X $34.95 System Programming Ss^^PC System Programming s An encyclopedia of PC technical and programming knowledge. Features parallel working examples written in Pascal, C, assembly and BASIC. Explains memory layout, DOS operations, using extended, expanded memory, writing device drivers, hard disks, PC ports, mouse drivers, fundamentals of BIOS, graphics and sound, TSR programs, complete appendices. 920 pages with 2 disks - over 1 meg of programs in compressed format. A Best Seller. ISBN 1 -55755-036-0 $59.95 AbacusB Dept. B9, 5370 52nd Street SE, Grand Rapids, Ml 4951 2 Orders: 1-800-451-4319 • Phone: (616) 698-0330 • Fax: (616) 698-0325 In US and Canada add $4.00 postage & handling. Foreign orders add $12.00 postage per book. We accept Visa, Mastercard or American Express. Call or write for your free catalog of other PC books. 186 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 8 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 9) Using 16 Ports Is Easier Than Ever Y ou told us what you're looking for from your I multiuser communication controller. We 1 listened and gave you exactly what you 1 asked for. The ULTRA 16 and ULTRA 8 *f — designed to make your life easier. Now you can have,.. a A Powerful 80286 Processor a Streams Drivers a Field Upgradable From 8 To 16 Ports a New "Quick Connect" Cabling a A Universal Interface Box and "Dual Lock" Mounting a Easy To Install Software Drivers For SCO XENIX System V, SCO UNIX System V, AT&T System V, Interactive 386/ix, Sun OS, IBM OS 2 and IBM AIX a Transparent Print a Easy To Use Documentation When you need a basic multiuser communication controller, give our HOSTESS SERIES a try. Count on our people to give you the support and extra effort you deserve and have come to expect from us since 1982. Call Us Toll Free 800-9-COMTROL r «^ Comtrol Corponation A Control Systems Company 2675 Patton Road RO. Box 64750 St. Paul, Minnesota 55164 (612)631-7654 . (800)926-6876 The ULTRA SERIES logo, COMTROL ULTRA SERIES, ULTRA 8, ULTRA 16, Universal Interface Box, COMTROL HOSTESS SERIES, and the COMTROL logo are trademarks of COMTROL CORPORATION. Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. © COMTROL CORPORATION. All rights reserved. Circle 71 on Reader Service Card HARDWARE Stan Miastkowski excellent. Direct modem-to-modem trans- fers as a shared network modem ran as efficiently as those of a dedicated modem (see the table). Occasional transmission errors at 9600 bps indicate these speeds push the limits of ordinary phone lines, but the V.32 protocol did a good job at maintaining the connection's integrity. In remote-routing applications, the NetModem V.32 proved itself a reliable performer in networking environments ranging from my relatively simple Mac- intosh development network of TOPS file servers and E-mail, to a complex net- work at a local graphic arts company, consisting of two AppleShare file serv- ers, 20 Macintoshes, Apple LaserWrit- ers, and a Linotronic L300 ImageSetter. The NetModem V.32 had an overall "feel" that was excellent across the board. There were short delays while choosing printers or file servers from the Chooser, for instance, but nothing trou- blesome. And although file transfers were slower than with a direct connection to an AppleTalk network, printing oper- ations were surprisingly quick, adding only about 20 seconds to the 1 Vi minutes it took to print a sample five-page text document or a MacDraw graphic. However, there were some problems when communicating with on-line ser- vices such as BIX. The NetModem V.32 tended to lose control at random times. The resulting garbage could only be ter- minated by cycling the power on the Net- Modem. Shiva is aware of this problem (cycling the power is the company's workaround), and it expects to release a fix in the form of a new image file soon. The Shiva technical-support people took a thorough report of the garbage bug and promised to pass it on to the engi- neers, but I did not hear back from them until I contacted Shiva and identified myself as a reviewer. This is a shame, be- cause my previous experience with Shi- va's support has been generally positive. Even at $1999 each, the Shiva NetMo- dem V. 32 gives you a sense of awe at how well it works. Internetworking between remote users or AppleTalk networks is easy to establish and easy to get used to. Combining those features with the abil- ity to share a high-speed modem among many users makes this an attractive in- vestment for businesses in search of the advantages of WAN technology. ■ Christopher R. Gibson is president of Cloud Ten, a Macintosh development firm located in San Luis Obispo, Califor- nia, and is a moderator of the BIX Macin- tosh Exchange. He can be reached on BIX as "cgibson. " REVIEW New Floppy Drive Puts 20-MB Disk in Your Pocket The StorlMor Subsystem uses a SCSI controller to bring 20-MB floppy disk storage capacity to PCs and PS/2s. While some computer technologies forge ahead at breakneck speeds, floppy disk drive storage usually progresses at a leisurely pace. Capaci- ties grew from 180K bytes to 1 .44 mega- bytes only in incremental jumps. Now they are beginning to leapfrog, thanks to the 20-MB floppy disk drives hitting the market. I tested one of the first: Q/Cor's Stor/ Mor drive, which uses 3 1 /2-inch floppy disks that only look like the standard disks. Based on the Flextra system devel- oped by Brier Technology (San Jose, CA), the Stor/Mor drive uses Twin Tier Tracking (T 3 ) technology (seethe figure). As the name implies, two layers of magnetic material reside on special flop- py disks that cost a hefty $25 each. The entire upper layer is free for data storage. The lower layer, which is permanently formatted at the factory, contains posi- tioning (servo) information for the read/ write heads. This low-frequency mag- netic homing signal sends a continuous message to the read/write head. The em- bedded positioning information enables the head to track more tightly and accu- rately than in traditional floppy disk drives. This allows for a density of 777 tracks per inch, versus about 135 tracks in traditional floppy disk drives. In addi- tion, most drives store data uniformly throughout the disk surface. But the Stor/ Mor takes advantage of the longer sectors near the disk's outer edge by packing more data there than is possible in the shorter, inner sectors. The Stor/Mor comes in both an in- Stor/Mor Subsystem Company Q/Cor One Meca Way Norcross, GA 30093 (404)923-6666 Hardware Needed IBM XT, AT, PS/2, or compatible Price External version as tested: $895 Internal version: $795 Micro Channel architecture subsystem: $995 Inquiry 882. ternal version that fits in a standard Sc- inch floppy disk drive space and an ex- ternal version. It uses a SCSI controller and is available with both AT and Micro Channel SCSI controller boards. Installation Woes Getting the external version of the Stor/ Mor to work in my AT clone wasn't a "plug and play" proposition. The SCSI host-adapter board requires you to set ad- dress and interrupt-level jumpers. Be- cause my system already has other boards in place, I had to do some fiddling to get everything right. I then had to install a device driver in my CONFIG.SYS file and reboot. Prob- lem solved? Not quite. My system, which has a 64-MB hard disk drive partitioned into logical drives C and D, wouldn't recognize the Stor/Mor. Eventually, I realized that the second physical hard disk drive (the Stor/Mor) became drive D. But I still kept getting an "I/O error" message on my screen. I ended up spending several hours fooling with my CONFIG.SYS and AU- TOEXEC.BAT files, painstakingly re- moving individual TSR programs and device drivers. The culprit turned out to be a disk-caching utility, which some- how clashed with the Stor/Mor driver. Once I removed the utility, I was able to boot from the Stor/Mor drive. After an extensive talk with the Q/Cor people, they admitted that they have to revise the driver for the Stor/Mor to avoid these conflicts. continued 188 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Another BUBBLE JET Introducing the first printer that is both a desktop and a portable and prints with letter-quality precision on plain papenThe Canon BJ-lOe Bubble Jet.™ On a desk,with its optional 30-sheet paper feeder, it's an ideal personal printer. As a single-sheet portable with its optional rechargeable battery pack, it weighs a remarkable 4.6 pounds and prints on a variety of paper. Moreover, the BJ-lOe emulates the IBM® Proprinter™ X24E, so you can use a wide range of applications software. How fast is it? It prints 83 characters per second and won't slow down when printing in bold or various type sizes. It even handles complicated graphics such as the scanned-in image printed here. And, it's so quiet it can be used in the middle of the night with someone asleep just a few feet away Plus you never have to worry about maintenance because it uses an economical pop-in BJ cartridge, containing the print head and ink supply, which prints approxi- mately 700,000 characters (HQ mode). But best of all, the BJ-lOe works everywhere you could possibly need it, fitting neatly into a briefcase. TheBJ-lOe Bubble Jet. What other printers print on a desk, it prints anywhere. The document displayed In the BJ-lOe is actual output using the UltraScript™ pc software BJ-130e™ printer driver. Canon' Is a registered trademark and BJ-130e and Bubble Jet are trademarks of Canon Inc. IBM* Is a registered trademark and Proprinter Is a trademark of International Business Machines Corp. UltraScriptis a trademark of QMS. Circle 58 on Reader Service Card Canon BUBBLE JET PRINTER BJ-lOe Working To Improve Your Imager For a history-making demonstration, visit your Canon dealer or call 1 (800) 848-4123. Circle 169 on Reader Service Card See Your Data Maplnfo software can find, display and analyze your data geographically. See your prospects, customers, facilities —anything in your database. Find addresses by street, ZIP code, city, etc. (We can even supply the maps.*) Any point or region on the map can have a complete record of data behind it. See your actual dBASE data in a window to view, edit, and print. Draw your own boundaries. Add titles and legends for high quality presentations. Perform analyses on your data to sum, average, or count your database records by location. Color sales territories by volume of orders, ZIP codes by numbers of leads, countries by your demographic data. From street-level to worldwide, Maplnfo can merge your databases with maps. Play visual "what if" with your data. See patterns, trends, and opportunities you never knew existed. If you need to map your data, Maplnfo can do it. *Maplnfo now has "TIGER," the most up-to-date and comprehensive library of street maps available on the PC. Pricesvary. Maplnfo comes with a map of the world and the U.S. with all ZIP code locations. Runs on IBM PCs or compatibles with 640K RAM, a hard drive, and graphics. MapOunMGorp. Changing The Way The World Looks At Information™ 200 Broadway, Troy NY 12180 To order, call 1-518-274-8673 or 1-800-FASTMAP Toll free. Maplnfo is a trademark of Maplnfo Corp. dBASE is a trademark of Ashton-Tate. REVIEW New Floppy Drive Puts 20-MB Disk in Your Pocket PACKING 20 MEGABYTES Data layer (777 tracks per inch) Servo layer Disk cross section The oxide coating on the Stor/Mor' s floppy media is divided into two layers. The bottom, or servo, layer contains an embedded homing signal that guides read /write heads. Accurate head positioning in part allows the drive to densely pack data in the upper layer into 777 tracks per inch. Special Formatting Not surprisingly, the Stor/Mor drive comes with its own formatting utility. Because the positioning information is permanently encoded on the disks, the actual formatting is very fast— under a minute for the 20-MB storage space. In addition, the format utility allows you to partition the floppy disk into two logical drives in any combination that adds up to 20 MB. If you use the Stor/Mor as your boot drive, the formatting utility also gives you the option of putting DOS files on the disk. But I ran into an annoying anomaly when using this option: Stor/Mor won't take system files off an existing hard disk. It insists that you have a bootable disk in your floppy disk drive A. Of course, if Stor/Mor is your only "hard" drive, that's where the files would have to be. But I would have liked to have had a choice. The Stor/Mor drive is only usable with Brier's special disks. It currently won't read or write to 720K-byte or 1.44-MB disks. However, Q/Cor promises to have a version of the drive that will handle those formats later this year. Speed Is Relative The Stor/Mor is faster than a standard floppy disk drive, but slower than a hard disk drive. I would have expected that, except that Q/Cor's marketing literature claims an average access time of 35 mil- liseconds, which is comparable to a stan- dard hard disk drive. I found that to be a bit optimistic; most of the time, actual access time is three to four times that figure. Packing more and more data onto 3 Vi- inch floppy disks isn't a trivial undertak- ing. After what seems like years of fits and starts, many manufacturers are com- ing out with competing— and incompati- ble—subsystems. Stor/Mor is intriguing technology, but considering my installa- tion problems, I get an uneasy feeling that it isn't quite there yet. It's a useful alternative to a standard hard disk drive for hard disk backups or for carrying large amounts of data in a portable pack- age. For security, you can lock the disk away at night. But for these capabilities, $895 is a considerable price to pay. In fact, for that, I could buy both a 40-MB hard disk drive and a 40-MB tape backup system and have money left over. Of course, the Stor/Mor is new technology, and new technology is usually expensive. But until its price falls considerably, I'll stay with my current storage technology. ■ Stan Miastkowski is a consulting editor for BYTE. He can be reached on BIX as "stanm. " 190 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Printer Sharing Sohitu SL 10 Ports from $495 Any Combination of Ten Printers or PCs: All ports can be set as input or output; automatic serial-to-parallel conversion; automatic switching and queuing of jobs 115,200 bps: Our software allows your PC to send data serially several times faster than normal 9,600 bps. Pop-up Menu via Hotkeys: Keyboard selection of printers and many other control functions Simple Installation: Just plug in your cables and run the menu-driven installation software User Upgradable Memory: From 256KB to 4MB buffer CT I PRINTER I I MAC I lllc B ^gJl MODEM [plotter! f^| = 1 SL F Save by Sharing Resources: The SL enables everyone to share lasers, printers, plotters, and modems. Greater access by more users reduces unproductive idle time and the need to purchase additional expensive peripherals. All users can simultaneously send print data and quickly release their PCs to continue working. BUFFALO 45 Day Money Back Guarantee CALL TODAY (800) 345-2356 Fax (503) 585-4505 Buffalo Products, Inc. 2805 19th St. SE, Salem, OR 97302-1520 HWP 5 Ports from $275 SPPS Converter $100 All ports are parallel and user configurable as either 3 inputs to 2 outputs with a pop-up menu, or 4 inputs to 1 output as a buffered auto-switch; memory is user upgradable from 256KB to 4MB buffer Combination serial-to-parallel, or parallel-to-serial interface converter in a single unit, no power supply needed, serial transfers to 115,200 bps, DIP switch configurable AS-41 5 Ports $200 RCJ Toshiba Memory Module 4 parallel inputs to 1 parallel output, automatic switch with no buffer; use the AS-31 for up to 3 inputs to 1 output, $175 Memory expansion module for the Toshiba T1000SE or T1000XE laptop (notebook) computer, 1MB -$299, 2MB - $549 CE 2 Ports from $ 1 75 Cables & Adapters Printer buffer with 1 parallel input to 1 parallel output, from 256KB to 4MB buffer High quality, 24 gauge shielded cables, parallel or serial; modular cable adapters Circle 399 on Reader Service Card ...'.S;:... :..'■>.?. J:'-.*-- ■-..-■:_ ■■•.'" ' >'' .".■■•'..•■. Professional developers require HRflft GUIDO by South Mountain Soft. GUIDO is a powerful library of C functions which enables you to easily add graphical user interface objects to your application. Available objects include menus, windows, data entry, radio buttons, user definable objects and more. An event driven, object oriented windowing environment is also provided. GTJIDO does not require any other graphics library and includes support for Borland Turbo C, Microsoft C and Quick C. LIST: $249 PS Price: $229 LIST: $499 (w/so.) PS Price: $459 FastFaxls 42-050 —■—"-—- iiiii^»-i* —,.,; -~ 386 DEVELOPMENT TOOLS ProtoFinish by Genesis 279 Cost Show Partner F/X 279 386 Max Professional $119 Visible Analyst 585 386:ASM/LINK by Pharlap DESQview 386 485 189 COBOL FoxBASE+/386 479 MS COBOL V3.0 639 Instant C 769 Realia COBOL 859 Metaware High C - 386/486 875 COMMUNICATIONS NDP Fortran - 386 549 ADD-ONS NDP C - 386, 545 C Asynch Manager 3.0 155 QEMM - 386 VM/386 89 229 Essential COMM by S. Mtn. Greenleaf Comm Library 259 329 WATCOM C8.0 386 Prof. 1155 QuickComm 129 WATCOM C8.0 386 Stand. 795 DBASE AI-LANGUAGES Clipper 5.0 550 ARITY Combination Package I 989 dBASE IV 499 LISPC 269 dBFAST/PLUS 325 PC Scheme LISP 85 dBFAST/Windows 329 TransLISP PLUS w/source 179 dBMAN V 275 PDC Prolog Compiler 119 dBXL 209 ASSEMBLERS FoxPro 495 MS MASM 105 FoxBASE + - V2.1 279 Turbo Assembler/Debugger 109 Quicksilver 399 Visible Computer:80286 85 DBMS BASIC & ADD-ONS Cause Professional 719 BAS-C Commercial 439 CLARION Prof. Dev. 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It does not interfere with printer operation, hard disk installs or backup copies. Featuring a fixed- response security system unique to each device, the economical SentinelScout offers a level of execution control perfect for lower-cost programs. LIST: $295 (kit of 1 keys) PS Price: $265 FastFaxls 1313-001 R&R Relational Reportwriter 139 R&R Code Generator 129 TOE PROGRAMME HyperPAD by Brightbill-Roberts HyperPAD is an object-oriented application generator. HyperPAD gives DOS users the same cap- abilities as Tool Book, HyperCard and others, without the overhead. Use HyperPAD to create custom- ized menuing systems for hard disks or Local Area Networks, computer based training systems, help systems tutorials, flat-file databases, hypertext information systems, front-ends and much more. LIST: $150 PS Price: $129 FastFaxls 1104-006 Sage Prof. Editor by Sage The Sage Professional Editor is designed to create the applications of the 90's. Ifs highly configurable and has an advanced windowed user interface with integrated mouse support, on-line help and menu- driven commands. Has emulations for Brief, Vi, E ACS/ Epsilon and WordStar, and a virtual memory system for large files. Includes MS-DOS, OS/2 and Dual ode versions on 3.5" and 5.25" diskettes. LIST: $295 PS Price: $249 FastFaxls 111-060 ProtoFinish by Genesis Data Systems ProtoFinish creates program prototypes, demos and tutorials. Contains screen design module for creating ASCII-based screens, memory-resident utility for captur- ing ASCII and CGA-VGA graphics screens, 4th-generation language with interactive/self-running capa- bilities for accurately simulating your program's look and feel, royalty-free run-time utility, and assembly language routines for in- corporating screens in C, PASCAL, BASIC, and Clipper code. LIST: $300 PS Price: $279 FastFaxls 1496-001 — — — ■ ■ 1-800-421-8006 more than just products. . . cj \ S ** OPTune by Gazelle Got a case of "hard-disk slowdown?" Get OPTune, the fastest, most complete set of performance- enhancing utilities available. It features unmatched file defrag- mentation, low-level non- destructive interleave adjustment, and in depth media testing. OPTune will, quite simply, keep your disk spinning faster and longer than any other "so-called" optimizer . . . guaranteed. LIST: $100 PS Price: $89 FaslFaxts 726-003 Object/1 by mdbs, Inc. Object/1 is more than just another application development tool. If s designed specifically for graphical environments like Presentation Manager and Windows 3.0 to provide a comprehensive develop- ment environment. It features a Forms Painter which allows you to build and edit graphical forms which link to a variety of back-end database servers. Object/1 is a rich object-oriented programming tool which has more than 250 classes and 3000 methods. LIST: $995 PS Price: $895 FaslFaxts 1506403 BLAST by Communications Research BLAST puts powerful data transfer, remote control, scripting, terminal emulation, datacompres- sion, and other communications magic into one product for PC, Unix, Xenix, VAX, Macintosh, and even mainframe communica- tions... all with the same look, feel, menu interface, protocol, and script languagel Easy for developers to link into existing applications for automated, 1 00% error-free data transfer and fast, reliable remote control. LIST: $295 PS Price: $235 FastFaxis 1674-001 WATCOM C8.0/386Prof. by WATCOM WATCOM C 8.0/386 is 100% ANSI C optimizing compiler/runtime library for Intel's 80386 architect- ure, generating applications for 32- bit protect mode. Features include: protected mode version of the compiler; VIDEO full-screen source -level debugger; MS library-* source-compatibility; execution profiler; high performance linker; graphics library; supports Meta- Ware High C 386 runtime calling conventions; SAA compatible. LIST: $1295 PS Price: $1155 FastFaxis 1044-004 Scrimmage 139 SilverComm Library 179 SilverPaint 100 Steve Straley's Toolkit 149 Tom Rettig's Library 85 Ul Developer's Release 479 DEBUGGERS/ DISASSEMBLERS DASM 225 Dis Doc 119 Periscope IV Call RE:Source by Genesoft 119 SoftProbe 86/TX 345 Sourcer 486 w/BIOS pre-proc. 129 Trapper 1 89 Zortech C Debugger Call DEVELOPMENT TOOLS ASMFLOW 89 CLEAR+forC 169 Codan 349 Buzzwords dAnalyst 269 The Documenter 245 INSIDE! 119 MKSLex&Yacc 199 MKSRCS 175 Poly Doc-SU 1 79 PC-Lint 1 1 5 FORTRAN FOR_C w/source 789 Lahey FORTRAN F77L 549 Lahey Personal FORTRAN Call MS Fortran Opt. Compiler 309 RM/FORTRAN 499 GENERAL ADD-ONS C Tools Plus - V6.01 98 C Utility Library 199 Greenleaf Functions 209 Greenleaf SuperFunctions 239 Opt-Tech Sort 1 1 9 Turbo C Tools by Blais 109 GRAPHIC ADD-ONS Code Master II 269 Essential Graphics v3.0 349 Graphic 319 GSS Graphics Devt Toolkit 525 Halo 279 HSC Sunscan 289 LaserControl 1 39 Matrix Synergy Toolkit 3.0 349 MetaWINDOWS 209 MetaWINDOW/PLUS 289 PCX Programmer's Toolkit 229 Sunshow Adv. Image Toolkit 239 Plink/LTO 619 HARDWARE PolyMake 135 ALL Chargecard 399 PVCS Professional 659 Capital Equipment Corp. .RTLINK -by Pocket Soft 279 OS/RAM32 0M 225 RTLINK Plus 419 OS/RAM8 0M 299 Source Print 97 OS/RAM4 0M 179 TLB 5.0 Version Control 125 DigiCHANNEL COM/8i 875 Zortech C++ Tools Call DigiCHANNEL MC/8i DPT 949 EDITORS SmartCache ST506 1099 BRIEF Call SmartCache RLL 1099 Cheetah 199 SmartCache ESDI 1099 Epsilon 169 Disk Mirroring Module 685 KEDIT 139 Emerson UPS QEdit TSR 89 Model 10 UPS 169 RimStar PM:Editor 190 Model 20 UPS 319 Sage Professional Editor 249 Model 40 UPS 699 SPF/PC - V2.1 199 AccuCard 209 Vedit + 139 AccuSaver 69 EXPERT SYSTEMS EtherCard Plus 239 EtherCard Plus/A 349 Exsys Professional KnowledgePro Windows Logic Gem by Sterling Castle 695 589 89 Erasable Optical Drive NT Adv. Math Coprocessors 3C87-25 Call 450 Personal Consultant Plus 1999 3C87-33 559 VP-Expert 219 2C87-20 329 FILE ADD-ONS 2C87-12 279 Accsys for Paradox w/source 739 Intel Math Coprocessors Btrieve V5.0 199 80387-25 555 CBTREE 179 80387-33 675 C-Data Manager w/source 499 80287-10 309 c-tree by Faircom - source 329 J T Fax 9600 595 CodeBASE 4 279 KickStart I 125 C-TRIEVE 189 KickStart II 350 CQL - w/ source 359 KickStart III 539 db_FILE/RETRIEVE - SU 229 LANStor LAN150S 1995 UNIX or XENIX - MU 569 LaserStor WORM Drive 3295 Faircom Toolbox Prof. 889 Personal Modem 2400 199 Faircom Toolbox Special 539 QX/12K Modem 699 WKS Library 149 QX/V.32C Modem 1349 XQL 649 Seagate 5T- 125-1 20M 299 THE PROGRAMMERS SHOP 1-800-421-8006 The Programmer's Shop is $<< The UnMouse by MicroTouch Why use a mouse to point when you have your fingerl The UnMouse is a compact, touch- sensitive, state-of-the-art pointing device providing cursor control, graphic input, and function key selection. Just touch the glass tablet with your finger or the stylus. Use it in absolute mode with touch points mapping directly to the screen, or in relative mode, similar to a mouse. LIST: $235 PS Price: $219 FastFaxts 2918-002 Seagate 5T-4096-1 80M 639 Seagate 5T-251-1 40M 339 SentinelScout (kit of 10 keys) 265 SpeedStor AT 300S 2695 Smartmodem 2400 459 The Shadow S VG A1 024K 31 9 VGA WONDER 256 279 VGA WONDER 512K 359 NETWORKS dBXL/LAN 519 Btrieve Network Version 479 Netware SQL 519 Netware C Interface 239 OBJECT-ORIENTED/C++ Actor 639 C talk/Views 419 Intek C++ 80386 469 Smalltalk/V 85 Smalltalk/V-286 185 Smalltalk/V PM 469 Turbo C ++ 159 Turbo C ++ Prof. 259 Zinc Interface Library 179 Zortech C ++ Call Zortech C++ Debugger Call Zortech C ++ Dev. Edition Call OS/MS WINDOWS- SUPPORT C-Trieve/Windows 329 DESQview 109 Graphics Server SDK 479 MKS Toolkit 229 MS Windows 3.0 69 MS Windows SDK 319 OS/286 or 386 459 OS/2 PM Toolkit 369 OTHER LANGUAGES Modula-2 Dev. System 229 RPG II Dev. Systems 1469 TopSpeed Modula-2 189 StonyBrookProf. Modula-2 249 OTHER PRODUCTS BALER 399 Carbon Copy Plus 159 COTERM/220 219 Dan Bricklin's PageGarden 89 The Duplicator Toolkit-Pro 3.0 119 File Shuttle 109 Flow Charting II Plus 179 HEADROOM 89 HiJaak 139 LapLink III 129 Link & Locate ++ - ROM MSC 349 Math Advantage 475 Norton Utilities Advanced 1 09 PAGINATE by AccuMatics 89 pcANYWHERE III 129 PC Tools Deluxe 6.0 109 PC-KWIK Power Pak 119 Remote2 139 SpinRite II Call Systat & Sysgraph Combo 749 Time$heet Prof. 135 TURBO PASCAL graphics-Menu 139 MetaWare Pascal 386/486 839 Turbo AS YNCH PLUS 139 Turbo Pascal 5.5 by Borland 1 09 Turbo POWER TOOLS PLUS 109 Turbo Professional 98 Turbo Programmer 269 TEXT SCREEN ADD-ONS AEWINDOWS 459 C Communications Toolkit 1 1 9 C Worthy w/forms Call Greenleaf DataWindows 339 HI-SCREEN XL Professional 289 JAMbyJYACC 199 ME WEL Window System 1 49 POWER SCREEN by Blaise 1 03 Vitamin C - source, menus 169 VC Screen - painter 1 1 9 Vermont Views Obj. + source 899 UNIX/XENIX ESIX Systems ESIX/V 386 Dev. (2 user) 569 ESIX/V 386 Dev. unltd 769 Interactive Systems Architect Wrkstn Platform 1 1 99 Architect Wrkstn Developer 1 850 Santa Cruz Operations Unix Operating Sys. 799 Unix Developer Sys. 895 VP/ix 286 449 VP/ix 386 429 XENIX 286 Dev. Sys. 599 XENIX 386 Dev. Sys. 689 Recital Standard SU 699 WordTech Quicksilver Diamnd.839 InstaPlan by Micro Planning International Your business has projects going on all the time. Some need coordination, have important deadlines and limited budgets. To make these projects succeed you need realistic pfans. InstaPlan highlights resource conflicts and problem areas ahead of time. InstaPlan utilizes the outline approach to planning, has clear screen views, on screen help and highly presentable charts to ensure you manage your projects not your software. LIST: $99 PS Price: $99 FastFaxts 1657-001 MKS RCS by Mortice Kem Systems MKS RCS maintains a complete history of changes to a file and recalls any revision instantly. MKS RCS has all the features you'll ever need in a revision control system - binary file support, compression of log files, SCCS to RCS conversions, full locking capabilities, unlimited branching and merging - at a price you can afford. LIST: $189 PS Price: $175 FastFaxts 4694)02 See our ad on page 83. C Worthy w/Form & ARCH by Solution Systems Create a clear, high quality user interface with minimal overhead to your code. Benefit from 400 tight, ready-to-use functions for Windows, Menus, Text Editing, Message System, Mouse Support, Help and much more. cwARCHITECT is included to let you interactively design and test forms without coding. Best of all it's flexible to your needs, providing high level functions for immediate results, yet power and functionality for the long-term. LIST: $399 PS Price: $359 FastFaxts 732-095 Multi-Edit by American Cybernetics EASIER, FASTER & BETTER THAN EVER I Multi-Edit has always been your best text editing value. Now version 5.0 adds: Windows/SAA- style interface, seamless Mouse Support, expanded online help & manuals (LOTS of useful examples), full EMS support, plus hundreds of new features I Inexpensive - NOT CHEAP I You've gotta see this I FREE DEMO LIST: $99 PS Price: $95 FastFaxts 1067-001 THE PROGRAMME 1-800-421-8006 your source for solutions ! TCAT & S-TCAT by Software Research, Inc. TCAT Let's start with TCAT, our Test Coverage Analysis Tool. TCAT uses your source code to make your test suites more complete than ever before. TCAT measures test thoroughness in terms of logical branches, Instead of statement coverage that common profilers use. With TCAT, you work on reports that are 8 to 1 times more concise and 3 times more accurate. FastFaxts 11264)11 LIST: $4,100 PS Price: $3,995 SoftlVC S-TCAT When you finish unit testing with TCAT, move on to system level testing with S-TCAT, and verify that your executive or "driver" programs combine the lower level modules correctly. With S-TCAT, you can double the detection of module interface errors, which often make up over 50% of total system errors. FastFaxts 1126-012 , r LIST: $2,850 (Unix) Jl f Inc. PS Price: $2,775 ~yfSS&'0£* WENDIN - DOS PLUS by Wendin Replicating functionality built deep within MS-DOS was key to the birth of WENDIN-DOS PLUS. Commented Microsoft C and Assembler source code builds into an OS/2 like, stand-alone host operating system which retains MS-DOS compatibility! Multiuser! Multitasking! Windows Developer's Kit! Full Source Code! LIST: $249 PS Price: $199 FastFaxts 305-012 Recital by Recital Corporation, Inc. Yes, it runs your dBASE, FoxB ASE and Clipper applica- tions on UNIX, XENIX and AIX (also VAX/VMS and ULTRIX). But I that* s only the beginning of Recital. It's a complete relational database and 4GL for developer and end-user alike. If s also got a powerful data dictionary. SQL interface and over 350 additional commands. LIST: $995 PS Price: $699 FastFaxts 2039-001 Dr. Switch- ASE by Black & White Int'l, Inc. Dr. Switch-ASE turns any size Dbase application into a RAM resident (TSR) program that occupies only 16-20K of RAM; Supports Clipper, dBASE III PLUS,dBASEIV,FoxBASE + and FoxPro. Dr. Switch-ASE includes Cut, Paste, Timer, Alarm and Macro functions. It supports Expanded and Extended memory and is fully network compatible. LIST: $100 PS Price: $95 FastFaxts 1178-006 THE IMUHilt \>l>ll US SHOP CATALOG is the definitive source book for serious software development professionals. Over 1,700 development products listed, including: • applications • books/training • communications • hardware •LANs • languages • libraries • operating systems • tools • UN I XI XENIX • utilities Call today for this valuable guide to programming productivity. What is FastFaxts? You now have access to literature on any of our products via FAX machine. FREE\ 1. Call 617-740-0025 from your FAX machine's phone. 2. Follow the voice computer's instructions and enter your product's code number (listed in each product box or in our catalog). 3. Hang up the phone and await your instant print out of product literature. Call 617-740-0025 from any fax phone! I Hi: PKOGKAMME1& SHOP 800-421-8006 N *flSSi*S5S? rt " MMC ofthiDlu 7 itens 0:00 (7 undun> Tim 7/12/90 ■ h itens 0:35 (0:00 openjk Pile Edil Select Juggle Schedules Nul Calendar Option;; Scheilriles v:M> V Ihu //I2/9U '+l-'-M-0'lirt rwwia:r5Hnff «5 11:80a FREE (?:0ll) sanple - Lunch -r ( 1: OH) 2:08p FREE (8:1,?;) sanple - Send birthday card to . ft:45p sanple - Cal Laura -r (:15) >»:'■, [i sanple - Call Kin t* arrange lu 9:U5p sanple - Workout at gyn -r (1:1 B:5Bp sanple - Back-up IID Files -r (: 2:3Sp>SGnple - Prepare an~d send info 1:B8p sanple - Lunch -r (1:00) 2:i*5p sample - L'a]l Laurq -r \vt ) 3:0lip sanple - Back-up HD files -r ( _Hd_ Active Life Active Life 's smart calendar shows you at a glance, in bold type, your appointments and the time you have free. In light type, it suggests times to accomplish your tasks. Active Life is the only shareware prod- uct of the group. It's available for Microsoft's OS/2 Presentation Manager (PM), Windows 3.0, Windows/286, or Windows/386, and in a run-time Win- dows version for DOS. The heart of Active Life is its smart calendar. Unlike many of the PIMs, Ac- tive Life does not differentiate between tasks and appointments; it displays both on the same calendar. The rationale for this is that tasks take time and affect any schedule. Most PIMs make you go back and forth from tasks and calendar views to see where you've committed your time. By displaying both tasks and appoint- ments together, Active Life gives you a much clearer idea of what your time com- mitments are. This, I think, is an emi- nently sensible approach . Active Life allows automatic repetitive scheduling (e.g., a meeting held at the same time daily, weekly, or monthly), alarms, and easy juggling of appoint- ment schedules with a mouse or a key- board. The program also automatically archives each day's records after all tasks are marked as done. Active Life enhances the regular Win- dows card file for its notebook (the notebook is not available in the PM version). When combined with the tele- phone dialer, it becomes the communi- cation module. Multiple notebooks are 196 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 supported, which helps in organizing textual information. You can create tele- phone books in the notebook as they are in Windows, and existing Windows card files and ASCII text files and databases can be imported directly to a notebook. Data searches are done with simple text strings. Its reporting capability is limited to printing your daily schedule and a two-month calendar. While Active Life doesn't have all the features of some of the other PIMs I looked at, it allows thorough control of your activities. And because it closely follows the Windows standard, it is a breeze to learn. In addition, because it is shareware, you can try it out before you buy it. askSam EBmjH active file: 'ffltii j il fffi i records: wZ file size: 321,719 ■ Indexed ■ Active file ope update Tagged reco- nutate last record ite psfraM askSam can easily deal with big chunks of data, and its main menu, as shown here, gives you plenty of options for managing and updating the information files. Handling large volumes of text is ask- Sam 's real strength. If your infor- mation comes primarily in big chunks, then you should give serious consider- ation to this program. As with Agenda, askSam' s learning curve is fairly steep. Although many basic operations are menu-driven, the more complex operations require pro- gramming in a language that is not sim- ple. For example, here's a fragment of sort-request code: (ELSE) ©JOURNAL (LONGJN[)VO[ (IFCOUNT)IS[=0 PG[ (ELSE) IS[PG[ (END) You can enter information manually or by importing ASCII files. Records can link to external graphical files, and some hypertext capability is built in. You can also store data in a totally free for- mat or a traditional fielded format. Its powerful reporting capability (using lan- guage like the sort fragment above) can generate printed ASCII files that other programs can also use. Within a file, you can find informa- tion using sophisticated full-text search procedures, including variable word proximity (e.g., "locate only records in which search string 1 is in x relation to search string 2"). This feature allows you to easily find the notes on, say, the times you talked with Harry about the Acme Building project. It handles dates with a moderate degree of intelligence: Dates entered without a year are treated as being in the current year; months can be names with the minimum nonam- biguous string (e.g., N for November, J A for January, and J UN for June); days within the current Sunday to Saturday cycle can be entered as SU, MO, TU, and so on. Multiple Boolean operators in a single-search command are supported. A hot key calls up an auto-dialer that can seek out telephone numbers on the screen. askSam has no calendar/scheduler or telephone book as such, but it is possible to program them. The telephone book re- quires nothing more than a text file of the appropriate information and simple string searches. A very smart calen- dar/scheduler could be made using ask- Sam 's calendar command and saved macros to build ad hoc daily, weekly, monthly, or whatever views of text files containing the necessary information. et speaker for Rotary nesting next I flcwe fl onlh. 583-555- 1251 iltidfjc fourfold on Mandatory sentencing] Mayor Siith on ■unicipal budget ! S3S •o -- power Mlndo side: needs oil engine noise and *^lS **~mm ' mr Sue said to expect a two ueck delay. m% 6c "fit to '"'ilii 1 \< #rit/p -d;lii. i 'ftit Info Select Info Select emulates a desktop littered with several notes. As you browse from one note to another, the brightly framed "active window" moves to the screen location of the note you select. If you are an inveterate scribbler of memos to yourself or a slave to Post-it notes, check out Info Select. This is Tor- nado Notes grown up. The concept is the same— manipulating electronic stacks of paper on your virtual desktop— and you can use it as a TSR program. Data entry is totally free-form, with only kludges available to impose some structure. For example, you prefix dates in tickler-file entries with a ** string. A tickler command will search an entire stack for any entries with ** followed by the current or earlier date and will put what it finds in a new window. It's not elegant, but it works. The program will also create a "linear calendar"— a year's worth of dates, continued SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 197 REVIEW Strictly for Personal information PIM FUNCTIONS COMPARED I Each PIM uses a combination of functions to help you manage your information (•= yes; O = no). Name Price Minimum DOS version required Minimum RAM (bytes) Hard disk required Calendar Auto- dial Telephone/ address book To-do lists Priority manager Tickler Smart dates Alarms Active Life 1.1 $149i 2.0 512K • • • • O O O • • askSam 4.2 $295 2.0 256K O O • * * o o O O Info Select $99.95 2.0 256K O • * * o • O O Instant Recall 1.2 $99.95 2.12 512K 03 • • • • • o • • MemoryMate 3.04R $69.95 2.0 256K o o o * * o • o o PackRat 2.0 $395 3.0 215K • • • • • • • • • Who-What-When 2.0 $295 2.11 640K • • • • • • • • • * Free-form PIM; you can add structure to create the function. 1 Distributed as shareware and available on BIX. 2 DOS 3.0 or higher for memory-resident operation. 3 720K-byte or 1 .2K-byte floppy disk drive required. listed one under the other— that can form the basis of a scheduling calendar. Again, it's pretty primitive, but it works. You 're on your own as far as telephone books go. This is no problem, since all you need to do is create lists of names and telephone numbers in any way you want. You can search on any part of the list, and an auto-dialer will place the call. The auto-dialer can seek out a telephone in any text on the screen, not just in some- thing formatted as a telephone book. To enter information into Info Select, you just open a window and start typing. You can also import ASCII text and sim- ple database files. When you're done, press Escape twice to get out of the edi- tor. Your note will be at the top of the current stack. To find information from the stack, you issue the get command and type the string you want to locate. When you press Return, Info Select creates a temporary substack of all the windows containing that string. You can then browse the stack with the up- and down-arrow keys. Report writing is limited, but it is adequate for memos and other nondemanding uses. The only thing I don't like about Info Select is its default screen display, which emulates a desktop littered with many notes. As you browse from window to window, the brightly framed "active window" jumps around the screen as you change windows, rather than being an- chored in one position. This makes scan- ning text a bit like following PacMan through its maze. Fortunately, you can change the default. Instant Recall Instant Recall 's biggest strengths are its date handling and its pop-up calendar, which make it easy to refer to past or future dates without leaving the program. Instant Recall is a very business-like program. Its command set is consis- tent. Its screens are clean and unambigu- ous. You can issue commands using an Alt-character key combination or with a mouse and pull-down menus. Instant Re- call's structure is rigid but useful. You can enter information as a note (up to about 30 pages long), a task, a schedule item, or a people (name and address) en- try. An auto-dialer can call the telephone numbers in the people entries. It can run as a TSR program. The built-in editor allows block moves and search and replace. You can use the clipboard for traditional cut-and-paste work. Conversion utilities are included to import ASCII, SideKick, Tornado, and MemoryMate files. You can search text using simple Boolean operators. Dates are handled well. For example, the program knows how to convert "next Wednesday" to the proper month and date. Time handling is equally smart, in- cluding recognition of noon and mid- night. Entries are checked for time con- flicts. You can enter recurring events automatically. A pop-up calendar makes it easy to determine past and future dates without leaving the program or referring to paper. And you can use a timer to track and record time spent on individual projects. Instant Recall supports schedules and task lists for as many as 64 individuals organized in up to 14 groups. You can organize and view the information by text, category, priority , person assigned, date, or combinations of these cate- gories. continued 198 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 BETA JUMP ON IKE COMPETITION. Staring at your computer screen wait- ing for a laser to start printing eats up a lot of time. Especially if you're using a desktop publishing program, or mixing fonts and graphics. In fact, for all of the work you do, the true measure of laser performance is processing time. And compared to how painfully slow most lasers are, the new MT906 from Mannesmann Tally moves at lightning speed. In some cases, it delivers your first page literally hundreds of times faster. PCL Output: Ventura- Publisher "Scoop" rail EEEH mm PostScript. Output: Pagemaken, Times Roman Fonts cm LASERWRITER NT SERIES ll-PACIFIC PAGE 75 90 105 120 135 150 165 180 195 210 225 This graph shows specific exam- ples of typical time savings you can expect. It also makes our point abundantly clear. If you want to jump ahead of your competition, a lot de- pends on making every second count. For more information about the super performing MT906,take a minute to call us toll free at 1-800-843-1347 Ext. 407 MANNESMANN TALLY Circle 167 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 168) Dual bin sheet feeder optional. IBM. HP Series 11. HI 1 Series III, LaserWriter, Pacific Page, PageMaker. PostScript, and Ventura are registered trademarks. Mannesmann Tally, 8301 S. !80lh St.. Kent. WA 98032. Circle 108 on Reader Service Card NEW ^jm|j-[|||j "- !-:-!-- ^ M 1 j \ij\ n> |[ ||j"| - i ro iTrrrn * ". i : --•■ --RTF '■ . — , . RELEASE You 're going to appreciate the enhance- ments we've made to Microstat-II f ReL 2.5 from the new pop-up calculator with built-in statistical functions to the rewritten user's manual. Of course, we've kept those features that we're famous for: EASE OF USE No command language to learn and no expensive training costs. What takes 88 keystrokes on other packages can be done with four keystrokes using Microstat-II. ". . . using Microstat-Il is a breeze!' PC Magazine COVERAGE It's all there; from descriptive statistics to multivariate analysis, including dis- criminant, principal components, and cluster analyses plus a dozen nonpara- metric tests. ". . . more tools at less than half the competition's price!' Reviewer Responses, InfoWorld SPEED AND ACCURACY Microstat-II runs up to eight times faster than other packages without compro- mising accuracy. ". . . one of the fastest IBM PC sta- tistical packages we have tested!' InfoWorld "Results are unusually accurate." Computer Language To find out how Microstat-Il, Release 2.5 can simplify your statistical work- load, call or write today. Ecosoft Inc. 8295 Indy Court • Indianapolis, IN 46214 1-800-952-0472 (Orders) (317) 271-5551 (Info.) (317) 271-5561 (FAX) 'M'MiliM STRICTLY FOR PERSONAL INFORMATION {Find Narfou Reject Cut Ditto Paste Ju»p So Fl for Help Save Uiew Type In Out Hyper Zap Undo txlt I of 1 Fou CoaflM I cations: • Call akwt the Mies present at ion Action Item: • Sales forecast die 18/5 » ftsslfn dccttflcatatloii task Co •■•:■-.<■;: Here's a record ukich keep* your To-Be lift. You can get to It any Um, Jat ty awl lenity ^ foaorufete a*l flBlat Ttrto. MemoryMate MemoryMate can help organize your scraps of diverse information in ways that make sense to you, as shown here. For people who keep lots of bits and pieces of information, MemoryMate is hard to beat. Press tte fre^ pits key «t the Created: 5/5/88 Hod! fled: b/ MemoryMate is probably the best in- formation manager available for people who hate to organize themselves. It's not fancy. It doesn't have spiff y graphics. It doesn't beep at you to remind you of that 3:30 meeting. But you can take that mess you call a desk, stuff it into MemoryMate, and voila! You're organized. MemoryMate, which can run as a TSR program, indexes every word you put in it. You just type in the information or im- port it as an ASCII file from some other source. When you want to locate some- thing, you issue the Find command and the string you are looking for. The string can be a word, text with wild cards, a date in the text, the date the material was entered or last revised, or a range of dates. You can use Boolean operators in the search string, too. You can also tell the program to display a memo on a spe- cific date, and the memo will pop up automatically on that date. However, what's important is that once you enter data, you can retrieve it with simple keyword searches, not spe- cial coding. If you're one of those people who have to deal with scraps of diverse information that comes in at random times in random ways, MemoryMate is hard to beat. (ilc \ m Calendar llsi geaicli &dd Attach piiont Ticjjlcfg $ II I « 12 3*567 8 9 IB 11 1? 13 1* 15 16 17 18 19 28 21 77 73 7M 25 26 27 28 29 38 31 July 1998 Today is... July 12th 02:31:20 PM Help 07/12/90 10 12 Cinik, Charles L CiowcJI, Jw.cph A. Garrie. Mr- David B, [ 'limit: Book (4 Found) BBJ B BB B — Packard Arms uace Seco Aerospace GlendaJe Electronics. Inc. 808 340 6511 512 3340098 81 B 788-9007 PackRat PackRat takes full advantage of the Microsoft Windows environment to give you menus and icons that you can select that help make learning this big, complex program easier. PackRat is a full-featured Microsoft Windows-based PIM. It was also the first major PIM written for Windows- long before IBM Current was released. It's a highly structured program. If you use PackRat, you must do things Pack- Rat's way. Whether you like that way or not is a question of style, not of capabil- ity. PackRat is a very good program that does what it says it does, easily and reliably. continued 200 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 We turn work w into a Celebration! I m \ V \ UUUvVvv ^\^U\\\\\U\ N \u\\\\\\\\\ \ MODEL 9800 v -Programs 8 parts at a time V -Programs up to 4 megabit parts, including Ih single chip processors iX -Operates serial to 56Kbps or stand alone —Ultra fast communication software I included J s //////// / w T£K ,„«• R0MX-2XLEPRGM EMULATOR — Emulates 271 6-2701 eproms , -256Kto 1024K memory available —Battery backed up, auto emulate on power-up -Low-cost, pays for itself on first project —Free 19.2K serial communication software MODEL 9000 -Fastest programmer on the market -Quick ^Intelligent programming algorithms -Programs up to 4 megabit parts, including single chip processors -Programs largest variety of chips Including Prom replacements, Eproms and EEproms —Communication software included QUALITY PRODUCTS ^ MADE IN THE ^ U.S.A. S»j ■ -i i n ■'&*< PCSS4X SERIAL BOARD .llaiJ puub uuyyi ports per card (optional 4 port) [gfttporti 100% BOS compatible —32 ports may be added to a PC -Optional RS422 to 4000 ft. are included iG****** PCSS-8TX SERIAL BOARD -Compact half sized version RJ-11 jacks -Qrdar PCSS-8TH for SCCXENIX* HZ***. *•;»!*, TEK Development Hardware & Software P.O. Box 231 0, Bay St. Louis, MS 39521-2310 Order Toll Free 1-a00-282'QTEK (4835K Fax: 1-601 -467-0935 MS & Technical Support 1-601-4676040 J Trademark D4G7EK K, tes„ Cynamem^ry-Trademarxflf QTEK, foe. - AJt other trademarks are property at their raspedlve companies. Circle 132 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 133) Circle 338 on Reader Service Card Nine Track Tape- One Track Mind. If you can't get your mind off 9 Irack Tape . . . there's good reason. It's still the number one choice in the entire world for exchanging information between computer systems. Using a 9 'IVack-Tape drive, you literally turn your PC into a mainframe. Most advanced controller amis We not only sell more 9 Itack Tape drive systems than anyone else . . .we're known 2S> problem solvers. People who develop and nurture solutions for other people. Give us a call today and let us solve your next conversion problem. GSA# GSO0K89AGS639O FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING f Helping people read a world of information 1120 Kaibab (602) 779-3341 Flagstaff, AZ 86001 FAX 602-779-5998 i REVIEW Strictly for Personal information PackRat can maintain a detailed tele- phone book and log information about conversations. In addition, it supports a keyword-indexed card file, with each card capable of containing 32K bytes of information. PackRat also maintains a prioritized task list, a calendar, lists of disk files, and expense records; it sorts, filters, and displays information from multiple areas (called facilities) in a single report; and it can construct rela- tionships among information in various facilities. It's easy to begin using PackRat. The program's close adherence to Windows conventions is a decided plus in learning the program. However, learning to tap the full potential of PackRat requires a fair amount of application on your part. It's a big, complex program. SHORT MArtE: 1EMM HArE JiHI Have E0 Andrews TITLE: New Products Editor COHPAHY: BYTE Magazine ADJRESS1: One Phoenix Mill Lane ADDRESS? : CITY: Peterborough STATE: KH ZIP: 93158 COUNTRY: USA Howls (663) 9Z4-92B1 x PhoTie2: X Phone3: X Press F16 to Save Who-What- When Who-What-When is primarily a task manager, but it also helps you keep track of a large number of people. And any of those people can be easily assigned to one or more particular tasks. Who-What-When is clearly meant to be used by managers of projects in- volving many people. In addition to the usual personal calendar, it automatically creates and maintains calendars for every person and project entered into the program. These other calendars are up- dated automatically when you delegate tasks or set milestones for projects in your personal calendar. Although Who-What-When operates in the foreground only, it includes a TSR alarm that can pop up over other pro- grams. It has a built-in printing format for 5%- by 8J4-inch pages; these pages fit in standard binders for paper-based per- sonal organizers. You must supply the needed compressed-character codes for your printer. Three programmable hot keys allow you to substitute, on the fly, your own word processor, spreadsheet, and tele- communications package for the built-in memo writer, calculator, and auto-dial- er. Who-What-When also allows an un- limited number of milestones to be asso- ciated with a project, making tight controls much easier. In fact, you could say that Who-What-When is a project manager for very small projects. Free-Form or Structured? In deciding on whether a free-form or structured PIM best fits your needs, you should consider this: Free-form PIMs are probably better suited to people who take a more relaxed view of organizing their lives. Because such PIMs are free- form, there is no structure to figure out before you enter something— you just load the program and start typing. You can add varying amounts of structure to any of them if you want to, and you probably will. Totally free-form data has its limitations. Ease of use is a strong point of free- form PIMs. There are exceptions, how- ever. For example, askSam is relatively easy to get started with if you have any experience at all with computerized data- bases. But becoming skilled with askSam takes time and effort, because its power- ful query language is also complex. There is no consistent design metaphor for free-form PIMs. The askSam pro- gram can support records with formal continued 202 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Exciting news from ACM, the society for computing and information processing. You Could Win This Powerful AT&T 6386/25 WorkGroup System With Just A Phone Call Call 1-800-835-2246, Ext. 80, to enter the ACM Sweepstakes now or mail the coupon below GRAND PRIZE— You Get A Computer With The Works (suggested list price of the package is $17,118* as of 7/90). The winner receives an AT&T 6386/25 WorkGroup System (WGS) which is a 25MHz 80386 computer for intensive stand-alone or networked applications. 'The Works" includes a full software package comprised of the UNIX® System V and MS-DOS® operating systems, C programming language develop- ment environment, AT&T's Simul-Task software to permit both operating systems to work together, and the OPEN LOOK® Graphical User Interface. Also included is a math co-processor, 8MB RAM, 16-color Super VGA monitor and card, AT&T 305 B keyboard, 3-button mouse, 80MB hard drive and 3.5" floppy disk drive. It even includes an AT&T 593 laser printer that is HP LaserJet II compatible and a C.P.U. floor stand. SECOND PRIZE— You Get The Printer (suggested list price is $1,695* as of 7/90). This AT&T 593 laser printer operates at 300 d.p.i. for text and graphics printing, offers font downloading and macro storage, can be expanded to 4.5MB to accommodate demanding graphics applications and is HP LaserJet II compatible. THIRD PRIZE— You Get This Modem (suggested list price is $695* as of 7/90). The AT&T 2224-CEO is a 2400 b.p.s., full duplex modem which stores up to 10 numbers for automatic dialing and is Hayes® compatible. No purchase necessary. Sweepstakes open to U.S. and Canadian residents who are 21 years of age or older as of 1/31/91, and whose paid employment involves information technology. Void in the Province of Quebec and where prohibited by law. For full rules, send a stamped, self-addressed (#10) envelope to: ACM Sweepstakes Rules, 11 West 42nd St., New York, NY 10036. Limit one request per outer mailing envelope. Requests must be received by January 10, 1991. Sweepstakes ends January 31, 1991. * ACM reserves the right to substitute alternate prizes of eu,ual or greater value. Prices shown reflect current suggested list prices as of 7/90, and are subject to change. UNIX and OPEN LOOK are registered trademarks of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries; MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation; Hayes is a registered trademark of Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc.; LaserJet is a trademark of Hewlett-Packard Corporation. Circle 11 on Reader Service Card acm AT&T Computer Systems Association for Computing Machinery the society for computing and information processing 11 West 42nd Street • New York, NY 10036 ACM SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY FORM Please return by January 31, 1991. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER. LIMIT ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. I want to win. Please check as many as apply. □ Please enter me in the sweepstakes. □ I'd also like to join ACM at the regular dues rate of $71 (includes a subscription to Communications of the ACM). Payment method: □ My check payable to ACM is enclosed. □ Charge my □ VISA® □ MasterCard® □ American Express® Expiration Date Signature □ Send information on ACM membership. □ I am already an ACM member. Name Title Company Name Address City ( ) State Zip Daytime Phone Mail this coupon to: ACM SWEEPSTAKES Association for Computing Machinery P.O. Box 12114, Church Street Station New York, NY 10257 REVIEW Your Left Brain Needs Clipper. Organization is everything in business. The left side of your brain knows this. It wants order. Economy. Precision. All reasons your left brain appreciates Clipper 5.0, the premier application development system for PCs. An open architecture programming system, Clipper provides a flexible environment for developing pre- cisely the application you need, not a messy approxi- mation. Its user-definable commands and functions let you configure the Clipper language for your exact requirements. Its compiler generates .EXE files for rapid execution and cost-free distribution. Its new linker even lets you build and run applications larger than available memory! And its elegant network support yields high performance on even the largest systems. So, if you're charged with coaxing order out of chaos for your business, put Clipper in your programming arsenal today. It has exactly the programming power you need! COMPANY INFORMATION askSam Systems (askSam 4.2) P.O. Box 1428 Perry, FL 32347 (800) 327-5726 Inquiry 889. Broderbund Software, Inc. (MemoryMate 3.04R) 17 Paul Dr. San Rafael, CA 94903 (415)492-3500 Inquiry 890. Chronologic Corp. (Instant Recall 1.2) 5151 North Oracle, Suite 2 10 Tucson, AZ 85704 (602) 293-3100 Inquiry 891. Chronos Software, Inc. (Who- What- When 2.0) 555 De Haro St., Suite 240 San Francisco, CA 94107 (415) 626-4244 Inquiry 892. Micro Logic Corp. (Info Select) P.O. Box 174 Hackensack, NJ 07602 (800) 342-5930 Inquiry 893. 1 Soft Corp. (Active Life 1.1) P.O. Box 1320 Middletown, CA 95461 (800) 326-4391 Inquiry 894. Polaris Software (PackRat2.0) 613 West Valley Pkwy. Escondido,CA92025 (619)743-7800 Inquiry 895. Suite 323 dinner 5 The Application Development Standard 213/390-7923 m Nantucket Circle 194 on Reader Service Card Nantucket Corporation, 12555 West Jefferson Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90066. 213/390-7923 FAX: 213/397-5469 TELEX: 650-2574125. Nantucket, the Nantucket logo and Clipper are registered trademarks of Nantucket Corporation. Other brand and product names are used lor identification purposes only and may be trademarks or fields as well as unstructured text. You can use complex Boolean searches and simple string searches to locate informa- tion. (Agenda uses data structures that are vaguely like fields, to which you can attach extended notes. In addition, Agen- da can sort material automatically by keywords and dates and do simple string searches.) Info Select is a hard-core scraps-of- paper system— its default screens even look like a littered desktop. It finds spe- cific information using string searches. REVIEW MemoryMate mimics scraps of paper, too, but keeps them neatly out of sight until you call for them with simple Bool- ean searches. It supports forms with pseudof ields (fields not as strongly typed as in a traditional database manager like dBASE IV or Paradox). The structured PIMs offer diversity in their individual look and feel, too. The Microsoft Windows- and OS/2-based programs Active Life and PackRat, not surprisingly, are more graphical. But even character-based, structured PIMs, such as Instant Recall and Who-What- When, have their own personality. An area in which the structured PIMs stand out is calendars and related tickler files. Much of what you do in your daily life is done repeatedly in predictable pat- terns: staff meetings on alternate Tues- days at 10:30 a.m., semi-annual staff performance evaluations, and a mort- gage payment that is due on the 23rd of each month. Each of the structured PIMs here lets you enter such information once and specify how it should be repeated. Then you can forget about any future data entry for those events. It's won- derful. With such variety and richness of functions available, choosing a PIM for day-in and day-out use is tough. I have weaseled in my own life and use three different ones: MemoryMate, Current, and Agenda. I wish a single program would combine the features I want. For me, MemoryMate is a sort of super notebook in which I quickly scrib- ble down random thoughts and bits of in- formation. Current is my daily-use PIM, functioning as an electronic Day-Timer, tickler file, people finder, and telephone book. Agenda is my tool for dealing with the large volumes of information I get electronically from on-line services and databases and for managing large-scale, long-term projects. If I were forced to de- pend on only one, it would be Memory- Mate, because of its ease of use, flexibil- ity, and TSR capability. What you need in the way of a PIM truly depends on what you do. A PIM is a personal program. Don't look at just one or two and decide they aren't for you. Try a whole bunch of them. One is al- most certainly what you have been look- ing for for a long time. ■ George Bond is a consultant in communi- cations—electronic, traditional print, and person-to-person. He has more than 20 years' editorial and management ex- perience with major information compa- nies and is cofounder of BIX. You can reach him on BIX as "gbond. " 'our Right Brain Wants It ! While your left brain duly notes the benefits of Clipper programming, the right half is wild about how you get them! Imagine a programming environment with no limits. The language can be easily extended with your own routines and you can even integrate code from other languages, like C and Assembler. You're always free to configure Clipper to suit your own programming style. Hey, let's say you want to read and write data stored on larger platforms or in other PC formats. It's no problem since Clipper 5.0 sports a replaceable database driver, even allowing multiple drivers to be used concurrently in the same application! And SQL queries will be a breeze, using familiar Clipper-code. There's no end to the possibilities you can pursue with Clipper! Clipper's open architecture system will fire your imagination with unparalleled freedom. It's an unlimited palette of pigments for a developer's mind. So, if you're ready to let your imagination inspire your applications, indulge yourself with Clipper 5.0. It has everything you need with anything you'd want. Clipper® 5. The Application Development Standard 213/390-7923 ^Nantucket Circle 195 on Reculer Service Card Nantucket Corporation, 12555 West Jefferson Boulevard. Los Angeles. CA 90066. 213/390-7923 FAX; 213/397-5469 TELEX: 650-2574125. Nantucket, the Nantucket logo and Clipper are registered trademarks of Nantucket Corporation. Other brand and product names are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks or registered trademarksof their resoectiveholders. Entire contents coovriaht 1990 Nantucket Corrioratinn Barry Nance REVIEW Speaking OS/2's Native Language System BrowscirReldDcsciiptor Objcd/1 -Objectl.Dof Workspace - (untilled) 1 Eil«j \ Ifili: fill! Actions Mcllimi Class ColunmsAuLL'ssihli * 1='" . '-!) -, . ).>M IndexDescriptor f IndexcsAcccsstblc- Showlndcx Tools Exil ; F1=Hc1p I jJaccessToSlring !*| atMemodOl _P : J_ m.WJ.II.M IWllPT^ ♦ ■»■ Instance O Class _ III Convert object.' I value to field format •/ method FieldDescriptor : :convert IiipiitValuetself . f leldl local aStruct , sourceType* , index, size. destType A size ■ f aeldLc-nOf I'self , index i J destTvpo - dataTypeOi t sol f . index ) : atouwuiXY nn m n 1 ansHAmrtO f" i r. 1 asrA f I aVfl 1 un )..!.:. £ Pimt Manage' Object/1 is a pure object-oriented environment for programming under OS/2 's PM. Its appearance is Smalltalk-like, with the object browser, source code editor, and interface builder integrated into the total package. Graphical user interfaces, including OS/2's Presentation Manager, create object-oriented environ- ments for users. Each mouse-sensitive region, be it an arrow on a scroll bar or an icon, is an object in the truest sense. Yet most PM programs are still being written in languages, such as C, that have no in- nate understanding of objects. As a re- sult, programmers have to translate their designs to a non-object-oriented ap- proach. Object/1, a PM application develop- ment system from MDBS, is at the fore- front of OS/2 software technology in sev- eral ways. The C++ -like programming language is fully object-oriented. The forms painter tool for designing PM screens builds interfaces that require a Object/1 version 1.0 Company MDBS, Inc. 1 834 Walden Office Sq., Suite 250 Schaumburg, IL 60173 (708) 303-6300 Hardware Needed IBM AT, PS/2, or compatible with a hard disk drive and 4 MB of RAM; a mouse and a VGA display are recommended Software Needed OS/21.1 or higher Price $995 Inquiry 887. minimum of procedural code to manage. Object/ 1 includes a relational database manager (called TBL), plus a tool for laying out the design of your relational tables. The source code browser under- stands the object-oriented terminology and mechanisms of methods, classes, in- stances, and inheritance. You can also use Object/ 1 to develop Systems Applica- tion Architecture-compliant user inter- faces. The Rundown I tested Object/1 using a 12-MHz AT clone running OS/2 Standard Edition 1 . 2 with 4 megabytes of memory and a Microsoft Mouse. Object/ 1 requires a minimum of 4 MB of RAM. If you choose to load the demonstration and tu- torial files, it takes up about 4 MB of hard disk space. The core of Object/1 is a 140K-byte kernel/interpreter program. This kernel runs an application-specific image file of compiled classes and methods. The de- fault 780K-byte image file that is sup- plied with Object/ 1 provides the develop- ment environment in which you create applications. Each application that you develop consists of the application image file, any data files you need to distribute, and a copy of the kernel/interpreter pro- gram file. The Object/1 development environ- ment is comprehensive. It includes a set of browsers (object-oriented editors) for viewing and modifying classes and their methods. In addition to the screen and database design tools, the environment includes a debugger, tools for tracing the hierarchy of class and method relation- ships, a useful tutorial, and the source code (1.4 MB worth) for the built-in classes. Getting the class source code is equivalent to getting library source code when you buy a C compiler— a definite advantage, even if you only use it for reference. The Object/ 1 documentation consists of a 130-page tutorial and a 790-page ref- erence manual. The reference manual is broken down into sections: operations guide, developer's guide, TBL database interface, MDBS IV database interface, Structured Query Language (SQL) Serv- er database interface, class reference (the largest section), and a TBL reference. Although the tutorial warns that it is not a comprehensive introduction to ob- ject-oriented programming, I put it to the test by asking a C programmer friend to run through it and give me his com- ments. When he finished, he and I both agreed that this first introduction to OOP was more than adequate and that he was ready for more advanced, real-world programming. In the class reference section, each class is described in terms of its super- class, its subclasses, its stability (likeli- hood of changing in later releases), and its methods. The methods (functions) of a class are shown as either class methods (those that you can use to create a new instance) or instance methods (those that you can use to manipulate an existing in- stance). The library of methods you get with Object/1 encompasses just about everything you might want to do under OS/2 and PM. The class reference section is useful, but I found the descriptions of most methods too terse. To Object/1 's credit, though, the supplied source code is an easy-to-use adjunct to the class refer- ence. You can arrange and view the source files by hierarchical category or in simple alphabetical order. I also found the library source code to be well com- mented and modular. The Language of OOP The Object/1 language is more like Smalltalk than like C++. Even so, pro- grammers familiar with either C or C++ will find the transition to Object/I syntax and semantics an easy one. The most dif- ficult aspect of the adjustment for a tradi- tional C programmer is the lack of proce- dural (non-OOP) facilities. While C++ adds OOP to an existing procedural lan- guage and lets you drop back to old-style C coding practices, Object/1 is a pure OOP environment. For example, it dis- courages global variables. And it does continued 206 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 Tim floppy disk icon "DQS-1A4M" is actually an MS-DOS* disk, brought to you by Ace essPC* Shown: Lotus 1 " 1-2-3* release 2. 2, running in SoftPC with EQVAT Option Module?" Click Click, IfeAMAC. It'sAMAC AndAPC. Load SoftPC, click twice, and you've got a window wide open to the entire MS-DOS world. Everything a Mac can do plus everything a PC can do, in one machine. Whether you're a Macintosh user who needs access to PC software and data, or a PC user who wants to go Macintosh without losing PC compatibility you can have itall with Insignia's best-selling software solutions. SoftPC \s a software emulation precise enough to run the toughest PC applications- Norton Utilities, Lotus 1-2-3, Harvard Graphics, AutoCad, even custom develop- ment programs. You get complete XT or AT compatibility fortheSE/30, Macintosh II family and the Macintosh Portable. Add an EGA/AT Option Module, and get vibrant EGA color compatibility, LIM expanded memory and math coprocessor support. New AccessPC lets you use PC and PS/2 disks just like Mac disks. Now you can move and view PC file and disk icons— even in locked orfull disks!— format DOS disks, launch Mac applications and much more. For more information and the name of a SoftPC dealer near you, call Insignia at /W • • ™ 800-848-7677 (U.S. only) or //7 WtJTJIfl 408-522-7600 (outside U.S.). * ' ^ *&' * ***> Insignia Solutions, Inc. 254 Son Geronimo Woy, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. Fox: 408-733-9541. We give a SoftPC (retail $399) or AccessPC program (retail $129) doily to a caller selected at random. SoftPC is a registered trademark and AccessPC \so trademark of Insignia Solutions, Inc. Other product names ore trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Circle 147 on Reader Service Card Circle 26 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 27) TAPE AND DISKETTE DUPLICATION CD2000 DUPLICATOR •Simultaneous Tape Duplication •QIC, DEC, IBM, HP and Vtapes •Also Exabyte, DAT and Optical •Versatile, Cost Efficient •Upgrade to High Capacity Systems LLP - LOADER, LABELER, PRINTER •3.5" Diskette Duplication •Loads, Labels and Prints Custom Labels •Easy to Operate J Unattended •Wrap around or flat labels •Serialized or Single Copies with Serialized Labels RDH 3.5 LC HANDLER DUPLICATOR •Solution for 3.5" Diskettes, IBM or Macintosh •High Volume •Low Cost ROBOTIC DISK APPLIED DRTR COMMUNICATIONS 14272 Chambers Road Tustin, CA 92680-6998 (714)731-9000 Fax (714) 838-7172 US - 1 (800) 221-5486 In Calif. - 1 (800) 334-5486 European Inquiries: ADC GmbH Mainhausen, West Germany Phone 61 82-2 10 04 Fax 61 82-39 22 Distributors Welcome DEC is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. HP is a trademark of Hewtett Packard. IBM is a trade- mark of International Business Machines. Exabyte is a trademark of Exabyte Corporation. Macintosh is a trade- mark of Apple Computer. REVIEW Speaking OS/2's Native Language Listing 1: Bound to a graphical button labeled "Add, " this method is activated every time you click on the button. The button itself was created interactively with the forms painter. Creating the PM button and handling the associated action would have been more complex and time-consuming in C. /* Add the current information to the contact/ company database. */ method SalesLeads { local hPointer; add (self, mp2, mp2) /* Show an hourglass for the mouse cursor */ hPointer = setPointer (systemPointer(SPTR_WAIT)); /* add the record */ addRecord (table, fillFromScreen(self)); /* Reset the mouse cursor */ setPointer (hPointer); return nil; } not provide the means to code methods that are not associated with a particular class. Why? It's easy in C++ to fall into the bad habit of coding global variables and non-OOP functions, even though you intended at the outset to stay within the bounds of good object-oriented style. Bad habits come back to haunt you dur- ing the testing and maintenance phases. Most bugs and time-consuming work- arounds are attributable to the non-OOP code. These pitfalls are not present in Object/ 1. However, if you find pure OOP too re- stricting, Object/ 1 has an escape mech- anism. You can easily interface to Ob- ject/1 code with dynamic link libraries. By supplying some functions in a DLL (you will need a separate C compiler to build it), you can, if you wish, develop a portion of your application in a procedur- al fashion. Listing 1 is an example of Object/ 1 code. It is an _add_ method that is auto- matically invoked when the user clicks on the Add button. This automatic invo- cation is established in the forms painter. The _add_ method sends an _addRec- ord_ message to a relational table stored in the _table_ instance variable. Designing and Using Forms Besides letting you place push buttons, list boxes, dialog boxes, menus, entry fields, and other PM objects exactly where you want them, the forms painter uses your design to generate Object/ 1 source code that implements the screen you have laid out. When a window control is activated at run time, the generated code makes the control behave predictably (e.g., list boxes know how to scroll, text editors know how to accept input, and push but- tons can be pressed). Controls pass data to your application through methods. Object/1 generates a source code template for each method; you then edit the generated source code to make it perform the specific task you want. For example, you might place a push button on the screen, label it "Add," associate it with a method called _add_, and then write the code given in the listing. At run time, when the user of your software clicks on the Add button, the method you have coded is automati- cally invoked. Much of the productivity gain you re- alize under Object/1 is achieved in the forms painter. Databases, Data Exchange, and Browsers TBL consists of a library of methods for defining and manipulating data tables. Through them, you can create new tables and records and perform other tradition- al DBMS tasks. Record retrieval via mul- tifield indexes is supported, as well as field-at-a-time updating. TBL provides record-locking and network error-trap- ping mechanisms so you can write multi- user applications that run on an OS/2- based LAN. TBLDesigner is an Object/ 1 tool for designing your application's relational tables. You open TBLDesigner, a PM window like the rest of Object/ 1, by se- lecting Tools and then TBLDesigner from one of the Object/ 1 browser win- dows. As you define a field, you can specify the field name, a field descrip- tion, access codes (for field-level securi- ty), field length, and data type. The data type can be one of the following: logic (Boolean), integer, numeric (float/dou- ble), or string. I n addition, you can spec- ify that one or more of the fields be an continued 208 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 VGA DISPLAY. The first in a notebook computer. It's bright, paper-white, with a crisp 640x480 resolution and 16 shades of gray. TRUE NOTEBOOK SIZE. 8.5" x 11" x 1.4" 4.3 lbs. 12Mhz 286. Runs the latest software with exhilarating efficiency. And it's fully expandable. © 1990 Sharp Electronics Corp. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. 20MB HARD DISK. With a speedy 23ms access time. Circle 266 on Reader Service Card THE PC-6220. About the only thing you don't get with the Sharp PC6220 is another piece of luggage to carry. It's amere8y2"xirand weighs only 43 lbs., yet has the kind of power you need. To run Windows T . M To do desktop publishing. To have instant access to your programs and files. Find out how you can put a serious computer in your briefcase. Without taking everything out of it. Call1-800-BE-SHARR FROM SHARP MINDS COME SHARP PRODUCTS Speaking OS/2's Native Language index into the table you design. Object/ 1 library routines for accessing MDBS IV and SQL Server databases are also supplied. The Dynamic Data Exchange protocol consists of interprocess messages and guidelines that OS/2 PM applications can use to share data. Object/ 1 provides methods (in compiled and source code form) that you can use to signal other DDE-conforming applications. Methods are also provided for the ac- tual sharing of data. The classes related to DDE are the DDE class, DDE client class, and DDE server class. Some of the methods in these classes are .build- DDE., _getFormat_, _postDataRe- sponse_, _execute_, and _postData_. It's fairly easy to use these DDE methods to, for example, import and export data to and from such DDE-conforming PM applications as Microsoft Excel. Object/ 1 uses the concept of a browser for the editing and inspection of source PCTeX Makes Your Best Work Look Its Best. Tor professional publishing and the power to produce high-quality technical documents, scientific notation, mathematical formulas, and tables, rely on PC TpX to make your work look its best. And with Personal TjhX's Fontware Interface package, you have access to the complete library of Bitstream Fontware, for type selection and quality previously available only to professional typographers. The next step beyond standard desktop publishing, PC TpX is the difference between average and expert. With PC TgX you'll get professional typesetting at amateur prices. PC MAGAZINE wrote: "(With PC 7£J formatting text, especially mathematical t INFO WORLD said: ". . .No non-TpX-l enormously flexible. . . " New PCTgX 3.0, with double the pagt capacity, is now available. For 386 com PCT E X/386 and Big PCTeX7386. For a product catalog and free demo di 415/388-8853. See the best for yon PCTeX is a registered TM of Personal TeX Inc. TpX are trademarks of Bitstream Inc. Site licenses availaole ad was typeset using PCTeX and Bitstream fonts. Name Definition ! Gamma noo T{z)= / t z - l e-Ut Jo Sine / \ *■ / ix —ix\ ' Error 2 r erf (z) = — e z dz v^ Jo Bessel i r J (z) = — / cos(zs'm6)d0 71 Jo Zeta oo fc=i i (). ..you can achieve incredible precision in repressions. " msed program has such typographical (Esthetics. . . PERSONAL ^-building ^ I ± puters, there's ^ \ ^F JTsLu skette, call I N C irself . 1 2 Madrona Avenue Mill Valley, CA 94941 is an American Mathematical Society TM. Bitstream and Fontware to qualified organizations. Inquire about PTI distributorships. This code. Fully integrated within the Ob- ject/1 environment, a browser can be used to collect a set of system-supplied and programmer-written methods into a project (application). A list of methods is displayed in a list box; you can see the source code for a method by simply se- lecting the method's name. You can elect to sort the contents of the list box alpha- betically for easy searching or by class hierarchy. The system browser is augmented by the heritage browser, the implementors tool, and the senders tool. You use the heritage browser to see the class name, the associated methods for the current class, and the superclasses for that class. The implementors tool displays the class- es that contain a given method. You use the senders tool to see which methods use another given method. Help for PM The inspector tool is a debugging aid that lets you view the instance variables of an object. The debugger tool is activated when the notif ier tool displays a run-time error message, which in Object/1 can often be that a class receives an unrecog- nized message. A list box of message events is displayed; as you select an item, the source code of the method is shown along with the variables associated with the method. Selecting a variable displays its current value. You use the breakpoint tool to set breakpoints in a method. When a breakpoint is reached, a break- point dialog box appears, and you see the sequence of messages that have been sent, along with the source code of the methods and the values of variables asso- ciated with those methods. I found the debugging aids supplied with Object/ 1 to be some of the friendli- est and most helpful I have ever seen. Even when a run-time error occurred as the result of a coding error on my part, I could easily see the history of message events and the values of variables at the point of error. I could quickly figure out what I had done wrong. If you have developed PM applications in C before, you know how time-con- suming and error-prone it is to set up and manage a PM window and all its objects. The Object/ 1 environment relieves you of much of the dirty work and lets you con- centrate on the application itself. It is also an interesting, useful implementa- tion of OOP. ■ Barry Nance is the author of Network Programming in C and works in the R&D department ofPRC, Inc. (Hartford, CT). He can be reached on BIX as "barryn. " 210 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 221 on Reader Service Card Finally. An input device based on your input. November28, 1989 SummaSketch II New Limited Lifetime Warranty Jhe new SummaSketch U tablets were created with one thing in mind— you, the people who use tablets everyday You said you wanted a complete plug and play package, so were giving you the works— both in PC and Macintosh® SE and U versions. A IT x U" or 1 8" xU" graphics tablet with a 4-button cursor and 2-buffon stylus, or 16-button cursor for t he PC. Jhe PC version includes inter- face cables for the IBM® PC, AT, PS/2 and compatibles. A utilities diskette with test and reset soft- ware, an Autodesk® Device inter- face™ driver, Universal Mouse Emulator™ and a Microsoft® Windows driver. And an off erf or a free tablet femplafe (US and Canada only) worth over $245. Jhe Macintosh version has an Apple® Desktop Bus™ inter- face device to connect the tablet to the computer. You'll also get the most soft- ware compatibility with over 350 PC programs and all Macintosh SE and U software written under the Apple Software Developers guidelines. SummaSlcefcfi H tablets have a standard accuracy measurement of ±0.015 inches, selectable res- olution of up to 1,016 lines per inch and high proximity so you can trace from documents up to W thick. Add in convenience fea- tures such as a power/ proximity light, on-off switch, wedge shape design for easy use, lightweight construction for portability— and it's easy to see why SummaSlcefch is the industry standard and the obvious choice of today's com- puter professionals. Best of oil, you get oil of these benefits at an affordable price. And that's why our new SummaSlcefcfi H is the easiest buying decision you have to make. Find out more about SummaSlcefcfi \\ today, for litera- ture and the name of a local dealer call 1-800-888-2028, Ext. 304. For technical informa- tion call 203-881 -5400. © 1990 Summa graphics Corporation. Seymour, C7" 06483 • Ail rights reserved. §l Surmagraphics Every decision should be this easy. ™ For IBM /Compatible information circle 277; For Macintosh information circle 278; For Dealer inquiries circle 279 on Reader Service Card. HARDWARE J. ScotFinnie REVIEW Dual-Page Duel: Two High-Resolution Monitors Square Off Radius 's 21 -inch monitor includes a controller-based VGA chip and supports either PCs or Macs. Cornerstone 's DualPage PC offers 1600- by 1280-pixel resolution and an upgrade path to 4 or 16 gray scales. While high-resolution, two-page displays may be a desktop pub- lisher's most prayed-for periph- eral, they're not just for desktop publish- ing anymore. Large-screen, paper-white monitors are also a staple for CAD, and they're making inroads in other areas. Spreadsheet users can increase produc- tivity with a monitor that shows signifi- cantly more cells. Multitasking applica- tions, such as Windows 3.0, make use of large-screen displays, too. The bottom line is that high-resolution monitors, like Radius's new TPD/21 and Cornerstone Technology's DualPage PC, are becoming mainstream items in the PC market. With one or two caveats, both of these monitors perform up to specifications (see the table). Two-Page Basics Both of the reviewed monitors come with a dedicated 16-bit controller (which can also be used in an 8-bit slot). Each also has a tilt/swivel stand, plus video and AC inputs. Spartan controls consist of an on/ off switch, an LED power-on light, and brightness and contrast knobs; I would also have liked to have vertical and hori- zontal size and positioning controls. De- pending on which controller card you buy, the Radius TPD/21 runs with Macs or PCs, so it includes an A/B switch that alters the image size to conform to Mac or PC standards. When they're the only monitor on a system, both products can display virtu- ally any low-resolution software pro- gram in Hercules 720- by 348-pixel mode. But to see applications like Auto- CAD and PageMaker in high resolution, you'll need proprietary drivers supplied by Cornerstone or Radius. Among the programs that both monitors support are Aldus PageMaker, Autodesk AutoCAD, GEM/3, Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft Win- dows (at press time, both vendors had an- nounced plans to ship Windows 3.0 drivers), Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, Xerox Ventura Publisher, and ZSoft Publisher's Paintbrush. I tested the mon- itors with Windows, PageMaker, 1-2-3, Ventura Publisher, and others, and en- countered no problems with the drivers of either unit. Radius's Contrasts The Radius TPD/21 is a study in pluses and minuses. Its 21 -inch screen is bigger than most in this product area— ostensi- bly a plus. But its top resolution of 1280 by 960 pixels is in the low end of the high-resolution spectrum. In addition, the TPD/21 is effectively a monochrome monitor. Although it can display 16 shades of gray in the VGA mode, it is limited to black and white in the higher resolutions for which it was designed. Look for future incarnations to offer PC users gray-scale capabilities, as Radius currently does in the Mac mar- ket. But the TPD/21 offers an important plus for users of PCs and Macs: It works with both computers (the PC interface card costs $795; the Macintosh interface card costs $595). I found the TPD/21 easy to install, de- spite its lack of a centralized installation utility. The documentation is clearly written and easy to follow. One draw- back is that the TPD/2 1 driver disk sepa- rates driver utilities into subdirectories. Each subdirectory has its own README file that tells you how to install its partic- ular driver. This requires you to root around more than with the installation utilities offered by most other display manufacturers. But it's more flexible— you don't have to run through the whole program to tweak the installation later. One of the TPD/2 l's best features is its controller-based Paradise VGA chip and standard display connector. This al- lows you to attach a multiscanning moni- tor. With both monitors plugged into the board, the system automatically switches 212 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 REVIEW Dual-Page Duel back and forth from color VGA on the smaller monitor (when you access non- high-resolution programs) to the large screen (when you enter high-resolution software). You can rig up two monitors on the Cornerstone DualPage PC, but the Radius method is much easier to install and use. The TPD/2 1 's 1280- by 960-pixel res- olution offers large, dark characters and shapes that have a clean, angular look. There's something evocative of the Mac- intosh look and feel in its overall color and patterning. That's not surprising, considering its heritage. Along with its 19-inch TPD/19 brandmate, the TPD/2 1 is the first Radius product for the PC. The company's long association with Apple computers doesn't seem to have caused quirks for PC users. The only PC problem I found was in the BNC video connector: It's too big for the slots of the IBM XT and many AT-class computers. I couldn't get the BNC connector close enough to the card to be turned down and seated properly. Even so, the video qual- ity was not affected, and the connector wasn't so loose that it ever fell off. DualPage Gray Shades The Cornerstone DualPage PC is a class act with some significant performance advantages. It offers a fairly high 1600- by 1280-pixel resolution. Also, while the monitor tested for this review was black and white, 4 or 16 gray shades are avail- able optionally from Cornerstone. And for $875, you can upgrade your display adapter to provide 16 gray shades later on. Few programs or monitor drivers take full advantage of gray-scale capabil- ities, with Xerox's Ventura Publisher be- ing a notable exception on the DualPage. You can expect this to change as the num- ber of Windows 3.0 applications and drivers increases. Gray-scale capabilities are particularly important for desktop publishers who regularly scan photo- graphs. Besides accessibility to gray shades, DualPage provides a centralized and ef- ficient driver installation program. But in general, installation is not as easy as with the Radius monitor. If you normally use a color monitor, you must use your system's setup program to default to monochrome. This may also involve a DIP-switch change. The documentation, while technically correct, is aimed at the 16-shade product, so some specific in- formation, such as noting differences in program menus, is missing. Images have a neater, trimmer, more finely rounded appearance on the Dual- Page than on the TPD/2 1. The only TPD/21 DualPage PC 1 Company Radius, Inc. 1710 Fortune Dr. Company Cornerstone Technology, Inc 1990 Concourse Dr. San Jose, CA 951 31 (408)434-1010 San Jose, CA 95131 (408) 435-8900 Hardware Needed Hardware Needed IBM AT or XT/AT compatible (the interface card is too large to fit into an IBM XT case) IBM AT or compatible Price Price $2495 As reviewed (includes display, $1 795, TPD/PC interface card): $2590 and Inquiry 853. Inquiry 852. drawback was that characters were some- times not as dark as I would have liked. Eyeball and Time Tests Both monitors displayed some distortion. On the DualPage, the image area was not perfectly square, so images drooped downward slightly along the top left corner a couple of inches from the verti- cal edge. A similar flaw appeared on the TPD/21 screen, except that the distortion area was in the lower right corner. I've yet to see any monitor that doesn't have some distortion of this type, and neither flaw was particularly noticeable. I determined screen-response times with scroll tests using PageMaker docu- ments. I used a three-page document with text in several faces and fonts, En- capsulated PostScript art, and a TIFF photo. My test system was a 33-MHz 3 86 AT-class machine. I measured the time it took to scroll horizontally across a Page- Maker fit-in-window-size two-page spread. In the one-page test, I started scrolling from the center position to the right edge of the right page. The two- page test started from the left edge of the left page and ended at the right edge of the right page. The screen-update test in- volved resizing a block of text in the upper left corner of the left page. Both monitors completed the single- page horizontal scroll in 3.1 seconds. The DualPage performed two-page scrolls in under 7.4 seconds, while the TPD/21 pulled it off in just under 7 sec- onds. The two monitors tied at 7.8 sec- onds in redrawing a two-page screen after a type-size change. Image size is the true measure of screen size. The 19-inch DualPage dis- played a 17%-inch image area; the TPD/21 spanned 191/2 inches, which is roughly comparable considering their tube sizes. Even so, when it comes to showing two full pages on the screen, the two monitors are roughly equal. In Page- Maker's actual-size page mode, I count- ed 1 3 horizontal PageMaker screen inch- es of a two-page spread on the DualPage, continued Although the Radius TPD/21 's two-page screen is larger, the Cornerstone DualPage PC surpasses it in resolution and gray-scale capability. Product Screen Maximum size resolution (inches) (pixels) Refresh Video Gray rate bandwidth levels (Hz) (MHz) Radius TPD/21 Cornerstone DualPage PC 21 19 1280 X960 (1152x882 on Mac) 1600 x 1280 65 (71 on Mac) 67 100 200 Black and white in high resolution; 16 shades in VGA mode Black and white (can be up- graded to 4 or 16 gray shades in high resolution) SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 213 Dual-Page duel HARDWARE Stanley J. Wszola while the TPD/21 showed only Vi inch more. When you consider that you might have as much as 2 inches of gutter be- tween the two pages, you really need about 15 PageMaker inches to see the full width of a standard spread. You might expect that from Radius's 21 -inch monitor, but you won't get it. The reason is that the controller is exact- ly the same as the one used for Radius's 19-inch monitor, for which it was devel- oped. So, rather than getting more of the page on the screen, you're seeing what the 19-inch monitor would show you, only about 10 percent larger. For some applications, such as spread- sheets, this may be a boon. But for desk- top publishing, it can be frustrating. This is generally not true on the DualPage. On the DualPage screen, an 8J4-inch- wide page measured 8% inches— an ac- ceptable margin of error. Although the Radius 19-inch monitor wasn't tested for this review, it should have a similar mar- gin of error, so desktop publishers con- cerned about accurate sizes should inves- tigate the smaller model. Both products performed admirably in showing side-by-side pages in Page- Maker's f it-in-window mode. Times Ro- man text appeared legible to 9 points on the TPD/21; on the higher-resolution DualPage, I read Times Roman as small as 7 points. At actual size, I could read down to 6 points on the DualPage, and to 7 points on the TPD/21. Customer service and technical sup- port at both companies were prompt and accurate. Even when I gave the techni- cal-support representatives a hard time by deliberately "misunderstanding" their instructions, they remained calm, polite, helpful, and knowledgeable. The Winner Is...? In the end, there's no clear-cut winner. If gray-scale capability and high resolution are paramount on your list, the Corner- stone DualPage is your choice. However, if you run PCs and Macs side by side and can live without higher resolution and a sure gray-scale upgrade path, opt for the Radius TPD/21. If you're not interested i n gray shades and do not use a Mac, the decision be- comes largely one of personal prefer- ence. All other things being equal, I would give the nod to the DualPage for its higher resolution. ■ J. ScotFinnie is a freelance editor, writ- er, and consultant based in Ridgefield, Connecticut, who specializes in computer topics. He can be reached on BIX do "editors. " REVIEW Flashdisk: Not Your Father's RAM Disk When I first received Digipro's Flashdisk board, I assumed it was just a very large (8-megabyte) RAM disk card. Wrong. Flashdisk is a nonvolatile memory storage device that fits into a full-length 16-bit slot. It emulates a hard disk drive while also offering long-term data stor- age: The memory chips are guaranteed to hold data for up to 10 years. This makes it ideal for read-intensive appli- cations where files are seldom, if ever, changed. Digipro recommends Flashdisk for storing large database files, com- pilers, graphical user interfaces, net- work-control software, and CAD librar- ies. In addition, you can use the board to store process-control software so that even if a computer shuts down due to loss of power or hard disk failure, your con- trol program is safe. You can configure the Flashdisk board to become your boot drive. You can even transfer large vol- umes of data in solid-state form by just Sixty-four Intel Flash chips make up the Flashdisk 's memory. Similar to EEPROMs, the CMOS chips can be electrically erased and reprogrammed 10,000 times. moving Flashdisk from one computer to another. Faster Than an EEPROM The Flashdisk memory is composed of 64 1024K-byte (128K-byte by 8-bit) Intel 28F010 Flash Memory chips. These CMOS chips are electrically erasable and reprogrammable devices. They function similarly to EEPROM (electrically eras- able programmable ROM). But because of their CMOS construction, Flash chips offer much faster performance than do EEPROMs. Flash chips require 1 second for electrical erasure and 2 seconds for reprogramming, and they have an access time of 135 nanoseconds for high-perfor- mance reads. (A typical hard disk drive requires up to 85 milliseconds for a read operation.) According to Intel, you can erase and reprogram Flash chips a mini- mum of 10,000 times. But saving files on the Flashdisk is a lengthy procedure, with the Digipro TSR FLASHDISK PERFORMANCE COMPARISONS Flashdisk* File I/O read File I/O write I | __? ? — I ST138 I I ST157R ■ 11 F 100 200 300 400 4500 Kbps * Results with extended memory. 20 40 60 140 160 Kbps Flashdisk showed markedly different results when performing file I/O reads and writes under the BYTE DOS Benchmarks (version 2.0). Here, the BYTE Lab compares performance against the Seagate ST 1 38 and ST157R hard disk drives. All tests were conducted with a 6-MHz A T clone; higher numbers indicate better performance. 214 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 REVIEW Flashdisk: Not Your Father's RAM Disk Flashdisk Company Digipro, Inc. 102LowrySt. Huntsville, AL 35805 (800) 662-6802 (205) 536-2047 Hardware Needed IBM PC or compatible with an available 1 6-bit expansion slot Price Base model with 2 MB of RAM: $1 1 99 As tested with 8 MB of RAM: $3349 Inquiry 881. software often displaying the message "Writing FLASH Buffer," while the Flash memory chips play catch-up with the rest of the computer. And once a file has been deleted, it is gone for good- it cannot be recovered with any utility program. Installation is quite simple: You just insert the board into any 16-bit slot. Flashdisk comes with several software utilities and drivers. Among them are programs that format Flashdisk, a TSR program that automatically saves files to Flashdisk, and a program that restores the Flashdisk file access table if it's lost due to a faulty write operation. Device drivers include one that sets the I/O port and memory addresses and another that enables use of extended memory. Also, there is FLASH.EXE, which in- stalls or removes the TSR software that allows reads and writes to Flashdisk. Flashdisk requires 256K bytes of RAM for its buffer. FLASH.EXE can config- ure the board to use main system, ex- tended, or expanded memory. You can use multiple Flashdisks in one computer. An Odd Hard Disk Drive The board behaves like an odd hard disk drive. The characteristics of the Flash chips mean that a write operation takes a long time, while a read operation is very quick. I ran some of BYTE's hard disk benchmark programs to compare Flash- disk's read and write speeds to those of hard disk drives. As the figure shows, the read times for Flashdisk are very fast, from over 15 to almost 50 times faster than the mechanical drives on the same or faster computers. The file I/O write times are very slow, with Flashdisk bare- ly keeping pace at 1.63 kilobits per sec- ond. Digipro describes the Flashdisk as a ROWS (read often, write seldom) drive. To test reliability of the data stored, I filled the Flashdisk with 8 MB of files and then removed the board. Whenever I reinstalled the board, all the files were intact. With its base price of $ 1 1 99 , Flashdisk is an expensive storage device that I don't expect every computer user can justify. But for those who work with large data- base files, CAD libraries, and network- control software, its reliability comes at a reasonable cost, especially when com- pared to the price of uninterruptible power supplies and redundant hard disk drives that provide a similar degree of data security. ■ Stanley J. Wszola is a testing editor/ engineer for the BYTE Lab. He can be reached on BIX as "stan. " PUT YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER ON BIX ■ BIX is more than just a great on-line information service. It's a community made up of thousands of the most serious computer users in the world; people like your customers, who are always on the look-out for the latest innovations and information regarding both hardware and software. Now you can set up shop in this electronic neighborhood with your own BIX Technical Support Conference. That way, you can give your customers all the prod- uct information and technical support they need. Use it to post updates or fixes for your customers to download at any time. If your company doesn't operate an 800 number, a BIX conference is an inexpensive alternative. Or it can back up an existing 800 line. And when you establish a BIX confer- ence you'll enhance your product's value because you'll be able to offer your customers special rates on BIX subscriptions. For all the details, call Customer Service at: 1-800-227-2983 (in NH, call 603-924-7681). BIX SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 215 Curtains rise to a brilliant display of 256 colors at 1024 by 768. At first glance, you think you may recognize this superstar. The spotlight focuses . . . . The Shadow, a 1 MB VGA Card, takes center stage revealing the virtuoso. I The Shadow skillfully moves with lightning speed across the stage with its built-in cache memory FIFO's, delivering ultimate high speed performance in bus interface and memory updates. Clock rates of up to 65 MHz are measured as the audience watches in awe. Harmonizing with its supporting players, EGA, CGA, MDA, and Hercules, the artiste effortlessly executes vertical panning and scrolling, horizontal panning and scrolling, and split screen while displaying mixed graphics and text windows. The drama heightens as The Shadow easily slips into both interlaced and non-interlaced modes in one configuration. He adroitly upgrades from 256K to 512K to 1MB without skipping a beat. The chip count is concise . . . a reduced number to ensure reliability and'long life. A seven year warranty is applauded. The play closes to a standing ovation as all users sing along . . . Just Me and My Shadow. The credits roll with a long list of drivers, including Windows 3.0, AutoCAD 9 & 10, AutoShade, Lightning Zoom, AI (8514A), and many more. M^- sa—. ^»=, , „-, _ The reviews are in . . . The Shadow earns international acclaim. The season is open and The Shadow will run continually. To witness the performance and relish the spectacular ^^jT L display of this virtuoso, call now for a theatre (dealer) near you. Circle 130 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 131) Future Directions page 226 Tomorrow's Machines page 234 New Opportunities page 242 Anticipated Advances page 256 Flashes or Smashes? page 268 l$th anniversary SUMMIT 63 of the World's Most Influential People in Personal Computing Predict the Future, Analyze the Present The Global Market page 365 Future Programming page The Software Anchor page 324 Obstacles to Overcome page 281 r Power Plays page 291 Social Pressures page 303 Picking a Winner page 317 UT nty. Toll-free lext business day, ration. A And you e contiguous US, our desk. Which ag back to a retailer m Dell, service THE NEW DELL i486™ 33 MH: AND 25 MM: EISA SYSTEMS. The best r.ilue in high performance PCs, combining i486 performance, 32-bit EISA l/Ohns, and the industry's top rated service and support. STANDARD FEATURES: • i486 microprocessor running ar 3? MHz or 25 MHz. ■ 32'hit EISA bus architecture (dmvn- ward compatible with ISA). ♦ Standard 4 MBofKAM* expandable to 16 MBon system board, usinj; optional 1MB and 2 MB SIMMs. ♦ VGA systems video adapter. • Integrated 387 compatible math coprocessor. •5.25" 1.2 MBor 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive. ♦ 5 half -height drive Lays. • Dual diskette and hard drive controller. • Six 32-bit EISA (ISA compatible), plus two 16-bit ISA expansion slots. ♦ Hijilvperfonnance IDE (80MB, ICO MB, 190 MB), and ESDI (330 MB, 650 MB) hard disk drives. • Enhanced 101-key keyboard. • 1 parallel and 2 serial ports. • 2 30-watt power supply. ' • ! 2-month On-Sire Service Contract provided by Xerox .* ^Commercial Lease Plan. Ixasc for as low as $286hmmth (433E)and$Z32/mmth(425E"). Xenix Extended Service Plan pricing starts at $617 (425E) and $672 (433E). 80MBVOA ^ «£ Monochrome System $7,899 $6,399 190 MB VGA Color Plus System $8,699 $7,199 330 MB Super VGA Color System (SCO x 600) $9,599 $8,099 650 MB Super VGA Color System (800x600) $10,799 $9,299 Prices listed include 4 MR of II AM, 100 MB hard drive configurations also available. fflffi EOTTORS 11298 THE DELL SYSTEM 325 25 MM: 38ft AND DELL SYSTEM 310 20 Mil: 386. Tiie W.st combination ol performance and value available in their class. STANDARD FEATURES: ■ lntel ( \S03S6 micrn- 25 Ml h (Dell 325) or20MH:(Dell 310). •Standard I M Bo f RAM, optional 2 MBor4 MBof RAM* expandable to 16 MB (itsin.ua dedicated high- speed 32-bit memory slot). • Advanced Inrel 82385 Cache Memory Controller with 32 KB id higlvspeed static RAM cache. • Page mode interleaved memory architecture. • Socker for Intel 80387 or WHITER 3167 math coprocessor. •5. 25" 1. 2 MBor 3. 5" 1.44 MB diskettedrive. • Enhanced 101-key keyboard. • 1 parallel and 2 serial ports. • 200-watt power supply. • 8 industiv standard expansion slots (6 available). • 12-month On-Siic Service Contract provided by Xerox: **Cammerc'uJl Leo.se Plan, Ijulsc fur as Iinv o-s $l3l/moiuJi (325) and $U2lmimth(3W). Xemx Extended Service Plan pricing starts at $370 (325) and .$251 (310). 325 310 40 MB VGA Monochrome System 80 MB VGA Color Plus System SO MB Super VGA ColorSystem (800 x 600) 190 MB Super VGA Color System (800 x 6a" 1 ) S4.699 54,0* Prices listed include I MBot RAM. 100, 330 and 650 MB hard drive conl iguntions also available. 3.599 52,999 4.099 53,499 54.199 53,599 T14E NEW HELL SYSTEM 320LX 20 MIL 386SX. One of the fastest SX's amund. STANDARD FEATURES! • Intel 80386SX microprocessor running ar20 MH:. ■Standard I MB of RAM.* optional 2MBor4Ml3e.x P andabletol6MB (8 MH on the system board) • VGA system;, include a hi^lv performanci 16-bit vidnosidapter. • L1M 4.0 support tor memory over 1 MB, ■ Socket for Intel 20 MH: 80387SX math coprocessor. •5.25" 1.2 MBor 3.5" 1.44 MB diskettedrive. • Integrated high-performance hard disk interface and diskette controller on system board (ESDI-hiScd systems include a hard disk controller). • I parallel and 2 serial ports. • Enhanced 101-key keyboard. • 200-watt pi avlt supply. • o 1 industry standard expansion slots (7 available). • 12-month OtvSite Service Conrract provided by Xerox: ^Commercial Lease Plan. Lxasc for cts low as $98hmnuh. Xemx Extended Service Plan pricing starts at $261. 320LX 42.599 40 MB VGA Monochrom System 40 MB VGA Color Plus System 52,899 SO M B Super VGA G. lor System (800x600) 53.199 ICO M B Super VGA Color System (SCO x 600) S3, 399 Prices listed include I MB ,,f RAM 190, 330 and 650 MB hard drive configurations also available. TI IE DELL SYSTEM 316SX 16 MH: 3S6SX and DELL SYSTEM 210 12.5 MH: 286. The port'ect low profile mainstream computers. STANDARD FEATURES: • Intel 80386SX microprocessor naming at 16 MH: (Dell 316SX) or 80286 microprocessor running at 12.5 MH: (Dell 210). •Standard 512 KBof RAM, optional 640 KB, 1MB or 2 MB of RAM* expandable to 16 M B {S M B 13 I6SXJ and 6 MB [2IC| on system board). • Page mode interleaved memory architecture. • LIM 4-0 support for memory over 640 KB. -Socker for Intel S03S7SX (316SX) and 80287 (210) math coprocessor. •5.25" 1.2 MBor 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive. • Enhanced 101-key keyboard. • 1 parallel and 2 serial ports. • Hull-sired 16-bit AT expansion slots available. • 1 2-month On-Site Service Contract provided by Xerox: **Caminercud Lease Pla?i. Lease/or as Itu 1 as $73lmmth (316SX) aiul $62Jnumth (210). ''Xemx Extended Service Plan pricing starts at $196 (316SX) and $158 (210). Mn-X :\o 20 MB VGA Monochrome Svstem 51.949 'Si, 649 40 MB VGA Color Plus System 52,449 52,149 40 MB SuperVGA Color System (800 x 600) 52.549 $2,249 80 MB Super VGA Color System (800x600) 52,749 52,449 Prices listed include 1 MB of RAM. 2 MB versions of the above systems are available for an additional 5100. 100 and 190 MB hard drive configura- tions also available. THE DELL SYSTEM* 3 16LT 16 MHz 386SX. This tul ['featured, battery- powered 386SX STANDARD FEATURES: • Intel 80386SX microprocessor running at 16 MHz. • Standard 1 MB of RAM, optional 2 MB of RAM :i: expandable to 8 MB (on the system hoard using 1 MB SIMMs). • LIM 4-0 support tor memory over 1 MB. • Adjustable and detachable 640 x 480 VGA Liquid Crystal Display. • One industry standard half -size 8-bit expansion slot. • Socket for 16 MHz Intel 80387SX math coprocessor. •3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive. • 83-key keyboard with embedded numeric keypad and separate cursor control keys. • 1 parallel, 1 serial, and external VGA monitor port. laptop costs less than most 286 laptops. • Connector tor 101 -key keyboard or numeric keypad. • Connector tor external 5. 25" 1.2 MB diskette drive. • Two removable and rechargeable N iCad battei-y packs utilizing Dell's "Continuous Power Battery System" (patent pending). • AC Adapter. • 12 -month On-Site Service Contract provided by Xerox.* ^Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $120fmonth. A %erox Extended Service Plan pricing starts at $303. 20MB, 1MBRAM $3,199 20 MB, 2 MB RAM $3,399 40 MB, 1MB RAM $3,499 40MB, 2 MB RAM S3, 699 The Dell Systems 433E and 425E are FCC Class A devices sola f oruse in commercial environments only. "Petf otmonce Enhancements: Wiihin'the fii-st megobyte of memory; 128 KB (31 65X, 31611 and 210) or 384 KB (3201X, 310, 325, 425E and 433E) of memoiy is reserved f oruse by the system to enhance performance. Can be optionally disabled on 316SX and 210. All systems are photographed with optional extras- All prices and specifications are subject to change without notice. Dell cannotbe responsible for errors in typography or phatogiophy. " 'Payment based on 34- month, open-end lease. Leasing arranged by Leosing Group, Inc. In Canada, configurations and prices may vary DELL SYSTEM is a registered trademark and Dell and 425E ore trademarks of Dell Computer Corporation. Intel is a registered trademark and i486, 486 and 386 Ofe trademarks of Intel Corporation. tSource: Dataquest Inc. (SpecCheck Spring 1990). UNIX is a registered trodemork of AT&T in the United States and other countries. Other trademarks and trade names ore used to identipy the entities claiming the marks and names oi their products. Dell Computer Corporation disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own. -On-site service may not be available in certain locations. Shipping, handling and applicoble sales lax not included in the price, for information on and a copy of Dell's 30-day Total Sotisfaclion Guarantee, limited w«ra nty, and Xerox'sServiceCanlr«ct,pleasewriteloDellComputerCorporation,9505Arboretum Boulevard, Austinjexos 78759-7299.ATTN: Warranty I » ■-* (-Qrjc llFTR I £1990 Dell ComputerC corporation. All rights reserved. AN OPEN AND SHI CASE FOR DELL. Not only does our laptop cost $2,500 less than their laptop, it also happens to give you a great deal more for your money. Like a choice of 20 MB (which brings the price down tc $3,199) and 40 MB hard drives. Dell's unique "Continuous Power Battery System" i:l' at allows you to maintain your screen and save your data, even while you're changing batteries. An industry standard half -card 8-bit slot that can be used for a network card or other advanced communications. And a dedicated slot for a Dell Data/Fax modem. Illustrated documentation that's easy to read and understand, and is complete with Tutorial, Diagnostics and Utilities diskettes. And last, but by no means least, the kind of award- winning service and support that has earned Dell the # 1 rating in 6 out of 6 PC Week customer satisfaction polls for PC's. A no questions asked 30-day money-back guarantee and one-year limited warn technical support. And a full year of on-site service from the Xerox Corpc get that service nearly anywhere in tl even if you're a thousand miles from ] means you'll never have to take anythi for service. Because when you buy frc comes to you. Give us a call and we'll show you how easy it is to own the Dell 316LT through many purchase and lease plans that are available. So, when it comes time to buy a laptop, you should think of all the crazy things you can do with the $2,500 you'll save by choosing a Dell 316LT. mm,, mimut a&s&A YOU'D HAVE TO BE CRAZY TO BUY ONE OF THESE AWARD WINNERS. The laptop above is ours. The DeH""' 316LT It comes with an Intel® 386 ™SX CPU running at 16 MHz. 1 MB of RAM, expandable to 8 MB, and a backlit VGA display. With a 40 MB hard drive it weighs 15 lbs. It won the InfoWorld Exceptional Value Award, and was one of only two 386SX laptops to win the PC Magazine Editor's Choice Award. The one with the reddish screen on the opposite page is theirs. The Toshiba T3100SX. With the same configuration as our laptop. It didn't win the same award from InfoWorld. But it did tie with Dell for PC Magazine Editor's Choice Award. Which is where the similarities stop. DELL TOORDER, CALL NOW. 800- 283- -1190 HOURS: 7 AM-7 PM CT M-F9 A.M-2 PM CT SAT. CORPORATION ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL Circle 474 on Reader Service Card EDITORIAL Fred Langa BYTE'S 15th Anniversary Summit Sixty-three of the world's most influential business and technology leaders predict the next 1 5 years of the personal computer industry The personal computer industry started some 15 years ago, humbly, with a few primitive machines that today are museum pieces in every sense of the phrase. But their progeny— infinitely more varied, numerous, and powerful than anyone then dared imagine— now populate desk- tops the world over. ■ BYTE magazine also started 15 years ago— the only general- circulation computer publication to have been there from the start, witness to every significant event in the phenomenal evo- lution of the microcomputer industry. ■ This month, in celebration of BYTE's 15th Anniversary, we've set outto bring you something truly unique: We've asked 63 of the world's most influential people in personal computing business and technology to predict the next 15 years of the per- sonal computer industry. Their answers are insightful and sometimes downright unexpected. And it's not idle chatter: These 63 gurus are part of a select group that will make this future happen. s There's more, too. For example, along the way, these mov- ers and shakers share insights into what makes the microcom- puting industry tick today; what the new challenges are; what the opportunities are; what kind of hardware and software we'll be using in our business and personal lives in five, 10, 15, or more years; and much more. And to help put all this informa- tion in context, we've included a detailed time line, tracking the development of the personal computer industry from day one. You'll find some great reading in the following pages, and we're very pleased to bring it to you. Thank you for being part of BYTE, and for sharing in this unique celebration. —Fred Langa Editor in Chief BYTE EDITOR IN CHIEF Frederic S. Langa MANAGING EDITOR Anne Fischer Lent NEWS New York: Managing Editor: Rich Malloy Associate News Editor: Andrew Reinhardt Peterborough: Senior Editor, Microbytes: D. Barker Associate News Editors, What's New: David Andrews, Martha Hicks Editorial Assistant: Amanda Waterfield San Francleco: News Editor: Owen Linderholm Associate News Editor: Jeffrey Bertolucci London: Senior Editor: Colin Barker BYTE LAB Managing Editor: Michael Nadeau Technical Director: Rick Grehan Senior Editor: Dennis Allen Technical Editors: Alan Joch, Robert Mitchell, Tom Yager Testing Editors/Engineers: Stephen Apiki, Stanford Diehl, Howard Eglowstein, Stanley Wszola STATE OF THE ART Senior Editor: Jane Morrill Tazelaar Technical Editor: Robert M. Ryan FEATURES Senior Editor: Kenneth M. Sheldon Technical Editors: Janet J. Barron, Ben Smith SENIOR EDITORS, AT LARGE Tom Thompson, Jon Udell SPECIAL PROJECTS Senior Editor: Gene Smarte SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jerry Pournelle CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Bill Catchings, Don Crabb, David Fiedler, Hugh Kenner, Mark J. Minasi, Wayne Rash Jr., Mark L. Van Name CONSULTING EDITORS Jonathan Amsterdam, Nick Baran, Laurence H. Loeb, Trevor Marshall, Stan Miastkowski, Dick Pountain, Phillip Robinson, Peter Wayner COPYEDITING Chief Copy Editor: Lauren A. Stickler Copy Administrator: Cathy Kingery Copy Editors: Susan Colwell, Jeff Edmonds, Judy Grehan, Nancy Hayes, Margaret A. Richard, Warren Williamson EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Office Manager: Peggy Dunham Assistants: Linda C Ryan, June Sheldon ART Director: Nancy Rice Assistant Director: Joseph A. Gallagher Art Assistants: Jan Muller, Lisa Nardecchia Technical Artist: Alan Easton PRODUCTION Director: David R. Anderson Senior Editorial Production Coordinator: Virginia Reardon Editorial Production Coordinators: Barbara Busenbark, Denise Chartrand TYPOGRAPHY Systems Manager: Sherry Fiske Applications Manager: Donna Sweeney Typesetter: Christa Patterson 218 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 BORLAND INTRODUCES TURBO PASCAL 5.5 WITH OBJECTS Be Objective Turbo Pascal,® the world-standard Pascal compiler, adds Object-Oriented Programming with our version 5.5. We combined the simplicity of Apples Object Pascal language with the power and efficiency of C++ to create Turbo Pascal 5.5, the object-oriented programming language for the rest of us. It's easy to extend yourself If you're already programming with Turbo Pascal, it's easy to extend yourself from struc- tured programming to object-oriented programming. And, Turbo Pascal 5.5 is source- the only compiler that is 1C code compatible with your existing Turbo Pascal 4.0 and 5.0 programs. A fast object lesson Object-oriented appli- cation programs more closely model the way you think. Objects con- tain both data and code. As in a spreadsheet cell, the value and the formula Special upgrade prices are available to Turbo Pascal are together. Objects can inherit properties from other owners.* CALL NOW (800) 331-0877, Inheritance provides powerful modeling capabilities by allowing objects to inherit attributes from other objects. objects. For example, a Porsche Carrera inherits most attributes from the base model 911, but it also sports a whale tail. Turbo Pascal 5.5's object-oriented extensions give you code that's easier to change, extend and support. Support your objective The Turbo Pascal® 5.5 Professional 2nd edition comes with the new Turbo Debugger® & Tools 2.0, which supports building faster, more reliable programs. Use Turbo Debugger to shake out the bugs, Turbo Profiler™ to pinpoint the execution bottlenecks, and Turbo Assember® to turbo- charge time-critical sections of your program. Get object- oriented now! Turbo Pascal 5.5 and the Turbo Pascal 5.5 Professional 2nd edition are available Now at the dealer nearest you. Turbo Pascal 5.5 ■ Compiles @> 34,000 lines/minute ■ New integrated environ- ment tutorial ■ Hypertext Help with copy and paste ■ Support for 8087/80287/ 80387 Turbo Debugger & Tools ■ Turbo Debugger 2.0 ■ Object hierarchy browser and inspectors ■ Reverse excecution ■ New Turbo Profiler ■ Improved Turbo Assembler 2.0 TURBO FASCAL TURBO PASCAL PROFESSIONAL 1 Code: MA76 BORLAND 'Mail upgrade orders to: Borland, P.O. Box 660001, Scons Valley, CA 95067-0001. For orders outside the U.S., call (408) 438-5300. Twbo Pascal, Tuibo Debugger. Tuibo Profiler ami Turbo Assembler ate trademarks or registered trademarks of Borland International, Inc. Copyright *1990, Borland International, Inc. All right reserved. 81 1324A Circle 461 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 462) On the left, the best-selling VGA monitor. On The MultiSync® 2A is one monitor that performs like two. On one hand, it's an uncompromised VGA monitor that works so well, VGA users have made it the best-selling 14" VGA color monitor in America. On the other hand, the MultiSync 2A is also an equally uncompromised SuperVGA monitor, providing the perfect upgrade path to a standard that, at 800 x 600, gives you 56% more resolution than VGA. CJC Computers and Communications the right, the best-selling SuperVGA monitor. It's even available in a gray-scale version — the MultiSync GS2A — which delivers everything the 2A does, in glorious shades of gray. The MultiSync 2A. It's two of the best monitors you've ever seen. For technical information or for the location of the dealer nearest you, call 1-800-FONE-NEC. For product literature, call 1-800-826-2255. In Canada, call 1-800-268-3997. Circle 510 on Reader Service Card NEC JANE MORRILLTAZELAAR O N 226 Future Directions 234 Tomorrow's Machines 242 New Opportunities 256 Anticipated Advances 268 Flashes or Smashes? 281 Obstacles to Overcome 291 Power Plays 303 Social Pressures 317 Picking a Winner 324 The Software Anchor 335 Future Programming 351 Brainteasers 365 The Global Market E L eaders of industry, top academicians, and leading indus- try commentators come together in these pages to provide their unique perspectives on the microcomputer industry of the future. This landmark project began with a list of questions that covered a broad spectrum of topics. They range from the future of the in- dustry to the possibility of Marshall McLuhan's "global village" becoming a reality; from why software seems to lag so far behind hardware to the usefulness of neural networks, chaos, and fuzzy logic in the future; and from expected breakthroughs to bottlenecks and limitations in technology— 13 different subjects in all. To this list of questions, we added a list of more than 60 of the most creative and influential minds in the industry. What a combi- nation! As you will see, it led to some spirited comments, agree- ments, disagreements, and quantities of fascinating reading. It's been an exciting and challenging project for BYTE to find and talk with these "movers and shakers" and to present their views on these subjects to you. In addition to the questions BYTE asked, many of these experts mentioned special projects of their own, special interests that occu- py them. The Insights located between the various BYTE Summit questions present those unique viewpoints from the industry's elite. One of the people we spoke with was the late Robert Noyce. You often hear the phrase "a gentleman and a scholar" bandied about, but in this case particularly, both were true. Bob Noyce was one of the great gentlemen of our industry, and his intellectual accom- plishments are legendary. We are pleased to be able to present some of his final comments on the future of computing, a future which, sadly, he will miss. As one of the fathers of our industry, however, he will never be forgotten. We discovered many fascinating facts about the people we talked to, and thus about the industry. For one thing, while more of them use 286- and 386-based machines than Macs at work, at home they have more Macs. For another, we found quite a few new business opportunities for the would-be entrepreneurs among you. In addi- tion—well, I'll leave the rest for you to discover as you read the pages that follow. Anything further that I could say would simply be soda and Cheez Whiz in contrast to the fine wine— correction, make that champagne— and caviar that you'll find in the pages of the BYTE Summit. —Jane Morrill Tazelaar Senior Editor, State of the Art 222 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 J. MORRILL TAZELAAR PHOTO: PAUL AVIS /V-VVS/N/N ILLUSTRATION: CARY HENRIE SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 223 l)uAsbdWeListe Smaller; RtsteE Mor htonTate' dBASEIV Advancing the worldwide standard in data management and application development Introducing dBASEIV® version 1.1. Smaller because the new Dynamic Memory Management System (dMMS)™ reduces memory requirements from 516K to 450K. So you can run larger applications. Faster because the same dMMS reduces dBASE IV's need to access your hard disk. On top of that, the new built-in Disk Caching Option uses extended or expanded memory to further improve disk performance. More reliable too.Thanks to one of the largest pre-release (beta) testing programs ever conducted for a PC database. Tested By Some Very Independent People. dBASEIV version 1.1 was found to be more reliable in tests conducted by over 2700 independent developers, users and MIS departments. All together, they used over 1000 different single and multi-user system configurations. The result of all this is a smaller, faster, more reliable dBASEIV With a simpler installation to get you up and running quicker. Which means you can now start working faster and more efficiently than you ever have before. Especially since you can operate dBASE IV through TraJt'iiyrks knvncrs: dBASli. dHASE 111 PLUS, dBASE IV. dMMS. Aslium-Tatr, Ashton-Iite Logo.Ashtnn-Tatc Corp Oilier product mimes used herein are for identification purposes only mid may be tndetmirksof their respective companies ned taxkcin eRefabledB Catalog Tools Exit the powerful Control Center interface. Now Anyone Can Use dBASE IV The Control Center is powerful because it's so simple. It's like a window to your data that you work with intuitively. It gives you access to What-You-See-Is-What- You-Get (WYSIWYG) Design Tools that work through simple pull-down menus. The tools let you easily create custom forms, reports, labels and databases— without pro- gramming a single line of code In addition, theres Query By Example (QBE) for quick answers without any pro- gramming—even if all your data is spread across multiple databases. The Design Tools ensure that first time users will be up and running quickly, and that experienced users will realize high productivity gains. ' CONTROL CENTER JMSEIVsSMPLESNSA,,^ WCB^I ?? IP- Export DOS utilities Protect data Sett ings The Control Center provides access to Design Tools that you easily manage data without any programming. let automatically by letting our Applications Generator easily tie together everything they've created with the tools. New Developments For Developers. If you're a developer, you'll appreciate the new language enhancements and more flex- ible User Defined Functions (UDFs). Plus the Automatic Code Generator, which pro- duces structured dBASE®code for any object you create with the Control Center's Design Tools. In addition, there's the built-in Debugger/Editor for In fact, even beginners can streamlining the program develop complete applications debugging process. If you buy the Developer's Edition, you'll also enjoy exclusive features like the Template Language— which lets you control the way dBASE IV generates code. And the RunTime Module for free, unlimited distribution of your applications. Call Us Today. We'll Listen Closely. But no matter who you are, you'll appreciate our new support policy. Free, unlimited telephone support. (Your only charge is your toll call.) So see your Ashton-Tate® dealer today Or call 1-800-437-4329 ext. 1403 for more information. Better yet, dBASE III PLUS® users can calll-800-2-ASHTONforan immediate upgrade. Registered dBASE IV version 1.0 users will get a free upgrade. Call now and tell us what we can do for you. You can rest assured, we'll be listening. A AshtonTate ) 1990 Ashton-Tate Corporation. All rights reserved. GTSls GSA Schedule #: GS00K90AGS5216 Circle 453 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 454) he only thing that has consistently grown faster than hardware is human expectation. —Bjarne Stroustrup THE BYTE SUMMIT Where do you think the microcomputer industry is heading in the next five, 1 0, 1 5 years? Jim Manzi (see biography, page 292): There's no question that it's heading, in a sense, to dominate the entire computing landscape, which, in some sense, it already does. I think the dominance of microcom- puting—personal computing, workstation computing, desktop computing— will be so overwhelming five years from now, at an ever-increasing rate, largely because it's a broad-based phenomenon. Paul Carroll (see page 230): I certainly think the industry will continue to grow. I think that the growth will slow down. This year it looks like it will be 10 to 15 percent, and it might even get into the single digits at some point. Mitch Kapor (see page 269): I think the basic outlines of the future shape of the in- dustry are already visible today. I don't think there's going to be the kind of ram- pant change we've seen earlier. In fact, I think we haven't seen rampant change. The thing that sits on your desk today pretty much looks like the kind of thing that sat on your desk almost 10 years ago— if you had one on your desk. It's just a lot more power- ful. It's heading right for the mainstream- it is the mainstream. Dick Shaffer (seepage 340): As far as ma- chines based upon microprocessors [are concerned]: It's the dominant technology, as far as I'm concerned, over the next sev- eral [years]. Bill Joy (see page 262): Except for very- large-scale scientific computers, which may use special-purpose cellular hardware or neural nets or some sort of other archi- tecture, all computing will be done with microprocessors. Certainly, all interesting computers will be micros, so the micro- computer industry essentially will equal the computer industry. Tom McWilliams (see page 294): Today, what is a workstation and what is a PC are merging. Workstations are continuing to drop in price to the point where today you can buy some workstations for less money than your large PCs. So I think that the hardware distinction between a workstation and a PC is blurring. PCs and workstations have different software, where typically workstations are Unix-based and PCs [use] MS-DOS or Apple software. Niklaus Wirth (see page 366): Well, mi- croprocessors have certainly changed also life in academic institutes and research as well as in teaching. In teaching particular- ly, we have changed from the use of large computation centers to the individual work- stations, and that I am sure is here to stay. BYTE: What about the power of the hard- ware? Will that increase significantly? Or have we gone about as far as we can go? Gordon Campbell (seepage 229): In the last decade, which is about as old as the in- dustry is, we've gone from fairly crude tenth-of-a-MIP machines to 5- to 10-MIP machines as average PCs now. In the next decade, we're going to see microproces- sors, basically, hooked up with more than one in a box. We will have true multipro- cessing, and that will allow us to push into the 100- to 200-, 300-MIP category, still very cost effectively. On the Jiigh end, I think you're going to see the use of multiple processors. On the low end, we're going to see the true integration finally of the PC ar- chitecture and the microprocessor into a single chip. Michael Slater (seepage 340): I think that there are a lot of things that are pretty obvi- ous; the amount of memory that people ex- pect to have in their typical PC will be 4 megabytes in the next couple of years, and probably 8 to 16 megabytes within five years. That's going to be important as peo- ple go to graphical user interfaces, and more and more imaging-oriented parts of their software, and are doing multitasking, and are doing networking, running bigger and bigger and more complex applications. Stewart Alsop (see page 227): Bigger, faster, cheaper. I'm serious about that. Ob- viously, where it's headed is where it's been heading for the last 10 years, which is [to] more and more functional and capable computers. Gordon Bell (see page 228): You can take any scenario of what everybody has today and just run that out, minimally giving them a factor of 10 more. 226 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 ILLUSTRATION: CATHARINE BENNETT Donald Knuth (see page 282): People in my department are saying that computers are going to double in speed every year until 1995, and then they're going to run out of ideas. But we've got another factor of 30 or something to look forward to in that time. And then they will have squeezed out all of the slop. John Cocke (see page 235): Well, I feel that we'll have very dense memory, and [we'll] have much, much larger memory on the desktop. The machines will probably be equivalent to, say, large scientific ma- chines, have any kind of features you want, like vectors and so forth, because they will be very fast. That's what I envision in the next, maybe less than 10 years. Michael Slater: Actually, I think that in most all of these things you can actually look at where workstations are today, and PCs will be there within a few years in terms of the memory size, the display reso- lution, and built-in networking. Bill Gates (see page 250): Well, the vision Paul Allen and I had when we started the company was: A PC on every desk and in every home— the tool of the information age to let people see the information they're interested in and try out new ideas— and really nothing has changed our view of that. It was predicated on processors get- ting faster and software getting better, and all these advances sometimes take longer than we expect. Bjarne Stroustrup (see page 352): That's a huge question. I think the answer is [that] the PCs are going to be more powerful. That doesn't mean nirvana, because people seem to soak up cycles faster than the hard- ware manufacturers can build them. The only thing that has consistently grown faster than hardware in the last 40 years is human expectation. Jack Kilby (seepage 272): In 15 years, you will be able to do anything you want to. Jerry Pournelle (see page 326): I said in BYTE, in the first issue I wrote in, that by the year 2000, anybody in Western civili- zation would be able to get the answer to any question that has an answer. I see no reason to change that prediction. Gates' no- tion that there will be a computer on every desk and in every classroom is absolutely right. The information revolution is just proceeding apace. There is nothing that surprises me in that sense, because I said it all 10 to 15 years ago, in BYTE. BYTE: To get a little more detailed, how do you expect semiconductors to evolve? And what will be the effect of that evo- lution? Jack Kilby: As far as integrated circuits are concerned, we're on our way down to 0.7- and 0.5-micron lines, and we will see those happen. Bob Noyce (see page 318): Well, I see a continued trend of bigger, faster, better machines that can cram more and more onto a chip for another decade, but then we'll have to take a look at it. You do see some barriers arising, but still, those barri- ers have been about a decade away for some time. As we get more experience, we find ways to move those barriers back about 10 years. So I think that it will last another 10 years or so. Lee Felsenstein (see page 246): I've come to realize that as long as the chips are as cheap as they are, you can afford to waste some of the capability. When I say waste, I mean you don't design something from the ground up that makes use of 100 percent of the capability. Maybe it makes use of 40 percent of it. But then, you figure out ways to make that other 60 percent available when people want to have it available. That makes it a personal computer. Ken Olsen (see page 318): The same chip goes into the workstation, the desktop server, the bigger one, and the minicom- puters. And they all have the same chip in them and therefore run at about the same speed. But one goes up close to $ 1 ,000,000 and one goes [for] $10,000. And the world gets confused, and sometimes the advertis- ing confuses. [It's] all the other capabili- ties, of course, that [make the difference] . BYTE: What about the software side of the equation? Or are all the changes coming in hardware? Jonathan Titus (see page 352): I would say, within 10 to 15 years, we're looking at tremendous advances in the amount of pro- cessing that people will have available on their desks. I am not sure, though, that they'll know exactly what to do with it. Rich Malloy (see page 288): I think the main changes we'll see are in terms of hardware— things getting much faster and smaller and cheaper. And then software will try to catch up to that, but there are problems. continued Paul G. Allen is chairman and president of Asymetrix, developer of Toolbox for Windows 3.0. In 1 975, he cofounded Microsoft Corp. with Bill Gates and served as its executive vice president of research and new product development. Stewart Alsop III is president of Industry Publishing Company, Inc. , and editor and pub- lisher of P.C. Letter, a newsletter for execu- tives in the personal computer industry. SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 227 jWB. B ♦ =^ • \#" .-/ ' TO M$M ll^J^^ Andreas Bechtolsheim is vice president of technology for Sun Microsystems, which he cofounded in 1 982. He has been the principal designer of many Sun workstations, including the SPARCstation 1 . C. Gordon Bell is chief scientist at Stardent Computer, a company he cofounded. He is best known for the design and development of Digital Equipment Corp.'s VAX computer. He is also cofounder and director of The Computer Museum. Brian Kernighan (see page 272): Soft- ware, unfortunately, is not nearly as easy to make go better as hardware seems to be. Bob Frankston (seepage 246): I think that tension [between hardware and software] is going to exist forever. Brian Kernighan: It seems likely that the hardware is going to continue to get cheap- er, so that you'll be able to get more and more power on your desk or whatever. And the software will not get better fast enough, and so you'll piddle away more and more of [the power] on stuff that doesn't quite work the way you want it to, or that doesn't quite work together. KenOlsen: [What] I think that people want in general computers is to have software ap- plications that they can transport to any- body's computer. Any operating system, anybody's computer— transportable soft- ware. And they want, or should want if they've stopped analyzing, anybody's com- puter, anybody's operating system to work on a network around the world. And you come to the obvious conclusion that you want to write to standards, all the stan- dards, and then the software plays in any- body's machine. BYTE: How about networks— what do you see as their future? How will networking change the industry? Michael Slater: Networking, I think, will become standard in PCs, as it is standard in workstations today. Paul Allen (see page 227): I think natural evolution in terms of business computing is that everybody's going to have a super- powerful network machine on their desk, maybe 15 years out. Paul Carroll: There are some powerful trends going on now that will certainly con- tinue, with emphasis on networking prob- ably being the most important of those. I think that will facilitate the development of better electronic mail systems, which I hap- pen to believe will be just awfully impor- tant. I think those will change the way I work and certainly will change the way a lot of other people work. Terry Winograd (see page 366): What I see happening is the integration of what was good about the mainframes and what is good about the microcomputers, [and] what was good about the old systems was that they tied together people. Now with net- working, you get the advantages you had from the stand-alone workstation, all the advantages of interaction you had, and now all the advantages of coordinating the infor- mation with a network. I think over the next five to 10 years, it will be odd to have a microcomputer in a work setting that isn't tied into a network. And, of course, we'll have other technology to tie into that— radio networks and cellular phone net- works, etc. Danny Hillis (seepage 250): Well, I think initially it will be telephone networks and local area networks, and then those local area networks would one way or another be connected to a big network. So in some sense, the whole concept of the network will break down, and everything will be connected to everything in some software sense. So there will be everything from groups of computers connected together by telephone to things like the gigabyte net- work that Senator Gore is talking about. Either you'll be connected into it all, or you won't be connected into it at all. Jonathan Titus: I think that major ad- vances, from my point of view, over at least the next five years, are going to come in communications, and the ability for people to have one computer talk to another com- puter almost anywhere in the U.S., and perhaps in Western Europe, much the way our dial phones are set up now. Bjarne Stroustrup: It doesn't mean net- working with the next office. That's unin- teresting. If I want something from [the guy in] the next office, I'll go in and talk to him. It's harder to have an argument with a guy in Stockholm— not much harder if you're networked properly. I think that's going to make changes in the way people use computers and the way people think about computers. John Kemeny (see page 270): I still look forward to major progress in networking, and I think then we will have the best of all worlds— I mean, the advantages of time- sharing and the advantages of personal computers coupled . Brian Kernighan: More and more of these machines are being networked, but funda- mentally, the P in PC is personal. That's the strength of the thing, but also the weak- ness. It's the strength because, by god, it's yours, do what you want with it, nobody else tells you what to do with it, and so on. But that's also the weakness. It's very hard to communicate with anybody else in any 228 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 A. BECHTOLSHEIM PHOTO: KASHt C. GORDON BELL PHOTO: ARDENT COMP. CORP. convenient way. And the kind of communi- cation, sort of hopping around the ma- chines, getting mail from people, and all these other things that I take for granted [on larger systems] are, I think, somewhat far away in the PC world as seen by most people. Brit Hume (see page 262): Well, it strikes me that what we have commonly thought of as microcomputers are becoming so power- ful that they can be used as the core systems for networks that will be comparable to the systems that now run as minicomputers and mid-range systems. That's an obvious de- velopment that seems to have been coming for a long time. BYTE: Speaking of minicomputers, how will the evolution of microcomputers affect minicomputers and mainframes? Andy Bechtolsheim (see page 228): Basi- cally, the next generation of [microcom- puters] will have just about the same specs as the best mainframes you can get [today] . Of course, supercomputers are still faster. I mean, Cray, he gets another order of mag- nitude of power out of that. But in terms of the technology, it's reaching the main- frame level. Tony Hoare (see page 257): I think the microprocessor industry will come to dom- inate the whole of the computer industry. And, as it has done in the past 10 years, it will reproduce the evolutionary history of minicomputers and mainframes. Bob Noyce: Well, the line I used to use is that the microcomputer is what the main- frame was 10 years ago. I think at this point in time the microcomputer is becoming a mainframe. Things are doubling every 1 Vi years, so I really can't use that first line anymore. Now I think the real question is, "Will the microcomputer be the top-of-the- line computer?" And I guess my real feel- ing is that it will be. Bill Stallings (see page 352): My guess would be the mainframe is not going to go away. Tom McWilliams: Well, I think what we have been seeing is that the microcomputer used to be for fairly specialized applica- tions. What has happened is that the power available on a microcomputer grows expo- nentially with time. As they have grown, they've overcome various classes of ma- chines. Basically, today, they've replaced the minicomputers. I see the microcom- puter becoming more and more dominant and taking over all computing except the largest machines'. Terry Winograd: The problem with the mainframe was [that] integration was forced by the centralization adherent to the particular functionality of that mainframe. The idea was one of a central function where everybody played their pieces. Now we have a much more open-ended type of integration where we put the connections in where they count. Wayne Ratlif f (see page 326): So I think the real computer substance lies in the per- sonal computers. They're not the toys any- more. They're the thing. I probably can think of a lot of examples, but I guess I'm thinking mostly right now of when small mammals took over the world, and took the world away from the dinosaurs. I see the mainframes as being the dinosaurs. They're big. They are enormously power- ful—massive, extensive. And here these little computers are like the small mam- mals, 60 million years ago or whatever. Al- though they are small, they are very facile in a variety of ways. They are small, cheap, [we] have lots of them, [and] they can stay alive at night. BYTE: And how about the user interface? How do you think we will interact with computers in 10 or 15 years? Michael Slater: I think the character-mode applications will almost entirely go away, and everybody will make the transition into graphical user interface applications. Charles Simonyi (see page 340): The graphical user interface is a given; there is no doubt about it. It's a given today, and it will be stable for the foreseeable future. David Evans (see page 243): I think one of the curious things is that people have known that computing ought to be done in- teractively, and it ought to be graphics, and it ought to be on-line access. We've known that for at least 30 years, or maybe more than that. I think we'll see that kind of thing continuing. I think we'll see that bet- ter interfaces, and better human interfaces, and so forth, will continue to come on in the mass market at the bottom of the price [range]. Terry Winograd: We won't be using data gloves or anything like that. Rather than having a bunch of applications, we will continued James F. Blinn is associate director of project mathematics at Cal Tech. He is a pioneer in the fields of computer graphics and animation. Gordon A. Campbell is founder, president, and CEO of Chips & Technologies, Inc. , which produces VLSI chip sets and firmware and pro- vides design services to personal computer manufacturers. He is a 20-year veteran of the semiconductor business. SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 229 J. Rod Canlon is cofounder, president, and CEO of Compaq Computer Corp., where he has directed its operations and growth since 1 982. Canion spent over 16 years in engineering and management at Texas Instruments. Paul B. Carroll (not shown) is a technology reporter in the New York bureau of the Wall Street Journal. His main focus is covering IBM and other computer companies in the New York and Philadelphia areas. have more of an integrated environment into an interface that lets me move smooth- ly into what I want to do, and it will orga- nize what I want to do instead of organizing it by individual pieces of software. You won't have to get out of one environment to get into another thing. Paul Allen: Graphical user interface op- tions will be dominant here pretty quickly in the next few years. But I guess the big shift that I see is toward applications that work the way people think about solving their problems. Instead of a spreadsheet thinking about Al + A2 or something like that, they will be dealing with higher-level content. Philippe Kahn (seepage 269): I think that the next generation will [have] more direct communication and more direct use of per- sonal computers and not [force] people to work the way the personal computer works, but rather have the personal computer work the way people work. That's very im- portant. Seymour Papert (see page 325): I think the interface is part of a larger thing. I think that putting the emphasis on the inter- face somewhat confuses the issues. Clear- ly, having icons and a mouse, for many people, if not everybody, is a more com- fortable interface than having to type in a lot of instructions in a mathematical form. I think that kind of direction opens computa- tion to a lot more people, but if only the in- terface [is changed] , and what lies behind it and what you can do with the system isn't changed, you're only scratching the sur- face. The interface is only the surface. I think we need deeper ways to think about differences in computation. Bill Gates: There are a few discontinuities that are unclear when they'll come about and what their impact will be. [One of them is] so-called AI where the machine [has the] ability to move up in the reasoning chain beyond just "Here's a number; here's some text," to help you plan things, under- stand rules about your business. [AI is] one I'm optimistic about, but the track record the last 10 years is that not too much has gotten done. If you look at the business en- vironment, just a natural evolution of the electronic-mail group-productivity tools should get us toward that vision. David Evans: I still think the place that the micros and everything else are going to change is the human interface. Surely, they'll understand the spoken language. he graphical user interface is a given; there is no doubt about it. —Charles Simony i Esther Dyson (see page 236): I think the eighties were the decade of direct manipu- lation, [and] I think the nineties are going to be about programmability. I don't want to sit and move stuff around on my screen all day and look at figures and have it rec- ognize my gestures and listen to my voice. I want to tell it what to do and then go away; I don't want to babysit this computer. I want it to act for me, not with me. BYTE: So, where does this take us? Can someone tie it all together? Jim Manzi: In terms of the next three, four, five years, we think one of the biggest wins is obviously tying in microcomputers or desktop computing into an organization- al context. That will then extend, not just to the internal fabric of companies and organi- zations, but obviously to the external com- munity as well, given things like ISDN and EDI, and things like that. But at the heart of it is going to be desktop computing, be- cause that's where information is useful. Grace Hopper (see page 257): I think the microcomputers will continue to communi- cate. Actually, any company will have a very large system composed of computers. It will not be individual computers. There will be mainframes, minis, micros, and everything else all linked together, and the entire system will be what supports the company, not the individual pieces. Jim Manzi: The big opportunity, I think, in computing generally, is to increase, in some sense, the information velocity, which is the speed with which information is moved, shared, accessed, used, and then shared again. Because information, all by itself, used by one person, is useless. So the whole concept of organization computing, or group computing, or network comput- ing, starts and ends, in some sense, with an individual. ■ 230 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 THE SCIENCE OF COMPUTER HARDWARE BUYING DECISIONS IS ABOUT TO BENEFIT FROM A LITTLE MAGIC. Clean out your filing cabinets. Say goodbye to your folders and folders of product literature. You're about to enjoy the benefits of some high-tech sleight of hand. Introducing HardFacts™ on disk, a monthly database that provides PC Industry Professionals with instant, up-to-date information on over 7,000 microcomputer hardware products. No on-line charges. No keyword searches. HardFacts is an advanced and powerful Make your selection from over 25 product categories, ranging from personal computers to peripherals to board-level products. Choose from a list of over 1,000 companies, and target your product search by manufacturer. 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Circle 486 on Reader Service Card THE B YTE S U M M I T Alan Kay: On Computers in Education X have worked with children over most of my career in Macintosh stuff. The PARC stuff that we did was originally designed for children. It works on adults because we have to think harder to design the stuff for children. I don't think the technology is as big an issue [in education] as people's atti- tudes and values. Putting computers into schools is like [if] for some reason we thought our kids wouldn't succeed if they didn't become musicians [so] the state legislature decided to put pianos in every classroom. It's not going to help. Any musician will tell you that music is not in a piano. What I'm trying to say is, if you put computers in every school, it's like pianos in every school. Everybody wants media and technol- ogy to save them, but it's attitudes, [and machines don't affect attitudes] . People think there is content in technology. And there isn't content except in what it makes us into. And that's something we have to decide. That's what our value system has to decide. It doesn't require any money to have an attitude change. That's why it is so hard. We don't grow things, we fix them. So our idea about education is that children are defective adults— they have to be "fixed" in school— whereas more enlightened people like [Jean] Piaget and Jerome Brunner think of children as something you grow. They're all right the way they are. What we try to do is grow them in a certain direction. But there's nothing deficient about them. And the difference between those two attitudes is huge. The way to save education is to get parents directly involved in the welfare of the children. That's the number-one thing. I've visited a lot of schools in the last 22 years, and the ones that have worked, 100 percent of them have had strong parent involvement. Because the thing about a school— a school is a lot of different kinds of things. Some schools are more regimented than others, but they all are kaleidoscopic. There's tons of stuff going on. It is extremely diffi- cult for kids to actually consolidate any knowledge in the classroom. What hap- pens at best is they are exposed to new ideas and different kinds of things. A consolidation, when it happens, hap- pens at home. And it is how it happens, it's the attitude of their parents: if their parents are learners, if their parents are readers, if their parents come into the classroom. I'm fully behind this thing that lac- coca and the head of the National PTA are trying to do, which is besides having something like maternity leave, also get companies to give employees a half day a month off with pay if they go into their kid's school. You don't need all this [stuff]. You just need the parents to make sure the television is off for a rea- sonable amount of time, parent involve- ment, parents coming into the class- room, the parent obviously valuing what the life of the child is. And the children will respond every time. When you have something like that, you can come in with the technology— you can come in with a piano, you can come in with a computer, and you can amplify the hell out of it because tech- nology is just an amplifier. If you've got [junk], you're going to get [junk] am- plified a millionfold. Editor's note: See biography, page 2 70. Alvy Ray Smith: On Software Patents -latent issues. I think that's the num- ber one problem. I think that's the most serious problem confronting the soft- ware industry in the next decade. One of the things that I see holding us up is software patent issues, a monster that's raised its head in the past year or two. One of the things that the U.S. is blessed with, that's extremely creative, is a mass of brilliant software inventors. Suddenly, the patent of f ice tried to start patenting software. It's a very large- bandwidth, creative system, and they're trying to just push it through the narrow bandwidth system of the patent office, which cannot possibly handle it. I'm very afraid that the patent issues are go- ing to stifle the innovation we currently enjoy in the software industry. That's the number one problem facing us here. I think it would be a mistake to miss that very important issue. The one that's on the top of my mind right now is the Pontel patent for patent- ed airbrushes. What a trivial idea. Really trivial ideas are going to be pat- ented. Those of us who sit around and wheel and deal in software are going to be completely restrained. That has to be solved in the next decade. I hope it gets solved immediately. All of this could come to a screeching halt if we don't get rid of this software patent issue. Editor's note: See biography, page 352. 232 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 CANT^/V/ THAT I DO! If you push your PC to the limit, memory shortage problems are an all- too-familiar frustration. Here's how to forget they ever existed. Buy an Intel® Above™Board. It's the number- one expanded memoiy card. It's guaranteed compatible and reliable. And it's from Intel, so you get the best warranty in the business, plus outstanding technical support. To take maximum advantage of your Above Board memoiy, add QRAM™, Quarterdeck's top-selling memory manage- ment software. Coupled with the Above Board, it helps solve "RAM Cram" and easily * Memory saved varies according to application and system. QRAM is a trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems. Offer ends 12/31/90. Redemption coupon must be received by Intel by 2/1/91. Offer good on Above Board purchases in the U.S. and Internationally, except where prohibited by law. handles large applications* And for a limited time, you can get QRAM free. You'll save about $140, not to mention a few frustrations. It's easy, your QRAM coupon is right inside the Above Board box. To take advantage of this memory solu- tion see your nearest Intel dealer, or call Intel at (800) 538-3373. Or if you'd like more infor- mation on both products faxed directly to you, call (800) 525-3019 and request Doc#9950. The sooner you do, the sooner your memory problems will fade away. Intel Circle 488 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 489) hat does 1 000 MIPS mean? It's kind of hard to wrap your head around it. — Alvy Ray Smith THE BYTE SUMMIT What do you think a typical microcomputer will look like in 10 or 1 5 years? Bill Joy: Fifteen is pretty hard to say. Ten years— very powerful, multiprocessor, enormous amount of semiconductor mem- ory, probably [will] not have a disk. Prob- ably it will all be semiconductor, run on batteries, be portable, have a different met- aphor than mouse/keyboard, probably in- volving voice, and you'll surely need a higher bandwidth output device, [and] vi- sion— [you'll have] a very high-quality ani- mated display. Ryoichi Mori (see biography, page 304): Ten or 15 years [from now], typical micro- computers will look like today's micro- computers. Here, "look like" means that the price and the size of most packages will be typically the same. The contents— that is, the scale of integration and the comput- ing capability— will be improved 100 to 1000 times. Most of the improved capabili- ty will be consumed to provide better user interface. This means that microcomputers will have more "common sense"— that is, better database— and make better judgment using it. To support this, magnetic or opti- cal storage devices will become smaller and smaller and will be built into the microcomputers more widely. Jay Miner (see page 296): I would suspect that the trends that we have seen in the past are going to continue— mainly, more min- iaturization, more complexity, more func- tion per dollar, more portability— since CMOS is getting much more sophisticated now, and most of the new big microproces- sors are going CMOS, which allows them to be portable. Andy Bechtolsheim: The workstations al- ready are looking more and more the same as PCs— one or two disk drives and the floppy disk and some audio and slots. Obvi- ously, we can assume that performance keeps doubling each year, and maybe we'll get to 1000 MIPS by the year 2000. Alvy Ray Smith (see page 352): It won't be too much of a stretch, say, that the desk- tops will be in the 1000-MIPS range by 2000. 1 don't think that's too hard to see at all. In fact, my numbers have it at 2000. What does it mean? What does 1 000 MIPS mean? It's kind of hard to wrap your head around it. Dick Shaffer: I'm convinced that we will have personal supercomputers. Not Crays; nobody gives a fig about Crays on your desktop. Let's just think what you could do if you had today's R6000 or today's MIPS machines or today's Silicon Graphics— $100,000 personal, graphics supercom- puters—available for about $1000. Gordon Bell: I think that [in 15 years,] things are going to structure out in these different strata. I think there'll be the $10 computer that is essentially the credit-card kind of thing. We could make a universal card that has all the information on it. That you'll see. The $100 dictating machine that basically is a memo-minder that you walk with. The $1000—1 see the bulk of the ma- chines are going to be those $1000 totally portable machines that you run around with, and that those go into a more central system. I think everybody's got to have the concept of a mainframe. Gordon Campbell: I think you're still go- ing to have base systems. I think people will gradually evolve to where they'll have a base system in their home and a base sys- tem in their office. And you will have any number of portable computers, whether they are palmtops, laptops, notebooks, whatever. We'll see a seamless exchange of data, some through hard wire, some through wireless LANs. Stephen Wolfram (see page 366): The most likely mechanism for connecting to peripheral devices would be some kind of an infrared-based thing. I mean, the whole idea of having wires and definite connec- tors is clearly not a particularly good one. If you have a sufficient bandwidth, the best thing to do is to have some kind of bar around your computer that emits infrared, and you plug devices onto it. Paul Allen: Well, I think that the market will basically bifurcate. We're seeing some of it now. Portable computers are going to be like— something along the lines of the old Xerox Dynabook kind of concept where you've got a portable computer with a high- resolution screen that'll be in color. And you'll be able to input into that using either a keyboard or probably a stylus that can read handwriting or printing or whatever. 234 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 ILLUSTRATION: CATHARINE BENNETT And I guess I see another kind of computer that's really your workhorse in a desktop computer that'll have a graphical user in- terface. That will be incredibly powerful, perhaps on the order of a Cray in terms of the power, and have a huge amount— giga- bytes— of disk storage. Obviously, in an office environment, it's going to be on the network. There will also be multimedia ca- pabilities integrated into that. BYTE: Let's discuss the subject of porta- bility. Do you think we'll have notebook computers or pocket computers? How do you think the size will evolve? Mitch Kapor: We're going to see the next generation in portability, things that are smaller than today's laptops: clipboard- size computers and shirt-pocket-size com- puters. The stylus-based interface is going to be very, very important for that class of devices because you can't have a keyboard, by definition. Paul Carroll: I think it will be much smaller than it is now, maybe on the order of just a few pounds. I also think that it'll be better in all the normal ways: It'll be small- er, it'll be many times as fast, it'll have much better resolution, it'll have color, you'll be able to use a stylus to have it rec- ognize your handwriting, do your data in- put that way if you like. I suspect that while these devices will be set up so I can pop one in my briefcase when I head on the road, there also will be a much larger screen on my desk to facilitate the handling of several tasks at once. Bob Frankston: I find even [notebook computers] large; you want to be able to view it on your wrist, the Dick Tracy-type model, except [that] the reason for it— it's not so it'll be fancy— is you don't need any hands to view something on your wrist. Gordon Bell: The computer will disappear by another 10 years in [its present form]. There will be zero-cost notebook-size com- puters with one chip in them that will have about 32 megabytes. So people will be car- rying around these sort of minicellular, really connected, computers that go into their own databases somewhere. Doug Engelbart (see page 236): Every- one's going to have a computer— carried around, or surgically implanted, or sitting on your hat or your spectacles or what— and they're all going to be connected into net- works just totally, [and] those networks will be wireless. Steve Leininger (see page 287): Well, to me, it would look an awful lot like one of these Day-Timer Seniors or day-runner se- niors, basically an 8 Vi by 1 1 notebook with a low resolution. One would be 1024 by 768 color LCD. I think this unit will also have like a cellular phone capability: You'll have the voice capability on it, but you'll also have facsimile, you'll have storage. If someone called you, instead of your beeper going off, it'll be your notebook that'll go off. They'll quit being so much like com- puters, I think. BYTE: This sounds more like a portable office than a portable computer. Do you really think cellular phones and faxes will enter the notebook arena? Dick Pick (seepage 325): I think you'll see something that's integrated with the fax and the cellular phone, all in one small, couple-of -pound package. The way they're going, you're going to be down to where it's going to be smaller than a notebook, and it's going to have a fax machine, and a cel- lular phone, and the whole thing is going to be wrapped up into one unit. You just pick it up and use it. Gordon Campbell: We probably will see things like cellular telephone migrate in, so that we can receive voice-mail and fax ca- pabilities in notebook-style computers as well. And I think people will rely upon the portable computer as a way to stay in touch. The flaw in the cellular phone is that it really doesn't effectively take voice-mail messages or faxes yet. I think that the note- book and cellular marriage will solve a lot of that problem. Steve Leininger: I think you are going to see a lot more of it having to do with your telephone. Perhaps you'll have a combina- tion telephone, facsimile, computer data- base. It'll sort of be your personal man- ager. And it'll definitely be small enough to carry around with you. Rod Canion (see page 230): In addition to [getting smaller and smaller], of course, you have all the other technologies like voice recognition and artificial intelli- gence, the evolution of cellular communi- cations. We will have resources that we can call upon at any time through natural voice communications, access to data around the world (perhaps around the solar system at that time). Bill Gates: That's a little radical. I don't continued H. John Caulfield is director of the Center for Applied Optics and research professor of both optical engineering and optical science at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. He is an au- thority on optical computing and holographic storage. M^B^tf £ak j **m *J I'lSi^ ^H^ 'jFyM 11*1 John Cocke is an IBM Fellow and a pioneer in the fields of computer architecture and optimiz- ing compilers. He was instrumental in the con- ception, design, and implementation of the first RISC computer and is responsible for such ar- chitectural innovations as "look-ahead" virtual memory and instruction pipelining. Cocke is a recipient of the A. M. Turing award from the ACM. H J CAULFIELDPHOTO: ROB NELSON SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 235 1 Esther Dyson is editor and publisher of Release 1. 0, a monthly newsletter for the personal computer industry, and president of EDventure Holdings, which also produces the Annual PC Forum. In October, EDventure will produce the inaugural East-West High-Tech Forum in Budapest, Hungary. Douglas Engelbart is the director of the Boot- strap Project at Stanford University. He devel- oped the NLS, one of the first microcomputers, in the 1 960s. He is also known for his pioneer- ing work in augmentation and in groupware. H I N think it's necessary. If you can connect up every few hours, that's good enough. The machine in the office will just have this op- tic fiber that will go off to the world net- work out there. It will directly connect to some kind of server and will have a lot of storage. Nicholas Negroponte (see page 304): There will be a family of physical products that will range from things the size of your wallet or a cellular telephone to real bona fide laptops to desktops. And they're going to start intercommunicating with each other in ways that are really very, very dif- ferent than what we currently do or have now. I think there will be much more inter- communication between desktop com- puter—microelectronics—and your inside pocket or your pocketbook or your wrist. Bob Frankston: We already have phones now that are ornery— I wouldn't quite call them intelligent but definitely ornery— but we'll be able to [link] into the telecom- munications, a combination of— simple ISDN— smarter systems. You'll be able to teach your phone how to find you, whether to find you, and [how to] handle things more intelligently. Doug Engelbart: Everybody remotely as- sociated with communicating with other people will have something to carry around with them. The size will be limited to what kind of display and input stuff that you want. Lee Felsenstein: One of the things that I'm looking toward, what we're developing here, will amount to a desk that you can hang on your belt. I look forward to that kind of product proliferating in various forms. I'm trying to make it an open archi- tecture design. John Markoff (see page 292): Right now most people have desktop computers as their principal computers, and they have a laptop as a secondary computer. And I think that all the innovation is going to be taking place in the smaller packages. We're all still trying to build a Dynabook basical- ly. This is Alan Kay's vision of the early 1970s, and we're going to get progressively closer to it. Alan Kay (see page 270): [There were] three physical forms we thought up for the Dynabook in 1968. One of them was the very slim notebook, weighing around 2 pounds or so. That's the thing that most people picture it as. And that's the one I made a cardboard model of. The second one was a head-mounted display; [we] thought it would be dandy for airplanes. And the third thing was [the] wristwatch idea, which is where networking gets really pervasive. Just as we would be surprised to walk into a room [today] without an elec- tric outlet, at some point in the future, we'll be surprised to walk into a room that doesn't have a transponder in it, a cellular transponder type of thing. Mitch Kapor: I think [the typical micro- computer is] going to look pretty much like the ones today, except that there are going to be new form factors like palmtop com- puters, desktop supercomputers, and there will be a lot more embedded microproces- sors in things. BYTE: That raises another point. Will the typical microcomputer be a box of any sort f or will it be hidden ? Nicholas Negroponte: First of all, they will be buried, for the most part, inside other things, so there won't be a typical microcomputer, as such. It'll be part of something else. Rich Malloy: Probably, we won't see it. It will be hidden someplace, either inside a monitor or inside some other device, maybe inside a keyboard. And it'll probably be hidden in a lot of objects. Practically every electrical object will have some kind of microprocessor controlling it, maybe even as small as inside a pen. Gary Kildall (seepage 282): Well, I think that a lot of the future we are going to see [with] microprocessors is probably pretty much the same way it started originally— that's oriented toward a lot of embedded microprocessors and devices that we use in everyday life. More functionality at a lower cost, in everything from communications to multimedia and in general. Jonathan Sachs (see page 336): As com- puters get cheaper and cheaper and more and more powerful, I think we're going to see more and more special-purpose sys- tems. We're going to see more and more computers incorporated into other products (either visibly or invisibly). It's already happening— computers have even been in- corporated in computers. I think we'll see a lot more very targeted hardware/software turnkey solutions. Seymour Papert: What 1 hope is that continued 236 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 1 [ m \ ~3Jfli ^ f ' ^ 1 JH , '^tf i H k 1 [ ■■bias; e£ • ■■■ A^a — -" — MM * *n < -s ] Proof. ■ c. *!«aH*HS»SI HSSl .--^■•-v^^^y-j PC Proof. The People's Choice for Better Writing. At Last. Perfect Proposals, Professional Letters and prizewinning Presentations. Grin the wicked grin of confidence. Get to the point. Organize. Never worry about mistakes in spelling or usage. PC Proof is fully interactive and easy to use. Corrections are made instantly and the original document is updated, with no separate printouts to review. Whether it's a business pro- posal, a letter or manual, a contract or a speech, PC Proof can help you refine your writing until it's letter perfect. PC Proof. PC Proof. Proofreading and text-revision software for IBM and compatibles by Lexpertise. Now for only $159.00 (sug- gested retail price). MacProof available for Apple Macintosh. For more information, contact your local dealer or call toll free 1-800-354-5656. PC Proof requires 640K RAM and runs on MS-DOS or PC-DOS version 2.1 or higher. PC Proof is format-compatible with Micro- soft Word 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 and WordPerfect 4.2, 5.0 and 5.1. It is text-compatible with all ASCII files. Call Lexpertise for further information on product compatibility at 1-800-354-5656. Circle 499 on Reader Service Card YOUR ENGLISH PROOFREADER BY H I N sometime, maybe 15 or 20 years— maybe 10 or 15 years is too soon— sometime we won't even talk about the computer. It will dissolve away into the environment or world we live in. Tony Hoare: There will be no such thing as a typical microcomputer, and for certain embedded applications, microcomputers will become more and more application- oriented and specialized. For general ap- plications, they will surely come to look like and play the role of minicomputers, mainframes, and even supercomputers. The most numerous, of course, will be the application-oriented embedded systems. BYTE: And what do you think the typical microcomputer will be able to do in 10 or 15 years? Some of the mostedi^tening articles ina magazine never mate it to the table of contents; Open to the table of contents in any publication and you can find some insightful stories.You'll also find some missing. Because the advertising isn't there. Advertising is important. It's informative. It lets you know your options. And helps you to make decisions. Like which car to buy. Which airline to fly. And what to serve for dinner. So, next time you open a maga- zine, read it. From cover to cover. Because what's on the back cover, may be just as important as what's on the front. ADVERTISING. Without it you wouldn't know. AAF AMERICAN ADVERTISING FEDERATION t this point in time the microcomputer is becoming a mainframe. -Bob Noyce Jim Blinn (see page 229): Well, I don't think computers have done anything new for the last 20 years. They've just done the same sorts of things, only cheaper and faster. I'm not sure of that. Maybe the mul- timedia craze with CD players and whatnot will do something substantially different. But in some sense, that's always been do- able. It just hasn't been doable on a wide- spread cheap range. Charles Simonyi: The differences will probably be in a better use of multimedia on the machine— in CD-ROM and other opti- cal memories providing sufficient storage and then having very efficient standard al- gorithms to encode audio and video infor- mation. The other capability I think will be important [is] stylus control, initially de- veloped for handwriting input, [but giving] rise to an even more efficient shorthand way of communicating with the computer. Brit Hume: It's easy to [see] a small kernel running in memory that would be able to conduct searches of CD-ROM databases that contain encyclopedias and, of course, the things we already have, dictionaries and thesauruses and so on, dictionaries of quotations. Paul Carroll: It seems to me that video text will take off in some form and at the least will mean that people more and more will rely on electronic media to get the breaking news. Many, many more databases will be- come accessible to people, and you'll get all kinds of encyclopedias on-line. You'll get far more types of publications on-line. Danny Hillis: I think [the] emphasis will be on the human interaction part and on talking to the network, so that it becomes your interface— the network. But an awful lot of the real data and the real computing will, in fact, be done remotely when you have big problems. continued 238 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Discover Parallel Processin Milium ■ Number Smasher* 860 Quadputer The Mieroway Quadputer is the world's most pop- ular PC Transputer develop- ment environment, it can be Durchased with two to four -ansputers and one to four megabytes of RAM per proces- sor. The Quadputer runs all the popular Transputer .'.-development software, all of which is available from Mieroway. It is compatible with our Monoputer™ which provides 1to16 megabytes of RAM and a single 7B00, our Videoputer™ which comes in VGA and higher resolution versions and is pow- ered by a memory mapped pair (7B00 and 34010), and our Linkputer™ whose cross bar switching network can dynamically link up to 32 Transputers. Finally, ail Mieroway Transputer products can be used with our Number Smasher- 860 to provide out-of-this-world numeric performance! For more information, please call 508-746-7341. Micr The highest performance copro-* cessor card to ever run ift a PC, Number Smasher : 860 delivers up to 80 million single precision floating point. operatidns « per second at 40 MHz and produces over 10 Linkpack m^ga- r flops. The board comes standard with an ISA inter-* face, two Transputer Link Adaptors that allow it to interface with a Mieroway Quadputer or Videoputer, your choice of our NDP Fortran, C or Pascal for the 80860, plus 8 megabytes of high speed memory. NDP Fortran-86Q Mieroway NDP 860 Compilers make it easy to recompile your favorite mainframe, 80386 or PC applicatbn for the 80860. The resulting code runs on our XTEND-860™ environment under DOS, UNIX or XENIX. TFTf^lF The World Leader in PC Numerics Corporate Headquarters, Research Park, Box 79, Kingston, MA 02364 TEL 508-746-7341 • FAX 508-746-4678 U.K. - 32 High St., Kingston-Upon-Thames, 081-541-5466 • Italy 02-74.90.749 Hoffand 40 836455 • Germany 069-75-2023 • Japan 81 3 222 0544 / NDP Fortran-860* MlCtO I may Micro May H I N Stewart Alsop: [We need] new network operating systems. I think the ones we've got are wrong. [They] don't optimize hu- man interaction in a workgroup; instead they're optimizing the computer-to-com- puter [interaction] . And we're going to get something of a revolution from users in that respect. They're going to rebel. I can't find any other solution to the problem. Lee Felsenstein: Well, the most signifi- cant thing [the microcomputer] will be able to do is communicate with others of its kind and over a broad range. John Warnock (see page 354): I think technology has a tendency to be exponen- tial in its growth rather than linear, so I would see computers used primarily as very, very effective communication tools- aids for helping people communicate. Bill Gates: On that screen, based on how you've customized it, will be the schedul- ing, sales, budget, project, news— the in- formation that would interest you. As you click in on that information, it will show you more detail, what's going on. You can combine that information in new ways and communicate with people. It will be your fundamental tool for knowing what's hap- pening. Paul Carroll: It'll also be connected much better to lots of other things, to your tele- phone, to a laser printer. A laser printer will become a copier, which will become a scanner, which will become a fax. All those distinctions will disappear, and there will be local connections between my PC and a device like that either on my desk or not very far away from me. Lee Felsenstein: What I expect is that vari- ous types of desk work will be made avail- able to the user without requiring that the user be at a desk. People who have func- tions that take them into the actual opera- tions of the enterprise will now be able to handle portions of the desk work. And the separation between paperwork and "real work" will blur and begin to diminish. Mitch Kapor: When you can start carry- ing around a computing environment with you everywhere you go, it will let people stay in constant contact. I think that in that context, the digital cellular developments in the mid-nineties will be very important, because you'll be able to have a reliable, wireless data link from a remote device to anywhere else. These will not only be "go everywhere" devices, but they'll be "al- ways in contact" devices. BYTE: It certainly sounds like tomorrow 's machines are going to be fantastic. Rod Canion: I think if you extrapolate some of the technical trends, what you'll see is incredible computing performance, storage capacity, and all the resources we need in a very, very small package: the wrist watch supercomputer. I always think that you can only talk about the next five years. If you're going to go out 10 to 15 years, you really have to go beyond just about the most incredible science fiction that you've ever imagined to see what we're really going to be doing with microcom- puters. ■ Attention U.S. BYTE Subscribers Watch for the next BYTE DECK mailing that will be arriving in your mailbox soon! Use this as a fast, convenient tool to purchase computer products and services. It's loaded with essential hardware and software products that you should be aware of when making your buying decisions. . .and it's absolutely FREE! If you have a computer product or service, and would like to reach 275,000 influential BYTE magazine subscribers, please give Ed Ware a call today at (603) 924-2596. BVTE Here's what a BYTE Deck advertiser has to say: "Galacticomm does a lot of card-deck advertising, and the BYTE Deck has consistently out-pulled every other deck we have ever used. ' ' Timothy Stryker, Galacticomm, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, FL 240 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 349 on Reader Service Card You'll be what's behind the ::\^" price/ Quality design, better performance. highest value... BM $ 8500 Once again, numbers tell the story. At $4,995, CompuAdd's system is 41% less than IBM's. And 50% less than Compaq's. How do we do it? We de- sign and manufacture every CompuAdd system from the ground up and deliver the quality and savings directly to you. Through corporate sales, in 89 CompuAdd Superstores nationwide and through our catalogs. Then we back all our hardware and accessories with a 30-Day No- Questions-Asked Guarantee, a full year's warranty, toll-free technical support, an onsite service option and complete in- store sendee facilities. Compaq 10,040 CompuAdd $ 4995 So what else could be behind the CompuAdd name? The most powerful chip on the market. Surprise! We've been comparing the competition's 386-based machines to the state-of- the-ait CompuAdd 425. Based on the revolutionary Intel 486 microprocessor — the "mainframe on a chip" — the CompuAdd 425 provides astonishing performance at less than half the cost of these 386s. And the value doesn't end there. You can continue to run all your old DOS programs and favorite 286/386 applications without modification. So why buy 386 obsolescence? The CompuAdd 425 will be the technology for years to come. So what's behind the CompuAdd name? High-quality components, superior performance, affordability and leading-edge technology. And what's in front of the CompuAdd name? A lot of smiling faces. : i >s d Is it the motherboard? performance? Look inside an IBM® PS/2 Model 70-386, a Compaq® Model 84-386 and a CompuAdd® system. See any visible differences? All three companies design and manufacture their own mother- boards. They all use an Intel microprocessor and offer a number of available expansion slots (three on the IBM, six on the Compaq and five on the CompuAdd). Each motherboard uses advanced surface-mount technology and top-quality components. Each manufacturer offers a choice of memory configurations, internal storage devices and a host of other options to create a flexible computing environment. And all three support DOS applications and VGA graphics modes. IBM Compaq CompuAdd ggl PageMaker® Magellan® ■ AutoCAD® We ran head-to-head bench- mark tests' on these systems under three CPU-intensive applications: PageMaker, Magellan/1-2-3 and AutoCAD. While the results were no surprise to us, they might surprise you. Under PageMaker, CompuAdd performed 43% faster than IBM and 7% faster than Compaq. Running Magellan/ 1-2-3, CompuAdd was 46% faster than IBM and 26% faster than Compaq. And under power-hungry AutoCAD, CompuAdd outran IBM by 42% and edged Compaq by 8%. ("Completion time in seconds) npuAdd 425 is FCC Chiss A Appi CompuAdd 316sl \ The CompuAdd 316SL packs the omputing power of the 386SX into a convenient laptop at a price far below competitive models. The 316SL gives you flexibility to run your favorite 286 application or new 386 multitasking programs. 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H 1MB DRAJV1 expandable to 3MB on motherboard M Compatible with MS-DOS, OS/2, SCO XENIX and Novell H High-resolution, monographics VGA display H 20MB hard disk drive with 23ms access time Compact dimensions of 8.5" x 11" x 1.4" M MS-DOS 4.01, LapLink 11 in ROM H 79-key keyboard, 101-key emulation S System price: $2895 (62280) 800-288-4445 Key Code 1 lours: Monday - Friday 7:00am t< checks and personal checks (please allow len days for processing). lal purchase orders (minimum initial purchase SSO0, thereafter $50), We accept MasterCard, VISA, money orders. COD. s (550 minimum order), company and it and wire, transfers. Please add 2% to all purchases for shipping and handling (minimum S3, shipping outside the continental t'nitc-d States will increase cost). Add lor shipping and handling to APO l : PO addresses (minimum 510) AX. CO. C !', DC, IT. GA, II. , l\\ KS. I.A, MA. MD. Ml.AIN. MO, NC, NI\, X.I.N.M, NY, Oil, OK. I'A. RI. SC, TN. TX. LT, VA. and Wl residents, please add appropriate local sales tax. Thirty-day money-back guarantee does not include return freight or shipping and handling. Opened software, videotapes, and other consumables are nonrefundable. All return items must lie accompanied by a return merchandise authorization (RMA1 number. Prices and product descriptions are subject to change without noliee. CompuAdd is not liable for damage due to omissions or typographical errors. Call 800-666-1872 for a copy of CompuAdd. s complete warranty CompuAdd 425 System price: $4995 (66652) The technology of tomorrow is here! The CompuAdd 425 delivers 25MHz, i486 micro- processor computing to your desktop — power for the most demanding spreadsheet, data- base, network or CAD/ CAM applications. The CompuAdd 425 offers full MS-DOS, OS/2, SCO XENIX and Novell compatibility. Step up to the next generation of computing with the CompuAdd 425! ■ i486 microprocessor running at 25MHz ■ Standard 4MB DRAM expandable to 16MB W ROM shadowing for increased system speed 11 Diskette controller and hard drive interface on motherboard M Three full-sized and two half-sized expansion slots M One 5.25" and two 3.5" half -height drive bays M CompuAdd MS-DOS 4.01 and DOS Help! utility H Windows 3.0 software M 5.25" 1.2MB or 3.5" 1.44MB high-density diskette drive M Color VGA monitor and 16-bit video graphics adapter M 80MB hard drive with free PC-Fullbak backup utility software H CompuAdd serial mouse M FREE one-year onsite service CompuAdd 425 Enhanced Configuration H Super high-resolution (1024x768) color VGA monitor M CompuAdd 16-bit Hi-Rez VGA card H 110MB hard drive M Enhanced system price: $5595 (66654) Think Technology, Think CompuAdd, Compufldd Customer driven, by design?' 1 2303 Technology, Austin, Texas 7 Tax: 512-335-6236 Telex: 763543 COMPUADD AUS Technical Support: 800-999-9901 Outside US: 512-258-5575 Canada: 800-837-3266 THE BYT E S U MiM I T Alan Kay: On the Next Revolution X think of the computer as being an event like the invention of writing, long, long ago. Some of the significant things that happened in the history of writing are similar to some of the significant things that have happened in the last 40 years [with computers]. We're sort of compressing 40,000 years into 40 here. I think the first revolution in writing was getting it off the wall and into books. The first revolution in comput- ing was getting out of batch processing and into timesharing. So, you have a nice analogy there. If you look at the pictures of the old libraries, they didn't have shelves because the big town li- brary would only have maybe 25 books or so, and each one would have its own table. It looked a lot like a timesharing bull pen to me. So, I think of this first phase— this first computer revolution— as being institutional timesharing, where the institution still has to own all the equipment, and you have to inter- cede with them in order to get access, and so forth. The second revolution in printing- Gutenberg— made books that were pos- sible for an individual to own, but [that] imitated the old manuscript, like a per- sonal computer today looks like an old timesharing terminal. As McLuhan pointed out, every time you create a new medium, it takes its initial content from the old. So you have these lags. The ini- tial content on the microcomputer was the same content as the timesharing. MS-DOS is really an extension of the timesharing wave. To me, the second computer revolu- tion is not just the computer on the desk- top, but the Macintosh/Xerox PARC way of doing [the] user interface. And there, the big transition was in going from a user interface (in the time- sharing system and on the MS-DOS ma- chines) that is mainly thought of as ac- cess to function. What the Mac did was to redefine the relationship of the user in a couple of important ways. One is [that] instead of its main job being access to function, the main job of the Mac is to be a learn- ing environment. Its main job is aware- ness, not access, not control. So, the idea is, whatever task you have, you should learn about 70 percent of all there is to know by being driven by any particular task, and you can transfer [that knowledge] from application to application. And that works out well enough to constitute a revolution such that even IBM is interested in doing it. The third revolution that is going to come is one that is driven by network- ing—it's a pervasive technology— and I call [it] the intimate revolution. Tools and Agents Another way to think about the Mac [interface] is that it is tool-based. At PARC, we had an impulse to try and bring the computer into human scale. Anything that is larger than human scale— it could be a sports figure— we treat religiously. It's not even a joke. It's actually the way our nervous system works. So, one of the first things you have to do is to bring things into human scale, and the two human-level ways we have [had] of extending ourselves over the last several hundred thousand years is by tools— both physical and mental tools— and by agenting. Agenting is where you get somebody else to do your goals for you. I've heard pointed out that for most of human history, most machines that humans have constructed have had other humans as moving parts. So we build society and so forth. We build these organizations that have fewer goals than the number of parts in them. And we are a species that is interested in getting our goals cloned, and we are also willing to have goals cloned into us. If we weren't, we'd be bumblebees. So, the two ways of getting something into human scale are by making it into something like a tool or making it into something like an agent. The thing we decided to do at PARC was to make the machine be like a tool. That's where all the icons [came from]. So, a tool is something that you look at and manipu- late. Manipulation is a very important part. An agent is something that looks at you, [something] you manage. The belief that some of us have is that this third computer revolution, the way I think of it, is driven by networking. Computers without on/off switches: Like a wristwatch, they '11 be too useful. You won't want to turn them [off] be- cause you'll be using them for such triv- ial things, as well as important things, that you won't want to wait for them to fire up, and stuff like that. The user in- terface, unlike the Mac, will be not tool-based, but agent-based. And the thing that is going to drive the interface to be agent-based is [this] problem: In 10 years, we will be hooked up to more than a trillion objects of use- ful knowledge, and no direct manipula- tion interface can handle that. People are not going to sit down with a super SQL application and start fishing around the entire world for things that might be of use to them. Instead, [the interfaces] are going to be 24-hour re- trievers that are constantly firing away doing things. At some level, as you want [agents] to take on more and more complex goals, you'll want them to be more and more in our context, more and more flexible, more and more intelligent. But just the ability to be able to defer things like ac- cess goals [is significant]— like an agent that would tell you if amongst your 100 pending E-mail [messages], that there is one that is really important, [that would] notice words like "meeting" and "canceled." Editor's note: See biography, page 270. \ SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 241 nnovating is easy: You just rub smart people and money together. -Alan Kay THE BYTE SUMMIT U N I If you were going to start a new company now, what market area would you aim at? Lee Felsen stein: First of all, I would ad- vise anybody, find out what everyone says won't sell and do that. Because the primary feature that I have discovered in terms of the marketing product-development func- tion is basically a hysterical aversion to in- novation and a desire to play it safe by de- signing or creating that which has already been created. When you get into produc- tion, that's another matter. As Ted Nelson has so aptly said, everyone wants to be sec- ond. So, that's my major tip. Do what everybody else won't do, especially when there is no good reason. John Caulfield: (see biography, page 235): I would aim at niches first of all. I am not ashamed of that word. I think all com- puters are now a niche technology. The time of the general-purpose computer that IBM had is gone. Microcomputers de- stroyed it. Basically, your miniprocessors did. There's a supercomputer niche, innu- merable microcomputer niches; there are multiprocessor niches. Ken Olsen: You have to adjust to the world . And if you are starting a company, you al- ways have to be reminded that there are some things a small company can do better, and there are some things only a big com- pany can do. And a big company that's go- ing to go out and compete with a small company on things that [the small com- pany] can do better always loses. When it comes to specialized applications, they are done by a small company that is expert in something. And a big company cannot be that expert in everything. Dick Pick: It may not be the most glamor- ous, but the people that are going to be suc- cessful in computing, and make livings off of computing, are people that are going to identify [a vertical market] and know more about that field than the people out there, and [who] can take it to the [emergence] of the computing technology, the data man- agement technology, the communications, the various stuff, and be able to provide solutions. BYTE: But what specific areas do you think will be big winners? Bill Gates: There are opportunities in mul- timedia [and] artificial intelligence. I wouldn't start one to do another word pro- cessor—that's a tough business to try to enter into. I still wouldn't do a hardware company, but that's probably just my match of skills. There's a lot in software, and hopefully people will take us established guys and, to some degree, blow us away. Jerry Pournelle: That's no secret, I've said it many times— multimedia. Gates is absolutely right. Gordon Campbell: Multimedia. While I think we're probably still a number of years away from its becoming a reality, I think as we can migrate real-time video into the PC, we have a tremendous tool for education. People have adjusted pretty effectively to television over the last 20 to 30 years. I think the migration of real-time video into PCs is going to be a real godsend. Alan Kay: This is the biggest trap in multi- media. Most people think that by taking something and making images out of it, you can bypass what people aren't getting from books. But that's, in fact, not true. Images beg to be recognized, and words beg to be understood. Paul Carroll: I don't see multimedia as a market, but I do see it as a very important technology that will facilitate more work in desktop presentations and corporate train- ing, [and] better teaching in universities, high schools, and grade schools. Gordon Campbell: I'd like to see the mul- timedia time frame moved out, and the pri- mary reason for that is that I think it will ultimately be by far the most effective edu- cational vehicle that we can have. If there is a vehicle that would allow us to effectively combine with [TV]— a lot of what kids like to do is just watch TV— and make it a strong educational tool, I think it would help the U.S. quite a lot. Jim Blinn: What I think would be interest- ing to do is maybe something to do with multimedia, or something to do with video production. I do that [now] because I'm in- terested in it, and doing it as a company might be only slightly different from what I'm doing now— produce videotape, pro- 242 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 ILLUSTRATION: CATHARINE BENNETT duce educational videotapes for the high school mathematics-level education. Stewart Alsop: I believe in the area of mul- timedia, and a number of component tech- nologies need to happen. I think video compression is a really important technol- ogy. I think that every computer needs to have compression built into it. I believe in multimedia enough that I think every com- puter should come equipped with both a camera and a microphone. Jonathan Sachs: Well, I guess I see [multi- media] as the next fad. I'm not sure I feel it's the next serious thing. I'm not even sure I know what it means. To the extent that it means being able to make up audiovisual slide shows that are interactive and things like that, yes, there's a market for it, but it's a fairly narrow thing. I think it's something that's invented by Apple after they've sort of conquered the desktop publishing mar- ket to say, OK, here is the next great thing that we're going to conquer. Ted Nelson (see page 304): Well, desktop movie-making is going to be awfully big. And the RenderMan standard, this is al- ready beginning on the Amiga. My under- standing is, for example, that Disney Pro- ductions now models on the Amiga and renders on bigger machines, so that the same capabilities that Hollywood's most sophisticated production organizations have [are] now coming into the hands of the peo- ple. And that will be the democratization of visualization. This is a great step forward. Terry Winograd: Multimedia is finally going to come into its place. It will become much more a central part of computers. Charles Simonyi: It is no longer program- mers making doodles on pieces of paper. It is almost an issue of individual arts to ex- ploit the multimedia capabilities. John Markoff: I'm intrigued by multime- dia, although I think it's probably a decade [away from being] mainstream. The tools are just nowhere near good enough to per- mit people to use them as easily as they use tools like word processors. They just have to put a lot more power and control into that class of tool. Gordon Campbell: I think in addition to that, we are going to need to have, from a software perspective, some efficient ways to manage the databases that become avail- able as we can actually migrate video and vast— and when I say vast, I'm talking about more than just encyclopedias and dic- tionaries— [amounts of information] into the CD-realm form factor. Stewart Alsop: Multimedia literature. What I mean is notjust programming, but a combination of programming and editorial development to create products that engage the intellectual and emotional capacities that we have as human beings, but they'll run on computers. People in the computer business think of data as data. It's this life- less thing that you cram onto a CD-ROM and sell to people for $1000. But there's something else you do to the data, called editing, [that] creates an experience for the customer. And it's that experience that you're selling. That's different [from] data. Nicholas Negroponte: Now, on the same list of things that are going to be big wins is flat-panel display technology. Over the next 10 years, that will be a very, very sub- stantial field. The CRT, in spite of what people think, has locked us into a definition of what resolution should be. I think this will change very substantially. BYTE: What opportunities does anyone else foresee in the area of display tech- nology? Steve Leininger: Color, flat-panel dis- plays—portable, high-resolution, high-in- formation-content displays. Charles Simonyi: Displays will have better resolution; they will be perfectly flat. Michael Slater: Display resolution, I think, will go up. Today, everyone is used to 640 by 480 in the PC world, and roughly 1280 by 1000 or 1000 by 800 in the work- station world. I think you'll see the PC world moving up to the workstation-level resolution. Gordon Bell: We'll all be sitting with big screens, big color screens. I don't know whether it's as big as a 45-inch screen or not, but that will be the interaction mode. Bill Gates: The ability to get a very large screen and see a lot of information on it- people underestimate the impact of that. We will be flat-panel by then, and a lot of people will have their entire desktop or white-board-type areas be computer dis- plays. Michael Slater: I think all the flat-paneled display technologies are important. The continued ■ m/ "" ^I§1 Wk : mm 1 ■& David C. Evans is cofounder, chairman, presi- dent, and CEO of Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. His major contributions in computers have been in interactive computing, graphics, and CAD/CAM. Federico Faggln is cofounder and president of Synaptics, inc. , which is dedicated to the cre- ation of hardware for neural networks and other machine intelligence applications. He con- ceived, designed, or codesigned many of the earliest microprocessors, including the 8008 and 8080 for Intel, and the Z80 for Zilog, a com- pany that he cofounded. SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 243 Death Taxes Software Piracy We can save you from one of them. Sorry. Death we can't do anything about. As for taxes, when you use our product you'll probably wind up paying more. But software piracy: there we offer some help. Our family of software protection devices (dongles) have improved unit sales for over 2,000 companies around the world. Our products can be used in the MS-DOS, OS/2 and Macintosh environments. Build Your Own Custom Protection Environment Use our patented "dual- locking" ASIC chip as the basic building platform. Next, add options like: on- the-f ly read/write memory, write-once or multiple-write locking codes, and encryp- tion shells. Then add your Software USA 1011 High Ridge Road Stamford, CT 06905 1-800 333-0407 ext. 101 203 329-8870 Fax 203 329-7428 BBS 203 329-7263 Apple Link D2379 own programming creativity to build a protection envi- ronment best suited to your product. Users attach the device to their parallel port, and programs won't run without it. Back-up copies, hard disk and LAN operation are not interfered with. Your Intellectual Property Belongs To You And if you don't protect it, who will? Our products offer the most equitable way to protect your interests with- out sacrificing the rights of Security your customers. Call us today for information and demonstration units. Europe Ltd. Selborne House Old Avenue Weybridge, Surrey UK,KT13 0PQ 44-932-821-230 Fax 44-932-246-268 UK Ltd. 21 A The Precinct High Street Egham, Surrey UK/TWO20 9-HE 44-784-430-060 Fax 784-430-050 Macintosh is a trade mark oV Apple Computer Inc., Activator, Maclivator are trade marks of Software Security, Inc. illustration: detail from Michelangelo's Last Judgement Circle 534 on Reader Service Card U N I active-matrix LCD technology that is now in the early stages of being a commercial technology has a reasonable chance to be- come a dominant technology for computer displays. Lee Felsenstein: "Thick-film," active- matrix liquid-crystal displays. It's using a different technology; it's using cadmium sulfide and cadmium cyanide, which engi- neers will recognize as being common ma- terials in photocells and stuff like that. [The interesting thing is] that if two people had walked down the hall at Bell Labs in 1947, we would not be using silicon for transistors. We'd be using these materials, because there was development going on in cadmium sulfide and [cadmium] cyanide in one office, and in the other office, they were doing the point-contact transistor. David Evans: Everybody would like a high-resolution, flat-display device, bright enough and rich enough and cheap enough. We limit ourselves to seeing very crude representations of things. That's one do- main where I think we know that there's a real need for something better. I think that HD television will probably produce the technology that we'll enjoy, for example. John Markoff: The most important step is going to be in display technology, I think, in a lot of ways. HDTV, there's the real question: There's this collision coming be- tween the television makers and the com- puter makers, and I'm not sure who's going to come out alive, but I think [it] will be who innovates best. Seymour Papert: We need to break down the barriers between television and the computer. You know, when we started out, we used to use the television as a monitor, and I think we'll go back to this, in a sense. I have an idea that eventually the computer will be more flexible. I would like to see a "softer" computer that doesn't respond in such a "hard-edged" way. I'd like com- puters to have more common sense. I don't know which technologies will dominate, but the solution will be related to under- standing—how to think about thinking. We'll do it by understanding people better [instead of] by using new technology— it's a product of ideas rather than technology. John Warnock: I would like to see the standards in television increase. The tech- nology that I would like to see in place to enable everything in the future is the high- er-bandwidth communication, because that's starting to become a limiting factor. BYTE: Communications and its many re- lated fields have been pretty active in the recent past. Do you think there are oppor- tunities in these areas in the future? Jonathan Titus: I think there's a lot to be done in terms of communications software. And it just seems to me that that would be the place that I would look. That market seems to be pretty well fragmented be- tween people [who] are offering bits and pieces of the solution but nothing really that ties everything together. Bob Noyce: Well, I think [the key is] dis- tributed memory— shared memory. I think continued SAVE 30 MINUTES EVERY TIME YOU HAVE A PC PROBLEM! By using Check^lt®to find out if the problem is Hardware or Software The second you suspect a problem with your PC, you should reach for Checki/lt, the world's most popular PC diagnostic software. Running Check^t should be the first thing you do -- because confirming or eliminating your PC's hardware as the source of the problem can save you time, money, and unnecessary repair calls. 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(714) 969-7746 or (800) 531-0450 Touchstone Software Corporation 2130 Main Street, Suite 250, Huntington Beach, CA 92648 Checks It is a registered trademark of TouchStone Software Corporation Copyright ■ 1990 Touchstone Software Corporation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NEW "Basic PC Maintenance" Hands-On Video Ask for it Call me Vm interested: circle 543 Send literature: circle 544 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 245 Lee Felsensteln is president and chief engineer for Golemics, Inc. , a microcomputer hardware R&D company. He designed the first video dis- play adapter for the S-1 00 bus as well as the Osborne-1 , the first portable computer. Robert Franktton is coinventor of the first elec- tronic spreadsheet, VisiCalc. He is currently employed by Lotus Development Corp. it's breaking down the problems and par- celing them out like you do in a company. Maybe we may organize our computing as we do a company— with managers, etc., and a hierarchy. We don't know how to manage distributed processing. Niklaus Wirth: I have no intention to start a company, but the interesting, the chal- lenging field is that of distributed systems and parallel processing. That is what will be a likely field; whether it is commercially that viable, I don't know. But it's certainly, from the conceptual point of view, the chal- lenge. Jim Manzi: Also, distributed computing applications. Distributed applications that make network usage as integrated as desk- top usage will be in the next year or two. Running an object-oriented network oper- ating environment, a graphical environ- ment, across a network where a user can ac- cess anything, and do anything right from his or her desktop with the least amount of pain and frustration. Bill Stallings: I think you'll go more to distributed processing as the applications get solidified. That's a big area of work in ISO— developing distributed applications with recovery and things like distributed transaction processing. I think a lot of that will be distributed. Bill Joy: I think the exciting area in the nineties is going to be writing, developing interesting systems, distributed systems, to automate and to make more productive groups of people. And I think getting in- volved with writing end-user applications and developing those kinds of systems would be very exciting. Terry Winograd: I guess it would be sys- tems for design of integrated work settings, something with user customizability, group customizability. People are beginning to use computers much more that way. Doug Engelbart: I think the big market opening is in groupware— it hasn't even be- gun to be really tapped. That's what's really going to cause so much new align- ment in markets and products in order for things to work inside organizations, be- tween people. That's the big challenge. Stewart Alsop: I also believe in groupware very strongly. I hate the term groupware, because it suggests all kinds of Al-type stuff. I prefer to call it network appli- cations. Terry Winograd: Networking is impor- tant, and anything having to do with net- working has to come. Michael Slater: I think bringing network- ing into something that companies can do without having to go through a great deal of pain, and having to have somebody devoted to maintaining the network, is a real impor- tant growth area. Stewart Alsop: [The appropriate network model] includes the notion of ad hoc use of network resources instead of this tightly controlled centralized use of network re- sources. There's a very PC-like future for network computing, which is that you can install your own applications, that you can mix and match on the network, and share stuff without having to get official ap- proval. John Warnock: Standards in the commu- nications business are extremely impor- tant. People say that standards stifle inno- vation, and in communications that's not true. Standards enable communications. Terry Winograd: If I were to define some- thing in the hardware line, I guess it would be in portable computing and networking. Andy Bechtolsheim: I think you're going to get 486s in laptops probably this year or next year— and there's going to be very lit- tle difference between laptops and desktop machines in the near future. Brit Hume: If I were going to start a com- pany, I would try to develop some applica- tions for laptop computers. My idea would be that I would try to reverse the process in terms of the growth of programs' current size. For example, I would see a real mar- ket for a scaled-down version of a program like Procomm. And it is my view that you could get a program that would be about 80K. I think there's a market out there be- cause the laptop market is growing. Gordon Campbell: I think there will be a tremendous number of opportunities still in the PC arena as we migrate into these dif- ferent areas. So the communication aspect of portables, I think, will still be a strong market— one of the most difficult markets. Bob Frankston: What we're limited by is more the failure of imagination, people who don't understand why we need giga- bytes of communication capacity per person. continued 246 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 LaserShare®: The Choice Is Crystal Clear Backview of HP LaserJet Series Hi LaserShare is an expansion card that allows four users to connect to one laser printer, including the new HP Laser Jeff Series III. LaserShare simply plugs into the I/O slot of your laser printer, giving each computer access as if It were directly connected. Up To 4MB Buffer And More! All operations are transparent to the user, and with its large dynamically-allocated buffer (256K and 1MB, also available to 4MB!), LaserShare is equipped to handle the most complex printing jobs. LaserShare also has a variety of user-programmable features, such as serial port configuration, so it can accommodate your individual printer-sharing needs. LaserShare's baud rate can be con- figured to speeds to 19.2K bps. And, since several users have access to one laser printer, the peruser cost of your laser printer is dramatically reduced. There's no more wasting time waiting for print jobs. When it comes to laser printer sharing at a reasonable price, the choice is crystal clear — LASERSHARE! Call now for details! Crystal-Clear Solutions Locate your laser printer below, next to its solution: • HP LaserJet II, I ID, III, ( LaserShare 4A (4 parallel ports) Canon LPB8II, LPB8III, LaserShare 4C (4 serial ports) or Wang LDP8 ^LaserShare 4E (2 parallel, 2 serial ports) • Brother HL8e LaserShare 4CB (4 serial ports) Data Communicatons Products Division 200 N. 2nd St, P.O. Box 387, Bay St. Louis, MS 39520 USA Fax: 601-467-4551 PHONE: 601-467-8231 or toll-free 800-523-2702 Ail product or company names are trademarks of their respective holders. Circle 457 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 458) INTERNATIONAL DEALERS Australia Melbourne Melbourne Shuttle Goya Tech, Technologies, Ltd. Pty., Ltd. (03) 587 4920 (03) 747-8455 Benelux Belgium The Netherlands Multlway Data Multlway Data Belgium Netherlands 016-29 22 78 079-424 111 Denmark Trend Communications 53 65 23 45 Finland Genlne Oy Impdata (921)335700 France Paris Suresenes Komdex Gradco France International (1)42 94 99 69 (1)47 72 63 11 Germany Munich Dusseldorf AMS Computech Multlway Data GmbH Germany (089) 126806-0 0211-25 18 75 Italy Torino Milano BUM Italiana I.T.D. (011)771.00.10 (02) 749.0749 Norway A/S Kjell Baklce 47-6-832000 Singapore Mark Systems (Fi) Pte., Ltd. 65-2261877 Spain Vldmar Control (93) 2454803 Sweden Solna Sellentuno Microcom/Maldata Been Data (08) 7344100 08-626 92 26 Switzerland Sengstag Computers AG 0041.1.950.54.44 United Kingdom Leicester Buckinghamshire A-Llne Dataspeed Trend Dafallnk, Devices Ltd. 0533-778899 (06285) 30611 U N I Alan Kay: Communications services are what the nineties are all about. In the fu- ture, we don't want to think of [the com- puter] as what we think of it now. We have to think of it as something like clothing. We have to think of it as something like a com- munications device. That will tell us a lot more about what the thing should be, rather than thinking of it as something that is go- ing to do desktop publishing better. BYTE: Are there any other opportunities for new companies out there? Danny Hillis: I guess I think the big mar- ket need today is making computers sim- pler to use. And in reducing the complexity of interacting with [them] . Tony Hoare: I am quite convinced that the central question is how to make computers more usable, how to make their software more comprehensible, and how to avoid the dangers imposed by the complexities of standard software in the current gener- ation. Rod Canion: The ability to interact with the computer will get better and better be- cause of things like multimedia and artifi- cial intelligence that are all just right on the horizon here. Mitch Kapor: [One] of the most interest- ing things, for instance, is this whole area of virtual reality. The notion of creating an interactive 3-D computer graphics simula- tion of some environment, whether real or imaginary, that you participate in— not simply by looking at a screen and moving around a mouse, but by basically wearing some special clothing, some goggles, and a data glove. Rich Malloy: I think that the most inter- esting area right now is where you take in- put that has been very hard for a computer to recognize— for example, handwriting, voice recognition. What looks very inter- esting is neural-network technology and that kind of thing. I would look into that area, try to develop products that could allow us as humans to interact better and more efficiently with computers. Bill Joy: Figuring out new ways of interact- ing with the user. The really great applica- tions invent new metaphors in each applica- tion domain. That is going to be really exciting. Mitch Kapor: I think [desktop virtual re- ality] will give rise to new metaphors for computing— the cyberspace metaphor as opposed to the desktop metaphor. Bill Stallings: One area that strikes me is going more toward human-oriented inter- faces. For example, there's an area that's almost nonexistent now but is projected to grow very dramatically: hand-held, hand- written systems. Philippe Kahn: I'm sure that pen-based computing is important, because there is going to be a lot of [it] . Within three or four years, at least in a very commercial use, a lot of people will be using pen-based ma- chines to actually do a lot of things. Dick Shaffer: At the moment, I think sty- lus systems is a hot area. Somewhere in two to five years, I think that a major company will be started in that field. Commercialize what you can do in handwriting recognition today. Paul Carroll: I've also become intrigued by these handwriting-recognition systems. I don't think those will have much of an im- pact over the next few years, anyway, but I think that within three, four, five years, maybe a little bit longer, those will open up whole new markets. Bill Joy: The problem we really have is not printing, but handwriting input, voice in- put, and some of these things that require massive amounts of computation. I'm not sure even extrapolated parallel RISC ma- chines are going to have enough power to recognize most people's handwriting. Paul Carroll: If I could commercialize something on the drawing board, it would be the ability to interpret all kinds of writ- ing, not just block printing but cursive writ- ing and so forth. Bill Stallings: Handwritten input, voice input, human input as opposed to key- board/mouse input— -I think that's going to really broaden the base of where things are used. Ken Sakamura (seepage 336): Keyboards [are] already good enough for most Ameri- cans. Japanese people have no experience with keyboards, and in order to get good widespread use of computers, we need an input method that people feel comfortable with. So there's a tremendous incentive for Japanese companies to develop good hand- writing-recognition technology. Federico Faggin (see page 243): [If] you hat we're limited by is more the failure of imagination. —Bob Frankston have to read the unconstrained handwriting of a person writing about a subject that you don't even know about— there the informa- tion is mostly in the context, and so you get a lot of clues as to how to interpret hand- writing that way— that is an extremely com- plex task. There, neural networks will be very helpful. Jay Miner: Handwriting— I don't see that. I think voice is much more important. Nicholas Negroponte: I'd put speech I/O very much at the top of the list because I think that the primary means of communi- cation with computers in the next millen- nium will be speech. Jay Miner: Voice recognition is coming, I'm sure. It's not here yet. But as the chips get denser and more efficient and smaller and [more powerful], I think it will be coming on as a help for interfacing with computers. Voice recognition will be very handy. Steve Leininger: In the 15-year time frame, I think you'll have perfected speech input and output. I think a computer will become conversational. To be able to con- sult experts system-wide in a voice mode, we're probably talking about 15 years out. Wayne Ratliff: Someday, we're going to be able to talk to computers, and they are going to understand what we say. At least in some form or another, they are going to understand at least as well as a keyboard can understand what we're saying, and that is going to be a giant change in computers. Dick Pick: I think we'll have a talking typewriter, so that when you talk in contin- uous speech, you see your words on the screen. It's not going to be a generalized continued 248 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 386 and 486 Windows users: DOS lives. Despite what you may have read. Insufficient memory to run application; close one or more applications to increase available memory and try again. Windows 3.0 may have been a big Wien Windows 3.0 says there's not enough room to nm your step forward for some programs. DOS programs, it's just trying to tell you it needs QEMM 5.1 But it was a big step backward for TAr . , A/ t lltl . ,. t Windows. You get all the same benefits: up to 130K more memory to run the new generation of memory-hungry pro- grams; space for larger spreadsheets and database files. DOS. Suddenly, it was 1987 all over again. Not enough room for DOS programs to run because TSRs, utilities, drivers and buffers were taking up room your DOS programs need. QEMM 5.1 to the rescue Now, we've updated QEMM to provide additional memory for DOS programs within Windows 3.0. QEMM 5.1 works with the built-in capabilities of your 80386 or i486 processor to find and recover unused memory segments. As you can see in the chart, there are gaps in your PC's memory usage above 640K. QEMM 5.1 fills those gaps and provides more room for your DOS programs to run. And of course, QEMM 5.1 still works with DOS when you're not running 1024K 640K System ROM Network Adapter KOA or Vfi. 506K Available for Programs System ROM urn Before Unused memory is like hidden gold in your PC. QEMM finds it and makes it available. Introducing DESQview2.3and DESQview 386 2.3 for users of Windows 3.0 They said it couldn't be done, but DESQview 2.3 can run Windows 3.0 programs. Not just in Windows "Real mode" but in "Standard" mode. That means programs can be up to 16MB. And it can run DOS programs and DOS-extended programs i.e., 1-2-3 Release 3, side-by-side. DESQview 386 2.3 does all that and more. It lets you run 386 DOS extended programs like AutoCAD 386 and IBM Interleaf side-by-side. DOS, extended DOS; Windows- whatever standards you set, we will support. We're committed to helping you get the most out of your hardware and software today. And tomorrow. QEMM-386 System Requirements: 80386-based PCs and P5/2sand PCs with 80386 add-in boards. Operating system: PC DOS 2.0-4.0, MS DOS 2.0-3.3, Windows 30. Conventional memoiy iequiiement 1.5K. DESQview System Requirements: IBM Personal Computer and 100% compatibles (with 6086, 6088, 80286, or 80386 processors) with monochrome or color display; IBM Personal System/2 • Memory: 640K recommended; for DESQview itself 0- 145K • Expanded Memory (Optional): expanded memory boards compatible with the Intel AboveBoard; enhanced expanded memory boards compatible with the AS RAMpage; EMS 4.0 expanded memory boards '• Disk: two diskette drives or one diskette drive and a hard disk • Graphics Card (Optional): Hercules, IBM Color/G aphics (CGA). IBM Enhanced Graphics (EGA), IBM PS/2 Advanced Graphics (VGA) • Mouse (Optional): Mouse Systems, Microsoft and compatibles • Modem for AutoDialer (Optional): Haves or compatible • Operating System: PC- DOS 2.0-4.0; MS-DOS 2.0-3.3 • Software: Most PC-DOS and MS-DOS programs; programs specific to Microsoft Windows 1.03-2.1, GEM 1.1-3.0, IBM TopView 1.1 . Media; DESQview is available on either >V «" o r 3-7i" floppy diskette. Trademarks: Windows, MS-DOS: Microsoft Co poration; PS/2, Interle.if, TopView: IBM Corporation; 80386, i486, AboveBoard: Intel Corporation; 1-2-3: Lotus Development Corporation; AutoCAD 386: Autodesk, Inc; RAMpage: AST KestMrcn; Hercules; Mouse Systems; Hayes; GEM: Digital Research, Inc. Va q J I need increased DOS JL C 3 • productivity in Windows! Payment method □ Visa □ MasterCard Expiration / Card # I I I | I | I I I I I I I I Ot y Product E2 QEMM 386 5.1 DESQview 386 2.3 (includes QEMM) DESQview 2.3 SB Each S99.95 $219.95 $129.95 Name Address, City State Shipping & Handling $5 in USA/$10 outside USA California Residents add 6,75% Grand Total Please allow 3 weeks for delivery ThtaJs_ _Zip_ ©1990 Quarterdeck Office Systems Quarterdeck Office Systems, 150 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405 (213)392-9851 Fax:(213)399-3802 Circle 527 on Reader Service Card William H. Gates III is cofounder, chairman, and CEO of Microsoft Corp., the world's larg- est personal computer software company. While still an undergraduate, he and Paul Allen devel- oped a BASIC implementation for the MITS Altair and formed Microsoft. W. Daniel Hilda is cofounder of Thinking Ma- chines Corp., which produces the massively par- allel Connection Machine. His current research is on evolution and parallel learning algorithms. U N I algorithm that's going to do all speech. It's going to start out and gradually understand you, personally. You'll need a fair amount of processing power for that. Ed Your don (seepage 366): One of the big limitations up to this point was the number crunching required to process human speech. But if you have a machine that is 1000 times faster that sits on your desk, it may be possible. Dick Pick: I think for the first time, you really can justify some of the processing power in those machines. It's really kind of interesting, because in the last 20 years, you've gone from CPUs that were almost 100 percent utilized to CPUs that are al- most 100 percent unutilized. Dick Shaffer: I think there will be com- mercial possibilities in voice-recognition dictation systems. Gary Kildall: We've had trainable voice- recognition devices for a long time, but it seems we're getting better, and speech is getting better. Esther Dyson: In order to do [voice recog- nition] effectively, [you] would also need domain-specific natural-language under- standing. Dick Shaffer: I think there are application possibilities that depend on new areas of software, such as natural-language under- standing. A lot of what needs to be done— and what will be done with computer power over the next decade— will be applied to- ward getting the machine to know what it is we want done. Bob Noyce: Even with sophisticated com- puters, processors still can't do things that many two-year-olds can do— e.g., recog- nize Mama. I think there are a lot of oppor- tunities in [pattern recognition]. Wayne Ratlif f : Even long before that there are going to be other things; expert sys- tems, I think, are kind of fascinating. I really think there is a lot to be done there. Ken Sakamura: Clearly, intelligent ob- jects are going to be an important trend in the future, and I'd want my company to be in on that. Computers already exist in most of the electronic gadgets that we own— mi- crowave ovens, VCRs, watches. What's needed is a way to connect all these com- puters together. I think there's great poten- tial for applications that can allow data to would advise anybody, find out what everyone says won't sell and do that. -Lee Felsenstein be exchanged between a PC and a VCR, for example. Dick Shaffer: I think there are a lot of things that won't happen. I believe that computers will do many things that look in- telligent but that they will not "think," and I think that's good. I don't want a computer to think; I want a slave. I want a machine that does all of the boring, mindless things that I have no intention of doing. BYTE: Is there any final piece of advice you'd like to give to someone trying to start a new business today ? Lee Felsenstein: My advice to anybody who is going into business or starting a company is, stay away from venture capital as much as you can. Raid the cookie jar or whatever, then plan on a situation that is not necessarily high-growth at the outset. Do your work. Do it for important technical reasons, and understand what you are doing. Be able to explain what it is you're building, and make it something that ex- plains itself. Once you do that, you've got a chance of being able to secure the financing when it's necessary. David Evans: The way I work, I have to have this sort of a feeling of discovery. This is wonderful and new, and the world will be better or different if I do this. I think that I'll never wind up in a start-up where you've gotten to what it should be by some analysis process. If you look at NeXT, for example, in many ways that's as ordinary a computer as you can find. But there are people who are sure it's not, and [that] it's the key to the next generation for every- body. And I think you sort of have to have that kind of emotional commitment to make it go. ■ 250 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 New Turbo C++ Professional Be Objective Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is programming in the '90s. It's the next step after structured programming and is the best way to write applications. And Turbo C++ Professional is the first turbo-charged native code C++ compiler that brings Object-Oriented Programming to your PC. + ANSI C Turbo C++ Professional also compiles ANSI C code, so you can stay productive with C now, and move to C++ at your own pace. Environment ++ The best compiler deserves the best envi- ronment, and our new Programmer's Platform™ environment makes you more productive. It features overlapping win- dows and mouse support. And sports a new multi-file editor, an integrated debugger, and a smart project manager. Its advanced open architecture lets you integrate the tools you need to feel right at home. VROOMM adds room VROOMM™ (Virtual Runtime Object- Oriented Memory Manager) lets you break the 640K barrier. Just select the application code you want to overlay, and VROOMM does the rest-swapping modules on demand. It's fast, easy, automatic. Another + Turbo C++ Professional gives you all the tools you need to build fast, reliable C++ programs. Turbo Debugger® 2.0 debugs your object-oriented programs. This powerful new version is the first and only debugger to support reverse execution. Letting you step backwards through your code to find the bugs you might have missed. New Turbo Profiler,™ the world's first interactive profiler, displays histograms of your program's performance. With it, you THEF«TlUttOtH^CEDC++ ROM WE IEMW (NOSJECT-OWNHOHOGWMMNG I TURBO O FROfBSlONA! lOIUHt can easily spot execution bottlenecks, and see where improvements or redesign of your code will yield maximum performance gains. And Turbo Assembler® 2.0 lets you replace time-critical segments of your code using the world's fastest MASM-compatible assembler. 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So be objective, and SEE YOUR DEALER or call Borland at 1-800-331-0877 now! BORLAND Code: MC94 Mail orders to; Borland. P.O. Box 660001, Scotls valley, CA 95067-0001. For orders outside the U.S., call (408! 438-5300. Turbo C, VROOMM. Turbo Debugger, Turbo Profiler and Turbo Assembler are trademarks or registered trademarks ol Borland International. Inc. Copyright © 1990. Borland International. Inc. All rights reserved B1-1333B Circle 551 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 552) THE B Y T E S U M M I T Lee Felsenstein: On the De-Sovietization of the Software Industry W. hat I look for as one of the bene- fits, or one of the results, of developing a joint U.S. -Soviet personal computer industry is that we'll learn how to de- Sovietize our industry. Now I define Sovietization, or Soviet- ized, as [something] run for the benefit of management. And I think it's been very evident that there's been a process under way [that] results in incremental improvement in the product perfor- mance as it should matter to the custom- er, and really retrograde development in terms of the resources thai the product needs. It's as if the efficiency of the per- sonal computer continues to decline. This is called progress. Why, I do not know. I have an analysis of this. [I know this] astute programmer, and I asked him several years ago, "What is all this about 16-bit processors? Can they do anything that 8-bit processors cannot do?" (And, of course, being a hardware designer, I knew enough of the answer.) He said, "Well, now, it's true, they can't do anything really [that 8-bit pro- cessors can't], but they are better for using with high-level languages." (I think I'm missing a step here. It's like a little catechism.) [I then asked,] "What do high-level languages get you? Can you do anything with [high-level languages] that you can't do with lower-level languages?" He said, "No, except you can use cheap- er programmers." And so that has been the development of the software indus- try as I have observed it. The same programs, pretty much, [are] being written with ever higher and higher levels of language, being created with structures— industrial structures, in effect— of programmers, in which everyone is filling in boxes inside of boxes. And the people [who] should know what [the software is] doing, up at the top, play musical chairs. Nobody, therefore, knows what the product is supposed to be. Whatever comes out is years late, full of bugs, and the next new and improved version will fix some of the bugs. This is performance directly out of the manual for Soviet state industries. The last thing on the list is a product hat is efficient, a product that does things that no one has ever done before, and a product that is useful and usable by the users without requiring that they vastly increase their hardware. And I, as a hardware designer, am the continuing recipient of complaints, in the terms of, "Well, we must have more resources. We must go faster. We must have more memory." We see some sort of exponential curve developing now, which is going up, in terms of mega- bytes, in terms of what is the minimum memory you must have for an IBM system. So, every version of Windows that comes out jacks up the minimum floor in megabytes. And it's all rather ob- scene when you think about where it came from and what the concept was. I mean, somewhere, there is a microcom- puter there, but I wouldn't be able to tell you from all I hear. Megabytes and megabytes of memory, all kinds of caching and swapping and stuff. And there's nothing micro left about it, ex- cept possibly the physical size of the chips. Editor's note: See biography, page 246. 7 / / 252 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 15 YEARS WITH BYTE y^ m? V e at ^ •p.ea' Aet- ******** E A^°' l\s ^^>^ a So^ e «*t XW w* A* <** w _^e^ s \t\ ^xv e^",e^- ~ y^^s ** .* 0> .,^ v ^^o^ atvo **T^i* eCV 1 XiW tf^ a^ .te^^". v.eVp ,etv' .ot? ,^^r^-;;>^ V^ 1 t0 ~ te^ c S^V e , P ate tWe 1 ^^;w**T cXeC ^ ^^ , oa Ae* s ** N e X,e^"- ., ot de* at*** cts- ol ^ a iV° tc ,v*v \VvV o^ a*\< So \v^ to tfv^ a atvc* -£ J Circle 490 on Reader Service. We'll Build It ASSEMBLE YOUR OWN COMPUTER KIT! Building your own computer provides you with a better understanding of components and their functions Upgrading is a snap In-depth assembly instructions included Have your new computer assembled and running in three hours, using common tools Software included Purchase computer kits configured by Jameco or design your own Jameco 12MHz 80286 Desktop Computer Kit lnlcudes: • 80286 Motherboard with 512KB RAM (expandable to 4MB) • 101-key enhanced keyboard • Multi I/O Card • TEAG 1.2MB, 5.25" DSHD floppy disk drive • Baby AT flip-top metal case • 200 Watt power supply • DR DOS by Digital Research, Diagsoft's QAPlus diagnostic software and WordStar Easy word processor 11599.95 JE3008' Jameco 25MHz 80386 Vertical Computer Kit lnlcudes: 80386 Motherboard with 4MB RAM (expandable to 16MB) with cache 101-key enhanced keyboard Multi I/O Card Conner IDE 80MB 25ms hard disk drive Toshiba 1.44MB, 3.5" DSHD floppy disk drive TEAG 1.2MB, 5.25" DSHD floppy disk drive Vertical enclosure with 7 half -height drive bays 300 Watt power supply Concurrent DOS 386 $2949.95 JE3556 monitor extra > monitor extra UPGRADE YOUR COMPUTER! Today's new software requires power; you may be able to upgrade Gall us for information on upgrading your system today LOOK TO JAMECO . . . Inexpensive entry to computing Powerful office computer Upgrading your current system Let us show you what we have to offer; call or write for the latest Jameco Catalog! (415) 592-8097 JAMECO ^^ COMPUTER PRODUCTS 1355 Shoreway Rd., Belmont, CA 94002 Circle 491 on Reader Service Card Terms: Prices are subject to change without notice. Items subject to availability and prior sale. Complete list of terms/warranties is available upon request. All trade names are registered trademarks of their respective companies. if You Put it Together. □ H - a " ' J 1 M i I i I imtmimimii i i , 1 ..*■' * I i i i i i * ■ » . « * i * . . 1 1 bsolutelyl Intel will lose their monopoly over the 386 architecture. —Michael Slater THE BYTE SUMMIT NTICIPATED V A N C E S What technological advances will we see in the 1990s that result in improved computer systems? Jim Blinn: What really goes on is a very slow evolution. Things get a little bit better every month— no major breakthroughs, no stunning things— every month 1 .2 times as much storage as the last month, something like that. Nothing real radical. But if you stand back and look at that over five or 10 years, that's a big difference. It's kind of a slow evolution. Mitch Kapor: That continuing, underlying exponential increase in capability is really going to be the fundamental technology driver. John Cocke: I believe you [will be able to] build, more or less, any kind of machine you want in the next 10 years on a few chips. The density is going to be so fantas- tic that it will be hard to predict exactly what people will build. But they can build more or less what they want, and have [it] very fast. Bill Joy: We'll see 64-megabit RAMs, and we'll see flat-paneled high-res displays, and portable machines, and ISDN, and fiber-optic networks, and 32-bit secure op- erating systems, graphical prototyping software, the beginnings of voice input, and all sorts of things that people have talked about for so long. Those will all be available. Dick Shaffer: We should see, toward the end of this decade, tens of megabytes of main memory in desktop machines. It would be very easy, in my view, to have 16 MB in eight or nine chips by the end of the decade. Chuck Peddle (see biography, page 325): Memory technology continues to drive the processing capability we've got. Four-meg memory is an enormous scientific break- through. We're going to live with the pro- cess that makes that for a long time, and I think you're going to get some great prod- ucts out of it. Dick Shaffer: We will not get much beyond 32 address lines, because there's no need to address that much physical memory, and there's not time to do it. Do you know how large a number 2 64 is? It's 18V£ quintillion. The 32-bit microprocessor in the genera- tion that is with us now will be with us for at least a decade. It will be the longest-lived microprocessor generation ever. Bill Gates: The address base now is this 4- gigabyte, 32-bit address base, and it will be fairly late into the nineties before that starts to pain us. We'll probably skip from a 32- bit to a 64-bit address base. That will last us a long time. Even the 32-bit— the main- frames have gotten [by] with that for a long time. Gordon Campbell: I think you're going to see a pretty predictable progression of high- er-density DRAMs. No one really sees a huge barrier until -we get down to about a quarter of a micron. What that basically suggests is that we have five or six factors of 10 [to go] to still add productivity in semiconductors. I think by the end of the decade, we'll be approaching that quarter micron. What that would suggest is that we have a lot of productivity we can contribute before we hit that barrier. John Cocke: I believe we will certainly have [CMOS scaled to] less than 2000 ang- stroms—that's 0.2 micron— numbers less than that. I would expect to see large caches and things come, even on desktop ma- chines, and very dense memory. Jack Kilby: I don't think we'll see much of the combination [of gallium arsenide and silicon]. There are inherent incompatibil- ities of lattices, and the process will be too complex. The reason integrated circuits moved so rapidly is because making them was a relatively simple process. Remember how hard it was to get people to use bipolar and CMOS? They were very resistant to even this. Doug Engelbart: The underlying phenom- enon is, I keep expecting there to be some real shifts away from the semiconductor. By my f igurings, in the fifties, semicon- ductor phenomena would run into a limit that was associated with impedance and ca- 256 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 ILLUSTRATION: CATHARINE BENNETT pacitance problems, whereas other phe- nomena, even mechanical ones, could po- tentially start operating down there. So I just have a feeling that at some point there really is going to be a shift, whether it's to high-temperature superconductive or a nanotechnology sort of thing. Rich Malloy: As far as chip design [goes], I think we may be bumping into a physical boundary, where the traces on the wire, the equivalent of wires on the chips, are so small that they cannot get any smaller. But people may be able to go around that prob- lem using other types of technology, using parallel technologies. And I think parallel- ism will be a real hot topic in the next few years. Jonathan Titus: I think we'll see advances in the ability to do things in parallel on the chip, and also the ability to take some of the tasks that the main CPU does and transfer them to some intelligent coprocessors or auxiliary processors, much the way that was done for graphics control and for math coprocessors. It strikes me that we're in desperate need of some I/O coprocessors to remove that bottleneck from the CPU chip. Ryoichi Mori: We will, of course, see sig- nificant progress [in] storage devices, CPUs, and I/O systems. However, such progress will not solve the problem of the smooth distribution of digital information. Steve Leininger: I think you'll have dedi- cated power to the I/O channel— the user- interface channel, if you will. Paul Carroll: I think the improvements in CPUs will be dramatic but kind of predict- able, because they'll follow more or less the same curve that they have for a while. I think that you'll start to see many more things integrated onto that main chip, to the point where you will basically have a full computer on a chip, with the exception of the memory. Ken Sakamura: I think a big trend will be toward single-chip systems— CPU, mem- ory, BIOS, I/O controllers— everything on a single chip. This is the way we've already done things in TRON, and it's very effec- tive. This may be a slight exaggeration, but I think when you open the case of com- puters at the end of the 1990s, you're likely to see nothing but a single chip inside. Jonathan Titus: And I think, too, we will see more and more the incorporation of dig- ital signal processing close to the central processing unit as well. [This is driven by] the requirement for extremely high-speed mathematics, both in vector operations and in matrix operations. The architectures of those chips are set up to handle them beautifully. Gordon Campbell: The other thing I would expect to see is brand-new memory architectures where, instead of looking at memories more as serial devices, we'll see massive parallelism, which means that we can basically input and output data at much faster rates. I would expect that we'll see CPUs individually that can process up to 50 to 100 MIPS by the end of the decade. Dick Shaffer: My guess is that about that time, we will have parallel architectures— massively parallel in the sense that they will use commercially produced micropro- cessors of no more than 32-bit width in par- allel. My guess is that the AT design and the Intel architecture will still be domi- nant, but that we'll see microprocessors with memory and most other parts of the PC built into them. Federico Faggin: The single most impor- tant event in terms of traditional microcom- puting would be the use of massive parallel- ism and the appearance of chips that will contain two, four, 16, 64, and on, powerful processors in them, and of course, the memory as well. Mitch Kapor: I think parallelism and par- allel computing [are] going to become com- mercially very important in the next de- cade, particularly on architectures that use multiple RISC microprocessors in a scale- able fashion. I think that the research breakthroughs have to do parallel algo- rithms for doing the software automati- cally, so people will write software pretty much the way they write it today, but the compilers and other tools will figure out ways to very efficiently use multiple inde- pendent processors. Tony Hoare: People who can take advan- tage of large-scale parallelism and produce interactive supercomputer applications will surely find a very ready market for their products. David Evans: At the level of building com- puters, we're dealing with the bulk proper- ties rather than with the properties of atoms as they are connected together. I just feel that there has been a lot of success in doing computer models at the level of atoms and continued C. Anthony R. Hoare {not shown) is profes- sor of computation at Oxford University and the 1981 recipient of the A. M. Turing Award. He is a noted authority on programming theory and languages. His current research deals with par- allel programming and communications processes. 8 £" '> i Grace Murray Hopper is a consultant to Digi- tal Equipment Corp. She is a pioneer in the devel- opment of standardized application program- ming languages, including COBOL. She is a Rear Admiral (retired) in the U.S. Naval Reserve. SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 257 AN T I IP A T E ADVANCES bonds and being structured so that people can see those models and understand, from what those things look like, something about how they'll behave. We're going down to where the numbers of the layers in the integrated circuit are not very many at- oms thick. It seems like you can expect that when you get to there, you may make use of some knowledge of the atom-to-atom things. We're pretty crude in the kind of things we build, compared with the mem- ory things that are found in the living or- gans, living creatures. I think that we'll make use of a much more refined way of relationships. BYTE: Well, then, let's look at our cur- rent systems on a more detailed level. What kind of architectures do you think will dominate in the 1990s? Gordon Campbell: In the microprocessor, I think we're going to see in the mid-nine- ties a reassessment, if you will, of the cur- rent architectural directions, and I don't think Intel will be able to push up a compat- ible product line much past 1995. And I think the RISC architecture and some of the other things are going to push for the fundamental changes on the processor. Michael Slater: Well, the usual couple of questions regarding microprocessors are, will Intel [lose] their monopoly over the 386 architecture, and will the RISC archi- tectures overtake the CISC architectures? My feeling on both questions is, absolutely. Intel will lose their monopoly over the 386 architecture. I think you'll see the first products this year and see a number of products next year. I think the 386 archi- tecture will become a multivendor, indus- try-standard architecture. Chuck Peddle: There definitely is going to be some sort of marketplace rebellion against the level of control that Intel has. Gordon Bell: It's hard for me to see how people are going to break out of the current Intel mold, because they have got so much software. Bill Gates: The Intel architecture will con- tinue to dominate, there's no doubt about that. So the most interesting thing proces- sor-wise is 486, 586, 686— like that— which is pretty evolutionary stuff. Jay Miner: IBM is going to continue to dominate with whatever CPU it decides to pick. The marketing clout and the image they've got is almost unbeatable at this point. I think others will continue to occur, and some will continue to survive and be successful, as I hope the Amiga will, but the dominant machine is going to [be] IBM for a long, long time, with whatever CPU they decide to pick. Philippe Kahn: It's difficult to say. The world is going in two different directions. On one side, you're going to have RISC chips that are getting more popular, and on the other side, you have Intel continuing the evolution of 486 to 586 to 686, and I'm sure the 786, whatever that is. So you're going to see different trends— I'm talking about the most popular ones. Clearly, the Intel chip set will be popular, and some RISC chips will be popular. Michael Slater: I think the RISC proces- sors are going to wipe out CISC processors in the engineering workstation arena. I think they will be much, much slower to take over much of the business market. Multiuser commercial computing will be the first place that you'll see RISC appear- ing in the business world. As [for] your business desktop computers, I think those are going to stay CISC-based for quite some time. The inertia of the whole PC market cannot be underestimated. John Markoff: From my point of view, it's going to take a long time to unseat the CISC architectures because of software inertia. But, at some point, the cost issues and the performance issues will be just unavoid- able on the RISC side, and the RISC people will be emulating CISC at the same perfor- mance levels that CISC will obtain, and it will be easier to shift over in the future. However, I think the big wins are parallel architectures, coupling together dozens or hundreds of RISC devices. Paul Carroll: I think that it's even possible there will be a merger. If you take a look at the 486 at the moment, as I understand, it has some RISC attributes. I think there's a digital signal processor part of that chip that is a RISC technology. Dick Pick: Well, obviously, it's kind of an oscillating thing, going back and forth be- tween complex instruction sets and reduced instruction sets. Basically, that's all tied to where we are in terms of the number of ele- ments that you can put on a chip. Lee Felsenstein: The possibility of using small die sizes, fast technologies, and a balancing of the memory capability with the processor capability is really what RISC is about. I think that that will really come into its own in the next five years, but no sooner than three years from now— my guess. Jim Manzi: [You'll see] accelerating ad- vances in RISC, and you'll have a 486, and a 586, and by the end of the decade, we'll see a 986. I wouldn't underestimate the amount of momentum around the primary architectures, either— the Intel world, the Motorola family. But RISC will become in- creasingly important. The advances in CISC architectures will continue at an ac- celerating rate as well. Rod Canion: RISC architecture will be important, although I don't think we'll see one RISC chip or the other dominate. It will be simply the use of RISC architecture in the processors that become the standard processors. Ken Sakamura: I'm not very optimistic about the future of RISC. It uses too much power. Danny Hillis: Well, I think it's bimodal. I think that certainly it is clear that RISC processors are becoming occasionally im- portant. But I think that the interesting ar- chitecure will not so much be the architec- ture of the individual computer; it'll be the architecture of the whole network. I think the computing device that people will use is the network, of which their computer is only the window into it. BYTE: What kinds of storage devices do you think we'll see? Michael Slater: A hard disk capacity of 100 MB is probably a base-level capacity that everybody will have, and a couple of hundred MB for the more serious users. Optical storage may or may not be a sig- nificant player. I think CD-ROMs will be- come important as a distribution and data- base medium. Whether optical read/ write drives become significant as an alternative to Winchester hard disk drives, I think, is still an open question. John Warnock: Read/write optical clearly has a future. But you never know what other technologies are going to come along to completely displace them overnight. John Caulf ield: In terms of optical stor- age, we're at the very beginning. We have read/ write disks. They're not very good, but they're on the way. Holographic and continued 258 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 :V / LOGITECH &k ?*, ma ^^gj^ S^ZrfeSS W \<>l FT in a ScanMan scan, man? Virtually anything. Logos or photos. Digits or dingbats. Art or articles. A soda can. How can you get them into your PC? You could play cut and paste with the copier down the hall. Or use your own, do-it-in-a-flash, hand-held scanner. ScanMan. ri shove it. '%. w$ Images. Select 1, 2, 3, or 400 d.p.i, then pop any image up to 4" x 14" into a file for your publishing program. Or into your Windows™ clipboard. Or use PaintShow Plus™— included with your ScanMan— for editing and coloring. Catch a wave. ,e <% Text Our Catchword™ software converts virtually any typeface into ASCII files for your word processor, desktop publisher, or spread- sheet. It reads horizontally or vertically, scans words or numbers from 6 to 20 point, and matches adjacently scanned columns perfectly. 8? Scan the horizon. 'r i'-' ; W>\., ■:■■ ■' -l'» /"Ot'-V 5»of*K Of OW 6^ iptf? Should you buy it? Once you've got it you'll wonder what you did without it. And it's only $339? Backed by our Customer Satisfaction Guarantee, and 7 Days-a-Week Support. For information, call: 800-231-7717 In California: 800-552-8885 In Europe: ++47 -21-869-96-56 SCANMAN *For IBM PC and compatibles: includes Paintshow Plus. List price fa the IBM Micro-Channel version is $399. Catchword is an optional extra for $199. Circle 500 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 501) A N T I C I P A T ADVANCES he single most important event in terms of traditional microcomputing would be the use of massive parallelism. —Federico Faggin nonholographic [storage] will allow us to do much faster random-access memory op- erations on much larger stores of data. There is a variety of such techniques. I get such flak all the time when I talk about ho- lographic memories. In the 1970s, every major high-tech company in the world had a major program in holographic data stor- age—in this country, led by AT&T and IBM. Dick Pick: Well, certainly, optical storage, I think, is [coming]. There's going to have to be some clever software to take advan- tage of it that nobody has really done yet. I think that's probably going to be around for a while. Jim Manzi: I think that optical storage is really still scratching the surface, though high-density optical storage, I think, is go- ing to change the world in many ways. Jay Miner: I would say videodisk storage is probably the biggest comer in terms of growth and usefulness and large mass stor- age capabilities at a moderate cost. Laser disk types of things. Things that store data like disks do. Disk advancements in the area of optics. Charles Simonyi: Optical storage is sold hard, but I think it is very worthwhile, cer- tainly, in terms of CD-ROM and also in re- writable optical storage. I don't think that is oversold. It is nice at this stage of the game to have the diversity. And I think that new ideas can still emerge. Paul Carroll: I really think that erasable optical will finally happen in the nineties. Brit Hume: Optical storage, rewritable CDs— once the endless rewritability of those things is perfected (that is to say, they don't deteriorate) and the price comes down, that [will allow] it to be a major new market. What we're talking about there, seems to me, are improvements on existing hardware. Gordon Campbell: I would expect to see higher-density CD-ROM with higher data rates. We'll probably see low-cost optical disks that wind up being fairly productive. Rod Canion: Disk drives will get smaller and [provide] higher capacity and higher performance. continued POWER POWERSTATION 486-25 * 486-25MHz Intel Processor 8K Cache 1 80387 Compatible Floating Point Co-Pro< * 4Mb of 32 bit DRAM (Expandable to 16M * 210Mb 18ms IDE Hard Drive * 64K look ahead caching buffer * 1 .2 Floppy Drive * 1 .44 Floppy Drive * 101 Keyboard * (8) 16 bit Expansion Card Slots * Weitek Co- Processor Support ' 1 Serial & 1 Parallel Port * 14" VGA Mono Monitor * 16 bit Video Controller w/ 256K Memory j DOS 4.01 or 3.3 * 230 Watt Power Supply " Tower Case • 1 Year Warranty on Parts and Labor 1 14" SVGA Color Monitor (1024x768) U 00-445-6649 Texas, U.S., Canada & Mexico b System Board) &GOLDffl V IESELLER I// $5595 Computers 6900 San Pedro. Suite 1 2' San Antonio. Texas 78216 I QUAIJTY ASSURANCE P LANSTATION ' 286-12MHz Intel Processor ' Slim Profile Case • 200 Watt Power Supply ' 1Mb RAM ' Boot ROM 1 High Resolution Flatscreen Mono Monitor 1 1 Serial, 1 Parallel Port ' 101 Enhanced Keyboard $899 SERVING THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY SINCE 1984 ragislarad tradwnar k of InUt ( r»gi3t«f ad trademark of Micro "1 Corporate & Government Purchase Orders Financing/Leasing Available Circle 530 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: S31) Work Space Vs. Space That Works You're tripping over your keyboard. Your monitor is too low. That report you're working on has vanished. The printer noise is driving you crazy. Paper is everywhere. But don't give up. What you need is some help from Kensington. Store your keyboard out of the way with Keyboard Slideaway.® See eye to eye with the data you're entering with SideClip! Silence your noisy printer with Printer Muffler®80 and Stand. Get your CPU off your desk with our sturdy Universal System Stand. By Even keep your printouts organized with our Universal Printer Stand's convenient paper catcher. And unlike other accessories, Kensington's products fit right in with the design of your PC. The styling is complementary. The construction is solid. The materials are of the same high quality. Kensington. Because you can't work efficiently if your space doesn't work. For a free brochure, and the dealer nearest you, call 800-535-4242 or 212-475-5200. Circle 497 on Reader Service Card KENSINGTON, Keyboard Slideaway, Printer Muffler, SideClip, Kensington and the Kensington logo are registered trademarks of Kensington Microware Limited. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. © 1990 Kensington MicrowBre Limited. Brit Hume is ABC News chief White House correspondent and a syndicated computer col- umnist. Previously, he covered Capitol Hill for 1 1 years for ABC and worked for the Closeup documentary series. He was a 1969 Fellow at the Washington Journalism Center. William N. Joy is cofounder and vice presi- dent of R&D for Sun Microsystems and is a lead- ing Unix expert. He designed NFS and co- designed the SPARC architecture. He also designed BSD Unix and wrote the Unix vi editor. ANTICIPATED V A N C E S Lee Felsenstein: Optical disks will stabi- lize at this 8-centimeter level. The 3-inch CD-ROM is going to be significant. It will also be portable, as 5-inch CD-ROMs are right now. They're just beginning. Steve Leininger: It would be neat to be able to record and play back compact disk kinds of things. I'm not sure that an eras- able compact disk is as important as just be- ing able to record it in the first place. I think there's going to be really, really big things in compact disk-based informa- tion, data-retrieval something or other. I don't know if that's data bookshelves, or if it's going to be the next library, or some- thing. A lot of it's going to depend on dis- play technology. We've got smatterings of it now, but it just costs too much. But any- thing, if you make enough of it, all of a sud- den starts getting pretty cheap. Look at compact disk players— you can buy those for $150 or less, unless you want to stick it in your computer. Then, it's still $700. Bill Gates: Optical disks, because they'll be read/write, have a very narrow role to play. All you have is the CD (which is read- only and deserves to exist because it's lev- eraged off all those consumer volumes), [and] then the read/write devices that have to compete with magnetic. Magnetic will continue to improve. In fact, there are a lot of techniques that will drive magnetic, like the vertical recording. Rich Malloy: The disk drive capabilities will increase a lot. I think the magnetic disk drives seem to be in a race with the optical drives, and magnetics are reaching a point where opticals were supposed to reach. It's going to be a battle between the two as to which is more cost-effective and which has the higher capabilities. We may see hard drives as small as a little audiocassette, maybe some as small as a DAT cassette. Rod Canion: People have been predicting the day when optical disk technology would replace magnetic disk technology. I don't think that's likely to ever happen. Jonathan Titus: I have a feeling that what- ever we look at in five or 10 years will still have some sort of magnetic medium. Peo- ple will have optical read-only disks [so] that if you want a thesaurus or something else— an on-line encyclopedia— you can buy it or perhaps even borrow it from a library. Jerry Pournelle: I always thought that spinning metal as mass storage devices would go away , to be replaced by some kind of electronic device— something in silicon. I think that over the long run I was right, but over the short run, that was probably the most disastrously wrong prediction I ever made. I thought that by now the hard disk would be gone, and you would be using something like bubble [memory]. Some kind of nonvolatile silicon storage is what I thought we would have by now. I think that's still the case, you understand. It's just that it has taken a lot longer. Ken Sakamura: Disks are becoming obso- lete for many important uses. The real trend will be toward large solid-state mem- ories that use less and less power. We need computers that can run on the power of a Walkman battery. You just cannot make disks that can run on that little power. I want to see fast computers that can run on as little power as possible. Ted Nelson: Optical system on a disk. The CD-ROM thing is so absurd. They have standardized this dinky little disk. It seemed so big at first. What is it, 40 mil- lion bytes? And now, it seems so cramped. With CD-ROM, you are stuck with only what you have in those 40 million bytes, whereas with the networking data vision, you have the whole world— no boundaries. BYTE: Are there any overall advances that we should expect to see? Rod Canion: I think we're going to con- tinue to see standards dominate the com- puter industry— in fact, in an increasing way. I think what's happening in the PC arena with standards will eventually mi- grate into minicomputers and mainframes. What that means is that we'll see the con- cept of truly compatible systems running the same software packages and using the same peripherals, etc., over a much broad- er range of computing resource power. Seymour Paper t: Maybe if there's one thing I would pick on, it's throwing away all concepts of standards— to throw away the idea of standardized anything. Alan Kay: The main advancements we need are a considerable change in the abil- ity of the American businessman to exploit innovation. That's the biggest bottleneck. Innovating is easy: You just rub smart peo- ple and money together. The thing that we have fallen down completely on is being able to do anything with it. The Japanese are the ones who go out and do the actual technology transfer. ■ 262 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 En gineered for the office. Desig ned for people. word publishing. And spreadsheet publishing. B ^tssvs? £ **nw» i ' /■'-■' i vmm'i *mt*m 4 ateway 2000's standard Features And Services TWO DISKETTE DRIVES - Gateway 2000 machines come standard with both a 5.25" 1 .2 Meg Floppy Drive and a 3.5" 1.44 Meg Diskette Drive. AMPLE HARD DISK SPACE Our systems come standard with high i capacity/high speed hard disk drives "and controllers. TWO MEGS RAM-MINIMUM I Gateway 2000 systems are loaded with RAM— 2 Megs standard for 286 I and 386SX systems, and 4 Megs I standard for 386 and 486 machines. MlGH RES COLOR GRAPHICS \M\ Gateway 2000 systems come with jjia standard 1024x768 VGA display. 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" h*wfe?«w*m^ IMve ••North Sioux City, South Dakota 57049 • Telephone 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023 THE BYT E S_ U MM I T \ Alvy Ray Smith: On Graphics in the 1990s ▼ V hat does it mean to be able to talk with pictures, instead of words? I think that's what people want to do. I think it's the natural form, the widest band- width implementation. So far, com- puters have been highly constrained in making pictures. The reason they have been highly constrained is real simple: They just haven't had the horsepower. The revolution that is happening, start- ing now, will be wide open by the year 2000 when that horsepower has finally arrived on the desktop. This is easy for me to see, the year 2000— all the profes- sional-quality images we'll be handing each other, as casually as we hand Post- Script-printed black-and-white pages to each other today. What has to be put in place is the story of the nineties. PostScript is a good example of a piece of the infra- structure of computing that got put in place to handle black-and-white, geom- etry-based picture making. What re- mains to be put in place? Well, there has to be a 3-D, full-color infrastructure put in place. Of course, Pixar's Render- Man is a piece of that infrastructure. [ It is] to color and 3-D what PostScript is to black and white and 2-D. And that's on the geometry side of things. And Some- where another piece of infrastructure that is going to be put in place is the color standard, so that people can wheel and deal color and get the same color out on all the different output devices that exist now, and will exist in the year 2000. It's a very difficult problem, but it will be solved within the next few years. That will be in place by the year 2000. (When I say infrastructure— I guess that's an OK word— what I mean by that is what you get on your desktop when you buy a machine, stuff that's as- sumed to be there, that you don't have to go out and buy— part of the basic stuff that you buy when you buy a computer in the year 2000.) When I look at the desktop market- place right now, the big gaping hole of applications, the big missing set of ap- plications, are those that deal with color. And I mean real color. Photogra- phy, color printing, full-color presenta- tions, video production, full multi- media production, film production, [and so forth]. I think a lot sooner than 2000, but they will be strongly in place. It's hard to see it right now. It is still fairly difficult to do full-color pictures, single pictures, but when you have 1000 MIPS— wow! You can start doing real- time image rotations. I don't mean sim- ple, several-thousand-line polygon images, I mean several million sample- point— full-color, each sample point. You'll be able to rotate those things, drawing into perspective, or rescale them without loss of quality in real time. I've seen all the work, but I still can't believe we'll be able to do that in no time on our desktop computer software by the year 2000. But that's what we'll be able to do. So, it will be easy to do pictures, movies. That's what I'm try- ing to say, that those things will all be possible by the year 2000. What is hard to predict is how that's going to change how we deal with each other. I think it is going to have a massive impact on everything. The key thing— concept— that will describe how people will deal with pic- tures is spatial editing. What does that mean? What we mean by the word edit- ing in film and video is the placement of segments of film or video in time. An artist called an editor comes in and ar- ranges the sequences in time. [The] big change in the next decade will be that the same freedom will be granted, hopefully, to arrange things in the space of a picture. I don't know if you have ever tried to model a 3-D picture, but it's very hard. So, one of the class of applications that there is going to be a lot of [is] modelers. But I think what is going to happen [is,] instead of handing people over the mod- eling process, we'll hand over models to them. In other words, the marketplace will be catalogs of premodeled objects or predescribed textures. Instead of me, as the user, having to sit down— I've got this desk in front of me, my books, tele- phone, paper— instead of having to model each one of those things in order to [create] a picture of it, I would just take the catalog, an electronic catalog, off the shelf here, plug it into my desk- top computer, and pick off that particu- lar lamp and that particular set of books. The stuff is already done. I, as a spatial editor, can go in and place those objects in my [rendering] at my discre- tion. I can change their relative sizes, and I can change the colors maybe, and I can map different appearances onto their surfaces, customize their look. But my job as a picture maker will be more like editing than constructing. I'm just convinced that that's the fu- ture that we'll see unfold here. What I am describing is the RGB full-color marketplace of the nineties. There will be a host of companies that are required to make products available to fill this market up. Editor's note: See biography, page 352. U- SPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 289 The best got better. SYSTAT 5.0's new menus make the top-rated statistical program even easier to use. WORLDi m vil SYSTAT is the only package to receive these three awards. Ee?3| I— M £■13 New Features Menus or commands — your choice Rewritten documentation includes statistics tutorials Fast, built-in drivers for SYGRAPH Global mapping and many new plots Multi way repeated measures Means model for missing cells designs Post-hoc tests Interactive stepwise regression. Statistics Basic statistics, frequencies, r-tests, post-hoc tests Multi way crosstabs with log-linear modeling, association coefficients, PRE statistics, Mantel-Haenszel, asymptotic standard errors Nonparametric statistics (sign, runs, Wilcoxon, Kruskal- Wallis, Friedman two-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U, Kolmogorov- Smirnov, Lilliefors, Kendall coefficient of concordance) Pairwise/ listwise deletion of missing values, Pearson correlation, SSCP, covariance, Spearman, Gamma, Kendall Tau, Euclidean distances, binary similarities Linear, polynomial, multiple, stepwise, weighted regression with extended diagnostics Multivariate general linear model includes multi way ANOVA, ANCOVA, MANOVA, repeated measures, canonical correlation Principal components, factor analysis, rotations, components scores Multidimensional scaling Multiple and canonical discriminant analysis, Bayesian classification Cluster analysis (hierarchical, single, average, complete, median, centroid linkage, k-means, cases, variables) Time series (smoothers, exponential smoothing, seasonal and nonseasonal ARIMA, ACF, PACF, CCF, transformations, Fourier analysis) Nonlinear estimation (nonlinear regression, maximum likelihood estimation, and more). Graphics Overlay plots Drivers for most graphics devices Two-dimensional: Error bars Scatterplots Line and vector graphs Vector, dot, bubble and quantile plots Bar graphs (single, multiple, stacked, range) Box plots (single and grouped) Stem-and-leaf diagrams Linear, quadratic, step, spline, polynomial, LOWESS, exponential smoothing Confidence intervals and ellipses (any alpha value) Smooth mathematical functions Rectangular or polar coordinates Log and power scales ANOVA interaction plots Histograms (regular, cumulative, fuzzy) Stripe and jitter plots Gaussian histogram smoothing Scatterplot matrices Voronoi tesselations Minimum spanning tree Maps with geographic projections (U.S. state boundary file included, county and world boundary files available) Chernoff faces Star plots Fourier plots Pie charts Contour plots on regularly and irregularly spaced points Control charts and limits Three-dimensional: Data plots Smooth function plots Vector plots Linear, quadratic, spline, least squares surface smoothing Typefaces that print in perspective. Data Management Import/export Lotus, dBase, and DIF files Full screen data editor Full screen text editor Unlimited cases Missing data, arrays, character variables Capability to process hierarchical, rectangular or triangular files, irregular length records Character, numeric, and nested sorts Merge and append large files Unlimited numeric and character variable transformations Subgroup processing with SELECT and BY Value labels and RECODE statements Macro processor with programming language, screen control, file manipulation, applications generation, and report writing. SYSTAT operates on IBM PC's® and compatibles, MS-DOS? VAX®/Microvax and Macintosh® Site licenses, quantity prices and training seminars available. No fees for technical support. SYSTAT SYSTAT. Intelligent software. For more information call or write: SYSTAT, Inc. 1800 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60201-3793 Tel: 708.864.5670 Fax: 708.492.3567 For international representatives call: Australia 61.3.4974755, Canada 416.424.1700. Finland 358.0.6923800. France 33.1.40935000. Germany 49.61.265950. Italy 39.587.213640, Japan 81.3.5902311. New Zealand 64.71.562675. Norway 47.3.892240. Sweden 46.8.110620. Switzerland 41.31.416611. The Netherlands 31.3402.66336, UK: Letchworth 44.462.482822, London 44.81.6926636. London SE 44.0753.841686 Circle 538 on Reader Service Card eople say that standards stifle innovation. and in communications. that's not true. Standards enable communications. —John Warnock THE BYTE SUMMIT What do you think of the reassertion of power by data-processing and MIS departments? Stewart Alsop: It infuriates me. Some- how, the notion goes, in order to implement these new technologies that have multime- dia and effective networking and group- ware and host connectivity and buzzword, buzzword, buzzword, we have to have more complex computer systems. And if we're going to have complex computer systems, then we have to get DP and MIS back into the loop, because they understand this stuff, and those "poor dumb users" don't. And the "poor dumb users" are going to screw up the computers. So we need DP and MIS to protect the computers from those "poor dumb end users." And it's like, what year is this? Back to the Future, Part 15. Steve Leininger: To me, I think some of that control is just sort of natural. I don't think people who've been in charge of just the small microclusters or the stand-alones have been necessarily responsive to the needs of a much greater organization. So, I guess I think it's OK. Jerry Pournelle: It's negative, and it won't happen. It won't last. You may remember that Pournelle's Law [is] one user, at least one computer. That was Pournelle's First Law. Jim Blinn: One of the nice things I find about the PC environment, one of my fun- damental philosophies of life, is [that] I don't like concentrations of power— any- where, for any purpose. And the fact [that] the PCs are very generic and spread the power out, I think is good. Any sort of or- ganization that tries to coalesce it in one place, I'm not too happy about. Jonathan Titus: You know, maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe the idea of big- ger servers is the way things are going to go, but I think if you look at things tradi- tionally, you find that large things tend to fragment rather than to coalesce. I think that's what will happen with the large con- centrations of computer power within com- panies. Tom McWilliams: I think that there is a very strong role for larger machines to sup- port machines on the desktop. I see the ma- chines on the desktop replacing the tradi- tional dumb terminal with very intelligent boxes that provide [a] very good user inter- face and do local computing for jobs that sit on those machines. John Markoff: In my company, I really see the struggle going on. There's a tre- mendous amount of tension that's a direct consequence of this sort of clash of the mainframe view of the world versus the desktop view. And clearly, one of the con- sequences of networks is that there will be a reassertion of centralized control. But I think that there are certain aspects to per- sonal computer technology that are just ge- nies out of the bottle and they're never go- ing to be able to put it back. There are some companies now, there seems to be a trend to actually do away with MIS: Some places here in NYC, there are no more MIS de- partments. Some companies in the Valley have done away with mainframes and are going to entirely distributed computing models. There's more freedom. Bill Stallings: I think there is a flavor of trying to hold all the strands together from a central location so that you have coopera- tive computing— but, at the same time, not centralizing procurement or even all the ownership of data, because that tends to in- hibit things, and particularly in the micro area. [You need a] true distributed system that is integrated. There's sort of a tension there of trying to balance central planning and central integration— distributed coop- eration—and the thing that allows this sort of a balancing act is the standards. Jonathan Titus: Well, I think we're see- ing, these days, actually a fragmentation of service departments like that. And we'll continue to see it. I think the reemergence has come only because we're finding we need network servers, and the network servers tend to be controlled by the MIS de- partments because they're a big box and they're connected into a lot of different places. BYTE: How do you think it will affect the microcomputer users and their com- panies? Terry Winograd: Stand-alone computing continued ILLUSTRATION: CATHARINE 8ENNETT SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 291 Jim P. Manzi is president and CEO of Lotus De- velopment Corp., where he directs corporate strategy and the overall operation of the company. John Markoff is a reporter for the New York Times, where he covers computers and tech- nology. Markoff has also been a West Coast technical editor for BYTE. Carma L. McClure is an independent author, lecturer, and consultant specializing in soft- ware methodologies, tools, and law and project management. She is a leading authority on CASE. will get more limited. I think networking is inevitable. Steve Leininger: As long as you don't hook yourself onto the network, you're OK. Tom Mc Williams: I don't actually see that larger central machines are at odds with machines on desktops. I think that you need both. Dennis Ritchie: One of the aspects of any kind of PC, using it as the generic term, is that this is a box that you own. You may not understand everything that goes on inside it, but, in some sense, you have control over it. Whereas, if you're dealing with a com- puter center or an MIS department, there's a definite lack of control. The other side of that is that as systems get more sophisti- cated, the amount of work involved just to do your own administration is increasing, and things are getting more complicated. They're getting harder to understand. You have to understand more in order to use them effectively. Jonathan Titus: I hope it has as little effect on the end user as possible. In effect, they may not even know where their server is, or specifically what's in it. And I think, too, that the computers will become so power- ful that the idea of a central server may, in fact, disappear. It may be, with all these computers linked together, one is a control- ler but bits and pieces of what I'm working on may be stored across a lot of the different systems in the network. Tony Hoare: I think it's a sad step because, again, it gives you an advice and consultan- cy bottleneck where people can't do what they want until they can get the attention of an expert who will tell them how they can do it. The promising sign for the personal computer is that people can develop their own application and then perhaps integrate later as the need for it becomes apparent. And that has tended, I think, to break down the centralized power structure of data- processing departments, which can be a significant barrier to progress— particular- ly when, in these very progressive times, things are changing so rapidly. Jim Manzi: But fundamentally, all [that the users] want to do is get data, do some- thing with the data, share it with some- body, and send it off, and get it updated. And a forward-thinking IS manager wants the same thing to happen, because the con- cept of end-user computing is obviously proven. I view it less as a conflict and more as a conversion. Ken Olsen: Oh, I think it's very good and very important. Having a bunch of people using their own microcomputers is obvi- ously unwise if they do the wrong thing. And they have no communication with the world. The things you do most of the times in the office involve everybody else. Al- most anything you do should be integrated. Dick Pick: It's going to have to come. The point is, if you're going to run an organiza- tion that uses computers, you've got to have some centralization to it. I have the same problem. I've got the equivalent of an MIS department, [but] it's only one person. You've got to have somebody who takes ownership of the corporate database, and that traditionally has been the MIS depart- ment. I don't see how else they're going to tie all these PCs back together into a corpo- rate tool as opposed to a personal tool. Steve Leininger: What made the personal computer great is the apparent speed of having all that horsepower dedicated just to you, for word processing or other data ma- nipulation. If you're talking about a big company, they can't afford to have the in- formation that runs the company— today's inventory, this kind of stuff— scattered all over the place. Dick Shaffer: I think it's essential for large organizations. As the computer becomes more important to companies, you have to have some kind of control over it. Charles Simonyi: Actually, I think that it is a good thing. I think what really is hap- pening is the embracing of the computer by the MIS people as more than a control. You can't control the personal use of computers. I don't think there is any issue there. BYTE: Is this a positive move or a negative Gordon Bell: It's only negative if it starts impeding things. I don't think it's going to do that. I don't think they can. There's no way that they can get in the way of progress. I mean, just maintaining the network I don't think is any more harmful than the fact that in every company you have a tele- phone czar taking care of the telephone. I don't see that as any different. What gets harmful is when you rule out certain kinds of machines. Paul Carroll: It has positive and negative continued 292 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Borland's Quattro Pro *Acoording to Ix)tus' technical supjxirt, you cannot view a graph while in perspective mode in 1-2*3. Lotus' vs. 1-2-3 Quattro Pro is radically different from Lotus' 1-2-3 * Even if you use Quattro Pros menu builder and load the optional 1-2-3.MU demo file as shown above. More than 300,000 spreadsheet users have now switched to Quattro Pro. 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Quattro Pro has won every significant "best spreadsheet" award and product review to date: Quattro Pro Awards Technical Excellence Award 1989-PC Magazine Spreadsheet Product of the Year 1989-hifoWorkl Software Product of the Year 1989-hifoWorld Top-rated, High-End PC Spreadsheet Re\iew 1990-InfoWorld Most Valuable Product (MVP) 1989-PC Computing A ward of Distinction 1989-HYTE Best Buy & Top -Rated Spreadsheet 1990-PC World 1989 Software Product of (he Year PCUsir(UK) High-End Spreadsheet Editor's Choice 1990-PC Magazine Best Numeric Business Application Award 1989— Software Publishers ' Association Top-rated, Consolidation Spreadsheet Re\iew 1990-PC Week Readers' VIP Award, Spreadsheet Category 1990-BYTE (tied for fint) At Borland, we believe in software craftsmanship and are fighting for your access to real innovation. *Quattro Pro's default menu structure is CUA- and SAA-compatible like most of the new software that you'll buy in the '90s. Thanks to Borland's revolutionary VROOMM technology, Quattro Pro sports a modern graphical user interface and runs on today's hardware. Judge for yourself If one screen isn't enough, compare the rest of them. That's why we're offering Quattro Pro to any 1-2-3 user for only $99*. We'll send you the complete package (regularly $495 ! ) with our customary 60-Day, Money-Back guarantee. We'll even bill you later if you'd prefer. Order your own copy now and judge for yourself. Call NOW 1-800-331-0877. Also available at participating software dealers, or by mailing this coupon to: a' Borland Quattro Pro Offer 1800 Green Hills Road Scotts Valley, CA 95067 YES, send me Quattro Pro for only $99 M .tt Fd like to see for myself the product that Lotus is so worried about Format: □ 3 1 // disk □ 5*4" disk Payment: □ Bill me a Check enclosed □ Amex □ Visa o MC # Exp Name: . Company: . Address: . City: _ State: . Zip: **Pn»f o( owTiership— an original manual page or disk— is requimd. Offer good in United Slates and Canada only. tSuggesled retail price. IT Add S5* shipping & handling plus local taxes wheie applicable. I Code: MQ83| BORLAND Makers of Paradox; QuattroPro, Turbo C®++, Turbo Pascal® and SideKick? tgiSIEiDO (fStJernarks and VROOMM a a Irademark o! Borland Inlerrui.orul !nc Lotus 1-2-3 is a Iraderauk of Lotus OevHopmenl Corp Copyngnl eiggo Boiland intcirul'onji Ire Ail ngnrs reserved Bl- I3EK Circle 463 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 464) -, fro PsHat. Turbo C. Vrjo Pasco) and SfleKsck are I id rartts and VflQOWM is Thomas M. McWIIIiams is a vice president at Amdahl Corp. He is a pioneer in the design and development of computer-aided engineering systems. attributes. It's very important for compa- nies to be able to hook all these machines together in a network, and somebody's got to do it, so it might as well be the MIS types. More and more, the business types will become involved in the development of applications for their computers and in the use of the computers. And I view that as very much a positive development. Doug Engelbart: Somebody in the organi- zation needs to start being responsible for the larger system, of harnessing the capa- bilities of this. So, if not the DP/MIS peo- ple, who? Lee Felsenstein: [I agree.] Somebody has to take that role. It would be nice to develop networks that can be self-managing. That, in microcosm, is really the problem [that] we've got with industrial society as a whole: working out those technologies- using a broad sense of technology- through the operation of which it becomes sort of natural as to how to organize things. Ted Nelson: Corporations legitimately contend that the purpose of computers is human freedom. -Ted Nelson want to standardize and regulate, in a sen- sible fashion, the use of personal computers and especially databases throughout their corporations. However, more illicitly, what is also happening is that data-processing managers are fighting back, trying to re- capture lost territory; trying to keep the mainframe necessary is the hub of this, and trying to become the sovereigns once again. This is quite unfortunate, and I don't think it will be that sweeping. But who knows continued Neural Networks are Solving Real Problems Circuit board problem diagnosis ■ Psychiatric evaluations ■ Stock market predictions ■ Sales forecasts ■ Oil exploration ■ Optimizing biological experiment results ■ Price forecasts ■ Analysis of medical tests ■ Optimizing scheduled machine maintenance ■ Predicting student performance ■ Horse racing picks ■ Factory and shop problem analysis ■ Optimizing raw material orders ■ Spectral analysis ■ Selection of criminal investigation targets ■ Employee selection ■ Process control ■ Product quality control and much, much more. Since NeuroShell learns by example, handles fuzzy logic, can give tight data fits, and doesn't try to capture knowledge in rules, it is also being used as an alternative in many cases to expert systems, the ID3 algorithm, and regression analysis. Now anyone can use neural networks NeuroShell is ready to use for real problems on your IBM PC or compatible, and still only $195. No programming or Ph.D. required! Free telephone assistance (including setting up your problem). Free shipping by mail in US, Canada, and Mexico ($12 elsewhere). Add 5% tax in MD, NeuroShell Is a lademark of War d Systems Group, Inc. IBM PC is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Ward Systems Group, Inc. 2A5 West Patrick St Frederick, MD 21701 (301) 662-7950 FAX (301) 663-6656 NeuroShelP 294 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 548 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 549) > VSl ' \ \i» Sometimes it's just not prac n //. a printer. s u B s u ct> from For those times, there's this. Meet a genuine breakthrough: the Verran AC Datalink. It lets you connect virtually any computer to a printer. Or a modem Or a plotter. Or a terminal. All without cables. The connec tion takes place through your building's electrical wiring and works at distances of 300 feet or more. Think of it. No more torn-up offices, expensive wiring solutions, or cabling headaches. The Verran AC DataLink is the perfect answer for quick connections between computers and peripherals-even if they're in different oft ices. The applications are numerous-from office moves to demon- strations to special needs for temporary staff. You can even connect extra terminals to a largercomputer without cabling-a feature which can be invaluable when additional programmers come on board. There's no software required. A pair of AC DataLinks is all you need. Just connect one to your computer and one to a peripheral. Then plug each into a standard electrical outlet. That's it. You're up and running in minutes. The AC DataLinks take care of everything: error correction, translation when needed, even adaptors for parallel (Centronics) or serial (RS-232) connections. So you can enjoy tually universal compatibility between computers and peripherals-even use a paral- lel printer from a serial port! You can also select an encryption code for each pair of AC DataLinks, providing a high level of data security. And here's another breakthrough from Verran: the AC DataLink DPS (Dedicated Printer Sharer) which allows up to seven computers con- nected to AC DataLinks to share the same printer. It's like having a printer for each computer-ata fraction of the cost. Status and queuing information is provided by the AC DataLinks, so you'll enjoy more efficient printer use than ever before. The AC DataLink DPS is suitable for any printer with a parallel port. Want to free yourself from the ties that bind? See your local computer dealer to learn more about Verran AC DataLink products. Or contact GEC-Marconi for more information. AC DataLink just $345. AC DataLink DPS just $395. (Suggested retail prices.) VERRAN AC DATALINK/DPS Cable-Free Computer Connection From GEC-Marconi Software Systems Suite 450, 12110 Sunset Hills Road Reston, Virginia 22090 703-648-1551 Circle 482 on Reader Service Card Jay Miner designs medical instrumentation for Ventritex, Inc. He was principal designer of the Amiga computer and creator of the Amiga cus- tom chip set. He also designed the chip sets for the Atari VCS and the Atari 400 and 800 computers. J. MINER PHOTO: MEL LINDSTROM politically? Politically, many different things can happen. Carma McClure: I think you might find that everybody goes off on their own and then they say "wait a minute, wait a min- ute. We are stepping on one another's toes here, we're not doing what we should be doing, and so let's get back together and have some sort of control and manage- ment." So I think that it will go full circle like that. Rod Canion: I think it's a necessary thing. What we saw was a pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other, [from] where MIS had all the power to the point where the users themselves had basically almost all the power. The unifying force is the networking of PCs and workstations to- gether [so] that no longer can an individual really take full advantage of his PC by him- self. He needs to have other people in- volved. So you need a group like MIS. I think what we're going to see in the next several years is a medium being reached— a balance being reached between the user community and MIS working together to solve these problems. Wayne Ratliff: There are positives and negatives to it. Yes, I do see it happening, and neither side is going to gain control, I don't think. The microcomputer people are the ones who dared move away from the mainframes. And they thought it was an exciting environment. So, we have this lit- tle pendulum effect going in the computer business— it will swing back and forth for- ever probably. John Warnock: I think all of these socio- logical changes in the industrial portion of our society go in cycles. There's sort of a centralization, decentralization, centraliza- tion, decentralization— and as far as I can see, in the computer business, I've seen about three of these cycles. I don't see any reason to see that stop. You need to have a more global view of this and say, "Hey, that's a behavior of that overall social sys- tem and not something that has any long- term effect." You just have to ride the cur- rent trend. ■ Read Mac Disks in a PC Match Maker - the best way to share data between a PC and a Mac. The MatchMaker card lets you plug a Macintosh floppy drive into a PC. • Easy-to-install half-size card. • Use any external Macintosh drive. • DOS-like command software included. • 1 year warranty, Made in USA. • Also available; MatchPoint-PC to read/write Apple II disks. "...by far the most cost effective solution..." PC WEEK MicroSolutions Computer Products 132 W. 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Dealers welcome. 8 Abba Hillel St., Ramat Gan, Israel Tel. 972-3-751 1982 Fax. 972-3-7512304 SPECURITY INDUSTRIES (1989) Ltd. 296 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 502 on Reader Service Card Circle 535 on Reader Service Card The Only Way Competitive drives Can Go Faster Than 9ms. With effective access times as low as 9ms, the Plus Impulsef AT® Series, hard disks don't need rockets to fly They're the perfect match for today's disk-intensive applications. Impulse isn't only fast, it's affordable. Compare it to any other disk drive in its class and you'll see how competitively priced it is. Impulse isn't only fast and affordable, it's compatible with all leading 286/386 PCs. And it's available now. In 40, 80, 105, 120, 170 and 210 megabytes (330 and 425MB shipping soon). With integrated IDE-AT or SCSI controllers. Get in touch with your Impulse reseller today For more information, call 800-624-5545 in the U.S. and Canada. -^ Leave the rockets to them. And the flying to Plus. 1 lUS : m iii [I |M! P> l! © 1990 Plus Development Corp. Plus Impulse and the Plus logo are registered trademarks of Plus Development Corp. AT is a registered trademark of IBM. Circle 526 on Reader Service Card THE BYTE SUMMIT Ted Nelson: On the Xanadu Project A he issue [that] most deeply con- cerned me was the problem of the total arbitrariness of writing, and how in the world you decide among and work out the details of different forms of organi- zation of a document. Then I took a computer course, and it was like being struck by lightning. I came up with the following five realizations. (We're talk- ing October of 1960.) 1. The computer screen would be man- kind's new home. 2. We would have new forms of docu- ments and new literary genre— which I did not yet call hypertext— which would be nonsequential writings because we would no longer be constrained to the sequential organization of text. There- fore, the arbitrariness of sequential or- ganization could be thrown away. The reader would be free to explore, and conversely, the author would be freed from the problems of unnecessary, su- perfluous, gratuitous organization. In other words, deciding which comes first (over which we have to make so much effort) is totally unnecessary when nei- ther part comes first. 3. This would be the heart of an entire new literature [that] would subsume all of the literature of the past; that is, all of the writings, all of the ideas from be- fore, and everything that was published on paper would again be published in electronic form. But, as nonsequential organization took over, all of the pieces could be reused in new ways. 4. This would require a worldwide de- livery network, which would be a net- work of computers. 5. [The delivery system] would be fran- chised. And the amazing thing is that this vision is coming about, essentially all five points, as I foresaw them 30 years ago. Now being completed 30 years later [is] the program for what I thought of as a writer's console. But remember that, since I consider writing the king of the problems, the most intricate type of mental endeavor bringing to bear all the arbitrariness of every type of decision, I took this to be the model for every other hard problem; decisions facing heads of corporations and heads of state seemed to be trivial by comparison. Of course, that was a writer's perspective. The most important thing I needed in the software does not exist yet. And one of the reasons I'm so pissed off at the entire computer world is that they have not understood what I consider to be es- sentially the most fundamental prob- lem, and that is what I call transclusion. Transclusion means that a thing can be in two places at once. Suppose you write a sentence you like, or there's a paragraph that needs to be quoted from one document to another. [Copying it] loses the connection— the thread that ties them together. But in transclusion, you make a virtual copy from one place into the other so that there is a hole in one place that you wanted [the sen- tence] , which is filled always from the other place whenever you get to the hole. The Xanadu system [that] we're working on here at Autodesk is based on transclusion. Transclusion in Action As you consider the organization of something— Where are you going to use this piece? Are you going to use it in document A or document B?— as soon as you decide not to use it in document A, that frees it up for document B. But if you are still undecided, then you want it in both places and you want to be noti- fied when it is [used]. And in deciding to use it in one, you want to see what its status is in the others. That's one use for transclusion. And that was fundamental to my first design— transclusion and fragments. Secondly, I want to get to keep a con- tinuous journal and be able to transclude all the fragments into all the potential projects where they should go, and then be able to see side by side all the poten- tial places I would want to use them. Then as soon as one [fragment] was used, or you decide not to use it some- where else, then it's freed up. You [also] want to be able to compare different successor versions of the same document— to see if this one is better than that— or different alternative de- signs for the same document. And in that case, you want all the "meat" mate- rial in one— all the material that's in both designs for the document— to be transcluded back and forth so you can look at this organization in two or more different ways. The third use of transclusion is for electronic publishing, because it basi- cally solves a lot of the copyright prob- lem if you have a network in which things are stored, a repository network for publishing, and that's the other part of what we're working on. And remem- ber, I talked about the great network. So this software would be the fundament of this great network and this repository network for publishing. All you have to do is publish; you publish a document by placing it in the repository and saying "I hereby publish it." That means I'm responsible for the contents. You pay a registration fee; the publisher pays a registration fee and a storage fee and then gets royalties back automatically every time fragments are sent out. But the trick is, how does transclu- sion fit in? It cleans up the whole issue of copyright permissions, because now that it's in a repository, you can quote anyone else freely without asking their permission. Why? Because you are just transcluding material. You're leaving holes in your material to be filled from these other documents at the time of de- livery to the person's screen, which means that the customer is buying the fragments from the original author whenever those quotations are read. So, nothing is misquoted, nothing is out of context, credit is apportioned correctly, and royalties are apportioned correctly. So to me, the basic piece of software is a transclusive fragment sorter where 298 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 you sit with thousands of little flips of sticky notes, and you sort them into dif- ferent projects with transclusion, so that any sticky note can mean any number of things. A file card— whatever you want to call it— can be in any number of places at once, with an umbilical cord connecting all the instances. The Xanadu Server So, this project has never at any time been inactive as far as I'm concerned, and it has always proceeded toward the system we are working on [and] are about to bring out. I contend that the purpose of com- puters is human freedom. And the bet- ter world we must have will be one in which computers make life simpler, not harder, allow us to tie together our work and have control of it, and bring us clari- fying overviews and understanding of everything we see and do. Whereas right now, computers are still quite the opposite. Imagine, if you will, the year 2020, when a billion people around the planet are at their screens. And each is able to withdraw from a great repository any fragments of anything that has been published, as well as the private docu- ments he or she has access to. So, you're able to bring to your screen not just en- cyclopedias, not just novels, not just the works of Horace and Cicero and Marcus Aurelius and Shakespeare and Goethe, but obscure stuff from South America and Africa that people have written in the last 5 minutes. And [you're able] to make comments and footnotes and to transclude and quote from anything else that's published, with automatic roy- alty. So, I was talking about the year 2020, the 2020 vision. The question is, how we get there from here? Well, it's very specific in my plans. Autodesk and Xanadu Operating Company, which is now a subsidiary of Autodesk, will be bringing out the Xanadu Server, which will be, I believe, the new paradigm for the storage of information because it has links and transclusion built right in. It will replace the file model, and we will redesign all software around this mod- el, because this has been the correct model all along. Just because people have insisted on doing things stupidly the last 30 years doesn't mean that they can't finally get the idea. People can understand things they see. I know. I've come to realize it. The next generation of software will be built around the transclusive model of data handling, which opens up all your data in every direction and allows you to rep- resent the true interconnection of the in- formation within it. Right now, there is no good way of representing intercon- nection. We have trivial linking systems in the smaller hypertext systems. But Xanadu has a truly general linking sys- tem with an open-ended and very pow- erful linking structure, as well as trans- clusion. And so, because it will allow the exact representation of all intercon- nections, Xanadu seems to me the shoo- in for becoming the standard for data storage in the future. And since it's built around the concept of networking, and access of many people to the same data, it then leads to the publishing system. The back-end server will be coming out next year, as I say, from Xanadu Operating Company, and that will run on the Sun, the Macintosh, and the larger PCs— the 386s. This will hit on the LAN and serve as many people at once with the fragments necessary to support their documents. You see, up till now, we've had this dumb model where you store a whole document, then you go in and change one word, and then you store the whole document again. What sense does that make? What you want to do is store the changes or have a rational means of keeping track of the current state of the document without re-storing the entire book to change one word. Being able to treat [stored data] as a seamless interconnected whole is abso- / lutely vital, and this is what a truly gen- eralized link server will allow. So, all of this will be within our grasp or will be reachable when the back-end server gives us a chance to build new applica- tions around these forms of intercon- nection. Two years later, we need only two more steps to go from the back-end server, as Xanadu Operating Company will be delivering it, and the worldwide publishing network of which I spoke. And these steps essentially involve the addition of the internetwork protocol and the addition of the royalty mecha- nism. So this ought to be doable within two years. Transclusion Tomorrow The plan is to open the franchise first in northern California, for a chain of McDonald 's-like information stands, which will form a repository network. You'll be able to put your private docu- ments in, and thus it will be a mini-self- storage system for information, just as you go to a mini-self-storage place to put your sofa and your old TV where you can get at it. When we go to the publishing system, all you do is press the publish button, and whatever data you wish to publish [is] published in this universal linking and transclusive data structure with automatic royalty. And this, too, will be offered at the Xanadu stands. The user comes into the stand to learn how to use the system and to start up an account. So rather than learn the system out of a manual or from some class, you come into a McDonald's-like atmosphere where a person will sit down and show you how to use the system. Now you take your account and your software home and fire it up from home and modem in. You can modem in to any of the Xanadu staff or connect through other networks. Editor's note: See biography, page 304. T ' SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 299 Genuine 486™System... Amazing 386TRICE! Yes, full powered 80486 computer systems with all the traditional Northgate features and performance. 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And 64K of 25NS read/write-back cache (expandable to 256K). Of course, it comes with a Northgate OrnniKey™ keyboard— your choice of PLUS or ULTRA models. PLUS, Northgate has a full range of expansion options! Monitors, hard drives, tape backups, memory cards, printers, modems, and more. Custom configure the system that's right for you. Use a Northgate 486/25 for 30 days. If it fails to do everything we say, just return it. Special 486/33 Upgrade Offer Buy your Elegance 486/25 now. And when you need more processing power, we'll upgrade it to a 486/33MHz for just $1500.00! ORDER TODAY! Be sure to ask about custom configurations, leasing and financing programs. CALL TOLL-FREE 24 HOURS A DAY 800-548-1993 Notice to the Hearing Impaired: Northgate now has TDD capability. Dial 800-535-0602. NORTHGATE ft,// / M . //iftvy COMPUTER mW&k*/ 04 ** /" SYSTEMS 1 Northgate Parkway, Eden Prairie, MN 55344 Financing: Use your Northgate Big'N 1 revolving credit card. 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Elegance™486/25 system configuration • 25 MHz Intel 80486 '^'processor with 80387-compatible floating point coprocessor • Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus • 4Mb of 32-bit DRAM (expandable to 8Mb on the motherboard; total system RAM expandable to 16Mb with an optional memory card) Proprietary, U.S. -made motherboard 200Mb Maxtor hard drive with 15 MS access time 64K SRAM read/write-back cache (optional 256K cache available) High density 1.2Mb-5.25 "and 1.44Mb-3.5 "floppy drives; also reads, writes and formats low density disks Eight expansion card slots; one 32-bit, six 16-bit and one 8-bit Weitek numeric co-processor support Two serial and one parallel ports 14 " monochrome monitor Hercules compatible video controller MS-DOS 4.01 and GW-BASIC software; Smart Drive disk caching software On-line users guide to system and MS-DOS 4.01 220 watt power supply Elegance 7 drive-bay custom tower cabinet pictured (desktop style available) Clock/calendar with 5 year battery backup Your choice of exclusive award- winning Om/i/KeyfPlAJS or ULTRA keyboard Park utility Front mounted controls for high/low speed operation, system reset, and keyboard lockout Total compatibility with all of your existing AT peripherals and I/O boards FCC Class B Certified Superior Northgate Support Famous 30-Day Performance Guarantee. Northgate backs every system with our famous no-risk policy. If you aren't 100% satisfied, return it— no questions asked. Warranties. Your system is covered by a 1-year limited warranty (5 years on keyboard). If a part fails, we'll ship a new one overnight at our expense— before we receive your troubled part. Industry's Best Unlimited Toil-Free Technical Support. February 7, 1990, BYTE Magazine, Dr. Jerry Pournelle,* on Northgate technical support ... "has become the standard that other mail order computer companies must match." Our system consultants are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to answer your questions. On-site service is available to most locations if we can't solve your problems over the phone. Prices and specifications subject t o change without notice. Northgate reserves t h e right to substitute components o f equal or greater quality or performance. A 1 1 items subject to availability. ©Copyright Northgate Computer Systems, Inc., 1990. All rights reserved. Northgate, OmniKey and the Northgate 'N' logo arc registered trademarks of Northgate Computer Systems. 80386 and 80486 arc trademarks of Intel. All other products and brand names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies. Circle 515 on Reader Service Card The Pocket LAN Adapters: LapToLANInOne Award-Winning Connection. 1 "^'' -•"■.S ■! ' Why all the excitement? Because l-|Lj I H~ Xircom lets your laptop access a B!WM««H network wherever, whenever, and however you need it. Whether it's Novell, 3-Com, Banyan or most other operating systems running on Token Ring, Ethernet or Arcnet, the Pocket LAN Adapter gives PC users a quicker, easier LAN solution. ' ******% , Our philosophy of universal connectivity combined with innovative technology has earned the Pocket LAN Adapters industiy-wide recognition in a very short time. It all adds up to a faster, simpler LAN And with practical- ly eveiy protocol and operating system supported with certified drivers, there's a Pocket LAN Adapter that will fit your laptop and your pocket with its solution for laptop users. By \ ^m^ connecting through the parallel ^Tv*?^ /* port, a Pocket LAN Adapter gives you V> ,A the freedom to choose whichever laptop fits your needs., It means no more slot problems, no address or interrupt conflicts, and no jumpers to configure. Xircom LAN solutions for laptops. 22231 Mulholland Highway, Suite 114 • Woodland Hills.CA 91364 • 818/884-8755 Frankrijkei 28 • 2000 Antwerp, Belgium • 32(0)3 225.22.91 Circle 550 on Reader Service Card don't know if it's computer literacy that's going to stratify [society] so much as it is just economics. —Jim Blinn THE BYTE SUMMIT To what extent will computer literacy stratify society in the 1 990s? Charles Simony i: That is an interesting question. I believe that computers are a very positive force, and computer literacy endows the literate person with some added powers. And, just like literacy, it makes the person more powerful. Of course, it is pos- sible to view any sort of power as something that distinguishes people that have it [from those who] don't have it. Rod Canion: I think that's not something that's going to happen. I think there's some of that today, but it probably won't get any worse than it is today. I think during the de- cade we're going to see computers become easier and easier for more and more people to use. So computer literacy is going to be less of a factor as computers become more straightforward and a simpler mechanism to use. Mitch Kapor: I believe that those people who are comfortable in the operation of computers are going to enjoy certain ad- vantages over those who are not. That is, in part, a class-related distinction. What I think is unfortunate is that it [wouldn't be] necessary in a slightly better world. The issue of computer literacy would be much less of an issue because computers would be substantially easier to use. Charles Simony i: Whether or not it is easy to become computer-literate, I think it is to- tally within the means of practically every- one. It is certainly that much less expensive than a set of encyclopedias, but more im- portantly I think people recognize its im- portance. Gordon Campbell: Well, I think you're going to see two things happening again. I think there will be a continued push for higher and more competent levels of com- puter literacy. The other side of the coin is that I don't believe it's going to be that major a problem in our society because I think we will compensate by having all these extra MIPS. And the extra MIPS will provide more friendly user interfaces— less efficient ones, but more user-friendly ones. Even people that aren't computer-literate will be able to use [them]. Ken Sakamura: This is why intelligent ob- jects will become so important. Rather than make society more stratified, I think future computers will be power equalizers. An intelligent object is something that any- body can use; it doesn't take the kind of special training or education that PCs to- day require. John Caulfield: It's very interesting, and my judgment is that computer literacy will increase. And I'm looking forward to the end of the century to a lot more human-ori- ented interaction. We're beginning to see this in artificial reality. It sounds hokey and like it could only have arisen in Cali- fornia. But, having said that, it's also real and useful. And I think less computer liter- acy will be needed. The trend of the Mac will continue, and so "computer literacy" as we mean it now, in my judgment, will be irrelevant 10 years from now. Everybody will be able to use them. Jerry Pournelle: I think if you can't use a computer 50 years from now, you will be in almost exactly the same position as a per- son who cannot read or write now. The dif- ference is that I think using the computer will be easier 50 years from now than it is to learn to read and write. Alvy Ray Smith: To me, it's just like, in order to be a person within our society, you're going to have to learn how to use the tools. Grace Hopper: I think there will be some people who don't need computers at all. The others will make use of them. Ryoichi Mori: The more computer literacy distributes into society, the less it will be valuable. Gordon Campbell: I think when we have all these MIPS to burn and people will have the option just to talk to their computer, that will change a lot of things. Donald Knuth: There is no universal way— there's not an easy, one-dimensional scale that's saying somebody is computer- literate or not, or anything like that. I see the need for a lot of different flavors of soft- ware for different people with different approaches. continued ILLUSTRATION; CATHARINE BENNETT SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 303 Ryoichi Mori is professor at the Institute of In- formation Sciences and Electronics, University of Tsukuba, in Japan. His primary interest lies in digital systems for the free distribution of elec- tronic information, a concept known as superdistribution. Nicholas Nagroponte is professor of media technology and cof ounder and director of the Media Laboratory at MIT. He oversees the Media Lab's research into new ways for people to in- teract with technology. Theodor H. Nelson is the founder of the Xana- du Project and the developer of the hypertext concept. A subsidiary of Autodesk, Inc., Xanadu Operating Co. will ship the Xanadu server next year. s s Jay Miner: More and more computers are being designed by computers, and the abil- ity of the average person being able to af- ford a computer, let alone understand it and learn how to use it, is a very big problem. And the only people that will be getting good jobs will be those that can use com- puters. And it's a real problem, very big problem. It's stratification. John Kemeny: I think it will be stratified, but I think it will not be those who have ac- cess and those who don't. I think it is more likely to be those who really understand how to use computers than those who don't. I mean, it is closely related to what you are saying, but it is slightly different. Paul Carroll: I'm hoping that will become a non-issue. Nick Donofrio, who runs IBM's workstation operation, recently said that he thinks the current generation is as computer-literate as any generation from here on will have to be. I think he might be right. People are starting to get the idea that you really do need to make computers far, far easier to use. Seymour Papert: We must make computa- tion democratic, or there will be an elitist atmosphere and more haves and have-nots. It would be disastrous. I think there is a worldwide movement against elitism. Federico Faggin: I think that it is going to be similar to what has happened in the past. People [who] have access to education ver- sus people who do not causes the same "stratification." I don't know if I like that word. But, people [with] an appropriate education are able to live in society and function in society naturally better than the people who don't have one. Dick Shaffer: I think computer literacy is a non-issue. We are moving toward the point where understanding how computers work will be regarded as about as essential to life as understanding how cars work. Robert Noyce: I think with the increasing capabilities of microcomputers, we will be able to use them [more easily], and more and more people will be able to use and have access to them. Rich Malloy: I think the process of using a computer will simplify itself to such an ex- tent that it won't be much of a factor. Right now, you do have to know something about a computer to use it. But it could be the case that knowledge of how to use the computer will be as important 10 years from now as knowledge of using a slide rule is today. It's just basically OK, interesting, but not really crucial. I think as interfaces get bet- ter, computer literacy will pretty much dis- appear as atopic. Nicholas Negroponte: Let's take 10 years as a number. There will be no such thing as a person who can't use a computer. It's not computer literacy that we should be work- ing on, but sort of human-literacy. Com- puters have to become human-literate. John Markoff: I basically argue that ma- chines are going to become human-literate faster than humans will become computer- literate. That just seems to be the dynamic, which I actually think is a very unfortunate trend, but it's almost done by necessity. America is not a very literate society. You look at the obvious things, like how many people know how to program their VCRs, and you realize that only 10 percent of the people can program their VCR. The bat- tle's over. A small fraction of society will stay very computer-literate, and [for] the rest of society, they'll develop machines that are as easy to use as televisions. Jerry Pournelle: It's a leveler. It levels to some extent by intelligence, but it's the same as learning to read and write 2000 years ago. In Jesus' time, those who could read and write were [in] a different caste from those who could not. Nowadays, the high priesthood has sort of tried to take over the computing business. But small computers have a way of leveling things like that. These are great levelers. Paul Carroll: I'm at least hoping, maybe naively, that from here on, people less and less will have to think of a computer as a computer and will be able to think of it more as something that I do my typing on or something that I do my analysis on or some- thing that I do my homework on. They will get away from this idea that there's some- how a mystique attached to computers and we all need to know what the clock speed of our CPU is. Dick Pick: It's not so much the computer knowledge as the fact of digital aptitude, and digital aptitude is related to smartness. It's not an equal world. And people who are cleverer and smarter always have a bet- ter opportunity to get by in the business world. Jack Kilby: Just as literacy has had an ef- fect on stratifying society, I think micro- continued 304 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Times Change. The Need To Protect Doesn't. o RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES 9292 Jeronimo Road, Irvine, CA 92718 TEL: (714) 454-2100 ■ (800) 852-8569 (Outside CA) FAX: (714) 454-8557 ■ AppleLink: D3058 Rainbow Technologies, Ltd., Shirley Lodge, 470 London Road Slough, Berkshire SL3 8QY, TEL: 0753-41512 -FAX: 0753-43610 hether you're protecting frontiers and temples in Manchuria, or software and data on the PC or Mac, the Great Wall is a lesson Rainbow Technologies has learned very well. Software developers must deal daily with the consequences of unauthorized copies and millions of dollars in lost revenue. At the same time, both individual and corporate users must be able to make and distribute copies within legal guidelines. Today's information-driven companies must secure their data files against theft and unauthorized access. No less than protecting personal wealth and tangible property, guarding data files is a necessary invest- ment in competitive survival. Protecting "intellectual property' is the security challenge for the '90s. Which is why Rainbow Technologies builds a little of the Great Wall into every key it makes. For developers, the Software Sentinel" family of keys protects IBM, PS/2 and compatible software, while Eve™ guards software for the Mac. Rainbow's DataSentry™ is the solution for PC data protection. Software and data protection from Rainbow Technologies. Information on how you can have a little piece of the Great Wall to protect your software and data worldwide is as close as a toll-free call. Copyright © 1990 Rainbow Technologies, Inc. Circle 528 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 529) s s computer literacy will have a similar ef- fect—but possibly less. In the workplace, an increasing fraction of jobs will require more computer skills. Brit Hume: Well, I'm not sure it will strat- ify; it's hard to tell, because the people I know who are computer-literate come from all kinds of different educational back- grounds. It's not the kind of thing that you associate with the word stratification. I know people who are basically blue-collar workers and electronics enthusiasts, and re- pairmen who are hunt-and-peck typists, and I've been in their basements and seen their systems. I find it the most democratic and accessible of technologies, and it's ac- cessible to all kinds of people because it isn't very expensive. Jim Blinn: Computers now are cheaper than stereo sets to a large extent. A cheap computer, to the level of being able to understand what you expect out of [com- puters] , you can get for a couple hundred bucks. David Evans: It seems to me that there'll be wide ranges of literacy , as there are with other things. Dick Pick: Actually, I think it will be less than it's been in the past. I think that every- body is scared about technology as being evil, but once the data is out there, once the technology comes to this, I think it is going to have a tremendous impact on making the society freer. I think [that] in general, soci- ety is going to benefit from it substantially. Jonathan Titus: Well, my read is that it doesn't matter, because I'm not necessar- ily telephone-literate, yet [I can] carry on a pretty decent conversation, and I'm not fax- literate, but I can send something almost across the world to somebody else's fax machine. I think that the computer applica- tions will have to take into account the fact that unsophisticated people will use them, and be so easy and so intuitive to use that you don't have to worry about computer lit- eracy. People don't care about how things are stored, or where they go, or what the connectors look like. They simply want it to hook up and do what it's supposed to do as quickly and easily as possible. Andy Bechtolsheim: I read a survey that there are 6 ] /2 million people in the U.S. who have an M.S. or engineering or medi- cal kind of degree— professionals— that should be using some reasonably advanced computers in their work. I would think that, whatever job they do, what [people] will find out is that they're just that much more effective with the best computer support and tools. Jim Blinn: I don't know if it's computer literacy that's going to stratify [society] so much as it is just economics. Stewart Alsop: Computers are like auto- mobiles. I don't mean in a technical sense, but in the sense that they have some signifi- cance to society in general. I guess you could make the argument that automobiles have stratified society, but fundamentally we all have access to the value that cars pro- vide. I think computers are very similar in that respect. Ken Olsen: What comes under the title of computer literacy usually is more harmful than good. Playing games doesn't make you literate. If you really were computer- literate, you would know that transportable software comes from having a language [that] is disciplined. The computer-illiter- ate person is one who thinks that to have transportable software, you get it from a pegboard, bubble- wrapped, in a computer store, and you play it in any PC. That's na- ive. Playing a video game in a drug store is not computer literacy. It's fun. BYTE: Computer literacy seems to be a topic that splits you just about down the middle. How about its effect on education ? David Evans: I think we're going to learn a lot more about how to use computers as tools for teaching. I think we have a long way to go there. If you've tried to look up something in the Encyclopaedia Britannica lately, you can appreciate that maybe there is a better way of doing it. Bill Joy: I'm not sure you can improve edu- cation by giving people computers. I think you need to improve education by doing other things. Give people pencils and paper and good teachers, and [a positive] attitude around education. Computers are, like, fifth on my list to address that problem. Wayne Ratliff: Well, kids are a lot more adaptable than adults. Adults are the ones that worry about it. And I think it is going to happen naturally with kids. It will hap- pen in schools. There will be some, well, stratification, because not every family can afford a computer, although they are going to get cheaper and cheaper. Maybe at some point, maybe in 10 years, they'll be at the point where it will be just like a car— you can't live without it. Maybe if we get to a paperless society of some sort, then you just can't live without a computer, just the way you can't live without a car in California. Dick Pick: Well, I don't think they're com- ing anywhere close to being used as they are going to be in education. I think they can change education overnight if there was good software that supported that function. I think to do it right is still pretty compli- cated. But I think that what's going to have a major impact is when they really start using computers in conjunction with hu- man beings and education directly. Ryoichi Mori: The consequences will vary widely. For young people who seek a good job, it can be a life-or-death experience. Quite significant portions of education will be spent to give better computer literacy. Gordon Bell: You see, the problem I have with the computer [is,] I know what the im- pact could be. What bothers me is, I see the potential. I see what we actually realize, and it's 1/100 of its potential, in terms of being able to be, say, a universal instructor. I mean, what we have there fundamentally is something that can let any kid go off and do experiments in their own home. And that, to me, is the universal science lab. That's what we ought to be shooting for. Federico Faggin: I think it is very impor- tant to put a lot of emphasis on education. Not just because of the computer, but be- cause we have already seen what happens if education is not a priority in society. Gordon Bell: There's potential with the computer to do some fairly outstanding things by being able to use a machine in the educational process. But so far, the educa- tors, I think, have really shunned the ma- chine. To me, that's a "socio" problem more than a computer [problem]. It may be an economics problem, too. I haven't really looked at it. We ought to be able to lift the whole educational system up very rapidly if we sort of say everybody has to be able to understand at this level. Dick Pick: The only way you can really get people to build educational systems is if you entrepreneur ialize the education sys- tem, and that means getting rid of the way it works now, and putting it into a business environment. Then it would happen. I don't see that happening in the near future. It will happen. It will happen out in the uni- versities, but it's not going to happen as continued 306 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 THE FINE ART OF Seagate's Technology ;|H J M I'^TlTr £&* Neon Sculpture by LiliLakich Los Angeles, California T ilo the naked eye, ! disc drives haven't JLm changed much in the past few years. While the visible aspects have remained the same, the parts you can't see have improved dramatically What used to be mega- bytes are now gigabytes. And Seagate is at the forefront of this technologi- cal revolution. We've not only increased capac- ities, but we've found ways to make drives faster and more reliable. For example, Zone Bit Recording™ is a recording technique that permits higher capacity and faster average data transfer rates than conventional recording methods. Our straight-arm actuator has 60% less mass than most other designs, giving our Wren™ and Sabre™ families lightning-quick ac- cess performance. And by increasing spindle rotation 50% to 5400 RPM, we've significantly increased the transfer rate and reduced the latency in our 1.5 GB Elite™ drive. As a result of these and other technological improvements, Seagate now offers drives from 20 MB to 2.5 GB in the widest range of form factors and interfaces imaginable, for almost every conceivable applica- tion. And we're not through yet. Like the artist who spends years perfecting his craft, Seagate has spent the past decade mastering the fine art of disc drives. For more information, contact Seagate Technology. In the USA, call 408-438-6550. In Europe, call 44-628-890366, or Telex 44-851- 846218 SEAGATG. &P Seagate Zone Bii Recording, Wren, Sabre and Elite are trademarks of a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seagate Technology. Inc.; Seagate undine Seagate logo arercgistered trademarksof ScagatcTechnology, Inc. ©I'M) ScagatcTechnology, Inc. A Complete 386/33 MHz Cache System For Under $2000. 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Jonathan Sachs: It's kind of a fault of capi- talism as a whole that it doesn't go after the very lowest groups and try to provide ser- vices of any kind to them because they can't afford them. I don't think it's going to be so much of an obstacle that divides people- more of a reflection of the way society is. John Warnock: I think that that will defi- nitely be the goal, that less-affluent people will be able to get them. The costs would come down, and the performance would be there at the low end of the market, where if they didn't get them by purchasing them di- rectly, they would get them like they get cable TV. But, on the other hand, I know that there are very few people who can run a VCR. There are very few people who can run even the cable box that's on top of their television in any kind of a complete, func- tional way. The challenge of computers is to get [them] to where they are much more natural and easy to use. Bob Frankston: We go back to a societal understanding of what computation is. Those on the wrong side are going to suf- fer. And it's not so much economics as try- ing to explain what education enables you to do in society. If you're uneducated, you don't even know how to fill out a welfare form. I'm not saying if you're educated you don't need to, but there's a lot of societal mechanisms to help out, and to the extent you understand how to use them and you have skills that are valued, you have an advantage. Danny Hillis: I hope we're going to reach a point with computing where anyone who is literate will be computer-literate. And be- cause I think fundamentally a computer is no more difficult to interact with than a book, in one sense I think computer litera- cy will become much broader. On the other hand, I think we have a real problem with literacy [as a whole] . And I think that there is a danger that we are heading toward a two-class society— computers are just a piece of it— that of the people who feel in control of their destiny, and people who feel not in control of their destiny. Stephen Wolfram: I think it's up to the people in the industry to make sure that there isn't such a segment. It's like asking what's going to happen to the segment of society that can't understand how to use more sophisticated telephones or whatever. The answer is, you try to build telephones where people can use them. Really, it should be the case that absolutely every- body should be able to use a computer. Now, I think there will be a bunch of differ- ent levels of computer usage. Niklaus Wirth: On the one hand, [we] hear about unemployment, and on the other hand, we continuously experience that we do not get people for doing the work which should get done. And if you look at it close- ly, you have unemployment among the un- trained and you have great demand for peo- ple in areas where some qualifications, particularly high qualifications, are re- con tinue d S Quarter Inch Data Cartridge ♦ I Interchange J The QICPAK product range provides facilities permitting you to process and create %" QIC data cartridges under MS-DOS on the PC or PS/2. Interchange cartridges with mini and mid-range systems using QIC drives, eg aix, UNIX, VMS etc. No longer is your %" drive gathering dust until the next backup. Our VTAR utility creates UNIX tar compatible Backup cartridges and lets you interchange data the easy way, There's more. With QlCPAK-ll you can attach two QIC-drives to the system and perform an image copy of a cartridge with the VCOPY utility. This is vital when you have just spent hours waiting for that backup of your system. With QlCPAK-lll the sky's the limit. We supply you with the source code of all of our utilities enabling you to develop your own applications. Example sources: Microsoft X C ver 5.1 & Quick Basic, Turbo X C ver 2.0 & Pascal ver 5.0. ft ft ft ft ft ft I ft _ We can also provide complete subsystems with any of the QICPAK B, options. If you need help with y/ or ] k" tape then we have almost certainly ^T done it before, including data recovery from damaged %" cartridges, I J All support is given directly by the development group. X TEL X 44 734 890042 1r FAX: LI 44 734 890040 ^ VOGON ENTERPRISES LIMITED 94 Easthampstead Rd, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG1 1 2JD, ENGLAND t ft t ft t ft t ft t -a t ft t ft t ft t ft t X/Of^^KI ss ft ^m ^^^m ^2 ^^^W ^H NO SURCHARGE | W ^^^^ ^^^r ^^^^ ■ ^B FOR CREDIT CARDS ■ ft 94 Easthampstead Rd, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG1 1 2JD, ENGLAND ^ QICPAK-I $695.00 QIC-02 controller for the PC-Bus or MCA with the supporting device driver, Software is provided for data interchange and tape positioning. The utilities & VTAR are all provided as executables and in source form. Additional examples are given in 'C Pascal and Basic, QICPAK-II $995.00 QICPAK-I and a second PC-Bus or MCA controller. VCOPY in both executable and source with full documentation. QlCPAK-lll $1995.00 Includes QICPAK-II plus the QTAPE utility, giving the ability to extract data from the majority of popular tape formats, eg SYTOS, EVEREX, MAYNARD, MOUNTAIN, TAR, NCRTAR, APOLLO, IBM System/36 etc. For example you can directly convert from any of the supported formats and create a TAR or SYTOS cartridge, The source of QTAPE is not supplied. Circle 547 on Reader Service Card SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 309 PROTUjIBO 386/25 Outstanding, Even among product lines of exceptional quality, now and then one of them sur- passes every expectation. The ARC Proturbo 38(d m /25 delivers outstanding per- formance and value. It's powerful enough to serve many users if your needs involve PC networks. Yet, with its small footprint and price tag, it can still be considered a personal com- puter. So, if you don't need to share you can afford to keep it all to yourself. The Proturbo 386/25 so perfectly fits such a wide range of requirements that it has become the most popular product in our 10 year PC manufacturing his- tory. 386 is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. Before you buy too much or too little, visit your local ARC dealer and get a look at outstanding performance and value. SK IVI E R I CSK ISJ RESEARCH CORPORATION \W Austria Bahrain Bangladesh Denmark Finland France Greece Hungary Indonesia 222-934212 271-041 2-244179 31-304-500 52-609100 1-470-93636 1-361-3500 1-667688 21-380-4169 Iran Italy Kenya Kuwait Malaysia Norway Pakistan Papua New Guinea Peru 21-821-687 2-481-8913 2-746-044 242-1812 5-511-882 42-12560 21-521529 257-477 14-419860 Philippines Philippines Portugal Spain South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Switzerland 2-818-9329 2-817-1882 1-562-459 1-416-9412 11-805-3163 1-416-9412 1-574980 31-658-551 22-785-1000 Taiwan Thailand Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom USA West Germany Yemen Arab Republic 2-917-5269 2-498-4552 1-169-0230 4-224261 1-6844144 213-265-0835 40-660051 2-207721 Circle 451 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 452) quested. I think that the computer, unfortu- nately, helps in widening the gap between these two categories and even among the people in the profession. That gap will wid- en between very competent ones who have mastered their subject and those who just do it as a job from eight to five. Jonathan Titus: We still have a ways to go to convince the average person that there's a real, practical use for computers day to day, week to week, and month to month. Just as the telephone is almost indispens- able these days, I think that in the next, let's say, seven to 10 years, the home computer, or some form of computing device in the home, will be almost indispensable. Jim Blinn: It's just one of those things that you need to know how to do. Bob Frankston: Computers force you to rethink. Once you learn a foreign language, you understand English better. Well, com- puter literacy is the foreign language of so- ciety. It makes you understand the other things you're doing better. And that's what I view as the core to computer literacy and where the value comes toward dealing with society. Tom McWilliams: Actually, I think that in the nineties, we're seeing a great deal of increasing computing power per dollar. I think an awful lot of that computing power will go to make the user interface better. I think that in the nineties you'll see more voice input and more visual integration: imaging on the screen, so that you can mix things like live video on the screen with text and voice— if you can imagine, a very nice mail system where you could literally talk, type, or have a video in your mail. A lot of things I think will greatly ease the ability to use computers so that basically the com- puters will come more to the masses rather than the masses having to come to the computers. BYTE: What kinds of questions, then, does computer literacy raise for the fu- ture? Nicholas Negroponte: Will computers make your life better and your day more pleasant and so forth? My answer is, un- equivocally, yes. In the old days, the very wealthy had servants, a maid and so on, who did things for them. Having a gardener or chauffeur didn't mean that you couldn't enjoy planting a garden or driving. But you did have at your disposition a retinue of ser- vants who were there to make your life much easier. If one thinks of that as a model for computers— there are these agents that do things for you, [like] don't let the telephone ring in the middle of dinner, and are so interconnected [that your com- puter] knows your flight to Detroit is de- layed 2 hours, so it tells your alarm clock you can sleep a little later. Terry Winograd: Is the question one of technological determinism, or is it a piece in a puzzle? There are some people on each side: Some people who say it stratifies, and some people who say it empowers. What is the goal? To have a computer in every home? If so, computers will go one way. If it is for schools, computers will go another way. It is a mixed bag. Neither the Utopian nor big-brother fantasy [will] play out uni- formly. ■ SR. SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS & SYSTEMS ARCHITECTS Let's Get Right To The Point Central Point Software has become the world leader in PC Utility Software by pro- viding our talented staff with a stimulating en- vironment that has enabled them to produce such highly acclaimed products as PC Tools™. Our aggressive expan- sion plans have cre- ated a substantial number of immedi- ate openings for skilled profession- als to develop our next generation of software based on the new GUI inter- face for Windows and Pres- entation Manager. We are seeking profession- als capable of taking concep- tual ideas and implementing them into products. You'll be challenged todevelopsu- perior MS-DOS and/or WIN- DOW software in a profes- sional C, Assembler and/or C++ environment. Requires a BS or MSCS, EE or equiva- lent development experi- ence, and significant expertise in prod- uct develop- ment in an MS-DOS en- vironment. Located just min- utes from down- town Portland, in the beautiful and af- fordable Pacific Northwest, we offer exceptional oppor- tunities for profes- sional and personal growth in a casual work environment. Mail or Fax your resume to Central Point Software, 15220 N.W. Greenbrier Pkwy., #200, Beaverton, OR 97006. (503)690-2221 FAX. For questions, call Bob Clay COLr LECTat (503)690-22 17. Equal Opportunity Employer. Prin- cipals only, please. Central Point Software,*: Circle 465 on Reader Service Card SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 311 THE BYTE SUMMIT \ Dennis Ritchie: On Plan 9 An terms of the operating-system-re- lated stuff, [we're working on] a new system called Plan 9. It's not Unix, al- though the interface is rather similar. It's not an attempt to re-create Unix as such. It's an attempt at a fresh go. All the code is new. It's fairly highly distributed, and it's intended to be quite growable. A single configuration can grow gracefully into quite large ones by adding CPU servers and file servers and so forth. The computation tends to be split between both the terminal and CPU servers, [which] run a very similar version of the same operating system, and sort of talk to each other over some kind of a network. The intent is to be able to produce sys- tems that have a reasonable amount of CPU power nearby (within the display), that connect seamlessly to much larger sets of resources that are more remote (in particular, in rooms that can be air- conditioned and serviced by technicians instead of the user), and have this all done fairly smoothly so that you can't really tell by looking at it where some- thing's being done. And second, [do this] in a way that doesn't have all of the barnacles and so forth that have grown up over Unix over the years. The system itself is very much a re- search effort at this point. There's no thought certainly in the immediate fu- ture, or perhaps even the longer-term future, of having this [become a] prod- uct. It's very much experimental. In fact, it's not even the dominant platform for our own computation in the research group. It has some users, but [we're still] knocking off the rough edges and whatnot, so it's not universal. The ter- minal hardware that it runs on is very much like a diskless workstation. It has extensive memory and a CPU and mem- ory map and a network connection and a bit-mapped display, but the way in which it interacts with the rest of the world is more tightly coupled with the other resources. The main problem at the moment— the main conceptual problem— is that it looks like the communications band- width it wants is a bit too large to be con- veniently taken home. It works fine in the office. One of the things that we like very much about our current world is that the same facilities are available both in the office and at home. Moder- ate-speed phone lines are adequate for that. [Plan 9] looks as if it's pushing the edge as far as the speed is concerned, even though we're very hopeful that the phone company, speaking generally, can provide some sort of more adequate bandwidth. ISDN is the next hope. On the other hand, because this thing is new enough, the amount of engineering and squeezing has not been done that might be useful. It works fine at Tl rates, a megabit per second, and that's very much achievable in local context. It's also achievable at home, but it's ex- pensive. It's not as if you needed to be on an Ethernet. A tenth or a twentieth the speed of the Ethernet is sufficient. But that's still a bit rich for really far away, where you actually have to rent stuff from the phone company. And things like ISDN, those experiments should be coming fairly soon. [Plan 9] starts out afresh, makes some fresh assumptions about inter- faces and design. Editor's note: See biography, page 336. Nicholas Negroponte: On Future TV A here are a lot of things about the future of television, but one of the things we can say, unequivocally, is that it will be digital. And once it's digital, you can start doing a great deal more than our current sort of analog, rather outdated systems. I think that the merger, or combina- tion of television technology and computer technology, is going to happen within the next decade. Quite curiously, you have TV manufacturers right now who are putting more and more computing into the TV set, and you have every computer manufacturer you can name putting more and more video into their computers. And these groups are really not talking to each other yet. I think what will happen is that people who are putting computing into TV sets— I think they'll fail, be- cause I don't think the market is go- ing to help them very much. What's going to happen is that computing people who have started putting more and more video into their com- puters will find, 10 years from now, that they are the de facto TV set. Editor's note: See biography, page 304. 312 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Ed Yourdon: On the Future of Software Development w, e are building very different kinds of systems than we built in the 1970s. For one thing, there's obviously much more emphasis now on the user interface. I've heard Bill Joy of Sun Microsys- tems say that a typical software system today (you know, a windows, graphic- user-interface kind of world) has 75 per- cent of the code tied up in the user inter- face, and only 25 percent doing number crunching. You know, most of the earli- er methodologies provided no assis- tance—no guidance at all— for the user interface side of things, and it is such an obvious candidate for object-oriented design. Also, [earlier methodologies] pro- vided almost no emphasis on reusabil- ity, which many of us are now begin- ning to think will be one of the big solutions to the productivity problem. [Earlier methodologies] had a little bit of notation for showing a library module in the structured-design approach. But this whole object-oriented concept of in- heritance and subclasses and so on really , I think, causes a profound differ- ence in the way that people approach problems. If you watch your typical program- mer or software engineer who's grown up using, say, my methodology or any of the other comparable ones, you'll see that the way they approach a problem is by taking out a clean sheet of paper or a blank CASE tool and trying to invent a system from first principles, as if it had never been done before, because that's how they have been taught. Whereas, if you watch a Smalltalk programmer, given a new problem, he will immedi- ately say to himself, "This must be a specialization or a slight variation on something that already exists. Let me browse through my library and invent some new subclass that inherits a whole bunch of stuff from existing class structures." So the person who works with a good, strong, object-oriented set of tools inevitably will look at a problem as a design by exception or design by re- finement process, which is a whole dif- ferent way of looking at problems. So I think that [object orientation is] terri- bly, terribly important. Editor's note: See biography, page 366. 'The World's Most Accurate Mouse" Sleek, dependable and compatible. The PC Mouse III from Mouse Systems. Pin-point digitizer accuracy using patented M5 optics. Supports Microsoft™ MSC, and PS/2 protocols. 100% hardware and software compatibility guarantee. True lifetime warranty. Get your hand on the world's most accurate mouse today! \ Special a Introductory Offer Buy a PC Mouse III and receive a free copy of Power Panel™ the ultimate DOS utility shell. (PC Magazine Editor's Choice, June 12, 1990.) MOUSE SYSTEMS 47505 Seabridge Drive Fremont, CA 94538 (415)656-1117 The following are trademarks of their respective companies: PC Mouse III, Power Panel, Mouse Systems Corporation; Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation; PS/2, IBM. Circle 508 on Reader Service Card j Q 1 Buy our IBM-compatible color printer and get this Mac-compatible color printer free. The new Phaser PX Color Printer from Tektronix. Only $7995 The price is as much of a breakthrough as anything else. The Phaser PX offers PostScript-language com- patibility and 300 dpi thermal-wax color that s brighter and bolder than that of pricey competitors. And not only can you hook it up to an office full of PCs via serial or parallel, but it will also accommodate any Macs that might come along. Automatically switch- ing from port to port to keep everybody happy. Add to that certified PANTONE** Color that can be printed on paper or transparencies, and youVe got a color printer that will do more for less money than ever before. So call 1-800-835-6100, Dept. 11 J to find out how to get your hands on the new Tektronix Phaser PX. Then you can kill two birds with one color printer. The New TtektronixPhaserPX *Pantone, Inc.'s check-standard trademark for color reproduction and color reproduction materials. Copyright © 1990 Tektronix, Inc. D' fl I Buy our Mac-compatible color printer and get this IBM-compatible color printer free. The new Phaser PX Color Printer from Tektronix. Only $7995 The price is as much of a breakthrough as anything else. The Phaser PX offers PostScript-language com- patibility and 300 dpi thermal-wax color that's brighter and bolder than that of pricey competitors. And not only can you hook it up to an office full of Macs via AppleTalk, but it will also accommodate the PCs and workstations that might come along. Automatically switching from port to port to keep everybody happy. Add to that certified PANTONE** Color that can be printed on paper or transparencies, and you Ve got a color printer that will do more for less money than ever before. So call 1-800-835-6100, Dept. 11 J to find out how to get your hands on the new Tektronix Phaser PX. Then you can kill two birds with one color printer. The New TtektronixPhaserPX All rights reserved. Phaser is a trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned herein belong to other companies. Circle 539 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 540) Scalable fonts in a cartridge. No longer just a dream. © 1990 Pacific D.ita Products, Inc. Made in the U.S.A. Pacific Outlines is a trademark of Pacific Data Products, Inc. LaserJet i_sa registered trademark of Hewlott-Packird Company. Scalable type outlines are licensed from Agfa Corporation, Agfa Compugraphic Division. CC Bodoni and CC Palacio are registered trademarks and Shannon is a trademark of Agfa Corporation. Letraset is a registered trademark and Revue is a trademark of Esselte Pendaflex Corporation. ITC Bookman is a registered trademark of International Typefice Corporation. All other company and product names are trademarks of the company or manufacturer respectively. ^fe> 1 imagine how your documents would look if you could substitute ordinary printer fonts with typeset style fonts. Instead of Times®, you could use distinctive CG Palacio®. Or add flair with Letraset® Revue™. Imagine choosing from up to 51 differ- ent fonts, including CG Bodoni®, CG Palacio, Shannon™, Revue and ITC Bookman®, that can be scaled to any size, in quarter point increments from 0.25 to 999.75. You've dreamed about such things for your Hewlett-Packard LaserJet™ III. Pacific Outlines® make the dream real. These easy-to-use cartridges eliminate the need for soft fonts, accelerating your work and saving disk space. Pacific Outlines offer quality scalable type from Agfa /Compugraphic, and ready-to-use software drivers for several major software applications. Offered at a price that won't cause nightmares. To learn more, call or write: Pacific Data Products, 9125 Rehco Rd., San Diego, CA 92121, (619) 552-0880. FAX: (619) 552-0889. PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS Circle 520 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 521) n application isn't any less life-changing if it only changes a few people's lives. It still changes them as profoundly. —Jonathan Sachs T H E BYTES Oj J LL I What do you think will be the next "big one/' the next huge success, in the software world? Charles Simonyi: I don't know. What will it do for you? If it doesn't do something that the people are doing right now in great fre- quency, it couldn't possibly be that im- portant. Brit Hume: I must say that I do kind of root for some of these interesting new programs that they're developing to run under Win- dows and OS/2. There's a lotto be said for that kind of interface. It is easier to learn and use. But so far it's hard to see that there's going to be a massive migration any time soon to that sort of thing. Bob Frankston: The next step is that my windowing system will have animation as a fundamental capability. We know what we want to do, we know how to do it— we're just waiting for the prices to come in line. The challenge is always to do things a little more before most people realize they're economically feasible. Bill Stallings: Animation. That's some- thing that takes advantage of the capacities available, and the advances are being made in image processing and video processing. And applications that'll involve [anima- tion] can be things like training. It's kind of the next generation of presentation soft- ware—systems that would make it easy to put together animation. I think that that could have a really big impact in business. Jerry Pournelle: It'll be integrated multi- media stuff— make use of glass disks and visual images and music and sound. Tom McWilliams: If I had to speculate off-the-cuff, I would say the integration of live video and voice into some sort of tools to help you do your office work. There are a lot of companies that still have a tremen- dous paper mill, which is very inefficient. So I think that the computing horsepower is going to be there— and the network band- width—to help you really automate the office. We ought to get rid of interoffice mail. I think you can do it much better. The enhancements of video and voice on top of written text is a very powerful communica- tion mechanism. Doug Engelbart: Multimedia hypertext. I think it's going to be the way in which the electronic document, so to speak, is going to emerge, and it's going to be hyperdocu- ments. That's going to put a tremendous amount of pressure on standards for inter- communicating for the document that won't have it— a much more challenging era of standardization than I know of that we've done before, because of the diversity of the forms of what we call a document. Bill Gates: Group productivity, advanced mail stuff —a lot of opportunity there. And everybody recognizes that. The idea of dealing with heterogeneous information, the type of stuff you get in personal infor- mation management— I still don't think anybody's done a very good job there. Par- ticularly as we get these notebook ma- chines with handwriting and the graphics interface, there are some real opportunities to advance that. Dick Pick: Certainly, there is sort of a rev- olution going on now in the general area of visualization CAD/CAM. That's what's driving all those workstations out there, I would imagine. I would say that's the one that's kind of hot now. Doug Engelbart: I think [it's] the evolu- tion of portrayals and symbologies that we haven't really harnessed very effectively through all the decades and so haven't been a part of our general way of externalizing our thoughts and our communications. That's the part of the augmentation area that I think is just really, really [exciting]. It's like the means by which we can actu- ally transfer from our head into some kind of external model of what our concepts [are] and the communication we're trying to do and attitudes and feelings and the por- trayal back to us, whether it's by sound, smell, anything else (vision, three-dimen- sional, dynamics, others)— sensory im- mersion and virtual realities and all of that. John Markoff: I don't think I could name the exact application, but I think it's going to have to be in the communications area. continued ILLUSTRATION: CATHARINE BENNETT SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 317 The late Robert N. Noyce was president and CEO of Sematech, and vice chairman of Intel, which he cofounded. He and Jack Kilby are cred- ited as independent coinventors of the inte- grated circuit. Along with Kilby, Noyce was the recipient of the first Charles Stark Draper prize from the National Academy of Engineering. Kenneth H. Olson is founder and president of Digital Equipment Corp., the nation's second largest computer maker. He precipitated the movement toward smaller, interactive com- puters with the PDP-1, the first minicomputer, and has led DEC to a leadership position in networked computers and systems integration. I N N It's going to have to be something that can make communications extremely transpar- ent. And whatever the software is, it's got to be an order of magnitude more conve- nient than terminal-emulation programs or communications programs today. Bill Gates: In this client/server thing, the idea of seeing corporate data graphically, being able to browse around it very easily, and have it sort of remember what stuff you like to see and make it easy to call up. That whole way of seeing your corporate data- nobody 's really done very well with that. That's a big area. Some people call it data- base front end, but that's just because they're using the old label on a new thing. Grace Hopper: Ever since the early days of COBOL, something has disappointed me. I thought that when we designed CO- BOL, if you remember, we designed the ability to use the library— the subroutine. And I thought the Insurance Association would immediately get together and write all the subroutines necessary for insurance companies to meet government needs. It's never been done. Then banks never wrote that subroutine that would provide for all the reports. And those libraries don't exist. That libraries ability in COBOL has never been used the way it should have been. It should have been one subroutine. BYTE: Do you think there will be any other "killer" applications, like word pro- cessing and spreadsheets, that dramatical- ly increase microcomputer usage? Grace Hopper: Oh, yes. We haven't yet thought up all the things we can do with this technology, and how to match them together. Jim Blinn: We seem to be entering in the world of generic things, generic entertain- ment, generic music, and generic software. The one thing about the PC area— it's not necessarily IBM PC-type things, but other sorts of machines, Macintosh and what- ever—is the fact that you can get lots of dif- ferent software from lots of different places that can work together and can talk to each other, and the output of one can be used as the input of the other. This is a fairly re- markable thing from the computer end. Jonathan Sachs: I think there is a limit- ed number of generic product categories. A spreadsheet is a really nice generic tool. A word processor is probably the ultimate generic tool, because almost everybody writes at some point in their life. But I think it's a really rare event for a new prod- uct category like that to come into being. I think we've seen the big generic applica- tions. I think we've seen the specific appli- cations—you know, the sky's the limit. An application isn't any less life-changing if it only changes a few people's lives. It still changes them as profoundly. I guess the answer is yes, but not for everybody at once. Tom Kurtz: The chances of coming up with a product that will somehow take off the way the spreadsheet took off are really small. Dick Shaffer: I think stylus-based systems have the potential for important applica- tions. But you have to build a whole new class of machines before you can even get to that level of applications. I'm talking about the computer that takes the place of your notebook, takes the place of your diary, your calendar, your phone book. It is no heavier than the paper book you carry around, and it is more useful than that. It is your basic digital life organizer. I can see that as reasonable. At least three [compa- nies] in the U.S. [are in this field], and in Japan, every major vendor of computer sys- tems has a project in that area. Wayne Ratliff : But any breakthroughs you can't predict. Is there room for break- throughs? I suppose so. I mean, if someone could make speech recognition reliable— really working— that would do it. I think speech recognition is going to be what turns the corner on computers. As soon as they get as good as the HAL 9000, that number is going to squish to about 90 per- cent. It's going to do a flip-flop. It's going to become the inverse, the complement of what it used to be, in very, very short order. Rich Malloy: I don't know. I would say a product that would be a little different than what we're using now. A lot of products on computers allow us to do more work, but they also require more on our part. And what would be interesting is some kind of software that would allow us to do a lot of work with very, very little work on our part, sort of a work amplifier. Brian Kernighan: We have made progress in getting programs that are better, that run better, that have fewer errors, and so on, when we've been able to get machines to write them for us. Now, I don't see auto- matic programming, where you simply say to the machine, "OK, I need a program to continued 318 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 DR DOS 5.0. WE COULDNT HAVE SAID IT BETTER. r'^^^Ocv . P» ^ <*£3^ ^ a#* #«AW52iM 5 b ra^^d gr::^.^ -ptroUer 1 w-cost \ YMs at tfg> r ^ttv» tf* s^ v #» .^ ■^ *3&>tf>. i\\e ^"V^lcftV- tfv tffr Users \u.ngryfor^ w be lor Microsoft Corp. c m) is We operating , s say »i of and compaitf -flg fealU res \ planned »««_£« 1 thv feaun-e it. a i l u oWS user* 1 m^ nle ^'^cosoa°^ 1 ^ A"*?K w ..ewlXlSvcision shipped WSVSf'the very sa» that vers o « nW nt really "fC" proWcm vcconv men'Vvnt. ft » » " eonwU"* SWESE •— - ntvtcare^^^ our roemorS .? L , n d-uscv^- HorttoAm^^lort that DR- Beta testers refx r fea _ u.r« «°l ou ™ pes versions jn * icflO * * i^SiSES* 1V «* ily off So what's all the hoopla about? MemoryMAXt- for one thing. A breakthrough in memory management that can give you more than 620K so you can run today's memory-intensive applications, including, for example, dBASE IV. on Novell NetWare®. In fact, John Dvorak calls MemoryMAX nothing short of "amazing!' The Press goes on to mention that because DR DOS 5.0 is fully DOS compatible, you can run all your current DOS applications. And because it is easy to install and requires no hard disk reformat- to* ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Wev NewWave \^m^ .vSSce Elements U^o C++ V^eThfe Month Ufiyers Power To Programmers 1 ny peter Cottee ting, upgrading to DR DOS is simple. Since DR DOS 5.0 also includes ViewMAX™, a graphical interface, DOS is easier than ever to use. Now if we could just get a word in edgewise, we would simply like to add that DR DOS 5.0 is available now. Call us at (800) 848-1498 Dept. DR-44 today. DR DOS 5.0 Digital Research ® WE MAKE COMPUTERS WORK For Laptop and Notebook manufacturers, DR DOS 5.0 is fully executable from either RAM or ROM. And, it's available with BatteryMAX,., a battery-saving feature that can increase battery life 2-3 times (dependent upon OEM implementation). Digital Research is a registered trademark, and the Digital Research logo, DR DOS, MemoryMAX, ViewMAX, and BatteryMAX are trademarks of Digital Research Inc. Copyright © 1990, Digital Research Inc. Reprinted from PC WeekMay 14, 1990. Copyright ©1990 Ziff Communications Company. Reprinted with permission from The San Francisco Examiner. Copyright © 1990 The San Francisco Examiner. Circle 476 on Reader Service Card do this," and lo and behold, out it comes. But I think what we will see more of is places where people understand some corner of activity well enough that they can go from a specification of a solution to a working program to do it fairly quickly. I don't think we're ever going to get to the point where the machine will write all our programs for us, but we can do better than we're doing now. Jim Blinn: The one main software innova- tion that I've been most impressed with in the past 10 years, I think, is object-oriented programming— the fact that it enhances the stability, it could take little bits and pieces of a program— device drivers, interrupt stealers, this type of thing— written at dif- ferent times by different people, and have them still be able to be plugged together, if it's done carefully. OPTI-NET ® The software solution for network CD-ROM access OPTI-NET is the unique software-only solution for shared CD-ROM access for NetBIOS® and Novell's IPX®/SPX® based systems. And, the new OPTI-NET VAP version allows LAN-wide access to CD-ROM drives installed directly on a Novell Advanced NetWare® file server or external bridge. In addition, Online offers complete packaged solutions for CD-ROM networking. We're the exclusive distributor of the Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia ,M network version, now with VGA images! "On the performance side, OPTI-NET flies. It's fast, and ... it operates transparently/' M. Keith Thompson, PC Magazine February 27, 1990 Call Kim Mote or Cheryl McGarry at (800) 922-9204. In Maryland call (301) 428-3700. OEM, VAR, and distributor inquiries are invited. .WEEK January 8, 1990 Highest Rating! ONLINE Products Corporation Sharing Information Through Technology*" A Reed International Electronic Publishing Company 20251 Century Boulevard Germantown, Maryland 20874(301)428-3700 (800)922-9204 FAX: (301) 428-2903 Brand names and product names arc trademarks or registered trademarks of cheir respective companies. e haven't yet thought up all the things we can do with this technology. — Grace Hopper Paul Carroll: I don't think that there will be a next killer application, in the sense that spreadsheets, word processors, and data- bases were. There are some very powerful things that will become available. Multi- media is important, electronic mail is ex- tremely important, handwriting recogni- tion, and then maybe a decade after that, voice recognition will be important things. Groupware is also very important. It does not seem to me that any one of those things will be an isolated app in the way a spread- sheet is. I think electronic mail will be- come a part of everything. I think group- ware is a concept that will be folded into things. I think multimedia is a technology that will find its way into different things. Brit Hume: I think that it's interesting that we've had to wait so long for a major new application, and there hasn't been one in a very long time. And you see the efforts that people have made to develop something truly new, and what tends to happen is, we have glorified utilities being passed off as new applications. But when you get right down to it, it's not really an application, it's a housekeeping program. And I think the same can be said for some of the communi- cations software that has been loaded up with all kinds of wondrous bells and whis- tles. But when you get right down to it, a communications program in a sense is really a utility. It is not something you use to create work. It is simply something you use to move something from one place to another. Important, indeed indispensable, but it is not like a spreadsheet, a database, or a word processing program, something that can itself be the substance of your work. And we haven't seen anything in some time that would be a brand-new way to use a computer to create work. The last really new application we had was desktop publishing. ■ 320 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 518 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 519) Which terminal emulation keyboard would you rather use? i i- hi ran oo n? Fia pit rao iggffi gg %y ffi WM MA 7 12a 8 1 9 •J 4 5 6 1 2 3 fltMW&foiitmt* KBA l33£5 B*rt»t*»fc B. H'.Hrl I: i i I I l f- 1 lihkhl EI - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 - - 1 ^ew m- QWERTY U 1 P { } Return dr. [ ;.:„ A S D F G H J K L : "1 ■ ; ~ ;,. L i> z X C V & N M ! : / Oumeiar || '""■' 1 Hv * ♦ [ * ♦ \:}"\ 1 m « 7 Sam 8 9 4 5 6 't 1 op £ 3 UPOK _ Sar We thought so too. The PowerStation is an exact VT200/VT300 layout keyboard that plugs into your PC. The PowerStationbrings VAX applications to your PC without having to rely on messy labels. Here's the opportunity to standardize on one keyboard throughout your department. The PowerStationkey- board has been designed to work on PCs, XTs, ATs, PS/2s, and the AT&T PC. And you can switch effortlessly between real VTs and the PowerStation. The PowerStation eliminates keyboard remapping when you run PC versions of your favorite VAX applications, including EDT+, WPS-PC, WPS-PLUS/DOS, and nu/TPU. Andthe keyboard can be used with regular DOS applications. The PowerStation keyboard comes with ZSTEM 240 or ZSTEM 220 terminal emulation software for connecting to your VAX. ZSTEM 240 includes full VT241 emulation and complete VT340 16 color ReGIS & sixel graphics. If you only need text, ZSTEM 220 will give you fast, accurate and complete VT220/320 emulation. With KEA's top-notch technical support and documentation, plus a solid warranty, you can be assured of quality products backed by quality people. Find out why Digital Review Labs says KEA's PowerStation^ "a godsend!' Call today! KEA Systems Ltd. 3738 North Fraser Way, Unit 101 Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5J 5G1 Phone: 604-431-0727 Fax: 604-431-0818 Toll-Free Order Desk 1-800-663-8702 PowerStation, ZSTEM and the KEA logo arc trademarks of KEA Systems Ltd. A 1 1 other brand and product names arc trademarks or registered trademarks ol" their respective holders. © C opy right KEA Systems Ltd., 1989. A 1 1 rights reserved. Circle 496 on Reader Service Card T HE BY T E S U MM I T Bill Joy: On the Longevity of Unix X am always reevaluating what we ture of constantly figuring out what should do to keep Unix evolving. to change to keep the system rele- The system is the only operating sys- vant. I try to be a rabble-rouser, I tem that has been around for a long guess, to encourage people to con- time— it's like 20 years old— that tinue to change the system. So, runs on micros. we've got a big intellectual invest- The Mac system is maybe eight to ment in this sort of moving cloud of 10 years old. OS/2 is a year old. And capability that the system has. I DOS, maybe 10 years old. So, spend a lot of time doing that. That's [Unix] is the only one that has sur- sort of a social project as well as a vived 20 years, and it has survived technical one. because it reinvents itself. It goes through cultural renewal. Editor's note: I think we have a very healthy cul- See biography, page 262. / 322 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Grace Hopper: On the Value of Data Oince 1943, when the first computers appeared, we've gone after hardware. We've gone after faster hardware. Ev- eryone is worried about hardware. Along about '51, '52, John Mauchley came out with that first short code, and then came FORTRAN, then came CO- BOL, and we started the software world, and we developed the languages, and the user-friendly stuff, and every- thing. Nobody has yet looked at the data. There are clearly two kinds of appli- cations—two major classes of applica- tions. The big scientific/engineering re- search, which is largely mathematical in nature, [and] then there is the large data-processing world, which is largely arithmetic in nature. So, we never really designed computers for either world, because we wound up building von Neumann computers. And until we look at the data, we will not come up with a new articulation. I've been thinking about data flow and the different kinds of data flow. Now, sometimes data flows like rivers, sometimes it flows like that lava out in Hawaii, sometimes it's like a marching company of marines: organized, disci- plined. [And] sometimes it's more like the flow over the wing of an airplane, which gives the lift and has the turbu- lence to fly, too. We've never looked at the data, how it arises and how it flows. I think as we build these systems to compute, we'll become more aware of the data flow and more aware of types of data. For instance, the scientific/engi- neering field doesn't give a hoot about an alphabetic character. It is largely binary and floating. In data processing, it's integers and add, subtract, multiply, and divide: only arithmetic and com- parisons of those alpha-decimal char- acters. We haven't looked at the amount of work being done on data. Long ago, in the earliest computers, we discovered that you could always go faster if you had more space, more storage. We've never looked at the value of the data, the value of an education. Well, some of the stuff going through the computer is a heck of a lot more valuable to us than the other stuff is. Nobody has even gotten a little bit philo- sophical about the value of information: All information is good; put it in the computer and run it over the lines. We need to look at the stuff and what can we afford to lose, what can't we af- ford to lose. Part of it is leading us to- ward the future. Part of it's just a relic of the past, and so on. With just a nar- row look, we've taken these lovely com- puters, faster transistors, everything under the sun, better language, more software— pile it in. We never think of what we're doing it on. I think until organizations begin to look at the information, as long as .they look only at the computers and tele- phone lines that they control, they're not doing their job. They're not looking at the information itself. They're not look- ing at the value of the information. They're not looking at who uses it and why, the kind of information, what it does, where it comes from. The value is a big thing we've never looked at. Editor's note: See biography, page 257. I SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 323 t'san understatement, because hardware is astonishing, and software is primeval. —Ted Nelson THE BYTE SUMMIT Why is software so far behind hardware? Bjarne Stroustrup: Why are we lagging so far behind? I'm not so sure we're lagging far behind. I think people are skewing their comparisons. Niklaus Wirth: Well, first of all, I don't know whether software is so far behind hardware. It depends on what do you mean, "behind." I guess what you mean is that hardware technology has made such vast improvements— they give you 10 times the power for 10 times less money now— whereas software seems to become more and more expensive. Wayne Ratlif f : As soon as computers are made bigger or faster, you can take advan- tage of them almost immediately. In that case, we keep right in pace with hardware. I guess overall, I don't agree. I think that software is actually outstripping hardware. John Warnock: The systems are getting extremely large. The management of soft- ware and the management of innovation in software [are] extremely difficult. If you're looking at OS/2 and Unix and DOS, these are all 1960s operating systems. They don't have the concepts of really first-rate, ad- vanced-technology operating systems. The industry has to figure out a way of abstract- ing itself out of the current mess it's in. Wayne Ratlif f: Actually, I kind of came to the opinion that software's exceeding, out- stripping hardware fairly rapidly. Hard- ware is sort of always trying to keep up. We always need these 20-MHz and 33-MHz and 50-MHz machines to try to make soft- ware jobs that are already invented practi- cal. I think [that] the biggest point where software isn't really keeping up is not soft- ware's fault. I don't know if it is anyone's fault. But it's the fact that users have so much invested, there is so much momen- tum in DOS. DOS has a 640K limitation, software limitation, ultimately. That is really holding things up. Alvy Ray Smith: Well, it's very clear that we are going to have to tighten up our soft- ware act. I suspect that we'll have to do things like CASE tools and something equally important so that we can work to- gether. My own strong vision of how it's going to turn out is that picturing will be- come a major part of what you see on the desktop. And by picturing, I mean any use of a computer to make pictures. Jonathan Titus: I think it's just how we de- velop software. We tend to develop soft- ware the same way we did when I was pro- gramming PDP-8 minicomputers with 8K of memory. It's one instruction after the other. We really haven't yet gotten to the point where computer-aided software engi- neering or CASE-type tools help out very much. What we want to do is draw a grand picture of what we want to have happen, and work that down through our CASE tools. Michael Slater: But I think there will al- ways be an inherent couple-year lag in the software really taking full advantage, sim- ply because it takes a long time to develop sophisticated software. I don't think there's really any way around that. Stewart Alsop: That's a natural process. Software has to come after hardware. This is the chicken-and-egg conversation that people always have. Without hardware, software is nothing. Without software, hardware is nothing. But you've got to have the hardware first. You can't write the soft- ware until you've got the hardware, so there's always going to be a delay between hardware and software. Jim Blinn: In the past, somebody comes up with some hardware, and the software people can't do a whole lot until the hard- ware exists. They can do some simulations and so forth on other computers, but once the hardware comes out, the software peo- ple go to town and start doing things. Meanwhile, the hardware people are mak- ing something new. Before the software people have a chance to really exercise the existing hardware for all it's worth, that hardware is obsolete, and the new hardware comes along. The thing that is going to change that is some stability in the hard- ware end, like systems of machines that are software-compatible, VAXes, for example, or PCs or whatnot, so that software devel- opment 10 years ago still is relevant to the hardware now. Even though the hardware might be able to do more, at least the stuff you did 10 years ago is still usable. Tom McWilliams: First off, hardware at the level that the user sees [it] , mainly at the instruction set and so forth— architec- tures— have made advances. But, the ma- chines aren't radically different from what they were years ago. Most of the hardware 324 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 ILLUSTRATION: CATHARINE BENNETT advances have been driven by the underly- ing manufacturing process technologies: the ability to make faster, smaller transis- tors and so forth, rather than revolutionary ideas in hardware. The problem is that to change the language people program in re- quires that you retrain all the people and you rewrite all the software. Ted Nelson: In one sense, it's an under- statement, because hardware is astonish- ing, and software is primeval . On the other hand, hardware that can only chase its own tail is an empty exercise. The brilliance [with] which hardware has been built is mindboggling. The dunderheadedness with which we have been unable to do de- cent software is also mindboggling. Bjarne Stroustrup: Yeah, the hardware we have today is astonishing. I mean a pocket calculator can outperform the first digital computer. On the other hand, the user interface used to be, you took this paper tape and walked up to that monstros- ity to feed it, and the output came on a printer or in some cases some dots on a screen that you had to convert back from binaries to something digital. And these days, the user interface to the average user is this point and click and there's pictures coming up and there's network software that allows me to get a message deposited in my friend's mailbox in Lund [Sweden] in about 1 second. I'm not sure software's behind. Wayne Ratliff: There's certainly a lot of evolution and speed capability and capac- ity. I think that software, if anything, has gone through pretty giant revolutions. I mean, look at the GUI interface— that's just a dazzling thing that's happened in the last 10 years. John Markoff: I guess I think it's because it's not an engineering discipline. Software is closer to the act of writing literature than it is to engineering. For that reason, you know, there's good art and bad art, and it has to do with human creativity. I think the reason there are too many different inter- faces is, we don't understand how to do it right. BYTE: Do you think software's just more difficult than hardware? Is that part of the reason ? Dennis Ritchie: I think that inherently it's simply more complicated. It's possible to put more structure into the software. Any physical object has a natural size, beyond which you really can't push it. A micropro- cessor chip is a very, very complicated ob- ject. But, nevertheless, there is a certain size, and you know the size in advance. If it looks as if you can't achieve your objective within that sort of size bound, you simply say at some point, "We just can't do this." It fails. It falls over. It just doesn't happen. Either that or you keep it within the size. With software, there's always a tendency to believe that you can add more, and the com- plexity can simply grow almost without bound. Rich Malloy: I think the problem is basi- cally because the hardware is easier to do. It's much easier to get sidetracked in devel- oping software and to get carried away in various features and to go off on various tangents that take away from the current project, the current goal. Whereas [with] hardware, you're pretty much limited by the size of the chip and by the complexity, and people are planning much more care- fully about what the chip should do. Stephen Wolfram: Software, in a sense, requires a much more sophisticated design than hardware in order to work properly. What your piece of hardware is supposed to do is fairly well understood. The details of the engineering of getting it to [work] quickly and so on and cheaply, that's a hard problem, but it's a fairly well defined prob- lem. In software, things are a little less well defined. You take some general area like mathematical computation or something, and you have to design a system that can be effective in letting people do that kind of computation— that's pretty hard. David Evans: I think that we're building more complex systems, more complex soft- ware systems, than we are hardware sys- tems, for example. What's late now is the software— the systems stuff. And some in- fer that we don't understand it as well as we do the hardware, or it's more complex. Bill Stallings: On the hardware side, as you get into more and more complex appli- cations, what you need is a lot more speed, processing power, and a lot more through- put. And the transmission systems and the processing speeds, the storage capacity is continuing to expand at an extremely rapid rate. It's almost straightforward how you do that. You know that every x years you're going to multiply the storage capacity by a factor of 4, as far as things like RAM chips [are concerned]. And those are almost physics problems. But, on the software continued Seymour Papert is professor of mathematics and education at MIT. He is cofounder of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where his research led to the development of the Logo programming language. Charles I. Peddle is president of THStyme. He designed many of the more important and successful early microprocessors, including the 6800 and the 6502. Richard A. Pick is president of Pick Systems, which develops and markets the Pick Operating System. He developed the underlying con- cepts for the Pick system while at TRW during his nearly 30 years in the computer industry. S. PAPERT PHOTO: KRAMER PHOTOGRAPHY SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 325 Jerry Pournelle is a science fiction writer and a regular columnist and senior contributing editor for BYTE. C. Wayne Ratllff is president of Ratliff Software Production, Inc. He is the creator of dBASE II and dBASE III, the most successful DBMSes for personal computers. In 1 978, he wrote Vulcan, the precursor to dBASE II, on a home- built computer. F T W A side, how do you go from using a mouse to using voice input? That's a qualitative dif- ference, not just a quantitative difference. To keep driving to more and more sophisti- cated applications, you need quantitative improvements in the hardware and qualita- tive improvements in the software. And it's a lot tougher to do the latter. Charles Simonyi: It might be the case that software is inherently harder than hard- ware, and the usual argument [is,] "How come you know a bridge can be built on time but the software cannot be built on time approximately?" The reason is that a bridge includes a lot of repetitive compo- nents, like all the rivets are the same, and in software every time you seem to be doing the same thing, you either create a loop or create a subroutine. In principle, you never do the same thing twice in software. That is why I think it is the hardest thing in the world, because you never repeat anything. Brian Kernighan: It's too hard to write programs. It's incredibly hard to write pro- grams. We have to tell the damn machine too much about how to do things. We often don't understand it well enough to spell it out in detail. When you spell it out in too much detail, you lose track of what's going on in the details. It just doesn't work. The field is just riddled with examples of things that are too big, not well thought out, don't work right anyway, or are years behind schedule, everywhere. Dennis Ritchie: I think it's because soft- ware simply is able to grow in complexity and in size and without being easily pre- dicted how complex and large it's going to be to do a particular job. And there is no special bound to the extra stuff you're tempted to add. Donald Knuth: I think that software just has so many more problems to solve than hardware does. If you ask the hardware people to make hardware compilers or spreadsheets or whatever, they wouldn't be any better at it. Bill Stallings: I think it's because you're no longer dealing with a small, sort of elite trained group of people using the software. You're trying to make functionality avail- able to the people that are doing the work in an organization. And you're getting into issues like ease of use, and even more into issues like artificial intelligence to do that. Brian Kernighan: I don't know. I suppose you could argue that part of the problem with software is that it's, on the surface, so flexible that people get sucked into flexing it, spending all of their time changing, re- fining, and we'll just fix it up in the soft- ware thing. And you spend more and more of your time changing requirements for programs. Part of it is, perhaps, that it still seems to be an art form that everybody thinks they can do, whereas hardware is not an art form where everybody thinks that they're experts. Well, I guess it's partly natural. I do software, not hardware, so I think the software is necessarily harder. It's more macho to write software. Alan Kay: The best new software things I've seen in the last couple of years, I've seen in Japan. Software is not any more dif- ficult to do than hardware. Stewart Alsop: We got into a particular sit- uation where software got way behind hard- ware, because you can deal with hardware all you want, but you can't create standards without software. So, I'd say that over the next couple of years, by 1993, that we will have finally made our way through that transition. The gap between hardware and software will go back to a natural gap in- stead of the unnatural gap that we've had, of software being three and four years, five years behind the hardware, instead of just 1 8 months. Bill Gates: There's just some reasons it fell behind. It won't be behind. It will be catch- ing up. Stewart Alsop: The thing people forget is, this never has happened before. We have never had an industry like the personal computer industry. We've never had a product that was a multipurpose technol- ogy like personal computers. All other technologies before have been dedicated to a particular purpose. What makes PCs dif- ferent is they can be configured to deal with lots of different things. BYTE: That does seem to shed some new light on the subject Perhaps we're expect- ing too much of software. Doug Engelbart: [Software is] a different kind of challenge without the same bounds that the hardware thing has. And then, it's not as visible. To make an analogy, it's as though you were building something physi- cal—you have a limited number of kinds of parts and ways to assemble them, etc. There's still a lot of room for cleverness and design. But in software, you've got a continued 326 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 J. POURNELLE PHOTO; ROBERTA POURNELLE C. W. RATLIFF PHOTO: BRONSON PHOTOGRAPHY & Supports MS/DOS? OS/2? XENIX? UNIX? VMS™ Primos?AOS/VS?VOS? MPE/XL?iRMX* B* Links to Informix? INGRES? Oracle? Rdb? Share Base™ SQLBase? SQL Server* Sybase? xdb* J1BZZ BENDING OVER BACKmKDS WONT GET VOUR APPLICATIONS UP AND RUNNING When your front-end tools fall short, don't get bent out of shape. Get JAM, the user interface management system that goes far beyond the front end tools provided by other vendors. 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Availaata on ALL aandard tonnatt. 3.2/VER2.2 +++ AUSCOl ncin UKn |-L«irORM $875.(10 WORKSTATION n^.rw™ „n...,.w J NETWORK DEVELOPER $14.15.00 WORKSTATION DEVELOPER $ I5V5 ^srrc^ NO Compiling NO Programming NO Hassle C Source code is available if desired DESIGN YOUR OWN MENUES AND FORMS DATABASES WITO JUST AN EDITOR ON A TEXT FILE THAT GETS LOADED AT RUNTIME YOU ARE IN CONIROL OF EVERYTHING ON-SCREEN MULTI UNGUAL RUNS IN STANDARD ASCII BASED LANGUAGES: FRENCH GERMAN SPANISH ITALIAN FOR DOS UNLX&XENLX EXECUTES SCRIPTS PROGRAMS BATCH FTTFS SCREEN-SAVER TIMEOUT WITH OPTIONAL PASSWORD RE-EN'IRY , t might be that software is inherently harder than hardware. —Charles Simony i limitless number of complements you can put together. It certainly needs more disci- pline and methodology and tools, but it's tough, a much [more] wide-open intellectu- al problem. Charles Simonyi: Some of it is psychologi- cal, in that software people are very, very cognizant of the efficiency, or rather the lack of efficiency, in their product, where- as they are not very cognizant of the same in the hardware side. When we publish a product, we know how much it could be im- proved by extra effort. So, in a way, we al- ways feel kind of ashamed that we haven't exploited the absolute maximum that is of- fered by the hardware. But for all we know, the hardware hasn't exploited its own po- tential. It is very frustrating. how far the ideal in your mind is from the reality in the product. Niklaus Wirth: The point is, if only hard- ware would make these advances and soft- ware not, then my question would be, why not put everything into hardware? The fact is we have software because the custom tai- loring of the machines is so expensive that it is still much cheaper to use software than hardware. Gordon Campbell: I think the fundamen- tal limit is cost on the hardware side. I think it was Bob Noyce who somewhere gave an example a lot of years ago. He said that if the automotive industry had made the same kind of progress that the semiconductor in- dustry had, that today we'd all be able to go out and buy Rolls Royces that would get more than 1000 miles per gallon and cost less than $100. And somebody else added later that that's probably true, but the fun- damental problem, if we'd approached it the same way as the semiconductor indus- try did, is that we could put 10 of them on the head of a pin. ■ 328 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 485 on Reader Service Card This is NOT a Black & White Ad \ This is a two hundred and fifty six shades of gray ad. 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Stephen Wolfram: I think one of the things that is part of the issue is what the building blocks for making software actu- ally should be. Right now, most software is written in the C programming language or possibly some extension of that, and that's a pretty low level at which to create software. It's sort of interesting to think about, in general, how you can use high-level inter- active symbolic programming languages to build general-purpose-type software. Gary Kildall: I think that the actual brand-new language to replace something like C is really not necessary at this point, because C is sort of an intermediate— what I think of as an eye-level language and as- sembly language. And it seems to do the trick at that level. Esther Dyson: But the real issue is what you do with the software and the model of the system, and stuff like that. And so things like object-oriented programming and all these other buzzy terms will prob- ably get way oversold but, in the end, will probably really matter and be widely used. But they'll be so widely used that no one notices them. John Kemeny: I still believe you have a great advantage with a universal language. Bjarne Stroustrup: I think the idea of spanning the whole spectrum of program- ming with one language is absurd. It's like this strange notion some people have that there is one language that is the best for all people and all applications. It's crazy. Let's face it. It's like saying there should be exactly one kind of car and ignoring the fact that there's towns and there's country and there's trucks and there's fire engines, all kinds of things. Variety has its place. Carina McClure: I think right now what we see [in] the first half of the 1990s are what I would call evolutionary— not revolu- tionary—changes to software development, meaning that basically the same languages dominate, the same methods still domi- nate, as have dominated our industry since— what— the 1970s to 1980s. You are still going to find languages like COBOL, for example, being the number one choice for developing business applications. And you're going to hear a lot of interest in ob- ject-oriented techniques, and a lot of peo- ple beginning to use them and beginning to learn about them, certainly— but I don't think they are going to have a real major impact until maybe three to five years from now. And I see them sort of infiltrating our methods, and you see the traditional struc- tured methodology like Yourdon or some- thing extended to include object-oriented. So, rather than giving the old ones up and replacing them, say with object-oriented techniques, we see them being extended to incorporate object-oriented techniques. Alan Kay: I think the main thing is that there's no accounting for taste. The fact that COBOL is still around and going strong— even though it was obsolete by around 1965 or so, as far as a language with power [is concerned]— says something about the staying power of the familiar. Esther Dyson: But there has got to be a better way, and it's kind of halfway be- tween programming and natural language. Just as people don't think of themselves as telephone operators— they think of them- selves as dialers— people won't think of themselves as programmers. They'll think of themselves as trainers, just the way I spent [six months] training my secretary. Every day new problems arise, and I show her how I want them handled, and some- times I give her examples, sometimes I give her instructions. It's an iterative training process. So, in the same way, you're going to train your computer, both by giving it in- structions [and] having it watch you, but it will just feel more natural. Ten years from now, people are going to say, "Oh, yeah, training your computer— that's so intu- itive." And of course it won't be, but it will be taken for granted. Carina McClure: I think [developing soft- ware] is going to get significantly easier, continued ILLUSTRATION: CATHARINE BENNETT SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 335 Dennis M. Ritchie is a member of the Com- puter Science Research Center at A T& T Bell Laboratories. He designed and implemented the C language and, with Ken Thompson, created the Unix operating system. He shared the 1 983 A. M. Turing Award with Thompson. Jonathan M. Sachs is an independent software developer in Cambridge, Mass. In 1981, he teamed up with Mitch Kapor to create Lotus 1 -2-3. In 1 985, he established the Sachs Foun- dation, which has been active in land preserva- tion in New England and in Central and South America. Ken Sakamura (not shown) is founder and di- rector of the TRON Project, an effort spon- sored by the University of Tokyo to develop and standardize computers of the future. The proj- ect has already developed a real-time operating system, standardized interfaces, and a 32-bit microprocessor chip set. Professor Sakamura is on the information science faculty at the University of Tokyo. M M I N and I think one of the reasons will be that we won't be developing them from scratch, but we will [be] developing them from re- usable software components— I like to call them software chips sometimes. And ob- ject-oriented methods are really the first methods that we have where the concept of reusability is really an integral technique within object-oriented. And so, that is an- other reason object-oriented is important and will play, I think, a more important role in the future— because it really fits with reusability as a development strategy. BYTE: Speaking of object-oriented meth- ods, do you think that's a real movement or a passing fancy in the industry? Ed Yourdon: I think the industry is just be- ginning a transition into object-oriented methodologies— I would say that that is go- ing to be the big one in the nineties, as a replacement of the pure process-oriented methodologies, like structured analysis and structured design, and pure data-ori- ented information-engineering kind of methodologies. And that's something that I'm very much involved in right now, is the whole object-oriented paradigm, which I think the industry does need. Seymour Papert: Structured program- ming is good programming. In short, what's being projected there is a way of thinking that mathematicians like and many engineers who are mathematical in their way of thinking like. But it's out of touch with the sort of thinking of very many people, including many mathemati- cians who like to think in a way that's much more playful, less planned, less systemati- cally organized, more exploratory. Paul Carroll: I don't know of anything that would be beyond structured program- ming or object-oriented programming. It does seem to me that object-oriented pro- gramming is a very powerful thing that will take hold, and people are catching on to the idea that prototyping really is impor- tant. We'll see far more of that. Niklaus Wirth: I think designing in an or- derly structured fashion is inherent to all good engineering design. So whatever ad- ditional style differences will emerge in the future, I think a structured approach is mandatory anyway. I look at object-ori- ented programming not as something dra- matically different and new. There are one or two things that characterize object-ori- ented design, but, by and large, you work with the same concepts as you did before. It is not something radically new. [Except for] relatively isolated instances you can stick to your design methods that you have used before, provided that they are orderly and structured. Bjarne Stroustrup: What's lagging be- hind is, of course, education. People get these great languages, and they come out of schools. They're taught how to write a pro- cedure and to get real benefits of languages with inheritance, encapsulation— the good stuff. You need to start off thinking in a way that's appropriate to it. You have to actually do object-oriented programming, not just yourold style of programming with the funny syntax. And that again means that you have to design your programs to take advantage of those facilities. So educa- tion matters a lot. Design matters a lot. And then you get tools that support that. Bob Frankston: I tend to view things like object-oriented programming as overhype terms at this point. Yes, there's something there, but it's just a means, and it's just part of things. Jerry Pournelle: In a sense, Modula was object-oriented before anybody knew what it meant. And basically what's going to happen is the popular languages are going to get more and more like Modula. Niklaus Wirth: The crucial example is that when object-oriented preachers talk about numbers, for them numbers are an object of the class number. You can't add 3 and 4 anymore; you have to send the mes- sage to add 4 to yourself to the object 3. Now, this is certainly counterproductive, when you not only think in terms of com- puters, but it confuses people from what they have learned before. That would be counterproductive. Anything that you over- do is counterproductive. When such a new method comes up, I think one should learn to master that method and not become mas- tered by the method. Stewart Alsop: The biggest advance I've seen has been the Interface Builder in NeXT— where I've seen real programmers, in a commercial environment, trying to make software for resale, actually find that they had a real gain in productivity: Not in a false sense of programmer A can write 800 lines of code a week instead of 400 lines of code a week, but in the sense that they can take an idea and get from that point to having working code that can be tested and polished in significantly shorter continued 336 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 D. M. RITCHIE PHOTO: CRAIG HAMMEL J. SACHS PHOTO: STEVENlEWlS 286 and 386 Software! Replaces your 286 with a 386SX! 16 or 20 MHz SX Speed from $495 If you currently use an 80286 and are hamstrung by the 640K memory limit or need more speed, you owe it to yourself to try a Microway acceler- ator. 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Microway Corporate Headquarters P. Q Box 79, Kingston, MA 02364 USA TEL 508-746-7341 • FAX 508-746-4678 World Leader in PC Numerics UK. 32 High St., Kingston-Upon-Thames, 081-541-5466 Germany 069-75-2023 Italy 02-74.90.749 Holland 40 836455 Japan 81 3 222 0544 M M I N he biggest limitation is the failure of imagination that people tend to project. —Bob Frankston times. And the reason the Interface Builder seems to have an effect is not so much that there's an object-oriented development en- vironment, where you have componency you can hook together— which is part of it— but that it incorporates the notion of prototyping, as part of the development process, in a way that no existing computer language has [ever] incorporated [it] . Dennis Ritchie: One thing that seems to be happening is that people are getting away, to a certain extent, from the procedural sorts of things, which is independent of ob- ject-oriented and so forth. Maybe I'm be- ing unfair, but basically, that's a refine- ment or a variation of the same need of procedural programming, a little different style. But there are languages that are much more involved in data-flow things where the order of events is not so important but the grand flow of it is that data is passing by this program. That's something that I think is likely to increase so that, to some extent, [you're] increasing abstraction. Whether all this will make programming, as such, much easier for the average user, I don't know. I tend to doubt it. It's hard to see that it'll really make a gigantic change. It's not clear that the average user really wants to be a programmer, anyhow. BYTE: What do you think we mean when we talk about the average user doing pro- gramming? Bob Frankston: There's going to be a lot of empowering of the users in terms of pro- gramming so you'll be able to describe things better. I will give spreadsheets, of course, as an example of that, where the real thing is [that] you empower the user to take a description of the computer. There was a middle ground. The computer didn't speak the user's language literally, but there was a middle ground in which there was— I hate to be anthropomorphic— some sort of understanding. The key thing is, they both dance with each other. That's go- ing to be more widely available as com- puters get the power in terms of raw MIPS, and then we're going to handle some of the software capabilities. How do you give the user the ability to describe sort of interest- ing processes? Carma McClure: I can see where lots of packages go into the hands of end users where they take the design of the system and they play with the interface, and they change it the way they want it, and then they just generate the system that they need. Chuck Peddle: This thing about the con- cept of the program generator that lets peo- ple tailor programs— I have a strong belief that that is going to be important. I'm really surprised it hasn't done better than it has. So, I think that is a place to be looking for— the higher-level, tailored, specialized application. John Markoff: I think that we'll see tools that will permit the average user to custom- ize applications. Those are already there, and they are going to get much better. Apple's coming with stuff that will be built into the operating system. ToolBook is coming for Windows. Those are major thrusts in that direction for the nonskilled programmer. For real programmers, of ne- cessity, the evolution of the computer in- dustry is prying people away from the machine. Because programs have to be portable, people can't program in machine language anymore. Usually, there is still a penalty that is paid for that in terms of per- formance, but portability is more impor- tant than performance these days. Niklaus Wirth: I don't know what the average computer user is. A competent computer user should in the future be able to buy systems that he can relatively easily extend and adapt to his particular needs, if he has the competence to some program- ming. So good computer users will become capable of doing such extension— custom- tailoring— themselves. But perhaps that is not the average. Gary Kildall: Usually, when you get be- yond just the basic language, general-pur- pose language, you get into special-pur- pose kinds of things. What you're really trying to do is get a control language, and a language built to really express that partic- ular application fairly nicely. Stephen Wolfram: The problem is that in- troducing a new programming language is a serious kind of sociological problem in the sense that if you tell people, "We have this great new programming language," people will immediately say, "Look, we're not going to recode all of our billions of lines of FORTRAN code or C code, or whatever it is, in your great new program- ming language." And so, really, the only way to introduce a new programming lan- guage is in a kind of Trojan-horse type of approach: People start using it as an appli- cation program, but then kind of fall into using it as a programming language. Gary Kildall: C and most other languages are basically what we think of as top-down programming languages. You start with main(), and you start writing the rest of your program from there. But most of the things that are happening in embedded con- trollers and microprocessors now are exact- ly the opposite. It's all from the bottom up. It's all event-driven. And C and most other languages do not have that [bottom-up] perspective. Stephen Wolfram: I think one really in- credibly important direction in building software is going to be using higher-level languages. And I think the kinds of things one can expect to see happen in the next few years are things like being able to build graphical user interfaces and so on, using specification languages that are high-level symbolic languages, and being able to, for example, have some symbolic data struc- ture that you can manipulate interactively that represents dialog boxes, windows, and things on your screen. Gary Kildall: The improvements in the languages, I think, are going to be more oriented again toward some of the vertical markets, like scripting languages and things like that, where we'd have basic primitives that we build in something like C and just, you know, choose your favorite language. And then you build up languages that are really appropriate to the particular application that you are doing. Bjarne Stroustrup: People talk about Hy- perCard and such things— that's program- ming of a sort. They still edit from a profes- sional programmer point of view, but it's not meant for professional programmers. On the other hand, the casual programmer looks at something like C + + or even Pas- cal and says, "This is horrible. This is in- comprehensible. It's useless. It's too hard continued 338 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 We'll take your slats and mate you the most valuable player in your league. CA ^«H,GHL,GHrs. <"2ye ,s. CUStom erre^ nues38% ^ *an 20%! ' nCreaS,n 9 overage billi ngs by horded v.lth^'] 988 Data analysis software from SPSS gives your PC a winning advantage. It doesn't matter which field you play hardball in. With the right combination of equipment and ability, you can be a hero. You get that ability with SPSS. Whether your equipment runs on MS-DOS™ or PC-DOS™ OS/2™ or a Macintosh™ So you turn raw data into useful facts. And yourself into a smarter decision maker. With SPSS and its options, you can interface directly with data from your database, spreadsheet or other application software. Then manipulate it in countless ways. From data entry to advanced statistics, forecasting, presentation and more. Voted #1 by the fans. When the readers of PC Week chose the top statistical software for "user satisfaction" (12/5/88), their choice was SPSS. And no wonder. SPSS is designed not only for your computer's operating system, but also for its operator. With menu and help systems, plus an on-line statistical glossary. So you're always in control. For market research, sales analysis, quality control and more. And you can always count on the training, support, and ongoing upgrades of SPSS. Theteam that's come through for over 1 million users since 1968. Find out how SPSS can make you first in your micro league, by calling [312] 329-3315. We'll give you the numbers to really stand out in your field. SPSS inc. Best in the final analysis. 444 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611 SPSS International BV: Avelingen West 80, P.O. Box 115, 4200 AC Gorinchem, The Netherlands SPSSis a registered trademark of SPSS Inc. PC-DOS and OS/2are trademarks of International Business MachinesCorporation. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Not all options are available on all operating systems. Circle 273 on Reader Service Card Richard A. Shaffer is founder and principal in Technologic Partners, a consulting and pub- lishing firm, and editor of Computer Letter, a weekly financial newsletter about emerging computer companies. CharlesSimonyl manages the development of application programs for Microsoft Corp. At Xerox PARC, he developed the first WYSIWYG word processor for the Alto. Michael Slater is editor and publisher of Micro- processor Report. He also organizes the annual Microprocessor Forum conference, consults on microprocessor strategies, and conducts training seminars. M M I N to learn." It wasn't meant to be learned in 2 hours by a casual user. Brian Kernighan: I think what we'll see perhaps is that the set of tools that are avail- able to people are more and more flexible so that people will be able to tailor them to particular jobs, so that you could imagine that they're kind of like programmable tools. But the transition from not program- ming to programming should be very smooth— where the program may do al- most what you want right away, but, if not, you can fairly easily adjust it so that it does. Paul Carroll: I don't think we will see in the next 10 to 15 years lay people do any appreciable amount of programming. I think they'll do a little customization of their software, because software develop- ers will be able to cleverly hide that com- plexity from people. They'll just run peo- ple through a series of menus initially asking them how they want to handle some- thing or other. You could in some sense think of that as programming, although I guess I don't. I certainly don't think people want to go beyond that. BYTE: What kinds of changes do you think we'll see in the jobs that program- mers do? Stewart Alsop: I think programmers will become more efficient, but it will require a fundamental change in the approach to programming, and a lot of programmers are going to get waylaid by that change. Seymour Papert: Many of the kind of pro- grammers we used to call hackers (before the days when hacker was taken as a disrep- utable word) don't like to program in a structured way. They like to make some- thing, maybe quick and dirty, that works. That's another way of doing computation. Stephen Wolfram: I think also that the notion of who's a programmer and who isn't a programmer is going to get consider- ably blurred. It's already something that's happened a bit with macros for [Lotus] 1-2- 3, and happened— perhaps less than was hoped, but happened somewhat— with Hy- perCard. And I think that, increasingly, what one will see is higher-level languages where writing in them is not so much thought of as being programming. I think part of people's feeling about program- ming is [that] programming involves doing all of this quite obscure, very machine-ori- ented stuff, and that will be decreasingly true. Bill Gates: Programmers are always the professional people who might get at things in a different way. But these visual tools— these object-oriented tools— they are fun- damentally the tools we're going to use. The C of the eighties is C + + , with a li- brary of objects including visual objects and application objects. It means that huge portions of what you had to code before— the user interface pieces — are very easy to change how requirements work. You don't have to program all the algorithms about how you do resource allocation or what logic to use or how to categorize things. Niklaus Wirth: No, I think programming will always remain important. I still re- member 30 years ago when a colleague at Stanford asked me, "Can you imagine that you at 50 will still [be] doing program- ming? That's nonsense, you will move up somewhere. That is detailed, grutty work," and so on. And I have, together with a col- league, built a whole system, and I pro- grammed it myself, and I really enjoyed [it]. I found it terribly interesting, but it needs, somehow, a technical mind to enjoy this kind of work. Bjarne Stroustrup: I think that the world will be split up in what we call profession- al, or serious, programmers and casual programmers. If you look at history, then, people have always been talking about au- tomatic programming. They have been talking about these grand new languages that are going to eliminate the program- mer. It's always just the next technology around. But if you look, programmers have always been there. There has been a certain skill to it. To do a really good program, you have to know an application area, and you have to know something about the craft or engineering. If we're pretentious, or maybe if we've learned a little bit, we need both there. John Kemeny: I still feel very strongly that learning how to program is an essential part of understanding computers. I don't mean someone who is just going to use it for word processing. But if you are going to do any serious work on computers, you really ought to program once in your life. I've even argued that if they are never going to write a program later in their life, the ex- perience of writing a few programs, and particularly the experience of trying to de- bug programs, is a terribly important expe- rience in understanding computers. With- out it I don't think people have a feeling on how much they should believe of what comes out of a computer. ■ 340 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 M. SLATER PHOTO: MITCHELL RICE FileMaster Sets New LAN Speed Record. When we set out to develop the industry's first fileserver dedicated to Novell' high performance networks, we designed it to be fast. Starting with a 386 GPU running at 33 MHz, we added a 16.5 MHz, high speed bus. Then came our proprietary AISA™ storage architecture that actually increases FileMaster speed as memory and drives are added. How fast is it? In head-to-head competition against the biggest names in the business-AST, ACER and ALR- FileMaster won going away, with system throughput that measured almost twice that of the nearest NetWare 8 286/386 competitor. Now we are offering qualified sys- tems integrators an opportunity to take FileMaster for a 30-day Test Drive on their own Novell tracks. See for yourself just how much faster— and farther— a server can take you when it's designed for only one job: optimum Novell network throughput. It's not often a LAN speed record is broken. Or a chance like this is offered. So contact one of our participating FileMaster distrib- utors listed below. Or call us directly at (408) 879-0300. m Storage Dimensions, 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125. STORAGE DIMENSIONS U.S./GaLos/l'A: (BOO) 332-2222 Microwarc: (BOO) 777-2589 Micro Wholesalers: (BOO) 462-6002 MP Systems: (BOO) B54-BBB5 Tech Data: (BOO) 237-B93I Vilek: (BOO) 366-6655; CA\ADA/Star Peripherals: (800) 387-9772; UNITED KINGDOM/Am bar Systems, Lid.: 0296-435511; KELGIUM/Computer 2000 ItV/SA: 053-786125; PRANCE/Omnilogic: 01 -40052800; WEST GERMANY/Compuler 2000 AG: 089-76990161 FileMaster and AISA art trademarks of Storage Dimensions© 1990 Storage Dimensions Call me, Vm interested: circle 536 on Reader Service Card Please send literature: circle 537 on Reader Service Card One Word About Your Hard Disk Controller SLOW One Word About the PSI hyperSTORE Controllers FAST Intelligent Mass Storage Controllers Virtually all applications are disk bound. Today's PCs have over 60 times the power of their ancestors of just ten years ago, while hard disk performance has only just tripled. This makes mass storage the PC's worst bottleneck. PSI has eliminated this bottleneck with the hyperSTORE Caching Disk Controller, a sort of mass storage co-processor. The hyperSTORE does for disk-intensive programs what a math co-processor does for number-crunching software. Databases, f ileservers, multiuser systems, and other disk-hungry applications start screaming . . . frustrated users stop screaming! Call (800H86-FAST now to find out more about PSI's line of intelligent controllers. All you have to gain is time. hyperSTORE FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS Works in any 286, 386, or i486 system Simultaneous support for any interface: MFM, RLL, ESDI, SCSI, or AT/IDE Can control up to 28 physical disk drives 0KB to 20MB of SIMM-based cache memory Supports all standard operating systems: DOS, Windows, UNIX/Xenix, Netware, etc. Data mirroring option for fault tolerance No device drivers are required Perceptive Solutions, Inc. 2700 Flora Street - Dallas, Texas 75201 800-486-FAST ■ 214-954-1774 • Fax: 953-1774 European Inquiries: 415-284-9505 "This thing is literally faster at disk access than the original PC was at memory access." -Jerry Pournelle, Info World, June 11, 1990 "PSI has created the power user's ultimate Lego set for disk controllers: the hyperSTORE /1 600" -Alfred Poor, PC Magazine, June 12, 1990 "The real-world result will be blazing record handling from within a data file as well as unstoppably fast program loads." -Bill O'Brien, PC Magazine, February 13, 1990 C1990 by PSI. Ad rights reservgd. hypGrSTOREand tlie PSI logo are trademarks ol Perceptive Solutions. Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks ol their respective companies. Specifications subject to change. Ad Code: BY9009. Circle 523 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 524) TH E B Y T E S U MM I T Chuck Peddle: On Microprocessor Trends Be Pecause of the enormous installed base on the 8086 in the PC world— you've got a number estimated at 40,000 useful programs that are in gen- eral-purpose circulation, that use that architecture— for some relatively long period of time, probably through the end of the century, the continued sup- porting of [that] installed base will be terribly important to the marketplace. There's a bunch of ways you can get that done that are not necessarily buying the latest, hottest product from Intel; but, clearly, microcomputer systems, as op- posed to necessarily microprocessors, are going to include some member of [the 8086] family for a long time. Having said that, the next major thing that is driving the marketplace at this point is the fact that with the ASIC de- velopment tools that are available today, and the compiler generators, and the higher-level-language kinds of pro- grams that are going on and everything else, you're starting to see a family of what I call "customer-design general- purpose microprocessors" occurring in the marketplace. And they are really super-ASICs. SPARC and MIPS meet that definition. They're not strong enough and gener- al-purpose enough, and cheap enough, and so forth, to have as broad a market following as, say, the 6502, or the 8088 or whatever. But they definitely have enough general-purpose application that multiple people will use them, and there is some level of support for them. So, that's a definite market trend. I think [that] you will continue to see that super- ASIC with some level of general purpose, and I think this will probably be where we get the richness of the de- velopment. I think we will see just a ton of those coming out (a ton being some number greater than 10). And to the extent that, if Intel contin- ues on the track that they are on— of forcing the marketplace to pay higher and higher prices to Intel, who is then, at the same time, undercutting the very guys that are buying from them with their own end-product applications- there definitely is going to be some sort of marketplace rebellion against the level of control that Intel has. The rebel- lion won't be [an] overt "I won't ever buy another Intel chip" kind of thing. It will be that [vendors] slowly reverse this trend by building in some version of an Intel processor and putting in multiple general-purpose control processors for which they write all of their code. And they don't write any more code for the Intel processors themselves. And they use the Intel processors more as a com- patibility tool, a la the 1401 simulator on the 360. Over a period of time, may- be a decade, you reduce the dependency on Intel as your only supplier. Now, clearly there are some guys who are not going to take that strategy. The problem is that they are the guys who are always going to be bitching about [Intel's] price point and perfor- mance, and everything else. The Importance of Memory [On another front], the low-cost control- oriented product has not kept up with the growth in memories. They really haven't done it. What I am saying is that there isn't a family of products that are aimed at memory-intensive, higher- performance control. Some people talk about a SPARC doing that: It's the wrong solution. The SPARC, because it was a custom, was aimed at solving a problem of, "How am I going to get Unix running quickly; how do I run this C problem?" and so it is tied to memory in a funny way. And it's really not the right answer, but it is the best one around right now. And I really believe that that's a tre- mendous market opportunity. I hope we will see some number of general-pur- pose guys continue to play in the mar- ketplace, but solving a problem differ- ent than trying to take Intel on head- to-head. And I think if they don't, they lose. Memory technology continues to drive the processing capability we've got. So I think you are going to see the real focus on getting memories that are good enough to keep up with some of this processor capability and system ca- pability. I think that is where you are go- ing to really see a lot of the inventive- ness. If you wanted to make a general com- ment on the most important difference in the [last] 15 years, it is that the amount of money that's on the table in the industry, it's so big that it changes the rules from 15 years ago. The Payoff I think we have to back off and ask our- selves what human beings need. What's the human's problem? Human beings need different things than we are driv- ing for right now. And [that is] the other half of the thing I'm doing. I think that there is a human solution for how you use a lot of this technology that nobody else is working on. [I take that back]; there's too many people in the world to make that [broad a] statement. A lot of people aren't writing about the solutions that I think people need. I think that's important. I think that that is where the applications are going to come from. What do human beings need to do next? I think I know the answer, and that's what I'm working on. We are in the process of financing a company that has a chance of making a major market breakthrough, and we'll let you know if we get it financed. Editor's note: See biography, page 325. SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 343 THE BYTE SUM MI Ryoichi Mori: On Superdistribution X believe that the most fundamental breakthrough that will have huge ef- fects is the realization of the smooth dis- tribution of digital information. If we could establish a microelectronic meth- od to achieve this breakthrough, then it would have the effects [on a scale] com- parable to the breakthroughs that made the mass production of computer hard- ware economically possible. I have been proposing a concept— superdistribution— to realize the break- through. Methods to realize satisfacto- rily fair transactions of digital infor- mation either place limitations on the actions of users (e.g., prohibit the copy- ing of information) or keep and collect usage records that hold who has used how much of what software. Limiting the actions of users has proved very unpopular. It prevents the healthy growth of the software market. It is also widely recognized by most software manufacturers that it does not provide more profit for themselves. Therefore, the collection of usage rec- ords is the only way to realize satisfac- torily fair transactions of digital infor- mation. Then the task for us is how to realize it by making the generation and collection of the usage records as com- fortable as possible so as to be accepted by the users widely. For the next 10 years, there is little doubt [that] the semiconductor inte- grated circuit technology [will] keep the same rate of progress— that is, an in- crease of the integrating density of four times [for] each three years (1.6 times every year). If this prediction is right, social needs for the microelectronic technology to provide the smooth distribution of digi- tal information will become very strong. The reason [for this] is that the needs will become stronger as the scale of the software— or computer— market grows, and the cost of the microelec- tronic measure [needed] to realize that smooth distribution [will go] down rapidly. Editor's note: See biography, page 304. 344 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 The End Of The Me-Too Modem. mm g^ When it comes to high speed, dial-up PC modems- we mean the very compatible kind-chances are, you had to settle for one of those me- too modems that look and act pretty much the same, over and over. And over. Chances are, you also had to send your data at 9600 or 2400 bits per second. Or slower. With FORVAL's new IM 14400 internal PC modem, you can speed your data over the phone lines at 14,400 bps. And if you're really in a hurry, the IM14400 s data compression mode will deliver your files and images up to a very impressive 57,600 bps. That's significantly faster than most me-too modems around. FOKVRL IM14400 Internal PC Modem Me-Too Of Course, We Do Slow Things Down For The Competition. Being 14.4/57.6 kbps fast doesn't mean we wont slow down for the me-too's. With the IM14400 / s automatic step-down mode, well talk to themattheCCITT speeds of 9600, 2400, and 1200 bps. Whenever necessary. We also use the Hayes™ AT command set so you can run most popular communications software. The IM14400 is unmatched when it comes to innovative features and technologies. To ensure accuracy and compatibility, we've incorporated the latest industry standards: the proposed V32 extended transmission speed, V42/MNP2-4 error correction, and V42 bis/MNP~5 data compression. Weve also added FORVAL Turbo Interface,™ an extra safeguard to preserve data integrity at speeds over 19,200 bps. Me-too modems don't compare. The End Of Obsolescence. One more feature you wont find anywhere else is FORVAL- Link.™ This one-of-a-kind customer service lets you change or enhance the IM14400 s performance right over the phone lines. As your needs grow and new industry standards emerge (like 19.2 kbps), your investment is still protected, IM14400 Features: I 14 4 kbps (proposed V32 bis) I Maximum 57.6 kbps with V42 bis/MNPr5 compression ■ Error Correction V42 (LAP-M and MNP2-4) ■ Hayes™ AT command set compatible ■ Automatic/Manual fallback to 9600; 2400 bps and slower ■ Full duplex synchronous/ asynchronous operation ■ FORVAL-Link™ and FORVAL Turbo Interface™ ■ 5-year limited warranty ■ AVAILABLE SOON IN STAND-ALONE ANDRA K-MOUNT VERSIONS. \^ Call FORVAL toll-free today for more details. Do it now, and get a price that even the me-too modems will find hard ^ to match. 1-800-FORVRL-l FORVAL AMERICA, INC. • Modem Division 6985 Union Park Center, Suite 425 Midvale, Utah 84047 Tel: (801) 561-8080 • Fax: (801) 561-8777 ■': Copyright ©199D FORVAL AMERICA, INC.. FORVAL-Link and FORVAL Turbo Interface are . trademarks oJ FORVAL AMERICA, INC.; Hayes: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc.; MNP: Microcom, Inc. Circle 477 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 478) THE BYTE S U M M I T \ Esther Dyson: On Computers and Eastern Europe A. don't think you can go into the Sovi- et Union and Eastern Europe and make deals with the state-run corporations, with the industries that employ 60,000 people, 58,000 of whom are paper pushers. I think that's the wrong way to go about it. Compaq, for instance, is dealing successfully with individual dealers in Eastern Europe. I think computers will be an impor- tant agent for change in Eastern Europe. In the Soviet Union, for instance, you find many people setting up their own businesses— selling T-shirts, or farm produce, stuff like that. Now, with com- puters, you're getting the intelligent- sia involved in businesses. These are people who have felt useless— useless- all their lives! Do you know what it is like to feel useless all your life? Computers are turning many of these people into entrepreneurs. They are creating the entrepreneurs these coun- tries need. Computers are interesting and excit- ing. [That's why] they're important. If you're a trained engineer, you don't want to sell shoes, but you may find it exciting to sell computers. There is an excitement to computers that you don't find in other areas. I have done a lot of traveling in East- ern Europe recently— Hungary, East Germany, the Soviet Union. (I will never confuse Budapest with Bucharest again.) I'm organizing a conference, The East-West High Tech Forum (Bu- dapest, [Hungary,] October 21-24, 1990). I want to be the Ben Rosen of Eastern Europe— not by supplying capi- tal, but by bringing people together and supplying ideas and knowledge. The revolutions [in Eastern Europe] weren't brought about by computers— I think television was far more important in bringing about the changes— but I think that computers, the computer in- dustry, will play an important part in the economic revolution that will take place over the next 10 years by provid- ing the entrepreneurs [that] these coun- tries need to develop true market econ- omies. Editor's note: See biography, page 236. i i 346 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 475 on Reader Service Card — * The KEY to your OS/2 LAN SOLUTION INTEGRATE advanced word processing into your Mission Critical Application with DeScribe™— Word Publisher v2.0 CONTROL Your application launches and controls DeScribe via our powerful macro language. A Query and alert users. Chain macros and pass information between them. Compile and debug macros to boost speed. Write your application in any language with DeScribe. Review compiler messages. a Link Forge hot links between your database and DeScribe using Dynamic Data Exchange. Your DeScribe document automatically updates when the database is changed. Create the DDE link in DeScribe. DeScribe opens the source file. Map the keyboard. Add Hot Key definitions. Change the menus or invent new ones. Bind macros to keys or menus. DeScribe's graphical interface is easy to learn, easy to use. Word processing operators can expect to produce their first business letter in less than 1 7 minutes . . . without instruction. Features DeScribe's "next generation" word processor features add professional polish to your pages with features like: Unlimited UNDO Import art 1 Import formatted text 2 WYSIWYG display (means no surprises when printing) Multiple search and replace Multi-lingual spell check Thesaurus and definitions dictionary ► Protected text » Network Resource Management For Presentation Manager — ". . . DeScribe may be just the excuse you \ need to switch to Presentation Manager. y ' Eric Brown, PC Work/ , DeScribe rM — Word Publisher US$595. Language options US$149.95. In the United States or Canada, your local computer store can order a copy from Ingram-Micro D. Now available from your local computer store in France, Germany and United Kingdom. DeScribe, Inc.; 4047 North Freeway Boulevard, Sacramento, California 95834; 916/646-1 1 1 1, FAX 916/923-3447. 1 Built-in graphics conversion courtesy of HiJaak technology from Inset Systems. : Built-in text and format conversion courtesy oF Word For Word from MASTERSOFT , Inc. DeScribe is a trademark of DeScribe, Inc. IBM is a registered trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation. OS/2 and Presentation Manager are trademarks of IBM. HiJaak is a trademark of Inset Systems, Inc. Word For Word is a trademark of MASTERSOFT", Inc. At 33MHz,They Out PCInThe NCRS486/MC 33 Server perform Every Other Vforid Today Standard Features The Micro Channel™ Architecture NCR PC486/MC 33 and S486/MC33, They're hot, and they're available. "With thePC486IMC33 } NCR has introduced innovations in technology that will drive the market to still higher levels of performance. . .NCR is well on the way to accomplishing its goal of leading the pack in this technology" -personal workstation, fane mo. (< NCR PC 4861 MC 33 Shows Most Consistent Overall Speed Advantage" -pc week, June 4, mo. Our new NCR PC486/MC33 and its companion server are the hottest- performing 486-based systems in the world. According to industry benchmarks, our systems deliver a staggering 27MIPS. That's 32% faster than most 25MHz i486™-based PCs. Our systems come in either a small footprint desktop or highly expandable, floor-standing server configuration. And they're available now. Our performance advantage is made pos- sible by superior design. Both systems feature an NCR- designed Micro Channel chipset that lets you upgrade BIOS via software, without opening the system or changing chips. Both are optimized for multitasking environments. With intelligent bus masters for improved I/O and dual-ported memory for zero wait state per- formance. And SuperVGA graphics integrated onto the main processor board. The PC486/MC33 and S486/MC33 are ideal for compute-intensive applications like economic and financial modeling, CAD, statistical analysis, simulations, and networking. For more information, call 1 800 544-3333. We'll put you in touch with the NCR or Businessland representative, or other Authorized NCR Reseller nearest you. NCR Open, Cooperative Computing. The Strategy For Managing Change. Circle 509 on Reader Service Card NCR is the name and mark of NCR Corporation. Micro Channel is a trademark of IBM Corporation, i486 is a trademark of Intel Corporation. © 1990 NCR Corporation. 33MHz i 486 Microprocessor Micro Channel Architecture Software-Upgradeable BIOS Interleaved, Dual-Ported Memory SuperVGA Integrated On Main Processor Board High-Speed, Intelligent SCSI Coprocessor Worldwide Service and Support Available Now We're already thebiggest "■■■ ■■"•■■ ■ :!'■: * 'ii- ■ Wre already thebest. Wfe've already got more members. We already offer more services. So we decided to make some improvements. Isn't that just like us? Never satisfied. Even though CompuServe is already the best computer information service in the world, we're still full of surprises. Like the CompuServe Information Manager software. It revolutionizes the CompuServe experience for MS-DOS users. Now, you can do things like utilize a windowed PC interface with pull-down menus and dialog boxes. Or compose letters and read PC support material offline. Requirements for MS-DOS version of CompuServe: Hayes compatible modem and 640K RAM. Hard drive recommended. *Suggcstcd rclail price. Circle 469 on Reader Service Card All this for only $39.95*, including software and a $25.00 usage credit. Usage charges are as low as IOC a minute. And it's not only exciting, and breakthrough, and revolutionary, it's easy to order, too. If you're already a CompuServe member, just type GO ORDER. If not, see your computer dealer, or call us today. The new CompuServe. Now customized for MS-DOS computers. C^puS^. 800 848-8199 obotics and expert systems were easy by comparison to really understanding intelligent behavior and learning at the very early stages. -Nicholas Negroponte THE BYTE SUMMIT Why have we failed to come up with "real" Al? Danny Hillis: Partly what I think is hold- ing it up is [that] it's an extremely hard problem. We should not expect it to make progress in five years, or 10 years. It is fundamentally one of the hardest problems we've ever tackled. It's like the problem of understanding the mechanisms of life. And people aren't surprised that as soon as we got microscopes, we didn't understand life within five years. We're still understand- ing it. We still only understand some of the very simplest things. Jerry Pournelle: It's just tough— a damn hard problem, that's all. We don't know the algorithms. We don't even know whether or not we're on the right track to get the algorithms. Jonathan Sachs: I guess I'm not one of the people who say that computers will never achieve intelligence, but I don't expect it. I think it's a long way away, and they have to become a lot more powerful . There's a con- ceptual barrier that has to be broken where, somehow, you can write a program that is then capable of learning and becoming smarter than the person who wrote it. I think there's a qualitative difference be- tween that and anything that exists now. Seymour Papert: A small part of intelli- gence is called stupidity, and AI will go through this necessary phase. In the early days, though, we dreamed about big prob- lems. A big problem is thinking about the nature of intelligence. Once you could make a little system that could pay off, it could be used in the real world. But it drained off energy thinking about small problems. The long-term goal/problem is to make a really intelligent machine. But it may be the next generation before we can. Dick Shaffer: The role of machines is to do work for humans. Can you imagine if in 15 years or 500 years, people are parading in the streets, and instead of saying, "Do not kill animals, don't wear fur coats," they're saying, "Be kind to your machine"? I don't think I'm prepared for that, but it's not irrational. Nicholas Negroponte: The reason we have, so to speak, not produced the results in AI that people talked about is, in my opinion (and believe me, this is not shared by many people), that the AI community, about 10 years ago, started to work on the easy prob- lems and sort of abandoned the hard ones. They started to work on robotics and expert systems, which were easy by comparison to really understanding intelligent behavior and learning at the very early stages. Paul Carroll: Most of the initial efforts in expert systems were misguided. They were trying to duplicate everything that one in- credibly astute expert in one field knew, rather than tackling systems with broader applications— customer service or some- thing else. People have changed their fo- cus, and the work done in AI from now on will be more profitable. Rich Malloy: The problem is just that you're forcing one processor to do too much, and it's just overwhelming in the AI world. In the neural networks, you're bal- ancing things over a much larger number of very simple processors and therefore able to do more complex things. But I think the problem is not so much in AI, but the prom- ise that was hyped about AI. And that's just [that] people got carried away with it. But there are some benefits. There are some good expert systems that have resulted, and there's some good work being done. But a lot of the things that were promised about AI will probably end up being accom- plished with neural networks. Federico Faggin: One problem with A I, in my opinion, was the approach of relying too much on logic. And the second thing, [which] is secondary, is that the computa- tion power required to solve [the AI] class of problem is enormous. And it is enormous whether you use the old method of AI or the new method of neural networks. You need a form of computation that relies on learn- ing, and learning as things change in the real world without supervision, without anybody telling the machine what to do. All that AI has pursued is to break down a problem into its logical parts and compo- nents, and on and on and on. That's what neural networks are bringing— which is new— the notion that you don't have to pro- gram in the kind of traditional way and try to use logic. Although that does not mean continued ILLUSTRATION: CATHARINE BENNETT SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 351 Alvy Ray Smith is cofounder and executive vice president of Pixar, maker of the RenderMan 3-D graphics system. He has also been director of computer graphics for the Computer Divi- sion of Lucasfilm Ltd. William Stalling* (not shown) is an indepen- dent consultant specializing in data and com- puter communications. His book, Data and Com- puter Communications, Third Edition (New York: Macmillan, 1990), is the standard text in the field. Bjarne Stroustrup is a member of the Computer Science Research Center at A T& T Bell Labora- tories. He designed and developed the original implementation of C++. Jonathan A. Titus is editorial director at EDN Magazine and EDN News, which cover the electronics industry. He is credited by Robert Noyce and others with developing the first per- sonal computer, the 8008-based Mark-8, now on display at the Smithsonian Institution. that logic is not an appropriate thing. Logic is very appropriate for a certain class of problems, [but] not for all of them. John Markoff: In the seventies and eight- ies, the model was just wrong. They were trying to mimic things that humans do. Ex- pert systems that just basically use these decision trees that are stepped through— they have some utility, but it had nothing to do with the way humans think. I think the stuff that's going on in terms of neural re- search and neural-net computing is prob- ably much more promising, and it will be very interesting to see what comes out of that. They're going to be successful at making machines that can understand the human voice. Vision is going to make a lot of progress. But it'll come because you've basically got a new model of how humans function. Danny Hillis: I think that to me, artificial intelligence is making progress at a pretty respectable pace. In fact, we are learning quite a bit of stuff. I think we'll learn a lot moreover the next 10 years. It will become more popular in 10 years, and it will be- come less popular, and so on— it'll wax and wane. But it's a problem that I expect to spend the rest of my life working on. BYTE: Do we understand enough about the human brain to mimic it with com- puters? And if we do, do we have enough CPU power available to do it? Paul Carroll: CPUs need to become more powerful to facilitate developments in A I. I'm intrigued by a book that Roger Penrose wrote, called The Emperor's New Mind, in which he argues that people, in fact, don't understand the way the brain works, and are quite far from understanding the way the brain works. Without running through the whole thing, he argues persuasively that computers can only handle things that are computable, whereas the brain has ways of handling things that are noncomputable in the classic mathematical sense. He says that until we figure out ways to incorporate those noncomputable attributes, we will never be able to get a computer to duplicate the brain's process. Dick Shaffer: I think we have come up with machines that outperform people in many significant areas and will continue to do so. But we will not in the foreseeable future build machines that out-think the brain, for two reasons: (1) It's not worth doing, and (2) we don't know how. At a very fundamental level, we do not know D t a fundamental level, we do not know how the brain works. —Dick Shaffer how the brain works. We can't come up with programs that at a behavioral level have the same results, the same output. What happens in between we hope is irrele- vant. We haven't been able to produce spe- cific results that are indistinguishable from those that people get to by thinking. At that level, we can do things that seem intelli- gent, but that's not what most people really mean by thinking. Paul Carroll: People tried to tackle the en- tire problem all at once rather than break- ing it off and doing it in bits and pieces. People went through the logic that Turing went through or the logic you find laid out in Hofstadter's Godel, Escher, Bach, and decided [that], because we can do a map- ping of a logical system onto a machine, therefore we can have a computer think the way a human does. Seymour Papert: There are two obstacles in A I. Logic is the first one. It looks for a uniform approach: one thing that will be the secret— the clue (e.g., back propaga- tion, etc.). But there is no single theory about how the mind works. The second ob- stacle for AI is that it became a victim of its own worldly success. In the sixties, people had a global goal of big intelligence for big problems. You can't make the Society of Mind in small systems. You have to have really big systems. Danny Hillis: I think, certainly, even the most powerful computers today still fall far short of the information-processing bandwidth of the human brain. And I also believe that even if we had infinitely power- ful computers, we still don't have a deep- enough understanding on how intelligence works to solve the problems. I believe both of those are holding it up. Terry Winograd: This is right up my al- ley. One of the books that I've written, continued 352 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 A. R. SMITH PHOTO: MITCHELL RICE J. TITUS PHOTO. 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There is no risk You can return it for a full refund— anytime. Vermont Creative Software Pinnacle Meadows, Richford, VT 05476 Phone: 802-848-7731 Telex: 510-601-4160 John E. Warnock is chairman and CEO of Adobe Systems, Inc., the company he co- founded in 1 982. He has been a principal scien- tist at Xerox PARC. Understanding Computers and Cognition, published by Addison- Wesley, talks about lack of basic understanding of how thought works. Some people think we don't have to understand how the brain works. That may be true in certain respects. Computers cer- tainly do arithmetic better. The natural- language systems we have now can put lan- guage understanding in the broader sense. Nicholas Negroponte: [Natural language and speech input] should become practical realities tomorrow, because speech input does not require natural-language under- standing. There is a certain amount of speech control that does not require natural language. One of the things that have screwed us up a bit is that we have always coupled speech production and speech rec- ognition with natural language. Jerry Pournelle: The problem with natural spoken languages as they stand [is], "Time flies like an arrow," and "Time wounds all heels," and "There are flies on the fruit." You don't have any problem juggling all of that. We can understand [those sentences, but they are] very difficult for a computer to understand. And I really wouldn't want to predict when it will be that a computer gets sufficiently complex to figure that out. Nicholas Negroponte: There is a lot of room for speech I/O that we can do [that will] make computers much, much more interesting to use without getting into the other kind of what I'll call "transcription," where you're trying to go from the utter- ance to a full understanding of the text, at which point it doesn't make any difference whether it came from speech or typing. Danny Hillis: There is a big difference between understanding a sentence well enough to access a database and under- standing a sentence well enough to judge good poetry from bad poetry. At what point do you call the problems [of natural- language understanding and speech input] solved? I think that in some simple ways they'll be solved and put into practice in the near future. I think they already are in some very simple ways. And it will con- tinue improving over [the] decades. ■ Data Junction® converts data files! 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"Man's greatness lies in the power of thought" THE B Y T E SUMMIT Gordon Bell: On The Computer Museum A'm really excited about The Com- puter Museum [Boston, MA] at this point because its [latest] exhibit is a thing called a Walk- Through Com- puter. It's a many-times life-size com- puter. I mean, the monitor is, I think, 20 times real life. And it's got a key- board and some keys and stuff like that, and you go in through it and look at it and see a blown-up version of it with traces and green boards and all the other stuff. Then you go through a bunch of dif- ferent stations. For example, you go to the CPU, and the CPU is sitting there with a projection TV, about a 36-inch television set, and there are three views [you] can have of [the CPU]. One view is what's happening at the electron level: watching voltages change on the various parts of the chip. The second view— there may be a l's and 0's level, I'm not sure— but then the next view is of instructions moving around to carry all of that. And then the highest level is this manic view of the application [that the CPU] happens to be running. The application is a program called [World] Traveler, and you pick two cities, and it then builds a map for you and gives you a slide show of [points in between]. It's all done in MacroMind [Director] . You can go to the little disk station and find out how l's and 0's come off that, and what the commands are, and move to [higher levels]: "Get me a block, and get me a picture." And so you see all of these levels of how is it really doing it. It's a huge exhibit. I think altogether it's a little over 5000 or 6000 square feet. Mitch Kapor was a major donor to this exhibit and got it going. The Sloane Foundation was a major giver. A lot of companies gave both parts-in-kind and cash, so it was about a $ 1 ,000,000 ex- hibit. The neat thing about that exhibit is that [it] can be reproduced. That'll probably cost on the order of $200,000 to $300,000 to reproduce. It's a beauti- fully done exhibit. Ken Olsen and I started [The Com- puter Museum] at a Digital building in 1979. And then we quickly formed a nonprofit public institution. And so I think the museum is really happening now. The Smithsonian just opened their information exhibit, and it's got a lot of computer things in it. It's got a lot of ar- tifacts, but it doesn't focus on the com- puter the way [The Computer Museum] tends to. Editor's note: See biography, page 228. / / 356 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Goodbye, Paper Chase Hello, Instant Recall Drowning in Information ? All those phone numbers, bright ideas, schedules, reports, stray facts, and to-do lists aren't going to stop corning at you fast and furiously. You need a better way to manage it all So everything's organized and at your fingertips. 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Ready to use right out of the box Instant Recall comes ready to work for you from day one. An intuitive user interface and context-sensitive help make it exceptionally easy to learn and use. You don't have to retype information that's already on your computer — Instant Recall has a built-in clipboard for pull- ing information directly from other programs and ASCII files. Plus transfer utilities for Side- kick,® Tornado™, Memory Mate,® and delim- ited ASCII files. 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Tasks: for tracking and delegating, with pri- orities, target dates, advance notice. Schedule: for managing time— with auto- matic conflict checking, recurring events, week-at-a-glance display. People: for names, addresses, phone numbers, unlimited notes. With follow-up dates, auto dialer, address copy to any word pro- cessor—you'll never type an address again! Integrated views make connections for you, speeding your work Instant Recall lets you pull together notes, tasks, schedules, and people information on a single screen— by topic, date, person, priority, or embedded text. Instant Recall also brings time-sensitive items to your attention on any date you choose. You can set advance notice for upcoming activities. View overdue items. Or auto- matically pop up alarm messages over other software. Other unique features lighten your load Instant Recall is the only general purpose PIM which offers a pop-up activity timer, a phone dialer, alarm messages, scheduling and tasks for multiple individuals and groups, automatic conflict checking, advance notice, and recurring activities. Other convenient features include mailing lists and labels, direct copy of name and address to any word processor, overdue notice, follow-up dates, password protection, flexible printed reports, and a clipboard for exchang- ing text with other programs. Circle 466 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 467) Try Instant Recall free for 30 days Experience the difference Instant Recall makes— the remarkable gain in control, speed, and effectiveness. You can't lose. Because this cutting-edge PIM is completely guaranteed. If you're not 100 % satisfied, simply return it for a full refund— no questions asked. So order Instant Recall today. And be on top of things tomorrow. IIMFo l INFO WORLD I - WORLD j BEST IN ITS CLASS EXCELLENT VALUE Call toll free: 1-800-848-4970 r I want to eliminate the paper chase with xCS • Instant Recall. I understand that this inno- vative PIM is completely guaranteed. If not com- pletely satisfied, I may return it within 30 days for a full refund. Enclosed is my check for $99.95 plus $5.00 shipping and handling (AZ residents add 7 % sales tax). Name Address . City State - .Zip . Day Phone (_ -)- Check disk size: Q 5.25 " Q 3.5 " Charge my □ Visa □ Mastercard □ Amex Card # Exp Signature CHRONOLOGIC O O / N 5151 North Oracle • Suite 210 • Tucson, AZ 85704 Tel (602)293-3100 FAX (602)293-0709 Toll free: 1-800-848-4970 I BM09 I THE BYTE \ '■ A S U M M I T Carma McClure: On Object-Oriented Technology if you look at it, the smart program- mers—the really productive guys out there, the guys that are four or five times as productive as somebody else- have been using reusability as their se- cret weapons. It is practiced all over the place, but it is not practiced on a corpo- rate or department level for the most part. And what we are going to see is it [being] raised up to that level, not just the private domain of a few very fast people— very productive people— but really a standard way of doing things. And a repository is the thing that is go- ing to allow us to manage [reusability] in the integrated tool environment, to [make us] able to take advantage, take it out, analyze it, modify it, understand the impact of change, and all that busi- ness. And it is really going to [enable] higher levels of reusability. I am not talking about reusing a subroutine or a macro but a design specification, the ar- chitectural structure. I think that some of [the resistance to object-oriented technology] has to do with [the fact that] it's immature and it is still developing, and people are hav- ing trouble saying, "Well, what is it: Is it a language, is it a technique, is it a methodology?" And most people would say, "Hey, it is not a methodology, it is a technique," or "It is a way of looking at things." And I think that as you get into the use of workstations and PCs and the wonderful graphics we have, we are going in a direction of using more and more graphic techniques to develop sys- tems. And our tools [will] use graphic techniques. Object-oriented [technol- ogy] fits in perfectly with that kind of view of the world. What's the biggest obstacle to [get- ting] there? I think it's people. You can't succeed with any of this unless the organization is ready for it. It means from the very top you have to have man- agement support, give people time [to] change. People are always going to re- sist change, so you have to make this something that is exciting, that is attrac- tive, and something that they feel they need and that they really must do. So a lot of it comes down to really a man- agement issue, a training issue for the people. In order to move toward what I call higher levels of software automation in the future, you are going to be using more standardized systematic-type pro- cedures for developing software sys- tems; there is no way around that. You can't automate unless you can define and pin down the process, and so you have to get people to accept that and have a different view on where the cre- ativity lies. Creativity is really in solving the problem for the user; it is not in trans- forming a detailed design spec into the best performance code. So you've got to change that perspective on it, and I think that is going to be the hardest thing. I think it's getting the people pre- pared and ready to change, training them in good skills, like analysis skills, communication skills, and problem- solving skills. Editor's note: See biography, page 292. 358 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 Let NewGen satisfy your hunger for high-resolution with an affordable 800 dpi printer! Text for the menu was created in PageMaker, saved as EPS files and placed in FreeHaneL Add powerful applications like PageMakerf FreeHand® and Adobe® Type Fonts to produce typeset quality output at your own facility. The NewGen TurboPS/480 can produce PostScript® language compatible output at 800 x 400 dpi, nearly four times the resolution of other laser printers. And when we say PostScript compatible, we mean it, including Type 1 fonts, special effects and EPS files from all your favorite applications and programs. The NewGen TurboPS/480 is a complete printer with built-in AppleTalkf parallel and serial ports. And unlike some printers, it works in mixed Mac-PC 35QK The Images with Impact* clip art illustrations were edited with FreeHand and color was specified in cyan, yellow, magenta and black. The Apollo logo was created in FreeHand where the various elements were edited and combined Resolution close up, 18 point Garamond Italic enlarged 500% aaa TlirhoPS/300 TurboPS/360 TurboPS/400 TurboPS/480 Laser Printer Resolution in Dots Per Square Inch Circle 511 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 5J2) 300 x300 dpi 800 x400 dpi 600 x600 dpi LaserWriter II NewGen PS/480 Varltyper VT 600 environments, and it doesn't require an internal PC processing board or dedicated server. To show you how confident we are that you'll be impressed with 800 x 400 dpi output, we printed this page at actual size, including the menu which was output as color separations. What does all this resolution and compatibility cost? Very little. The TurboPS/480 - with 800 x 400 dpi and RISC performance - lists for about 25% to 50% less than its competitors, while our TurboPS/400, TurboPS/360 and TurboPS/300 laser printers cost less than slower 300 and 400 dpi PostScript language printers. If you have an appetite for high-speed, high-resolution PostScript language printing, call 714/641-8900 today to get your TurboPS evaluation kit. Dealer inquiries welcome. This ad was created and separated on a TurboPS printer. For information about its production, contact NewGen Corporation. 17580 Newhope Street, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 Telephone (714) 641-8900 FAX (714) 641-2800 NewGen, NewGen Systems Corporation. NewGen logo, TurboPS/300, TurboPS/360, TurboPS/40Q, TurboPS/480 are trademarks of NewGen Systems Corporation. Aldus PageMaker and Aldus FreeHand are registered trademarks ol Aldus Corporation. PostScript is a registered trademark ol Adobe Systems, Inc. NewGen's PostScript language interpreter is fully compatible with Adobe PostScript. All other brand product names are trademarks or registered trademarks ol their respective companies. S U MtM IT Andy Bechtolsheim: On the Acceleration of Change Wi hat's exciting to me is that the rate of change— the curve— is accelerat- ing. It's sort of a [feedback] cycle where we have these workstations— every en- gineer at Sun has their own SPARC- station now— [with] very good design tools— CAD tools— on [them]. People can just design better machines because they have better tools. Once we use those machines, we can design even bet- ter ones. So the machines and the tools available today help us design much bet- ter computers than [we could] as little as five years ago. And that is a fundamen- tal change. Also, the engineers are just able to get these things out. Obviously, things are not going to get simpler as we go faster. [The engineers] might have to do some very elaborate multilevel caches and some other things that need to be simu- lated very, very well, but 1 the tools are just so much better now than ever be- fore. [One such tool] actually simulates the electromagnetic wave of each trace on the PC board before you have a built PC board, and it tells you, like, if you have a reflection problem before you ever lay out the board. That was unheard of just a few years ago. That [sort of thing] just helps us to design faster machines more efficiently. Editor's note: See biography, page 228. /; DEMAND QUALITY iifr You've heard all about those "Super-Big-Number-One" cartridges. We've heard all about you wanting Solutions, not numbers. Introducing the Solution // ™ series of font cartridges, featuring the quality, hand- tuned fonts, most requested by demanding laser printer users. For those special needs, the Custom Solution II™ cartridge is custom engineered for your unique requirements. Your Custom Solution II™ cartridge will include fonts, logos, signa- tures or other graphic images. Mitchell Pacific Suite 1050, 10303 Jasper Avenue Edmonton, Alberta Canada T5J 3N6 Phone (403) 425-0100 Fax (403) 420-0900 rift jMitdlcQ Pacific Computer Services Lld.i Solution // tm Customer Inquiries Handled Instantly! 1964 Richton Drive, Wheaton, IL 60187 (708) 682-8898 Fax : (708) 665-9841 The time that it takes to send an interested customer more information, may just be enough time to have cost you the sale. Let FaxFacts provide information to your customers while the impulse is strong! FaxFacts delivers cus- tomer information while he/she is on a Fax phone. Call for the complete story or for a demonstration. DEMO NUMBER: (617)740-0025 PRESS: 1625000# names BENEFAX FastFaxts. 360 BYTE • SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 505 on Reader Service Card Have your cake and eat it too! With PO WERLan and POWERserve ... A peer-to-peer network with a dedicated server K| $0 You can have it all. The flexibility and simplicity of peer- to-peer networking with POWERLan®. The performance and capacity of multitasking, dedicated file service with POWERserve™. All to NetBIOS and SMB standards, mean- ing true compatibility with IBM® PC LAN and OS/2®. And all on the same network. .T.I In PC Magazine tests, POWERserve outper- |_J ™ formed NetWare® 286 hands-down. And they named POWERserve "the unexpectedly attrac- \mm\ _ tive alternative for performance, ease of instal- lation, and flexibility. . .the only product to challenge NetWare 386."* At roughly a third the cost. Corporations like Citibank, PG£rE Resources, Royal Bank of Canada, Trammel Crow, Nabisco Distribution Centers, H.J. Heinz of Canada, and many, many others already know how sweet it is. You can too. Call today and order POWERLan and POWERserve at a very scrumptious price. PERFOR/VMNCE TECHNOLOGY 800-825-LANS or 512-349-2000 See us at NetWork! booth #1654 *PC Magazine, "The Power Behind the Server," May 2f), 1990 I'OYVGRLan and ['OVVF.Rserve are trademarks of Performance lechnology, Inc. All other products mentioned are trademarks of their respective manufacturers. Circle 525 on Reader Service Card Northgate Elegance 386"Computers PC Magazine Editors' Choice Elegance 386 tops competition in hrfoWorld tests! NOVELL LABS TESTED and APPROVED NetWare Compatible Prices From $3299.00! ■ Fastest 386 system ever! ■ Flawless Software and Hardware Compatibility ■Outstanding Expandability ■ Unlimited, 24-Hour Toll Free Technical Support ■ 1-Year System Warranty ■ 30 Day No Risk Trial Fferformance and value that set computing standards for the 90's! Award winner in three speed classes— 33, 25, and 20 MHz! Sizzling Northgate Elegance 386 systems have won three PC Magazine Editors' Choice awards PLUS two Computer Shopper "Best Buy" recognitions! In 1989 InfoWorld tested and reported Northgate's Elegance 386/33 MHz system as the top performer in its class. Northgate widens the lead! In the May 7, 1990 issue of InfoWorld, Elegance 386/33 surged to the top again— soaring past Compaq, ALR, AT&T and a host of others— winning the "Best In Its Class" Award. Put this league leading performance to work for you! For as little as $3999.00 you can find out what industry experts and thousands of satisfied customers already know: Elegance 386/33 gives you more performance for the price than any other computer on the market! You'll see why industry publications rave! Top of the line— Elegance 386/33 MHz— four times a winner! Look at these standard features ... Northgate gives you both 1.2Mb 5.25 " and 1.44Mb 3.5 " floppies, 1Mb of RAM, one parallel and two serial ports, a 68Mb hard drive, a 14 " high resolution monochrome monitor, MS-DOS 4.01 and GW-BASIC installed and Northgate OmniKey™IULTRA keyboard standard. If that's not enough ... Northgate engineered the motherboard with 16Mb RAM capacity that's hyper- enhanced with up to 256K of 25ns read/write-back Cache— boosts the scorching processor power even more! Speed you must see to believe! Recalculations of even the biggest spread sheets are amazingly quick ... large databases sorts are short work ... even CAD drawings seem to appear as fast as you can release ENTER! This hummer is housed in a tower case with space for seven half-height storage devices. Or choose a desktop case with five half -height storage devices. Either way, a 220-watt power supply provides all the juice you'll need to operate your drives and add-in boards. Want even more performance? Here it is! Need more hard drive power? Northgate has options all the way up to dual-600Mb drives with 15ms access for a colossal 1.2 gigabytes of storage capacity! Want color? Well set you up with a 16-bit VGA display for a brilliant rainbow of vivid colors. More floppies, optical drives, tape backups? We've got 'em! Just tell us what you need ... Northgate will custom configure a system to meet your needs! We make 'em better ... we back 'em better! Use your Elegance 386 system for 30 days. If it fails to meet your expectations, return it-NO QUESTIONS ASKED! Support and more support! You get unlimited, 24 hour a day toll-free technical support. PLUS a full one year parts and labor warranty. AND, we ship replacement parts to you overnight-AT OUR EXPENSE- before we receive your troubled part! ORDER TODAY! Call toll-free 24 hours every day. Dont forget to ask about custom configurations, leasing and financing programs. Elegance 386/33 MHz System $ 3,999 00 Complete System Delivered to your home or office! For 25 MHz systems, prices start at $ 3299.00 EASY FINANCING: Easy payment options. Use your Northgate BigN, VISA, MasterCard ... or lease it. Up to five-year terms available. Elegance 386 System Features 25 or 33 MHz Intel® 80386 microprocessor 68Mb hard drive 1Mb RAM on motherboard; expandable to 16Mb 64K SRAM read/write-back cache; expandable to 256K Eight expansion card slots; one 32-bit, six 16-bit and one 8-bit Co-processor support High density 1.2Mb 5.25 "and 1 .44Mb 3.5 " floppy drives; also read/write low density disks 1 One parallel and two serial ports 14 " high resolution monochrome monitor MS-DOS 4.01 and GW-BASIC software installed Desktop, Tower and Jumbo case models available Clock/calendar rated at 5 years On-line User's Guide to the system and MS-DOS 4.01 220 watt power supply I year warranty on system parts and labor; 5 years on keyboard | FCC Class B Certified GALL TOLL-FREE 24 HOURS EVERYDAY 800-548-1993 Notice to the Hearing Impaired: Northgate now has TDD capability. Dial 800-535-0602. Jfo^JL W NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYSTEMS t L I Northgate Parkway, Eden Prairie, MN 55344 ©Northgate Computer Systems, Inc., 1990. All tights reserved. Northgate, OtnniKcy, Elegance, and t h c Nonhgatc 'N' logo arc registered trademarks o f Northgate Computer Systems. 80386 is a trademark of Intel. A 1 1 otter products and brand nam es arc trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies. Prices and specifications subject to change without notice. Nonhgatc reserves the right to substitute components of equal or greater quality or performance. All items subject to availability. Circle 516 on Reader Service Card Kncwled gePr p C Wit*«l© ws ) i r . : Sv ; ' :-,.:-- ^ Set into ttwltws F8ST! Microsoft ^WINDOWS. YfcrsionM Compatible Product r* * ± *''' ■*■■* * '■'* : i Interested m a product tor creating w widows appl icat ions . v eijLq nickly ? ■#• Ves ; No .'■ Hauls* 5 mm iatellimtit apptf cations Need high-level access to : ; Hyperaetlia? 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Call 518-766-3000 (FAX518-766-3003)for more information or write to: Knowledge Garden Inc., 473A Maiden Bridge Rd., Nassau, NY 12123 USA. Amex, Visa or M/C accepted. Another intelligent tool from Knowledge GARDENhc. KnowledgePro is a registered trademark of Knowledge Garden, Excel is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. IBM, XT, AT and PS/2 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp. *VideoWindows digital video overlay board by New Media Graphics. Circle 498 on Reader Service Card omputers are utterly subversive of dictatorships, because they're such a powerful instrument of communication. — Brit Hume THE BYTE SUMMIT What is going to be necessary to develop the new worldwide markets? Jerry Pournelle: Freedom in the world. That's an easy one. Stewart Alsop: I don't think there should be a world market for computers, because computers are only valuable in the context of the society and culture that they're being used in. I think what we'll end up with is three basic computer markets in the world. We'll have a North American market, and a European market, and the Asian market. John Markoff : My view of the next decade is [that] America will increasingly become a design center, and manufacturing will in- creasingly move to being close to the mar- kets that it serves. So, in that sense, it will be a very global economy. I don't think the high-technology industry is any closer to that than anything else. Gordon Campbell: I think as a nation we need to get much better at international selling and working as an international economic force. And that's something we haven't done as well as we should. Rich Malloy: Free trade is probably a more global way of looking at it. And when you open things up and you have a free market, I think you have a lot of activity and a lot of things going on, and it's very exciting. When you start to regulate it or overregu- late it, things start to slow down and move to freer markets. Jerry Pournelle: Well, you must under- stand, I think the American way of doing business isn't very American anymore. I think we have glued regulations on top of things to the point where it is silly. I think the FCC is the worst enemy of American productivity I know of in the computer business. Let me elaborate on that for a minute. In order to market anew computer, you have got to essentially pay tribute to the FCC of $20,000 to $30,000. That means you have to get into the hands of the "vul- ture" capitalists in order to get your com- pany going nowadays. Paul Carroll: The spread of computeriza- tion outside the U.S. will have a significant effect. It's obviously already happened to a large extent in Europe and at least Japan. But I think that what goes on in Eastern Eu- rope over the next few years will be impor- tant, and I think it will also be important to see what happens in parts of Southeast Asia. I think it's naive to think that this will all happen quickly. All you have to do is take a look at how long it's taken the Euro- peans to get as far as they have in terms of unity to see how slow the process will be. Ken Sakamura: If Japanese PCs continue the way they are now, I'd say they probably won't be any more or less successful than now. But let me stress that this is if Japa- nese PCs continue like they are now, i.e., [based on] MS-DOS or whatever the future operating system is. I don't think we'll ever see the day that Japanese PCs sell as well as Japanese VCRs or TVs, at least not in America. The problem with Japanese PCs is really software. It's the lack of innova- tive software that's holding us back. Charles Simonyi: I think the tremendous opportunity is that Europe is a tremendous growth area, in terms of market but also in terms of production. Certainly, we are rec- ognizing how quite a bit of our revenue comes from international business, and a large percentage of that is Europe. But the opportunity for producing software in Eu- rope has not been exploited yet. Gordon Campbell: Another strength that the U.S. has that we have to capitalize on is that the fundamental business language in the world is now English. That appears to be the common bridge throughout almost all of Asia. Even as we start exploring busi- ness opportunities in the U.S.S.R. and the Eastern bloc, English is again becoming the common way to communicate. So I think some of these fundamental things we really have to take advantage of if we're go- ing to be successful. Stewart Alsop: But there are two things that are important. One is that in an area like Eastern Europe, the problem has abso- lutely nothing to do with technology. The only problem they have is, they have no money. And if there's no money, there's no way to finance the development of com- puter technology. When it comes to where political changes are happening very rapid- ly, the fundamental problems are econom- continued ILLUSTRATION: CATHARINE BENNETT SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 365 Terry Winograd (not shown) is professor of computer science at Stanford University and is noted for his work in natural-language understanding in computers. Niklaus Wlrth is a professor at the Swiss Feder- al Institute of Technology (ETH). He is the de- signer of the Pascal and Modula-2 programming languages, the Lilith workstation, and the Oberon language and operating system. He is a recipient of the A. M. Turing Award. Stephen Wolfram is founder and president of Wolf ram Research, Inc., which produces Mathematica. He has performed research into the behavior of complex systems at the Insti- tute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Edward Yourdon is an independent manage- ment consultant and author, and publisher of American Programmer, a journal that analyzes software technology trends. He is known as the developer of the "Yourdon method" of structured analysis and design. ic and political, but not technical. And then the second thing is that while computing is fundamental and universal in that respect, it's also very cultural. I don't think it's pos- sible [to] design one [computer] and sell it in multiple markets without changing it. And I think it would be a pipe dream for the industry to believe that the computer indus- try will be homogeneous around the world. Computers are this sort of multipurpose ex- tension of the individual in that they have to reflect the cultural differences of individ- uals, of people living in different cultures and regions. Rich Malloy: It's hard to gauge how much the events of the past year have been the re- sult of electronic communication, but there must be some factor there. When you have information transferring so easily, it's hard to control populations. And so you'll prob- ably see a tremendous move toward free so- cieties who can pretty much try to rule themselves, as opposed to being ruled by a smaller society or an individual. And that's hard to stop; as Jerry Pournelle [says], you can't put the genie back in the bottle. Brit Hume: My sense is that just about anything can go now. They're going to need the hardware. But once they get the hardware in their hands, I don't think there is much you can do but stand back and hope for the best. Anything you can do to en- courage the ownership of microcomputers on the part of people in Czechoslovakia and Hungary and Poland and anywhere else is fine. Computers are utterly subversive of dictatorships, because they're such a pow- erful instrument of communication. My sense is that this will either take off on its own or it won't, and there's not a lot you can do to affect the outcome of that. The people there are either going to have the talent and the wherewithal to do it, or they're not. Philippe Kahn: I think that those are very intelligent populations, very highly educat- ed populations, who appreciate quality, etc., and are willing to do business on that level. I think that I see most U.S. compa- nies doing business in the Eastern bloc in better and better ways. Esther Dyson: I'm organizing a confer- ence, the East- West High-Tech Forum (Bu- dapest, [Hungary,] October 2i-24, 1990), which will bring together people in com- puters from the East and the West. I'm meeting personally with every participant in the conference. I want to bring business- people and small entrepreneurs from East- he fundamental problems are economic and political, but not technical. —Stewart Alsop em Europe together with people in the computer business in the West. BYTE: Do you think we will ever see a "global village" network? Brit Hume: Of course. To some extent we already do [have a global village network]. Some of what came out of China during the Tiananmen Square protest was coming out by modem, some of it by fax machine. So there is some of that happening already. I don't know what else it would take, but my sense is that it's almost here. Jerry Pournelle: You already have [a glob- al village network]. Getting closer. Ain't going to be that long. You know the Chi- nese don't quite know how to shut down the fax system even now. Arthur Koestler in 1946 said that the necessary and sufficient condition for the end of totalitarianism is the free exchange of ideas. Well, you can't operate without it. Dick Shaffer: If we see a global village, I hope I own vacation spots in [places] in which people can get cut off from that! Then what will be valued will be isolation. Paul Carroll: Even if we did all get to the point where we were hooked up electroni- cally, there would still be so many lan- guage differences and cultural differences that I don't expect to see anything ap- proaching a global village in my lifetime. Dick Shaffer: The only thing we know about the future is that predictions about it are almost always wrong. Not only in de- gree but often terribly wrong in direction, so, what I say, take it accordingly. I don't think a global village will occur, except to the extent that we can see via satellite real- 366 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 time photographs of what's going on in Vietnam. We know about assassinations in Israel the next morning— and to that extent, we're already a global village. John Markoff: I think we will never see a global village in the McLuhan sense. Mc- Luhau's view of the global village was very homogeneous, and I think one thing the computer networks are doing that McLu- han didn't foresee falls out of the nature of computer technology. Computers permit people to communicate in a many- to-many fashion, while television as a technology was essentially a one-to-many broadcast. And as a result, what the computers are go- ing to do is create tiny separate villages fo- cused on particular, very narrow passions that individual groups might have. BYTE: Is there anything else you would like to say regarding computing in the future? Federico Faggin: The next 15 years are probably going to be even more exciting [than the last], in terms of technology and application of technology, and even more. We will not be able to anticipate many of the things that we will be able to do. And if we look back at the last 15 years where we have had enormous surprises, and enor- mous impact of technology, well, we have not seen anything yet. And neural networks will play a role. Neural will definitely play a role in this scenario. Tom McWilliams: I guess the only thing I'd like to say is that, in the next 10 years, we're likely to see changes that are every bit as large as what we've seen in the last 10. And I think that advancement of com- puting on the chip will allow us to drive much better user interfaces, which will en- able you to make much wider use of com- puters than what we've been able to do in the past with the relatively primitive user interfaces. Rod Canion: You've really hit the high points with your questions. The key about it is, we're not at some plateau or some pinna- cle. We're just really on the increasing slope of what the importance and the im- pact of microcomputers is going to be in the coming decade. It's an exciting place to be. All of us in the industry recognize how lucky we are to be here, and [we] feel good about what we're going to contribute to so- ciety and to the world. Then, after about a minute of that, [it's time to] roll up our sleeves and get to work. There's a lot to be done. ■ LAPTOP & LASER MEMORY AT MEMORABLE PRICES We manufacture memory upgrade kits for COMPAQ, SHARP, TEXAS INSTRUMENTS and TOSHIBA LAPTOPS, and for laser printers from Dataproducts, Sharp and Texas Instruments. All of our kits go thru 100% QA inspection and functional tests/burn-in before they reach you. As far as we can tell, we are the only laptop/laser memory manufacturer in the world that actually bums-in each kit that leaves the assembly line. And that is why we can confidently provide each memory upgrade kit with a limited lifetime warranty and a 24-hour exchange guarantee. And the beauty of it is that, in the extremely slim case of failure due to mishandling, you never have to worry, because you can ask for an immediate replacement direct from us — The Actual Manufacturer. WE ARE PRESENTLY SHIPPING THE FOLLOWING MEMORY KITS: 2MB FOR TOSHIBA T1200XE $229 2MB FOR TOSHIBA T1600 $229 2MB FOR TOSHIBA T3 100 (T3 100/10) CALL 2MB FOR TOSHIBA T3 100/20 CALL 512KFORTOSHIBAT3100e CALL 2MB FOR TOSHIBA T3 lOOe '. $229 2MB FOR TOSHIBA 13 100SX $229 4MBFORTOSHIBAT3100SX(SEENOTE) $689 2MB FOR TOSHIBA T3200SX $229 4MB FOR TOSHIBA T3200SX (SEE NOTE) $689 2MB FOR TOSHIBA T5 100 $229 2MB FOR TOSHIBA T5200 & T8500 $229 8MB FOR TOSHIBA T5200&T8500 CALL 1MB FOR COMPAQ SLT/286 $169 1MB FOR COMPAQ LTE/286 $139 2MB FOR COMPAQ LTE/286 $229 1MB FOR SHARP PC-6220 NOTEBOOK CALL 2MB FOR SHARP PC-6220 NOTEBOOK CALL 1MB FOR SHARP PC-5741 20MHz80386SX CALL 4MB FOR SHARP PC-5741 20MHz80386SX CALL 8MB FOR SHARP PC-5471 20MHz80386SX CALL 1MB FOR SHARP PC-5541 $449 3MB FOR SHARP PC-5541 $749 1MB FOR TI TRAVELMATE 2000 CALL 2MB FOR TI TRAVELMATE 2000 CALL 1MB FOR TI LT286 MODEL 12 $229 1MB FOR TILT286 MODELS 25 & 45 $449 3MB FOR TI LT286 MODELS 25 & 45 $749 1MB FOR TI MICROLASER PRINTER CALL 2MB FOR TI MICROLASER PRINTER CALL 4MB FOR TI MICROLASER PRINTER CALL 1MB FOR SHARP JX-9500 LASER PRINTER CALL 2MB FOR SHARP JX-9500 LASER PRINTER CALL 1MB FOR DATAPRODUCTS LZR-650 LASER PRINTER... CALL 4MB FOR DATAPRODUCTS LZR-650 LASER PRINTER... CALL Note 1: Our 4MB Memory Kits are not ike same as having 2 sets of the 2 megabyte kits. So when you buy additional memory for your laptop or laser printer, INSIST on the one WE manufacture. T hats your only guarantee of ABSOLUTE PEACE OF MfND. tote-a-lap "Experts in portable intelligence" 550 Pilgrim Drive, Suite F Foster City, CA 94404 (415) 578-1901 • ext. 924 • FAX (415) 578-1914 Circle 542 on Reader Service Card SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 367 SIATops The List... Again 64K to 512K cache-memory motherboards sizzle at Landmark 150.2 in 486/33 models Optional ISA and KISA caching disk controllers run up to 15 | — | times faster than standard (feU^-l ?" ) iff t X i" ! 1' 1 '.'..\ i '"?; f _V ■ • -■■■■• • • ■•»• V < \i v-v- Removable, washable air filter protects against killer dust 450 watt power supply and thermostatically-controlled fans for trouble-free operation AMI BIOS features built-in setup and diagnostics; and 100% compatibility with Novell, XENIX and OS/2 Plug-in motherboard/adapter cage lifts out for fast bench service; also available in rack mount version Kuggedized tower design with — | hinged and liftoffside and front panels for faster maintenance When you're the industry leader, you've got to stay ahead. So after BYTE magazine named our computer the "world's fastest 386, " ' we took on the 486 world. . . and won again. SIA's 486/33C just topped the charts in the March 1990 issue of PC Computing? And no wonder. Our 486 computers feature motherboards with an exclusive high-speed cache design, using 64K to 512K static cache memory for zero wait state and a Landmark rating up to an amazing 150 MHz. And they're available with either the ISA (AT) or EISA bus, each in 25-MHz and 33-MHz versions. But resellers know it takes more than speed to keep ahead. That's why we offer them American-made components, 50+ hour burn-in, ruggedized construction, customization, AT hardware interchangability, and AMI BIOS to ensure compatibility and reliability. For the details, just take a look through the tower of our 486/33C. And we support our resellers. With exclusive channels, area leads, excellent margins, five-color brochures, double boxing, and 12-month warranties. Our complete line of high-performance 386/486 PCs fits your serious VAR applications in CAD, imaging, publish- ing and networking. And they're available in the con- figurations your client requires: desk, tower or rack- mount. So if you or your clients want the top in performance, reliability and speed, call SIA today at (312) 440-1275. 1 BYTE Editors, "Megahertz Madness,' f3)TE Hi M Special Edition (Fall 1989): p. 13. - PC Computing Editors, "111 lot 486s— Arc You Ready For The World's Fastest TC?" PCComputing (March 1990): p. 97. "<$ * Systems Integration Associates. The high-performance choice for the serious reseller. U.S. only circle 532 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 533) Systems Integration Associates 222 Kast Pearson Chicago. Illinois 6061 1 1975-1990 15 Years of Bits, Bytes, and Other Great Moments Witness to the birth of the microcomputer, its infancy, childhood, and adolescence, BYTE continues to press forward on behalf of its readers Gene Smart e and Andrew Reinhardt Gene Smarte is BYTE's se- nior editor for special proj- ects. He can be reached on BIX as "gsmarte. " Andrew Reinhardt is an associate news editor for BYTE. He can be reached on BIX as "areinhardt. " RESEARCH: AMANDA WATERFIELD ANDJEFFBERTOLUCCI TIME LINE INDUSTRY PHOTOS, 1984-1990: PAUL AVIS The founders of BYTE were clever enough— or lucky enough— to start their new magazine the same year the microcomputer revolution ignited. Since 1975, BYTE's history has paralleled that of the industry, reflecting its booms and busts, its hype and hubris, and, above all, its intoxicating energy. Before 1975, the drumbeats of change in the computer world were heard but not understood. Intel had introduced the first microprocessor, the 4004, in 1971, followed in 1972 by the 8- bit 8008 and in 1973 by the 8080. Nolan Bushnell of Atari revolu- tionized arcade games and later home entertainment with the Pong game in 1972, and that same year a group of Californians dedicated to demystifying computers formed the People's Com- puter Company. In 1973, Scelbi Computer Consulting created what was arguably the first microcomputer, the 8008-based Scelbi 8-H. But it was in 1975 that things really took off. MITS intro- duced the Altair 8800, computer clubs started springing up all over the U.S., and three chips that would dominate the early years of the industry— the Zilog Z80, the MOS Technology 6502, and the Motorola 6800— were all introduced. By 1976, dozens of companies had joined the fray, the first microcomputer confer- ences were held, and the Apple II was just around the corner. In the following pages, we replay the story of the microcom- puter industry, with a history of BYTE woven in. Compressing 15 years into 30 pages sharpens our hindsight; some products that made hardly a ripple at their introduction have gone on to become giants, while other stars have sunk out of sight. Most of all, it's sobering to realize that despite the fantastic rate of growth and change in the computer industry, we are still dealing with many of the very same problems today that we faced five and even 10 years ago. To provide a little perspective, we've also tossed in real- world events. As a reminder of how young this industry is, recall that the IBM PC hadn't even been announced when Ronald Rea- gan was inaugurated and that the Macintosh was introduced the same year that Michael Jackson topped the charts with Thriller. Perhaps we have all, at times, gotten caught up in compiler speeds or register definitions and lost sight of the big picture. In its early days, the microcomputer industry careened reck- lessly forward, often heedless of issues in the wider world. But now, computers increasingly shape the direction of our world, and as their role grows in importance, we must address important questions about their social, political, economic, health, and environmental impact. Follow our journey through history and you will see once again just how quickly the microcomputer has developed from a curiosity into a necessity. U.S. only circle 532 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 533) SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 369 1975 Computer Industry taMnfeiRI Your Aambfcr n YOU us* these SURPLUS KEYBOARDS? (You btt you can!) COMPUTERS- lAe Jftrfrft Gmitest Thy! SEFrEMBER BYTE's first issue! The state of the microcomputer industry, if you can call it that, was reflected in the articles BYTE printed. "Recycling Used ICs" and "Deciphering Mystery Keyboards" clearly showed that this endeavor was meant for low-budget hobby- ists. BYTE begins the prac- tice of reviewing computers by looking objectively at the RGS 008A microcom- puter kit, and Don Lancas- ter had an article on the "Serial Interface." As far as software was concerned, "Write Your Own Assem- bler" sort of says it all. Inter- estingly, this technically based type of article, appear- ing in the very first issue, was to become BYTE's hallmark. October-December The first Robert Tinney cover illustration. Over the years and continuing today, Robert makes insightful con- tributions to BYTE. Hard- ware projects dominated be- cause there were few commercial products avail- able and enthusiasts could hardly afford them, anyway. "Assembling an Altair 8800" and "Build A 6800 System With This Kit" demonstrated that a few manufacturers were trying to fill needs. "The Software Vacuum" demonstrated that today's cry regarding hard- ware outpacing software is nothing new. The Altair 8800 was fea- tured on the cover of Popu- lar Electronics as the "World's First Minicom- puter Kit to Rival Com- mercial Models." Consid- ered the first real microcomputer, it had an Intel 8080 processor, 256 bytes of memory, and a tog- gle-switch-and-LED front panel. The Altair sold for $395 (or $498 fully assem- bled), but up to $2000 worth of peripherals were needed to make it go. MITS shipped about 2000 of the machines in 1975. Pictured below right is the interior. < MOS Technology an- nounces the KIM-1, a $245 assembled single-board computer based on the 6502, with IK bytes of RAM, LED readout, cas- sette and serial interfaces, and a 2K-byte ROM moni- tor. BYTE's write-up says that the KIM-1 "will prove attractive to readers who are not inclined to fondle hardware extensively." > 370 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 WORLD Zilog announces the Z80 microprocessor, which will become the heart of the first major generation of non- Apple personal computers, the CP/M machines. It is available in February 1976. The Homebrew Computer Club is founded by Fred Moore in Gordon French's Menlo Park garage. Scelbi Computer Consult- ing announces the Scelbi 8- B, a successor to the 8-H. Both were based on the Intel 8008; the 8-B boosted memory capacity from 4K to 16K bytes and offered tape cassette and teletype inter- faces, an oscilloscope-type CRT, and a ROM-based edi- tor, monitor, and assembler. The Amateur Computer Group of New Jersey is founded. IMS International an- nounces the IMS AI 8080, an improved clone of the Al- tair 8800. MOS Technology an- nounces the 6501 and 6502 microprocessors, which cost only $20 and $25, re- spectively, versus $150 for an Intel 8080. The 6502 will later become the heart of the Apple II line. First issue of BYTE is pub- lished by Wayne Green and Carl Helmers. Objective Design an- nounces Encounter, the first microcomputer game, which is snipped in assembly language on paper tape. Wavemate founded; intro- duces Jupiter II kit. Southwest Technical Prod- ucts introduces the $450 M6800 computer kit, which has a serial terminal interface and ROM monitor. Paul Terrell and Boyd Wil- son open the first Byte Shop in Mountain View. Microcomputer Associates offers the JOLT kit (6502, 512 bytes of RAM, serial interface to terminal, and monitor in ROM) for $249. IBM announces the IBM 5100, a 50-pound briefcase- size computer with 16K bytes of RAM, BASIC, a 16- line by 64-character built-in display, and a magnetic tape storage system, for about $9000. Ted Nelson's Computer Lib is published. Bill Gates and Paul Allen write the first microcom- puter BASIC and found Microsoft. MITS announces its 4K- and 8K-byte BASIC, devel- oped by Gates and Allen. The Sphere I used a Motorola 6800 and offered 4K bytes of RAM, a key- board, video interface, and ROM-based monitoring, all for $650. Saigon falls. The last Apollo mission is a joint flight with Soviet cosmonauts; spacecrafts link and crews share meals and a press conference. The Concorde supersonic transport begins commer- cial flights. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 371 1976 Computer Industry BITE January All sorts of computer- related gizmos and interfaces for the home and other hob- bies were appearing, along with games. FEBRUARY Memory was a worry then as now, as evidenced by "How to Save the Bytes." And as microcomputers be- gan to find their way into more and more hands, one of the early scare-scenarios of the computer's proliferation moved from giant climate- controlled data-processing centers to desktops: "Could a Computer Take Over?" April More home control and other "We've got a com- puter, now what are we go- ing to do with it?" articles. Don Lancaster writes "How to Build a Memory with One Layer Printed Circuits." And now things are starting to get interest- ing with "The Magic of Computer Languages." JULY Despite advances, home- brewing was still in fashion with recycling "Coincident Current Ferrite Core Memo- ries," "Build a FAST Cas- sette Interface," and "Make Your Own Printed Circuits." August-December "What Do You Do With a Video Disk?" is a question that's finally getting an- swered today. Computers with voices were croaking in "The Time Has Come to Talk," and we looked at chips in "Microprocessor Update: ZilogZ80." Inter- est in computer games con- tinued to grow. Steve Ciar- cia first appears with "Make your Next Peripheral a Real Eye Opener" as part of a graphics focus in the No- vember issue. The 6502-based Apple I was a real bare bones com- puter: no case, power sup- ply, or peripherals. But Steve Jobs (right) and Steve Wozniak (left) took one to The Byte Shop, which ordered a few dozen on the condition that the kit be preassembled. Thus was born Apple Computer. V dr. ttolihs journal o\ ~"~ Tiny BASIC V^aiisthcnics \5 v^rthodontia mihtK Light Without Owrhylc 1 ****** *.»:j..i , .. .. ) * ..,_»..,. Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia: Running Light Without Overbyte pub- lishes its first issue. Processor Technology in- troduces the Sol, designed by Lee Felsenstein, a $995 kit with walnut sides and a metal case. The Cromemco TV Dazzler offered 128- by 128-pixel resolution, required 512 bytes of memory, and cost $215. 372 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 World First microcomputer con- ference: David Bunnell of MITS organizes the World Altair Computer Convention at the Airport Marina Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexi- co; 700 enthusiasts attend. Among the products intro- duced: the Cromemco TV Dazzler, the first microcom- puter color graphics board. Texas Instruments an- nounces the TMS9000, the first 16-bit microprocessor. Apple Computer is formed. Steve Jobs and Steve Woz- niak show the Apple I computer to the Homebrew Computer Club. The first computer trade show of national scope: the Personal Computing Festi- val held in the Shelbourne Hotel in Atlantic City; Jobs demos the Apple, and the S- 100 bus used in the Altair and IMSAI acquires its name. Steve Wozniak proposes to Hewlett-Packard that it create a personal computer. Steve Jobs proposes the same to Atari. Both are rejected. PolyMorphic Systems ad- vertises the Poly 88, an 8080 machine based on the S-100 bus with 512 bytes of RAM, interfaces for video, key- board, and cassette, and IK bytes of ROM for $685 in kit form. Michael Shrayer writes Electric Pencil, the first word processor for microcomputers. Crowther and Wood develop the first Adventure game for microcomputers. Cromemco introduces Z-l, the first Z80-based system, with 8K bytes of RAM and serial I/O for $2495. At the urging of Creative Computing editor David A hi, the NCC show for the first time devotes a day of conference sessions to microcomputers. RCA introduces the 1802 microprocessor. It is later used in the RCA COS- MAC VIP system, which was developed by Joseph Weisbecker from a design he pioneered five years before called FRED. The COSMAC included 2K bytes of RAM, 512 bytes of ROM, a hexadecimal key- pad, and interfaces for video, cassette, and audio. RCA later exited the computer business. Viking I (July 20) and Viking II (Sept. 3) land on Mars and send back striking photographs of a barren, rocky landscape. Chao-En Lai dies in China at 78. Mao Tse-tung, the father of the Chinese revolution, dies at 82. Israeli commandos rescue 104 hostages held captive at the Entebbe airport by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. The King Tut exhibit, first of the blockbuster art shows, opens in Washington, D.C. Shugart announces its S^-inch "minifloppy" disk drive for $390. Summer Olympics in Montreal: 14-year old Romanian pixie Nadia Comaneci wins five perfect 10s in gymnastics. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 373 1977 Computer Industry BITE January-February "Build the 'Coffee Can Special' EROM Eraser" and "Build This Economy Flop- py Disk Interface" say it all. "Tiny" was operative with "A Review of Tom Pitman's Tiny BASIC." May Steve Wozniak provides a description of "The Apple II," introduced, along with the Commodore PET, at the first West Coast Computer Faire in April. July-December Microcomputers were still looking for jobs in "How to Computerize Your Model Railroad." "Speech Recog- nition for a Personal Com- puter System" showed that this area was under explo- ration. Also, "SCORTOS: Implementation of a Music Language" and "Techniques for Computer Performances of Music" reflected this growing field. Although BASIC and assembly lan- guage dominated, "C: A language for Microproces- sors?" hinted at things to come. Games such as Othel- lo, Mastermind, NIM, and others appeared. Homebrew- ing continued to be a focal point in BYTE with the intro- duction of Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar. The Apple II used a 6502 and offered 16K bytes of RAM (expandable to 48K),16K bytes of ROM, a keyboard, cassette inter- face, eight-slot mother- board, game paddles, and a color-capable graphics/ text display, for $1298. Camp Retupmoc, the first [> week-long computer camp, is held in Terre Haute, Indiana. 1 1 11 «a. 1 tpirf- ' i&W"\ "f"'" $&&& f^JP^Ts^Jstv ' :'| !lf5?P!^ m %JmM*M : ||HH flU&t^HIlMANINSTnvnrOFTECWKMjOCV Y wvntSYo -,-lndand GlOltlOUSWWSWmiUSAT / The TRS-80 (TRS stood for Tandy Radio Shack) used a Z80 and had 4K bytes of RAM and 4K bytes of ROM (in- cluding BASIC), a key- board, display, and cas- sette interface. Tandy spent only $150,000 to develop the system, including de- sign, tooling, and soft- ware. Reportedly, only a few thousand were made so that if it flopped, the sys- tems could be used to track inventory in Radio Shack stores. 374 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 World Ohio Scientific Instruments offers the first microcom- puter with Microsoft (float- ing-point) BASIC in ROM. Computer Shack (later to become ComputerLand) opens its first franchise store in Morristown, New Jersey. Jim Warren organizes the first West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. Apple introduces the Apple II attheWCCF. Radio Shack introduces the $600TRS-80. North Star Computers announces the Horizon (Z80, 16K bytes of RAM, one 5 X A -inch floppy disk drive, 12-slot S-100 bus, serial I/O) for $1999. Micropolis introduces the Metaf loppy, a 5 *4-inch flop- py disk drive with the ca- pacity of 8-inch disks. The venerable Computer- world adds a section on microcomputers. Gary Kildall of Digital Research develops the CP/M (control program for microcomputers) operating system, which drives the first generation of PCs but will be passed up by IBM in favor ofMS-DOS. MITS is sold to Pertec Computer Corp. Heathkit introduces the H-8 microcomputer kit based on an 8080 proces- sor with an octal front- panel keypad. Commodore Business t Machines unveils the Com- modore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) at the West Coast Computer Faire in April. The 6502- based machine cost $595 assembled and included 4K bytes of RAM, 14K bytes of ROM, keyboard, display, built-in cassette tape drive, and 8K Microsoft BASIC. Star Wars blows away moviegoers and is the top- grossing film of the decade. The TV show Roots be- comes the most-watched miniseries in TV history and spurs crazes for genealo- gy and miniseries. Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders. Worst aircraft disaster in world history: KLM and Pan AM 747s crash on a runway in Tenerif e, the Canary Is- lands, killing 581 people. '1 . % #' Jfcr^ !••• % L;^:^J*^i '^H Elvis Presley dies at Graceland. Voyager 2 launched; it will encounter Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune on its way out of the solar system. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 375 1978 Computer Industry EITE January-April The first "year of the LAN" may have appeared with "Personal Computers in a Communications Net- work." Robotics-related ar- ticles continued to appear. Microcomputer training be- gins to get serious with "A College Microcomputer Fa- cility." The long-lived TRS- 80 gets a review. June- July Real-world applications continue to emerge: "A The- atrical Lighting Graphics Package" and "Audio Pro- cessing with a Microproces- sor." Also, the fixed disk drive, an expensive glint in users' eyes, is described in "A Look at Shugart's New Fixed Disk Drive." And computer industry retro- spection is nothing new: "A Short History of Comput- ing" and "The First Ten Years of Amateur Comput- ing" appeared in July. August-December In August we focused on Pascal, the start of a long- lived tradition of BYTE's annual August language issue. Computerized chess programs proliferated. The "Hobbyist Computerized Bulletin Board" could only hint at what we have today. "FORTRAN and Its Gener- alizations" combined with Pascal, C, and BASIC, to de- velop a rich set of languages for the "hobbyist." The Atari 400 (bottom) and 800 (top) were both based on the 6502. The 800, which cost $1000, had a full keyboard, 8K bytes of RAM (expandable to 48K), two ROM cartridge slots, and custom sound and graphics chips de- signed by Jay Miner (who later designed the Amiga's custom chips). The 400 had an unfortunate membrane keyboard. Nei- ther machine shipped until late 1979. f 1 f ^ [J9 ATARI C D y^^^^^T^gggj^i^ijgT^!^ vH . ^■b The Digital Group an- nounces the Bytemaster, a sewing-machine-size com- puter housing a display, keyboard, and disk drive. Never very popular, it pre- dates the Osborne 1. Epson America intro- duces the MX-80 dot- matrix printer and revo- lutionizes the low-cost printer market. V 376 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 World MicroPro International, founded by Seymour Ruben- stein of IMSAI, announces WordMaster, precursor to WordStar. Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston team up to develop VisiCalc. Apple and Radio Shack an- nounce 5 V^-inch floppy disk drives. Houston Instruments an- nounces HiPlot plotter. Summagraphics announces Bit Pad, the first digitizer. Computer Headware an- nounces WHATSIT database manager. The Exidy Sorcerer sold for $895 and included a Z80;8K bytes of RAM; 12K bytes of ROM; a key- board; and serial, paral- lel, and cassette interfaces. Its major innovations were the use of plug-in ROM cartridges for soft- ware and user-definable characters. Texas Instruments intro- duces Speak and Spell, the first talking toy to use digital speech synthesis. V Camp David agreements bring together Israel and Egypt. Catholics get a new pope, John Paul I, but he dies only 33 days later. Polish cardi- nal John Paul II is elevated to the papacy. California voters pass Proposition 13, an antipro- perty tax initiative that kicks off a national tax revolt. Sony introduces the Beta- format VCR and kicks off the home-video revolution; VHS arrives in 1979. The Supreme Court's Bakke decision outlaws strict racial quotas for affirma- tive action. Louise Brown, the first "test tube" baby, is born in England. OTA THE COMPUTER MUSEUM WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 377 1979 Computer Industry BITE January-March Today's deluge of junk mail might be traced back to "A Computerized Mailing List." More beneficial topics covered were MUMPS, IPS, and "Elements of Statis- tical Computation." Mac- ace-to-be Jef Raskin looked at "Unlimited Precision Di- vision." Computer security was already an issue, as "The Standard Data Encryp- tion Algorithm" shows. June-September Man keeps trying to figure out the human brain: "A Model of the Brain for Robot Control." Bubble memories burst on the scene. Math, graphics, and music continue to be dis- cussed. The August issue looks at Lisp and Motoro- la's curious new processor, the 68000. And lest you think that things were getting sophisticated, "Soldering Techniques" was published. November-December Steve Ciarcia looked at "The Intel 8086" system de- sign kit. Applications began to look less odd, though eso- teric: "Noniterative Digital Solution of Linear Transfer Functions." The problem of memory crunching appeared in an article on text com- pression using Huffman codes. Programming diver- sity was demonstrated in "Twenty-Four Ways to Write a Loop." ■9HHHK^HIH1 miffi [JWPij M p&fV Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston of Software Arts show VisiCalc at the WCCF. It is marketed by Personal Software, later to become VisiCorp. Hayes Microcomputer Products announces the Micromodem 100 (bottom). This auto-dial, auto- answer modem transmitted at 110 to 300 bps and retailed for $399. V u.ir. nayes Mbbuciaieb, inc. MICROCOMPUTER PRODUCTS k f i M :!•] /, M •] =1 /, F [•!•! ,— ■^^^^ m ... A**oci«t#^ me. S10( iB&fai^/B » 9 ^ ^ «r — ir*" P * ... g*r ^m^^K-K •. • * ■U llv %\ W& " "•• flMMMMMl 378 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 MICROMODEM 100: HAYES MICROCOMPUTER PROOUCTS. INC. World CompuServe founded. The Source founded. Magic Wand becomes WordStar's first serious competitor. Wayne Ratlif f develops the Vulcan database program that will later become dBASEII. Video games, such as Space Invaders and Pac Man, become a huge craze. Intel introduces the 8088, which will become the heart of the IBM PC. The first Apple clone ap- pears at the West Coast Com- puter Faire; it is called, ap- propriately enough, the Orange. Xerox, DEC, and Intel an- nounce Ethernet. The TI-99/4, which in- cluded a color monitor in its $1150 price, suffered from slow performance (de- spite being based on the 16-bit TMS9900 processor), an awkward keyboard, and a lack of third-party software support. The TI- 99/4A was an improvement, but the firm took a huge loss on the machine and in the end units sold for as little as $99. Three Mile Island disas- ter nearly melts down the U.S. nuclear industry. Margaret Thatcher is elected the first female prime minister of Great Britain. An American Airlines DC-10 crashes outside Chicago in the worst disas- ter in U.S. aviation history, killing all 275 aboard. The FAA grounds all DC- 10s. Sony introduces the Walk- man. Sandanistas come to power in Nicaragua. Skylab, launched in 1973, falls out of orbit over Austra- lia, leaving a fiery trail of debris. The U.S. government bails out Chrysler in a $ 1 .5 billion deal. Star Trek: The Motion Pic- ture is the first of a success- ful film series. The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, starting the war that will become its "Vietnam." Annual U.S. energy con- sumption peaks at 78.9 quadrillion BTUs. Ninety hostages, includ- ing 63 Americans, are seized in Iran by militant student followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 379 1980 Computer Industry BITE January-March Two articles foretold some things to come: "Telephone Dialing by Computer" and "A Computer-Generated Reminder Message," called Tickler. Scientific applica- tions were emerging with programs that solved the Schrodinger wave equation and modeled hydrocarbon molecular bonding on an Apple II. July The beginnings of VDI might be traced to "Interac- tive Control of a Videocas- sette Recorder with a Per- sonal Computer," which linked a Sony Betamax with an Apple II or TRS-80. Several articles made up an "Education Forum." And, significantly, "science fic- tion writer" Jerry Pournelle began one of the longest-run- ning and most widely read computer magazine columns. September Personal computing gets down to business with "A Basic Floppy-Disk Ac- counting System," a "six- program package to keep your budget records in order." BYTE turns five years old. NOVEMBER Digital imaging and visual- ization are big topics today. Back in 1980, they were just emerging with "Digital Storage of Images. " < The Sinclair Research ZX80 was the first micro- computer to cost less than $200. Based on a Z80 with IK bytes of RAM and 4K bytes of integer BASIC in ROM, it had a membrane keyboard and was the brainchild of English ge- nius Clive Sinclair. The successor ZX81 (inset) was later sold by Timex and dropped to less than $100 before Timex exited the market. V The Commodore VIC-20 was targeted at the same buyer as the TI-99/4, but it was a better machine. It used a 6502A and offered 5K bytes of RAM, BASIC in ROM, serial, cassette, and modem interfaces, a color display, and ROM software cartridges, for $299. It became the first million-seller in the history of the industry. V Personal Software introduces Zork, the Underground Empire, ; "second-generation" computer adventure game. 380 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 World The first issue of Infowor Id is published. Apple announces the prob- lem-plagued Apple III for $3495. Shugart begins selling 5 14- inch Winchester drives that hold 80 times as much data as a standard floppy and transfer data 20 times faster. Radio Shack announces the TRS-80 Color Computer. Altos introduces the first microprocessor-based multi- user system; the 8000-5 used a Z80A, supported up to four people, and sold for roughly $8500. Apple goes public with 4.6 million shares sold at $22 apiece; Jobs and Wozniak are instant multimillionaires. Digital Research announces CP/M-86. Satellite Software Interna- tional, later WordPerfect Corp., announces the first version of WordPerfect for Data General computers. Apple's successor to the hugely successful Apple II was a business computer called the Apple III that was a disaster. Shipped a year late, the machine ini- tially suffered a nearly 100 percent failure rate and almost dragged down the company. Polish Solidarity trade union forms; it will pave the way for reform in Eastern Europe nine years later. Ted Turner's CNN begins broadcasting and changes the face of TV news. Ronald Reagan wins the presidency. Fire sweeps through MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas during the second Comdex show, killing 84 people. IT- Mount St. Helens blows up, killing at least 25 peo- ple and casting ash across the northwestern U.S. The U.S. hockey team wins the gold at Lake Placid. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 381 1981 Computer Industry BITE May BYTE looked at "The Commodore VIC 20 Micro- computer: A Low-Cost, High-Perf ormance Consum- er Computer." Software piracy and protection issues were discussed." JUNE Gary Kildall explained Digital Research's operating systems, while Unix and Xenix were moving down from large-computer envi- ronments in other articles. Author Stephen Wozniak describes how "An 8-bit microcomputer is har- nessed to the Herculean task of computing the mathe- matical constant e to 1 15,925 places." August Smalltalk isn't just small talk anymore. Adele Gold- berg prefaces this very pop- ular topic and BYTE issue. September How to benchmark systems has been a popular topic for years. In "A High-Level Language Benchmark," the now-classic Sieve of Eratos- thenes is introduced. October-December Later-to-be editor in chief Phil Lemmons provided a first impression of the IBM PC, noting that "The com- puter giant embraces soft- ware compatibility and sup- port for independent peripheral manufacturers . " I The Alto, developed by researchers at Xerox PARC, paved the way for the Macintosh. Although never sold as a commercial product, the Alto came with the Smalltalk pro- gramming language, a mouse, and Ethernet connectivity. Adam Osborne, publisher of microprocessor books, unveils the $1795 Osborne 1 Portable. It includes a Z80, a 5-inch display, 64K bytes of RAM, a keyboard and keypad, two serial in- terfaces, two 5Vi-inch flop- py disk drives and bun- dled software. IBM introduces the PC, which costs $3005 for an 8088, 64K bytes of RAM, and a single 5 l A -inch floppy disk drive. Its importance cannot be understated. V 382 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 World Warner Amex, Atari, and CompuServe announce cable TV information service. Steve Wozniak crashes his private plane but survives to return as an incognito grad student at Berkeley. He spon- sors the money-losing US Festivals. Tracy Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine, a chronicle of the development of a Data General minicomputer, becomes a national bestseller. Timex contracts with Clive Sinclair to market the Ti- mex/ Sinclair 1000, the first under-$100 computer in the U.S. Atari and Mattel Intelli- vision video games are huge hits in an otherwise disap- pointing Christmas season for computer makers. Corvus introduces Omni- Net, an inexpensive twisted- pair LAN. Hayes introduces the Smartmodem 300, which becomes the industry standard. V Epson America shows the HX-20, perhaps the first laptop computer; the ma- chine weighs less than 3 pounds and uses a CMOS version of the 6801, 16K bytes of RAM, and a 20- character by 4-line display. First launch of the space shuttle, the Columbia. Iranian hostages released minutes after Reagan inaugurated. Assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan; the would-be killer is a loner fixated on actress Jodie Foster. Assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square, Rome, by escaped Turkish criminal Mehmet Ali Agca. The as-yet-unidentified AIDS epidemic is first re- ported in the Center for Disease Control's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Francois Mitterand be- comes the first socialist pres- ident of France. Anwar Sadat is murdered by Moslem extremists. Martial law imposed in Po- land by ruling Communist leaders. Sandra Day O'Connor is confirmed as the first fe- male Supreme Court Jus- tice in U.S. history. Charles and Di tie the knot. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 383 1982 Computer Industry EITE JANUARY Real- world applications continued to grow, and BYTE published "A Closer Look at the IBM Personal Computer. " And for "under $200" you could add a whopping 16K bytes to your Sinclair ZX-80. April BYTE looked at human fac- tors in human/machine inter- faces for both hardware and software, a topic of consider- able interest today (and probably well into the future). June-August Multimedia is a hot topic today, and BYTE provided state-of-the-art information on an emerging, accessible technology, the videodisk. More mainstream applica- tions emerge. LOGO, a lan- guage designed to introduce kids to computers, gets some in-depth adult treat- ment in a comprehensive series of articles. September-December Steve Ciarcia begins his MPX-16 Computer System project, an IBM workalike. BYTE evaluates Epson's unique QX-10/Valdocs sys- tem, we have reports from the National Computer Conference and the Hanover Fair, and "A Comparison of Five Compilers for Apple BASIC" reinforces the BYTE tradition of providing in-depth technical material. Compaq Computer Corp. announces the Compaq Portable, an IBM PC- compatible system. Commodore announces the Commodore 64. Based on the 6510, it included 64K bytes of RAM, 20K bytes of ROM (including Microsoft BASIC), a custom sound chip, color graph- ics, and a serial interface. It retailed for $595, but eventually the price dropped to around $200. Kaypro (then called Non- Linear Systems) announces the $1795 Kaycomp II portable; with a 9-inch screen and bundled soft- ware, it was targeted to compete with the Osborne. 384 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 World GRiD Systems announces its first pricey executive por- table, the futuristic-looking $8000 Compass 101. Franklin Computer Corp. announces the Ace 100, an Apple II clone. David Bunnell starts PC Magazine. Lotus Development introduces 1-2-3 at Comdex. Intel announces the 286. Autodesk announces AutoCAD, the first CAD system for the PC. Peter Norton Computing introduces the Norton Utilities. Sof tsel publishes its first Hot List, originally called the "Top 100." Radio Shack announces the TRS-80 Model 16, based on a 68000 and Z80, with 128K bytes of RAM and an 8-inch floppy disk drive, for $4999. V The Equal Rights Amend- ment is defeated after a 10- year struggle for passage. Columbia Data Products D> announces the first IBM PC clone, the MPC; it is soon joined by Compaq and Corona, but only Compaq thrives. Falklands War: the QE2 is commandeered as a troop carrier; the British use the Harrier and the Ar- gentineans use the Exocet. Time magazine names the computer its annual Man of the Year. Antitrust suit against AT&T settled with signing of con- sent decree to break up the Bell System. Israel invades southern Lebanon. The movie Tron glorifies video games and includes an unprecedented computer animation sequence but is otherwise disappointing. Dr. Barney Clark receives implant of first artificial heart. E.T. lands in theaters to become the most successful movie of all time. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 385 1983 Computer Industry BITE February-March Lisa arrives not quite dressed for the ball. BYTE dis- cussed "A Proposed Floppy- Disk Format Standard," ANSI standard BASIC, NAPLPS, the IEEE S-100 bus standard, and graphics standards. Several articles, such as "The Promise of Per- pendicular Magnetic Re- cording," played out new mass storage scenarios. April-May A series begins on the 68000 chip, which will later proliferate in the Macin- toshes. We looked at copro- cessing with the 8087 chip, provided for in the original IBM PC by an empty socket. Niklaus Wirth's Modula-2 is introduced. The promise of the paperless office is as yet unfulfilled, although BYTE devoted its Theme to the topic in May. August-November In August, BYTE looked at the C language and a little of Unix, topics that often dominate conversations to- day. "Computing on the Run" looked at the develop- ing portables and the tech- nology behind them— rather primitive by current stan- dards, yet intriguing and ex- citing then. Then, in Octo- ber, Unix received closer scrutiny in its own Theme. And for November, the "In- side the IBM PC" Theme spearheaded BYTE's largest issue so far, 720 pages. EITE Radio Shack announces the 4-pound TRS-80 Model 100 for $800. A Apple unveils the Lisa, a $10,000 machine based on the 32-bit 68000 and fea- turing a graphical user interface and mouse. Apple also announces the Apple He, priced at $1395. > Tandy announces the 80186-based Tandy 2000. Coleco unveils the Adam at CES, but it becomes the "Adam bomb." V The Gavilan computer, a laptop with built-in soft- ware and a touchpad "mouse," is introduced at Comdex but never takes off. V 386 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 World Novell introduces Net- Ware, the first file server LAN operating system. Micro Edsels: Atari an- nounces the 1200XL, and Mattel announces the Aquarius. IBM introduces the XT, which adds a 10-MB hard disk drive and three more slots to the original PC de- sign, for $4995. PC Magazine sold to new owners; most of staff quits to form PC World. Microsoft announces Word (originally called Multi-Tool Word). Microsoft and a group of Japanese companies an- nounce the MSX standard for Z80-based computers. Osborne files for Chapter 1 1 bankruptcy. IBM announces the PCjr, which is arguably the com- pany's biggest failure of the 1980s despite reengi- neering and huge marketing. V AST introduces the hugely successful SixPakPlus, a PC add-in combining memory expansion; serial, parallel, and game ports; clock/cal- endar; and utility software. Shugart shows a 1-gigabyte WORM drive for $7600. Borland International an- nounces Turbo Pascal for CP/M and 8088 machines. Ovation Technologies an- nounces Ovation, perhaps the most hyped-up product to that point, and it never ships; the term vaporware is coined to describe it. Compaq goes public, and 6 million shares are sold in one day. Canon displays a 300-dpi laser printer engine for OEMs that costs less than $2000; it shows up the next year in the HP LaserJet. Microrim, founded by Wayne Erickson in Novem- ber 1981, introduces R:Base 4000, the first rela- tional database for PCs. Microsoft announces Win- dows, but it doesn't ship for two years. The Semiconductor Indus- try Association reports a book-to-bill ratio of 1 .6, the highest ever recorded. AT&T announces Unix System V. Iomega introduces the first Bernoulli Box, an innovative removable disk drive. The Hewlett-Packard HP 150 was an 8088-based machine that offered a unique touchscreen. Sally Ride becomes the first U.S. woman in space aboard the shuttle Challenger. Faked Hitler diaries cap- ture the news. Dr. Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute in Paris dis- covers the virus that causes AIDS. Philippine opposition lead- er Benigno Aquino fatally shot while disembarking at Manilla Airport. Soviets shoot down Korean Air 007, killing 269 people. Lech Walesa wins Nobel Peace Prize. U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut are blown up by sui- cide-bomb terrorist; 241 lives are lost. ' ;y '" ; \ i WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 387 1984 BITE THE SMALL SYSTEMS JOURNAL February-March BYTE covers the new Mac- intosh and the design team behind it. And we devoted an entire Theme to the thorny issues of benchmarking and performance evaluation. In March our "Feigning Real- ity" Theme looked at using the computer to simulate real-world activities. May "Professional Computing," how microcomputers were faring in the workaday world, was our May Theme. In a feature, we noted that Macintosh pricing "turns out to be more expensive than expected." July-September Computer users' fascina- tion with video continued with our July Theme, while in August we looked at Mod- ula-2 in depth. Despite the IBM PC's success, nothing could save the IBM PCjr we reviewed in August. BYTE produces its first yearly IBM-only special issue. Graphics gets its own Theme in September. October-November For October, the BYTE staff looks at the IBM PC AT and the Theme is data- bases. In November, "New Chips" was the Theme, and we first looked into Soviet computing with "AGAT: A Soviet Apple II Computer." Computer Industry Satellite Software Inter- national brings out Word Perfect for the IBM PC, Victor 9000, DEC Rain- bow, Zenith Z-100, and Tandy 2000. This is an actual picture of how WordPerfect looks on the screen. Tfiere is a status line below to show you exactly where you are in the document. Bold, underlining , or both appears right on your screen as well as centering, flush right, Hewlett-Packard intro- duces the LaserJet and the HP 110, an early 80C86 laptop. V Doc 1 Pg 1 Ln 22 Pos 61 <\ More of the fruit motif: Britain produces the Apricot PC. 388 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 World With Lotus's Symphony, the era of integrated packages gets under way; the next month, Ashton-Tate intro- duces Framework. Visionary Alan Kay leaves Atari to join Apple. AT&T tries to muscle into the game with its first DOS machines, but the PC 6300 is greeted mostly with yawns. Motorola introduces the 68020. Former Commodore president Jack Tramiel buys Atari from Warner Communications. IBM also announces Top- View, a multitasking windowing environment for DOS programs that never catches on. Innovative Software (later Informix) introduces Smart Software. Commodore Business Machines buys Amiga Corp. Computer Associates buys Sorcim, the maker of SuperCalc. Visicorp sells much-touted but never-delivered VisiOn package to Control Data Corp. Visicorp merges via stock swap with Paladin Software. George Tate, cofounder of Ashton-Tate, dies. There was no Ashton; Tate's partner was named Lashlee. Lotus announces Jazz, which went on to become the company's first flop. Exactly one year after reaching its historic peak, the SIA's book-to-bill ratio reaches its lowest point ever: 0.64. A Apple unveils the Macintosh for $2495. <] Apple introduces the Apple lie. IBM introduces the AT, with a 286, 256K bytes of RAM, a 16-bit bus, and a new high-density floppy disk drive for $5469. V Geraldine Ferraro be- comes the first woman on a major party ticket, but she can't save Mondale; Reagan is reelected in a landslide. Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassi- nated by Sikh extremists. U.S. Census Bureau re- ports that 15 million Ameri- cans own home computers but only 53 percent use them. Soviets pass up the summer Olympics in L.A. Deadly gas leak at Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, In- dia, kills 2500— the worst industrial accident in history. Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 389 1985 Computer Industry BITE THE SMALL SYSTEMS JOURNAL January-April The Mac begins to make in- roads into our readership, as evidenced by the number of Mac-related articles. Febru- ary's Theme was Comput- ing and the Sciences. In March, Jerry Pournelle re- ported on Hackercon, a first- of -its-kind convention. AI gets plenty of ink in April, with top names i n the field speaking their minds. May-August Smalltalk gets a mini-treat- ment in May, emphasizing the growing interest in ob- ject-oriented programming. "Inside AppleTalk" hinted at the future of Apple-related networking. BIX is an- nounced. Computers and Space is the July Theme. "The Amiga Personal Computer" is covered in August, as are the declara- tive languages. September-October BYTE's 10th anniversary issue is published in Septem- ber! October's "Simulating Society" Theme presented the idea of modeling and predicting using personal computers. BYTE's second IBM Special Issue hits the streets, reflecting the grow- ing influence on the industry. NOVEMBER "Five C Compilers for the Macintosh" indicated that the Mac was gaining ground. Years earlier, only MS-DOS machines would have had multiple compilers to choose from. And "CD-ROMs and Their Kin" reinforced the coming optical revolution. DECEMBER A "Computer Conferenc- ing" Theme indicated that BYTE readers and the tech- nology were ready to link up via BIX, BBSes, and other on-line electronic services. 390 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 < AT&T announces the Unix PC, a 68010-based, $5600 machine that failed to establish Unix as a PC standard. Commodore's Amiga 1000 features a multitask- ing, windowing operating system and sells for $1295. V Atari announces the Atari [> 520STatCES. Tandy announces the Model 200 laptop. v £L -.^^ *N >> ^ >> .^ > .^> >..^_ | mini - ■ L -^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ m ^^^^^^ m ^^ m General Computer [> HyperDrive, a hard disk retrofitted into the Mac, becomes available; it's a short-lived market niche. World Coleco gives up on the Adam and writes down the loss. One year after the Mac, Apple unveils the Macintosh Office, which includes AppleTalk and the Laser- Writer, and renames the doomed Lisa the Mac XL. DEC admits it has stopped making the Rainbow, and then announces a new and equally unsuccessful version. IBM, Toshiba, NEC, Fu- jitsu, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi all report 1-MB DRAM chips at the annual ISSCC. IBM says it will drop the PCjr in April. Apple discontinues the Lisa. Digital Research ships GEM to end users; the interface was eventually used by the Atari ST and Ventura Publisher. Microsoft releases C 3.0, its first homegrown C. Dayna Communications announces MacCharlie, which lets a Mac run IBM PC software; many read- ers think it is an April Fools' joke. Intel sues NEC over V20 andV30. Microsoft announces Excel for the Mac. Lotus finally ships Jazz. Lotus and Intel announce an expanded memory speci- fication that will eventually become LIM/EMS 3.2, and Intel announces Above- Board. Lotus acquires Software Arts; stops shipment ofVisiCalc. Aldus introduces the original PageMaker for the512K-byteMac. Quarterdeck Office Sys- tems releases the Desqview windowing program multi- tasker. Steven Jobs resigns from Apple. Ansa introduces Paradox, later to be bought by Borland. IBM introduces its Token Ring network. Intel announces the 386. Microsoft finally ships Windows 1.0. Toshiba introduces the fantastically successful T1100 laptop. Gorbachev comes to power in the U.S.S.R. Reagan and Gorbachev hold first superpower summit in six years, in Geneva. Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts in Columbia, killing 22,940. South Africa imposes state of emergency, including press censorship. Mexico City earthquake, 8 . 1 on the Richter scale, kills at least 4200. Ethiopian famine kills millions, spurs worldwide relief effort, including "Live Aid" concert in Phil- adelphia and London. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 391 1986 Computer Industry EVIE THE SMALL SYSTEMS JOURNAL January-March The Atari 520ST was the focus of a Product Descrip- tion in January, and the 1040ST was previewed in March. It's interesting to note that despite the Atari's and Amiga's potential, the general-use personal com- puter industry remained mostly divided between the MS-DOS and (growing) Macintosh camps. Febru- ary's "Text Processing" Theme hinted at the future popularity of desktop pub- lishing. In March, "Home- bound Computing" re- flected a growing interest in telecomputing. June-July We look at the Macintosh Plus in a Product Description and conclude that this is the machine that Apple should have made much earlier. And the Theme is (brass fan- fare) "Computers and Music." The growing accep- tance of— and even demand for— MIDI-linked music equipment begins to change foundations of musical cre- ativity. In July, the "Engi- neer's Toolbox" Theme re- flects the increasing use of personal computer assistance in the engineering disciplines. August-December The traditional August "language" Theme is "Ob- ject-Oriented Languages," and their potential continues to be explored today. Sep- tember' s "68000 Machines" Theme showed that the Intel microprocessors were not everyone's choice. We previewed the Apple IIGS in October and the Compaq Deskpro 386 in November. The proliferation of PC products and peripherals led to the BYTE "23 Modems" group review process, the forerunner oftoday's Prod- uct Focus. O The Apple IIGS is intro- duced on September 15. IBM introduces the RT PC, its first and not very successful venture into RISC-based desktop workstations. IBM introduces the PC Convertible, a 12- to 16- pound battery-powered laptop for $2000, which becomes its second unsuccessful portable. V 392 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 World Sperry and Burroughs agree to merge into Unisys. Little-known Advanced Logic Research announces the first 386 PC, the Access 386. U.S. and Japan sign semi- conductor trade agreement to halt chip dumping. Peter Norton Computing announces the Norton Commander. Corporation for Open Systems formed. U.S. International Trade Commission rules 5-0 that Japanese manufacturers are dumping 256K-byte RAM chips in the U.S., setting the stage for the semiconduc- tor trade agreement and later RAM crisis. Motorola announces the 68030 microprocessor. Lotus announces HAL. * File l tlit Window Select Format Options Chart \2 j P, , , ( M - ■ ■ i i i i i n i i i i i i 1 i i i l i i i n i i l i i i n i i i i i i n i i i i i > ' ' H h H H H H Dear iManagers:NieKiiamet Here are the final sates results for August from our North-vest store. As you can see, the Results Chart 1 UCCeS3!Ul, nberby promotion August Bike Sales A | B | C I *D X i M**tfch| Sales Results - Lake CH* Cjcle Sh*f \ Month Awyitft"" 1 M»4el C«st | Retail U»its S.W GLC-5 ; $1 00 00 I $210 bo : "'6 Mr*oe $143 00 ; $25999 ; 2 Mount *w> Vheekr $1 23 00 : $199 95 20 Sport-SX $145 00 $295 84 4 2 3 4 5 e 7 8 9 10 1 1 Compaq introduces the Flex architecture Deskpro 386, its first 386 and the first Compaq machine to include a separate memory bus. ^ Microsoft introduces Works for the Mac. Halley's Comet returns but is hard to see. Chernobyl meltdown drives nail in the coffin of the nuclear industry, heightens awareness of environmental problems in the Eastern bloc. Challenger explodes, causing national outpouring of grief. Ferdinand Marcos flees the Philippines after 20-year rule; wife Imelda leaves behind massive shoe collection. Swedish Premier Olof Palme shot dead while walking home from a movie in Stockholm. Statue of Liberty 100th birthday celebration is an exercise in heart-swelling pride and lovable vulgarity. Iran-Contra scandal revealed. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 393 1987 Computer Industry BVIE THE SMALL SYSTEMS JOURNAL February-March We look at IBM competi- tors Advanced Logic Re- search and Compaq. Com- modore tries again with a preview of "The Commo- dore A 2000" ; Borland makes points with "Turbo BASIC" and Turbo C. April-June The Mac II arrives at BYTE in April. Its open-ended de- sign might have made all the difference had it arrived closer to the IBM PC's an- nouncement. Desktop pub- lishing is May's Theme, echoing a ground swell of in- terest. The PS/2s, targets of the June First Impression, re- define IBM's microcom- puter standards. OS/2 is born. Zoomracks receives a lukewarm review but will be- come a legal challenge to Apple for attributes embod- ied in HyperCard software. July-September Benchmarks are a hot topic, and BYTE rolls out an attempt to fairly compare 386 and 68020 microproces- sors. The "year of the LAN" resurfaces, but this time the Mac is included. We review six popular CAD programs, complementing July's review of five Mac CAD programs. "A Pro- grammer's Introduction to OS/2" is only the beginning of the "operating-systems wars" that still rage. November-December Long-dominated by Lotus 1-2-3, the spreadsheet race gets more interesting with Excel, Quattro, and PlanPer- fect. The division between personal computers and workstations begins to blur as we look at "Workstation Technology" in the No- vember Theme. In Decem- ber, HyperCard gets a First Impression. <] Compaq introduces the Portable III. Apple introduces the Mac II and the MacSE. IBM introduces PS/2 line > and OS/2, the first IBM 386 (Model 80), and un- veils its M*A *S*H ads. 394 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 World Paul Allen, the cofounder of Microsoft, talks about his new company, Asymetrix, and its product plans. Tool- Book will show up nearly 3 Vi years later. Traveling Software intro- duces LapLink file transfer software for $130. IBM announces 4-MB DRAM chips. Lotus files a look-and-f eel lawsuit against Paperback Software and Mosaic Soft- ware, charging they have unfairly copied 1-2-3. The Sematech consortium of chip makers is announced in Washington, D.C. IBM announces Systems Application Architecture. Atari and Commodore settle outstanding litigation. Lotus signs 10-year agree- ment to develop software for IBM mainframes, starting with 1-2-3/M. Lotus announces 1-2-3 release 3.0. Microsoft and 3Com announce intention to de- velop OS/2 Lan Manager. Borland acquires Ansa Software and gets Paradox. IBM introduces the PC Convertible Model 3. IBM introduces the PS/2 Model 25. Apple introduces Hyper- Card, which proves to be enormously popular. To merge the expanded memory specifications of LIM/EMS3.2andAST, the companies join to an- nounce EMS 4.0. Compaq announces it won't sell a clone of the PS/2s, al- though it has designed such a system. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN Microsoft announces Excel for the PC, the first real Windows application. Lotus announces Agenda, the product that brings vim to PIMs. AT&T and Sun agree to share Unix technology. IBM hooks up with Steve Chen, formerly of Cray, and announces plan to produce a 64-CPU parallel system in the early 1990s. Borland introduces Quattro. .-.--:■■■:: :.z... rino :-;s; viz-. mm ■::,:: ti : im .: LI .2 .? A .5 .:• .? .!' .9 10 _ ft- ( D4).--31949 m MEGB $89.00 mm %m bim $?.oo ub/23/8? m mm $27.55 06/24/87 m mm $12,50 06/25/8? m megq $0.00 06/26/8? m mm «o.oo 06/27/87 W Ml $133.00 $0.00 $10.00 $36.95 $67.00 $32.50 $13.56 $67,00 $0.00 $35.00 $67.00 $98,10 $45.15 $67*00 $0.00 $24-25 $67.00 $0.00 $28,55 $67.00 $0,00 $0,00 $402,00 $140.60 $183.46 Commodore announces the Amiga 2000 and 500. V Reagan and Gorbachev sign the INF nuclear- reduction treaty. Canada's Meech Lake Accord is passed, but it fails to win approval within three years. Palestine Intifada breaks out in Israel. CE2^MfMfW Wall Street crash wipes 508 points off the Dow. SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 395 1988 Computer Industry BVTE FEBRUARY The Compaq Deskpro 386/20 reigns as perfor- mance champion; third- party Micro Channel mem- ory boards reflect interest in the PS/2 line. April- June April has First Impressions of Microsoft language prod- ucts that bridge to OS/2. The In Depth is "Memory Management." May's Product Focus on "Wo; Processors for Desktop Publishing" concludes that word processing capabili- ties are not yet up to desktop publishing products. In June, BYTE unwraps its new suite of benchmarks. We focus on 9600-bps-and-be- yond modems. We review OS/2 Standard Edition. July-August Sun's 386i shows that the distinction among PCs, workstations, and mini- computers is fogging up. July also has a First Impression of OS/2 Extended Edition. In August, in addition to our regular coverage of the Mac, we begin a series of Mac supplements. September-October September's cover story is a First Impression of the IBM Model 70 and the Tandy 5000 MC. The portable To- shiba T5 100 and GRiD- Case 1 530 show you can pack power into small packages. We review 20 af- fordable 386s, look at Pre- sentation Manager, and cover five Mac scanners. November-December The NeXT Computer tries to usher in a new era by hit- ting the education market with a technologically ad- vanced system. ALR's FlexCache 25386 sets a new speed record. The Mac IIx is covered in December. Six months' worth of system benchmarks are provided. NEC announces the 4.4-pound UltraLite. Apple announces the t> Mac IIx, 10 to 15 percent faster than the Mac II. Compaq introduces D> the SLT/286. Microsoft and Ashton-Tate team up to announce SQL Server. Apple and DEC announce agreement to cooperate. Informix announces WingZ, a new spreadsheet for the Mac. MIT and 1 1 companies announce consortium to develop industry standards for workstations. Tandy introduces the Tandy 5000MC, the second Micro Channel clone (Dell was first), and announces Thor, a system for rewrit- able, erasable compact disks, which still has not shipped but is supposed to be available in 1990 for $500. V 396 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 World NEC asks the court to in- validate Intel's copyrights on the 8086/8088. The memory shortage is in full swing. Apple files suit against Microsoft and Hewlett-Pack- ard in federal district court, charging that Windows in- fringes on Mac copyrights. Lotus announces delay in 1-2-3 release 3.0. MIPS announces its RISC processor. AT&T plans new software to make Unix easier to use. Quarterdeck and Phar Lap develop the Virtual Control Program Interface (VCPI), the first standard for address- ing 386 virtual mode with existing DOS applications. IBM announces plan to li- cense NextStep from Steve Jobs. Maxtor introduces the first magneto-optical rewritable optical disk drive. The Open Software Foun- dation is announced; it plans to base its version of Unix on IBM's AIX. AMD introduces the 29000 32-bit microprocessor. Intel announces the 386SX. Caere announces OmniPage. Sun, Texas Instruments, and Cypress announce agree- ment to promote SPARC. Intel buys the DVI technol- ogy from GE. TheNeXTcubeis D> announced at gala event in San Francisco. The EISA consortium, also known as the "Gang of Nine," is announced; it will develop a 32-bit bus alternative to IBM's Micro Channel. Ashton-Tate ships dBASE IV after a series of delays. The ARPANET worm created by "bored" Cornell graduate student Robert T. Morris Jr. wreaks havoc at an estimated 6000 sites around the U.S. IBM and Microsoft ship OS/2 1.1 with Presentation Manager. V Ashton-Tate files a look- and-feel lawsuit against Fox Software and SCO on the first day of Comdex. The Systems Performance Evaluation Cooperative (SPEC) is formed between Hewlett-Packard, Apollo, MIPS, and Sun. Brier announces 21 -MB floppy disk drive. IBM ESD head William Lowe leaves for Xerox, and James Cannavino steps in. OSF announces its selec- tions for the software compo- nents that will make up Motif: DECWindows and a modified PM from Micro- soft and Hewlett-Packard. wl ndow«(l i D«#»«nd i i rn \tvt- LAN H .i> I ;. . JTJ SWAPPER EXE STKTDMPC DLL Vifll DCP 0S21HIT CHD 0S2 M1 CHHFIG BK1 HTBIB EKE SPOOL _BA3. tdow mi .'..1 1 Ina li PM ) .It.? T.I 1 f ) lD:\SIUDEtlllype sieve sieve. obj : sieve. c cl -c -HI \pbin\dl.exe -U2 -Zp -G2sw sieve.exe : sieve. obj sieve. def link sieve, /elign:16, /nap, slibc7.1 libc7.1ib os2 _ a « a George Bush defeats Michael Dukakis for the presidency. Irving King Jordon be- comes first deaf president of Gallaudet University. U.S.S. Vincennes shoots down Iranian civilian airliner, killing 290. A pair of runners named Joyner capture our fancy, as Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Florence Griff ith- Joyner take home Seoul gold. Shroud of Turin is declared to date only from thirteenth century. Earthquake rocks Soviet Armenia, killing 25,000. Pan Am flight 103 is bombed over Scotland. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 397 1989 Computer Industry BVTE January-March We inaugurate the BYTE Awards, a yearly tip of the hat to overachieving prod- ucts. "The X Window Sys- tem" emerges from MIT to an enthusiastic audience, and the growing interest in PC communications is addressed in an expanded In Depth. The powerful Mac SE/30 is the February cover story. In March, we examine the 386-versus-286 question. April-June The TRON project looks ahead to standardizing com- puter data and communica- tions. Two workstations from Sun fuel the PCs-versus- workstations debates. Unix gets expanded coverage in May, and Intel's high-speed i860 processor receives a First Impression. In June, speed is again the hot topic, with First Impressions of two new 386 machines. July-September Graphical user interfaces are explored in "A Guide to GUIs." In August, laptop technology takes a leap for- ward with the Agilis and Zenith entries. The first 486 machine is made in the U.K.! Four multiuser operat- ing systems are the subjects of a Product Focus, and we look at LANs in a special supplement. October-December Arriving from Apple are the long-awaited Mac Porta- ble and Ilci. We spotlight optical technology in both the Product Focus and the In Depth. If bus-related things weren't complicated enough, "EISA Arrives," in the form of the Hewlett- Packard Vectra 486 PC With 32-bit processors comes the In Depth software topic "32 Bits and Above." In December, the software development furnace is stoked by a Product Focus on nine "CASE Tools." DEC introduces its first RISC-based workstation, the DECstation 3100. Apple introduces the SE/30, a $4369 compact Mac with a 68030. <] Sun announces the 12.5- MIPSSPARCstation 1 for a base price of $8995. After a year's delay, Lotus finally ships its 3-D spreadsheet, 1-2-3 release 3.0, along with a junior cousin, release 2.2. Apple announces the top- of-the-line Mac Ilci and the long-awaited Mac Porta- ble, whose active-matrix screen and built-in track- ball are overshadowed by its 16-pound weight and nearly $6000 price tag. V Aifl7> [W16] 'Barnbun rTE BsnchMPk Perfornance Table ow-Level Tests icreaning 385/33 8.09 lurricane III 5.67 Irabreother 100 5.74 tuzzsaw 388 5.75 Speedy 33 5. 66 Fast Eddy 6.86 Bullet 33/386 5.1 Sprinter 1080 6.27 Unite Lightning 5,73 Speed-0-Llght PC 4,79 5.67 14.86 5.74 15.75 5.75 15.07 5.66 15.06 6.06 15.87 5.1 14,87 6.27 14,87 5,73 14.83 Poqet Computer Corp. > announces a 1-pound DOS PC for $1995. Apple 's new portable MAC to go 398 BYTE' SEPTEMBER 1990 Borland unveils Paradox 3.0. Informix finally ships WingZ for the Mac. Intel takes the wraps off its i860 superscalar RISC chip. It also announces the i486. Apple introduces the powerful, compact Mac Ilex and has an instant hit. Hewlett-Packard announces that it will acquire Apollo. Texas Instruments unveils the TIGA-340 graphics standard. Adobe announces Adobe Type Manager. Apple discloses details about the System 7.0 Mac OS. Novell announces NetWare 386. IBM unveils Of ficeVision, a multiplatf orm office soft- ware system that takes ad- vantage of PM and is a key part of the SAA strategy. Microsoft and IBM announce OS/2 1.2. Borland announces Turbo Pascal 5.5 with object- oriented extensions. NEC takes a shot at Nintendo with the 16-bit Turbograf x-16 home video game. Seven computer and semi- conductor firms plan to form a DRAM consortium called U.S. Memories, but the plan fails for lack of money. Computer Associates acquires Cullinet and Cricket Software. Hewlett-Packard ships NewWave. ALR announces the first PC with an EISA bus, a $13,000 486 box. Compaq announces the 8086- and 286-based LTE notebook PCs. Microsoft ships Excel for OS/2 PM, the first OS/2 spreadsheet. Headstart Technologies in- troduces a PC with built-in CD-ROM at Comdex. Lotus starts shipping Notes, a high-ticket groupware application that raised the bar. GRiD Systems announces the handwriting-recogniz- ing GRiDPad. V Compaq takes the plunge into multiprocessing PCs with the EISA-based Systempro. IBM tries again in portables with the 386- based Model P70. World Exxon Valdez oil spill awakens environmentalism. China crushes protesters in Tiananmen Square. Ayatollah Khomenei dies. Hurricane Hugo ravages the Caribbean and South Carolina. Earthquake rocks the San Francisco Bay Area. A dizzying wave of popu- lar uprisings transforms Eastern Europe, and the Berlin Wall comes down. PHOTO: MEL LINDSTROM WORLD PHOTOS: UPl/BETTMANN SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 399 1990 Computer Industry BYTE January-April We chronicle IC technology in "The State of Chips." Computers and images come together with sound in February's "Multimedia" In Depth. "The BYTE Unix Benchmarks" tackle a whole new world. Apple's "wicked fast" Mac Ilf x is our April cover story. And just when you thought that your high-speed 286 was go- ing to last a while longer, we looked at 23 25-MHz 386 motherboards to tantalize you. The quest for speed is never satisfied. May-August With the emergence of mul- timedia, the Commodore Amiga 3000 is perhaps right on time. AST and ALR serve up a pair of 33-MHz dervishes, and we feast on "Desktop Supercomput- ing." One of the industry's worst-kept secrets, Win- dows 3 .0, is our June cover story. Another "year of the LAN" goes by, and we de- vote our State of the Art (nee In Depth, nee Theme) section to networking. We investigate man/machine in- terfaces in July and devote two months of First Impres- sions to sample applications for Windows ("looks like we finally got it right") 3.0. September BYTE's 15th anniversary reflects a mature but still- growing industry. How fit- ting that after 15 years word processing, one of the first and probably most-used ap- plications ever, is this issue's Product Focus. Also, features this month include "The Creation of the IBM PC," written by David J. Bradley, who was there when it all began, and "Personal Computing in Eastern Eu- rope. " Now that The Wall is down, what impact will the Iron Curtain countries have on microcomputing? Motorola unveils the 68040 CPU. Microsoft announces the much-awaited, overhyped, and exciting Windows 3.0 (shown here running Tool- Book from Asymetrix). C-Cube introduces an image-processing chip based on the JPEG algorithm. Radius announces the Pivot display for $1690. Lotus ships 1-2-3/G, its spreadsheet for PM. }5/ arrmrf 1 nrrmm OS/2 SSfcffiSSS Mac llfx ■r Dragon Systems ships the 30,000- word Dragon Dictate voice-recognition system, which runs on a fully loaded 386 and costs $9000. Sharp demonstrates the 6220 notebook PC, a 4-pound 286 with a backlit VGA screen and a 20-MB hard disk drive for under $4000. Q/Cor begins shipping 20-MB "Flextra" floppy disk drives made by Brier. Lotus and Novell announce plan to merge, which later falls through. Commodore gets serious with the $3300 Amiga 3000. Apple unofficially an- nounces HyperCard 2.0, which adds multiple win- dows, color support, and many other improvements. Borland announces Turbo C+ + . Eleven companies agree to DOS Protected Mode Inter- face (DPMI), a standard technique for DOS applica- tions to access extended memory. Pioneer, LMSI, and Pana- sonic all announce rewritable WORMs at Comdex. PHOTO: JACK PURYEAR Adobe introduces Post- Script Level 2, the first major upgrade to the page- description language stan- dard in six years. IBM unveils the entry-level PS/1, a second attempt to crack the home and home- office PC market. World Robert Noyce, cofounder of Intel and inventor of semi- conductors, dies at 62. Perrier is recalled for ben- zene contamination. Earth Day 1990 is about hope and hype. WORLD PHOTOS: UPI/BETTMANN 400 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 2233 BRANHAM LANE, SAN JOSE CA 95124 Tl MICROLASER™ —FAST, AFFORDABLE AND EXPANDABLE! EXPANDABLE PRINTER HAS TEXAS ■ INSTRUMENTS QUALITY AND RELIABILITY IN A COMPACT SIZE! 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OPTIONALCOLORKIT PROVIDES VIVID COLOR OUTPUT UNRIVALLED IN ITS PRICE RANGE' • 5 RESIDENT FONTS • 240 X 216 DPI • 213 CPS DRAFT MODE; 40 CPS LETTER QUALITY' PARALLEL AND SERIAL INTERFACES • 8K PRINT BUFFER CTZ-200GX $199.95 CTZ-200GXCOLOR COLOR ON COMMAND KIT $59.95 KODAK DICONIX 150+ PORTABLE PRINTER THE PEFECT COMPANION FOR YOUR LAPTOP OR OUR CARRY-1 PC! WEIGHS 5LBS AND MEASURES JUST 6.5" X 11" X 2"! • QUIET NON-IMPACT INK-JET TECHNOLOGY • UP TO 180 CPS • DRAFT, NLQ, QUALITY AND CONDENSED MODES • USES CUT-SHEET OR CONTINUOUS FORM PAPER • SUPPORTS EPSON FX-80& IBM PROPRINTER COMMANDS DICONIX-150 $399.95 FUJITSU COLOR PLOTTER COMPACT PLOTTER ■ HP7475ACOMPATIBLE • .025MM RES. FPG-31 5 $799.00 BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDRl • 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE • 1 YEAR WARRANTY • TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT INTRODUCING THE AMAZING CARRY-1 BOOK SIZE PC THIS HIGH PERFORMANCE 8088-BASED COMPUTER COMPETES WITH FULL-SIZE PC'S. STAND IT UPRIGHT, SIT IT UNDER A j"RJ MONITOR, PUT IT ANYWHERE YOU LIKE— , IT'S SO SMALL YOU'LL HARDLY KNOW IT'S - I THERE' IT'S THE PERFECT SOLUTION ft FOR A CROWDED DESKTOP, A COST- CONSCIOUS SCHOOL DISTRICT OR A CONVENIENT TRANSPORTABLE HOME I COMPUTER. ■ 10MHZ/4.77MHZ 8088-1 CPU ■ AMI BIOS ASSURES COMPATIBILITY ■ 256K RAM EXPANDABLE TO 640K • BUILT-IN SERIAL, PARALLEL AND GAME ADAPTORS • BUILT-IN CGA, MGA DISPLAY ADAPTOR • BUILT-IN 3.5" 720K FLOPPY DRIVE J - JUST 7>/ 2 " X 9*4" X 1%' • WORKS WITH ANY STANDARD KEYBOARD ■ INCLUDES CARRYING CASE, POWER ADAPTOR, MINI- UPRIGHT STANDS CARRY-1 $299.95 CARRY-1 B $399.95 ENHANCED VERSION-2 FLOPPY DRIVES (720K) & 640K RAM CARRY-1K 82-KEY CARRY-1 KEYBOARD $49.95 JETFONT SUPERSET -ISO FONTS! $ 299 9S 2 CARTRIDGES CONTAIN THE EQUIVALENT OF 18 SEPARATE HP CARTRIDGES WITHOUT DOWN- ( LOADING" • FOR HP LASERJET, LASERJET-t- AND LASERJET II ■ DRIVERS FOR WORDPERFECT, WORD-STAR 2000, IBM DISPLAY ,' -.,., WRITE 4, MS WORD, WINDOWS, 1-2-3, DBASE II AND MORE' SUPERSET JETFONT 4 INI BUSINESS TYPEFACES COURIER 10 & 12, PRESTIGE ELITE & LETTER GOTHIC FONTS JETFONT-4 $199.95 JETFONT 12/30 FOR SPREADSHEET OUTPUT LOTICA FONT FOR HORIZ/VERTICAL OUTPUT TO 240 COLS! JETFONT-12 $129.95 LOW-COST POSTSCRIPT OUTPUT FAST POSTSCRIPT COMPATIBLE CARTRIDGE. 35 FONTS' L JETPAGE $499.95 OUTSTANDING SOFTWARE VALUES QUATTRO PRO— THE POWER SPREADSHEET! NEXT GENERATION POWER FOR STANDARD 8088 PCS' BORLANDSVROOMMTECHNOLOGY DELIVERS ADVANCED FEATURES WITHIN 640K RAM! • 3D & FREEFORM LINKING/CONSOLODATION • HOT LINK UPT0 64SPEADSHEETS • LOTUS1 -2-3 COMPATIBLE • BUILT-IN DRAW PROGRAM, BITSTREAM FONTS AND PRESENTATION GRAPHICS QUATTRO-PRO $359.95 PARADOX 3.0— RELATIONAL DATABASE A SOPHISTICATED & POWERFUL DATABASE THAT'S EASY & INTUITIVE TO USE! • FLEXIBLE & FULL-FEATURED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRON- MENT ■ WYSIWYG REPORT GENERATOR • AUTOMATIC MULTI-USER SUPPORT • INCL. APPLICATION GENERATOR PARADOX $469.95 WINDOWS 3.0— "MAC" LIKE G.U.I. THE LATEST GRAPHICAL INTERFACE FROM MICROSOFT WINDOWS 3.0 $119.95 RAM CARD FOR HP LASERJET FOR HP LASERJET II PRINTERS • USER EXPANDABLE TO 1/2/4MB i\)i l.asi call our Hong Kong office, u 852 5 i!06 4333, in Canada call .116-826-7511; in Australia fall 61 2 418 7-Kl-l. AST is .i supplier to US government agencies. General Service Contract numlier CSOOK89ACSMI8-PS01 AST. AST logo and AST I'remmm regisUTi-d.indCupiii-32 logo ami Cnpid-32 trade- marks AST Research. Inc. 80386 ,r- ' ■ AST Research. Inc All rights rcsei ks Intel Corp Copyright 1990 FEATURE Personal Computing in Eastern Europe The collapse of state-run economies has left Eastern European countries in a state of technological chaos Colin Barker T he revolution that spread democracy through Eastern Europe last year— epitomized by the destruction of the Berlin Wall— was driven by a combination of economic collapse and popular I discontent. But economic stagnation and un- popular governments are not new in the East (i.e., Eastern Europe) . What gave this movement real force and cohesion across half a continent and seven different countries was technology, espe- cially information technol- ogy: TV and radio, telephone lines and fax machines, and personal computers and desk- top publishing all made it dif- ficult for dictatorial Commu- nist governments to control the flow of events. Without complete control of the media for propaganda, even the brute force of a mas- sive secret police force was not enough to suppress popu- lar dissent. Controlling the printing presses is not enough if people can use personal computers to produce inex- pensive newspapers and then distribute the copy across telephone lines to the far reaches of their country. Nor does owning the only TV sta- tion help, if the public's TVs can also pick up unbiased news from elsewhere. In 1989, TV made those of us on the other side of the Iron Curtain witnesses to the first ILLUSTRATION: JOHN LABBE © 1990 revolution facilitated by the humble PC. Now, as the dust settles on the revolution and the people of Eastern Europe come to terms with both democracy and the massive task of rebuilding their countries after 40-odd years of Communist neglect, a number of questions arise: What role will computer technology play in this rebuilding process? What sort of computer industry do the countries of the Communist bloc have? What sort of in- dustry can they build in the future? How much help do they want (and can they expect) from the West? Behind the Curtain Until recently, not much was known about the computer in- dustry of Eastern Europe, since many of the nations took great care to keep their activi- ties a secret. While more in- formation has emerged since glasnost began five years ago, there is still much that we in the West do not know. For example, most observ- ers agree that the countries of the East are five, 10, 20, or even 30 years behind the West in some areas of technology. The minicomputer most used in the East is based on tech- nology first launched in the West in 1975. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the East will need 15 years to catch up with the latest West- ern minicomputers. An incident that occurred in the early 1970s reveals the continued SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 401 FEATURE PERSONAL COMPUTING IN EASTERN EUROPE confusion surrounding the West's assessment of the computing and electronic capabilities of Eastern Europe: A Soviet pilot de- fected to the West in one of his country's latest fighter aircraft. Western analysts were amazed to discover that air-to-ground communication was conducted via a VHF radio that used vacu- um tubes rather than transistors. Was this aircraft a "plant," designed to make the West believe the Soviets were farther be- hind in technology than they really were? Or— as they suspect- ed—did Soviet pilots truly rely on obsolete technology for their front-line communications? The question remains unresolved to this day. Back to the Basics While the Soviet Union and parts of Eastern Europe can pro- duce some very advanced-looking technology, the secondary technology is way behind the West. As a visitor to Moscow five years ago, I was struck by the relatively good quality of the Soviet-made color TV in my hotel room. Yet I was appalled at a hotel electrical system that was so poorly put together that you needed to wear rubber boots to safely operate the light switches or elevator buttons. The showpiece Park of Economic Achieve- ment's technology pavilion could boast some fairly up-to-date 16-bit computers, but the domestic appliances on sale in the GUM department store would not have looked out of place in a British store in the 1950s. Similarly, while the large state industries and government departments have some reasonably sophisticated mainframes and minicomputers, personal computers are few and far be- tween. Those personal computers built in the East are crudely manufactured, and any systems from the West are usually obso- lete machines based on Intel 8088 or 8086 processors. In general, microcomputer use in Eastern Europe and the So- viet Union has been sporadic. There have been a number of rea- sons for this. One is the Coordination Committee on Export Controls, or COCOM, a body consisting of the NATO countries and Japan and Australia. COCOM was set up in 1949 to coordi- nate the various countries' export policies. The aim was to pre- vent the Eastern bloc from obtaining Western technology that could be militarily useful. COCOM meets from time to time and imposes or lifts re- strictions on different products. Generally, the committee lifts restrictions on older technologies as newer ones replace them in the West. For example, until recently, Digital Equipment (DEC) could sell PDP-lls to the East but not VAXes. Anyone in the West can export computers based on 8088, 8086, and 286 pro- cessors, but not the 32-bit 386 or i486 processors. The complete range of 32-bit Motorola 680x0 processors was also barred from export, so, while PC compatibles are used in the East, the Mac, the Amiga, and the Atari ST are virtually unknown. The COCOM restrictions affect almost every type of tech- nology imaginable, from fiber optics to TV. While some prod- ucts are banned from sale to the East, others are simply con- trolled. Additionally, while preventing the Communist bloc from buying advanced microprocessors has slowed high tech- nology there, it is the COCOM restrictions on manufacturing technology that have caused most of the problems for Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. continued TOTALLY RADICAL.. 3 The Caching Baby Motherboards A New Concept in PC Design As if being a Caching motherboard weren't enough, weVe redefined the state-of-the-art with our new full - functionality Baby Boards. 486, Cache 386-33, Cache 38625, 386-2S, 386-20, 386SX, Neat 286, AT 286 VLSI, XT CACHinG (714)777-2818 ) 250 N. Lakeytew Ave., #Q Anaheim, CA 92807 FAX • [71 4) 777-3608 and product names are trodeirairks ar registered qttheir respedive companies. 402 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 54 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 55) In college, you would have killed for MathCAD. So why aren't you calculating with it now? .*pr*5* re -5^i t - : 3*^tyj M - c i 7 6 j^ ^ y Z- u / ■P Vr>(e^S ^ 30 (\< ^ \ooieS \ ■ 1 s^ < u '• 100,000 engineers and scien- tists already let MathCAD do their calculations for them. Now that college is far behind you, perhaps it's time you graduated from spreadsheets, calculators and programming. Because in today's working world of engineering and science, there's no time for anything less than MathCAD. The software that lets you perform engineering and scientific calculations in a way that's faster, more natural, and less error-prone than any calculator, spreadsheet, or program you could MathCAD 2.5 includes 3-D plotting, HPGL sketch import, and PostScript output. EDITOR'S CHOICE March 14, 1989 issue. Best of '88 Best of '87 write yourself. Thanks to MathCAD's live document interface'," you can enter equations anywhere on the screen, add text to support your work, and graph the results. It also comes complete with over 120 commonly used functions built right in. Perfect for creating complex equations and formulas, as well as exponentials, differentials, cubic splines, FFTs and matrices. You get three-dimensional plotting, vivid graphing, and the ability to import HPGL files from most popular CAD programs, including AutoCAD? Done calculating? MathCAD prints all your analyses in presentation-quality documents, even on PostScript® compatible printers. All of which has made MathCAD far and away the best-selling math software in the world. In fact, it's used by over 100,000 engineers and scientists — just like you. There's MathCAD for the PC. MathCAD for the Mac, written to take full advantage of the Macintosh® interface. And a Unix® version that utilizes the speed and unlimited memory of your Unix workstation. We also have Applications Packs for Advanced Math, Statistics, Mechanical, Chemical, and Electrical Engineering. Each is a collection of adaptable mathematical models, designed to let you start solving your real world problems right away. For a free MathCAD demo disk, or upgrade information, dial 1-800-MATHCAD (in MA, 617-577- v 1017). Or see ►your software dealer. Available for IBM® compatibles, Macintosh computers, and Unix workstations. TM and ® signify manufacturer's trademark or registered trademark, respectively. 1-800-MATHCAD MathCAD' MathSoft, Inc., 201 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139 U.K.: Adept Scientific 0462-480055; France: ISECEGOS 1-46092768; Germany: Softline 07802-4036; Japan: CRC 03-665-9762; Finland: Zencx Oy 90-692-7677; Italy: Channel 02-4229441. PSE Circle 173 on Reader Service Card Circle 25 on Reader Service Card PC COMPATIBLE ENGINEERING Annabooks gives you the hardware, software, and firmware informa- tion you need to design PC-compatible systems taster and better. And you have control of your design from the ground up - our firmware and software products include source code! Plus all the utilities you need. Do hardware design? The AT Bus Design book and the XT-AT Handbook replace a whole shelf of references. Start by gelling these books: AT BiosKit: an AT Bios with source code in C you can modify. With setup & debug. 380 pages with disk, $199 XT BiosKit: Includes a debug. 270 pages with disk, $99 Intel Wildcard Supplement for XT BiosKit: Includes ASIC setup, turbo speeds, also useful with many other modem XT boards. 60 pages with disk, $49 AT Bus Design: At last here are the Complete timing specs to show you how to design ISA and 8716 bit EISA, $69.95 PromKit: Puts anything in Eprom or SRAM; DOS, your code, data, you name it! With source on disk, $179 SysKit: Here's a debug/monitor you can use even with a brand X Bios in your desktop. Runs in ROM or TSR in RAM. Includes source, of course, $69 XT-AT Handbook: The famous pocket-sized book jam-packed with hardware & software info. $9.95 ea. or 5 or more for $5 each. Software tools: You need MS C & MASM 5.1 for modifying the Kit products. PIJ C C Mention this ad when you order any publication and get r IVLJIJ a free XT-AT Handbook by Choisser & Foster! Hurry before we come to our senses and change our minds. FEATURE PERSONAL COMPUTING IN EASTERN EUROPE Annabooks 12145 Aha Carmel Ct.. Suite 250 San Dicco. CA 1 J2I2H 800-462-1042 In California 619-271-9526 ^Rrr-ffl Money-back guarantee Turn Your PC Into A Low Cost Data Line Monitor MODEL 902 PC COM SCOPE • PRINT FEATURE • HDLC/SDLC • ASYNC/BISYNC • TRAP ON ANY 15 EVENTS • STORE DATA ON DISK • TIME STAMPING $420 MADE IN USA F73T35 TECHNOLOGY, INC. 270 E. Pulaski Rd., Greenlawn, NY 11740 • 51 6-423-3232/51 6-385-8080 1- 800-835-3298 • FAX: 516-385-8184 I he personal computer is the ultimate statement of freedom in computing, since it puts the power of computing and telecommunications into the hands of the individual. Working Backward Many factors contributed to the microcomputer revolution in the West, but one of the most important was the availability of cheap microprocessors. It is one thing to design a microproces- sor; it is quite another to manufacture it inexpensively. Computer scientists in the East can get their hands on any microprocessor in use in the West. However, reverse-engineer- ing a chip once you have it is an incredibly labor- and time- intensive (though relatively unsophisticated) task. Using these techniques, scientists in the East can, and do, work out how to build any Western-designed microprocessor they choose. The problem comes with the manufacturing process. Almost any type of component can be built well or badly, except a microprocessor. If a microprocessor isn't perfect, it won't work. The plants, machinery, and labor skills required to build microprocessors— especially at their current levels of sophisti- cation—are immense. Manufacture requires ultra-clean rooms with advanced machinery, the purest of chemicals (which have to be specially produced), and an educated and disciplined work force. The countries of the Eastern bloc do not have the plants, machinery, or labor skills to manufacture microproces- sors of any design less than 15 or so years old. They desperately need Western help to do this, or they will wind up importing all their chips. Up to now, of course, the COCOM restrictions have made it difficult for them to import any up-to-date proces- sors at all, or even the older processors in any large numbers. The same is true, to some extent, of microcomputer assem- bly. The Soviets and others can design microcomputers; they just find it very difficult to buildlhem. Again, they are looking for Western help, and there is no shortage of companies in the West who want to help them. Personal Politics COCOM and the problems of manufacturing are not the only factors that have slowed the development of the personal com- puter in the East. Political problems have also played a part. Countries like Romania, Poland, and the Soviet Union have been run as dictatorships, and dictatorships must control infor- mation within their societies to survive. By controlling infor- mation, they can limit freedom. The personal computer is the ultimate statement of freedom in computing, since it puts the power of computing and telecommunications into the hands of the individual. That is why most of the East's computing effort has been put into mainframe and minicomputer development, and little into personal computers and distributed computing. The access to and use of large-scale computer systems can be controlled and monitored by the authorities to ensure that they continued 404 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 290 on Reader Service Card Unleash 386 Power on Your Microsoft C Code. KSource-level debugger K Graphics Library K Fast, tight code K Generates high- performance code for 32-bit protected mode Microsoft source and library compatible H Supports Phar Lap and Eclipse DOS Extenders H Protected-mode version of compiler gfSAA Compatible Experts Agree on WATCOM C: "When Novell went looking for a Microsoft library- and source- 32-bit compiler for use with the compatibility makes WATCOM C7.0 NetWare 386 developer's kit, the /386 ideal for porting DOS company selected WATCOM's... It's applications to 32-bit native mode. clear that Novell chose wisely; this This compiler enables full 386 product is a winner." performance without 640K Fred Hommel limitations. BYTE, December 1989 Richard M. Smith, President Phar Lap Software, Inc. "WATCOM C broke with tradition to make a fast, efficient C "WATCOM's latest release of its programming environment that has rising star is a clear winner.. .It is a other C compiler designers rethinking clearly superior value when their strategy." compared to all compilers..." Bill Machrone Richard Relph PC Magazine, January 17, 1989 INFOWORLD, May 22, 1989 ' "Good things do get better." "...WATCOM C showed shining John Dlugosz performance." Dr. Dobbs Journal, September 1989 Computer Language, Feb. 1989 WATCOM C8.0 1386 100% ANSI C Optimizing Compiler 386 Run-time Library Object Code 386 Graphics Library Windowed Source Level Debugger Profiler, Editor, MAKE and Linker Object-code Librarian Object-code Disassembler Protected-mode version of compiler Supports Phar Lap and Eclipse DOS extenders WATCOM F77/386 . 100% ANSI FORTRAN 77 Optimizing Compiler plus extensions • 386 Run-time Library Object Code • Windowed Source-level Debugger • Profiler, Editor, MAKE and Linker • Object-code Librarian • Object-code Disassembler • Protected-mode version of compiler • Run-time compatible with WATCOM C8.0/386 KRun-time Compatible with WATCOM FORTRAN 77 /386 gf 100% ANSI C Compatible ^Profiler Remote debugging Also announcing: WATCOM FORTRAN 77 /386 • Based on WATCOM C Technology • Shares WATCOM C Development Tools • Supports FULL ANSI FORTRAN 77 Language plus Extensions • SAA Compatible • Generates High-performance Code for 32-bit 386 Native Mode 1-800-265-4555 WAT; WATCOM, 4 1 5 Phillip Streel, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3X2, Telephone: (519) 886-3700, Fax: (519) 747-4971 Trademark/Owner: Phar Lap/Phar Lap, Inc.; Microsoft/Microsoft, Inc.; Eclipse/EclipseComputcrSolutions, Inc. WATCOM & Express C are trademarks of WATCOM Systems Inc. © Copyright 1990 WATCOM Products Inc. Unleash Your 386, 486 & i860! NDP Fortran is your key to unlocking the numeric power of Intel's 32-bit CPUs, including the i860. If you're burning up a lot of VAX or Cray time, you should seriously consider the Number Smasher-860. It delivers super-computer throughput, running in an ISA bus, for about the price of a 486 system. With Number Smasher- 860 and NDP C or Fortran-860, you can recom- pile all of your C or FORTRAN programs and run them in any 286, 386, or 486 AT system. MicroWay's compilers come with the features you need to simplify porting to the 32-bit mode of the 386, 486, or i860, including a 99% VAX/ VMS compatible FORTRAN and a dual dialect C which is UNIX System V and ANSI compatible. Each NDP compiler is designed to take maxi- mum advantage of 32-bit protected mode operation, including the 4 gigabyte address space of the processor, plus access to coprocessors from Intel, Weitek and Cyrix. Each compiler includes a library of 135 charac- ter and pixel oriented graphics routines that automatically detect and support the full range of PC display adapters. In addition, we carry a full line of third party libraries and utilities that were ported with our languages. The new releases of our languages include a linker that uses incremental links to speed up building very large programs, a new inlining facility that makes it possible to inline functions in any of our languages (this is an especially important C optimization) and a true C++ com- piler that is AT&T version 2.0 compatible. NDP C++ contains a full ANSI C compiler as a subset. NDP C is your choice if you have to compile a mixture of ANSI, UNIX V, orK&R C applications. Finally, ClearView, our new symbolic debugger, uses windowing and a C-like inter reter with FORTRAN extensions that make it easy to debug C or FORTRAN programs without resorting to an assembly language debugger. MicroWay is still your best source for numeric coprocessors and accelerators. Call for your free copy of "The State of PC Numerics in 1990" by Stephen Fried. For more Information, please call our Tech- nical Support Dept. at (508) 746-7341. 386, 486 & i860 Compilers Our NDP family of compilers generate globally optimized, mainframe quality code that runs on the 386, 486 or i860 in protected mode under UNIX, XENIX, or extended DOS. The com- pilers address 4 gigabytes of memory while supporting the 80287, 80387, Weitek, and Cyrix coprocessors. Applications can mix code from all three compilers and assembly lan- guage.To simplify your ports, we have just released a full-featured, windowing symbolic debugger, ClearView-3/486, that works with DOS versions of NDP 386 and 486 compilers. NDP Fortran™ is a full F77 with F66 and DOD extensions that is 99% VMS compatible. NDP C™ runs in two modes— K&R with Sys V and MSC extensions or 100% ANSI as validated by Plum Hall. NDP Pascal™ is a full ANSI/IEEE Pascal, with extensions from C and BSD 4.2 Pascal. NDP C++™ is a fully AT&T v.2.0 compatible C++ compiler (not a preprocessor) that con- tains a full ANSI C compiler as a C++ subset. NDP-860 compilers each $1995 DOS 386SX versions-NDP Tools included $595 DOS 386 versions-NDP Tools included . $895 DOS 486 versions-NDP Tools included $ 1 1 95 UNIX/XENIX versions CALL NDP VMEM Virtual Memory Manager $295 Eclipse or Phar Lap Tools $495 NDP Link - Incremental Linker $295 ClearView-3/486 Debugger™ $395 NDP Windows™ Library: $125, C Source: $250 NDPPIot™ $325 NDP/FFT™NDP or 80x87 version . . . ea. $250 NDP to HALO '88 Graphics Interface $100 Media Cybernetics' Halo '88 $395 NDP NAG™ Workstation library is a subset of the NAG mainframe libraries. It contains 1 72 routines designed to solve differential equa- tions and eigenvalue problems, perform matrix operations, fit curves, do statistics and regres- sion analysis, etc $895 R AMpak™ Your Compaq! RAMpak™ - one or four meg 32-bit memory expansion module for Compaq Deskpro 386 20/25 One meg . .$150, Four meg .. $400 Micro Way— Number Smasher-860 T The Number Smasher-860 is the highest perfor- mance coprocessor card ever to run in an ISA or EISA bus or as part of a transputer system. Delivers up to 80 million floating point operations per second at 40 MHz and produces over 10 double precision Unpack megaflops. The board comes standard with an ISA interface, two transputer link adapters, your choice of NDP Fortran, C++, C or Pascal for the i860 running under MS-DOS or UNIX, plus 8 megabytes of high speed memory 33 MHz $5995 40 MHz $7200 32 MB version : add $5000 Parallel Processing MicroWay's IBM compatible Monoputer, Quad- puter, Videoputer, and Linkputer boards work together using Inmos transputers to provide expandable, plug-in mainframe performance for your desktop PC. Monoputer™— Includes one T800 and up to 1 6 meg of RAM for parallel code development. The 4 MWhetstones T800 makes it the ideal FORTRAN engine for cost-effective execution of your mainframe programs from $ 1 1 45 Quadputer™— This board for the AT or 386 can be purchased with 1 to 4 transputers and 1 or 4 meg of memory per transputer. Two or more Quadputers can be linked together to build networks of up to 1 00 or more transputers providing mainframe power from $1845 Linkputer™— Links up to 8 boards to provide dynamic transputer topologies $ 1 500 Transputer Compilers and Utilities These parallel languages are designed for use with the Monoputer, Quadputer and Videoputer. Logical Systems Parallel C $595 3L Parallel C, FORTRAN, or Pascal . . $895 TBUG — debugger for 3L compilers . . .$330 Parsec Parallel C/dynamic $1500 ParaSoft EXPRESS — Includes transputer communications libraries, parallel code development library, C source level debugger, and system performance monitor $1500 Helios PC/s $1250 Nexis Windows File Server $495 T800/NAG™ — Port of the complete NAG mainframe library. Contains 268 functions: $2750 Number Smasher-486™ Peisonal Workstation magazine, June 1990, said, The Number Smasher-486 lives up to its name. Its numeric performance exceeds that of all 25-MHz systems we've tested to date. It gives you top 436 performance for the best price." NumberSmasher-486™ is a 25 MHz replace- ment motherboard for ATs and 80386s. This motherboard supports an optional Weitek 4167 numeric coprocessor and up to 16 megabytes of memory. Running with a 4167, our design delivers up to 10 megaflops. The Number Smasher-486 is priced from $3195. Math Coprocessors WEITEK, INTEL, CYRIX 4167-25 $1395 4167-33 $1795 3167-20/-25/-33 $595/ $895/ $1295 mW1 167 Micro Channel-16/20 . . from $795 mW3167 Micro Channel-25/33 . . from $1395 mW3167/80387 Board $200 8087 $80 8087-2 $115 80287-8 $185 80387-16. . .$295 80387-20. . .$345 80287XL ..$210 80387-16SX . . $280 80387-20SX . . $300 80387-25 $439 80387-33 .... $540 287Turbo-20™ $345 CyrixCX83D87FasMath™ SX16MHz $275 20 MHz: $375 25 MHz: $460 33 MHz: $570 386 Your AT! FASTCache-SX™— The most cost effective accelerator we have ever manufactured. Plugs into the 286 socket, speeding up all applica- tions by a factor of 2 to 4. Runs all 386 applica- tions, OS/2 and Windows 3.0. Features a 1 6 or 20 MHz 80386-SX, a 4-way 32K cache (expan- dable to 64K) and a math coprocessor socket. 16MHz:$495 20 MHz: $595 NUMBER SMASHER-386™— This full-sized card replaces the 80286 microprocessor on your IBM AT or compatible motherboard with an 80386 that runs at 20 or 25 MHz. It runs numeri- cally intensive applications up to a factor of 60 times faster, while maintaining full hardware and software compatibility when running all 386 ap- plications. Options include 64K of high speed cache memory, up to 8 megabytes of 32-bit memory, and an Intel 80387, Weitek, or Cyrix numeric coprocessor from $895 World Leader in PC Numerics Corporate Headquarters; P.O. Box 79. Kingston. MA 02364 USA (508) 746-7341 32 High St.. Kingston -Upon-Thames. UK.. 81*541-5466 USA FAX (508) 746-4678 Germany 069-75-2023 Italy 02-74.90.749 Holland 40 836455 Japan 3 222 0544 FEATURE PERSONAL COMPUTING IN EASTERN EUROPE are used only for purposes approved by the State. It is no sur- prise that, in a society that locks photocopiers and oversees their use, computers and their use are also closely guarded. But these problems are starting to disappear, although not in a uniform way, across all the Eastern countries. COCOM is relaxing many of its restrictions on Eastern Europe and the So- viet Union. The Intel 386 processors are now derestricted, al- though there are still tight controls on the i486. The restrictions on machinery and plants for chip and computer manufacture have also been relaxed. At the same time, many of the political restrictions on the use of computers have gone, although to understand that fully, it is perhaps best to look at some of the individual countries in- volved. Hungary and East Germany are commonly considered to be the two Eastern European countries that are the most ad- vanced in computer technology. Hungary: Leading the Eastern Division Before the events of last year, Hungary was considered to be one of the most repressive countries in the East, yet one of the most economically advanced. These two facts are directly re- lated. Janos Kadar was the man the Soviets put in control of Hungary after the uprising of 1956. In the early 1960s, he struck a deal with Moscow. In return for guaranteeing the com- plete suppression of opposition to the Communist government, he got a free hand to organize the Hungarian economy. Kadar started, and successive premiers continued, a liberal (for East- ern Europe) policy of encouraging trade and economic ties be- tween Hungarian industry and agriculture and the West. As a result, Hungary has become Eastern Europe's biggest importer of goods from the West and the biggest exporter to the West. Private companies and cooperatives thrive in Hungary, and the institutions and industries there have decades of experience in dealing with the West. As you would expect, Hungary has a great need for comput- ing technology to keep this economic activity moving and has a long history of dealing with companies like DEC and IBM. Ashton-Tate and Borland, in particular, sell large amounts of software to Hungary, which has been almost unique among Eastern European countries in that it buys— rather than pi- rates— most of its Western software. In hardware terms, the most common microcomputers are IBM PC, XT, and AT compatibles— the latter almost entirely based on 286 processors. Like all the countries of Eastern Eu- rope, Hungary is subject to the rules of COCOM, so there are no legal 32-bit computers of any kind— although more than a few VAXes are said to have found their way there via incredibly circuitous routes and with no help from DEC. Most of the per- sonal computers are imported either from Hungary's neigh- bors, such as East Germany, or from Western Europe, Taiwan, and Japan. What hardware industry the country has concen- trates on the mid- to high end of computing, although Muszer- technika, the country's largest computer supplier, has been successful at selling personal computer products in the West. The company sells a range of hardware add-ins, including a SCSI controller for the PS/2s. But Hungary is best known for the work done by its academ- ics and engineers in computing theory and software develop- ment, particularly in A I. John von Neumann (of von Neumann architecture fame) was Hungarian and did much of his work at the University of Budapest, which maintains a thriving com- puter science department. The most notable commercial com- puting work to spin off from there is in expert systems, espe- cially in pharmacology. continued Don't be a Nerd! Only real nerds would spend months coding basic functions and classes for their Windows applications when they could be using Drover's ToolBox for Windows™ . s oolBox for Windows Drover's ToolBox for Windows adds powerful features to your Microsoft Windows™ applications while reducing development time. ■ Over 200 functions in a single DLL (Dynamic Link Library). ■ 7 new classes for use in dialogs with automatic screen validation. ■ Increased functionality of Windows SDK™ and more flexibility for SQL Windows™ and Actor™. ■ Converts most C runtime library functions to far pointers. Start developing applications right away using standard C conventions. So, don't be a nerd. At just $295 ($885 with source code) and no royalties, Drover's ToolBox for Windows is the best productivity booster yet. Order your copy today. / Microsoft Windcws D Drover Technologies, Inc. 660 White Plains Road Tarrytown, NY 10591-5134 USA Phone 914-631-4942 FAX 914-631-7013 Circle 102 on Reader Service Card SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 407 FEATURE PERSONAL COMPUTING IN EASTERN EUROPE East Germany: A Centralized Computer Economy East Germany has suffered immense political and economic re- strictions. Its secret police force was the largest in Eastern Eu- rope, and its economy was rigorously controlled. Despite this, East Germany has the largest computer industry in Eastern Eu- rope. The state-owned manufacturer Robotron makes every- thing from personal computers to mainframes. These systems are often, but not invariably, imitations of Western systems. Robotron manufactures a range of personal computers and launched a new range of PC compatibles at the CeBit Fair in Hannover this year. Paradoxically, Robotron has the most to gain and the most to lose in the process of liberalization. The company has devel- oped a mass of software aimed at manufacturing, including MRP II (for material requirements planning), CAD/CAM, and a variety of scientific packages. Some of these are already sold in the West. With teams of skilled programmers, Robotron could become a successful exporter. But the hardware side, which is the core of the company's business, is more problematic. The hardware is not up to the quality of Western equipment, since Robotron has had a closed market to sell to in the East. As it becomes easier for East Ger- many's neighbors to buy from the West, that market will start to slow and eventually close unless the company changes rapidly. That change is likely to happen. As the move to German re- unification gathers pace, Robotron will become a Western company. In fact, the West German computer giant, Siemens, has already expressed an interest in buying Robotron. If this sale goes through, Siemens will become the clear giant of com- puting in Europe, and Robotron will be a part of that. You can expect to see a lot of software emanating from Siemens, much of which will have been developed in East Germany. Romania: Lagging Behind While Hungary and East Germany have shown some promise in the computer field, Romania has lost out. Let a Romanian ex- plain why. Nicora Paulian, whose company, Lixco, is based in Bucharest, makes the following assessment of the computer in- dustry under Ceausescu: There is a very weak computer culture in Romania, due to the deliberate policy of the Ceausescu regime. For example, there was a "de-electronization program" which banned words like computer, software, robot, and so on from appearing in the mass media. As a result, the computer industry here lags some seven to 20 years be- hind Western technology. The problems came from the fundamental economics governing the society: central planning. Computing was introduced into the economy by force, so a kind of repulsion developed among people interacting with it. The Ceausescu regime tried to control the movement of data, but in effect the opposite hap- pened as people used computers to exchange information against the regime. There are some IBM 360-like mainframes and PDP- 1 1 -like minicomputers. The majority of microcomputers continued This is as low as fax gets: $195 $195 9600-bps PC fax board! Wow! New money-saver; Voice and fax on one line. Retrieve your new faxes from any fax machine in the world! Put the Frecom FAX96 in your PC and get high speed 9600 bps performance that's fully com- patible with Group III fax machines. Send faxes quickly. Receive faxes even while you're doing something else on your PC. It's Revolutionary! Now you will have over 1 2 million remote printers for your PC! You have total control. Read incoming faxes on your monitor before you decide to print, save or junk them. 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Fremont Communications Company 46309 Warm Springs Blvd, FRECOM Fremont, CA 94539 Paul Masters, UC Berkeley MBA and Northern Telcom alum, is President of Fremont Communications 408 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 122 on Reader Service Card Check out Hi's new DL series Large format. Big features. Small price. j & * Eight-pen changer ^r LCD user interface display V & V' One-year warranty JL Plot optimization V m * "Quick scale" feature Standard media up to 36"x48" V— Sizzling speed up to 45 ips V High resolution of 0.0005 inch * Roll-feed option T^ V Scanner option V 1 Mb buffer option These are just some of the many standard features packed into Hi's new DMP-60 DL series of pen plotters. Based on the popular DMP-60 line, the new DL series delivers a blend of proven performance and state-of-the-art innovation. At a surprisingly low price. Top of the line. Heavy duty. Large format. Loaded with standard features. Priced as low as $4,895.* Check it out by calling 1-800-444-3425 or 512-835-0900. HOUSTON INSTRUMENT. 8500 Cameron Road, Austin, TX 78753 U.S. suggested retail price. Subject to change Circle 140 on Reader Service Card Intelligent Data Acquisition FEATURE PERSONAL COMPUTING IN EASTERN EUROPE System Solutions For Data Acquisition Onboard Intelligence for IBM PC/XT/AT/386 Microstar's Data Acquisition Processor™ (DAP™) manages the entire data acquisition and con- trol interface inside a PC. Onboard intelligence in the DAP speeds development and increases performance. The DAP can be configured eas- ily into a number of instruments, including: ■ Spectrum Analyzer ■ Instrument Controller ■ Transient Recorder ■ Digital Signal Processor ■ Datalogger DAPview™ software provides interactive control for data acqui- sition: ■ real time graphics ■ disk logging ■ pull-down menus ■ on-line HELP ■ on-line error handling Call for FREE Demo Diskette (206) 881-4286 DAP Features: ■ On board microprocessor: up to 16 MHz with 512K DRAM ■ DAP 2400™ with onboard digital signal processor: 20 MHz for 10 MIPS; up to 96K fast SRAM ■ Buffers and processes input data ■ More than 100 commands without programming ■ Compatible with DAPview, C, Pascal, BASIC, FORTRAN, Lotus 1-2-3, ASYST, ILS, LabWindows ■ C language custom commands ■ Acquires analog and digital inputs to 235,000 samples/ second ■ Updates analog or digital outputs to 250,000 values/second MlCROSTAR Laboratories™ # 2863 152nd Ave. N.E., Redmond, WA 98052 Fax (206) 881-5494 are 8-bit systems based on 8080 or Z80 processors that have a 64K-byte RAM limit and run CP/M. They have stiff keyboards, flickering black-and-white displays, un- reliable disk drives and media, and no modems. There are a few hundred PC compatibles that are manufactured locally, and a few dozen imported ATs. They use MS-DOS. Unix is unheard of, and there are no Macintoshes, Amigas, or Ataris. The home computer is the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, which has enjoyed tremendous success among hobbyists; its clones are being built by the thousands. If you talk about "personal computing" in Romania you are talking about the Spectrum. It is felt by many observers that this situation was de- liberately encouraged by the regime since there is little "subversive" potential in the Spectrum. Disk drives were hard to find, and printers were not allowed. In Ro- mania you needed a permit from the police just to own a typewriter. Lixco and other Romanian computer companies are rebuild- ing themselves in the wake of the revolution. While Paulian ac- knowledges the problems facing his country as it tries to take its place in the world's computer industry, he believes that there is an abundance of talent and creative ability in Romania's com- puter engineers and software writers. The problems faced by Romanians, including Paulian, are immense: a lack of infrastructure, poor electrical supplies, ter- rible telephone services, few networks, and little data commu- nications. His country's technological development is years be- hind the West, but all these things can be overcome. His company builds digital circuits and microprocessors. There are also plenty of people writing software. The biggest problem in software up to now has been the impossibility of marketing and selling it. The absence of copyright laws means that piracy is endemic. Out of Tumult, Opportunities All the countries of Eastern Europe, to a greater or lesser ex- tent, face the same problems. They are starting the computer revolution from behind. They need resources, expertise, and training. They lack money. At this writing, East Germany has changed over to West Ger- man deutsche marks, but other Eastern European economies are still based on currencies that are not acknowledged on the international foreign exchange markets. Consequently, they have no hard cash with which to pay for things. They can barter for goods, and most of the trade in the computer industry be- tween the East and the West has been done this way through agents. The agents give the Eastern country the computer, take goods in exchange, sell the goods, and then pass on some of the money to the Western computer company. It may not sound like the best way of doing business, but it works. Most of the economies of the Eastern countries are in disar- ray. Revolution and the uncertainty that follows it have taken their toll on whatever reserves these countries had. Western computer companies are going to have to make heavy invest- ments in the East if they expect to reap any reward. But there are sound reasons for doing this. Suppliers from the Pacific Rim are already there in force. Most of the PC compatibles used in the Soviet Union come from countries like Taiwan. If the West is not to be left out, it will have to move quickly. ■ Colin Barker is a senior editor for BYTE in London. He can be reached on BIX as "colin.b. " 410 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 185 on Reader Service Card 5**Z)05/^5i &»«^ Comes with the works... but doesn't cost a lot of dough! tot**. I Get a sizzling slice of REAL LAN station computing power! Northgate OmniScacions are fast, cost-effective, diskless workstations. They're only 2 Va " high, yet don't scrimp on computing power! Choose 286 12 MHz or more powerful 386SX 16 MHz systems. Private pizza party! "Diskless" OmniScacions are the ideal way to protect against unauthorized copying or loading of valuable information or programs. Your file server holds all applications and files, and allows your data to be stored and backed up in one place. Processing to go! All programs are executed in your network f ileserver, giving you superior speed. And, you'll save time because you won't have to reboot and load software. We use only the finest ingredients! Standard features include: 1Mb of RAM on the motherboard expandable to 4Mb (8Mb in the SX); built in VGA controller with 256Kb RAM (expandable to 512Kb in the SX); hard and floppy disk controller: one full size AT style expansion slot for LAN or modem cards; two serial, one parallel port, mouse port; and math coprocessor support. You also get DOS 4.01, Microsoft® BASIC and Northgate's OmniKeyllOl keyboard. Want extra "toppings?" Just ask! We can set up your OmniScacion as fully configured network node or a stand alone system at entry level prices. All you do is plug it in and turn it on. Options include VGA color and monochrome displays, 40Mb hard drive, 3.5 " 1.44Mb floppy disk drive, keyboards, and additional memory. And we'll throw in a FREE copy of the NEW Microsoft Windows ™ 3.0 with 2Mb and up configurations (SX only). A guarantee you can sink your teeth into! Use OmniScacion for 30 days. If it fails to meet your expectations, return it-NO QUESTIONS ASKED! Northgate support— the perfect dessert! Your system is backed by a one year warranty on parts and labor. Need a part? We'll ship it to you-OVERNIGHT AT OUR EXPENSE— before we receive your part! To top it off, you get the industry's best toll-free technical support AND free deskside service (to most locations) for one full year! ORDER TODAY! We're here to serve you 24 hours a day, seven days a week! Call Sales toll-free— be sure to ask about custom configurations, leasing and financing programs. OmniStation 286/12 MHz Workstation $ 995 00 Free Delivery To Your Home Or Office! (Monitor extra) Just $1295.00 for 386SX/16 MHz model. Complete Stand Alone Systems $ 1695 00 S 1995P° Your 286 Model Choice 386SX Model Systems include 12" high resolution monochrome monitor, 1.44Mb 3.5" floppy and a 40Mb haid drive. Easy Financing: Easy payment options. Use your Northgate Big L N', VISA, MasterCard or lease it. Up to five-year terms available. CALL TOLL-FREE 24 HOURS EVERYDAY 800-548-1993 Notice to Hearing Impaired: Northgate has TDD capability. Dial 800-535-0602. COMPUTER /f%/t£$A,i/lMfr t SYSTEMS >• / ^^^ SYSTEMS 1 Northgate Parkway, Eden Prairie, MN 55344 /" Prices and specifications subject lo change without notice. Northgate reserves the right to substitute components of equal or greater quality or performance. All items subject to availability. ©Copyright Northgate Computer Systems, Inc., 1990. All rights reserved. Northgate, OmniKcy, Elegance, and the Northgate 'N'logo arc registered trademarks of Northgate Computer Systems. 80386 is a trademark of Intel. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation. IBM, OS/Z and AT arc registered trademarks of the IBM Corp. All other products and brand names arc trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies. Circle 206 on Reader Service Card FEATURE The Creation of THE IBM PC David J. Bradley A little-known system, the DataMaster, drove many of the design choices for the original IBM PC i n August 1980, 1 had finished my work on what was to become the IBM System/23 DataMaster. The DataMaster was an Intel 8085-based sys- tem intended to run business applications writ- ten in BASIC. I had written some of the device- control code for that system and was looking at extending the design to the 8086 architecture. I had'heard rumors of a task force that was looking for a low- cost system design. The project sounded interesting, but I was enjoying the DataMaster work. Then my manager called me in. He told me that IBM's Boca Raton division had been given the job of building a low-cost system. Management had assembled a team of engineers, and they needed someone to write the control code. I was to join 1 1 others in daily meetings at 8 a.m. At that time, the design for the machine existed only as a few descriptive charts. A year later, on August 12, 1981, we an- nounced the IBM Personal Computer. Here is the story of how we made the design decisions that shaped the IBM PC. Humble Beginnings The DataMaster program began in February 1978. Many of its design elements— the keyboard, for example— were later used on the IBM PC. This same development effort also produced a group of trained engineers already familiar with personal com- puter design. The DataMaster was a single-element design. The one-piece package contained the keyboard, a 12-inch monochrome dis- play, and a pair of 8-inch floppy disk drives. Although this de- sign was suitable for the System/23 business environment, it didn't have the flexibility needed for a personal computer. The DataMaster's 8-bit 8085 CPU was a very close relative of the 8080 and executed the same instruction set. During the design team's work on the DataMaster, we ran up against the limits of the 64K-byte address space and had to invent an exter- nal paging mechanism to address at least 256K bytes of mem- ory. In designing this system, we became familiar with the 414 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Intel architecture and support chips. The DataMaster system had a built-in BASIC interpreter, just like many of the personal computer designs of the time. During the DataMaster development, we "converged" our BASIC with the BASIC used on the IBM System/34. That change delayed the DataMaster by nearly a year. That experience taught us two things about getting a product to market rapidly: We needed to use an existing BASIC, and we needed to streamline the IBM development process. Applying what we learned was one of the reasons for the success of the IBM PC. We went to Microsoft for a BASIC interpreter. And we used our own fast-path development process, which in- cluded using executives to convince the rest of the corporation that we were on the right track. The First View Refinement of the original PC design swapped the positions of the power supply and the expansion cards, allowing the adapt- ers to extend the full length of the box. That move put the power switch in the back corner— a long reach for users. In the initial design, we included a pair of 5 14 -inch floppy disk drives, a horizontal system board, and five expansion slots. Because of our experience with the DataMaster, we made the keyboard and display separate from the computer. The basic logic was to go on the system board, but expansion cards would give each system a unique flavor. The width and depth of the box had to fit on a standard desk- top and still leave room for the keyboard. After subtracting areas for the power supply and disk drives, the remaining space determined the size of the system board and expansion cards. The initial system design was quite different from the device we finally announced. We shipped all systems with a minimum continued The one-piece DataMaster was a business-oriented single-user system. It served as a mod el for many of the features of the original IBM PC. ► ILLUSTRATION: MASATO NISHIMURA © 1990 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 415 FEATURE THE CREATION OF THE IBM PC of 16K bytes of RAM on the system board. All systems had 40K bytes of ROM, which consisted of a 32K-byte BASIC interpret- er and an 8K-byte BIOS. Our first design called for a total of five slots— exactly the same number that ended up in the fin- ished product. We wound up actually developing most of the features on our original list, with the exception of the 8-inch disk drives; also, we changed the printer adapter to an industry- standard parallel port. A major influence on the system design was the just-enacted FCC Class B requirement for electronic devices in the home. As the industry painfully learned in those early years, "hard- ening" the system to contain electromagnetic emissions was difficult, and sometimes more art than science. We designed the adapter-card brackets to fit securely in the enclosure to re- duce the leakage. Many hours of testing, including some open- field work conducted in the Everglades (where bug removal took on a completely different meaning), were necessary to make the system pass the FCC criteria. We had learned from the DataMaster development and from the experiences of others that even a company the size of IBM couldn't develop all the hardware and software to make a per- sonal computer a success. From the beginning, we decided to publish data concerning all the hardware and software inter- faces. Anyone designing an adapter or a program to run on the IBM PC would get as much information as we had available. A compilation of all the system specifications used during the sys- tem development and testing became the Technical Reference Manual. Why the 8088? There were a number of reasons why we chose the Intel 8088 as the IBM PC's central processor. 1 . The 64K-byte address limit had to be overcome. This re- quirement meant that we had to use a 16-bit microprocessor. 2. The processor and its peripherals had to be available imme- diately. There was no time for new LSI chip development, and manufacturing lead times meant that quantities had to be avail- able right away. 3. We couldn't afford a long learning period; we had to use technology we were familiar with. And we needed a rich set of support chips— we wanted a system with a DMA controller, an interrupt controller, timers, and parallel ports. 4. There had to be both an operating system and applications software available for the processor. We narrowed our decision down to the Intel 8086 or 8088. The Boca Raton engineers were familiar with these processors and their support chips. For programmers, the 8086/8088 ar- chitecture is a straightforward map from the 8080 architecture. The Microsoft BASIC group had already ported its BASIC in- terpreter from the 8080 to the 8086. There was also a DOS that ran on the 8086. Expansion of the address space was our pri- mary goal. We chose the 8088 because of its 8-bit data bus. The smaller bus saved money in the areas of RAM, ROM, and logic for the simple system. A bonus we got from choosing this Intel processor was the 416 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 FEATURE THE CREATION OF THE IBM PC numeric coprocessor. The 8087 gave the 8088 a fast partner for floating-point calculations. But since the 8087 wasn't yet avail- able when the PC was announced, we simply left an empty socket on the board and didn't disclose a use for it. 16K Bytes and Up The IBM PC was offered with 16K bytes of RAM, expandable to 64K bytes on the system board. We used 16K-bit DRAM chips because they were readily available. We built two mem- ory-expansion cards, a 32K-byte and a 64K-byte card. With a fully populated system board and three 64K-byte cards, you could get up to 256K bytes of memory— at that time, an impres- sive amount for a personal computer. We made one design choice that was unprecedented in a per- sonal computer: to include parity on the memory. We thought it was very important to detect errors that might be caused by a failure in the memory and not allow the corrupted data to prop- agate further in the system. We believed it was better to halt the machine than to continue with errors. If an application program wished to change the way the parity error was handled, it could do so by simply changing the nonmaskable interrupt handler. Why did DOS end up limited to 640K bytes? The answer is surprisingly simple. The 8088 has an address space of 1 mega- byte. We reserved the upper 128K bytes for ROM on the system board. We wanted the video memory on the display adapters to be in the processor address space, so we reserved a 128K-byte section of memory for them. Finally, we reserved 128K bytes of memory for ROM or RAM on other adapter cards. At the time, we thought those allotments were generous. When you subtract the reserved sections, the remainder is 640K bytes. Since the capacity of the original IBM PC was 256K bytes of RAM, and the norm for systems at that time was 64K bytes, we felt comfortable with the design. Although 640K bytes did become a limitation, so did the other reserved areas. I don't think there was a better way of arranging the memory that would have made a significant difference. Supporting the Processor The support chips brought a lot of function to the IBM PC. DMA speeds up the I/O performance by relieving the processor of transferring the data between memory and I/O devices. We wanted the system to be able to perform multiple operations. A good example is allowing the user to type ahead on the key- board while the disk transfers data. This feature enhanced the system's convenience and utility. We also used DMA for mem- ory refresh, since it already had the control logic to request the bus and provide addresses to memory. Being able to type ahead also requires keyboard interrupts. Using the eight-level interrupt controller relieved the processor from checking I/O operations continuously. Even though the hardware and firmware shipped with the system didn't take full advantage of the DMA and interrupt ca- pabilities, we included these functions for others. For example, the BIOS for the serial port didn't use the interrupt capabilities, but the serial communications built into Advanced BASIC did. Serial transmission and reception could take place under inter- rupt control while the BASIC program was executing. The three-channel timer/counter let the IBM PC tell time, at least as long as the power was on. It was also the refresh timer and generated tones for the speaker. In addition, the counter could be used for many of the system's timing functions— for example, the code in the BIOS that read the cassette storage de- vice. That code used the timer to determine the length of a bit cycle and decide whether a 1 or a had been recorded. Color and Text We designed the IBM PC for two different roles: a business computer and a home computer. To support this versatility, we developed separate video adapters: CGA for the home and the Monochrome Display Adapter (MD A) for business. MDA was based on the DataMaster display, which was monochrome and text-only. DataMaster used the Intel 827' CRT controller to generate the display. While the 8275 cui down on memory contention (by buffering each row of charac- ters internal to the chip), it had two problems: It was limited to 7 bits for each character and so could display only 128 different characters, and it could set character attributes only by sacrific- ing a character position to the attribute specification. Thus, highlighting a word required a preceding and following attri- bute byte— one to turn on highlighting, and one to turn it off. MDA has a single mode, 25 rows of 80 columns of text. We didn't use the DataMaster design because we preferred to do our own— using the Motorola 6845 for video timings— and put memory on the card for character and attribute storage. This design allowed us to have 256 characters, and we could specify the attributes for each character position. MDA was the first multifunction board developed for the IBM PC. It had a single parallel port to connect it to a printer. For the IBM PC, we needed at least 256 characters to sup- port the major languages, because the / in IBM stands for "in- ternational." Our experience with the DataMaster gave us a pretty good set to use. We also wanted "business graphics" in continued SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 417 Subscription Problems? We want to help! // you have a problem with your BYTE subscription, write us with the details. We'll do our best to set it right. But we must have the name, address, and zip of the subscription (new and old address, if it's a change of address). If the problem involves a payment, be sure to include copies of the credit card statement, or front and back of cancelled checks. Include a "business hours" phone number if possible. EVTE Subscriber Service P.O. Box 850 Peterborough, NH 03458-0850 FEATURE THE CREATION OF THE IBM PC Video Textbook Training • Video Textbook Training The Ultimate Training Solution • The UNIX Operating System, Utilities and Bburne Shell Programming • The UNIX Operating System, Utilities and C Shell Programming • The ANS C Programming Language and Libraries • Programming with QUICK C • Programming with TURBO C • Programming with INFORMIX/SQL • Programming with INF0RMIX/4GL • Programming with ADA • Programming with C-scape 1 In-depth training for people who will be developing software using what we teach. Each course consists of 10 VH S video cassettes a n d includes a workbook. Exercises, solutions and examples available on floppy. The price of each course is an affordable $150 plus S/H. Floppy disks are $25. Video Textbook Training S200 Lakeside Drive, Building A4 r/nr^ Morgantown, WV 26505 EZ3'.: (304) 292-0917 FAX (304) 296-4032 UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T. INFORMIX/SQL and 4GL are registered trademarks of INFORMIX Software. Inc. QUICK C is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. TURBO C is a registered trademark of Borland International. C-scape is a registered trade- mark of Oakland Group, Inc. Video Textbook Training • Video Textbook Training the character set (e.g., the lines and corners used to form boxes). We filled the remaining spaces with some word pro- cessing marks, Greek letters, and a few math symbols. We wanted CG A t ob e able to work with a home T V a s well as with a TV-frequency monitor. That criterion pretty much de- termined all the important things— like the number of dots on the screen. Two of the modes, 40- by 25-character text and 320- by 200-pixel all-points-addressable (APA), are constrained by the limits of a home TV. The remaining two modes, 80- by 25- character text and 640- by 200-pixel APA, require a monitor. The color capabilities were determined by the memory we could afford to put on the board— 16K bytes of RAM. That amount of memory allows four colors for the medium-resolu- tion APA and two colors for high resolution. The organization of the memory, 16K bytes by 8 bits, gave rise to one of the problems of CGA: In 80-column text mode, the adapter had to fetch 160 bytes per line— 80 characters and 80 attributes— leaving no time for the processor to read from or write to the display. Any program that went directly to the dis- play memory quickly filled the screen with "snow." The read and write routines in the BIOS waited for horizontal retrace be- fore accessing the memory. The scroll routine in the BIOS, which had to move lots of data, simply turned off the display, did the move, and then turned the display back on. There was a noticeable blink as the screen scrolled, but it was less objection- able than the blizzard that would have occurred otherwise. Cassettes, Then Diskettes Because we planned on people using the IBM PC at home, we included a port so a cassette could be used as a storage device. The system was available with no disk drives, 16K bytes of RAM, and Cassette BASIC in ROM. With this configuration, you could load and execute BASIC programs from a standard audiocassette tape player. We did optimize the system design for business use, though, with bays for two floppy disk drives and 64K bytes of RAM on the planar. Disk-based systems far outsold those without, and just about everyone who bought a cassette system eventually upgraded to disks. Although the cassette port was retained on the PC for compatibility, we removed it from the XT when that was designed. Bus Architecture: DataMaster Descendent The IBM PC's bus architecture came from two sources: the DataMaster definition and the new requirements of the 8088. We wanted to keep the bus very similar to the DataMaster' s, since we had developed several adapter cards for that bus. Keeping the bus similar would make the adaptation very sim- ple—just a new layout of the cards. The 62-pin connector also came from the DataMaster. The extensions for the 8088 were obvious— a few extra address lines. The DataMaster used the same interrupt controller and a similar DMA controller, so those signals were already on the DataMaster bus. The final definition changed only five of the originally proposed signal lines. One thing we didn't foresee when we defined the system bus was the proliferation of adapter cards for the PC. Although the variety turned out to be a good thing because it gave customers a wide choice of options, we hadn't allowed enough I/O ad- dresses for all the cards that eventually were developed. Original expansion cards decoded only a 10 -bit address, and many cards used 8 or 16 addresses. Consequently, almost every card ended up with a set of switches to select the I/O ad- dress it would respond to and the interrupt line it would use in a continued 418 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 316 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 317) The backup system that makes other backup systems obsolete. COREtape Light will back up a server from a workstation as well as a workstation's own local hard disk. Now that' s flexibility! Based on our award- winning COREfast. Twice winner of the coveted PC Magazine Editors ' Choice Award COREfast was enhanced especially for COREtape Light. EDITORS CHOICE COREtape Light The industry's most reliable 3.5 M tape backup. Store 40 to 300+ megabytes — at 4MB/minute! What it is. Available in external as well as internal models, COREtape Light uses standard 40 to 1 20 MB DC2000 series 3.5" tape cartridges. Typically, 300 MB or more can be backed up with compression onto one 120 MB tape. In compressed mode, effective speed increases to about 4 megabytes per minute. Random Access Restore locates any file in less than a minute. Using your 286 (or above) ( AT-bus or PS/2) system's existing floppy controller, COREtape Light makes installation quick and easy, and keeps a valuable expansion slot free. Surface-mount technology, a heavy-duty metal frame, and a ferrite head all add up to an impressive 25,000-hour MTBF that's twice a s high as the competition's. So we gave COREtape Light an 18-month, full- replacement warranty. Net Gain. Installed in network servers, multiple COREtape Light units are a very cost- effective alternative to DAT or helical scan. You can back up automatically and unattended at pre-scheduled intervals. "With an unbeatable price y flexible and easy to use software. ..this newcomer has a good shot at making 4UMB tape obsolete. — ROBERT KENDALL PC MAGAZINE 12-26-89 Call for your nearest distributor: CORE INTERNATIONAL In Europe: CORE International (U.K.) Ltd. Phone: (44)-344-861 776 Fax: (44)-344-861 604 You decide- — then see your local distributor! COREtape Light Mountain 8000 Plus Irwin 2080 Maynard Cartridge Interface QIC-80 QIC-80 IRWIN QIC-02 Capacity w/ Standard Long Length Tape 120 MB 120 MB 120 MB 250 MB Typical Capacity w/ Data Compression 300 MB 150 MB not available not available Random Access Restore YES NO YES NO Ferrite Head YES NO NO NO | Metal Frame YES YES NO YES Warranty 18 mos. 12 mos. 12 mos. 12 mos. 7171 North Federal Highway • Boca Raton, Florida 33487 * 407/997-6055 * Fax: 407/997-6009 Copyright 1990 CORE International. All rights reserved. CORE, CORE International, COREtape, COREtape Light, and COREJasr are registered trademarks of CORE International. Inc. Circle 74 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 75) FEATURE THE CREATION OF THE IBM PC GET SUPERSOFT's Service Diagnostics All the software, alignment diskettes, parallel/serial wrap-around plugs, ROM POSTs and extensive, professional documentation to provide the most comprehensive testing available for IBM PCs, XTs.ATs and all compatibles under DOS or Stand Alone. No other diagnosticsofferssuch in-depth testing on as many differenttypesof equipment by isolating problems to the board and chip level. NEW: SuperSoft's ROM POSTperformsthe most advanced Power-on-Self-Test available for system boards that are compatible with the IBM ROM BIOS. It works even in circumstances when the Service Diagnostics diskette cannot be loaded. NEW: 386 diagnostics for hybrids and PS/2s! For over nine years, major manufacturers have been relying on SuperSoft's diagnostics software to help them and their customers repair microcomputers. End users have been relying on SuperSoft's Diagnostics II for the most thorough hardware error isolation available. Now versions of Service Diagnostics are available to save everyone (including every serious repair technician) time, money, and headaches in fixing their computers, even non-IBM equipment. All CPL)s& Numeric Co-processors All Color Graphics & Monochrome System Expansion & Extended Memory Monitors Floppy, Fixed & Non-standard Disk Drives Parallel & Serial Ports Standard & Non-standard Printers Mono, CGA, Hercules & EGA System Board: DMA, Timers, Interrupt, Adapters Real-time Clock & CMOS config. RAM All Keyboards & the 8042 Controller "EDITOR'S CHOICE" — PC MAGAZINE August 1990 Service Diagnostics for PC, PC/XT, and compatibles only $169 Alignment Diskette for PC, PC/XT and compatibles (48 tpi drives) $ 60 Wrap-around Plug for PC, PC/XT and compatibles (parallel and serial) . . $ 30 Service Diagnostics for AT and compatibles only $169 Alignment Diskette for AT and compatibles (96 tpi drives) $ 60 Wrap-around Plug for AT (serial) $ 15 ROM POST for PC, PC/XT and compatibles only. $245 ROM POST for AT and compatibles only $245 Service Diagnostics: The KIT (includes all of the above— save $502). $495 Service Diagnostics for PS/2 models 25/30 50/60 or 70/80 and compatibles (please specify) $195 Service Diagnostics for 386 or V2, V30, or Harris, etc. (please specify) . . . $195 Diagnostics II is the solution to the service problems of users of all CP/M-80, CP/M-86 and MS-DOS computers $125 Alignment Diskette for PS/2 and compatibles (3.5 inch) $ 60 To order, call 800-678-3600 or 408-745-0234 FAX 408-745-0231, or write SuperSoft. 44*H^ ^-^^"^ SupetS ft FIRST IN SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY P.O. Box 4178, Mountain View. CA 940400178 (408) 745-0234 Telex 270365 SUPERSOFT is a registered trademark of SuperSoft, Inc.; CDC of Control Data Corp.; IBM PC, AT & XT of International Business Machines Corp.: MS-DOS of Microsoft Corp.; NEC of NEC Information Systems, Inc.. PRIME of PRIME INC.; Sony of Sony Corp. 420 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 282 on Reader Service Card given system. While the DIP switches were workable, they re- quired the user to review all the documentation every time an- other card had to be installed. The answer was a programmable method of device selection, which was one of the reasons for the change to the Micro Channel architecture in the PS/2 family. Keyboard Control The IBM PC keyboard came from the DataMaster. We changed the key tops to reflect the general-purpose nature of the PC, replacing labels such as HELP with F4. Since the DataMaster keyboard was inside the system box, it used a parallel connec- tion to the system board. For the IBM PC, we made the key- board separate and connected it to the system via a serial port and a 6-foot coiled cable. One of the questions often asked about the IBM PC is why we chose the Ctrl-Alt-Del reset sequence. We proposed Ctrl-Alt- Del as a warm-boot sequence to provide some of the capability of a reset switch. It is difficult to activate by mistake, since the keys are widely separated. By storing a special character in a particular memory location, the warm boot would bypass the memory-test portion of the power-on self test (POST), taking less time than turning the machine off and back on. The difficulty with Ctrl-Alt-Del, however, is that for the re- set to work, the system must be capable of receiving input. If the program has gone completely off into the weeds and has dis- abled the interrupts, the reset won't work. But production soft- ware should not exhibit this kind of behavior. There were two other concerns with the original keyboard: the placement of the Left Shift and Enter keys, and the lack of indicators for Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock. The keys ended up as they did because we wanted to support the international keyboard, which has several additional keys. We improved the layout with the IBM AT keyboard. That keyboard also had the indicator lights for the shift states. Firmware and Diagnostics We intended for the PC's BIOS to serve as a buffer between the hardware and a programmer. Some of the things it handles (e.g., sending a character to the printer) are very simple. Other operations (e.g., decoding the scan codes from the keyboard into the desired characters) are very complex. We wanted a pro- grammer to be free to concentrate on the problem, not the hardware. Another important part of the IBM PC was its diagnostic strategy. The POST annoyed some users because the system came to life slowly. But we thought it was important to test the system before turning it over to an application, reasoning that it was better to find a hardware problem before it caused a mis- take in your data. Industry Revolution When we first began development of the IBM PC, we didn't appreciate the potential of the product. The company originally estimated it would market a total of about 250,000 units over a five-year period. As it turned out, there were some months when we built and sold nearly that many systems. IBM has since delivered millions of PCs to the marketplace. The sales estimates may have been faulty, but the product cer- tainly wasn't. I'm very happy to have been a part of it. ■ David J. Bradley is the manager of Advanced Processor Design, Entry Systems Division, at IBM (Boca Raton, FL). He was a member of the original team that designed the IBM PC and has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering. He can be reached on BIX do ' 'editors. " Network Users now there's a fax modem that's easy to share. »*>../V "«>;> The LIGHTFAX 9624 lets you and your workgroup share the convenience and timesavings of a 9600 bps fax modem. Now everyone on your network can fax documents from their workstations. No more waiting in line at the printer and fax machine before you can send your message. Simply choose the Print command in any of your favorite applications to fax your documents. Then, go back to work immediately, because the LIGHTFAX 9624 transmits and receives with Complete background operation. The LIGHTFAX 9624 lets you fax what you can print, all from the convenience of your individual workstation. The LIGHTFAX 9624 improves the productivity of networks that use: • Novell • AppleTalk • X-Windows • TOPS ©UNIX ©NextStep The LIGHTFAX 9624 is compatible with any computer that uses a standard RS 232 interface, such as: • PS/2 •Macintosh • Amiga • AT • Atari *The LIGHTFAX 9624 is also a standard Hayes Compatible 2400, 1200, 1200/75 and 300 bps data modem. (Actual Size) The LIGHTFAX 9624 has been approved for sale in the United States, Australia, Switzerland, Sweden, South Africa, Singapore, and Taiwan. Comments from around the world: S "Excellent for Windows users 91 III -PC Week, 3/90. 55 "The light of the world in fax modems" K% -Computer Ware, Italy, 3/90. S "No. 1 in Germany" M -Modem Contest, West Germany, 11/89. ^ "The best Modem in the Netherlands" ff^ -Amiga Magazine, 10/88. To improve your workgroup productivity, please call 1-800-547-3303 now. U.S. Dealers near you General Computer PA (215)821 5977 NJ (609)5991510 Publishing II (708)597-3840 MA (617)5952300 OH (513)851 5000 CA (213)3849555 H & H Mercury Micro Age CANADA (416)6384740 Micro Age SWITZERLAND (031) 88 12 55 MD (301)963-5000 CO (303)759-5686 FL (305)448-5960 TX (214)341-6775 SWEDEN (0)766 355 30 U.K. (71)538 3131 ITALY (02)48703188 SOUTH AFRICA (011)838-3831 FRANCE (33)78 53 54 46. M0 (314)532-6913 (1)45 38 70 12 CA (415)543-2190 W. GERMANY 0241-76011 WA (206)656-9000 JAPAN 03(746)3611 SINGAPORE 744 5533 NETHERLAND 2159-44938. 3463-57211 AUSTRALIA (3) 580 1355 DENMARK (98) 15 13 11 THAILAND 2359020 ICELAND (1) 681665 NEW 2EALAND (09) 5221459 SPAIN (93)253 71 58 BELGIUM (3) 828 80 48 . -Software Developer Hotline- LIGHTSPEED TECHNOLOGY INC. 7F,N0.12, LANE639, MIN SHEN EAST ROAD. TAIPEI 10446, TAIWAN, R.O.C. TEL:(886)2-7134586. FAX:(886) 2-7161024 All product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. ;fc Models vary for different countries. Circle 66 on Reader Service Card Introducing IWiee The OCR The Price. Unbeatable OCR at an unbeatable price. If you didn't think you could afford the best OCR on the market, think again. Think WordScan™ Calera's revolutionary new OCR software. Now it really makes sense to use OCR to elimi- nate most of the retypingyou do every day. Because WordScans features are the best. At the best price ever. The end of ordinary OCR. What makes WordScan extraordinary are its standard features. Like its ability to read virtually any printed document directly into your word processor, desktop publisher, database or spreadsheet more accurately than any other OCR product. Even bad photo- copies and faxes! And WordScan Plus adds even more exclusive features. Our unique pop - up editor makes proofing a snap. It pops up an enlarged image of any questionable word for instant verification, so you don't have to refer to the original hard copy. Deferred processing lets you scan documents now, and perform OCR later when you don't need the computer. You can even "clip" selected portions of pages like magazine articles, then stack them for deferred processing. An important time-saver! Process multiple documents into separate files automatically. Just put a blank page between documents and WordScan does the rest. WEIL PAY GOOD MONEY FOR BAD OCR. FOR A LIMITED TIME, TRADE IN YOUR OLD OCR AND GET HALF OFF THE PRICE OF WORDSCAN OR WORDSCAN PLUS! 30-DAY, MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE, CALL 800-544-7051 FOR DETAILS. And you can reformat material any way you want with our style sheet feature. Another WordScan Plus exclusive! And the list goes on. Nobody else can match these features. WordScan and WordScan Plus are completely compatible with Windows 3-0 and they do everything with just 2 MB of memory. At about half the price you'd expect to pay for OCR that doesn't^ do half as much. WordScan is available now at $595; WordScan Plus, $995. Call 800-544-7051 for the name of the Calera dealer nearest you. And don't forget to ask for your free copy of our OCR evaluation booklet. CALER.A RECOGNITION SYSTEMS 2500 Augustine Drive, Santa Clara, CA95054 USA. 800-544-7051; outside USA, 408-986-8006; FAX408-986-1440 © 1990 Calera Recognition Systems, Inc. Calera* is a registered trademark of Calera Recognition Systems, Inc. WordScan and TrueScan are trademarks of Calera Recognition Systems, Inc. Circle 56 on Reader Service Card FEATURE ALTERNATIVE OPERATING SYSTEMS From a Tiny Kernel . Getting from OS-9 to OS-9000 involved more than adding three zeroes Ben Smith S From looking at it, it would be difficult to imagine the tiny Tandy Color Computer as a multitasking powerhouse. With OS-9, how- ever, it can be, and the lessons learned in de- signing that microkernel operating system have blossomed into commercial-quality soft- ware for 386- and Motorola 680x0-based computers. In 1980, Microware Systems developed OS-9, a multiuser, multitasking operating system for the underrated Motorola 6809 (the processor in the Color Computer). By 1983, the use- fulness of the small kernel and modular design had attracted enough serious industrial users that Microware had ported its operating system to the 16-/32-bit Motorola processors. With the popularity of the Motorola VMEbus boards for use in indus- trial controls, OS-9 became more than an occasional operating system for commercial applications. You can still buy OS-9 (for under $100) for the Tandy Color Computer, but you can also find it on just about any Motorola-based personal computer, as well as the industrial VME boards. It's also easier to spot in Europe and Japan, areas where OS-9 is more commonly used than in the U.S. It must have something going for it if it is used so widely. A Quick Look at OS-9 OS-9 has a compact kernel around which you link only the mod- ules you need. Device drivers (and other modules) can be added anytime, without relinking the kernel. Writing device drivers for OS-9 is easy compared to doing so for Unix System V re- lease 2 and lower. Also, OS-9 is fast; it was designed to take full advantage of the capabilities of the Motorola processors. Although the original version of OS-9 was a little ragged and lacked many of the amenities of other operating systems, it has grown to be a rich environment with no significant bugs. To the user, OS-9 is somewhat like Unix. It has a shell and a scripting language akin to the Bourne shell. Files are arranged in a tree structure, with separate user areas. File access is granted by permission to read, write, and execute for owner, group, and world. Everything, including devices, is treated as a file. Most utilities have Unix counterparts that behave in much the same way. The latest release from Microware is so much of an advance that it is no longer called OS-9. Now we have . . . The Birth of OS-9000 Of course, Motorola is not the only popular manufacturer of high-performance microprocessors. Intel seems to be doing pretty well with the 386— so well, in fact, that 386 systems are inexpensive and widely available. Microware thought that it should offer its real-time operating system to the industrial devel- opers who want to save some money and use the Intel-based PC systems. Hence, OS-9000, a total rewrite of OS-9, was born. OS-9000 looks pretty much the same as OS-9 to the pro- grammer and user, but now it is written in C (rather than as- sembly language) for portability. Even at the onset, OS-9000 was available for the Motorola 68020, 68030, and (theoretical- ly) 68040, as well as the Intel 386 and i486. Even though this is a completely new operating system, it is more stable than most such first attempts. Microware cut its teeth on OS-9, and the effort paid off. But it is a young operat- ing system, and many popular utilities still haven't been brought over from OS-9. Actually, many of the utilities come from the free source code that is available in the Unix commu- nity (see The Unix /bin, June, July, and August BYTE). Enough of OS-9000 is conceptually like Unix that porting from Unix to OS-9000 is far easier than porting from Unix to DOS or OS/2. The OS-9000 development tools are necessarily like their Unix counterparts. Cross-development is not only possible, but encouraged. And Unix isn't the only route to OS-9000; you can also port applications from DOS and OS/2. The idea is that you should be able to develop on any of these other operating sys- tems, using your favorite development tools, and end up with a multitasking, real-time application for your OS-9000 system. continued SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 423 Circle 328 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 329) "Highly Recommended ff — pc Magazine The AC outlet for your car! PowerTrip® gives you AC power from your car's cigarette lighter! Safely runs: i Computers i FAX machines i only $199.95! i Any 100 watt AC electronics i 220 volt version available (US$299.95) (f|| ■ Runs for hours with no _ significant battery drain L^ 1 1 C O 1 0900 W. 44th Ave. Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 USA Enhancing the Mobile office Tel (303) 421-2013 FAX (303) 423-8346 PC Compatible Single Board Computers for the OEM DR DOS® Now Available Quark /PC + • NEC V-40® Processor • Video/LCD Controller • 8 or lO MHz Frequency • Up to 768K Memory Quark®/PC II • 80386 SX based • EGA® Video/Color LCD Controller • SCSI Hard Disk Control • Floppy Disk Control • Up to 4 Mbytes Memory To order or enquire call us today. Megatel Computer Corporation (416) 245-2953 FAX (416) 245-6505 125 Wendell Ave., Weston, Ontario M9N 3K9 REPS: Italy 39 331 256 524 Austria 43 222 587 6475 W. Germany 49 6074 98031 Finland 358 0757 1711 U.K. 44 959 71011 Netherlands 31 838 541 301 Australia 61 03 568 0988 France 1 47 46 94 52 Sweden 46 4097 1090 Norway 47 986 9970 Denmark 45 244 0488 Trademarks: Quark - F. + K. Manufacturing Co. DRDOS - Digital Research Ltd. EGA - IBM Corp V-40 - NEC Corp. •megatel FEATURE ALTERNATIVE OPERATING SYSTEMS ITEMS DISCUSSED OS-9000 (386 version).... Microware Systems Corp. 1900 Northwest 114th St. Des Moines, IA 50322 (515)224-1929 Inquiry 1051. .$995 The networking tools make it a simple BNC twist to extend it out to these other systems. Of course, there are fine tools on the native system, includ- ing a clean version of MicroEMACS, the Unix make project management and file dependency program, and extensive function libraries, including ANSI C, Unix, and real-time pro- gramming functions. It also includes a fine source code debug- ger, and a flexible and efficient C compiler and assembler. Journey to the Kernel and Beyond OS-9000 is not really unique in basic design (see Part 1 in this series, "The QNX Operating System," August BYTE). It has a small, fast kernel. The concept of a memory module is central to the design. Memory modules are not limited to executable code, but can also be used for data. In fact, you can design your own module type as long as you follow a few rules of construc- tion. All modules share the same memory map, which is man- aged by the kernel. Although access to modules can be controlled in the same way as access to files, any module can generally access any other module. This means different processes can easily share the same data modules. With freedom comes responsibility, and it is the programmer's responsibility to share modules in an intelligent way. The operating system doesn't have enforced layers of memory management. But the programmer is not without the tools: OS-9000 has pipes, named pipes, signals, and semaphores, as well as "events," so different processes can communicate and synchronize their use of the resources. These tools are called interprocess communication mecha- nisms. Unix developers are familiar with pipes and named pipes, the first-in/first-out methods of IPC. Unix also uses sig- nals to notify one process of independent or special conditions that might need urgent attention. Semaphores are a traditional way for different processes to set and respond to shared flags. The OS-9000 event IPC is like a semaphore, but it is much more sophisticated. Among the many elements in its structure, it has a name, an owner, and a 32-bit value that can be set to any value and incremented. There are nearly two dozen function calls available for creating, linking, signaling, reading, waiting on, and deleting events. Events are used primarily to synchronize concurrent processes that are sharing resources. All running processes and their associated modules are in memory at the same time. If you want more processes, you add more real memory. But there are system calls and utilities you can use to load and unload modules as you require. Only by keeping everything in real memory, in a constant position, can the operating system make things happen at a predictable time, the tenet of real-time computing. How Real-Time Can You Get? OS-9000 on a 386 machine gives you a real-time resolution of VIoo second. You can be assured that any event will happen with- in Y 50 second. This is more than fine enough to control many industrial processes directly. This fineness of response time is continued 424 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 178 on Reader Service Card From Tiny Kernels Mighty Systems Grow In the UNIX® world, microkernel architecture is still only a germ of an idea. With QNX®, it's been a reality for nearly a decade. QNX's advanced design has certainly proved fruitful. Our installed base has now grown to over 100,000 systems in factories, laboratories, and offices throughout the world. . Why a microkernel? Because it gives you everything a monolithic "megakernel" can't. It's small, fast, and dedicated. While a typical UNIX kernel attempts to juggle everything under the sun, the QNX kernel concentrates only on scheduling tasks and coordinating message-passing activity. All other OS functions - file handling, device I/O, network management, etc. - are taken care of by separate server tasks. The result is an efficient, extensible, and verifiable operating system. You can even customize QNX on the fly. Since you can start and stop server tasks dynamically, you can easily add network support, install new devices, or incorporate entirely new system services - without having to take apart and rebuild the entire OS. Unlike most operating systems, a microkernel OS is designed to stay out of your way. In the seamless environment of the QNX network, tasks can reside on any node and can transparently access any resource attached to any node. You can mix and match a wide range of Intel-based PCs, from vintage 8088s all the way up to 486 machines. And since an application can harness the processing power of all the CPUs throughout the LAN, the result is a level of distributed performance you never dreamed possible from a micro environment. Which is why QNX developers can turn cost-effective platforms into such powerful systems. Like a pair of PCs that run a large-scale international FAX service bureau. Or a dozen micros that replaced a $500,000 mini system. With QNX, you can afford to think big. Need realtime performance? QNX provides priority-driven, pre-emptive task scheduling, and reaches speeds usually reserved for dedicated realtime executives (27 |xsec p er task switch on a 33 MHz 80386) . Yet QNX is a fully integrated environment in which your development system and your target system are one and the same. With QNX, you can count on a complete OS that includes a robust file system, built-in peer-to-peer networking, and a rich set of development tools to boot. Add to this the appeal of QNX Windows, our new 3-D server-based OPEN LOOK GUI, and your applications will take on a whole new dimension. Are you ready for your next operating system? You could always wait and see what other systems may have in store someday. Or you could join the growing community of QNX users and realize your potential right now. fg£&r^;><--- &e*£i*i»* --•J* 4 -.'- For more information or a free demo disk, please phone (613) 591-0931. Quantum Software Systems Ltd., 175 Terrence Matthews Crescent, Kanata, Ontario, Canada K2M 1W8 QNX is a regiafraf indonark and QNX Windows is a ttadmaA of Quantum Softwares ysteraslld. UNK is a registered tredemufcandOPflVZOOA'isa trademark of AT&T. Intel is a registered mdemarii of Intel Corporation e 1990 Quantum Software Systems lid Circle 247 on Reader Service Card 20mA C64/128 Certtr. IBMPC IEEB4S8 RS232 RS422 RS423 R5495 W&T Don't blame your dealer! Most detlexs specialise in selling computers tnd have no time or personnel to advise you on peripherals. ■ThttY why ihcre arc : companies like W&T. We specialize in making interface products that are ; fundamental to making systems run dependably, fast laid easy to use. Call or Pax us for a free WAT catafafr Then you can decide whether to order through your dealer (if you like to get everything from the same source), or to order directly from W&T Products, Our products are so easy to use that, if you need any technical support, we can give it to you over the phone. Check us out- You can test any :; product for 14 days , return it for any reason and pay only a $6 restocking fee per item. 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If you print alot a printer buffer can accelerate your system by up to 95% and anyone can plug it in within a few seconds. 22064, Centronics 64K $149 22256, Centronics 256K $229 22102, Centronics 1024K $589 88128, RS232 128K $229 ft 88512, RS232 512K $319 The Ideal T-swilch is the one vou don't notice at all Now there is a fully electronic automatic T-Switch that lets you share one printer between two or four computers. It does not need any operation and not even a power supply. ft 25210, Centronics, 2 PCs share 1 printer $ 99 ft 25410, Centronic s,4 PCs ■hare 1 printer $189 Lifestyle. WwkstYle? Remember when you could walk into a place of business and immediately recognize what was being done there? People loved their job and surrounded themselves with professionally-related artistic works. Thanks to WAT, this is again possible. We have commissioned West German artists to design artwork based on the PC-Codetable (order # 1 7750), and part of the MS-DOS command set (order #17760). Computer professionals will Find these prints to be both practical, and beautiful to display. Either print (approx. 20" by 28" in size) can be hanging in your office for $29.00. If you with to surround yourself, both prints can be purchased together for as little as $50.00. To order by mail add $6 shipping and handling. FL residents add 6% sales tax. MSD05 is a trademark of Microsoft Corp., IBM is a trademark of IBM Corp. We accept MasterCard and Visa. FEATURE ALTERNATIVE OPERATING SYSTEMS & Basic \fcrton (0222) 9736360 &. Brother Int. (02) 467421 1 CDNl sec USA Jdt Weber (01) 9302003 &, Wieacmarm & Ihci* (0202) 505077 OKl Jatec (86) 479139 & Neol 88.62.37.52 1&. Thor (01) 681500 MliXl TcUn 5184500 fcfc RimTec (09) 224620 SOL Cat A Korsh (010) 4507696 fc Blectrtmix 1-900848 £& Morctec (9)1626812 SG& Oversea* Trade 2726077 !&& W&T Products 1-800-628-2086 W&T Products Corp. P.O.Box 39559 Ft.Lauderdale, FL 33339 Phone:1-800-628-2086 Fax : 1-305-491-5923 W&T PRODUCTS a function of the operating system, not some special hardware. Standard Unix, with its kernel-bound I/O and virtual memory, gives you no guarantees as to when an event will occur. If you want to control devices with millisecond and micro- second precision, you don't do that directly from an operating system. Instead, you use a dedicated processor to control the device, and it communicates with the operating system. You probably won't be using OS-9000 for your common PC applications, but you would for solving special industrial prob- lems. If you have a high-speed production printing machine, it may be using OS-9000 to control the electron guns to cure the ink. One OS-9000 licensee uses it for remote data collection on relative aircraft and target positions while simultaneously con- trolling tracking radar and cameras. OS-9000 may have been on the computer at a highway tollbooth that counted your change and raised the barrier. The machinery that manufac- tures and bonds the plastic film that covers your flooring may have been controlled by an OS-9000 machine. These are appli- cations for a real-time, multitasking operating system. The value of OS-9000 and similar operating systems lies in more than just the fineness of response time. The completeness of the tool set is just as important. There are many system calls for communication with external events as well as for IPC. This is a controlling operating system; to do its job well, it needs to communicate well. For Whom and Why You can use OS-9000 anywhere you want a multiuser, multi- tasking operating system. It has the basic tools and design fea- tures for any kind of application. It is particularly well suited for system houses that focus on data acquisition and control of specialized equipment. In this role, it can handle much of the control as well as the human interface. Because of its standard implementation of common networking facilities (TCP/IP and NFS), it is well suited to handle just the control end, leaving the human interface to another operating system. To make the most of the libraries and utilities, you should be well grounded in your understanding of the hardware you will be working with and in general concepts of device drivers. Everything is oriented toward the developer who wants to have the responsibility of tight control over the system. OS-9000 does not use any of those fashionable abstractions that you find in Mach and QNX. There are no "threads" and "messages in the mailbox." As a developer, you find yourself doing bit shifts and masks. Even though the abstractions of some of those other, small-kernel operating systems make it easy to use them in multiprocessor and distributed computing environments, a performance and code-size price is paid. OS- 9000 is valuable to the developer of both Motorola- and Intel- based systems. This is a unique claim for a real-time operating system. OS-9000 has more than just history going for it. It places a lot of power in the hands of the programmer, but be prepared for the responsibility that accompanies it. If a task must be done in real time, OS-9000 can do it, but you must learn to speak to the operating system on its own level. While it lacks the high-level abstractions of more popular commercial operating systems, it delivers on the promise of split-second attention to events and devices. As an operating system, OS-9000 deserves to be judged on its own. ■ Editor's note: Next month, BYTE's Tom Yager looks at Theos. Ben Smith is a technical editor for BYTE. He can be reached on BIX as "bensmith." 426 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1 990 Circle 319 on Reader Service Card J. \\ K 1 V i w |dW* en Sketch. AutoSketeh. If you can sketch, you can AutoSketch. compatibility and associative dimensioning. Ifs what Which gives you real CAD power— speed, accuracy you'd expect from the makers of AutoCAD® the and easy revisions — all without a long, drawn-out learning curve. With AutoSketch version 3, you have our easiest CAD yet with pull-down menus and on-screen icons. You also have DXF'file u.s.$249 Ji. world's most popular CAD package. For a brochure or ordering information, call 1-800-223-2521. We'll sketch in the details. H. AUTODESK Autodesk, AutoCAD, AutoSketch and Autodesk logo are registered trademarks and DXF is a trademark of Autodesk, Inc. ©1990 Autodesk, Inc. Circle 125 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 126) SURVIVAL MANUALS FOR NETWORK PROS. Data Communications magazine presents the essential reference tools for the 1990's. NETWORK MANAGEMENT & MAINTENANCE, VOL. 4. The latest installment in the highly respected series providing essential insights into fundamental network-management techniques that will serve as benchmarks for the '90s and beyond. Price: $34.95. 337 pages. 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Price: $39.95. 300 pages. Item #65. DATA NETWORK DESIGN STRATEGIES, VOL. 4. A unique collection of articles presenting the best thinking of the late 1980's on the wide range of net- work design alternatives that will come into play dur- ing the 1990's. Price: $39.95. 694 pages. Item #64. OMNICOM INDEX OF STANDARDS, 1990 EDITION. Edited by Harold C. Foits A totally new edition of the classic reference for instant access to standards of leading U.S. and international organizations, including CCITT, ANSI, ISO, and IEEE. Cross referenced and indexed for quick, easy access. Price: $127.00. 955 pages. Item #71. THE LOCAL AREA NETWORK HANDBOOK, VOL. 3. The authoritative chronicle of the LAN market of the late '80s. Features insightful articles by LAN pioneers and other experts. Price: $39.95. 509 pages. Item #67. 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To order by mail: Send check and order to: Data Communications, Box 059077, Brooklyn, NY 11205. m FEATURE Sounds of Success Professional sound capabilities, once the exclusive domain of high-end recording studios , are now available to PC users Dean Friedman ver the past few years, the advances in micro- 01 computer graphics have been obvious to even the most casual observer: Higher-resolution images, full-motion digital video, and state-of- the-art animations can be seen in everything from business presentations and logos on the evening news to multimedia extravaganzas. But what of the sounds that accompany those images? Are we stuck with the pitiful beeps and buzzes of the early microcom- puter days? Hardly. Thanks to the advent of hardware and soft- ware that rival those of the computer graphics explosion, pro- ducers of audio/video presentations— everything from computerized slide shows to scores for motion pictures— can have professional sound capabilities available right on their desktops (see the figure). MIDI Made the Difference The merging of music and microcomputers began innocently with the establishment of MIDI, the industry standard for music synthesizers. MIDI is a protocol for sending digital in- formation over serial lines between electronic musical instru- ments and equipment, including computers. The information includes note on and note off, key velocity (speed of keystroke), af tertouch (pressure applied after keystroke), pitch bend, mod- ulation wheel, foot pedal, and sound changes. With MIDI, a musician can play a single keyboard and simultaneously trigger a roomful of synthesizers. MIDI guitars, MIDI woodwind in- struments, and even MIDI acoustic voice trackers are also used to control the array of equipment. MIDI'S potential became obvious when programmers began writing applications that took advantage of its ability to inter- face synthesizers directly with personal computers. The first and most important of these applications was the music se- quencer. Today, there are six categories of music software: • Sequencers • Editors/librarians • Notation programs • Pattern generators • Film score utilities • Everything else (for lack of a better term) The Sequence of Things In computer music parlance, a sequencer is a program that records the events and gestures of a musical performance. The electronic equivalent of a player piano roll, music sequencers record the events of a musical performance— but not the actual sounds. The sequencer can play back the instructions to the ap- propriate synthesizer or sound module, telling it exactly when to trigger its sounds. Unlike tape, the audio playback from a sequencer never de- grades in quality caused by generations of overdubs or by tape wear. The playback from a sequencer is always first-genera- tion. Unlike tape, a sequenced performance can be sped up or slowed down without transposing the music's pitch, and, con- versely, a sequenced performance can be transposed without altering its tempo. With analog tape, pitch and tempo are per- manently intertwined; changing tempo automatically changes pitch, and vice versa. One other fundamental difference between a sequencer and tape (analog or digital) is that, while tape permanently records all the elements of a performance, including the sound that was actually made during the performance, a sequencer only records the skeletal outlines of a musical performance; that is, the timings, durations, and numeric values of the keys that were played. With this information, a musician can experiment with different sounds in the same musical piece, auditioning a vari- ety of timbres until he or she finds the one that works best. The sequencer didn't replace multitrack analog or digital re- cording formats. Those are still necessary for handling acous- tic instruments like voice and guitar, and for mixing down to a final two-track master audio format. But the sequencer allows anyone with a personal computer and a few synthesizers to continued SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 429 FEATURE SOUNDS OF SUCCESS FROM CONCEPT TO COMPOSITION: A MICRO MUSIC SYSTEM Record and play back music 1 :::::::::::: D O :::::: •••! siiiiiii Sequencer software □ Transcribe music Create new sounds DO DD Synthesizer □ Synthesizing software Edit music ifei N Record ^ sounds 6 i i Sampler software DD DD DD Sampler The versatility of the personal computer and its graphics screen make it an ideal front end for any electronic music system. Software that performs sequencing, synthesis, sampling, and notation have made it possible to have an entire studio in a box. prepare, and in some cases even master, a finished album in his or her own virtual studio. This basic concept spawned a musical revolution. It had the effect of turning the recording industry on its head. In the pro- cess, it created a billion-dollar-a-year market for MIDI devices and peripherals. Suddenly, a new world of polyphonic (more than one note), multitimbral (more than one sound), multi- track, digital music systems became available to anyone who could cough up the price of a cheap PC clone (or an even less- expensive Commodore 64) and a few synthesizers. Recordings that previously would have cost upwards of $100,000 are now made for only a few thousand dollars, and even less as MIDI software and hardware evolve. Dedicated music sequencers had existed prior to MIDI, but it was only when the power of a microcomputer with graphics was added to the MIDI network that sequencing packages flour- ished into elegant and intuitive music-making programs. Sequencing Software Although the basic job of sequencers remains the same, the extra features in today's computer-based sequencers bring joy to the work of making music. Four of the five main personal computer platforms have high-end professional music sequenc- ers: the Amiga, Macintosh, Atari ST, and IBM PC. The fifth platform, the NeXT machine, has the best standard hardware with its compact-disk-quality audio, but it suffers from a dearth of commercial music software. The list of top-notch, high-end professional music sequenc- ing software packages includes Vision by Opcode, Performer by Mark of the Unicorn, Cubase and Pro 24 by Steinberg/Jones, Master Tracks Pro by Passport, Beyond and KCS by Dr. T, Se- quencer Plus by Voyetra Technologies, Personal Composer by a company of the same name, and Cakewalk by Twelve Tone Systems. Used regularly in recording studios around the world, they all provide the means to do graphics editing, since your music sequence is depicted graphically, either in standard mu- sical notation or as rectangles on a pitch/time grid. The graphics editing tools include the same kinds of cut-and- paste, copy, insert, and delete commands that you'd find on any word processor. The analogy is a good one: Music se- quencers let you manipulate and manage music in much the same way a word processor lets you move and manipulate text. Today's sequencers also offer graphics tools for editing other MIDI parameters, such as aftertouch, key velocity, pitch bend, and modulation wheel moves, as well as a host of continu- ous and intermittent controller messages. Controller messages include additional and often simultaneous performance param- eters such as volume-pedal changes, sustain-pedal events, and patch or sound changes. In a program like Vision, for example, a pitch-bend move- ment can be graphically edited by simply drawing or reshaping a curve under the affected note or notes. This type of graphics controller editing represents a vast improvement over the first generation of sequencers, in which the musician had to edit a list of hundreds of numbers. One of the newest implementations of graphics controller editing is automated fader mixing. This feature displays a row of 16 or 32 mixing faders, which the musician can assign to control any of the common MIDI continuous controller param- eters (e.g., volume pedal and modulation wheel), as well as ad- ditional internal sequencer parameters (e.g., tempo). As an il- lustration, if the musician assigns faders to the volume levels of all his or her MIDI instruments and then records the sequence continued 430 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 a:* ALTEC TOW ABOVE THE REST Now you can have the power and performance of Altec's fully loaded 486 EISA Tower delivered to your door! Check out these outstanding features: 486 EISA TOWER CALL for more information Intel 486-25 CPU D 4 Meg RAM D 1.2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1.44 MB 3.5" drive □ 150 MB 18ms ESDI hard drive D ESDI controller w/32K cache □ 16-bit VGA card □ 14" VGA monitor (1024 x 768) □ 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports □ 101-key Keyboard □ Genius Mouse □ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01 □ Eight 32-bits EISA slots "AltecZip 386sare solid machines featuring brand-name parts. A good buy, they are dearly affordable" PC Magazine. May 30. 1989 "Computer users should find Altec machine an excellent value with good performance." PC Magazine. July 1990 \mmm Altec sets the standard for the highest quality design and manufacturing of all our products. We're fast, friendly, and ready to help you select the right features for your needs. Take a look at some of our other great systems: 386/33 VGA $3/795 Intel 386-33 CPU □ 32K Cache □ 4 Meg RAM □ 1.2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1.44 MB 3.5" drive □ 150 MB 18ms ESDI hard drive □ ESDI controller w/32K cache a 1 6-bit VGA card □ 1 4" VGA monitor (1024 x 768) □ 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports □ 101-key Keyboard □ Genius Mouse □ MS- DOS 3.3 or 4.01 (25 Mhz Cache System deduct $400) $2,895 386/25 VGA Intel 386-25 CPU □ 4 Meg RAM D 1 .2 MB 5.25"drive D 1.44 MB 3.5" drive □ 105 MB 18ms IDE hard drive D 16-bit VGA card D 14" VGA monitor (1024 x 768) a 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports □ 101-key Keyboard □ Genius Mouse □ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01 $1/995 386/SXVGA Intel 386SX-16 CPU □ 2 Meg RAM □ 1 .2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1.44 MB 3.5" drive a 66 MB 25ms hard drive □ 16-bit VGA card □ 14" VGA monitor (640 x 480) □ 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports □ 101 -key Keyboard a Genius Mouse a MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01 (20 Mhz 386/SX version add S150) $1,795 286/ 12 VGA COMBO 1 MegRAM D 1.2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1 .44 MB 3.5" drive D 40 MB hard drive □ 16-bit VGA card D 14" VGA monitor (640 x 480) □ 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports □ 101-key Keyboard □ Genius Mouse □ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01 □ Panasonic 1 1 80 printer w/cable □ Surge protector SUPER SUM WORK STATION $650 80286-12 CPU □ 1 Meg RAM □ Floppy controller on board □ 2 serial/1 parallel ports D Monochrome card on board □ Monochrome Monitor □ Arcnet card Various hard drive capacity available. A Altec's Guarantee: • 30 day money-back guarantee • 1 year warranty for parts and labor • Free 4 months on-site service • Lifetime toil-free technical support 1 111! 1 ALIEC Technology Corp. 1-800-255-9971 Policy: Sameday shipping with standard cofigurations for orders before 3 PM EST. Shipping and handling extra. Personal and company checks require 10 days to clear. Prices are subject to change, and all items are subject to availability. All returns must be shipped prepaid, insured, in original condition and complete with documentation. All returns must have RMA number. 30 day money-back guarantee does not include shipping. Altec T chnology Corporation* 18555 East Gale Avenue • Industry, CA 91 748 • 81 8/91 2-8688 • FAX: 81 8/91 2-8048 Circle 18 on Reader Service Card Take any 3 books for only $1 00 each WINDOW 'SYSTEM INTRODUCTION TO THE X WIN- DOW SYSTEM. By O. Jones. 577 pp., illus., softbound. Here's the new por- table software standard for worksta- tions, presented in a complete, de- tailed tutorial. This book will help you harness the system, cut down on re- dundant workstation events, exploit private/shared color cells, and map strategies. 585109-1 Pub. Pr., $32.00 INTRODUCING PC-DOS 8c MS-DOS, Second Ed. By J. Sheldon. 403 pp., illus., softbound. This Second Edition covers all releases through 4.0, as well as Microsoft Windows and DOS- SHELL. Features the same hands-on tutorial format of the First Edition, with expanded coverage of batch file tech- niques that can dramatically increase your computing speed. 565/651 Pub. Pr., $29.95 LOCAL AREA NETWORKS: Archi- tectures and Implementations. By J. Martin, with K. K. Chapman. 353 pp., illus. An indispensable reference for all who buy, install, maintain, or manage LAN services. Provides com- plete coverage of the concepts, archi- tectures, and implementations of LAN technology. 584900-3 Pub. Pr, $44.00 A PROFESSIONAL'S GUIDE TO SYS- TEMS ANALYSIS. By M.E. Modell. 307 pp., illus. Detailed coverage of what you need to know-what ques- tions to ask, how to conduct a cost- benefit analysis, how to document and validate your findings-to design the best systems for your user's needs 426/325 Pub. Pr., $37.95 DATA EXCHANGE : PC/MS-DOS. By S. Ross. 426 pp., illus., softbound. Now you can convert files quickly and painlessly from word processing pro- grams to spreadsheets . . . from spreadsheets to databases ... or from databases to word processing programs. Packed with simple, step- by-step instructions that will save you headaches and money. 539/235 Pub. Pr., $24.95 when you join BYTE Book Club® VALUES UP TO $142.85! • Your one source for computer books from over 100 different publishers • the latest and best Information In your field « discounts of up to 40% off publishers' list prices C: Step-by-Step. By M. Waite and S. Prata. 629 pp., illus., softbound. 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This comprehensive book contains lucid descriptions of the latest techniques and storage de- vicesto help you design files for maxi- mum performance at minimum cost. Easy to read, with scores of exam- ples, tables, and illustrations. 585143-1 Pub. Pr., $37.95 HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL COM- PUTER CONSULTANT, Second Ed. By A. R. Simon. 280 pp., illus. This new edition of a best-seller is updated to steer your career toward the emerging opportunities of the '90s, in- cluding security, microcomputer net- working, systems integration, and much more. 575/541 Pub. Pr., $29.95 POWER GRAPHICS USING TURBO C. By K. Weiskamp, L. Heiny, and N. Shammas. 367 pp., illus., softbound. This easy-to-follow manual is packed with practical examples of actual code, guidelines for programming 2D and 3D graphics using animation, customizing CAD/CAM, the capa- bilities of the Borland Graphics inter- face, and more. 585091-5 Pub. Pr., $22.95 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE USING C: The C Programmer's Guide to AI Techniques. By H. Schildt. 412 pp., 37 illus., softbound. This hands-on guide shows you how to create your own AI applications and systems using C. After an introduc- tory overview it provides coverage of expert systems, logic, natural lan- guage processing, machine learning, pattern recognition, and more, with ready-to-run programs illustrating each topic. 881255-0 Pub. Pr., $21.95 PROGRAMMING USING THE C LANGUAGE. By R.C. Hutchison and SB. Just. 519 pp., illus. Whether you want to understand programs in C written by others, or write better C programs of your own, this practical, authoritative book gives you the tools and guidance you need. Coverage includes program organization, sort- ing algorithms, recursion, linked lists, and more - with many sample pro- grams. 315/418 Pub. Pr., $29.95 DATA PROCESSING IN UNIX. By ;R. S. Tare. 438 pp., illus. The only guide you'll ever need to harness the full power of UNIX for database manage- ment. It sets out system selection cri- teria . . . examines such applications as INFORMIX, INGRES, and UNIFY . . . and explores flat file systems in UNIX. 628/858 Pub. Pr., $39.95 CIARCIAS CIRCUIT CELLAR, Vol. VII. By S. Ciarcia. 256 pp., illus, soft- bound. The latest volume in this best- selling series provides schematics, operating explanations, and step-by- step building instructions for a wide range of projects — from video digitiz- ing to multitasking process control. 109/699 Pub. Pr., $19.95 TURBO PASCAL EXPRESS, Revised Ed. By R. Jourdain. 584963-1 Pub. Pr., $39.95 COBOL II: Programming Tech- niques; Efficiency Considera- tions; Debugging Techniques (Includes Release 3.1). By H. Bookman. 065/330 Pub. Pr., $39.95 ADVANCED MS-DOS BATCH FILE PROGRAMMING. By D. Gookin. 585018-4 Pub. Pr., $24.95 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 8c TURBO C. By C. F Chabris. 585052-4 Pub. Pr., $24.95 POWER GRAPHICS PROGRAM- MING. By M. Abrash. 585443-0 Pub. Pr., $24.95 32-BIT MICROPROCESSORS. Edited by H. J. Mitchell. 425/85X Pub. Pr., $49.95 ADVANCED 80386 PROGRAM- MING TECHNIQUES. By J. L Turley. 881342-5 Pub. Pr., $22.95 NETWORKING SOFTWARE. By C. B. Ungaro. 606969-9 Pub. Pr., $44.95 80386: A Programming and De- sign Handbook, 2nd Ed. By P. Brumm and D. Brumm. 585077-X Pub. Pr., $24.95 PRINCIPLES OF ARTIFICIAL INTEL- LIGENCE AND EXPERT SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT. By D.W. Rolston. 536/147 Pub. Pr., $47.95 VM PERFORMANCE MANAGE- MENT. By T. Eddolls. 189/668 Pub. Pr., $39.95 DB2/SQL: A Professional Pro- grammer's Guide. B yT. Marty n and T. Hartley. 406/669 Pub. Pr., $39.95 DATA COMMUNICATIONS: A User's Guide, 3rd Ed. By K. Sherman. 585384-1 Pub. Pr., $34.00 OPERATING SYSTEMS. By M. Milenkovic. 419/205 Pub. Pr., $44.95 IBM PS/2: A Reference Guide. By TJ Byers. 095/272 Pub. Pr., $39.95 Any 3 books for $1.00 each. . . if you Join now and agree to purchase two more books-at handsome discounts-during your first year of membership. 1-2-3 RELEASE 3: The Complete Reference. By M. Campbell. 881318-2 Pub. Pr., $28.95 GRAPHICS DESIGN AND ANIMA- TION ON THE IBM MICROCOMPU- TERS. By J. Sanchez. 585375-2 Pub. Pr., $28.00 MASTERING ORACLE: Featuring Oracle's SQL Standard. By D. J. Cronin. 585034-6 Pub. Pr., $24.95 SECURITY IN COMPUTING. By C.P. Pfleeger. 584941-0 Pub. Pr., $44.00 VS COBOL II FOR COBOL PRO- GRAMMERS. By P. Kavanagh. 335/710 Pub. Pr., $39.95 C: The Complete Reference, 2nd Ed. ByH. Schildt. 881538-X Pub. Pr., $28.95 INTRODUCTION TO SNA NET- WORKING: A Guide lor Using VTAM/NCP. By J. Ranade and G.C. Sackett. 511/446 Pub. Pr., $39.95 ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE. By R. Ashley, J. Fer- nandez, and P. Ashley. 024/634 Pub. Pr., $27.95 ADVANCED GRAPHICS IN C: Pro- gramming and Techniques. By N. Johnson. 881257-7 Pub. Pr., $22.95 THE PAUL MACE GUIDE TO DATA RECOVERY. By P. Mace. 584926-7 Pub. Pr., $21.95 STRUCTURED WALKTHROUGHS, 4th Ed. By E. Yourdon. 585016-8 Pub. Pr., $28.50 C CHEST AND OTHER C TREA- SURES FROM DR. DOBB'S JOUR- NAL. Edited by A. Holub. 584807-4 Pub. Pr., $24.95 EGA/VGA: A Programmer's Reier- ence Guide. By B. D. Kliewer. 350/892 Pub. Pr., $32.95 FILE ORGANIZATION FOR DATA- BASE DESIGN. By G. Wiederhold. 701/334 Pub. Pr., $44.95 STRETCHING TURBO C. By K. Por- ter. 584967-4 Pub. Pr., $24.95 Clip & Mail BYTE BOOK CLUB @ P.O. Box 582 Hightstown, NJ 08520-9959 Please enroll me as a member and send me the three choices I have listed below. Bill me only $3.00, plus local tax, postage and handling. I agree to purchase a minimum of two additional books during my first year as outlined under the Club plan described in this ad. Membership in the club is cancellable by me any time after the two book purchase requirement has been fulfilled. A shipping and handling charge is added to all shipments. Indicate in the boxes the code numbers of the books you want. Signature . Name Address / Apt. # City / State / Zip This order subject to acceptance by McGraw-Hill. All prices subject to change without notice. Offer good only to new members. Foreign member acceptance subject to special conditions. BYCA-030 Here's how BYTE Book Club® works to serve you: • Important information ... we make it easy to get! Today, professionals who perform best are those who are best informed. For reliable, hands-on information, turn to the Byte Book Club. Every 3 or 4 weeks (12-15 times a year), members receive the Club Bulletin offering more than 30 books - the best, newest, most important books from all publishers. • Dependable service . . . we're here to help! Whether you want informa- tion about a book or have a question about your membership, just call us toll- free or drop us a line. To get only the books you want, make your choice on the Reply Card and return it by the date specified. If you want the Main Selection, do nothing - it will be sent to you automatically. (A small shipping and handling charge is added to each shipment.) • Club convenience . . . we do the work! You get a wide choice of books that simply cannot be matched by any bookstore. And all your books are conve- niently delivered right to your door. You also get 10 full days to decide whether you want the Main Selection. (If the Club Bulletin ever comes late and you receive a Main Selection you don't want, return it for credit at our expense.) • Substantial savings . . . and a bonus program too! You enjoy substan- tial discounts-up to 40%!-on every book you buy. Plus, you're automatically eligible for our Bonus Book Plan which allows you savings up to 70% on a wide selection of books. • Easy membership terms . . . it's worthwhile to belong! Your only obligation is to purchase 2 more books - at handsome discounts - during the next 12 months, after which you enjoy the benefits of membership with no further obligation. You or the Club may cancel membership anytime thereafter. Fill out the card and mail today! If the card is missing, write to: BYTE Book Club,® P.O. Box 582, Hightstown, New Jersey 08520-9959 FEATURE SOUNDS OF SUCCESS FREinrrms iFbw w Hyperhelp I GR Score Editor IffM Event i. Librarian . KIMgrapltics Channel Nines Control Filters ' File Editor brake Editor _ t Interpreter ', ttusic Feature ions 8 9 10 11 12 13 2 12 12 12 12 12 12 1 12 1 12 1 12 1 12 1 12 1 12 1 12 1 12 1 12 1 12 1 12 28 ■ 21 • 22 • 23 • 21 • 25 ■ 26 • 27 t 20 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 t 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 RECORD OFF lead- in A/\ track!) 2 channel!) 2 pressure OFF pitchbend OFF PLAY FAST OFF tlETRONOtlE ON LOOPING AUT0ST0P 'HEASi LAST HEAS 268 BOUNCE ERASE TIHE SIG 4/4 TEMPO 188 NIDI THRU ON SYNC INTERNAL EXIT ZAP START AUTO FOLLOW ON 1826 h^tes Effter/le/t~luttfi kme/rigM-button Photo 1: Personal Composer is the first PC-based music workstation program. It combines a 32-track MIDI recorder /sequencer (top) with an event editor (middle) and a score editor (bottom). Each part of the program affects the other so that a musician can start with either of the editors or the recorder and end up with both a publishable score and the MIDI sequences that perform it. Since Personal Composer is Lisp-based, it is fully extensible. of individual fader moves, he or she can program the volume mix as part of the sequencer. The automated mix will keep all relative volume levels in balance throughout a dynamic piece. Libraries of Sound Synthesizers and samplers (a close relative) store the instruc- tions used to create a sound in memory. These instructions are called patches or programs. They contain the voice settings that define each individually stored sound. With the pitifully small display on most keyboards and sound modules— 30 to 80 char- acters—it is very difficult for the musician to edit or design a sound. A typical synthesized sound may have as many as a hun- dred different variables to describe its harmonic content, filter and amplitude envelopes, pitch, volume, and so on. It's hard enough to be aware of all the relationships of these variables. It is extremely difficult if you can't see the values all at once. Voice-editing software displays all of a synthesizer's internal voice parameters simultaneously on a single monitor. What's more, editors can depict complex voice parameters graphically far better than the built-in LCDs of the synthesizer. It's far eas- ier to understand an envelope when you can see its shape than when all you see is a list of numbers. Some voice editors use the computing power of the computer to manipulate voicing parameters in ways the synthesizer can't. For example, a random-voice-generator option can produce variations on a sound by manipulating the parameters automati- cally within a specified range. Once sounds are defined, you can store them using a com- panion to the voice editor, known as a librarian. This utility is simply a database for storing and retrieving patches or sounds. Many synthesizers can store no more than 100 different sounds internally, but a computer with a librarian can store thousands of patches on a single disk. You can also sort, search, copy, and delete patches. In the past, owing to the unique architecture of each synthe- sizer, editors/librarians were instrument-specific. Every time a new synthesizer was released, software houses scrambled to be the first to sell software for it. The recent trend is toward developing more generic editors/librarians. Such programs either come bundled with multiple editors or include a MIDI toolkit that you can use to design your own editor or librarian templates. Some examples are MIDI Quest by Sound Quest, GenEdit by Hybrid Arts, X-or by Dr. T, Master by CMS, Gal- axy by Opcode, and Super Librarian by Pixel Publishing. The Final Score Since the first hint of MIDI'S phenomenal success, electronic musicians have fantasized about being able to sit down at a key- board, play a performance, and instantly print out a music manuscript in perfect standard musical notation. Easier said than done. It's easy enough to teach the computer to recognize pitch, time, duration, and other objective values. But such deci- sions as how measures should be divided, where bar lines should go, which notes should be beamed together, and what kinds of expression markings are needed are all subjective. Such decisions are generally too daunting for the computer to make on its own. Therefore, some editing is usually necessary before a manuscript can be considered complete. It's this post- input step that has given notation packages a reputation for be- ing a real bear to learn. Some notation programs require input in the form of se- quencer files, rather than using live keyboard input. The nota- tion package needs to compile these files before it can produce the music notation. Some of the notation packages have you continued 434 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 ise No: rthga te( lUJBUKB kF grig"" T -■ ■S*;;. •■:. iKB^a - 1 ■ Ltru^-itUti,- ,- ,-.fea [ eejj| ^-' - 5 OiDHiJCey/101-I :E% V' .■: '■: '■■ ; ::-•-■ M"-- ■ feffijfc:'. g||| ht^rn-TJ ;i ii-M'M:i,rKk m ^^^K^^ 1 "" |^VlMM : ' ! " ! " :i;!>!M ;'r^Fff^ 5 .— «^a 1. 1 pr "f , ! i ! i ' * ' I * ' ! * ' * ' ' ■ ] V't*^ F\^ r jPfllwi"— kj s — i p ['." l ] mip^H U» * ""IT - TS ■^SJJ Omn/Key/101-N Two models with 20% smaller footprint and F-Keys on top! Why two models ... Many people have become accustomed to the standard IBM layout with F keys on top. For you, we've duplicated ... well nearly ... IBM's layout, but with a couple of improvements. IBM puts BACKSLASH near BACKSPACE and ENTER keys. By doing so, they must reduce the size of one of the two keys. Northgate believes BACKSLASH is better located on the bottom row next to right hand SHIFT key. This gives you both a double wide BACKSPACE and large L-shaped ENTER key. Same crisp feel that made Northgate keyboards famous! ALPS tactile mechanical key switches let you know each keystroke has registered with a precise "click". You'll type faster and more accurately— with NO EXTRA EFFORT! OmniKey/101-1 has 12 F-keys across the top and inverted T cursor control keypad. A near duplication of IBM's layout. OmniKey/101-N improves even more over the standard IBM! You get an independent cursor keypad with diamond-shaped cursor control layout. PLUS, we've conveniently placed the ESCAPE key next to #1. And, you get an extra ASTERISK key on bottom row to speed wildcard commands. That's not all! OmniKeyl 10 1-N also has Northgate's exclusive F13 Period/Comma Lock key— locks out < > . You'll never type U>S>A>, when you want U.S.A.! Race through spreadsheets! Change repeat/delay rate from 3-120 CPS inside DOS or a program— just hit F14! Try one for yourself! If you're not 100% satisfied your OmniKeyl 101 lives up to everything we promise, return it. We'll refund all your money, including ground shipping charges. ©Northgate Computer Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Northgate, OmniKcy and the Big'N' logo are trademarks of Northgate Computer Syste: change without notice. All models subject to availability. Both OmniKey/101 models feature: ♦ Compatible with virtually all PC/XT/ AT personal computers; PS/2 compatible with adaptor ♦ Small footprint 18 Vz "L x 7 "W; 20% smaller than IBM's 101 at 19 3 / 8 "Lx8 3 / 8 "W ♦ 12 function keys across the top ♦ Interchangeable Caps Lock and left Ctrl key keypad with added equals key- handy for spreadsheet users ♦ LED indicators: shows Scroll, Caps, Number Lock status at a glance ♦ Double injected key caps for long life and durability ♦ Keys color-coded for use in vVord Perfect ♦ Separate calculator-style numeric ♦ FCC Class B Certified Backed by the industry's strongest warranty— five full years! If you have any problems due to materials or workmanship Northgate will promptly repair or replace your Omni Key I '101 FREE! Order OmniKcylWl-l or OmniKeyim-N today! Another "Smart Tool for Business™ ONLY «89?° ^<^r ^ Minneapolis, MN Gall for the Dealer Nearest You or Place Your Order Direct 800-526-2446 HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m. -9 p.m.; Sac. 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Central Notice to the Hearing Impaired: Northgate now has TDD capability. Dial; 800-535-0602. FAX Your Order 612-476-6443. Dealer and distributor pricing available call: 800-328-5564. Charge it on VISA or MasterCard. NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYSTEMS Northgate Parkway, Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344 >. All other produce brand n ■c trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective o s. Specifications subject to Circle 207 on Reader Service Card A Message To Our Subscribers 17 ROM 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 on- ly 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 present- ing the latest personal computer goods and services to our subscribers. Many BYTE subscribers appreciate this controlled use of our mailing list, and look forward to finding informa- tion 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 litera- ture. Should you wish to restrict the use of your name, simply send your re- quest to the following address. BVTE Magazine Subscriber Service P.O. Box 850 Peterborough, NH 03458-0850 gjj (■nil FEATURE SOUNDS OF SUCCESS perform your music directly into the program, and then, after a brief compilation period, they display it in notated form. Sev- eral notation programs (e.g., C-Lab's Notator, and Coda's MusicProse and Finale) can actually display your performance in notated form as you perform it. There are some combination sequencer/notation packages on the market. Personal Composer (see photo 1) was the first suc- cessful sequencer for the PC, and it has always offered notation as an integral part of its package. Notator and Mark of the Uni- corn's Performer 3.4 have fluid, high-end sequencers that can display notation in real time. The problem with some of the most powerful notation pack- ages is that they are painfully difficult to learn. A professional notation package like Finale is one of the most feature-packed notation packages on the market, but it might take an experi- enced computer musician up to three months to become profi- cient. For some users, this learning curve can be justified in view of its enormous power and flexibility. Fortunately for those of us who barely take time to read the introduction to the manual, the newer notation packages are de- signed with friendlier and more considerate user interfaces. MusicProse provides a simpler user interface than its predeces- sor but has less powerful features. Releasing scaled-down versions of complex programs is be- coming something of a fashion in music software applications. While offering reduced features, these versions maintain file compatibility with their more powerful counterparts, but they have a much flatter learning curve. Some examples are Easy Vi- sion, Opcode's introductory version of Vision; Easy Perform- er, Mark of the Unicorn's introductory version of Performer; and Tiger Cub, Dr. T's introductory version of Beyond. One drawback of composing with computers is that there is no way to derive inspiration by bouncing musical ideas off other musicians. A slew of music applications referred to as Random Pattern Generators and Compositional Aids respond to this shortcoming. While they don't necessarily replace a live musician, random pattern generators do succeed in turning the personal computer into a contributing partner in composing and performing. These applications apply random pattern algo- rithms to thematic source material. This source material is al- tered according to parameters established by the composer. Be- ing able to apply the randomizing power of the computer within defined musical limits enables a composer to creatively gener- ate new textures and forms within a theme. In the hands of a musician, this powerful tool can yield impressive results that would not have developed by more conventional means. Some good programs are Sybil by Scorpion Systems; Jam- box, Upbeat, and M by Intelligent Music; Sound Globs by Twelve Tone Systems; and MIDI Mouse by Dr. T. Sybil is unique in that it offers dynamic real-time performance fea- tures. M is one of the finest examples of an interactive pattern generator. It has an appealing and intuitive user interface for modifying musical material. Some recent sequencer programs have random pattern gen- erators, although they tend to be less powerful than the stand- alone packages. A standout is the creatively designed music se- quencer called Bars & Pipes by Blue Ribbon Bakery. It has a number of built-in randomizing tools, as well as the means to create your own pattern-generating tools from scratch. In Sync To score soundtracks to film and video, it is critical to accu- rately lock a sequencer's timing onto the pulse of an audio- or videotape machine or another sequencer. Early sequencers continued 436 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 UseNorthgateOmn Risk Free For 60 Da I OmniKeyji fXriginal Northgate design with \J function keys on the left! First keyboard to get back to basics with 12 function keys on the left— the way many users prefer! In fact, readers of Computer Shopper voted OmniKeyl 102 their Best Buy!* Touch that leads to better typing! The secret? OmniKey's ALPS tactile mechanical key switches let you know each keystroke has registered with a precise "click." No need to slow down to "eye check" the monitor- increases your typing speed with NO EXTRA EFFORT! Find out for yourself ... order your OmniKey/102 NOW! If you're not 100% pleased, return for full refund— including ground shipping charges! Backed by the industry's strongest warranty— five full years! If you have any problems due to materials or workmanship, Northgate will promptly repair or replace your OmniKeyl 102 FREE! Look at all these outstanding OmniKeyl 102 features: Compatible with virtually all IBM-type personal computers, including: PC/XT/AT and PS/2 systems Interchangeable left CTRL, ALT and CAPS LOCK keys. Keep them as shown or put them in a standard IBM enhanced layout; CAPS LOCK next to "A", ALT next to space bar, CTRL under SHIFT On the right, ALT and CTRL interchange, too Swap the right Backslash and Asterisk keys— it's up to you! ' Twelve F-keys on the left— for quick access to CTRL, ALT, SHIFT combination commands! ' Inverted T-shaped cursor control keypad 1 Separate calculator-style numeric keypad with added equals key- great for spreadsheet users! Large L-shaped Enter, double size Backspace, two oversized Shift keys— easy to hit ... reduces typing errors! LED indicators: shows Scroll, Caps, Number lock status at a glance Double injected key caps for long life and durability ALPS click/tactile mechanical key switches for a crisp, responsive feel and faster, more accurate typing Non-skid design! OmniKeyl 102 has a heavy steel base for durability. Weighs 4.6 lbs.— won't slide around no matter how fast you type! Keys color coded for use in Word Perfect FCC Class B Certified Call for the Dealer Nearest You or Place Your Order Direct OmniKey/102 Another "Smart Tool for Business"™ ONLY $QO00 ^F M FOB ^r ^r Minneapolis, MN -526-2446 HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Sat. 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Central Notice to the Hearing Impaired: Northgate now has TDD capability. Dial 800-535-0602. FAX Your Order 6 1 2-476-6443. Dealer and distributor pricing available. CaJI 800-328-5564. Charge it on VISA or MasterCard NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYSTEMS 1 Northgate Parkway, Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344 /* ©Northgate Computet Systems, Inc. Ml fights reserved. Northgate, OmitiKcy and the Big 'N' logo arc trademarks of Northgate Computer Systems. All other product brand n subject to change without notice. All models subject to availability. * Best Buy for input device, Computer Shopper, December, 1989. c trademarks o r registered trademarks of their respective owners. Specific; Circle 208 on Reader Service Card Rack & Desk PC/AT Chassis Integrand's new Chassis/System is not another IBM mechanical and electrical clone. An entirely fresh packaging design approach has been taken using modular construction. At present, over 40 optional stock modules allow you to customize our standard chassis to nearly any requirement. Integrand offers high quality, advanced design hardware along with applications and technical support all at prices competi- tive with imports. Why settle for less? J Rack & Desk Models Accepts PC, XT, AT Motherboards and Passive Backplanes Doesn't Look Like IBM Rugged, Modular Construction Excellent Air Flow & Cooling Optional Card Cage Fan Designed to meet FCC 204 Watt Supply, UL Recognized 145W & 85W also available Reasonably Priced Passive Backplanes m\ it ■ RESEARCHCORR Call or write for descriptive brochure and prices: 8620 Roosevelt Ave. • Visalia, CA 93291 209/651-1203 TELEX 5106012830 (INTEGRAND UD) FAX 209/651-1353 We accept Bank Americard/VISA and MasterCard IBM, PC, XT, AT trademarks of International Business Machines. Drives and computerboards not included. FEATURE SOUNDS OF SUCCESS Photo 2: A synthesizer and software, such as Dr. T's MT-32 Editor/Librarian (shown here), allow you to create entirely new sounds that can then be used in musical compositions. accomplished this by locking onto an analog pulse on one of the tracks of the tape, a method known as FSK (Frequency Shifted Keying). It worked well but was prone to dropping out of sync, and it required that both the sequencer and the tape machine always started from the beginning of a performance. Today, the preferred method of synchronization is via SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) coding. As is obvious from the name, this is the time code stan- dard used in TV and film. It specifies time in frames per sec- ond. Most current sequencers address SMPTE time code either directly or indirectly via another standard, MIDI time code, that divides time into beats per quarter note. The synchronous lock-on is achieved with an SMPTE-to- MIDI converter, which translates the musical timing divisions of MIDI time code into the video- or film-frame realm of SMPTE. Synchronization is accurate to the resolution of a frame. It can begin anywhere instead of requiring a simulta- neous start from the beginning of a piece. All high-end music sequencers have this important synchro- nizing ability, but sequencers alone don't address all the spe- cialized, complex needs of a musician who is adding sound to visuals. As a result, a new category of music software known as cueing software has quickly evolved. These programs are de- signed to work hand-in-hand with a music sequencer to auto- mate as much of the scoring process as possible. Opcode's Cue, Passport's Clicktracks, and Dr. T's Hitman all share the following features: • They provide a fast and easy way to identify and tag the be- ginnings and ends of cues in a film (i.e., the points in a film that require music). • They help calculate optimum tempos, enabling the composer to catch the maximum number of hits (synchronized musical/ video events) during a cue. • They can perform instantaneous time-format conversions, allowing you to translate a single cue point into NTSC or PAL video frames, film frames, or beats per minute. Some of these programs have limited sequencing features themselves, allowing you to trigger single MIDI events or even continued 438 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 148 on Reader Service Card CWhydBASE programmers are excited! Build a multi-user, 85K, dBASE com- patible application using pulldown menus, popup windows, and data entry from pick lists. Portable When you are done, port your application to Unix, Microsoft Windows and OS/2 without modifying a single line of code. Then watch as your application runs many times faster than corre- sponding dBASE, C lipper or Foxbase programs. Finally, you can keep all the profits after you have distributed unlimited numbers of your executable programs royalty free. Compatible Code Base 4 lets you access and modify the data, index and memo files of dBASE IH, dBASE IV, or Clipper. Consquently, you can take advantage of dBASE com- patible tools such as R&R Relational Report Writer. Switch between Turbo C, Quick C, and Microsoft C. Take advantage of integrated **&>■' development environments, sophisticated debuggers, and programs which compile and link in seconds. Learn Code Base 4 by consulting the comprehensive 206 page user's guide while interactively executing Code Base 4 routines from a learning utility. Then try example programs from the diskettes or the user's guide. You will easily remember the Code Base 4 routines which Circle 265 on Reader Service Card correspond directly to familiar dBASE commands. Source Included As you become an expert Code Base 4 user, you will find yourself examining the source code as you read about the internal operating principles of Code Base 4. Enjoy the benefits of complete dBASE func- tionality, including data entry, windows, menus, multiple index files per database, dBASE expression evaluation, fields, filters, relations, reindexing, and editing. Order Today Order Code Base 4 at $295 and you will soon know why Sequiter Software Inc. and most software dealers are happy to give a 30 day money back guarantee!! Call (403) 448-0313 Fax (403) 448-0315 SEQUITER 111 SOFTWARE INC. Ill P.O. Box 5659, Station L Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6C4G1 Circle 180 on Reader Service Card Read Mac Disks in a PC MatchMaker - the best way to share data between a PC and a Mac. The MatchMaker card lets you plug a Macintosh floppy drive into a PC. L • Easy-to-install half-size card. • Use any external Macintosh drive. • DOS-like command software included. • 1 year warranty, Made in USA. • Also available; MatchPoint-PC to read/write Apple II disks. .by far the most cost effective solution..." PC WEEK MicroSolutions Computer Products 132 W. Lincoln Hwy. DeKalb, IL 60115 (815) 756-3411 FEATURE SOUNDS OF SUCCESS Protects while you^> type! • Remains in Place while you use your computer. • Avoids Costly Repairs. Protects delicate electronics from dust, spills, smoke, ashes, staples. .»■■ • Soft, Flexible, retains normal keyboard feel. • Washable, Durable Hig h-Tech Polymer lasts years . • Hundreds of Models. SafeSkin is available for most PCs, laptops, workstations and clone keyboards. • Office • Home • Factory ■•■ Classroom • Laboratory List Price $29.95. Please call or write for free color brochure, dealer inquiries encouraged. KEYBOARD PROTECTOR Merritt Computer Products, Inc. 5565 Red Bird Center Drive Suite 150, Dallas, Texas 75237/{214J 339-0753 • FAX(2T41 339-1313 in Canada call 1-800-663-1061 complete sequences created in a dedicated sequencer. All the features help enormously in minimizing the most tedious and time-consuming aspects of soundtrack composing, leaving the composer more time to actually compose music. Multimedia Masters There are some powerful software packages that allow you to integrate audio and MIDI note events with video, graphics, and animation— in other words, multimedia. One of the most prom- inent of these is Commodore's AmigaVision, the multimedia icon-based authoring system that is being bundled with the new Amiga 3000. Another is Showmaker by Gold Disk, a time-line- T he next music software evolution is just now getting off the ground. based multimedia sequencer geared toward video production. Both of these products make full use of the Amiga's native multitasking operating system and offer features that allow you to manipulate musical elements within a multimedia event. MacroMind's Director is designed specifically for multi- media. A unique program from HIP Software, called HookUp, is a quirky icon-driven programming toolkit that allows you to create interactive animations that trigger or are triggered by MIDI events. One of the most interesting and unusual programs to incor- porate music in a multimedia environment is Mandala by Very Vivid. It allows you to employ video input to control animations and musical MIDI events in real time. Standing in front of a video camera, you can play virtual instruments in thin air while actually triggering audio samples. Special Software As music software matures and moves beyond its formative years, enhanced MIDI protocols and a collection of MIDI util- ities have evolved to address the needs of music and MIDI with- in the personal computer environment. MIDIBASIC by Altech Systems consists of 12 additional MIDI-related BASIC com- mands, enabling BASIC programmers to more easily create music applications. A MIDI utility by Bartleby Software called Monitor allows you to examine, send, and store MIDI data as hexadecimal, decimal, or binary numbers, or as text. With the proliferation of voice editors that provide features for conventional synthesizers, it wasn't long before developers exploited the audio circuitry in computers themselves. Synthia by The Other Guys uses the four-channel digital-audio hard- ware of the Amiga. It is essentially a synthesizer/sampler on a disk. New Wave Software's Dynamic Drums turns the Amiga into a polyphonic drum machine. Drummer by Cool Shoes turns the PC into the front end of a drum machine, triggering (via MIDI) any remote drum module or synthesizer. The New Music Exotic random pattern generators and new MIDI utilities will continue to come our way in varying forms, and the necessity of continued 440 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 179 on Reader Service Card The power of the imagination State Preferences Edition Use CgnsuK Layers DB Measurement 3 Name Center Height Floors Stores Restaurants Time Location | 9:30 am to 9:30 pm ■ Between Church St. J Liberty St, West St. Inauguration™ 1974 Sector §: Financial district : 'Twin Towers :| World Trade Center | 411 meters (1.348 feet) 8 110 an 8 State References jfdrSbifcsyse Consult Layers DB Measurement ] r* A ! wnnniftn r ■ ■■ -• ■ : MS-* 4 HE* pjunoVftf* on SSo** 1 IMAGE + DATA BASE + TEXT = The three-dimensional documentation in a PC environment HyperMap® is a hypermedia environment which allows to construct visual data bases. HyperMap® permits the integration of images, graphics, data bases and texts in a single system. Allot this is achieved with the highly popular PC environment and Microsoft® Windows, using a structure called «hyperstructure». HyperMap® has unlimited applications. Some examples are in Office automation, Industry, Tourism, Real-Estate agencies, Banks and Insurance companies, Education, Museums, etc. HyperMap® is an environment which has all the necessary tools to create and query hyperstructures. HyperMap® permits acquisition of TIFF (enlarged version), PCX and BMP images and DXF or WMF graphics formats as well as editing of images and graphics (including image composition). Moreover, with HyperMap® 's tools texts and data base files (dBASE III® compatible) can be created or imported from ASCII or dBASE 111® format files. With HyperMap® , images, graphics, texts and data bases can be integrated in a 3D documentation structure through which the user can move to consult information related with them. HyperMap® has a set of tools to query and visualize images as well as to consult information within the hyperstructure through node or zone consulting or querying of the associated data base. HyperMap® also has tools for measuring distances, etc. in images and graphics, as well as for printing, restoring, etc., images and graphics. Circle 339 on Reader Service Card A product from: C0GNIVIS10N RESEARCH S.A. Valencia, 93, Pral. 1a. 08029 Barcelona. Spain. Tels.: + 34 (3) 323 6322 - 323 63 65 Fax: +34(3)4512282 Telex: 52766 SPONSORED BY: FEATURE SOUNDS OF SUCCESS ITEMS DISCUSSED Here is the contact information for all the products mentioned in this article. The superscripts refer to the machines that each product runs on: the Amiga (Am), the Atari ST (At), the IBM PC (PC), the Macintosh (M), and the Apple IIGS (GS). Amiga Vision Am Cubase AmAt HookUp M Notator At Commodore Business Machines Pro 24 Am>At HIP Software C-Lab/DigiDesign 1200 Wilson Dr. Steinberg/Jones 117 Harvard St., Suite 3 1360 Willow Rd., Suite 101 West Chester, PA 19380 17700 Raymer St., Suite 1001 Cambridge, MA 02139 Menlo Park, CA 94025 (215)431-9100 Northridge, CA 91325 (617)661-2447 (415)327-8811 Inquiry 1052. (818)993-4091 Inquiry 1057. Inquiry 1064. Inquiry 1181. Bars & Pipes Am Jambox M Personal Composer pc Blue Ribbon Bakery Director M ]y|Am,M,PC Personal Composer 1248 Clairmont Rd. MacroMind Upbeat M 2448 76th Ave. SE Atlanta, GA 30030 410TownsendSt., Suite 408 Intelligent Music Mercer Island, WA 98040 (404)377-1514 San Francisco, CA 94107 116 North Lake Ave. (800) 446-8088 Inquiry 1053. (415) 442-0200 Albany, NY 12206 Inquiry 1183. Inquiry 1058. (518)434-4110 Beyond Am At M - K Inquiry 1065. Sequencer Plus** Hitman At Drummer PC Voyetra Technologies KCS Am,At,M,pc Cool Shoes Software Mandala Am 333 Fifth Ave. MIDI Mouse Am M P.O. Box 391 Very Vivid, Inc. Pelham, NY 10803 MT-32 Editor/Librarian At - K Burlington, MA 01803 P.O. Box 127, Station B (914) 738-4500 Tiger Cub AmA,M;PC (617) 229-9942 Toronto, Ontario, Inquiry 1184. X-or AtPC Inquiry 1059. Canada M5T 2T3 Dr. T (416)686-7850 Showmaker Am 220 Boylston St. Dynamic Drums pc Inquiry 1066. Gold Disk Chestnut Hill, MA 02167 New Wave Software P.O. Box 789, Streetsville (617)244-6954 P.O. Box 438 Master M.pc Mississauga, Ontario, Inquiry 1063. St. Clare Shores, MI 48080 CMS Canada L5M 2C2 (313)771-4465 382 North Lemon Ave. (416)828-0913 Cakewalk pc Inquiry 1060. Walnut, CA 91789 Inquiry 1185. Sound Globs^ (714)594-5051 Twelve Tone Systems Easy Performer M Inquiry 1067. Super Librarian Am At M ■ pc 165 Bedford St. Performer M Pixel Publishing Burlington, MA 01803 Performer 3.4 M MIDIBASIC MPC 1573 Eglinton Ave., Suite 3 (617) 273-4437 Mark of the Unicorn Altech Systems Toronto, Ontario, Inquiry 1054. 222 Third St. 122 Faris Industrial Park Dr. Canada M6E2G9 Cambridge, MA 02 142 Shreveport, LA 7 1106 (416)785-3036 Clicktracks M (617) 576-2760 (318)226-1702 Inquiry 1186. Master Tracks pro AmGSM ' pc Inquiry 1182. Inquiry 1068. Passport Sybil A,MPC 65 Miramontos St. FinaIe M MIDI Quest Am.At,M.PC Scorpion Systems Half Moon Bay, C A 94019 MusicProse M Sound Quest 175 Fifth Ave., Suite 2624 (415) 726-0280 Coda 1573 Eglinton Ave. W, Suite 200 New York, NY 10010 Inquiry 1055. 1401 East 79th St. Toronto, Ontario, (415) 864-2956 Minneapolis, MN 55425 Canada M6E 2G9 Inquiry 1187. Cue M (800) 843-2066 (800)387-8720 EasyVision M Inquiry 1061. Inquiry 1069. Synthia Am Galaxy M The Other Guys Vision M GenEdit A,M Monitor pc P.O. Box H Opcode Hybrid Arts Bartleby Software Logan, VT 84321 3641 Haven Dr., Suite A 8522 National Blvd. P.O. Box 671 112 (800) 942-9402 Menlo Park, CA 94025 Los Angeles, CA 90232 Dallas, TX 75367 Inquiry 1188. (415)369-8131 (213)841-0348 (214)363-2967 Inquiry 1056. Inquiry 1062. Inquiry 1070. incorporating music into multimedia environments will spawn more applications for integrating music with video, graphics, and other media. But it appears that the basic music software tools— the sequencer, the voice editor/librarian (see photo 2), and the notator— are already mature. The next music software evolution is just now getting off the ground. It is occurring in tandem with an evolution in music hardware: software/hardware packages for digital multitrack recording direct to disk. Opcode and DigiDesign are working together to create a system that will access and control Digi- design's Soundtools system— a two-track, 16-bit, CD-quality digital recording module— from within Opcode's Vision sequenc- er. The merging of sequencing and digital recording represents the birth of the music workstation, and the ultimate realization of the home recording-studio-in-a-box fantasized by every mu- sician that's ever yearned to produce master recordings. In a world that is increasingly defined by how well we learn to communicate with and relate to computers, being able to work with them as fluid musical instruments and creative part- ners capable of warmth and subtlety of expression offers hope that our futures might not be as sterile and unfeeling as many sometimes fear. ■ Dean Friedman is a composer living in Peeks kill, New York. Among his many compositions is the 1970s hit "Ariel. " He is also the designer of the Nickelodeon game "Eat-a-Bug. " Cur- rently he is writing film and TV scores. He can be reached on BIX do "editors. " 442 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 1990 Introducing the high speed modems from U.S. Robotics Now with VA2bis Until now, high speed modem users had the best of one world. They either had speed or compatibility. U.S. Robotics just changed all that. THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS... With the new line of high speed modems from U.S. Robotics- the Courier HST, the Courier HST Dual Standard and the Courier V.32 - you can now have both the highest speeds and the most compatibility. For speed - its the Courier HST which delivers throughput up to 35,500 bits per second with MNP® level 1 -5 error control and V.426/S. And it still costs less than $1,000. For Compatibility - the Courier V.32 provides CCITT standard modulations from 300 bps to 9600 bps for under $995. And with MNP levels 1-5 and V.426/S you will get complete data integrity plus throughputs approaching 24,000 bps. For the best of all worlds - its the Courier HST Dual Stendavd, combining the blinding speed of the Courier HST with the compatibility of the V.32. At $1 ,295, it costs less than some featureless V.32-only modems. U.S. ROBOTICS - THE EXPERTS CHOICE You would expect the broadest high speed modem line from U.S. Robotics. We manufactured our first HST in 1987, and it quickly became the standard on over 8,000 bulletin boards and for over 40,000 users. Rated #1 by Data Communications magazine, it confirmed what our customers knew all along - U.S. Robotics delivers the best modem value. And we've been doing that for 13 years - for over 1 ,000,000 customers. When you look for high speed modems, don't settle for half a solution. Look to U.S. Robotics. Call today for details on the high speed modems that give you the best of all worlds. Call 1-800-Dial USR. (1-800-342-5877) Mobotics The Intelligent Choice in Data Communications 8100 North McCormick Boulevard, Skokie, Illinois 60076 U.S. Robotics, Courierand HST are trademarks of U.S. Robotics, Inc. Other computer and software names identified by ® or ™ are trademarks of their respective manufacturers. Prices are suggested retail prices in U.S. Dollars. For sales in the United Kingdom, please call Miracom, Ltd.. Ipswich, England. Telephone: 0473 233888. For Canadian sales, call 1-800-553-3560. ostScript Power To The People! The QMS-PS® 410 Printer. Developed by the greatest minds in the industry. . . Yours. Before engineering the QMS-PS 410, we performed one very important task. We listened. Then we took everything we heard, added a few surprises, and built a revolutionary laser printer with a suggested retail price of just $2795! You said make it Adobe® PostScript® . So we did. And now you can enjoy the design flexibility only PostScript offers as well as 45 resident typefaces and thou- sands of PostScript software applications. You said make it reliable. So we used the Canon® LX print engine manufactured by the undisputed world leader in high-quality, easy-maintenance print engines. You said make setup easy. So we made it truly and completely plug-and-play. Out of the box, it connects to IBM® PC's and compatibles, Apple® Macintoshes® and mini and mainframe computers. You said make it flexible. So we added HP® LaserJet® Series II emulation to support non-PostScript printing applications. You said make it simple. So we gave the QMS-PS 410 the intelligence to actually "think for you" by automati- cally switching between emulations and interfaces! This printer has ESP (Emulation Sensing Processor), which interprets incoming data and automatically chooses the appropriate printer language. And you can send data simultaneously to its AppleTalk®, serial and parallel interfaces! There's no need to change switch settings or send complicated software commands. You said make it fast. So we created a super-fast controller with a 68020 processor and third generation QMS® ASAP™ technology (Advanced Systems Architec- ture for PostScript), which incorporates the latest in component and controller design. You said make it expandable. So we made a variety of options available, including an HP-GL® emulation card, Adobe typeface cards, HP compatible font cards, memory upgrades and extended paper handling capabilities. Call Now and Let the QMS-PS 410 Liberate You! 1-800-523-2696 In Europe (31)30/420129 You see, listening to you gave us the insight to develop a printer that offers real world solutions to real world problems. And the QMS-PS 410 delivers PostScript power to the people by giving you more solu- tions than any other printer on the market. Affordable. Reliable. Flexible. Solutions that set you free! POSTSCRIPT 8 The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies'. QMS, the QMS logo, QMS-PS and ASAP of QMS, Incorporated. IBM of International Business Machine, Incorporated. Adobe, PostScript and the Adobe PostScript logo of Adobe Systems, Incorporated. Canon of Canon USA, Incorporated. Apple, AppleTalk and Macintosh of Apple Computer, Incorporated. HP, HP-GL and LaserJet of Hewlett-Packard Company. Centronics of Centronics Data Computer, Incorporated. Circle 235 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 236) HANDS ON UNDER THE HOOD Bill McGinnis Of Monitors and Emissions The least-changed computer peripheral is about to change Unless you've confined your computing to an abacus, where the only emissions are splin- ters, you've probably heard about the controversy surrounding ex- tremely low-frequency (ELF) and very low-frequency (VLF) magnetic emis- sions from video monitors. Whether the health hazards being blamed on such emissions are real or not, many manufac- turers—especially those outside the U.S.— have begun producing so-called low-radiation monitors. In this month's Under the Hood, I'll take a look at dis- play monitors and the steps that are being taken to reduce emissions from them. Electronics and Emissions Before you can reduce emissions from a video display terminal (VDT), you have to be able to identify the types of emis- sions and their origins. You should also observe the effects of such emissions and understand any regulations that apply. Most electronic equipment produces two kinds of emissions: electric and magnetic. These emissions are emitted or radiated as electromagnetic energy fields. It is generally accepted that if the electromagnetic energy field produces ions while passing through matter, it is an ionizing field. If not, it is a nonioniz- ing field. X-rays are an example of ioniz- ing electromagnetic fields used to treat some medical conditions. Nonionizing fields are lower-frequency fields includ- ing ELF, VLF, radio, TV, and micro- wave communications. To prevent misunderstandings, the sci- entific community generally refers to the propagation of nonionizing energy as emissions and the propagation of ionizing energy as radiation (see the text box "Clarifying the Confusion" on page 446). Therefore, it's inaccurate to con- sider ELF and VLF emissions as some- how related to ionizing radiations, such as those generated by x-ray or nuclear sources. The electric and magnetic emissions generated by electronic equipment can be carried along conductors, such as power and interconnecting cables. Some components generate emissions during their normal circuit operation. You've observed at least some effects from both of these types of emissions. The phenomenon is called electromag- netic interference. An example of con- ducted EMI is the disruption of TV re- ception by noise on the power line created by an electric shaver, a blender, or other electric devices. You've prob- ably also noticed EMI as noise interfer- ence in audio systems, video displays, and telecommunication equipment. Some earlier computer systems caused so much interference that you couldn't operate them in the same room with your radio or TV. Eventually, these systems were taken off the market because they couldn't be made to comply with emis- sion requirements. Manufacturers found it was more cost-effective to design sys- tems from the beginning to comply with regulations. You may begin to see this approach used to reduce video monitor ELF and VLF emissions. The huge volume of complaints about EMI caused regulatory agencies world- wide to take action (see the text box "Who's Monitoring the Monitor Stan- dards?" on page 448). One such U.S. agency is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). One of its charters is to regulate the emission levels from computing equipment so they don't inter- fere excessively with licensed broadcast services. continued ILLUSTRATION: TIM TEEBKEN © 1990 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 445 HANDS ON UNDER THE HOOD Clarifying the Confusion Attenuation The decrease in ampli- tude of an electromagnetic emission during its transmission from one point to the next. Deflection circuit A set of coils in- stalled on the neck of a CRT. They con- trol the movement of the electron beam across the CRT face when they are ener- gized by the sweep frequency. Electric field An electric flux den- sity produced by a varying voltage. ELF Extremely low frequency— the frequency range from 3 Hz to 3000 Hz. EMC Electromagnetic compatibil- ity—the ability of different electronic devices to work together without caus- ing interference to each other. EMI Electromagnetic interference- emissions that cause electronic equip- ment to malfunction. Emission An act of dispersal. This term generally refers to electromagnetic energy. EMS Electromagnetic susceptibil- ity—how easily the operation of an elec- tronic device is disrupted. Filament voltage A voltage applied to the filament of a CRT. It heats the cathode to a point where electrons are emitted and then accelerated to hit the CRT's phosphor-coated face. Hertz The basic unit of measure for frequencies (i.e., cycles per second). Ionizing Any electromagnetic or par- ticulate radiation capable of directly or indirectly producing ions in its passage through matter. Isotropic probe A probe that has equal emission reception in all direc- tions. Magnetic field A state produced by a varying current flow in a conductor, which can induce a voltage in a second conductor. Nonionizing Any electromagnetic radiation or emission incapable of di- rectly or indirectly producing ions when it passes through matter. Radiation 1) The emission of electro- magnetic energy. 2) Moving nuclear particles. Sweep frequency The amplitude- varying voltage applied to the deflection coils to move the electron beam across the CRT face. Horizontal frequencies range from 15,000 Hz to 32,000 Hz, and vertical sweep frequencies range from 50 Hz to 90 Hz. :VLF Very- low frequency— the fre- quency range from 3000 Hz to 30,000 Hz. CRT MAGNETIC FIELD SYSTEM W8585 T33333S \ Horizontal control is applied to pins 1 and 2 Vertical control is applied to pins 3 and 4 Figure 1: A CRT magnetic deflection system positions the electron beam on the face of the CRT. Sweep frequency circuits apply voltages to the horizontal and vertical deflection coils to position the electron beam. FCC regulations set levels of con- ducted emissions over the frequency range of 450 kHz to 30 MHz and for radi- ated emissions from 30 MHz to 1000 MHz. They selected these frequency ranges to be sensitive to areas where re- ceiving equipment exhibited electromag- netic susceptibility. The goal is to achieve electromagnetic compatibility, a condition that allows a variety of elec- tronic equipment to operate in close proximity without interference. Basic VDT Operation The CRT is the main component in most VDTs. It has an electron gun that emits a beam of electrons. The beam is acceler- ated by a high voltage applied to the tube and strikes the CRT's phosphor-coated face. This coating glows when struck by the electron beam. Control circuits are needed to adjust the intensity of the beam and move it across the tube's face to create a usable video display. Voltages are applied to the control grid to adjust the brightness of the CRT screen. The focus control ad- justs the size of the electron beam image on the face of the CRT. The movement of the electron beam across the face of the tube is controlled by voltages applied to the horizontal and vertical deflection system (see figure 1). The horizontal coils are energized by a sweep frequency that ranges from 15,000 Hz to 32,000 Hz, depending on the VDT's design. The resulting varying magnetic field moves the electron beam from side to side. A vertical sweep fre- quency ranging from 50 Hz to 90 Hz is applied to the vertical deflection coils, causing the electron beam to move up and down. The majority of the emissions in the VLF region are a result of drive voltages applied to the horizontal deflection coils. Emissions in the ELF band come from two primary sources: the vertical deflec- tion coils, which are energized at rates of from 50 Hz to 90 Hz; and power supply components, which generally operate from either 50 Hz or 60 Hz. Studies have shown that the emissions from color monitors are higher than those from sim- ilar-size monochrome monitors because of the higher operating voltages on color CRTs. Research on the effects of low-level magnetic fields has gone on for many years and still goes on. Part of this re- search is focused on the effects of vary- ing or pulsating fields, such as those found in the magnetic fields emitting from the CRT's deflection coils. There has been very little agreement on the continued 446 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 THE "GREAT DEAL" CATALOG WMMARK 1-800-729-9000 INTERNATIONAL, INC. ORDER TODAY! 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All Rights reserved. HANDS ON UNDER THE HOOD Who's Monitoring the Monitor Standards? In the past few years, improvements in display technology have rapidly taken place, and today, computer de- signers have many options! There are several advantages to each type of dis- play. But as displays have evolved, so has concern over the emissions from CRTs and how to measure them. In 1988, a standard was adopted by a Swedish commission regarding methods for measuring electrostatic fields and electric and magnetic alternating fields. While this regulation applies only to equipment imported into, or used in, Sweden, it does serve as a model for other countries, and we will probably see similar regulations enacted else- where. In addition, some Taiwanese periph- eral manufacturers have already em- braced the concept of designing for re- duced low-frequency emissions by beginning to produce lowered ELF dis- plays. It is expected that VDT manufac- turers worldwide may follow this lead. In the U.S. , IEEE Committee P- 1 140 has been formed and is meeting to re- view ANSI standard C95 . 1 . It will eval- uate measurement techniques and fre- quency coverage of the standard. One of the committee's action items is to con- sider increasing the standard's frequen- cy range. Some members are p oposing that the range be extended down to as low as 50 Hz. It is possible that a first draft could be finished by mid- 199 1 . Interest in the ANSI standard rewrite primarily concerns how it applies to computing equipment, though C95.1 will also apply to other equipment that operates within this standard's frequen- cy range. The p obable effect of the ANSI standard rewrite will be consider- ation of emissions and their levels in the lower end of the spectrum. Doubtless, all electronic manufacturers will be closely monitoring the outcome of the committee's deliberations. Reducing ELF emissions is some- what similar to reducing hydrocarbon emissions on automobiles. The basic op- erating characteristics of a vehicle are relatively unaffected by the modifica- tion. The same is true of a VDT. The reduced-emission CRT video monitor's operation remains essentially the same as the unmodified model. SOURCES OF MAGNETIC FIELDS IN VIDEO DISPLAY UNITS High-voltage power supply Video_ in — AC in Shield around entire display Figure 2: The face oft he CRT is shielded with a well-grounded EMI window. The CRT glass envelope, deflection coils, power supplies, and the terminal itself are shielded with metals that have good ferromagnetic properties and good conductivity, such as iron and nickel. validity and magnitude of the problem. Only a few countries, with Sweden in the forefront, have actually initiated stan- dards regulating the levels of emissions in the VLF region. What kinds of options are available to designers who are seeking to reduce the ELF and VLF magnetic emissions from VDTs? Unfortunately, there aren't many choices. High- and Low-Frequency Emission Control Computers are brought into compliance with earlier EMC regulations by apply- ing techniques of circuit design that min- imize the source of emissions and pro- vide improved filtering and additional shielding. Radiated emissions requiring suppression were electric and could be shielded with thin sheet metal, metal screen, or even sprayed-on coatings. These techniques do not significantly contribute to the weight of the device, nor do they present unachievable constraints on the material selection or design of equipment enclosures. By nature, electric and electrostatic fields are high-impedance and are easily contained by shields or screens. EMI- shielded windows are available that fit over the face of a CRT (see figure 2). An EMI-shielded window is a metal screen bonded to, or a thin-film metal deposit on, a glass CRT cover. Such shields will reduce VLF electric emissions by a fac- tor of over 1000. The screen's attenua- tion of VLF magnetic emissions is so small as to be almost unmeasurable. In contrast, magnetic fields are low- impedance. Reducing magnetic emis- sions begins with selecting the appro- priate materials. Highly conductive materials, such as copper or aluminum, are excellent choices for reducing elec- tric emissions but not magnetic emis- sions. Magnetic emissions are best re- duced by using ferrous materials. Other materials can be used, but the electric continued 448 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 • r&JSBsa Recording the Past . . • . . • Plotting the Future O Our reputation precedes us! From 5 subsidiaries and 35 distributors in more than 40 countries worldwide, thousands of customers purchased more in 1989 than ever before. And they were able to choose new products from an ever- i expanding array of plotters, penless plotters, digitizers, recorders and supplies. \ The Graphtec reputation is one of building products that work well and last a v., long time. We earned that reputation the hard way, by delivering over 40 years \ of the best innovation, support, and after-sales service in the industry. To see what we mean, look no further than our KW series of digitizers. These precision instruments come in a full range of sizes, from A3 to A0. Designed for professional use, they include such features as electromagnetic cross-transmission coordinate sensing, for ± 0.25 mm accuracy and 0.025 mm resolution, a range of cordless cursors and styli for tangle-free operation, emulation of other industry- standard protocols, and an RS-232C interface. Choose the Graphtec reputation, and get Graphtec quality. rth GRRPHTEC GRRPHTEC CORPORRTION Mita 43rd Mori Bldg., 13-16, Mita 3-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108, Japan Tel: (03)453-0511 Fax: (03) 453-7187 U.S.A.: American Graphtec, Inc. Tel: (7 14) 26 1-7568 Fax:(714)833-7568 Australia: Southern Graphtec Pty. Ltd. Tel: (02) 748-4888 Fax: (02) 748-4882 Europe: Graphtec Europe GmbH Tel: (040) 5 11-5059 Fax:(040)511-9155 United Kingdom: Graphtec (UK) Ltd. Tel: (0270) 625-1 15 Fax:(0270)626-733 Circle 334 on Reader Service Card BIX GLOBAL BIX is BYTE's Information Exchange, a worldwide com- puter conferencing system devoted to the exchange of microcomputer information. When you use BIX, you leap borders of geography and time to exchange information, opinions and ideas with a "liv- ing database" of the world's most knowledgeable microcomputer users. BIX covers the world. Our Microbytes news service, backed by BYTE and McGraw-Hill, provides worldwide daily news coverage of major events in the microcomputer industry plus listings of thousands of . new products from vendors around the globe. Scores of companies now use BIX to provide technical support for their hardware and software products worldwide. BIX saves you time. BIX resources help you get the micro-related information you need right away, regardless of your location. BIX electronic mail lets you send private messages to other BIX users worldwide. For more information on how to join and use BIX from your country, read the BIX message in this issue (see Advertiser Index for page number), or contact us today. BYTE INFORMATION EXCHANGE One Phoenix Mill Lane Peterborough, NH 03458 USA (603) 924-7681 (Our overseas helpline number) 8:30 AM-I 1:00 PM Eastern Time (-5 GMT) Weekdays I .111 I HANDS ON UNDER THE HOOD w, hile modern displays have high resolution and excellent color ranges, most are still built with CRTs that are really just big, obtrusive electron tubes. and magnetic attenuation ratios will be similar to those of iron. One way to shield against magnetic emissions is to place a 0.254-mm-thick iron sheet 10 cm from a 20,000-Hz emis- sion source. The theoretical attenuation of the electric emission in this example will be by a factor of about 560 trillion. However, the attenuation of magnetic emissions is only about 1000. The atten- uation of magnetic emission is even less as the frequency is lowered. The 60-Hz attenuation ratio is less than 3 for the above material. Measurement Techniques The analysis of electric and magnetic emissions from electronic equipment be- gins with the proper selection of the an- tenna/probe. The probe measures only selected electric or magnetic fields. It must not respond to spurious emissions that will interfere with the accuracy of the measurements. The probe should be almost isotropic so that its response to an emission field is not dependent on the position of the probe. The design uses three dipoles for electric fields and three loops for mag- netic fields, with one aligned with each of the jc-, v-, and z-axes to achieve near- isotropic operation. This is the preferred isotropic probe technique for manufacturing instru- ments that are used to test compliance with ANSI standard C95.1. This stan- dard addresses safe levels of human ex- posures to radio-frequency electromag- netic fields in the frequency range of 300 kHz to 100 GHz. It starts at a higher fre- quency, and the field-strength levels are much higher than those from VDTs. Currently, IEEECommittee P-l 140 is working on an update of ANSI C95.1 (see the text box "Who's Monitoring the Monitor Standards?"). Equipment Changes The computer industry has undergone tremendous changes since users first fired up their 16K-byte machines with their cumbersome cassette-tape storage and small TVs used for video display. Today's computers are much faster and more efficient, and they have almost un- limited storage capabilities. Yet the VDTs retain more similarities to those old TVs than differences. While modern displays have higher resolution and excellent color ranges, most are still built with CRTs that are really just big, obtrusive electron tubes. At least they are relatively inexpensive and they can produce large, full-color images. The tube size usually deter- mines the VDT's overall dimensions and continued ■ 8051 68HC1 1 THE LEADING IN-CIRCUIT EMULATOR TECHNOLOGY. Nohau EMUL-PC, the PC based in- circu it emulators which find hugs other emulators can't. • Very easi use. •Source Level Dehuggi in C or PL/M f 48 bits wide H trace buffer, •Complete 8051 family and 68HC11 famil support CALL TODAY FOR YOUR FREE VIDEO i AND SOFT- J| WARE DEMO 1 (408) 866-1820.J Australia (02) 654 1873, Austria (0222) 38 76 38, Benelux +31 1858-16133, Canada 514 689-5889, Denmark (02) 65 81 11, Finland 90-452 1255, France (OD-69 412 801, Great Britain 0962-73 31 40, Israel (03) 48 48 32, Italy (01 1) 771 00 10, Korea (02) 784 784 1, New Zealand (09) 392-464, Portugal (01) 83 56 70, Sweden, Norway (040) 92 24 25, Singapore 065 284-6077, Spain (93) 217 2340, Switzerland (01) 740 41 05, Taiwan (02) 7640215, Thailand (02) 281-9596, West Germany 08131-1687, USA FAX (408) 378-7869. Circle 204 on Reader Service Card SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 451 Shh! Don't tell your boss about EasyFlow! Don't say how much time you saved on flowcharts and data flow diagrams. EasyFlow, unlike most "screen draw" programs, is dedicated to fast composition and modification of flowcharts and data flow diagrams. Don't breathe a word about the automatic line routing, automatic text centering, the slick cut & paste or how you created charts and then cleanly moved them into a desktop publishing program. Tell your boss your had to sweat bullets to come up with these amazing results. Don't point out that EasyFlow works with most matrix printers, laser printers and plotters. Keep the 200 page manual out of sight. Don't get caught with one of the 350 context sensitive help messages on your screen. Don't let the boss know that EasyFlow only costs $149.95 and that RUSH delivery is available. Do tell the boss you are a hard working genius but don't mention the other 80,000 geniuses whose bosses don't know either. □ EasyFlow l Flowcharting Made Easy. HavenTree Software Limited P.O. Box 1093 -A Thousand Island Park, NY 13692 Order Desk: 1-800-267-0668 Info: (613) 544-6035 ext.80 Fax: (613) 544-9632 From our fax to yours... Info Fax: (613) 544-2049 HANDS ON UNDER THE HOOD weight. The tube requires a filament voltage, a high- voltage power supply, and deflection circuits, all of which can contribute to the VDT's ELF and VLF electromagnetic emissions. Redesigning current video monitors could include adding shielding to the CRT body, magnetic deflection coils, and power supplies, and enclosing the entire monitor (see figure 2). The addi- tional shielding, however, would add weight, increase cost, and make cabinet designs harder to modify. Better ap- proaches include improving the circuit design, finding new ways to sweep the electron beam over the CRT face, or em- ploying electrostatic deflection systems such as those used by most oscilloscopes. Alternate Video Displays Alternate display technologies are evolv- ing in three main areas: gas-plasma, electroluminescent, and LCD, which is used in many portable computers. This reduction in display excitation voltage will reduce the magnitude of display-re- lated electromagnetic emissions. The size and resolution of today's al- ternative displays are not equal to those of CRTs, but they are rapidly improving. Some manufacturers are responding to the debate about low-frequency emis- sions by offering VDTs with specified lower-level magnetic emissions. Two Tai- wanese companies offering such moni- tors are ADI Systems and Copam Elec- tronics. Both are medium-size mono- chrome monitors. Other manufacturers are beginning to offer flat-panel displays such as the Phil- ips PM 12522. This unit is advertised as being completely free of emissions and generating virtually no heat. It has a 640- by 480-pixel, 12-inch LCD screen. The future of monitors is wide open, with many possibilities in the offing. Al- ready being considered are holographic and optical-projection monitors that will produce three-dimensional displays. Emission levels should be lower, because this type of equipment will be easier to shield than current CRT monitors. To- morrow's displays will have greatly re- duced ELF and VLF magnetic emissions by using either redesigned CRT displays or alternate display technologies. ■ Bill McGinnis is manager of the RF Mea- surements and Analysis Section for the Southwest Research Institute, a nonprofit R&D organization in San Antonio, Texas. He has over 25 years of experience with electromagnetic compatibility measure- ments, analysis, and design. He can be reached on BIX do "editors. " 452 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 135 on Reader Service Card The Cream. The Crop. fBiaiisrm Object-Oriented Confusion fM^lHtMk...|..,t lllllllP^^ F»vl.~ik. ,-■ 5SSST- ^^ps» S^li^-^^ffiC^^w^ £^^gS^S N» r *^,^JSKSSgJ^ , ( There are plenty of places to get information in this industry. Too many. But if you want the best quality information, there's only one that rises to the top: BYTE WEEK. BYTE WEEK is a weekly newsletter from the same professionals who produce BYTE Magazine. Each week, the most important news and information from the previous week is presented in a readable and concise manner. BYTEWEEK offers you what no other publication can: timely news on the rapidly- evolving computer industry as it happens with the interpretation and evaluation that only BYTE's experienced editorial staff can provide. Clip Coupon Here Subscribe now and take advantage of a special subscription rate of $395 ($495 outside the U.S. and Canada). Your subscription to BYTE WEEK also includes a free subscription to BIX, BYTEs exclusive on-line conferencing system. Don't miss this opportunity! For fastest service, call toll-free 1-800-258-5485 (in N.H., call 603-924-9281) and charge to a major credit card or we'll bill you. BYTE fill One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. BYTEWEEK offers a money-back guarantee if you are not completely satisfied. 1 I YES! Sign me up as a subscriber to the Cream of the Crop, BYTE WEEK at the special subscription rate of $395 a year for 50 issues ($495 a year outside the U.S. and Canada). Name , □ MasterCard □ VISA Title □ Check enclosed Q Bill me Company Mail Address _ City/State/Zip _ Business Phone BYTE Card# Exp. Signature HTSB One Phoenix Mill Lane Peterborough, NH 03458 r -U. Jtt The joy of C-scape The C-scape™ Interface Management System is a flexible library of C functions for data entry and validation, menus, text editing, context-sensitive help, and windowing. C-scape's powerful Look & Feel™ Screen Designer lets you create full- featured screens and automatically generates complete C source code. C-scape includes easily modifiable high- level functions as well as primitives to construct new functions. Its object- oriented design helps you build more functional, more flexible, more portable, and more unique applications — and you'll have more fun doing it. The industry standout. Many thousands of software developers world- wide have turned to the pleasure of C-scape. The press agrees: "C-scape is by far the best. 7& . A joy to use," wrote IEEE Computer. Major companies have selected C-scape as a standard for software development. C-scape's open architecture lets you use it with data base, graphics, or other C and C++ libraries. C-scape runs in text or graphics mode, so you can display text and graphics simultaneously. To port from DOS or OS/2 to UNIX, AIX, QNX, or VMS, just recompile. C-scape also Elegant graphics and text Graphics. Run in color in text or graphics mode. Read images from PCX files. Object-oriented architecture. Add custom features and create reusable code modules. C++ compatible. Mouse support. Fully-integrated mouse support for menu selections, data entry fields, and to move and resize windows. Portability. Hardware independent code. Supports DOS, OS/2, UNIX, AIX, VMS, others. Autodetects Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA. Supports Phar Lap and Rational DOS extenders. Text editing. Text editors with word wrap, block commands, and search and replace. Field flexibility. Masked, protected, marked, required, no-echo, and named fields with complete data validation. Time, date, money, pop-up list, and many more higher-level functions; create your own. Windows. Pop-up, tiled, bordered and exploding windows; size and numbers limited only by RAM. Menus. Pop-up, pull-down, 123-style, or slug menus; create your own. Context-sensitive help. link help messages to individual screens or fields. Cross reference messages to create hypertext-like help. Code gene ration. Build any type of screen or form with the Look & Feel™ Screen Designer, test it, then automatically convert it to C code. Screen flexibility. Call screens from files at run time or link them in. Automatic vertical/horizontal scrolling. International support. Offices in Berlin, Germany, with an international network of technical companies providing local training, support and consulting. supports Phar Lap and Rational DOS extenders. Trial with a smile, c-scape is powerful, flexible, portable, and easy to try. Test C-scape for 30 days. It offers a thorough manual and function reference, sample programs with source code, and an optional screen designer and source code generator. Oakland provides access to a 24- w hour BBS, telephone send- ees, and an international network of companies providing in- country support. No royalties, runtime licenses, runtime modules. After you register, you get complete library source code at no extra cost. Call 800-233-3733 (617-491 -7311 in Massachusetts, 206-746-8767 in Washing- ton; see below for International). After the joy of C-scape, programming will never be the same. DOS, OS/2 (Borland and Microsoft support): with Look & Feel, $499; library only, $399; UNIX, etc. start at $999; prices include library source. Training in Cambridge and Seattle each month. Mastercard and Visa accepted. OAKLAND Oakland Group, Inc. 675 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139 USA. FAX: 617-868-4440. Oakland Group, GmbH. Alt Moabit 91-B, D-1000 Berlin 21, F.R.G. (030) 391 5045, FAX: (030) 393 4398. Oakland International Technical Network (training, support, consulting): Australia Noble Systems (02) 564-1200; Benelux TM Data (02159) 46814; Denmark Ravenholm (042) 887249; Austria-Germany-Switzerland ESM 07127/5244; Norway Ravenholm (02) 448855; Sweden Linsoft (013) 1 11588; U.K. Systemstar (0992) 500919. Photo by Jessica A. Boyatt; Kai\ji by Kaji Aso. Picture shows a C-scape program combining data entry with video images loaded from PCX files. C-scape and Look & Feel are trademarks of Oakland Group, Inc.; other trademarks belong to their respective companies. Copyright © 1990, by Oakland Group, Inc. Features, prices, and terms subject to change. Circle 212 on Reader Service Card HANDS ON SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED Rick Grehan ♦ Virtually Virtual Memory Now you can write programs to get at all that high-priced memory These are the days of DOS ex- tenders, of the mutated MS- DOS. If you could hear the dia- logue of an interaction between modern applications and MS-DOS, it might go something like this: MS-DOS: "I have all this data I need to put in memory, but I seem to have run out of usable RAM." Application: "No problem, here's an extra 2 megabytes. I'll put the data there for you." MS-DOS: 'Two megabytes! How'd you do that?" Application: "Never mind, just give me the data and don't ask for details." This is information-hiding on a grand scale. MS-DOS is unaware of any mem- ory lurking past 1 MB, and all these TSR programs and EMS drivers transport data in and out over that border like worker termites tending to an imprisoned queen. It's a grim scene, but you can at least comfort yourself by witnessing all the useful work that MS-DOS continues to do. Some time ago, I put together a mem- ory management system that uses han- dles as a means of coping with memory fragmentation in MS-DOS. (See "If Memory Serves...," August 1989 BYTE.) The system works well enough, but it suffers from the same memory re- striction that MS-DOS does: The upper limit is 640K bytes, less the memory used by the operating system and appli- cation code. Since knocking down walls seems to be a trend these days, I decided that it was time to breach the 640K-byte barrier. This month, I'll present an upgraded version of my handle-based memory management system. The upgrade con- sists of swap capabilities: This new mem- ory manager uses EMS memory (if pres- ent), as well as a swap file on the disk. (See the text box "Using EMS" on page 459 for an explanation of how expanded memory is implemented.) The Swap The insides of this version of my memory manager operate much like the previous incarnation. Your application makes a re- quest for a chunk of memory. The man- ager carves a slice out of the heap, tags the slice with an m-node, and passes the m-node's address back to your program. When your program is done with a piece of memory, your application informs the memory manager accordingly, and the memory chunk's associated m-node is flagged to indicate the memory block is not in use. Memory allocation and re- lease is dynamic. As before, when the memory manager receives a request that cannot be ful- filled, it attempts to compact the heap in order to consolidate separate "bubbles" of unused memory into a large contigu- ous free block. This is fine as long as the net amount of memory requested does not exceed the limit of the heap. Once re- quests do exceed heap size, you're sim- ply out of luck. Now, however, I've given the memory manager an extra option: It can attempt to swap unlocked blocks either into EMS RAM or off to the disk. Naturally, for the sake of speed, the memory manager will take a crack at EMS first. Blocks that are swapped to EMS or to disk re- lease their memory back into the heap so that the request that triggered everything can be fulfilled. continued ILLUSTRATION: BARRY FITZGERALD© 1990 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 455 HANDS ON SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED It works like this: Suppose the applica- tion program makes an 8K-byte request, and that the map of memory usage looks something like the diagram in figure la. Since the largest free block is only 3K bytes, the memory manager performs a compaction. The result is shown in fig- ure lb. Once again, the memory man- ager looks for a free block to satisfy the 8K-byte request, but it discovers that the largest free chunk it has been able to scrounge together is 6K bytes. It's time to do some swapping. So, the memory manager starts at the top of the m-node list and works its way down, keeping a running total of free and unlocked memory. Once this total meets or exceeds the requested amount, the memory manager begins swapping used blocks out to EMS or disk, consolidating the freed memory as it goes. In the exam- ple in figure lc, the memory manager swaps out the 6K-byte block referenced by m-node A and combines it with 6K bytes of already-free memory, for a total of 12 K bytes. The 8K-byte request can now be satisfied. Notice that the memory manager moves down from the top of the m-node list in its search for blocks to swap (an- other payoff for having the m-nodes on a doubly linked list). The selection method used is a first-fit algorithm, since it stops as soon as it's found a contiguous set of blocks that satisfies the original request. An advantage of this technique is that it saves the memory manager from having to perform another compaction after the swap. Newly freed blocks are immedi- ately concatenated to already-free mem- ory that has bubbled up to high memory in the preceding compaction. Since the m-node of a swapped block is pulled out of the list altogether, the ap- plication had better not lose the m-node number. Of course, this is true of m- nodes in any case— if you forget an m- node number, there's no real way to get it back. However, in the original memory manager, m-nodes were kept on one of two lists: an in-use list of m-nodes refer- encing blocks in the heap, and a "free" list of m-nodes that weren't attached to any heap memory blocks. The free list supplied m-nodes to the in-use list as the heap was carved into more numerous pieces. Now, m-nodes swapped out to EMS (or to the disk) simply hang around in limbo until the application requests the data that the m-nodes are riding herd on. The M-Node My original version built a doubly linked list of pointer blocks that I dubbed m- nodes. Each m-node was 4 words big and consisted of the following: • a base address, which pointed to the start of the referenced memory block; • a length word, which indicated (in paragraphs) how big the referenced memory block was; • a next m-node field, which pointed to the following m-node in the doubly linked list; and • a previous m-node, which pointed to the preceding m-node in the list. My program kept m-nodes arranged in memory so that as you traversed the list "upward," you moved through m-nodes that referenced memory blocks stored at continued (a) 1 • k, -b1 1 Heap (b COMPACTION ) Heap ® Heap 2K 6K 6K 5K 8K 2K 2K 1K 12K 5K 8K 2K 2K 6K - 1 1 i * l_ L , . ... I t X > 1K | A I 5K f 3K *— j i 1 b r — —- K 1 D k X [_E 1— ■ 5 1 i | c L 8K r-i-, ^ v \ 2K LlJ 2K \ 1K [1 M-n lis :ing free block L_ ^ M-node list \m 1 = M-node referen ode »t 1 1 Free block M m M-noc Used bio le list ck fsEGR D oints to EMS or dis I Locked block 1K < block Figure 1: Swapping memory out of the heap begins when a memory request comes in. (a) The request is for 8K bytes, and no free blocks of8K bytes exist, (b) The memory manager compacts the heap, freeing a block of 6K bytes. Not good enough, so (c) the manager swaps a 6K-byte block out to EMS memory or disk. A 12K-byte block is now available, and the SK-byte request is granted. 456 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 ObjectA reduces OS/2 and SQL Server prograrariiiig to this. Graphic User Interface applications have made life "point and click" simple for end users. But not for programmers. Conven- tional languages are simply not well suited to developing applications in the fast-growing graphical environment. Object/1 changes ail that. It is the first and only development tool specifically created to work with Presentation Manager, and other graphical interfaces such as WINDOWS and X Windows. Object/1 provides you with a rich object-oriented programming lan- guage, a debugger and other utilities, and a sophisticated forms painter that enables you to build graphical front ends for your applications. What's more, Object/1's interfaces to database engines like SQL Server and MDBS IV allow you to write OS/2 applications by pointing and clicking instead of writing miles of code. How good is new Object/1? According to Steve Ballmer, Executive dbs 'maos VP of Systems Software for Microsoft, "Object! 1 makes it easy to develop applications thai combine the power of Microsoft SQL Server with the graphical user interface of OS 1 2 Presentation Manager? And Object/1 was named 1989 Product of the Year by the Swedish magazine Data Tbknik while it was still in beta testing. Call 1-800-323-3629 for a free technical white paper on new Object/1 International inquiries, call (317) 447-1122. With today's skyrocketing demand for GUI applications, it's time to get clicking. Object/1 • MDBS IV • KnowledgeMan/2 • GURU 1834 Walden Office Square, Schaumburg, IL 60173 (800) 323-3629/(708) 303-6300/FAX (708) 303-6830 mdbs, ObjecUl, MDBS IV, KnowledgeMan/2, and GURU are registered trademarks of mdbs, Inc. Other brands and product names are registered trademarks of their respective holders. Circle 332 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 333) HANDS ON SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED higher and higher addresses. Further- more, adjacent m-nodes referenced adja- cent memory blocks. That— and the fact that the m-node list was doubly linked— made the compaction algorithm easier to code. I borrowed the most significant bit from the next and previous m-node point- er words to act as status indicators. I used one to indicate when the m-node was pointing at a used block, and another to indicate if the block was locked (i.e., could not be moved during compaction) . As far as the m-node is concerned, not much has changed in this updated ver- sion (see figure 2). The only real alter- M-NODE STRUCTURE Status bits Location bits Previous Next Length Base address ■16 bits - To previous m-node To next m-node Status bits 00 - Block is free 01 - Block is in use/unlocked 1 1 - Block is in use/locked Location bits 00 - in system memory 01 - In EMS 10 -On disk 1 1 - Reserved Figure 2: M-nodes are "tags "for memory blocks, whether those blocks are in the heap (in system memory), in EMS memory, or on the disk. USING EMS EMS page 126 blocks of 128 bytes each 4 I I I I I I EMS page # I I IN I I X From an m-node in conventional memory H MAT entry referencing used EMS memory □ MAT entry referencing free EMS memory To next MAT entry on this chain Figure 3: Each 16K-byte EMS page is divided into 128 blocks of 128 bytes each. In this figure, a chunk of heap memory has been swapped to EMS memory, and its data occupies EMS blocks 2, 4, and 7 on this EMS page. The MAT entries form a chain, linking the pieces of the data. Each MAT entry carries the EMS page number and block offset of the next entry in the chain, so MAT entry chains can stretch across several EMS pages. ation is that I've now stolen 2 bits each from the top of the next and previous pointers. (In case you're worried that this has reduced the number of m-nodes that the linked list can bear, don't. Four- teen bits is still enough to reference 16,000 m-nodes, the maximum number that you'd be able to fit in a single 64K- byte segment anyway.) The 2 bits at the high end of the previ- ous m-node field are the status bits, as be- fore; they tell if the block is in use and, if so, whether it is locked or movable. The two highmost bits of the next m-node field indicate the current location of the memory block that the m-node refer- ences, whether it's in system memory, EMS memory, or the swap file. When- ever the system has swapped out a mem- ory block and the application program tells the memory manager to go fetch that block, the memory manager looks at the location bits to see where it put the data. Consequently, the format and contents of the base address pointer change if the ref- erenced block is either in EMS or on the disk. EMS and MATs Rather than attempt to treat EMS mem- ory as an extended heap, the memory manager subdivides each 1 6K-byte page of EMS memory into 128 blocks of 128 bytes (see figure 3). The first two blocks on an EMS page (i.e., at the lowest mem- ory address) hold a table of 16-bit point- ers. I'll call this table the MAT (for memory access table and in honor of the disk file allocation table), and I'll refer to the pointers as MAT entries. Each MAT entry "manages" one of the 128 remain- ing blocks in the page. MAT entries serve as members of linked fists. The low 9 bits of a MAT en- try hold the next EMS page in the list, while the high 7 bits hold the 128-byte block number on that page. When you initialize the memory manager, all the EMS memory it is able to obtain is free, so all M AT entries are placed on a single, huge, free list. As the manager moves data into EMS, it pulls MAT entries off the free list one by one, copies data into the corresponding block in EMS mem- ory, and links the MAT entries into an- other list anchored by an m-node. This explanation demands an exam- ple. Suppose the memory manager has determined that it must move a 256-byte memory block into EMS memory. The program checks at the head of the free MAT entry list and, from that, deter- mines the page and block number of the first free M AT entry. The program then continued 458 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 HANDS ON SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED The memory manager described in this month's article uses a subset of all the functions provided by EMS 4.0. Furthermore, the technique by which the memory manager swaps data be- tween the heap and EMS is not the only way to do it; depending on the final ap- plication, there could well be more effi- cient uses of EMS as swap space than the one I've chosen. It's easiest to think of EMS memory as memory that's "off to the side"; DOS isn't aware of it until the expanded memory manager (EMM) goes to get it. You can have up to 32 megabytes of EMS memory available (my memory manager will attempt to grab, at most, 8 megabytes), carved into blocks of 16K bytes each. Such a block is referred to as a page. Before a program can use EMS, it must first verify that an EMS driver is present in the system. You do this by calling function 35H of the standard DOS INT 21H; this is the DOS function for retrieving an interrupt vector. Spe- cifically, you're looking for the inter- rupt vector for interrupt 67H— the inter- rupt that an EMM drive (if present) will connect through. So, the call looks like this: MOV AL,67H MOV AHJ5H INT 21H and when it returns, the ES register will contain the segment where the driver starts. Ten bytes into that segment, your program should find the string "EMMXXXXO." If that string isn't there, no EMS driver is in the system. Usually, this is sufficient to proceed. But if a program is overly cautious, it might execute an INT 67H with the AH registers loaded with a 40H. This is the EMS get status function; it returns in- formation in the AH register that indi- cates whether the EMS hardware and software are operating properly. Your program's next job is to find out if there's enough EMS memory free for whatever task the application has lined up. For this, you call the EMS get un- allocated page count by issuing an INT 67H with the AH register loaded with 42H. On return, you'll find the total number of EMS pages in the DX regis- Using EMS ter, and the number of unallocated pages (i.e., those not already claimed by someone) in the BX register. If there is enough EMS memory, your program should then load BX with the number of pages it wants and issue an INT 67H with AH loaded with 43H, the allocate pages function. (All EMS functions re- turn an error code in the AH register. It's if the function was successful. I'm assuming that your program is checking AH after each call to EMS to verify that things are running smoothly.) The allocate pages function returns a handle in the DX register. Actually, the handle is in the low 8 bits of the DX reg- ister, but the EMS specification forbids your program to modify the upper 8 bits of a handle. This handle is a unique number between 1 and 255 that identi- fies the set of EMS pages you've just al- located. Of course, your program can simply grab all the pages it needs up front and use only one handle (this is what my memory manager does). Or, you might want to logically group por- tions of EMS memory so that pages used by one set of routines are referenced by one handle, while pages used by another group of routines are referenced by an- other handle. To actually use your EMS pages, you "map" them into a region of memory below the 1-MB horizon referred to as the page frame. Here's where you get into a distinction between logical and physical pages. A logical page is a member of that set of pages you have allocated. The EMS gave you a handle to that set. You refer- ence a logical page by a sequence num- ber; so if you allocated n pages, the se- quence numbers range from to n - 1 . A physical page refers to the location in conventional memory where the logi- i o actually use your EMS pages, you "map" them into the page frame. cal page will "appear" when you map it in. Typically, the physical pages are lo- cated in the page frame, which shows up at the 768K-byte mark, just above the video memory region and adapter card memory. Physical pages are the same size as logical pages and are numbered from up through the number of physi- cal pages that the EMS driver supports. (The location of physical pages is not this restricted across all EMS imple- mentations, and there are EMS func- tions that return the addresses of physi- cal page locations.) So, if you want access to logical page 4 through physical page 0, your pro- gram would execute the following: MOV AH,44H MOV AL,0 MOV BX,4 MOV m,handle INT 67H where handle is the handle that EMS gave you when you allocated your logi- cal pages. When this code fragment ex- ecutes, logical page 4 is accessible at memory location C000:00 (768K). Finally, when your program is fin- ished with EMS memory, it's a good idea to return the memory to the system. You do this by issuing an INT 67H with the AH registers set to 45H and the DX register holding the handle. This is the deallocate pages function, and it re- leases pages your program had com- mandeered. Without it, successive exe- cution of programs would claim more and more EMS memory until the well simply dried up. Of course, there are many more EMS functions than those I've covered here. Your program can alter the page size- in which case you'll be dealing with what are referred to as "nonstandard pages." There are even powerful block move functions that allow you to blur the lines between the pages: Your pro- gram can copy chunks of memory larger than 16K bytes to and from EMS (or from one location in EMS to an- other), and the driver will handle the details of the data spilling over the top of one logical page and into the bottom of the next logical page, as well as deal with the headaches of overlapping source and destination. SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 459 Circle 336 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 337) BBS Sysops • Are you looking for ways to improve your board? Something that will set you apart from other boards in your area? • Are your subscribers interested in Microcomputers? Listen to this! Announcing the Bulletin Board EXchange The Bulletin Board Exchange allows you to become a publisher of Micro- BYTES Daily, an on-line news service from BYTE. Bulletin Board Exchange/ MicroBYTES is a custom package of news and features designed especially for local BBSes, and is available only to sysops. Every Monday through Friday you get articles about developments in micro- computing, telecommunications and selected new product announcements. Get the latest news about MS DOS machines, Macintoshs, Unix worksta- tions, Amigas, Atari STs, peripherals and software. All the stories are reported, written, and edited by the staff of BYTE Magazine, BYTEweek and BIX, and our world-wide network of reporters and editors. Not only do you get a great resource for your subscribers, but you also get access to BDC which will cut your cost of exchanging information and conducting BBS network business. All this is just $49 a quarter. Your one-year subscription to the Bulletin Board Exchange (billed quar- terly) may be cancelled any time without further charge; just notify us. If you prefer, you may subscribe for three months only, at just $69. If you call BDC direct, you pay no hourly telecommunications charge. If you call using Tymnet, the rates are only $3/hour on evenings and week- ends and $6/hour on weekdays. You may also purchase unlimited off-peak Tymnet for just $20 a month. Subscribe today. BIX One Phoenix Mill Lane Peterborough, NH 03458 800-227-2983 In NH 603-924-7681 "455 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 HANDS ON SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED loads the associated page into the page frame and copies the first half of the 256- byte block into the 128-byte EMS block referenced by the MAT entry. It does the same with the second half of the 256-byte block: locating a free MAT entry, load- ing the page, and copying the data in. Next, the memory manager sets the first MAT entry's contents to point to the second MAT entry, thus constructing a chain that links together the two halves of the original 256-byte block. The mem- ory manager anchors this chain to the m- node that originally pointed to the 256- byte block by linking the first MAT entry into the m-node. This linking process is simply a matter of copying the MAT's page/offset word into the m-node' s base address field. Finally, the memory man- ager detaches the m-node from the in-use list and makes its associated heap mem- ory available for use. Of course, the software has set the original m-node's status bits to indicate that the data referenced by that m-node is now off in EMS memory. So, the next time the application wants that data in memory, the memory manager looks in the m-node, sees that the data is in EMS memory, and follows the chain of MAT entries to pull the data back together. Swap File Once conventional memory has been consumed, the memory manager takes a whack at moving things out to EMS memory. If EMS memory is either not present or filled, the memory manager turns to the swap file on the disk. (The reason for the system's choice of EMS memory over the disk should be obvious: speed.) Memory is kept in the swap file in 1026-byte records. The arrangement is illustrated in figure 4, and you can see that the first 2 bytes of each record serve to hook the records together in yet an- other singly linked list. The list is an- chored by an m-node in memory that points to the last record of the list— the base address field of the m-node holds the record number. When swapped out to disk, a memory block from the heap is spread through the swap file in a chain of lK-byte records. As you can see, swap- ping to disk works conceptually just like swapping to EMS memory. Perhaps you found it odd that the m- node points to the last record of the list (by "last" I mean that record holding the data that is loaded at higher addresses when the block is in the heap). I chose this scheme to minimize the disk's head movement as records are being written out. If the records were connected by for- ward links— with the m-node pointing to the first record of the list— imagine what would happen as a memory block was be- ing written out. The memory manager would write out the first record, allocate the next record, go back to connect the first record to the second, return to the second record to load it with data, allo- cate the third, and so on. Before the memory manager could write a new record, it would have to go "back" to the previous record to build the forward link. In my scheme, the memory manager simply remembers the record number just written and writes the backward link followed by the actual data in one swoop. The moral: It is easier to remember where you came from than to know where you're going. Conceptually, swapping to disk works just like swapping to EMS. A block from the heap is carved into lK-byte chunks that are moved out to the disk. On the disk, these chunks are connected by a continued USING SWAPPING 1 024 bytes Data (lowest) . ... Data 1 — - Data (highest) j. L A From m-node in memory Figure 4: The swap file is divided into records of IK + 2 bytes. The first 2 bytes serve as links in a backward-pointing chain. Data swapped out of the heap is chopped into lK-byte pieces when written to the swap file. Note that the head of the chain actually begins with the record storing the data to be loaded highest in memory. I fill /incredible Don't take our word for it, take theirs . . . "Do you know what the underground bargain C compiler of this year is? It's the Mix Power C compiler. For under $25 with shipping, it is one heck of a good compiler.' ' Victor Schneider Dr. Dobb's Journal, June 88 (Letter to the editor) "Overall, Power C's performance is remarkable for the price. Quite compatible with the Microsoft C and Turbo C "standards", Power C is a heavyweight contender in the educational, hobbyist, and perhaps even the professional market — at a bantamweight price." Stephen Davis PC Magazine, September 13, 88 (Review) "Power C is an unbelievable product for $19.95, and is very competitive with Turbo C, Microsoft C, and Microsoft's new Quick C in both features and performance. It is excellent for the beginner who wants to learn C, or for the experienced programmer who wants to develop professional applications. The manual alone is worth the price of this package, and the generous libraiy source code and assembler offer adds to the value of it. If you have any desire to program in C, or want a more powerful C compiler, get a copy of Power CI" Michael Cortese Computer Shopper, August 88 (Review) * 'The C trace debugger is where Mix really shines. It is magnificent. It's not only better than the stripped down debugger Microsoft includes with Quick C, it's better than the full debugger Microsoft provides with its high-end compiler (Codeview) .' ' Technical Specifications Power C includes: Power C compiler with integrated Make, Power C Linker, Power C Libraries (450 functions), the Power C book (680 pages), and support for. . . w ANSI standard w IEEE floating point j£_ 8087/80287 coprocessor j>_ auto-sensing of 8087/80287 >x automatic register variables t> unlimited program size \* mixed model (near & far pointers) • graphics on CGA, EGA, VGA, & Hercules Optional Products: w Power Ctrace debugger v* Library source code ^ BCD business math Order now by calling our toll free number or mail the coupon to Mix Software, 1132 Commerce Drive, Richardson, TX 75081. 1-800-333-0330 For technical support call: 1-214-783-6001 Minimum System Requirements: DOS 2.0 or later, 320K memory, 2 floppy drives or hard drive. Runs on IBM PC. XT, AT, PS/2 and compatibles. 60 day money back guarantee David Weinberger Computer Shopper, November 88 (Review) Circle 188 on Reader Service Card rax software Name. Street . City. State Telephone _ Paying by: □ Visa Card # Zip . □ Money Order □ MC D AX □ Check □ Discover Card Expiration Date . Computer Name Product(s) (Not Copy Protected) □ Power C compiler ($19.95) □ Power Ctrace debugger ($1 9. 95) □ Library Source Code (S10.00) (includes assembler & library manager) D BCD Business Math (S10.00) Add Shipping ($5 USA - S20 Foreign) Texas Residents add 8% Sales Tax Total amount of your order Disk Size a 51/4" a v/2" Power C & Power Ctrace are trademarks of Mix Software Inc. Quick C & Codeview are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Turbo C is a registered trademark of Borland International. Circle 335 on Reader Service Card HANDS ON SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED EEE-48 You can control any IEEE-488 (HP-IB, GP-IB) device with our cards, cables and software for the PC/AT/386, EISA, Micro Channel and Macintosh II. You get fast hardware and software support for all the poplular languages, plus a software library of time saving utilities; Instrument control has never been easier. FREE Informative Catalog 800-234-4232 Applications help (617) 273-1818 Capital Equipment Corp. Burlington, MA. 01803 Micro Channel is a trademark o* IBM TM C++ / Views for Microsoft Windows An application development framework with the most complete C++ object class library for MS Windows development. A powerful object oriented development environment with the first, fully functional object class Browser for C++. A cost-effective and essential productivity tool for the next generation of software systems. Order today at the introductory price of $495.00 (plus shipping). Comes with full source code for over 60 classes - NO Royalties. CNS, Inc. - Software Products 7090 Shady Oak Rd., Minneapolis, MN 55344 6 1 2-944-0 1 70, Fax 6 1 2-944-0923 . . . providing and advancing object-oriented methodology. I he key is to identify local behavior in programs. Before a program enters a loop that accesses blocks that have already been allocated, lock those blocks. chain of pointers ultimately linked to an m-node. Lock Those Blocks Anytime a system gets this complex, loopholes appear. In particular, suppose you've maxed out system memory, and you make a request for a 16K-byte block. Well , the memory manager will first try a compaction— which will fail— and then it will proceed from the high end of memory, swapping unlocked blocks out to the disk. Let's say it swaps out two 8K- byte blocks, freeing up enough space for your 16K-byte request. You store some data in your newly acquired 16K bytes, and then you turn around and request something out of one of the 8K-byte blocks that just got swapped out to disk. Well, the system has to go back, move the brand-new 16K-byte block out, and move that 8K-byte block back in. You could be in for some thrashing, as a small subset of memory blocks are swapped back and forth. The solution is to lock the memory blocks that you expect to access fre- quently. This will keep them from get- ting swapped out. In the example I just gave, if you lock the 16K-byte block as well as the two 8K-byte blocks, some other blocks (that we will presume are not currently being accessed by the pro- gram) will be swapped out instead. The key is to identify local behavior in your programs. Before your program en- ters a tight loop that accesses several blocks that have already been allocated, lock those blocks. In this way, they won't get swapped, and your program won't have to be continuously passing through the handle-to-address calcula- tion routine. continued 462 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 63 on Reader Service Card ^MBSFEls c / ' ^ SCHEMATIC J— / /V Wre C ARLO /^ ,!^ ^ 1\ \ \ /JT TRANSIENT ANALYSIS M I BEHWHyRKL^WttMAV \ "^r^sX \ ^ ■ \ \< nut ^v\ i ii iv v » • '« « v i » i • » ii \ \ \ i \ 1 i 1 ] i J I l i i // THE NEW MICRO-CAP III SO YOU CAN TEST-FLY EVEN MORE MODELS. 77777/ It wasn't easy. But we did it. Made the long-time best-selling IBM® PC-based interactive CAE tool even better. Take modeling power. We've significantly expanded math expression capabilities to permit comprehensive analog behavioral modeling. And, beyond Gummel Poon BJT and Level 3 MOS, you're now ready for nonlinear magnetics modeling. Even MESFET modeling. Analysis and simulation is faster, too. Because the program's now in "C" and assembly language. That also means more capacity— for simulating even larger circuits. As always, count on fast circuit crea- tion, thanks to window-based operation and a schematic editor. Rapid, right-from- schematics analysis— AC, DC, fourier and transient— via SPICE-like routines. The ability to combine digital/analog circuit simulations using integrated switch ll!2fi«l M IWMlfll ■IUT |H|MU|Lj mwm Transient analysis JL '-.v „.M Schematic editor models and parameterized macros. And stepped component values that stream- line multiple-plot generation. And don't forget MICRO-CAP Ill's extended routine list— from impedance, Nyquist diagrams and BH plots to Monte Carlo for statistical analysis of production yield. The algebraic formula parsers for plotting virtually any function. The support for Hercules, CGA, MCGA, EGA and VGA dis- plays. Output for plotters and laser printers. Cost? Still only $1495. Evaluation ver- sions still only $150. Brochure and demo disk still free for the asking. Call or write for yours today. And see how easily you can get ideas up and flying. Monte Carlo analysis Circle 272 on Reader Service Card 1021 S.Wolfe Road Sunnyvale, CA 94086 (408) 738-4387 HANDS ON SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED Finale You might be tempted to try your hand at more complex swapping algorithms; I'm sure plenty abound. But beware: You'll be treading into the domain of the classic knapsack problem (see my June "Cloak and Data" column). Imagine that you are given a box (di- mensions specified) for which you have to select blocks from a pile of random sizes. The selection must fit the box with the least wasted space. You are into a problem that— in the general case— is computationally intractable. But this is precisely the sort of situation you face when trying to determine what combina- tion of blocks in the heap would satisfy a given memory request. Unfortunately, an algorithm to solve such a problem in a reasonable amount of time doesn't exist. If it did, you could immediately rewrite the memory manager to be vastly more efficient than what I've provided. Another approach at improving the swapping routine would be to add some sort of usage information to the m-node. This would enable you to put together a least-recently-used (LRU) swapping al- gorithm, so that freshly allocated blocks would tend not to be immediately swapped out (this would ease the thrash- ing headache I mentioned in the preced- ing section). There would be an added complica- tion: Currently, since the swapping rou- tine swaps out blocks from the high end of the heap, it does not have to pass through another compaction to consoli- date freed memory. In the general case, an LRU swapping algorithm would re- quire a second compaction after the swap took place, since newly created (and therefore unswappable) blocks would have the effect of partitioning freed memory. You may also want to modify the pro- gram's swap size. I chose a small size for EMS memory to reduce fragmentation; on average, there will be fewer unused bytes at the end of the last 128-byte EMS block in a chain than, say, a lK-byte block. I chose a larger size for the disk to reduce access time (I was much less con- cerned about EMS access time). Had I chosen a small swap size for the disk, swapping out a large block would have re- quired multiple disk accesses. Of course, this means that there are more unused bytes at the end of the last disk block in a chain. Your application may allocate most of the memory it needs in chunks that are— on average— only 500 bytes. You may therefore want to set the disk swap size to, say, 512 bytes. Bet- ter yet, you could modify the memory manager so that, at initialization time, the application tells the memory manager what swap size to use for both disk and EMS. ■ Editor's note: The routines described in this column are written in 8088 assembly. The complete source includes an inter- face to Turbo C (for MS-DOS). It is available in a variety of formats. See page 5 for details. Rick Grehan is the director of the BYTE Lab. He has a B. S. in physics and applied mathematics and an M.S. in computer science/mathematics from Memphis State University. He can be reached on BIX as "rick_g. " Your questions and comments are wel- come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Save "Man-Years of Effort" with Turbo 5.5 Don't Start from Scratch with Object-Oriented Pascal Object Professional is a huge library of over 200 object types and 2000 methods that will multiply your produc- tivity. Window object types let you use over- lapping and resizeable windows. The windows include ■ scrolling data entry screens ■ pick lists ■ menus ■ file selection ■ printed forms ■ help capability and more. Build your programs using proven data object types like stacks, linked lists, virtual arrays, and more. System-oriented routines provide swappable TSRs in only 6K of RAM, EMS management, and much more. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back within 30 clays. Add S3 per order for shipping in U.S. and Canada. Inquire about other shipping charges. OPro requires Turbo 5.5. BTF requires Turbo 4.0. 5.0. 5.5, or QuickPascal. Object Professional includes clear, comprehensive documentation, on-line help, full source code, technical support, and hot demo programs. Pay NO royalties. You'll get up to speed fast with OOP! **The range of objects is fantastic. Object Professional could literally save you man-years of effort. " Jeff Duntemann Object Prof essional 1.0, only $150. \ Multi-User B-Tree Toolkit Write powerful network compatible databases faster and easier using B-Tree Filer 5.0. You'll have the fastest, safest, most flexible databases - no rigid struc- ture, no TSR hassles, no running out of files. And they're compatible with Novell, 3Com, MS-NET, and others. You get ■ Fixed and variable length records ■ Two billion records per database ■ Up to 100 indexes per index file ■ Fail-safe mode with journaling ■ Units for sorting, browsing, reindexing, and network control. B-Tree Filer includes full source code, documentation, technical support, and you pay NO royalties. ** B-Tree Filer... a well rounded, feature-rich approach to B-Tree databases." Computer Language, 1/90 B-Tree Filer 5.0, only $125. (single user) §l\\ With network support, $175. Call toll-free to order. 1-800-333-4160 8AM - 5PM PST Monday ihrougli Friday. USA & Canada. For more information call (408) 438-8608. Fax: (408) 438t8610. TurboPowcr Software PO Box 66747 Scotts Valley. CA 95067-0747 464 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 308 on Reader Service Card Unchartable Performance Sun workstations... move over. The Micronics 80486-33 EISA board is here. Fast. Micronics' 486 system board is designed for true 33MHz operation. The Micronics design also supports both the 80486 CPU burst mode and EISA burst mode for maxi- mum CPU perf onnance. It has write-through cache, which is es- sential for EISA bus architecture where DMA is frequently used. The write- through cache continually updates both cache memory and RAM memory so that after a DMA operation, the cache memory is always validated. Powerful. Performing with 32-bit processing power, the Micronics 80486-33 EISA "machine" provides RISC-like performance in a CISC architecture. An ideal platform for UNIX/XENIX time sharing systems, high performance CAD/ CAE and file servers. The 80486 EISA is also perfect for OS-2 Presentation Manager and X- Windows applications. Solid. The 80486-33 EISA features 8 expansion slots with 6 EISA bus master slots, all of which allow for seamless integration of 16-bit and 8-bit AT/ISA I/O cards. Additionally, you'll have no more worries when your memory needs intensify. The 80486-33 EISA provides over ten various memory capacity choices from 1 to 64MB on-board! These memory configurations utilize 256K, 1MB or 4MB SIMM memory concurrently. Micronics offers a complete line of advanced quality engineered 80386 and 80486 system boards. Watch us run Landmark off the scale. MICR©NICS COMPUTERS 232 E. Warren Avenue, Fremont, CA 94539 (4 15)651 -2300 Fax (4 1 5) 65 1 -5666 Circle 181 on Reader Service Card BIX Conference News ■ IGX— The BIX Interactive Games Exchange has a new schedule: Sunday 4-6 pm Mirthquest Place: the.realms/cbix Sunday 9-12 pm Times Inn Place: other.times/times.inn Monday 9-12 pm Nexus Inn Place: d.horizons/cbix Monday 9:30-1 1 :30 pm Boldseekers Place: the.realms/cbix Monday 10-12 pm Trivia Place: fun.n.games/game.room Tuesday 9-12 pm Times Inn Place: other.times/times.inn Tuesday 9:30-1 1:30 pm Heavy Metal Place: d.horizons/cbix Tuesday 12-3 am Nexus Inn Place: d.horizons/cbix Wednesday 9-12 pm Nexus Inn Place: d.horizons/cbix Thursday 9- 1 2 pm Times Inn Place: other.times/times.inn Thursday 1 1 pm-2am Games Melange Place: fun.n.games/game.room Friday 9-12 pm Nexus Inn Place: d.horizons/cbix Friday 12-3 am Nexus Inn Place: d.horizons/cbix Saturday 9-1 2 pm Times Inn Place: other.times/times.inn Saturday 12-3 am Nexus Inn Place: d.horizons/cbix All times are eastern. Description or rules for any of these events can be found in their appropriate conferences. ■ Other Conference News and Events— September always means a new school year. On BIX, you can meet with your fellow educators in the Edu- cation conference. The BIX Education conference has often been described as highend, but that doesn't mean the BlXen don't get down to the day-to-day operation of schools from pre-school COMMUNITY CALENDAR SEPTEMBER 1990 through college. In this conference, you can also spend some time musing about public policy and where we are headed. BlXen present their own pub- lic awards to "Teachers Who Made a Difference" as a way to pay top educa- tors back. Since BlXen tend to be people involved with technology, the spotlight often falls on Math and the Sciences, (join education) Anyone who enjoys sports— football, baseball, rugby, soccer, basketball, and others— will become fans of this new conference, (join sports.leisure) Cineman Syndicate reports are now available on BIX. Weekly reviews on books, videos, music, and movies from a variety of sources are offered. Weekly trivia is also available, (join cineman) Interested in the theory and practice of compiler-building? Discuss parsers, code generation, optimization, and design with guest experts who will be joining us all month long in September for this special discussion, (join sof t.eng/ compilers) The Financial conference has created an 'east.europe' topic where you'll find on-going discussions on starting a new business in the changing economy of Yugoslavia. The discussion includes sev- eral participants logging onto BIX from Yugoslavia, (join financial/east.europe) Circle 450 on Reader Service Card Are Compaqs so compatible and reli- able that they're boring? Journalist. Allan Davidson, the new moderator of the BIX Compaq conference, wants to hear your opinion, (join Compaq) Discuss the pros and cons of several dif- ferent RISC microprocessors, including the 29000, SPARC, and R3000. (join cpus/risc starting at message 869) BIX Exchange News ■ IBM Exchange— IBM CBix discus- sions begin nightly at 10 pm (eastern), (join ibm.exchange) Repair to the 'ibm.repairshop' confer- ence for two new topics: how to build your own IBM clone (clone.building); learn how they work (electronics), (join ibm.repairshop) ■ Mac Exchange-When is WYSI- WYG not needed? When is it needed and why? In September subscribers to the BIX Macintosh Exchange will con- tinue their discussion on what would make the "perfect" Mac word pro- cessor (also known as the "Word 5.0 wish list"). They'll be looking at all the aspects of this and other word- processor attributes in 'mac. business.' (join mac.business) A careful eye will be kept on Cuper- tino for any product announcements. Check out the 'rumors' topic in the 'mac.sandbox' conference, (join mac. sandbox) ■ Writers Exchange— You'll find reg- ular market news postings for writers, (join writers/markets) Hugh Kenner discusses the art of writ- ing in 'writers.' (join writers) ■ Telecom Exchange— New topic: get the facts on FAX technology, (join telecomm.tech/fax) ■ Imagine a setting in which com- munal wisdom is on tap. A place that has the fit and feel of a small, friendly town, yet the sophistication and resources of a global community. One which you can visit electroni- cally—to increase your knowledge of computers and their applications, hone your skills, share insights with thousands of other computer pros, and have fun. Such a community would be called BIX. Subscribe to BIX, the flat-fee, on-line information service. BIX is your access to industry news. And to many special interest Ex- changes—such as our Amiga, IBM, Mac, Writers', and Interactive Games Exchanges— which include thousands of free, downloadable programs. All for just $39 per quarter.* Subscribe via your computer... Set your program for full duplex, 7 bits, even parity, I stop bit. Call BIX on our registration-only number: 800- 225-4129. In MA: call 617-861-9767. International: call NUI3I0690I57800. Then hit the return key, and respond: Prompt: You Enter login bix Name? bix.ville You may buy off-peak access via Tymnet at $20 per month or $3 per hour, or you may buy peak access at $6 per hour.* * * Based on a $156 annual fee, billed quarterly. Telecommunications charges are extra. You may cancel at any time without future charges. "Available only in contiguous 48 states. Tymnet rates subject to change. 800-227-2983 • In NH 603-924-7681 BIX Intelligent multiport, supports RS-422 SmartLynx AT™ intelligent 4-port serial adapter for PC-AT and compatibles supports RS-422 and most multi-user operating systems. On-board processor takes burden off CPU. For order info, call: 1-800-553-1170 Cl QUATECH 662 Wolf Ledges Parkway Akron. OH 44311 PC-AT is a trademark of IBM Corporation. Eight Serial Ports One Board Quatech's ES-100 provides eight RS/232 serial ports in a single AT slot. RJ-11 modular connectors. 1 6450 UARTS are standard. Optional buffered 16550 UARTS. PC-AT, ISA, or EISA compatible. Priced below $500! Quantity Pricing Available! Call for our PC Interface Handbook: 1-800-553-1170 n QUATECH 662 Wolf Ledges Parkway Akron, OH 44311 PC-AT is a trademark or registered trademark of IBM Corp. RS-422/RS-485 Boards for AT, Micro Channel RS-422/RS-485 asynchronous serial communication boards from Quatechl available in 1 to 4 ports for PC-AT and compatibles and 1 to 4 ports for PS/2 Micro Channel. Call for our free PC Interface Handbook: 1-800-553-1170 n QUATECH 662 Wolf Ledges Parkway Akron, OH 44311 PC-AT, Micro Channel, and PS/2 are trade- marks or registered trademarks of IBM Corp. Circle 237 on Reader Service Card Circle 238 on Reader Service Card Circle 239 on Reader Service Card 1 Synchronous I 1 Communication! I Boards for AT 1 Quatech synchronous/ asynchronous serial boards for PC-AT and compatibles support RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485 communication. Call for our free PC Interface Handbook: 1-800-553-1170 n QUATECH 662 Wolf Ledges Parkway Akron. OH 44311 PC-AT and PC are registered trademarks of IBM Corp. Circle 240 on Reader Service Card Joystick Adapter for PS/ 2 GPA-1000 works with IBM Micro Channel for PS/2 Models 50, 60, 70, and 80. Connect two joysticks or four paddles. Also compatible with IBM Game Control Adapter for PC-XT and AT. Call our toll free order line: 1-800-553-1170 n QUATECH 662 Wolf Ledges Parkway Akron, OH 44311 IBM, Micro Channel, PS/2, PC-XT, AT, and Game Control Adapter are trademarks or registered trademarks of IBM Corp. Communications Data Acquisition "PS/2 Micro Channel Interfaces' n QUATECH Phone: (216) 434-3154 • FAX: (216) 434-1409 TELEX: 510-101-2726 PC-AT, PS/2 and Micro Channel are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation. Circle 241 on Reader Service Card 2 parallel, 2 serial, 1 board Quatech DSDP-402 for PC-AT has two parallel ports, and two serial ports for any combina- tion of RS-232, 422, and 485 communication. DSDP-100, two parallel and two RS-232 ports, available at lower cost. For order info, call: 1-800-553-1170 n QUATECH 662 Wolf Ledges Parkway Akron. OH 44311 Digital I/O Board Single-slot Quatech PXB-721 for PC-AT has 72 digital I/O lines. Connect three choices of data acquisition modules. Supports Labtech Notebook™ Call for our free PC Interface Handbook: 1-800-553-1170 n QUATECH 662 Wolf Ledges Parkway Akron, OH 44311 LabTech Notebook is a trademark of Laboratories Technologies Corp. Circle 242 on Reader Service Card Wave Form 20MHz-32K $1290 The WSB-100 Wave Form Synthe- sizer Board from Qua tech has the best set of numbers in the market. With speed to 20MHz and a 32K memory at $1290, it's making waves in more ways than one The WSB-100 is also a star performer as a digital pulse/word generator with the optional digital module. Call for our free PC Interface Handbook 1-800-553-1170 n QUATECH 662 Wolf Ledges Parkway Akron, OH 44311 Circle 243 on Reader Service Card Circle 2 44 on Reader Service Card Circle 245 on Reader Service Card BVTE Product Showcase BUYER'S MART BYTE BITS PRODUCT SPOTS I MICRO PRODUCT CENTER CATALOG SHOWCASE ILLUSTRATION: JULIE E MURPHREE © 1989 SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 469 Catalog Showcase Order your copies of the most current catalogs from the market leaders Order directly from the advertiser, or Circle the company's inquiry number on the Reader Service card in the back of the issue, or Use the Fax response page for quicker delivery. Advertisers: The Catalog Showcase is the most effective low-cost way to promote your product line to an influential audience. Call Scott Gagnon for more details. (603) 924-2651 Fax: (603) 924-2683 WLT PC EXPRESS Standard with all of our PCs • 3 years on-site service, free • 3-year warranty, free • Lifetime telephone support, free • 30-day money-back guarantee Call for our catalog of industry standard 286, 386, MCA PCs 1-800-272-9771 Circle 34] on Reader Service Card ITT PowerSystems Corp. The ITT PowerSystems Selection Guide provides a brief description of ITT's full line of Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS), Stanby Power Systems (SPS), and Power Line Conditioners (PLC). Complete technical specifications for each product line along with ordering information is also included in this four-color brochure. For your free copy, call(602)889-7600 or write ITT PowerSystems, 3400 E. Britannia Drive, Suite 122, Tucson, Arizona 85706. 1-602-889-7600 Circle 151 on Reader Service Card Strawberry Tree B ■ mm PR' — M « XA 1 wvmBarassB" Data Acquisition and Control Catalog of data acquisition and control hardware and software for IBM and Macintosh computers for process control or laboratory measurement of thermocouple temperature, voltage, current, and chromatography analysis. The catalog includes WorkBenchMac™ and WorkBench PC™ software for data acquisition and control using a revolutionary new icon- based graphical interface. Strawberry Tree, 1 60 South Wolfe Road, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 1-408-736-8800 Circle 345 on Reader Service Card Intel Development Tools Choosing the right architecture and devel- opment support are two of the most impor- tant decisions you face today. For success- ful microcomputer development, Intel offers you the total solution with the most up-to-date and powerful tools available. And we also offer you the easiest way to buy. Our Development Tools Catalog lists all our tools products in one guide. Call us at1 -800-874-6835, or FAX us at 503-696-4633 to get your free copy today. Intel Corporation, Development Tools Operation, 5200 NE Elam Young Parkway, JF1-15, Hillsboro, OR 97124 1-800-874-6835 FAX 503-696-4633 Circle 149 on Reader Service Card Jensen Tools Inc. SOMETHING SPECIAL UNDER THE SUN! Tools, Tool Kits, Cases and Test Equipment Computer/electronic tools, tool kits, and test equipment are detailed in a new Catalog, free from Jensen Tools. Included are state-of-the-art field service systems and diagnostic software; tools and test equip- ment for servicing computers, telecom- munication systems, LANs, and other electronic equipment; cases and shipping containers, soldering supplies, static control products, work holding devices and more. For a free catalog, write or call Jensen Tools Inc., 7815 S. 46th Street, Phoenix AZ 85044. 1-602-968-62311 Circle 154 on Reader Service Card Jameco Electronics 30-day Money-back Guarantee... Large Selection, Competitive Prices... High Quality Technical Assistance... Our staff of 30 technicians is on hand eight hours a day to answer your technical questions before and after your purchase. 99.99% of all Products are in stock... Jameco stocks over 4,000 different prod- ucts. 99.99% of these products are avail- able for off-the-shelf shipment at any time. Fast Shipment- Most orders shipped within 24 hours. Guaranteed shipment within 48 hours for all in-stock items. 1-415-592-8097 Circle 342 on Reader Service Card 470 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1 990 Catalog Showcase Best Power Technology, Inc. CompuAdd FREE, money-saving literature tells you how to protect your computer from power prob- lems such as surges, sags, spikes, noise, brownouts, blackouts and lightning. These power problems can damage delicate equipment and cause loss of valuable data. Learn how Best Power Technology's uninterruptible power systems, ranging from 500 VA to 18 KVA, can protect your computer. Contact: Best Power Technology, Inc., P.O. Box 280, Necedah, Wl 54646. 1-608-565-7200, ext. 1766 Toll-free 1-800-356-5794, ext. 1 766 Circle 343 on Reader Service Card Contec U.S.A. Inc. PC Data Acquisition Packages Contec, the world's largest supplier of PC data acquisition interfaces, has available easy-to-install hardware and software data to allow IBM-compatible PCs to be used for acquiring data on temperature, pressure, flow, count, and from any RS232 instrument. 1-800-888-8884 Circle 72 on Reader Service Card B&B Electronics Catalog ELECTRONICS CATALOG „, • iy M-S32IMTEWWa um mowtorwo iouipwswt Cawoa n 1J-1M0 We help you solve RS-232 problems. The free B&B Electronics Catalog is full of RS-232 Interfaces: RS-232 to RS-422 con- verters, RS-232 to Current Loop converters, Modem Security Devices, Splitters, Com- biners, Four Port Switches, and many, many more RS-232 problem solvers. Pre- and post-sale technical support. Most items shipped within 24 hours. Direct from manufacturer to you. Money-back guarantee. One-year warranty. Contact us for custom designs also. B&B Electronics Mfg. Co., 4050J Baker Road, PO Box 1 040, Ottawa, IL 61 350. 1-815-434-0846 Circle 34 on Reader Service Card BYTE Catalog Showcase Catalog Showcase mm The Catalog Showcase was created as a ser- vice to our readers, making it easy for them to locate and order the catalogs they need. This new program offers an efficient way to promote your product line by sending catalogs only to those who request them. Make your catalog available to the 500,000 influential readers with enormous purchasing clout within their companies. 1-603-924-2651 Circle 346 on Reader Service Card Get the news from CompuAdd! New 486 power with the CompuAdd 425, new computing convenience with the CompuAdd Companion notebook and 316SL laptop systems. From the industry leader in mail order sales and service, the CompuAdd catalog offers systems, kits, upgrades, software, accessories and hundreds more items. All with the unequalled CompuAdd value: the best price/performance ratio plus our famous guarantees and service. 1-800-477-9707 Circle 344 on Reader Service Card Contec U.S.A. Inc. PC Data Acquisition Boards Contec, the world's largest supplier of PC data acquisition interfaces, offers a free 1 50-page catalog on its range of IBM PC data acquisition and control boards, software, and accessories. 1-800-888-8884 Circle 73 on Reader Service Card National Instruments Free 488-page full-color catalog describing instrumentation hardware and software products for personal computers and workstations. Application software for data analysis and presentation and for collecting data using instruments and plug-in boards. Features GPIB interfaces, data acquisition and DSP boards, driver level software, signal conditioning and VXI controllers. 1-512-794-0100 Circle 198 on ReaderService Card Specialized Products Co. Electronic tools and test equipment Color, illustrated 250-page catalog details comprehensive selection of toolkits, test equipment, telecom equipment and datacommunication products. Special emphasis on in-house and field service. Indexed catalog shows digital multimeters, breakout boxes, oscilloscopes, BERT testers, hand tools and extensive selection of instrument and shipping cases, plus over 50 standard tool kits. Complete specifications and prices are provided for all products. Specialized Products Company, 3131 Premier Drive, Irving, TX 75063 USA. 1-214-550-1923 FAX: 214-550-1386 Circle 27 1 on Reader Service Card BYTE • SEPTEMBER 1990 471 -The Buyer's Mart- A Directory of Products and Services THE BUYER'S MART is a monthly advertising section which enables readers to easily locate suppliers by product category. As a unique feature, each BUYER'S MART ad includes a Reader Service number to assist interested readers in requesting information from participating advertisers. Effective January 1, 1990. RATES: 1x-$590 3x-$550 6x-$525 12x-$475 24x-$450 Prepayment must accompany each insertion. VISA/MC Accepted. AD FORMAT: Each ad will be designed and typeset by BYTE. Advertisers must furnish typewritten copy. Ads can include headline (23 characters maximum), descriptive text (250 characters is recommended, but up to 350 characters can be accommodated), plus company name, address and telephone number. Do not send logos or camera-ready artwork. DEADLINE: Ad copy is due approximately 2 months prior to issue date. For ex- ample: November issue closes on September 8. Send your copy and payment to THE BUYER'S MART, BYTE Magazine, 1 Phoenix Mill L ne, Peterborough, NH 03458. For more information call Brian Higgins at 603-924-3754. ACADEMIC COMPUTING ACCESSORIES BAR CODE 166 MHz PC Proprietary technologies allow u s to deliver our PC com- patible workstation years ahead of the industry. Take ad- vantage of inexpensive PC software (vs. UNIX), and the performance our platform offers, to execute applications previously run on minis and supers. We're offering the first 5000 of our 1993 production units at wholesale pric- ing. Educational and quantity discounts. Eclectech, Inc. Dept. 4142, P.O. Box 12887, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 HEWLETT PACKARD Buy — Sell — Trade Laser Jet It/HD Color Pro (7440) Genuine HP 2 Meg/4 Meg HP-7550A Desk Jet Draft Pro DXL/EXL Rugged Writer Draitmaster l/tl Electrostatic PlottersCl600 (D Size)/C 1601 (E Size) Science Accessories Corporation Sonic Digitizers 36" X 48" (2750) 60" X 72" (3175) T. E. Dasher & Associates 4117 Second Ave. S., Birmingham, AL 35222 Phone: (205) 591-4747 Fax: (205) 591-1108 BAR CODE READERS For PC, XT, AT, & PS/2, Macintosh, and any RS-232 terminal. Acts like 2nd keyboard, bar codes read as keyed data. With steel wand— $399. Top rated in independent reviews. Works with DOS, Xenix, Novell, Alloy, -ALL software. Lasers, magstripe, & slot badge readers. 30-day $$ back. Worthington Data Solutions 417-A Ingalls St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220 Inquiry 581. Inquiry 586. ACCESSORIES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RADIOACTIVE? Plot it on your PC with The RM-60 RADIATION MONITOR Serial or printer port. Detects: ALPHA* BETA* GAMMA • X-RAY. MicroR, 1000 times the resolution of standard geiger counteis. Excellent for tracking RADON GAS. Find sources. Plot: • Background • Cosmic Rays • Clouds • Foods CailWfite for PC MAGAZINE review. • TSR • GM Tube VISA/MASTER Phone orders. Not satisfied? Full refund. Tel: (302) 655-3800 Aware Electronics Corp. P.O. Box 4299, Wilmington, DE 19807 $149.50 NATURAL LANGUAGE C LIBRARY Increase your market share! Use JAKE to add a natural language front end to your application. JAKE translates English queries and commands into C function calls and data structures. JAKE offers context-sensitive semantic processing; interfaces easily; < 64K mem. JAKE $495. INTERACTIVE DEMO $10 ENGLISH KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS, INC. 5525 Scotts Valley Dr. #22. Scotts Valley, CA 95066 (408) 438-6922 PORTABLE READER Battery operated, handheld reader w'rth 64 K static RAM, 2x16 LCD display, 32-key keyboard, Real-Time-Clock. Wand or laser scanner. Program prompts and data checking through its own keyboard. Easy data transfer by RS-232 port or PC, PS/2 keyboard. Doubles as On- Line Reader. 30-day $$ back. Worthington Data Solutions 417-A Ingalls St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220 Inquiry 582. Inquiry 587. BIG SAVINGS ON RIBBONS! Get 50 better-than-new ribbons for each one you buy with our new Wet Ribbon Re-inker. Easy to use. Fits most cartridges. Printer safe. Satisfaction Guaranteed. SPECIAL OFFER! CALL TODAY! BLUE RIBBON INK, LTD. 3773 Cherry Creek Dr. North. #500 Denver, CO 80209 (800) 477-3465 (303) 377-4655 muLISP® 87 for MS-DOS Fast, compact, efficient LISP programming environ- ment. muLISP programs run 2 to 3 times faster & take V2 to % the space of other LISPs. 450 Com- mon LISP functions, multi window editing & debug- ging, flavors, graphics primitives, lessons & help, demo programs, comprehensive manual. Soft Warehouse, Inc. 3615 Harding Ave,, Suite 505, Honolulu, HI 96816 (808) 734-5801 Inquiry 583. PRINT BAR CODES/BIG TEXT FROM YOUR PROGRAM Add bar codes and big graphics characters to your pro- gram. Print from ANY MS-DOS language. Bar codes: UPC, EAN, 2 of 5, MSI. Code 39. Epson, Oki, IBM dot matrix text up to Vz". LaserJet up to 2". Font cartridges not required. $179-$239. 30-day $$ back. Worthington Data Solutions 417-A Ingalls St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220 Inquiry 588. CUT RIBBON COSTS! Re-ink your printer ribbons quickly and easily. Do all cartridge ribbons with just one inker! For crisp, black professional print since 1982. You can choose from 3 models: Manual E-Zee Inker — $39.50 Electric E-Zee Inker — $94.50 Ink Master (Electric) - $189.00 1000s of satisfied users. Money-back guarantee. BORG INDUSTRIES 525 MAIN ST„ JANESVILLE. IA 50647 1-800-553-2404 In IA: 319-987-2976 The Knowledge Engine: Hypermedia for the rest of us! The Knowledge Engine is an icon-driven, object-oriented hypermedia pro- gram for MS-DOS computers. Much mote than a HyperCard' clone, The Knowledge Engine allows even non-programmers to create breathtakingly powerful hypermedia applications simply by "pointing and clicking". Features include: full graphics support for CGA, EGA, VGA, Super VGA, and 8514A; PCX file support; memory-resident graphics snapshot program; graphics painter; animation editor; powerful programming language; and much more. A runtime library allows The Knowledge Engine to be embedded into Microsoft and Turbo C programs. Only W95 Tor MS-DOS. Versions also available tor UNSX and AS/400. Demo disk $25. Software Artistry, Inc. 3500 DePauw Blvd., Suite 1100, Indianapolis, IN 46268 Phone: (317) 876-3042 Fax: (317) 876-3258 Inquiry 584. BAR CODE READERS Keyboard emulation for PC/XT/AT & PS/2's, all clones and any RS-232 Terminal. Transparent to your operating system. Available with Steel wands, Lasers, Slot & Magstripe Readers. Same day shipping, 30-day money-back guarantee. One-year warranty. Reseller discounts available AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS 2190 A Regal Parkway, Eubess, TX 76040 (800) 648-4452 (817) 571-9015 FAX (817) 685-6232 Inquiry 589. BAR CODE COMPANION AND EXTENDER Place a keyboard and monitor up to 600' from your CPU with EXTENDER and COMPANION products. Keep a second Keyboard/Monitor at the CPU with COM- PANION. Supports MDA, CGA, EGA, VGA, PS2. Uses single %" cable. Prices start at $149.00 for EXTENDER and $219.00 for COMPANION 25 ft. unit complete. CYBEX CORPORATION 2800-H Bob Wallace, Huntsville, AL 35805 205-534-0011 International Fax #205-534-0010 nquiry 585. 472 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 LABELING SOFTWARE On EPSON, IBM, OKI dot matrix or LaserJet. Flexible design on one easy screen. Any format/size. Up to 120 fields/label. 18 text sizes to 3"-readable at 100'. AIAG, MIL-STD. 2 of 5, 128, UPC/EAN, Code 39. File Input & Scanned logos/symbols (PCX)— $279. Other programs from $49. 30-day $$ back. Worthington Data Solutions 417-A Ingalls St., Santa Cruz. CA 95060 (408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220 BAR CODE PRINTING SOFTWARE • MS/PC DOS SYSTEMS • 9 & 24 PIN DOT MATRIX • H-P LASER JET/PLUS/SERIES II • MENU-DRIVEN or MEMORY RESIDENT • CODE 39, I 2/5, UPC A/E, EAN 8/13 • BIG TEXT & BAR CODE SOFTFONTS AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS 2190 A Regal Parkway, Eubess, TX 76040 (800) 648-4452 (817) 571-9015 FAX (817) 685-6232 The Buyer's Mart- BAR CODE BAR CODE PRINTING Print bar codes from your custom program. ANSI C routines generate and print Code39, 125, Codabar. UPC ATE, EAN 8/13 and supplements. Supports LaserJet, OKI, and EPSON and custom printers. Works with UNIX/XENIX, MSDOS and others. All SOURCE CODE included. No royalties. Single pat- tern $85.00. All patterns $250. Infinity Computer Services, Inc. P.O. Box 269, Coopersburg, PA 18036 Voice: 215-965-7699 BBS: 215-965-8028 Inquiry 590. BAR CODE DATA INPUT DEVICES Bar Code, Magnetic Sjripe Readers & SmartGard Encoder/ Reader for microcomputers & terminals, including IBM PS/2 & others, DEC, Macintosh, AT&T, CT, Wyse, Wang. All readers connect on the keyboard cable & are transparent to all soft- ware. UPC & 39 print programs, magnetic encoders, & por- table readers are also available. TPS Electronics 4047 Transport, Palo Alto, CA 94303 415-856-6833 Telex 371-9097 TPS PL A 1-800-526-5920 FAX: 415-856-3843 Electro-CAD $99 Designed specifically for schematics and double-sided board layouts, Electro-CAD produces high quality board images on standard dot-matrix printers up to 11 by 15 inches. Virtually instantaneous screen replots, rubber-banding, user definable images, and many other features make Electro-CAD the best tool for the job or your money back. Call us for more information and fast delivery. AEROUX Engineering 32 West Anapamu Suite 228, Santa Barbara, C A 93101 (805) 962-9695 Inquiry 595. Inquiry 601. PC-Wand Bar Code Solutions Bar codes are easy with a FULL line of readers & printers. They plug & play with your existing systems, most all makes of CPU/printer/terminal/software in your office, store, truck, factory or warehouse. Our bar code DOS programs print on matrix or laser printers. 30 day refund, 1 year warranty. International Technologies & Systems Corp. 655-K North Berry St., Brea, CA 92621 TEL: (714) 990-1880 FAX: (714) 990-2503 VARIANT MICROSYSTEMS BAR CODE READERS DELIVER WAND/LASER/MAGNETIC CARD CONNECTIVITY ■ Keyboard wedges (Internal/External) for IBM PC/XT/AT, PS/2 and portables. • RS232 wedges for WYSE, Link, Kimtron terminals • Bar code and label printing software ■ Full two-year warranty • 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee •Extensive VAR/Dealer Discounts 3140 De la Cruz Blvd., Suite 200/Santa Clara, CA 95054/(408) 980-1880 800-666-4BAR FAX: (415) 623-1372 CAD-DRAWING VIEWSTATION Allows non-GAD users to view drawings on PCs, print, plot, attach personal notes, and hyper-link between files. Change views and layers. Accurate entity representation. Easy to use. • Slrlln VIEW/DWG for AutoCAD DWG files: $295 ■ Slrlln VIEW/PLUS for DWG, DXF, HPGL and dBase: $395 Developers: ask about linkable Slrlln VIEW/LIB. Dealers welcome. Slrlln Computer Corporation 225 Lowell Road, Hudson, NH 03051 (603) 595-0420 Inquiry 591. Inquiry 596. Inquiry 602. BASIC CLIP MUSIC CD-ROM BAR CODE READERS Only $285 • Complete Bar Code Systems Available • Acte like a 2nd Keyboard for IBM XT/AT, PS/2 and Clones. Macintoshes and any RS-232C Terminal • Wand/Laser scanner/Slot reader/Magnetic card reader connectivity • POS Special Keyboard with Bar Code/Magnetic Card Readers • No software or hardware modification needed • 30-day Money-back Guarantee KASCO TECHNOLOGY, INC. 486 Casita Way, Los Altos, CA 94022 Tel: (415) 949-0969 FAX: (415) 949-3814 Inquiry 592. 300 Songs & Sounds + 180 Pg. Book Besides being a fun jukebox, The ENTER-tainer teaches DOS basic, bat file & display tricks. Many exciting musical projects! It's geared for beginners, yet teaches pros how to run music behind QB or C apps. Source code, no royalties. Money-back guarantee. 35" or two 5.25" disks. Needs b<\sic 2.0 or later. $29.95+5350 s&h. (Europe, Canada & Mexico s/h=$7, others=$11, 1st class air) For fast visa/mc orders - call: (800) 727-4140 Price soon going up to $45! PDI Music Software, 1511 48th St., Boulder. CO 80303 (303) 440-4140 ALDE CORPORATION CD ROM players as low as $499 plus selected disc. Choose from many titles. Aide does consulting, joint venture and/or royalty projects for qualified parties. Write, call or fax for complete information. New Ada release. Box 1086, Glen Lake, MN 55346 1-800-727-9724 FAX: 1-612-934-2824 Inquiry 597. Inquiry 603. BRAILLE 5-YR. WARRANTY AT PERCON PERCON decoders are now covered by a five- year limited warranty. That means you won't spend one cent replacing your PERCON bar code decoder for five full years. That's reliability you can count on! PERCON 2190 W. 11th Ave., Eugene, O R 97402 Phone: (800) 873-7266 FAX: (503) 344-1399 See our ad on page 484. BRAILLE PUBLISHING Whether you have occasional word-processed memos or full- length textbooks, a Duxbury Translator enables conversion to properly contracted and formatted braille. The choice of professional publishers worldwide since 1975, Duxbury soft- ware for MSDOS, Macintosh, Unix and other systems sup- ports: English Braille and Computer Braille (bid rectionally) Textbook Format, French, Spanish, Arabic, and others. Duxbury Systems, Inc. 435 King St., R0. Box 1504, Littleton, MA 01460 USA 508-486-9766 Largest Selection and Best Price Microsoft Programmers Library & Drive $949. Computer Library $695 • Public Domain S/W $49. NEC PC or Mac Drive Kit $749 • Bookshelf-Best Price! Drives from $499. Hundreds of titles from $29 MC/VISA/AMEX/COD, Money-back Guarantee. Call or write for free 120-page catalog. Bureau of Electronic Publishing 141 New Road, Parsippany, NJ 07054 800-828-4766 THE SOURCE FOR CD-ROM See our ad on page 76. Inquiry 593. Inquiry 598. CABLES AND ACCESSORIES PC BAR CODE SPECIALISTS Bar code readers designed for fast, reliable, cost effective data entry. Looks just like keyboard data! Choose from stainless steel wand or laser interface. Also, powerful Bar Code and Text printing software. Great warranty. Dealer inquiries welcome. Seagull Scientific Systems 15127 N.E. 24th, Suite 333, Redmond, WA 98052 206-451-8966 BAR CODE READERS Among the best and most widely used bar code decoders. Reads all major codes (39, I 2/5, S 2/5, UPC/EAN/JAN, CODABAR, MSI). Connects between keyboard and system. IBM, PS/2, MAC, DEC-VT com- patible. OS & software independent. Same day ship. 2 Year Warranty (pen incld). Large Reseller Discounts Solutions Engineering 4705 Langdrum Lane, Bethesda, MD 20815 (800) 635-6533 (301) 652-2738 Inquiry 594. Parallel Printer Cables $3.59 and Up Serial Cables $4.95 and Up Switchboxes $11.95 and Up We can supply ALL your cabling needs. Master- Card & Visa Accepted. Dealer pricing available. Corporate & Government accounts welcomed. CONNECT-IT P.O. Box 14337, Arlington, Texas 76094 (817) 461-9400 M-F 9-6 p.m. est Inquiry 599. SPECIAL-PARALLEL-PRINTER CABLES for PC's and similar systems 10 FT US $ 69 100 FT US$249 300 FT US$649 All intermediate lengths available on request. Dealers are welcome. Delivery! FOB Munich. C.O.D. E. HOLLER EDP-ACCESSOIRIES Boehmerwaldstr. BA, D-8192 Geretsried, W-Germany Tel. 08171/31702 Fax. 08171/81275 Inquiry 600. CD ROM, inc. CD-ROM, WORM. MAGNETO-OPTICAL DRIVES, CD-ROM DISCS FOR IBM AND MAC, OPTICAL CONSULTING SERVICES •PUBLISHING * DlSrRIBUTlON "NETWORKING QUALITY PRODUCrS AND SERVICES AT COMPETITIVE PRICES FREE CATALOG TEL. 303-231-9373 1667 COLE BLVD.. SUITE 400, GOLDEN. CO 80401 FAX: 303-231-9581, CIS: 72007,544 VISA/MC/AMEX/GOVT. POs Inquiry 604. COMMUNICATIONS PC SDLC SUPPORT Use Sangoma hardware and software to provide a cost effective, robust and easy to use SDLC link from MS-DOS, XENIX, AIX, PICK, PC-MOS, etc. All real time communication functions performed by intelligent co-processor card. X.25 support also available. Sangoma Technologies Inc. (416) 474-1 990 7170 Warden Avenue -2. Markham. Ontario. Canada L3R 8B2 Inquiry 605. SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 473 The Buyer's Mart- COMPUTER INSURANCE CROSS ASSEMBLERS DATA/DISK CONVERSION INSURES YOUR COMPUTER SAFEWARE provides full replacement of hardware, media and purchased software. As little as $49 a year provides comprehensive coverage. Blanket coverage; no list of equipment needed. One call does it all. Call 8 am-10 pm ET. (Sat. 9 to 5) TOLL FREE 1-800-848-3469 (Local 614-262-0559) SAFEWARE, The Insurance Agency Inc. Cross-Assemblers Simulators Disassemblers PseudoCorp See our ad on page 500. DISK CONVERSIONS Media transfer to or from: IBM, Xerox, DEC, Wang, Lanier, CPT, Micom, NBI, CT, Exxon, WRDPLEX also WP, WS, MS/WRD, DW4, MM, Samna, DEC DX, MAS 11, Xerox-Writer, ASCII. FREE TEST CONVERSION CONVERSION SPECIALISTS 531 Main St., Ste. 835, El Segundo, CA 90245 (213) 545-6551 (213) 322-6319 Inquiry 606. Inquiry 612. Inquiry 618. COMPUTER UPGRADE CROSS COMPILERS THE COMPLETE XT UPGRADE The K-311 Upgrade Kit converts your XT to full 32-bit, 20MHz 80386 CPU and high speed disk performance. The K-311 Kit includes 20MHz 80386 w/IMb RAM, 16-bit Adaptec 1:1 con- troller, 63Mb 28Ms Mitsubishi disk drive, choice of 1.2 or 1.4Mb diskette drive, Key Tronic 101 Plus keyboard, 200 W PS, new drive cables. Matches or exceeds the performance of a new system but at far less cost. Top quality, easy installa- tion, 1 year warranty. S1.795 5G Corporation 4131 Spicewood Springs Road A 4, Austin TX 78759 800-333-4131 512-345-9B43 Fax 512-345-9575 Focus on Performance Fast, 6,000 lines per minute. C6805 Code Development System, first C ompiler targeted to 6805 family. Built-in macro cross assembler, optimizing C compiler, integrated editor and development shell. MS-DOS with S1 or HEX output. Free next business day shipping in N. America. Call now! (519) 888-6911 Byte Craft Limited 421 King St. N., Waterloo, Ontario N2J 4E4 CAN THE #1 CHOICE In disk & tape conversion for many leading corporations, government agencies, law firms, and companies in every industry— wortd-wide. Free test • Satisfaction guaranteed Graphics Unlimited Inc. 3000 Second St. North, Minneapolis, MN 5541 1 (612) 588-7571 or (612) 520-2345 FAX: (612) 588-8783 Inquiry 607. Inquiry 613. Inquiry 619. CROSS ASSEMBLERS CROSS DISASSEMBLERS CROSS ASSEMBLERS Universal Linker, Librarian Targets for 36 Microprocessors Hosts: PC/MS-DOS, micro VAX, VAX 8000 ENERTEC, INC. BOX 1312, 811 W. Fifth St. Lansdale, PA 19446 Tel: 215-362-0966 Fax: 215-362-2404 Inquiry 608. PROFESSIONAL PC SOFTWARE • CROSS-DISASSEMBLERS Analytic. Automatic Label Generation • CROSS-ASSEMBLERS Relocatable. Macro, Universal Linker + Librarian • C CROSS COMPILERS • SOURCE TRANSLATION UTILITIES Support for Intel, Motorola, Zilog, Tl, RCA Order Today: (408) 773-8465 L0GIS0FT P0 Box61929, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 FAX: (408) 773-8466 Inquiry 614. QUALITY CONVERSIONS to or from virtually ANY TAPE OR DISK FORMAT! Horan Data Services converts over 2000 formats incl. 9-track tape, 3480 Cartridge and 6", 5Vi* or 3'£" disk- ettes. All densities & most operating systems supported. Formats include EBCDIC, ASCII, databases, spread- sheets, and dedicated or PC word processors. Call 1 -800-677-8885 Hours 8:00AM to 5:30PM Eastern Time 817 Main Street, Third Floor, Cincinnati OH 45202 Inquiry 620. DATA CONVERSION CROSS ASSEMBLERS/SIMULATORS New unique full-function simulators for the 8096 and 80C196 controllers, featuring ALL MODES of interrupts, plus the HSI, HSO, and A/D functions. We also support the 8048/49, 8080/85, 8051/52, and Z80 controllers with excellent, reasonably priced Cross Assemblers and Simulators. Lear Com Company 2440 Kipling St., Ste. 206, Lakewood, CO 80215 (303) 232-2226 FAX: (303) 232-8721 Inquiry 609. MEDIA CONVERSION/DATA TRANSLATION More than just a straight dump or ASCII transfer! Word Processing, DBMS, and Spreadsheet data on Disks or Tapes transferred directly into applications running on Mainframes, Minis, Micros, Dedicated Word Processors, Typesetters, and Electronic Publishing systems. IBM PS/2 & Macintosh supported #1 in the translation industry! CompuData Translators, Inc. 3345 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 407, Los Angeles, CA 90010 (213) 387-4477 1-800-825-8251 Inquiry 615. IBM PC FASTER iTOi HP FILE COPY EASIER TO USE Update version uses windows: Call for free demo! IBM PC HP File Copy allows IBM PCs, PS/2, compatibles to interchange files with Hewlett- Packard Series 70, 80, 200, 300, 1000, 9000s. Oswego Software Box 310 708/554-3567 Oswego, IL 60543 FAX 708/554-3573 Inquiry 621. MACINTOSH CROSS ASSEMBLERS jtASM'"— New Version 3.0! Integrated text editor, assembler, and terminal package. S or Hex output downloads to most EPROM programmers. Macros, cond'l ass'y, local & auto labels, symbol table crass-ref. $149.95 each plus S/H. MC/V/AE. Tech. bulletin avail. Most 8-bit MPUs. 30 day money back guarantee. MICRO DIALECTS, INC., Dept B P.O. Box 30014, Cincinnati, OH 45230 (513) 271-9100 DBMS/COPY CONVERTS YOUR DATA INIO INFORMATION Now your favorite stat package can access any database. DBMS/COPY can directly conveit any database or spreadsheet file (ORACLE, PARADOX. dBASE, LOrUS etc.) into any stat package file (SAS, SPSS. SYSTAT, etc.) and vice versa. The PLUS version allows sorts, selections, and recalculations. $195. 30-day guarantee. VISA/MC/AMEX/PO/COD. Call for free limited version. CONCEPTUAL SOFTWARE INC. P.O. Box 56627, Houston, TX 77256 (713) 667-4222 FAX: (713) 667-3FAX 1-BOO-STATWOW Inquiry 610. Inquiry 616. CONVERSION SERVICES Convert any 9-track magnetic tape to or from over 2000 formats including 3V2" 5Va\ 8" disk formats & word processors. Disk-to-disk conversions also available. Call for more info. Introducing OCR Scan- ning Services. Pivar Computing Services, Inc. 165 Arlington Hgts. Rd., Dept. #B Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 (800) Convert DATABASE CROSS ASSEMBLERS Relocatable Macros PC Compatible GUARANTEED, SUPPORTED DEBUG SIMULATORS • DISASSEMBLERS EPROM PROGRAMMERS MICRO COMPUTER TOOLS CO. Phone Toll Free (800) 443-0779 In CA (415) 825-4200 912 Hastings Dr., Concord, CA 94518 Inquiry 611. 474 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 WE'LL DO IT BETTER... FOR LESS! Conversion, Duplication, Any Format FREE TEST • SATISFACTION GUARANTEED Plus, the Personal Touch: Ask Questions and well explain it to you in simple English!!! DATACOPY SERVICE PO Box 820214. Dallas, TX 75382 1-800-969-DATA 214-272-7751 Inquiry 617. INFO-TRAK INFO-TRAK is a new menu-driven database/cataloguer pro- gram for the professional and the beginner. Ideal for business, home inventory, collections (books, stamps, coins, artworks, etc.), investments etc. Features include SEARCH, add/delete lines, edit data, create custom formats* PRINT and more. (IBM XT, AT and compatibles, DOS 2.0 & up) Only S59, S3 shipping/handling (check or money order only) JA-DAL TECHNOLOGIES P.O. Box 611, Yaphank, NY 11980 (NY res. add 7.5% tax) Inquiry 622. The Buyer's Mart- DATABASE MGMT SYSTEMS DOCUMENT CONVERSIONS FLOW CHARTS SAVE TIME & MONEY! OCELOT2— THE SQL! is a stand-alone database engine with a complete DB2 compatible SQL interface for developers who use BASIC, C, PASCAL, or COBOL. • packs the full power of SQL into a 640KB PC; • requires only 320KB RAM for program development; • outperforms the rest! For IBM and clones: $195 & up. Free info. OCELOT COMPUTER SERVICES INC. #1502, 10025 ■ 106 Street, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T5J 1G7 (403) 421-4187 Inquiry 623. Doc-to-Doc Quickly and cleanly convert your documents to and from WordPerfe t, WordStar, MultiMate, ASCII, Tandy, Desk- Mate Text, Lotus 1-2-3, Enable, Wang and DisplayWrite. Retain special attributes and formatting. Doc-to-Doc gives you professional quality conversions at a con- sumer price— S99. The MCS Group 2465 W. Chicago St., Rapid City. SD 57702 (605) 341-2166 WINDOWS FLOWCHARTER RFFlow is a profes ional drawingtool for flowcharts & org charts (requires Microsoft 31 Windows). 75 shapes automatically adjust in size. Move, copy, delete groups of objects. 7 levels of zoom. Move flowcharts to other applications via the Clipboard. Supports Windows printers, plotters, and cartridge or soft fonts. Call for free trial disk. RFF ELECTRONICS 1053 Banyan Court, Loveland, CO 80538 Phone: (303) 663-5767 FAX: (303) 669-4889 Inquiry 629. Inquiry 635. DISK DRIVES EDUCATION FORECASTING dBASE file access from C Code Base 4 is a library of C routines which gives complete dBASE or Clipper func- tionality and tile compatibility. Use DOS, Unix, OS/2 or MS Windows. $295 with Source! FREE DEMO Sequiter Software Inc. Call (403) 448-0313 Fax (403) 448-0315 See our ad on page 439. BSc. & MS. In COMPUTER SCIENCE The American Institute for Computer Sciences offers an in- depth correspondence program to earn your Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Computer Science at home. BSC subjects covered are: MS/DOS, BASIC, PASCAL, C, Data File Processing, Data Structures & Operating systems. MS program includes subjects in Soft- ware Engineering and Artificial Intelligence. AMERICAN INST, for COMPUTER SCIENCES 2101 Magnolia Ave., Ste. 200, Birmingham, AL 35205 205-933-0339 Inquiry 624. Inquiry 630. Solutions to Forecasting Problems ForeProfit®, a comprehensive, easy-to-use package of analytic, forecasting and market analysis techniques. Mov- ing averages, exponential smoothing, multiple regression, linear programming with tables and graphics output. $250. The SoothSayer* an artificial-intelligence-based, high-speed analyzer to painlessly project piles of numbers. $69. Both run on MS-DOS computers, 512K or larger, floppy or hard- drive. VISA or MC accepted. Loon Valley Software 420 Summit Ave., Suite 38. St. Paul, MN 55102-2699 (BOO) 828-0136 Inquiry 636. DEMOS/TUTORIALS ENTERTAINMENT FRAME GRABBER INSTANT REPLAY III Build Demos, Tutorials, Prototypes, Presentations, Music, Timed Keyboard Macros, and Menu Systems. Includes Screen Maker, Keystroke/Time Editor, Program Memorizer; and Animator. Reed Great Reviews! Simply the BEST. Not copy protected. No royalties. 60-day satisfaction money- back guar. IBM and Compatb. $199.00 U.S.Chk/Cr. Crd. Demo Diskette $5.00. NOSTRADAMUS, INC. P.O. Box 9252 Salt Lake City, Utah 84109 (801) 272-0671 ADULT MODEM BBS FUN! • West Coast's Hottest Adult BBS"! • 1000's of Shareware Programs! • CB-Style Group and Private Chat! • Exotic Adult Sections! • Giant Message Bases! • Matchmaker Databasel • Interactive Multiplayer Games! • Access Numbers in 850 U.S. Cities! • For "Over 18" Adults Only! Information and Signup By Modem (800) HOTTFUN [3/12/24 Baud, 8/N/1] ACCESS LA! Voice Information (818) 357-9570 FRAME GRABBERS TYPE LIST PRICE YOUR PRICE PUBLISHERS' VGA $799.00 $655.00 PUBLISHERS' GS 595.00 555T60 PUBLISHERS' COLOR 895.00 830.00 VGA TO VIDEO ADAPTERS VGA-TV (256K) $499.00 $443.00 VGA-TV (512K) 599.00 515.00 VGA-TV GE/O 895.00 830.00 MANUFACTURERS 3 YEAR WARRANTY THE KRUEGER COMPANY (800) 245-2235 (602) 820-5330 Call for large quantity pricing. Inquiry 625. Inquiry 631. Inquiry 637. DISASSEMBLERS FREE COMPUTER MAGAZINE 80x86 .EXE/.COM to .ASM • Accurately reconstruct, study & modify [64K+J programs with a minimum o\ input or editing ol output. • Assembly language oulput is MASM 5,x-compatible. • Exhaustive flow-trace distinguishes code from data. • Best formats for each. Commented BIOS calls/DOS func- tions. SEGMENT/PROC/other vilal pseudo-ops. PC-DISnDATa (5V4" disk & manual) $165 PRO/AM SOFTWARE 220 Cardigan Road, Centerville, OH 45459 (513) 435-4480 (9 A.M. -5 R.M. EST M-F) .3 8 6 S P Y S 386 SPYS, the energy, excijemenj and superior graphics you've been looking for in an animated arcade game. Writ- ten specifically for PC's with a 386/366SX processor, Hi Res EGA graphics, 1 meg of memory and a hard disk. You will find incredible detail and action throughout. Try a demo disk now for $6.95 or the full game for $49.95. Include $3 S&H. GENKI SOFTWARE CORPORATION "Imagination powered by the .386" (800) 673-9038 Mastercard or Visa (301) 997-6333 RO. Box 2563, Columbia, MD 21045 FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS To More Than 200 Magazines Don't spend a fortune on computer, communications or business magazines. The SeaBird Directory lists over 200 titles you can get free and runs on any IBM PC. For more info, and FREE DEMO DISK, cal! 1-800-782-0194 or fax to: 617-863-8684 Inquiry 626. Inquiry 632. Inquiry 638. GRAPHICS SOFT-X-PLORE See "BYTE's May '88 issue pg. 78." Disassemble 500 kb (*) program at 10,000/min. (*) in any file. ROM/RAM memory up to 80386 instruction set (*). SOFT-X-plore: * is for MS/DOS 2.0+ systems * uses 20 algorithms and seven passes (*) * only $99.95 plus S&H w/30-day guarantee. To order call (800) 336-1961 or info (203) 953-0236 Or write: R JSWANTEK INC. 178 Brookside Re"., Newington, CT 06111 • best on the markel MC/VISA accepted Inquiry 627. NEMESIS™ Go Master® Go, a game of strategic elegance, has been a way of life in the Orient for over four thousand years. Many consider Go to be the secret of the Japanese businessman's success. "WMe chess is a game of war, Go is a game of markel share" [President of Nikko Motels]. "If you are Interested in Go, buy this program." Game of the Month J. Pournelle BYTE 7/87 ToyogOj Inc. The Leader in Computer Go. PO Box F, Dept. Y, Kaneohe, HI 96744 (808) 254-1166 or 1-800-TOVOGO-9 YOU CAN BE IN PICTURES • Send us a VHS tape with the counter location of the picture(s) you want. • We'll convert the pictures to f iies & return them to you on a 5V4" floppy disk(s) in the format you request, with a file viewing utility for an IBM VGA or compatible video card with an analog monitor. • Price: $9.99 + $.99 per Picture + $7.50 S&H IEV, 303Q S. Main. Dept. 16, Salt Lake City, UT 84115 Phone 801-466-9841 Ext 16 FAX: 801-466-5921 nquiry 633. Inquiry 639. PS/2 DRIVES FOR PCs ATs CompatiKit/PC $279 CompatiKit/AT $219 Built-in floppy controllers— no problem. Supports multiple drives and formats. Lets your computer use IBM PS/2 1.4M diskettes plus more! Call for further information or to place an order. VISA/MC/COD/CHECK. Micro Solutions Computer Products 132 W. Lincoln Hwy.. DeKalb, IL 60115 815/756-3411 See our ad on page 440. Inquiry 628. -& Zodiacal Advisor -fc Daily advice based on planetary positions for your birthdate and current date. Includes accurate ephemeris ($35). Also available: Stock Market Simulation ($30), Klondike Solitaire ($20); and more. (Tax & Shipping Inc.) Call or write for brochure. 1-800-342-0987 505-672-1028 Warnock Enterprises 30 Glenview Court, Los Alamos, New Mexico 67544 Inquiry 634. EGAD Screen Print Prints contents of VGA, EGA, CGA displays on variety of dot-matrix and laser printers. Prints in gray tones or color. Crop box lets you print any region of the screen. Enlarge graphics 1 to 4 times (reduction too). Setup program for picking printer colors, etc. $35.00 Postpaid. Call or write for free catalog. LINDLEY SYSTEMS 4257 Berwick Place, Woodbridge, VA 22192-5119 (703) 590-6890 Inquiry 640. SEPTEMBER 1990 •BYTE 475 The Buyer's Mart- GRAPHICS HARDWARE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT IMAGE CAPTURE BOARD Capture images from any VCR or Camcorder. Resolution up to 512 x 480 pixels; 65,536 colors or 256 shades of grey. Im- ages saved in GIF, PCX, TIFF formats and more. For XT/AT/ PS2. Includes user friendly software and user's guide. One year warranty. VGA required. Can capture from live video (eliminates need f or expensivedigital video). Ideal for Desktop publishing, CAD, Animation, and Pictorial Databases. $749 V1SA/MC/AMEX/C.O.D. PEGA Micrographics P.O. Box 713, Westerville, OH 43081, (614) 885-1007 1-800-477-PEGA LATEST AWARD BIOS User definable hard drives, 101/102 keyboard and 3.5" 1.44Mb floppy support are now available in Award BIOS Ver. 3.1 for the IBM AT, 286 and 386 compatibles. KOMPUTERWERK, INC. 851 Parkview Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15215 Orders: 800-423-3400 Tech: (412) 782-0384 Inquiry 641. Inquiry 647. STOCK- MASTER 4.0 Commercial grade inventory management software at micro prices. • Supports all 12 • Stock Status Reporting transaction types • Activity History Analysis • Trend Analysis • Bill of Materials • Quality Control • Purchase Order Writing • Multiple Locations • Order Entry • Purchase Order Tracking • Material Requirements • Open Order Reporting • On Line Inquiry • Serial/Lot # Tracking Applied Micro Business Systems, Inc. 177-F Riverside Ave.. Newport Beach, CA 92663 714-759-0582 Inquiry 653. HARD DRIVE REPAIR HARD DRIVE REPAIR WE WILL REPAIR YOUR HARD DRIVE AT A FRACTION OF THE COST OF REPLACING IT. FAST TURNAROUND!!! CALL FOR DETAILS. H & W micro, inc. 528-C FOREST PARKWAY FOREST PARK, GA 30050 (404) 366-1600 Inquiry 642. APPLE® il & MACINTOSH® • Systems • Parts • Exchange Repairs HyperCard (Scaled In box) $19 cuttor s CATALOG USA & Canada: 800-274-5343 International: 617-891-6651 Fa*: 617-891 3556 Save up to 50% on Mac CPU. Pre-Owned Electronics, Inc. 30 Clematis Avenue • Waltham, MA 02154 Inquiry 648. dFELLER Inventory Business inventory programs written in modifiable dBASE source code. dFELLER Inventory S150.00 Requires dBASE II or III, PC-DOS/CPM dFELLER Plus $200.00 with History and Purchase Orders Requires dBASE III or dBASE III Plus (For Stockrooms) Feller Associates 550 CR PPA, Route 3, Ishpeming, Ml 49849 (906) 486-6024 Inquiry 654. HARDWARE/COMPUTERS LANS DISK DRIVE REPAIR DATA RECOVERY SALES of new, remanufactured and removable disk drives FULL TECHNICAL SUPPORT ROTATING MEMORY SERVICE 1506 Dell Avenue, Campbell, CA 95008 (408) 370-3113 We buy used drives good or bad EMBEDDED SYSTEMS COMPUTERS SC/FOX"PCS (Parallel Coprocessor System) and PCS32 are PC/XT/AT plug-in boards, 16 and 32 bit. 15 MIPS average, 50 MIPS burst. PCS uses the Harris RTX 2000""16-bit real-time CPU with 1-cycle multiplier, 14 prioritized interrupts. 3 timer/counters. 8-channel I/O bus. PCS32 uses the new SC32 32-bit Forth CPU. SC/FOX SBC (Single Board Computer) is an 18 MIPS average, 60 MIPS burst, Eurocard-slze FTX 2000 stand-alone computer. SC/FOX SCSI I/O Plug-on board for PCS or SBC with SCSI, flop- py, 56K-baud serial, 16-bit parallel ports, and software drivers. Forth s/w Included. C also available. Ideal for embedded real-time control, data acquisition, robotics, and signal processing. SILICON COMPOSERS INC. (415) 322-8763 208 California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Inquiry 643. Inquiry 649. The $25 Network Try the 1st truly low-cost LAN • Connect 2 or 3 PCs, XTs, ATs • Uses serial ports and 5-wire cable • Runs at 115K baud • Runs in background, totally transparent • Share any device, any file, any time • Needs only 14K of RAM Skeptical? We make believers! Information Modes RO. Drawer F, Denton, TX 76202 817-387-3339 Orders 800-628-7992 Inquiry 655. HARDWARE HARDWARE/CONTROLLERS LAPTOP COMPUTERS CHIP CHECKER • 74/54 TTL + CMOS • 8000 Nat. + Signetics • 14/4000 CMOS • 9000 TTL • 14-24 Pin Chips • .3" + .6" IC widths Tests/Identifies over 650 digital chips with ANY type of output in seconds. Also tests popular RAM chips. IBM- compatible version $259. C128 + C64 version $159. DUNE SYSTEMS 2603 Willa Dr., St. Joseph, Ml 49085 (616) 983-2352 8051 SUPERMARKET Complete family of 12 single board computers fully accom- modates any 8051 variant. Power management, plenty of I/O, full memory map. Optional floating point, PC-compatible RS 232. PC versions reside on PC bus. Peewee's measure 3x5". 8051-optimized DIN52 bus allows stacking or backplane mounting, interprocessor communication. Boards run 8052AH BASIC Starting at $99. Quick custom modifications. MODULAR MICRO CONTROLS 109 S. Water St.. Northfiefd, MN 55057 call or fax (507) 645-8315 Laptop Savings Laptops: Toshiba • Zenith • NEC • Sharp • Epson • Mitsubishi • Compaq Also Laptop Accessories: Modems, Fax Modems, External Drives, Portable Printers, Memory, Key Pads, Hard Drives, Batteries, and Auto Adapters. Computer Options Unlimited 12 Maiden Lane, Bound Brook, NJ 08805 Phone: 201-469-7678 {Fax: 201-469-7544) Hours: 9am/10pm 7 days Worldwide sales Inquiry 644. Inquiry 650. Inquiry 656. HARDWARE/COPROCESSORS INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER Has optimum features for monitor + control applications: 16 Chan A/D • 4 RS232/422 Ports • 48 Prog I/O Lines • 8 Opto INs • 8 HiDrive OUTs • 4 Timers • Watchdog • 104K Memory • 5.25 x 8.0 Options: Resident FORTH OS with Target Compiler, Editor, Assembler, + Auto Load/Start; 5 MHz 8085 • 4 Chan D/A • Battery Backed Clock/RAM • Networking • PC Support. E-PAC 1000+ S249.00 E-PAC 2000+ $449.00 EM AC INC. P.O. Box 2042, Carbondale IL 62902 (618) 529-4525 Inquiry 645. DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR DSP products for the IBM PC/XT/AT. Our TMS320C25 based Model 250, with extensive software, features 250 Khz multi-channel A/D and D/A, up to 192 Kwords RAM, very high throughput to PC RAM and disk, and is priced competitively with traditional Analog IO boards. Call us about your applications. DALANCO SPRY 89 Westland Ave., Rochester, NY 14618 (716) 473-3610 Inquiry 651. LAPTOP MEMORY Rock-bottom prices for all memory-upgrade kits for Toshiba, Compaq, Sharp, and Texas Instruments!! TOTE-A-LAP 550 Pilgrim Drive, Suite F, Foster City, CA 94404 (415) 578-1901 Inquiry 657. FREE INTERFACE CATALOG Interfaces for IBM compatibles. Digital I/O (8255) and Analog input 8 bit resolution (0-255). Control relays, motors, lights, measure temperature, voltage. Sample interconnect cir- cuits, BASIC programs, and I/O map are in- cluded. John Bell Engineering, Inc. 400 Oxford Way, Belmont, CA 94002 (415) 592-8411 9am to 4pm Pacific Time Inquiry 646. 476 BYTE DSP32C PC/AT COPROCESSOR BOARD 25 MFLOP 32 bit Floating point DSP: • High speed NUMERICS and GRAPHICS • 640K DUAL PORTED on board memory • 32 bit parallel and serial IO headers • 15 ms 1024 point FFTfrom high level C • Assembler, monitor, and math libraries Base board and ALL software $950, 640K $300 SYMMETRIC RESEARCH 15 Central Way #9, Kirkland, WA 98033 (206) 828-6560 Inquiry 652. Portable Computers and Accessories • Many makes, sizes, and styles • Unique add-ons for a[l brands • Fast delivery • Dealers and VARs welcome Call for a free catalog 800-877-6044 or FAX 415-221-6044 Transpacific San Francisco, CA Inquiry 658. SEPTEMBER The Buyer's Mart- LAPTOP COMPUTERS MEMORY BOARDS PC ANALYZER New Laptop Products for: Palmtops: Atari Portfolio, Poquet Notebooks: Compaq LTE, NEC-UL, Tandy 100/102, Tandy 1100, TI-M12, Toshiba SE/XE, Zenith-MS PC-Laptops: All major brands and models Accessories: Auto Adapters, Batteries, Carry Cases, Keypads Peripherals: Portable Printers, Hard Disks, 3S0K/1.2M Drives, Keyboard Covers, Modems, Barcode Wands, Laptop Software, etc. For a free newsletter & catalogue, please call or w(jte: ULTRASOFT INNOVATIONS INC. 1 Transborder Drive, PO Box 247, Champlain, NY 12919 Tel: (514) 487-9293 Fax:{514)487-9295 9-6 EST Canadian Orders & Dealer Inquiries are Welcome S.S.T. MEMORY UPGRADES IBM PS/2 2MB module— Model 50, 70 2-8MB expan. bds:-Model 55, 70 COMPAQ $243 $564 4MB module— DESKPRO 386/20E, 25, S 4MB expan. brd^DESKPRO 386/20E, 25. S 8MB single slot module— SYSTEMPRO H P LASER JET $525 $580 $2400 2MB upgrades $257 1-800-688-8993 5 yr. warranty Inquiry 659. Inquiry 665. Repair PC's in Less Time At Less Cost with the LOGIMER In-circuit PC Analyzer for PC/XT/AT and Compatibles TOTAL POWER INTERNATIONAL, INC. rnoj 418 Bridge Street, Lowell, MA 01850 (508) 453-7272 FAX: (508) 453-7395 Inquiry 671. LAPTOP PERIPHERALS MULTILINGUAL APPLICATIONS PROGRAMMERS' TOOLS LAPTOP BACKLIGHTS Factory Installed • 90-Day Warranty Toshiba, Amstrad, Sanyo, DG, Kaypro, IBM, HP, etc. $295 The Portable Peripherals People Axonix Corporation (801) 466-9797 DTP/WP/Forms and Sign Making Apple MAC & IBM PC. Available languages: Russian, E. Euro- pean, Turkish, Greek & Indian. It's a DA on MAC, works with virtually any application program. It's aTSR on PC, for GEM based graphical WP, PerFORM & Ventura in WYSIWYG. Keybd remapping utility. Postscript, dot matrix, deskjet & laserjet fonts. Vinyl cutting sys. for sign making for any of the languages. Prices start at $250, demo $25. MC/Visa Solustan, Inc. 378 Hillside Ave., Needham MA 02194 Ph: 617-449-7666 Fax: 617-449-7759 HYPERINTERFACE™ II Menu Creator™ — An interactive WYSIWYG editor to generate a menu-driven user interface for your software. Screen Creator™ — An interactive WYSIWYG editor for quick and easy screen design and a screen database manager for your software. Advanced Library — Ex- tended capability for data entry for your programs. FOR- TRAN, Pascal, C, BASIC supported. Avanpro Corp. P.O. Box 969, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 (213) 454-3866 Inquiry 660. Inquiry 6B6. Inquiry 672. NETWORK/WORKGROUP TOSHIBA LAPTOP ENHANCEMENTS FAX/MODEMS: 9600/2400 bps, software, acoustic port MODEMS, INTERNAL: 2400 bps, acoustic or serial port MODEM, DEDICATED: 2400 bps (T1200, T1600, T3200SX) SERIAL 10 CARDS: RS232, RS422, SCSI, HPIL, Barcode BATTERY PACKS: 12V external battery + vehicle adapter Contact us for more information: PRODUCT R&D Corporation (Calif). 805/546-9713, Fax: 805/546-9716 CoordiNet An unbelievably easy-to-use workgroup package for Novell local area networks. Features include: public and private calendais. electronic mall, telephone messages, project management, and document management. CoordiNet Plus adds a Btrieve database manager, report generator, and link to the Sharp Wizard. Can be used either as a 6K TSR or as a standalone program. Installs in 10 minutes and reads Netware bindery to create user lists, Simple mouse (or keyboard) driven "point-and-click" user interface with full context- sensitive help. Manual included but not needed. Only $249 per seiverl CoordiNet Plus only $495 per server. Demo disk $25. Software Artistry, Inc. 3500 DePauw Blvd., Suite 1100, Indianapolis, IN 46268 Phone: (317) 876-3042 Fax: (317) 876-3258 Inquiry 661. Inquiry 667. TLIB™ 5.0 Version Control "TLIB™ is a great system" — PC Tech Journal 3/88. Full-featured configuration mgmt for software profes- sionals. All versions of your code instantly available. Very compact, only changes are stored. Check-in/out locks, revision merge, branching, more. Mainframe deltas for Pansophlc, ADR, IBM, Unisys. DOS $139 (OS/2 $195). 5-station LAN $419 (OS/2 $595) BURTON SYSTEMS SOFTWARE P.O. Box 4156, Cary, NC 27519 (919) 233-8128 Inquiry 673. MAILING LIST PROGRAMS ELIMINATE DUPLICATES Duplicates on your mailing list cost more than embar- rassment. You're paying for all that extra postage and for the materials mailed. Invest $149.00 in Dupe Eliminator and say goodbye to your dupes. Dupe Eliminator is easy to use— and it works with your dBase, ASCII, ArcList and other compatible files. 1-800-368-5806 Group 1 Software, Inc. 6404 Ivy Lane, Dept. BIT-80, Greenbelt, MD 20770-1400 Inquiry 662. NETWORKS PARTY LINE YOUR PC'S If you have two to four PC's that need to be interconnected to: • SHARE PRINTERS • TRANSFER FILES • SEND MESSAGES and don't need the hassle or expense of a network, call us. We have a simple and inexpensive solution to your problem. Complete four-user kit retails for $229.95 PC-lnterLink from SOFTWORX 801 E. Campbell Road #355, Richardson, TX 75081 Tel: 1-800-327-5013 Fax: 1-214-699-0330 ITS/AfPLY WORKS! The EE-100 EPROM Emulator" Powerful, Versatile, and Compact Prog. Tool Closed loop development capability from source code generation through in-circuit debugging. STANDARD EQUIPMENT 1-EE-100 Command Unit • 2-24 pin 2716-32 Detachable Header Cable • 2-28 pin 2764-256 Detachable Header Cable • 1-28 pin 27512 Detachable Header Gable • 1 -Desk-Top Power Supply 110V AC to 5V DC • 1-User's Guide Manual For more information call: CompuLynk 1-800-969-9889 Inquiry 668. Inquiry 674. NEURAL NETWORKS YOURS FREE! "How to Manage Your Mailing List" ArcList* & AccuMair are two powerful programs for your IBM or compatible PC; • Duplicate Recognition • Postal Discount Presorts • Label Design & Printing • Carrier Route and Zip+4 Insertion • Address Correction • dBase® Compatible Call 800-368-5806 for a FREE GUIDE Group 1 Software, Inc. 6404 Ivy Lane, Dept. BIT-80, Greenbelt, MD 20770-1400 BrainMaker: "The most fascinating computer soft- ware I've ever seen . . . learn about this stuff yjohn Dvorak, PC Mag. Predicts stocks, bonds, sales, inventories. Comprehensive documentation. Menus. Only $195! Certified by Intel and Micro Devices Free Brochure: 916/477-7481 California Scientific Software Bsupport for Btrieve® The "Norton Utilities" for Btrieve users. Bedit: DISPLAY, UPDATE, COPY, and DELETE. EXPORT SDF to dBASE & LOTUS. RECOVER damaged files. Edit/Insert using Data Dictionary. Bbug: TSR Btrieve debugger Displays info in pop-up window. Brun: BUTIL replacement with Run-Time and C source. Bedit/Bbug: $120. Brun: $150. VISA/MC/COD/PO 800/359-2721 FAX: 517/887-2366 Information Architects, Inc. P.O. Box 4184. East Lansing. Ml 48826-4184 Inquiry 663 Inquiry 669. Inquiry 675. OPTICAL DISK ONLY A NICKEL A NAME Now small business owners can reach their direct mail prospects easily and economically— with the PC \ellow Page listings: • On- line 900 database with millions ot U.S. companies available for down loading. • Updated monthly with no minimum order. • Costs only S1/minute— a nickel a name (charged to your phone bill). For a limited time only, get our stait-up kit, the PC Prospector, designed to make your direct mail marketing the most results-oriented possible. It's yours tor just the S6 phone charge tor ordering the software. Order the PC "Yellow Pages or the PC Prospector today by simply calling with either your modem or touch tone phone. 1-900-860-9210 For information call 404-455-8763 Inquiry 664. ERASABLE OPTICAL DISK DRIVE SONY 5.25" 600 MB per disk, SONY 4mm 1.3GB per tape. Mac II, SE. SUN workstation, and other SCSI DEC Q-Bus, UNIBUS, and SCSI. 10 to 25 years war- ranty on Optical media. Highest quality in the industry. Will supply complete Kit to build or Finished product. International and Domestic order or Inqui y within. BENO SYSTEMS INC 718-921-1200 FAX: 718-748-1676 Inquiry 670. For QuIckBasic programmers SMART 7716 ™'" plus SMARTOOLS cuts your development time by more than 60% by giving you an integrated user interface that easily configures to your applications. Dialogue boxes, pop-up & pull-down menus, as well as "fill the form" type entries. For QB 4.0 or later. Libraries, tools & manual are $99 + S&M. KAUTEK P.O. Box 2166. Martinez, CA 94553 (415) 370-1920 Inquiry 676. SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 477 The Buyer's Mart- PROGRAMMERS' TOOLS PROGRAMMERS' TOOLS PUBLIC DOMAIN Functional Sizzle Give your application a full-featured pop-up calculator with memory, a 100-line scroll- able tape and more. Takes minutes and costs only $395 with no royalties. Demo disk $3.00. Specify language. Liaison Systems, Inc. P.O. Box 82720, Kenmore, WA 98028 (206)486-4996 — 30-day money back guarantee. Visa/MC Inquiry 677. C and C+ + DOCUMENTATION TOOLS • C-CALL ($59) Graphic-trees of caller/called hierarchy. • C-CMT ($59) Create, insert, update comment-blocks for each function, listing functions and Identifiers used. • C-LIST ($39) List, action-diagram, reformat programs. • C-REF ($49) Local/global/parameter cross-reference. • SPECIAL ($149) All 4, plus integrated C-DOC program. SOFTWARE BLACKSMITHS INC. 6064 St. Ives Way, Mississauga, ONT Canada L5N-4M1 (416) 858-4466 325 MEGABYTES Virus Free Share Ware Deaters/Sysops/Educators.. Instant IBM Shareware Library for your Customers, usergroupor Students. Distributed In 25 Megabyte in- crements on HD 1.2/1.4 diskettes. $39.00 for first 25 Megabytes, then add $40.00 for each 25 Megabyte Increment. Ada $3.00 postage (or each 25 Megabyte increment Add S4JXV25 Meg increment lor 1.44 diskettes. Orders Only: 1-800-876-8496 Info/Tech: 1-405-524-5233 SHARE-NET POB 12368, Okla City, OK 73157 No Surcharge for Visa/MasterCard We gladly accept PO's from Educational, Fed/State Agencies Inquiry 683. Inquiry 689. PROTOTYPING TURBO PLUS $199.00 Programming tools for use with Turbo Pascal 5.0 & 55. Screen Painter, Code Generator, I/O Fields, Dynamic Menus, Programming Unit Libraries, OOP Support, and Sample Programs included. All routines nvrk in both text and graphics modes! 60-day money-back guarantee! Demo Disk avail. For IBM and compatibles. NOSTRADAMUS, INC. P.O. Box 9252. Salt Lake City, UT 84109 0252 (801) 272-0671 nquiry 678. PROTOTYPES FROM CAD Without the Wait BoardMaker Systems produces single/double sided, "ready- to-stuff" circuit boards up to 22" x 22" in-house. No chemicals or photographic techniques. Line/channel width down to 4/8 mils. Accepts standard Gerber, HPGL, Quest, Emma formats. Pays for itself after 12 to 20 boards. Instant Board Circuits Corp. 20A Pamaron Way, Novato, CA 94949 Tel: (415) 883-1717 Fax: (415) 883-2626 Inquiry 684. SOFTSHOPPE, INC. Selected Programs, Latest Versions, As Low as $1.50, Same Day Shipping, and No Minimum Order. For FREE CATALOG for IBM PD/Shareware, CALL 800-829-BEST (2378) or FAX 313-761-7639. SOFTSHOPPE, INC. P.O. BOX 3678, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-3678 Inquiry 690. PUBLIC DOMAIN FREE BUYER'S GUIDE Programmer's Connection is an independent dealer representing more than 440 manufacturers with over 1200 software products for IBM and Macintosh personal computers. We have serviced the professional program- mer since 1984 by offering sound advice and low prices, Call or write today to receive your FREE comprehen- sive Buyer's Guide. Programmer's Connection US 800-336-1166 7249 Whipple Ave. NW Canada 800-225-1166 North Canton, OH 44720 International 216-494-3781 SHAREWARE FOR IBM m AND COMPATIBLES FREE 112 PAGE CATALOG OVER 3000 PROGRAMS CALL 1-800-245-BYTE (2983) BEST BITS & BYTES P.O. Box 8225-B, Van Nuys, CA 91409 FOREIGN COUNTRIES SEND $4.00 FOR SHIPPING SDK85(8bit) and SDK86 debit) NOW AVAILABLE ONLY FROM URDA, INC. which has an exclusive, world-wide, manufacturing and marketing license from Intel, Inc. The URDA SDK85 and SDK86 educational trainers and microprocessor development systems are now furnished fully assembled and boxed with manuals. Call URDA, Inc. for new low prices and delivery schedules. Other 8, 16 and 32 bit systems are available. Phone URDA, Inc. 1-800-338-0517 or 412-683-8732 Inquiry 679. Inquiry 685. Inquiry 691. SECURITY SPEED FORTRAN DEVELOPMENT AND CUT MAINTENANCE COSTS FORWARN-Finds common programming errors such as mismatched parameter lists and common blocks, and uninitialized variables. Prints detailed cross-references and call-tree diagrams. S329 FORTRAN DEVELOPMENT TDOLS-incfudes Pretty (indents, lenumbers. changes GOTOs to IF-THEN-ELSES. etc.) and 6 more tools. $129. For IBM PC. Also for UNIX-ask for details. Qulbus Enterprises, Inc. 4490 Burton Way #1223, Colorado Springs, CO 80918 (719) 531-6084 FREE CATALOG 1500+ disks Public Domain - Shareware Software for IBM compatibles $1.44 per disk Canadian Software Distributors Box 199, Munster, Ontario, K0A 3P0 CANADA Inquiry 680. Inquiry 686. FIGHT PIRACY! Since 1986, companies worldwide have been choosing Az-Tech security products. If you demand the strongest protection available, why not choose one of these "proven leaders": • EVERLOCK Copy Protection • EVERTRAK Software Security • EVERKEY Hardware "Key" Software Security For IBM and Compatibles. 30 day money back guarantee. Free info and demo disk available. Az-Tech Software, Inc. 305 East Franklin, Richmond, MO 64085 (800) 227-0644 ^ffgffSS nquiry 692. • MULTITASK Real Time • SERIAL COMMUNICATION by Interrupt MTASK® Professional was designed for the specific re- quirements of Scientific Laboratories and Robotics Departments. Gratis: demonstration diskette. Available for the present, for Turbo Pascal, Turbo C, Quick Pascal, Turbo Basic. Evaluation software for only $95. Price $495 + Shipping $20. Taxes not included. RAMSI® International 53 rue Bernard Iske, F-92350 Plessis Robinson, FRANCE International FAX: 33 (1) 46.32.48.37 Inquiry 681. FREE CATALOG IBM SHAREWARE/PUBLIC DOMAIN ^^ L0WASS1.25/DISK 1-800-321-4270 CRANSTON SOFTWARE PO Box 2679, Minneapolis, MN 55402-0679 Inquiry 687. THE ULTIMATE COPY PROTECTION 1 Completely Menu Driven 1 Defeats all Hardware/Software Copiers 1 No Source Code Changes 1 Multiple Layering 1 No Damaged Media 1 Full Hard Disk Support Quite Simply The Beat Ways To Protect Your Valuable Software Investment • Unlimited Metering • FREE Demo Disk STOPVIEW STOPCOPY PLUS" BBI COMPUTER SYSTEMS® (301) 871-1094 14105 Heritage La.. Silver Spring, MD 20906 FAX: (301) 460-7545 Inquiry 693. Universal Report Generator Generate reports from AN Y file or database! The Universal Report Generator is a programming library that allows you to generate a report from any file or database from within your C or Pascal pro- grams. Features include output to screen, printer, or text files; totals and subtotals; calculated fields; free-form report layout; automatic sorts and query selection; and much more. Also Includes a "point- and-shoot" mouse-driven report painter that can be used to easily define reports. Microsoft C. Turbo C, and Turbo Pascal $395. UNIX version S499. Source code available. Demo disk S2S. Software Artistry, Inc. 3500 DePauw Blvd., Suite 1100, Indianapolis, IN 46268 Phone: (317) 876-3042 Fax: (317) 876-3258 nquiry 682. 478 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 FREE SOFTWARE FOR IBM® PC'S TRY US! Get 15 disks full of our best selling software— FREE! Great graphics, programmers utilities, desktop publishing, finance, games, education, plus our 1600 disk catalog. Pay only $5.00 for shipping/handling — VISA/MC/AMEX INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE LIBRARY 511-104 Encinitas Blvd. • Encinitas CA 92024 CALL TODAY (619) 942-9998 Inquiry 688. COP's Copylock II • Protects on standard diskettes • Cannot be copied by any device Incl. Option Board • Fully hard disk installable • Normal back-up of protected programs • LAN-support • Creates safe demo version d your software Standard Version $975, Automatic Version $1950 DANCOTEC Computer Inquiry 694. The Buyer's Mart- SECURITY SOFTWARE/ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING BUGS! BUGS! BUGS! WE EXTERMINATE! Every program has bugs. How do you find them? DIMEN- SIONAL REASONER'» is a new tool for finding and eliminating bugs in FORTRAN and BASIC programs. It uses the new Al technique of Symbolic Dimensional Algebra to evaluate all ol your equations to see if they make sense. Just add comments defining variable units, we do the rest. 30-day $$ back. PC/DOS $65, VAX $250. Visa/MC. Bulk discounts available. DIMENSIONAL REASONER™ 205 Longleaf Ct., Aiken SC 29803 803-649-7887 dBASE BUSINESS TOOLS • GENERAL LEDGER •PURCH0RD/INVNT0RY • ORDER ENTRY • ACCOUNTS RECVABLE • JOB COSTING •JOB ESTIMATING • BILL OF MAILS • SALES ANALYSIS • PAYROLL • ACCOUNTS ROTABLE $99 ea. + S&H dATAMAR SYSTEMS Cred. Card-Check-COD 4876-B Santa Monica Ave San Diego, CA 92107 (619) 223-3344 Mass2-MASS & VOLUME CALCULATOR with MATERIALS DATABASE Easily calculate the volume & weight of hundreds of shapes. Never need to look up material densities again! Differential and proportional comparisons made automatically. Menu driven with on-line context sensitive help. Flexible input system accepts Decimal, Fractional, and Exponential notation. For IBM PCs and Com- patibles with 384K free. DEMPSEY'S FORGE, Software Division Rt 2 Box 407, Gladys, VA 24554 Inquiry 695. Inquiry 701. Inquiry 706. SOFTWARE/BUSINESS BIT-LOCK® SECURITY Piracy SURVIVAL 5 YEARS proves effectiveness of powerful multilayered security. Rapid decryption algorithms. Reliable/small port-transparent security device. PARALLEL or SERIAL port. Complemented by economical KEY-LOK'" and multifeatured COMPU- LOCK" including countdown, timeout, data encryption, and multiproduct protection. (Dos/Unix/Mac) MICROCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS 3167 E. Otero Circle, Littleton, CO 80122 (303) 770-1917 DATA ENTRY SOFTWARE Full featured, heads-down data entry with two-pass verification, edit language, operator stats, much morel Designed for the PS/2® , PC, XT, AT or compatibles. PC's from $395 LAN version available FREE 30 day trial Computer Keyes Tel: 206/776/6443 21929 Makah Rd., Fax: 206/776-7210 Woodway, WA 98020 USA: 800/356-0203 Inquiry 696. Control System Design & Simulation for PC's CODAS - It Time & Freq. domain & s-plane design environment ' Easy entry of transfer functions * Open or closed loop systems * Nyquist, Nichols or Bode plots * Root Loci ' Discrete time/sampled data systems * Nonlinear domain * Non-unity feedback * Also available: PCS Process Control Simulation Produced by Gotten & Verwer Partners (UK) Distributed exclusively in North America by DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS, INC. P.O. Box 35241, Tucson, AZ 85740 (602) 292-1962 1st Defense ANTI-VIRAL software Protect your investment by removing that virus before it strikes. $59.95 1st Defense Anti-Viral Systems ModaLoglc Incorporated 10474 Broadview Rd.. Broadview Hts, OH 44147 (216) 838-5238 MS-DOS 2.11+ • Ohio Residents Add $4.20 Specify either 3W or 5V«" disk LP88-LINEAR PROGRAMMING A general-purpose system for solving linear programs with up to 3,000 con- straints and 15g000 variables. Build LP88 into your own programs with com- piled Turbo Pascal units. LP88 reads/Writes Lotus worksheets. Use 1-2-3VSymprtony as a matrix generator or post processor. Marryother features including interactive and batch operation, spreadsheet LP display and editing, equation processor, problem/basis storage, primaWual conversion, file I/O, Simplex restarl, report generator, sensitivity analysis. $29 for work- ing demo. $149 with manual and 6087 support. $299 with Turbo Pascal units. Eastern Software Products, Inc. P.O. Box 15328, Alexandria, VA 22309 (703) 360-7600 PC BASED DATA ACQUISITION Snap-Series Software is the best solution for Integrated Data Acquisition, Anslysis, and Display without program- ming. Works with I/O hardware by 12 manufacturers, and allows extensive time and frequency domain analysis. Ideal for monitoring, waveform generation, and DSP. HEM Data Corporation 17336 12 Mile Road, Southfield. Ml 48076 Voice: (313) 559-5607 Fax: (313) 559-8008 nquiry 697 Inquiry 702. Inquiry 726. SOFTWARE/ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING COPY PROTECTION The world's leading software manufacturers depend on Sottguard copy protection systems. Your FREE DISKETTE introduces you to SuperLock™— invisible copy pro- tection for IBM-PC (and compatibles) and Macintosh. • Hard disk support • No source code changes • Customized versions • LAN support ■ New upgrades available (408) 773-9680 SOFTGUARD SYSTEMS, INC. 710 Laksway. Suite 200. Sunnyvale, CA 94066 FAX (40B) 773-1405 Boolean Logic Simulator ■ LOGICSIM— a designer's assistant • Make your logic equation waveforms visible • Graphic waveform stimulus editor • Single, multiple, simple & complex devices • Multiple clocks for registered eqn's • For IBM & clones, XT & up, CGA. EGA, VGA • $89.95 includes 1 yr upgrade support • $15.00 demo • VISA, PO, MO, CHK ARCTOS SYSTEMS CORP. 20 Sandwell Cr., Kanata, Ontario, Canada K2K 1V3 (613) 592-0947 Analog Circuit Simulation • Macintosh and PC CAE IntusoJt has a complete PC- . Schematic Entry ?„ ased f^ em ir ? cludin 9 "*? 7 thing from schematic entry • SPICE Simulator through SPICE simulation using • Model Libraries extended memory to com- prehensive interactive post pro- • Monte Carlo Analysis cessing. Starting at $95 far • Plotting/Graphics Output IsSpice, the complete system . M _, sells for just $790. intusoft The leader in low cost, full RO. Box 6607, San Pedro, CA 90734 featured CAE software (213) 833-0710 FAX (213)833-9658 Inquiry 698. Inquiry 703. Inquiry 707 HANDS OFF THE BOARD® 1/2 SIZE SECURITY BOARD Stop floppy boot — Require password to boot PC Real-time disk encrypt — prevent boot sector virus Prevent DOS FORMAT/FDISK and low-level formats Set hard disk READ ONLY or turn ON/OFF Turn floppies, printers and COM ports ON/OFF IBM XT, AT Bus — DOS V3.0+ — $149.95 + $5.00 S/H SYSTEMS CONSULTING INC. PO BOX 111209, Pittsburgh, PA 15238 (412) 781-5280 Affordable Engineering Software FREE APPLICATION GUIDE & CATALOG Circuit Analysis • Root Locus • Thermal Analysis • Plot- ter Drivers • Engineering Graphics • Signal Processing • Active/Passive Filter Design • Transfer Function/FFT Analysis • Logic Simulation • Microstrip Design • PC/MS- DOS • Macintosh • VISA7MC BV Engineering Professional Software 2023 Chicago Ave., Suite B-13, Riverside, CA 92507 (714) 781-0252 4-BAR SYNTHESIS IN A PC Lear_links is a powerful 4-bar design package with 3 and 4 designpositionoptionsand many optimization and analysis tools including full animation. It runs on any IBM PC/XT, AT, PS/2, or compatibles with 256K and graphics display. Full package; $475.00, Interactive Demo: $25.00 Lear Com Company 2440 Kipling St., Ste. 206, Lakewood, CO 80215 (303) 232-2226 FAX (303) 232-8721 Inquiry 699. Inquiry 704. Inquiry 708. PC TIME CLOCK AutoTime is an Employee Management System that allows you to turn any PC into an Electronic Time Clock. AutoTime provides Time & Attendance, Job Costing, Payroll Interface, and Labor Distribution reporting. Network compatible. Prices start at $495. Other Business Products: Network FAX, Absence Call-in, db-EDI. Chase Technologies 1617 Kingman Ave., San Jose, CA 95128 (408) 998-2917 Inquiry 700. MATFOR UNMATCHED VALUE FOR NUMERICAL COMPUTING An interpreter with over 375 Junctions for Matrix Computa- tions, Calculus, Differential/Nonlinear Equations, Optimiza- tion, Linear/Dynamic Programming, Graphics, Advanced Statistics, Signal Processing, Analysis/Design of Control Systems, and more. Extendible and Self-contained. $150 IBM/compatibles. Editions using extended memory on 286/386 also available. Computational Engineering Associates 3525 Del Mar Heights Rd., Suite 183, San Diego, C A 92130 (619) 259-8863 Inquiry 705. MICROSTRESS CORP. New MICROSAFE 2D/3D Rel. 3. Finite Element Analysis program for IBM PCs, MAC II Fam., and compatibles. Number of nodes, elements and conditions limited by disk space and model bandwidth (11000 d.o.f.) Color graphics support on various display cards (EGA, VGA, VEGA and Hercules) $250. SAFECAD (bi-directional AUTOCAD interface) $95. GRAFPLUS $55. Plus S/H. Accept VlSAVMasterCard. Send for brochure. P.O. Box 3194, Bellevue, WA 98009 Tel./Fax (206) 643-9941 Inquiry 709. SEPTEMBER 1990 BYTE 479 The Buyer's Mart- SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS SIMULATION WITH GPSS/PC™ GPSS/PC™ is an MS-DOS compatible version of the popular mainframe simulation language GPSS. Graphics, animation and an extremely interactive en- vironment allow a totally new view of your models. If you are contemplating the creation or modification of a complex system you need GPSS/PC to help you predict its behavior. Call now. MINUTEMAN Software P.O. Box 17VY, Stow, Massachusetts, U.S.A. (508) 897-5662 ext. 540 (800) 223-1430 ext. 540 Inquiry 710. S E G S 2.1 Scientific Engineering Graphics System • Logarithmic, Time/Date & Linear Axes. • Easy Curve Fitting and Data Smoothing. • 1-2-3 Interface & Numeric Spreadsheet. • Supports all Video & Device Standards. • 10 Curves with up to 16,000 points each. Advanced Micro Solutions 3817 Windover Dr. 405-340-0697 Edmond, OK 73013 800-284-3381 POPULAR HGRAPH SCIENTIFIC 2 D & 3 D graphic routines or IB M PC, WX, SUN and Macintosh. Powerful, easy to use. Multiple fonts, device and machine independent. Uses max resolution. Links with FORTRAN, Pascal, C, Modula-2 and QuickBasic. $119.00 Custom software development. UGraph— the graphics editor available now! HeartLand Software, Inc. 234 S. Franklin, Ames, IA 50010 (515) 292-8216 Inquiry 720. Circuit Analysis — SPICE Non-linear DC & Transient; Linear AC. • Version 3B1 with BSIM, GaAs, JFET, MOSFET, BJT, diode, etc. models, screen graphics, improved speed and convergence. * PC Version 2G6 available at $95. Call, write, or check inquiry # for more info. Northern Valley Software 28327 Rothrock Dr., Rancho Palos verdes, CA 90274 (213) 541-3677 Inquiry 711. QuickGeometry CAD/CAM Developer's Kit Third party and custom developers: get your products to market sooner— eliminate 90% of development time and expense. Just call functions for: reading and writing DXF files; vectorized geometry display for any graphics resolution; geometric operations (rotate, scale, move, copy, mirror, intersect, etc.) for lines, arcs, ellipses, NURB splines. C source available for MS/DOS, Macintosh, UNIX, VAX, other. Call (617) 628-5217 today for free Info or to order. Building Block Software, P.O. Box 1373, Somerville, MA 02144 GRAPHICS PRINTER SUPPORT AT LAST! Use the PrtSc key to make quality scaled B&W or color reproductions of your display on any dot matrix, inkjet, or laser printer (incl. Postscript) in up to 64 shades of gray or 256 colors. GRAFPLUS supports all versions of DOS with IBM (incl. EGA, VGA, Super VGA), Her- cules, or compatible graphics boards. Linkable/OEM versions available. $59.95 Jewell Technologies, Inc. 4740 - 44th Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98116 (800) 359-9000 X527 (206) 937-1081 Inquiry 715. Inquiry 721. FREE ENGINEERING MAGAZINE Personal Engineering is a monthly magazine sent free of charge (USA only) to scientists/engineers who use PCs for technical applications. Topics each month include Instrumentation • Data Acq/Control • Design Automation. To receive a free sample issue and qualification form either cir- cle below or send request on letterhead to: Personal Engineering Communications Box 300. Brookline, MA 02146 FRACTAL GRAFICS is a radical new drawing program for your PC. Create breathtaking images and scientific models interactive- ly with your mouse. Add dramatic effects to any PCX image. On-line tutorial, extensive Guidebook, and 200+ hands-on examples help you use and understand frac- tals and Chaos. Only $79, FREE Brochure! Cedar Software R1 Box 5140, Morrisville, VT 05661 (802) 888-5275 Inquiry 712. Inquiry 716. FORTRAN PROGRAMMER? Now you can call 2-D and 3-D graphics routines within your FORTRAN program. GRAFMATIC: screen routines $135. PLOTMATIC: plotter driver 135. PRINTMATIC: printer driver 135. For the IBM PC, XT, AT & compatibles. We support a variety of compilers, graphics bds., plotters and printers. MICROCOMPATIBLES 301 Prelude Dr., Dept. B. Silver Spring, MD 20901 USA (301) 593-0683 Inquiry 722. Worstcase Gets Even Better! Analog Circuit Simulation ECA-2 Electronic Circuit Analysis offers the best Monte Carlo and Worst-Case analyses with all this and MORE included; • AC, DC, Transient • Interactive/batch modes Fourier, Temperature • Full nonlinear simulator • Sine. Pulse, PWL. SFFM, • On Line, Real Time and Exponential Graphics generators • Multiple plots Tatum Labs, Inc. 3917 Research Park Dr., B-1.Ann Arbor, Ml 48108 (313) 663-8810 Inquiry 713. The Ultimate CAD/CAM Engine TurboGeometry Library 3.0. The most complete tool box of 2D & 3D routines available today! Over 300 routines. Sur- facing, Solids, Hidden line, Volumes, Areas, Transforms, Perspectives, Decomp, Clipping, Tangents & more. 30 day guar., $199.95 w/source S&H Incl. Foreign $225.00. MS/PC DOS 2.0+. Turbo Pascal, TurboC. MSC, MIXC,Zor1ecC++. VISA/MC, PO. Chk, USA funds only. Disk Software, Inc. 2116 E. Arapaho Rd.,#487, Richardson, TX 75081 (214) 423-7288, (600) 635-7760, FAX (214) 423-7288 GRAPHIC TOOLS LIBRARY PHONTM— THE FONTMAKER: Interactively create scale- able, expandable and tillable outline, stroke and bitmap fonts, figures and logos. Create hand-writing fonts. Scale a type style to various size fonts. Laser font Loader. Fast print your creation at 60 to 600 dpi. Use same font for display a d print. Free hand drawing. Use fonts with PC_VDI, SCANLIB, IBM 8514/A & others. $395. NOVA INC. 2500 W. Higgins Road, #1144 Hoffman Estates, IL 60195 call 708-882-4111 FAX 708-882-4173 nquiry 717. Inquiry 723. SOFTWARE/FORTRAN F0RTRAN77-to-Structured C TRANSLATOR FORTRAN PROGRAMMERS ASSISTANT II converts spaghetti FORTRAN into neat, maintainable C code. Run- time librarysource and C toolset included. It will makeyour conversion process easy and will significantly reduce your conversion and future maintenance costs. ASSISTANT II Plus also produces structured FORTRAN. Easy to use. At I w prices. A must for conversion projects. Free sample trans- lations available. Please call, write, or check inquiry * for more information. MICROTOOLS P.O. BOX 2745. Santa Clara, CA 95055-2745. U.S.A. phone/fax (408) 243-7588 nquiry 714. RAINDROP™ FAST, compact PrtScrn Utility for end users AND developers. Hardcop as fast as 10 sees. Average Dinar size - 6 kb te. 12 video graphic standards. Scale, rotate, colorize and more. 'CALL' from user-written programs. Complete 9- & 24-pin dot-matrix, inkjet, and laser jet library $39.95+$3 s/h. ECLECTIC SYSTEMS 8106 St. David Ct., Springfield. VA 22153 (703) 440-0064 Inquiry 718. IMAGE TOOLS LIBRARY SCANLIB: Image Capture. Animation. Scale image up, down. Rotate, Mirror. Manage scanned images. Includes Text func- tions. 149 funcs. Modes from here, to 800X600X256. Faster and better package for PCX file handling. S195. "C", PASCAL, FORT., MS BASIC 4.0-7.0. PCXIO: Source Library avail, in "C" or Assembler for fast read/write & display of PCX files at any point on screen or memory. Color Mapping. S295, NOVA INC. 2500 W. Higgins Road, #1144 Hoffman Estates. IL 60195 CALL 708-882-4111 FAX 708-882-4173 Inquiry 724. SOFTWARE/GEOLOGICAL GEOLOGICAL CATALOG Geological software for log plotting, gridding/con- touring, hydrology, digitizing, 3-D solid modelling, synthetic seismogram, fracture analysis, image pro cessing, scout ticket manager, over 50 programs in catalog. Macintosh too! Please call, or write, for Free Catalog! RockWare, Inc. 4251 Kipling St., Suite 595, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 USA (303) 423-5645 Fax (303) 423-6171 PEN PLOTTER EMULATOR FPLOT turns your dot matrix or laser printer into an HP pen plotter. Fast hi-res output. No jagged lines. Vary line width, color. Works with Autocad, Drafix, etc. Supports NEC P5/P6, IBM Proprinter, Epson LQ/FX, Toshiba, HP Laserjet, Okidata 29x/39x, Hercules/CGA/EGA/VGA. $64 check/m.o./ VISA/MC Fplot Corporation 24-16 Steinway St., Suite 605, Astoria, NY 11103 718-545-3505 Inquiry 719. VGA ColorWorks™ V2.2 The most advanced image creation and manipulation package available lor the VGA. Import/export TIFF, PCX, TARGA images. Edit with over 250,000 colors in mutti pis hardware resolutions IswrtcN able on-the-fly). Complete set of geometries and patterns. Special effects include tint, shade, blend, mask, fountains, cut/paste, hard- ware zoom emulation,. . .much more (over 150 drawing controls). Incl. 44 fonts, drivers tor PostScript, HP-LaserJet, HP-PaintJet, Ep- son LQ/FX. Producing up to 64 grey levels or 4096 colors. 559. Call for our free fully operational demo. SPG Inc. 1515 NW 167th Street, Suite 110-L, Miami, FL 33169 (305) 362-6602 Inquiry 725. 480 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 The Buyer's Mart- SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS SOFTWARE/MATHEMATICS SOFTWARE/SCIENTIFIC GRAPHICS LIBRARIES for C, FORTRAN, PASCAL & QuickBASIC • Supports VIDEO. PRINTERS & PLOTTERS. • Linear, log, polar, smith, bar & pie charts. • Scalable fonts, line types, markers. • Multiple plots on a page. • Over 100 routines with full source code. • 240 page manual. No royalties. $295.00 (713) 491-2088 Sutrasoft 10506 Permian Dr. • Sugar Land, TX 77478 MATHEMATICIANS-ENGINEERS Have you ever seen functions of a complex variable? Would you like to really understand differential operators like div, grad and curl? How about a peek into the fourth dimension? Call or write for information on our latest PC and Macintosh software. Lascaux Graphics 3220 Steuben Ave., Bronx, NY 10467 (212) 654-7429 FREE CATALOG 800-942-MATH MicroMath Scientific Software Salt Lake City, UT 84121-0550 Inquiry 727. Inquiry 733. Inquiry 739. SOFTWARE/LANGUAGES DRUMA FORTH-83 Break the 64K barrier without spaad/space penalty. Powerful, attractively priced. '83 Standard. • 1Mb+ automated memory management • Full OS interface, extensive utilities • On-line documentation, ASCII/block files • Other products: windows, modules, profiler • IBM PC/XT/AT including 386 compatibles FREE leam/utlllty disks with purchase DRUMA INC. 6448 Hwy. 290 East E103, Austin, TX 78723 Orders: 512-323-5411 Fax: 512-323-0403 DERIVE® A Mathematical Assistant Makes math more inspiration and less perspiration! Combines the power of computer algebra with 2D & 3D plotting and a friendly menu-driven user interface. Does equation solving, calculus, trigonometry, vector & matrix algebra, and more. Derive requires a PC compatible computer & 512K memory. Soft Warehouse, Inc. 3615 Harding Ave., Suite 505, Honolulu, HI 96816 (808) 734-5801 Scientific/Engineering/Graphics Libraries Turbo Pascal, Turbo* MS C, MS Fortran, Basic Send for FREE catalogue of software tools for Scientists and Engineers. Includes: Scientific subroutine libraries, device independent graphics libraries (including EGA, HP plotter and Laserjet suppoil), scientific charting libraries, 3-D plot- ting library, data acquisition libraries, menu-driven process control software. Versions available for a variety of popular languages. Quinn-Curtis 1191 Chestnut St., Unit 2-5, Newton, MA 02164 (617) 965-5660 Inquiry 728. Inquiry 734. Inquiry 740. SOFTWARE MEDICAL SOFTWARE/SORT FINAL LIQUIDATION!! IBM * Compilers, SAVE UP to 80%! Title Retail Sale COBOLV2.0(3',V&5V4") $900 $100 Prof. FORTRAN V1.3 (3V2 fl & 5V*") $795 $ 90 C Compiler (3'/2" or 5V4") $395 $ 50 BASIC Compiler V2.0 (3Vt") $495 $ 50 Macro Assembler V2.0 (3V2" or 5V4") $195 $ 40 VISA, MC, Check accepted, S and H fee $10 per order THE COMPUTER PLACE, INC. 12105 Darnestown Rd. #9A Tel: (301) 330-6016 Gaithersburg, MP 2067B Fax: (301) 926-3415 Medical Systems with ECS PPM offers a complete line of medical so tware ranging from simple insurance claims processing to comprehensive A/R management, PC CLAIM PLUS-claims processing with ECS to over 100 major insurance carrieis-30 day money-back guarantee THRESHOLD-complete A/R, patient billing, comprehensive prac- tice management statistics CLAtM NET-Nationwide electronic claims clearinghouse transmits claims to over 100 insurance carriers Software prices stait at $459.00. Dealer inquiries welcome. Physicians Practice Management 350 E. New York, Indianapolis, IN 46204 800-428-3515 317-634-8080 OPT-TECH SORT/MERGE Extremely fast Sort/Merge/Select utility. Run as an MS- DOS command or CALL as a subroutine. Supports most languages and file types including Btrieve and dBASE. Unlimited file sizes, multiple keys and much more! MS- DOS $149. OS/2, XENIX, UNIX $249. (702) 588-3737 Opt-Tech Data Processing P.O. Box 678 — Zephyr Cove, NV 89448 Inquiry 729. Inquiry 735. Inquiry 741. SOFTWARE/SCANNERS SOFTWARE/UTILITIES EASY TO C The C Workshop interactive software teaches you C. Do real C program exercises with built-in editor and compiler. Feedback guides you to solution. All you need to learn C, including our 384-page book. $69.95 + $5 Ship. PC compatibles. MC/VISA/AE/check. Wordcraft 3827 Penniman Ave., Oakland, CA 94619 (800) 762-8003 (PST) Optical Character Recognition Stop retyping: PC-OCR™ software will convert typed or printed pages into editable text files for your word pro- cessor. Works with HP ScanJet. Panasonic and most other scanners. Supplied with 18 popular fonts. User trainable: you can teach PC-OCR™ to read virtually any typestyle, incl. foreign fonts. Proportional text, matrix printer output, Xerox copies OK. $385. Check/VISA/MC/AmExp/COD Essex Publishing Co. P.O. Box 391, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009 (201) 783-6940 Duplicate Disks Fast! Disk Dupe duplicates, formats and compares disks amazingly fast— up to 200 disks an hour! Its unique RELAY feature letsyouquickly duplicate lotsof master disks effortlessly. And you can protect your masters by storing disk images on your hard disk. Also supports high-density formats— plus a whole lot more! S79+S/H, Money Back Guarantee. Micro System Designs, Inc. 1309 El Curtola Blvd., Lafayette, CA 94549 (415) 944-9994 Order today! Inquiry 730. Inquiry 736. Inquiry 742. SOFTWARE/MATHEMATICS SOFTWARE/VOICE Fast WYSIWYG Editor Leo — the best math editor available. See equations as you type. Menu and control key operation. Reads and writes TeX files. Leo for PCs — $199 ABK Software 4495 Ottawa PI., Boulder CO 80303 (303) 494-4872 nquiry 731. INCREDIBLE OCR Atotal solution to all your OCR needs. Recognizes many common text typefaces, and ca.aquickly learn most others. Supports all the major word processors. Faster and more accurate than systems costing twice as much. Amazingly it works with virtually every brand of hand-held scanner, most lull-page scanners, and all PC/fax boards. More than 15,000 satisfied users. All for only $1&4.00 including shipping' 'International include $25 for airmail shipping Check, money order, VISA, MC, and COD accepted. PAI OCR 611 Tucker Street, Raleigh, NC 27603 800-762-5542 FAX: 919-828-5196 Inquiry 737. SOFTWARE/SCIENTIFIC MULTI-VOICE® TOOLS Multi-Voice Tools is a complete development Toolkit for Pascal or "C" to access all the features of the WATSON or DIALOGIC Speech Boards. It is also a high level library of procedures to build MULTI-LINE VOICE RESPONSE systems in minutes. A powerful TELEPHONE ANSWERING program is given as an example with source code. DIALOGIC, RHETOREX, VBX $599, WATSON $99, Visa/MC ITI Logiciel 1705 St. Joseph E, Suite 4, Montreal, PQ, Can. H2J 1N1 (514) 861-5988 We can also write your Voice Response application programs. Inquiry 743. STATISTICS MATH EDITING for the pc x , i>*-o \ x h WJ + I v^±S7' • MathEdit constructs math equations to be inserted into WordPerfect. Word, WordStar, and others. • WYS/WYG interface— no codes need to be learned. • MathEdit— $199 COMMUNICATIONS Columbus, Ohio 43201 (614) 294-3535 Inquiry 732. C Scientific Library Create customized scientific and engineering tools with this com- prehensive library of 600 functions including linear algebra, eigen- systems, matrix computations, time series, smoothing and filtering, statistics, regression, linear and integer programming, nonlinear systems, optimization, differential equations, curvefitting and graphics. Superior documentation. Usable, encapsulated, modular, reliable, mature, and affordable. Several licensing and system op- tions are available starting at $295. Request on company letterhead or send $5 (refundable on purchase) for 50-page CSL Buyer's Guide. Eigenware Technologies 13090 La Vista Drive, Saratoga, CA 95070 (408) 867-1184 Fax: (408) 867-6575 Inquiry 738. JUST RELEASED STATISTIX 3.1 PC Magazine Editor's Choice! Vou cart rely on STATISTIX to get your work done EASILY and QUICKLY. Menu-driven. Powerful yet compact. STATISTIX offers basic and advanced statistics with an easy-to-follow manual full of examples. "Technical support was excellent . . ." PC Magazine. Get the quality you want at a price you can afford. U.S. & overseas price: S199. Money-back-guarantee. Tel: 612-631-2852 Fax: 612-636-3070 Analytical Software, poBoxt30204.st.paui,MN 55113 Inquiry 744. SEPTEMBER 1990 BYTE 481 The Buyer's Mart- STATISTICS TRANSLATORS UTILITIES Cover all the bases of design . . . with Methodologist's ToclchestT a comprehensive package of five programs to aid in research design and analysis. Specifically, these programs offer assistance in sampling, data collection procedures, statistical analyses, experimen- tal design, and measurement and scaling. $499.95+s/h. VISA, MC, AMEX, PO, Checks accepted. The Idea Works, Inc. 100 West Briarwood Columbia, MO 65203 1-800-537-4866 FAX 314-445-4589 Outside USA 314-445^554 Inquiry 745. 100% PASCAL -> C P2C translates Turbo Pascal 3/4/5 into C coda (Turbo, Microsoft, TopSpeed, ANSI) and supports all TP features: sets, nested func- tions, with, variant records, strings, files, interrupts, const expres- sions, graphics, units, dynamic memoiy management, mem & pod arrays, absolute variables; in short— everything except inline and object-oriented features. Comes with full TP runtime library emulation and automatically generates project, make, header, and C files. English manual (130+ pages) included. Professional Edition in- cludes complete source code for emulation library. Standard Ed. $395 Professional Ed. $595 (MC, VISA, AMEX) LAUER & WALLWITZ GmbH, Erikoenigweg 9, 0-6200 WIESBADEN. West Germany, Phone +49 (611) 42771 UNIX under DOS !!! Get the Feel & Power of UNIX Include awk, cb, cp, diff, ed, find, grep, Is, make, more, mv, rm, sed, sort & 17 others. All V.3 and BSD 4.3 options included. Thorough documentation. THE BERKELEY UTILITIES $125 order now 800-542-0938 price EFFECTIVE JULY 15 $200 OPENetwork POWER TOOLS FOR POWER USERS 215 Berkeley PI. (B-2), Brooklyn, NY 11217 Inquiry 750. Inquiry 756. UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER NCSS 5.x Series — $125 Easy-to-use menus & spread sheet. Multiple regression. T-tests. ANOVA (up to 10 factors, rep. measures, covariance). Forecasting. Factor, cluster, & discriminant analysis. Nonparametrics. Cross Tabulation. Graphics: histograms, box, scatter, etc. Reads ASCII/Lotus. Many new add-on modules. N 865 East 400 North, Kaysville, U T 84037 Phone: 801-546-0445 Fax: 801-546-3907 Inquiry 746. HOW TO PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER And Make It Last Longer FREE money-saving literature tells you how to protect your com- puter and make it last longer with an uninterruptible power supply. 500VA through 18KVA models from the world's largest manufac- turer of single-phase UPS. Best Power Technology, Inc. P.O. Box 280, Necedah, Wl 54646 Toil-Free (800) 356-5794, Ext. 3858 Telephone: (608) 565-7200, Ext. 3858 See our Ad on page 503. Recover deleted files fast! Disk Explorer now includes automatic file recovery. You type in the deleted file's name, Disk Explorer finds and restores it. Disk Explorer also shows what's really on disk; view, change or create formats, change a file's status, change data in any sector. MS-DOS $75 U.S. Check/ Credit card welcome. QUAID SOFTWARE LIMITED 45 Charles St. E. 3rd Fl. Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 1S2 (416) 961-8243 Inquiry 751. SCA STATISTICAL SYSTEM The only statistical software encompassing Forecasting & Time Series Analysis Quality and Productivity Improvement General Statistical Analysis Available on DOS, OS/2 and Mac operating systems. Call today for more information Scientific Computing Associates 4513 Lincoln Ave., Suite 106, Lisle, IL 60532, USA Phone: (708) 960-1698 FAX: (708) 960-1815 DATASAVER AC POWER BACKUP Provides reliable, affordable power protection for LAN Systems, Fileservers, CAD/CAM Systems, and all Desktop Microcomputers. Low profile, convection cooled and auto shutdown capabilities are some of the many user benefits. Highest quality. Made in the U. S. A. (Dealer, VAR, OEM inquiries welcome) For Free Information Call or Write: CUESTA SYSTEM CORPORATION 3440 Roberto Court. San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 (800) 332-3440 (805) 541-4160 COPYWRITE CopyWrite Removes Copy Protection No more diskettes, , |0 a 7C manuals or UO $/3 codewheels. 1000's of products copied. QUAID SOFTWARE LIMITED 45 Charles St. E. 3rd Fl, Dept B. Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 1 S2 (416) 961-8243 Fax (416) 961-6448 Inquiry 747. Inquiry 752. SURVEYS UTILITIES Spreadsheet Statistics Comprehensive statistics and forecasting modules for analyzing LOTUS worksheets. Low cost $25 each. Convenient. Easy to use. Includes tutorial. Ideal for vertical markets. Basic and advanced statistics with graphics. Guaranteed best buy. Com- pare. Nothing else comes close. Free brochure. StatPac Inc. 6500 Nicollet Ave. S , Minneapolis, MN 55423 (612) 866-9022 DEAL - STEAL - DEAL Cardfile /Autodlaler • DBasellkcompatible • Any Mouse or none • More than 1,000,000 Records • Not Memory Resident • Not Copy protected • Cards can be sorted • Direct search and content • Any Phone and Modem search This Is a MUST HAVE Utility. It's fast, easy, and you can afford It. $19.85 Engineering Concepts 314 N. Newell PI., Fullerton, CA 92632 (714) 525-3519 REMOVE HARDWARE LOCKS Software utility allows for the removal of hardware locks. Don't wait for your lock or key device to fail or be stolen. Guaranteed to work! The following packages are available: RCAD $199.00 CADKEY $ 99.00 MICROSTATION $99.00 PERSONAL DESIGNER $199.00 MasterCAM $250.00 SmartCAM $250.00 TANGO PCB $ 99.00 CADVANCE $99.00 PLUS SHIPPING AND HANDLING PHONE (204) 669-4639 FAX (204) 668-3566 VISA and MASTERCARD Welcome SafeSoft Systems Inc. 191 Kirlystone Way, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R2G 3B6 Inquiry 753. Inquiry 757. TERMINAL EMULATION TEK 4207/4105/4014 Emulation PC-PLOT-V is a complete communications program which includes file transfer, script files, VT-100/200 emulation plus Tektronix graphics terminal emulation. Supports COM1-4 plus support for DECnet, NETBIOS, U-B Net1. Graphics screenprint. $225. Free Catalog. MicroPlot Systems Co. 1897 Red Fern Dr., Columbus, Ohio 43229 614-882-4786 614-882-3399 (BBS/FAX) EZ-COPY PLUS™ FLAWLESS DISKETTES FASTI on the PC you already own! THIS IS SOFTWARE ONLY! Bypasses DOS (or the utmost speed. Great lor publishers, developers, MIS directors, etc. 2X4 taster than DOS. Read diskette once, then, quickly & accurately mass duplicate 5.25' & 35' disks on your own PC/XT/Af/etc. Formate, copies, verifies, optionally SERIALIZES & PRINTS LABELS, in 1 smooth operation. Save images to HO, more. . . Replaces dedicated hardware worth $1000s. Only $495 +s&h. Not Copy Protected lor use on up lo 10 machines.© EZX, 917 Oakgrove Dr. #101-8890, Houston, TX 77058 INFO: 713/280-9900; BBS: 713/280-8180; FAX: 713/280-0525 Orders (V/MC/AX/D) & Brochures Toll Free: 1 • 800 • 359 • 9539 Why You Want BATCOM! BATCOM is a batch file compiler that transforms your .bat files to .exe files to make them faster. BATCOM extends DOS with many new commands so you can read keyboard input, use subroutines, and much more. In addition, BATCOM protects your source code. No royalties! Only $59.95. Order today! Wenham Software Company 5 Burley St., Wenham, MA 019 4 (508) 774-7036 Inquiry 748. Inquiry 754. Inquiry 758. TONER CARTRIDGES WORD PROCESSING TONERS LASER PRINTERS $42.00 SHARP Z-50r70 $40.00 PC COPIERS $38.00 XEROX 1012 $140.00 NEW LONG LIFE EPS DURA-DRUM $87.00 YOUR CARTRIDGES TESTED, REMANUFACTURED, & FULLY GUARANTEED BY EXPERIENCED TECHS. COLORS 24 HR. TURNAROUND MCA/ISA SOUTHERN CARTRIDGE SERVICE 33 mathews dr. 800-442-6288 HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC 29926 vvw "* Wfc¥W Inquiry 749. 482 BYTE COPY AT TO PC— BRIDGE-IT 3.5 "CPYAI2PC" REUABLY writes 360KB floppies on 1.2 MB drives, saving a slot tor a second hard disk or tape back-up. Only $79.00 + S/H "BRIDGE-IT 35" is a DEVICE DRIVER supporting 3Vi* 720KB/1.44MB drives lor PC/XT/AT without upgrading DOS/BIOS. Only $39.00 + S/H BRIDGE-IT 35 BUNDLED WITH INTERNAL 1.44MB DRIVE AT $129.00 + S/H VISA/MC/COO UPS B/R MICROBRIDGE COMPUTERS 655 Sky Way Suite 220, San Carlos, CA 94070 1-415-593-B777(CA) 1-415-593-7675 (FAX) 1-416-855-1993 (CANADA) 1-800-523-8777 0908-260-188 (UK) 4711 4020 (FRG) Inquiry 755. DuangJan Bilingual word processor for English and: Armenian, Bengali, Burmese, Euro/Latin/African, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Khmer, Lao, Punjabi, Russian, Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Ukranian, Viet, . . . Only $\09+$5 s/h (foreign + $12 s/h). Font editor included. For any IBM compatibles with dot-matrix & LaserJet printer. Demo $9+$1 s/h. Visa/MC MegaChomp Company 3438 Cottman Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19149-1606 (215) 331-2748 FAX: (215) 331-4188 Inquiry 759. SEPTEMBER 1990 PS/2 model 30/286 .... PS/2 model 50/30 meg . PS/2 model 70/60 meg , PS/2 model 80/40 meg . PS/2 model 70/120 meg PS/2 model 80/115 meg Call for other models .1895 .2395 .3695 .4395 .5595 ..Call comPAa 386 S 40 meg Call Call 386 20E-40 meg 4015 286E40meg 2150 386 110 meg/25 MHz 7295 386 60 meg/25 MHz 5895 Portable III 40 meg/12 MHz 3995 CARD & MONITOR EXTRA Call for other models Macintosh Mac IICX/80 Meg, 40 Meg RAM 5095 Mac-ll/40 Meg 4095 Mac-SE 30/40 Meg 3595 Call for 60 and 100 Meg LazerNT 3495 LazerNTX 4795 LOW PRICE LEADER SINCE 1983 LAP-TOP Compaq SLT 286-20/40 3795/Call Toshiba T1000 659 T1000SE Toshiba Call T1200HB Sale! Call T1600-40Meg Call T1000 XE/10 MB Call T3200-40 Meg/SX40 Call T5100-40/100 Call T5200-40/100 Call T3100SX Call T1200 XE/20 MB Call Zenith 286-20/40 Meg Call Mitsubishi 286-20/40 1795/2195 Everex IVERE^- Step 286 - 12 & 16 MHz & 20 MHz 1 Meg RAM Set up utility in ROM S/P, C/C Enhanced keyboard 1.2 MB floppy DOS/BASIC Call! for your configuration Everex Step 386-20 MHz & 16 MHz & 25 MHz & 33 MHz Up to 256K cache of very high speed RAM 2 Meg RAM, expandable to 16 Meg S/P, C/C Enhanced keyboard 1.2 MB floppy dos/basic Call! Everex 386-33 Special of the Month WE STOCK CITIZEN TOSHIBA OKIDATA NEC EVEREX WYSE GOLD STAR HITACHI DISKS DYSAN5V4 HD/3V2 HD MAXELL 5V4 HD/3V' 2 HD Min. 10 Boxes Order 13/26 12/25 AST 486 ..Call .1190 .2695 .3095 ..Call AST 286 model 70 AST 386 model 300c AST 386 40 Meg AST 386SX CARD & MONITOR EXTRA CALL FOR OTHER MODELS PRINCETON GRAPHICS SONY ACER HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS AMDEK HAYES SAMSUNG CALCOMP PC MOUSE MICROSOFT MICE LOGITECH MITSUBISHI IRWIN & ARCHIVE TAPE BACK TAXAN MAGNOVOX BOARDS Paradise VGA + 219 Vega VRAM 409 ATI VGA Wonder 259 Everex EGA 149 Tatung 16 bit 239 MONITORS Nee Multisync II A . . . .499 Nee Multisync 3D.... 599 Magnavox EGA 339 Nee Multisync 5D ...2350 Samsung EGA 359 Sony 1302 619 SOFTWARE SPECIALS dBase IV 455 WordPerfect 5.1 260 Aldus Pagemaker 495 Ventura Publisher 525 Clipper 435 WordStars 150 EasyExtra 40 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS P. Page II 459 P. Page IIP 365 P. 1-2-4 Mem II 159 P. One Meg IIP 180 P. 25 in One III 325 P. Headlines 245 i NOVELL Authorized Dealer LAN BOARDS 8 bit Arcnet 110 16 bit Arcnet 220 8 bit Ethernet . ... 190 16 bit Ethernet 275 8 port Active Hub . . . 325 Token Ring Card ... .399 Token hub 4-port ... .355 Call for other LAN Accessories SPECIALS HP Scan Jet 1425 HP PaintJet 965 Lotus Ver. 3.0 355 Kodak 150P 370 Complete Fax Board 499 Okidata 391 625 Epson LQ1050 660 Panasonic 1124 319 HP-7475 Plotter 1595 SummaGraphic 365 LASER PRINTERS HP Laser HD .2750 HP Laser 2P .995 HP Laser III .1695 Panasonic 4450 .1395 Brother HL-8-E .... .1895 Nee LC 890 .3195 Toshiba Laser 6 .1095 MODEMS Everex 2400 Int/Mnp Hayes 2400B Hayes 9600B USRobotics Hst/Dual .179 .315 .875 .1150 More in Stock ..Call EXPORTS Available ALL QUOTED PRICES ARE CASH PRICES ONLY. Visa and MasterCard 3% higher, American Express 5% higher COMPUTERLANE HOURS: M-F 9-6 S 10-6 CORPORATE ACCOUNTS WELCOME CALL FOR VOLUME DISCOUNTS CONSULTANTS CALL FOR PRICING 1-800-526-3482 (omswe ca) (818) 884-8644 (In CA) (818) 884*253 (FAX) 22107 ROSCOE BLVD. CANOGA PARK V2 BLOCK W. OF TDPANGA CA 91304 Prices subject to change without notice * Quantities are limited Compaq is a Registered Trademark of Compaq IBM is a Registered Trademark of International Business Machines Circle 69 on Reader Service Card SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 483 Circle 50 on Reader Service Card Circle 70 on Reader Service Card AutoCAD® Users YOU NEED THIS UTILITY!!! FastBreak™ FastBreak™ - Cookie-cut, hatch, 'break' and lor 'trim' thousands- of AutoCAD® entities: 3DFACES, 3DPOLYLINES, 3DL1NES, SOLIDS, TRACES, ARCS, CIRCLES, LINES, POLYLINES, exploded SURFACES, MESHES, and 3D-CON ST RUCTION... and ALL within seconds in a single 'window' or 'crossing' point and pick. YES! YES! YES! - 3D FACES, SOLIDS, TRACES, surfaces, splines, 3D-meshes, and any 2D or 3D-construction can be broken and/or trimmed using FastBreak™!!! AutoCAD® will not break or trim 3DFACES and other 3D-construc- tion. FastBreak™ can do the job - quickly, ac- curately, and reliably in any UCS. The drawing shown is SITE-3D.DWG with four enlarged insert clips added. All four in- serts were made on a386- PC using FastBreak in less th nn two minutes !!! ClipView™ - is integrated into FastBreak and performs Automatic clipping or trimming of the above entities to create inserts. Options include: Box or Bubble boundaries, Inside or Outside (makes a hole) trim, and borders. FastBreak™ and ClipView™ are integrated into DOS executeable code, run interactively in AutoCAD shells from 256K, use fast block binary database, virtual memory paging, user friendly AutoLISP® interface, and perform FAST, FAST, FAST in any AutoCAD Rel. 9 through Rel 10-386. FastBreak™ and ClipView™ are licensed in a single user package. Contact your dealer or buy direct (credit or money order, for UPS Next Day add $6. shpg. fee) from: BZ Technical P.O.Box 10, Bothell,WA 98041 Phone: 206/258-1568 or FAX: 206/487-1357 Retail price: $399. 95 Demo: $25. 00 NOT Copy protected, NOT AutoLISP® encrypted, FULL documentation, technical support, 3.5 " and 5.25 " media. "Quality software development located near the home of MICROSOFT® in Bothell's High Technology Corridor." AutoCAD and AutoLISP are registered trademarks ot Autodesk. Inc. FastBreak and ClipView are trademarks of BZ Technical. Only your imagination limits how you benefit from PERCON® keyless data collection. Checking out books or checking in employees — input data quickly and accurately using bar codes or magnetic stripes. PERCON has proven bar code solutions for IBM®, DEC™, and Apple Macintosh®. Call 1-800-8-PERCON. PERCON 2190 W. 11th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon 97402-3503 (503)344-1189 FAX(503)344-1399 ©1989Percon, Inc. PERCON, IBM, iECanJ Apple Macintosh are trademarks. dBASE Data Entry The TransTerm 5 is a work station data entry/display terminal for on-line shop floor data collection into PC/AT based systems. The unit is one of a family of such terminals which feature LC displays for operator prompting and data entry via a membrane keyboard or an optional barcode wand (Code 39). A multi-terminal polling controller (up to 250 stations) and a dBASE 111 + compatible software package are also available. System costs below $300.00 per station. Call for info. Options— backlighting for display, RS-422 1/0, 20 Ma current loop 1/0, dBASE is a registered trademark ot Ashton-Tate. Inc. CQflPUTcWlSc". INC. 302 N. Winchester . Olathe, KS 66062 • 91 3-829-0600 • Fax 91 3-829-0810 9-Track? Just call us. It doesn't get any easier than this. A wide variety of PC-9-Track tape subsystems are available to you by phone, including tape drives, cards, and software: • DOS, UNIX, XENIX, PICK, NOVELL Support • 486, 386, 286 & PS/2 Compatible • Menu-Driven Software • 2 Year Warranty on Controller Cards •800, 1600,3200, 6250 bpi • 24 Hour Delivery • Excellent for Hard Disk Backup We invented the first PC-9-Track controller ten years ago, and have been on top ever since with the world's best selling cards. It's easy to find out why: just call us. 1«ftfC0TRAK* SO! OVEM-fKID DfiTfi 5600 Kearny Mesa Rd. San Diego, CA 92111 1-800-729-8725 US & Can. • 1-619-571-5555 • FAX 1-619-571-0982 484 BYTE • SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 220 on Reader Service Card Circle 214 on Reader Service Card Circle 116 o« Beoder Service Card (RESELLERS: 117) Circle 65 on Reader Service Card A COMPLETE 386 SYSTEM ■ WITH VGA COLOR AND 40 MB HARD DRIVE . Intel 80386SX-16 MHZ CPU . 1 MB RAM Expandable to 8 MB . 40 MB Hard Drive . VGA Color Monitor (.31) and 16-bit Card . 1.2 MB Floppy . 2 serial, 1 parallel . 101 Keyboard . Case with power supply . 2 Year Warranty Ofher systems with the same configuration: 286 12: $1,199 / 386-20SX: Si. 599 / 386-25: $1,899/386-33: S2.349 All upgrade options are available. SPECIAL SALE LAPTOP SPECIAL 286 LAPTOP $ 1 499 386SX LAPTOP $2599 . 1 MB RAM . 1 MB RAM . 20 MB Hard Drive . 40 MB Hard Drive 25 ms. . 1 .44 MB Floppy . 1 .44 MB Floppy . LCD, CGA Display . Paper White VGA Display . Serial. Parallel Ports . Serial, Parallel Ports . Battery Pack . Battery Pack . AC adapter . AC adapter Prices subject to change without notice. Quantities are limited. Both Laptops include: FREE MS-DOS, 1 year warranty Call for special sale on 286, 386 & 486 Mother Board and other components. First Computer Systems, Inc. 3951 Pleasantdale Road, Suite 224, Atlanta, GA 30340 Tel. (404)441-1911 Toll Free (800) 325-191 1 Fax (404)441-1856 r^CoMPUCom 14,400 bps SpeedModem™$299 Cut Back on Your Contribution to Ma Bell. Speed Modem's throughput - up to 57.6Kbps - is nearly unbelievable. Fully Hayes-compatible, MNP-5, DIS™, fax option and more. High-Speed Isn't Our Only Specialty. Our iMOO bps product-family includes Hayes compatibility, MNP5, and our DIS technology improves the phone line. Try send fax. SpeedModem 300- 14,400 bps $299" SpeedModem + FFFax! $399 F.F.Fdx! 9600 bps send/receive $299 MNP-5 Modem 2400-4800 bps $169 DISMNP-5 Modem 2400-4800 bps $193 DISModemPlus send-only fax $139 DISModem 2400bps $119 2400 bps Modem $ 95 FREE $69 EasyConf" Communications Software Find out why Byte Magazine says, "...a real deal. . . " (3/89 p. 102). # Call 1-800-ACT-ON-IT ^sr (1-800-228-6648) 5-Year Warranty. 30-Day Money Back Guarantee. Setting New Standards in Modem Value and Performance 200 MHz Logic Analyzer CO I- LU m DC I- C/> 111 m v-U ■ •200 or 100MHz sampling rate • 24 Channels, Timing and state • Optional expansion to 72 channels ■ 16 Levels of triggering $ 799-LA12100 (100 MHz) $1299-LA27100(100MHz) $1899-LA27200 (200 MHz) ■ 16K samples/channel ■ Variable threshold levels ■ 3 External Clocks • 11 Qualify lines Price is complete Pods and Software included 3 UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMER ::■.■-. ■ ' I S^£'S1|t8gj&S I % j $475 • 20 and 24 pin PALs, EPLDs • 26V12, 18V10, 22V10 GALs • 2716-27020 EPROMs • 87xxx MICROS • EEPROMs (incl. 8 pin serial) Byte Split/Merge (16 & 32 bit) JEDEC, INTEL HEX, Motorola 'S' files Dallas NVS RAM programming PC/XT/AT COMPATIBLE FREE software updates on BBS (201)994-6669 [ Link Computer Graphics, Inc. !M^ 4 Sparrow Dr., Livingston, NJ 07039 FAX:994-0730 Circle 161 on Reader Service Card VOICE MASTER KEY® SYSTEM II VOICE RECOGNITION & SPEECH RESPONSE FOR IBM PC/XT/AT/386, PS/2. LAPTOPS, COMPATIBLES FOR PRODUCTIVITY, PRESENTATIONS, SOFTWARE DESIGN. ENTERTAINMENT, LANGUAGE TRAINING. EDUCATION, MORE... SPEECH/SOUND RECORDING AND PLAYBACK. Desktop Audio sound editing allows you to create custom sound applications. Variable sample rate (to 20 KHz) and compression levels. A four-voice music synthesizer is included also! VOICE RECOGNITION TSR utility allows you to add voice command keyboard macros to your CAD, desktop publishing, word processing, spread sheet, or entertainment programs. Up to 64 voice commands in RAM at once-more from disk. HARDWARE SYSTEM contains built-in speaker with separate volume and tone controls, external speaker and headphone jacks. Enclosure made of sturdy vinyl-clad steel. Attaches to parallel printer port without affecting normal printer operation (U.S. Patent 4.812,847). Headset microphone, printer cable, 9 volt AC adapter (110 volt UL/CSA listed), and comprehensive user manual included. QUALITY THROUGHOUT. MADE IN USA. ONLY $21 9.95 ORDER HOTLINE: (503) 342-1271 Mon-Fri. 8 AM to 5 PM PST Visa/MasterCard, company checks, money orders, CODs (with prior approval) accepted. Personal checks subject to 3 week shipping delay. Specify computer type when ordering. Add $5 shipping charge for delivery in USA and Canada. Foreign inquiries contact Covox for C&F/CIF quotes. OEM configurations available. 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED. CALL OR WRITE FOR FREE PRODUCT CATALOG COVOX INC. TEL (503) 342-1271 675 Conger Street FAX (503) 342-1283 Eugene. Oregon 97402 BBS (503) 342-4135 Circle 77 on Reader Service Card SEPTEMBER 1990 (RESELLERS: 78) BYTE 485 Circle 267 on Reader Service Card Circle 176 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 177) MEMORY UPGRADES 5 YEAR WARRANTY! - FREE DELIVERY! IBM PS/2 & LaserPrinter 2MB Module Model 80's $CALL 2MB Module Mod. 70-E61;-121 $190 Mod 70-A21;B21;A61;B61 $309 2-8MB Exp Boards $CALL Models 50, 60, 70 & 80 1, 2, 3.5MB Memory Boards $CALL LaserPrinter 401 9 & 401 9e 2MB Upgrades $CALL Models 1000SE, 1600, 3100e, 3100SX, 3200SX, 5100, 5200 Aoole Mac & NTX 4MB Memory Kit $591 Macintosh llfx Laser Writer I l/NTX 1MB Memory Kit $264 LaserWriter I l/NTX COMPAQ Memory 1MB Add-On Module $162 DeskPro 386/20,25,206,256 4MB Add-On Module $411 DeskPro 386/20,25,20e,25e 2MB Module $355 DeskPro 486/25, 386/33, SystemPro 8MB Module $2718 DeskPro 486/25,SystemPro 1MB Module - LTE/286 $245 2MB Module - LTE/286 $391 1MB Module -SLT $327 HP LaserJet Memory 1MB Upgrade -II 2MB Upgrade - II 4MB Upgrade - II 2MB Upgrade -IIP IID; IIP; I IID IID $200 $318 $493 $287 Apple, AST, AT&T, DEC, Dell, Epson, NEC, SUN, Zenith, Others 2 SIGMA DATA Scytheville Row • P.O. Box 1790 • Nen London, NH 03257 Call for latest pricing TOLL FREE: (800) 446-4525 NH (603)526-6909 FAX (603) 526-6915 Established - 1980 • Diagnose comm problems • Install new equipment • Determine baud rates • Reduce development time • Troubleshoot faster • SDLC, HDLC. X.25, BISYNC • Parity & CRC check • 40 hours on 9v battery • 2K buffer with printer dump Bit View shows you bidirectional data in ASCII. EBCDIC, or Hex forasync and sync data lines at baud rates from 300 to 38400 baud. Now find your comm problems in minutes instead of hours' Call (212)662-6012 or Fax (212)678-6143 BR1 MEASUREMENT & CONTROL PRODUCTS, INC. ;415 Madison Avenue. 22 FL New York. NY10017 Data Storage without Moving Parts Flash-EPROM-Disk Flash-EPROM and SRAM 1 MB Silicon-Disk ES25 1 MB EPROM 544 KB CMOS-RAM EPROM-Disk E8 2 MB EPROM Short Card Memory-Card-Drive SCSI/V24 Drive for SRAM/ROM/(OTP)-Cards Programming with "copy *.*" Booting capability ":) altec electronic GmbH ■ Vahrenwalder Str. 205/7 D-3000Hannover 1 • Tel. (49) 5 1 1 -63088-36- Fax-49 SCHEMATIC TO PCLAY0UT $500 INCLUDES AUTO ROUTER EZ-R0UTE Version II from AMS for IBM PC, PS/2 and Com- patibles is an integrated CAE System which supports 256 layers, trace width from 0001 inch to 0.255 inch, flexible grid, SMD components and outputs on Penplotters as well as Photo plotters and printers. Schematic Capture S100. PC8 Layout S250, Auto Router S250. FREE EVALUATION PACKAGE 30 DAYS MONEY BACK GUARANTEE 1-800-972-3733 or (305) 975-9515 ADVANCED MICROCOMPUTER SYSTEMS. INC. 1321 N.W. 65 Place - Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309 486/25MHz GIANT MEMORY Series GM Series Expands to 32Mb On-Board 64K External Cache/Expand to 128K TEXAS INSTRUMENT 486 Chip-Set SX,386/33,486/33Cache OM SERIES..CaU (800)627-6998/SALES (713)589-7100/INFO HOMESMART COMPUTING VISA • MCARD • AMX • COD Circle 340 on Reader Service Card Circle 32 on Reader Service Card Circle 138 on Reader Service Card 486 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 264 on Reader Service Card Scottsdale Systems — Since 1980 — 1-800-777-2369 COMPUTERS SCOTTSDALE SYSTEMS 386-SX w/K.B., Monitor, 1 Meg of RAM S1655 386-33 MHz w/K.B;. Monito r. 4 Meg of RAM .$3925 Choice ol Full Size Desktop Case or Full Size Tower Case Each Scottsdale Machine Has a 1 Year Warranty on Parts & Labor via Overnight Service on Warranteed Products. Altos W/Xenlx SAVE WYSE 386 25 MHz WYSE 286 1 Year Warranty $3920 Model 2112 $1284 WYSE 386 16 MHz 2214 Model 2116 . . 1351 MATH CO-PROCESSORS save TERMINALS/MONITORS WYSE TERMINALS n E C2a/3d M0NIT0RS S4S9/M9 WY-30 G/A-w /Keyboard $290 ^J ° ****** WY-50 G/A-w/Keyboard 377 NEC4 ° /5D 1160/2385 WY-60 G/W/A-w/Keyboard ... 405 Mitsubishi Diamond Scan . . .528 WY-99 GTA-w/Keyboard 468 Seiko 1440 815 WY-150 G/W/A-w/Keyboard ..367 Sony1303/1302/1304..577/649/«8S WY-212 G/W-W/Keyboard . - . 1489 Hitachi Super Scan 1999 WY Height Adjustable Arm 95 p h |„ P8 20 - Hj . Res 2059 QUME WYSE MONITORS QVT 101 Plus G/A/W $316 WY530G/A 14"Mono. . ..$169 QVT 119 PIUS G/A/W 395 WY 550 AW 14" Mono 179 0VT203 Plus G/A/W 443 W Y 650. .12" VGR Color .459 QVTPCTG/A/W -.365 WY 700 w 15 - Mon0 695 IBM TERMINALS IMTEC IBM 3151 3 Year Warranty $465 ImTec 1270/1470 S90/121 Link MC 5 405 ImTec 1430/1441V 348/293 Altos 7 457 ImTec 1432M 425 KIMTRON ACER KT-70PC $349 4" Multiscan 438 14" VGA 640x480 349 14" Amber nonglare 129 Authorized Service for WYSE LEASING AVAILABLE INTERNATIONAL ORDERS WELCOME PLOTTERS I0L1NE RolandDESKTOP PLOTTERS A&D/LP 3500 $2339 1 Year Warranty A&D/LP 3700 2889 DXY-1100 $895 LP-3700-8 3129 DXY-1200 Electrostatic lp-4000-1 w/Roii Feed 3579 Paper Hold 1295 lp-4ooo-8w/roII Feed 3935 DXY-1300 Electrostatic Vinyt Cutting Machines Paper Hold 1625 Blades & Hot Tips Roland DRAFTING PLOTTERS HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS 1 Year Warranty Img. Mkr. $982 GRX-300 AR $3895 DMP 52/52 MP 2425/2866 GRX-400 AR 3559 DMP 61/62 2941/3895 Roland FLATBED PLOTTERS DMP 61 DL 3743 1 Year Warranty DMP 62 DL 4737 DPX-2500 Pen or Pencil ENTER w/Stand $4275 SP600 S599 DPX-3500 Pen or Pencil CALCOIKIP w/Stand 4628 1023/1025 $3715/4519 Roland THERMAL PLOTTERS 1043DM/1044 5869/8739 LTX-420 $9259 5902/5902A 3819/4275 LTX-320 7125 DM 52224 1 1.919 LTX-120 2135 HEWLETT PACKARD save Roland CAMM MACHINES OPTICAL SCANNER & SOFTWARE Softwares Accessories ... save Data Copy Authorized Service for Panasonic RS-505/506.S1 037/1315 Roland Plotters and CAMM Machines Microtek save UNITED INNOVATIONS Model 7000A-C/. ....51899 AMT ACCEL 500 Intells-Plot $1699 Model 8000A-D . ?K. . . . 2059 Model 9000A-E . . . >^ 2829 DIGITIZERS > KURTA SUMMAGRAPHICS Liletime Warranty On Kurta lS-1 Lifetime Limited Warranty IS-1, 12x12 Cordless 4-button 12x12 Summasketch II $355 cursor, pen stylus and interface kit $439 IS-1. 12x17 Cordless 4-button cursor, pen stylus and interface kit 629 CALCOMP CalComp 23120. 12x12 $365 Cal Comp 9100 Series save Cal Comp 9500 Series save Cal Comp Wiz 165 12x18 Professional . HITACHI GENIUS TABLET 12x12 w/Cursor. Stylus & Software 3 Year Warranty on Tablet . . $299 Call For Pricing On Larger Digitizers PRINTERS ALPS Allegro $345 ALPS324E 735 AMT ACCEL 1299 Canon BJ130E 725 Panasonic 1191 ...237 Panasonic 1 180 185 Okidata all models s QTC all models A Genicom all models Toshiba all models Citizen all models E Diconix 150P/300P 339 NECP-2200 .$315 NECP-5200 505 NECP-5300 659 NECLC-890 3159 Authori zed Service lor B SrriMdirix BOARDS 8 Genoa/lntet Verticom All Models BOCA v VMl/Cobra All Models e Paradise VGA Ptus $289 Paradise Prof 495 Control Systems/NEC save Number Nine/Laicomp save MODEM U.S. Robotics all models .... SAVE MULTITECH SYSTEMS All Models SAVE NOVELL ARCNET Coax Startopology $112 16BitCoax $360 TIARA ETHERNET Lancard/E PC 8-Bit 276 TIARA AflCHNET Lancard/A PC 91 SYNOPTICS 2500/2510 Workgroup CALL LASER PRINTERS QUME Apple & IBM $3199 HP Laser III 1799 Panasonic 4420 1199 Panasonic 4450 1395 LPB8111 1795 LPB4 959 LAPTOPS Samsung 286 $2199 Texas Instruments save IOMEGA Bernoulli Box 8-120-1 21.4 MB Internal $895 144-1.44 MB Internal 1095 Prices do not include interface ALLOY o Alloy IMP 2 & IMP 8 Cards a A Multiware 386 & 286 Versions v Retriever 60 or 200 c POWER PROTECTION s Datashield ^ Safe Power Systems y TrippLife e TAPE BACKUPS c Emerald Systems all models ^ Genoa alt models v Irwin all models E HARD DRIVES CDC IMPRIMIS 1 Year Warranty 72 MB thru 600 MB SAVE Maxtor ... save SOFTWARfc MULfl USER SCO Xenix 386 510 Concurrent DOS 386 10 User . . 310 Computone 4 to 1 6 Port Boards All soltware saies are linal CALL SERVICE FOR REPAIRS ON PRINTERS. TERMINALS. MONITORS. COMPUTERS. ^\ 1555 W. University Dr. #101, Tempe, AZ 85281 —Jg^Ji Prices listed are for cash. Discoveiy, MasterCard and Visa add 1 .67%; AZ residentsadd6-1/2%tax;add 3°« for C O.D.;add5%f orP.O. International ordeis welcome. All items are new with manufacturer's warranty. V y Returned products subject to 20% restocking fee and i n new condition in original packaging, with all warranty cards, manuals and cables. No credit issued after 30day s from date of shipment. We do not guarantee ^i»>^ compatability. Personal and company checks take up to 5 days to clear. Prices and specifications subject to change. Product subject to availability; all applicable trademarks recognized and on file. 602-966-8609 SERVICES (Mon.-Fri.) 602-731-4742 FAX 602-966-8634 rT3 feo IBM PS/2 70 & 80 4MB (6450160) $675 MEMORY UPGRADES APPLE IIFX 4MB KIT $369 firstv-^x SmURCE Nj^^/ INTERNATIONAL, INC. WE ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL ORDERSI 3 day International delivery available via Federal Express or DHL! CALL (714) 588-9866 2 «c°™, FAX (714) 588-9872 IBM PS/2 MEMORY Models 30-286, Exp. Board 1497259 512K Kit 30F5348 $54.00 2MB Kit 30F5360 $180.00 Models 70-E61/121.55SX.65SX 1MB 6450603 $99.00 Models 70-E61/121,50Z,55SX,65SX 2MB 6450604 $189.00 Models 55SX.65SX, 34F3077 & 34F3011 4MB 34F2933 $675.00 Model 70-A21 2MB 6450608 $199.00 Model 80-141 1MB 6450375 $145.00 Models 80-111/311 2MB 6450379 $269.00 All Models 70 and 80 2-8MB w/2M 6450605 $499.00 2-1 4MB w/2M 34F3077 $599.00 4-16MBW/4M 34F3011 $999.00 Models 50,50Z 55SX & 60 2-8MB 1497259 $599.00 Hewlett-Packard LaserJet IIP & III 1MB 33474B $130.00 2MB 33475B $180.00 4MB 33477B. $340.00 Hewlett-Packard LaserJet II & IID 1MB 33443B $135.00 2MB 33444B $189.00 4MB 33445B $345.00 IBM Laser 4019 1MB 1039136 $269.00 2MB 1039137 $369.00 Canon LBP-8U Laser Printer 1MB S63-1300 $150.00 2MB S63-1880 $225.00 Apple LaserWriter, Epson, Olivetti, and Faclt memory also available now! LASER PRINTER MEMORY TOLL FREE ANYWHERE IN THE US & CANADA ORDERS: 1-800-535-5892 We will beat any advertised price!! 92 AMERICAN EXPRESS AST MEMORY COMPAQ MEMORY Deskpro 286-E.386-20/20E/25 1MB 113131-001 $139.00 4MB 1131 32-001 $369.00 Deskpro 386-16 1MB Kit 108071-001 $255.00 4MB Kit 108072-061 $765.00 Deskpro 386S 1MB 113646-001 $139.00 4MB 112534-001 $369.00 Deskpro 386-33, 486-33 & SystemPro 2MB 115144-001 $225.00 ALL Compaq boards also available! Bravo-286,Workstatlon 512K Kit 500510-010 $59.00 2MB Kit 500510-002 ........$172.00 Premium 386-16/20C 1MB Kit 500510-007 $95.00 4MB Kit 50051 0-008 $369.00 Premium 386-20 1MB Kit 500510-003 $150.00 4MB Kit 50051 0-004 $369.00 Bravo 386-SX 2MB Kit 500510-002 $172.00 4MB Kit 50051 0-008 $369.00 Premium 386-SX/25/33 &486-25 1MB 500718-002 $95.00 Vectra QS/16S 1MB D1540A $112.00 4MB D1 542A $349.00 Vectra QS/20PC, RS/25PC and 20C 1MB D1640A $126.00 4MB D1642A $365.00 Vectra 486 PC 1MB D2150A $115.00 4MB D2151A $390.00 HEWLETT-PACKARD MEMORY LAPTOP AND PORTABLE MEMORY SPECIALS TOSHIBA MEMORY 1MB Model 1000SE/XE $329.00 2MB Model 1000SE/XE $469.00 2MB Model T1200XE $289.00 2MB Model T1600 $289.00 2MB Model T3100E $289.00 2MB Model T3100SX $289.00 4MB Model T310OSX ..$689.00 2MB Model T3200SX $289.00 4MB Model T3200SX $689.00 2MB Model T5100 $289.00 2MB Model T5200.T8500 $289.00 8MB Model T5200.T8500 $1300.00 ZENITH MEMORY 1MB SuperSport 286 & 286E ....$199.00 2MB SuperSport 286 & 286E .... $455.00 2MB SuperSport SX/Alpha $455.00 2MB SuperSport SX/Beta $455.00 COMPAQ MEMORY 1MB Portable LTE 286 $195.00 2MB Portable LTE 286 $299.00 1MB SLT-286 $245.00 4MB SLT-286 $1395.00 NEC MEMORY 1MB ProSpeed 286 $270.00 2MB ProSpeed 386 $450.00 Zenith Z-386/20/25/33 & 33E 1MB ZA36/3800ME $99.00 4MB ZA3800MK $675.00 Zenith Z-386 20 25 & 33 2MB ZA3600MG $199.00 Zenith Z-386 SX 2MB Z-605-1 -...$255.00 ZENITH MEMORY Professional Service and Suooort Second-to-None!! EXPANSION BOARDS BocaRam/AT Plus Up to 8MB for any AT or 1 6 bit compatible machines running up to 33MHz. Offers conventional, expanded or extended memory, provides a maximum of 2MB LIM/EMS 4.0. Uses 1x1-10 Oram. Order Now: SIMAT80 $149.00 with 2MB SIMAT82 $299.00 SIMM MODULES IBM TYPE ADD $5.00 FOR StPPS 4MX9-80 $410.00 1Mx9-12 $69.00 1Mx9-10 $73.50 1MX9-80 $79.00 1Mx9-70 $89.00 256x9-12 $20.00 256x9-10 $23.50 256x9-80 $26.00 256x9-60 $35.00 APPLE-MAC 1MX8-12 $61.00 1Mx8-10 $65.00 1Mx8-80 $71.50 256x8-12 $23.40 256x8-10 $24.00 256x8-80 $24.70 •All types and packages available - CALL! Circle 118 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 119) WE ACCEPT PURCHASE ORDERS FROM UNIVERSITIES, QUALIFIED FIRMS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES SEND ALL P.O.S AND MAIL ORDERS TO: 36 Argonaut, Suite 140 Aliso Viejo, California 92656 PH: (714) 588-9866 FAX: (714) 588-9872 ■■III llllll MINI MM • NO SURCHARGE ON MC OR VISA • Terms: MC. Visa, AmEx (Add 4%), COD, Cash, Net 30 days on purchase orders from qualified fir s. • 20% Restocking tee on all non-defective returns & refused order . RMA required. • All products third part/, guaranteed 100% compatible • PRICES AND AVAILABILITY SUBJECT TO CHANGE SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 487 ESTABLISHED 1976 We Accept Purchase Orders from Qualified Firms, Universities and Government Agencies FROMANYWHEREIN THE U.S. & CANADA l-(800)-533-0055 We Accept International Orders with fast delivery via DHL, Federal Express, Air Mail INTERNATIONAL ORDERS: (714) 251-8689 4MGx9- 80ns S415 1MGx9- 120ns S70 1MGx9- 100ns S75 1MGx9- 80ns S80 1MGx9- 70ns S90 ALSO IN STATIC COL IttftlflitHMJ*! 256x9- 120ns S21 256x9- 100ns S24 256x9- 80ns S27 256x9- 60ns S39 EHEJSZS 1MGx8-120ns S62 1MGx8- 100ns S67 1MG x 8 - 80ns $72 256 x 8 - 120ns S24 256x8- 100ns S39 UdmfflHHHUMIIMfl 386/25/33 (1MG) $110 (2MG) $299 Super (1MG> ....$359 Sport 286 (4MG) ..$1179 |^£|£j "!«!*! I! vm PART NdA G 4MG 3BS.-25-33-SX S105 ~ 386/16 S95 $375 386C S95 S375 PART NO. IMP 2MG Wkstation 286 $249 Wkslation 386 $249 Rampage 286 S95 S190 6451060- For model 80- A2VA31 S699 6450608-070 -For model 70A21.A61.B21.B61 $295 34F2933 - 4MG Memory M odule .$699 6450372 - 2MG Module (o r 6450367 $449 6450608 • For 70A21 2MGx9-80ns $200 6453553 For70e61 , 70-121. 50Z &50SX 1MGx9-80ns $105 6450375 I MG For 80-041 S149 6450379 2MGlOr80-111&311 S27 5 6450604 $200 For70E61/121.50Z&55SX *10 or more units ...$190 256x9- 120ns $36 30F5346 CQACALCULUS ^OO^ EZ-FAX MONTHLY SPECIALS STAR MICRONICS DOT MATRIX PRINTER 180 cps NX1000/2 $J59 Module for 70E61/121 50Z & 55SX 2MG x 9 - 80ns 1-9 UNITS $200 10 or more units IBM LASER PRINTER Memory Upgrade (or Model 401 9/401 9E 1MG $299 2MG $399 3.5MG .$529 EPSON LASER PRINTER Memory Upgrade for NO SLOT CLOCK AST PRODUCT! SIX PAK 286 Up to 4MB EMS 4.0 port available. For AT and compatibles. Uses 256 or 1 MG SIMMs. Headroom TSR Memory Management Software included. wilh6K $119 with 51 2K ....$179 with 4MG ...,$479 RAMPAGE PLUS 286 Up to 8MG Expanded Memory - Uses 256 x 9 or IMG x 9 SIMM. Supports LIM4.0 and OS/2 - Up to 12.5MHz bus -for AT (16 bit bus) withBK $319 with 2MG ....$529 MEMORY EXPANSION BOARDS BOCA RESEARCH COMPAQ MEMORY j ^H.M.l!l!M.IIII4,H MODEL 1MG 4MG 386/20V20E/25/25E DESK PR0 286E.386S S145 $425 MODEL 2MG 8MG 386/33, 486/25 & SYSTEM PRO $320 $2495 PEE3H[N= MSI 5 , JIMJIM MODEL 512K 1MG 2MG 4MG 8MG 386/16 S425 $675 $1375 $249$ 385 20E 25E 386S $250 $725 Portable 386 $1250 Portable LTE S219 $325 $495 SLT/286 $325 MEMORY UPGRADE KITS 1 MODEL 512K 2MG 4MG Portable III $70 $178 DESKPR0 386'16 $250 $795 RAMQUEST 8/16 The only card 'expandable to 32MG. for IBM PCs, XTs, ATs, PS/2 Model 30-286 as well as compatibles. Supports both 6 and 16 bit bus. Uses 256K. 1 MG or 4MG Modules. w/OK $269 RAMQUEST EXTRAThe only Multifunction card that provides up to 8MG and two serial ports on one board for the IBM PS/2 Models 50, 60 & 80. Guaranteed EMS 4.0 and OS/2 compatible. Easy to install with only 4 key- strokes. Uses256Kand/or 1 MG SIMM's.. ..$229 RAMQUEST EXTRA 16/32Theonly6-8MG, wait state card for PS/2 mod 50, 60, & 80 which fully supports both 1 6 and 32-bit memory access. Includes 1 SER and 1 PAR port plus freeserialcable. EMS 4.0 and OS/2 compatible. Uses 256K and/or 1 MG SIMMS $299 ACCELERATORS TINY TURBO 286 Lowcost, high speed, half slot PC/XT - Accelerates your PC/XT with a 8MHz 80286 microprocessor. 80287 Math chip socket $229 TINY TURBO XTHigh-speed half slot accelerator for PC/XT - Accelerates your PC/ XT up to 4 times faster with a 12 MHz 80286 microprocessor. 80287 Mathchipsocket$259 D-RAM TESTERS UNI-001 RT $119.00 Tests all parameters except speed 64x1 /256x 1/1Mx1 UNI-002RT $149.95 Tests speed plus parameters UNI-003 RT $199.95 Tests standard SIMM Modules 256 X 8, 256 X 9. 1 MG X 9. 1 MG X8 1YEAR WARRANTY DEST PERSONAL SCAN Combines two of the best scanning platforms into one, compact unit. Full page hand held and ten page sheet feed scanning in one device. Perform "free hand" scanning with the full page hand held unit - books, maps, technical documents, oddly- shapped originals are easily scanned. Place the hand held unit into the feeder base and automatically scan up to ten pages at a time, within seconds. The DEST Personal scanner comes bundled with Recognize!, DEST's critically acclaimed omnifont optical character recognition (OCR) software. Together these innovative products offer the most cost effective, high accuracy OCR solution available for the PC. 300 dpi resolution, Halftone scanning with 64 levels of gray $695 TOPHAT - Does backfill conventional memory from 512 to 640K on AT/ with SK $69 TOPHAT II - Same as TophAT/ with 1 28K $85 BOC ARAM/XT Provides up to 2MG of expanded memory for 8 bit bus. Operates up to 12 MHz - Uses 256K D-RAM/ with GK $120 with512K $179 BOCAR AM/AT Provides up to 2MG LIM EMS 4.0 and/or 4MG of extended, expanded or backfill memory. For 1 6 bit bus. Operates up to 16MHz. Uses256K D-RAM/with SK $140 with512K $199 BOC ARAM/AT PLUS Provides up to 8MG of extended, expanded or backfill memory. Operates up to 33MHz and is set thru software. Uses 1MG D-RAM/ with 0K $140 with2MG $349 BOCARAM/AT I/O PLUS Provides up to 4MG of extended, expanded or backfill memory.For 16 bit bus. Operates up to 3 3 MHz and is set thru software. Has serial and parallel port. Uses 1MG D-RAM/ withSK $165 with2MG $379 BOCARAM 30 Provides up to 2MG of expanded memory for IBM PS/2 model 25, 30 and 8-bit bus PC that utilize 3.5 in. floppy disks. Uses256K D-RAM/ with 6K $149 with 2 MG $329 BOCARAM 50Z Provides up to 2MG, wait state, expanded or extended memory lor IBM PS/2 model 50. 50Z.60. Uses 1 MG D-RAM/ with OK $160 with2MG $379 BOCARAM 50/60 Provides up to 4MG expanded, extended or backfill memory for PS/ 2 model 50, 60. Uses 1 MG D-RAM/ withOK $160 with2MG $379 I/O XT 02 41 For 8-bit bus. Has clock, parallel port, serial port, and optional 2nd serial porT.$49 l/OAT For 16-bit bus. Has parallel port, serial port, and optional 2nd serial port $69 I/O S E R 2 Add 2nd serial pott, to I/O AT or I/O XT $15.95 BOCA MCA PARALLEL CARD Addsi parallel port to PS/2 System $89 BOCA MCA SERIAL/PARALLEL CARD Adds 2 serial and 1 parallel port to PS/2 System $139 EVEREX RAM 3000 DELUXE Upto3MG. Selectable memory addresses, Expanded Memory Specifications (EMS) 4.0 / OS/2. Can be used to backfill base memory up to 640K and the rest as expanded and/or extended memory. Uses 256K DRAM $99 With 512K $139 RAM 8000 Up to 8MG capacity/support to base, extended or expanded memory in any combination. Fully compatible with Lotus, Intel. Microsoft, EMS 4.0. EEMS. Supports Multi- Tasking and DMA Multi-Tasking in hardware. Software configurable (no dip switches to set). Full 16MG window for future expansion . Zero wait state, uses 1MGD-RAM $275 RAM 10000 Up to 10 MG capacity/support to base, extended or expanded memory in any combination. Compatible with Lotus, Intel, Microsoft. EMS4.0. Operateswith noadditional wait states. Uses IMG D-RAM $169 UNITEX 3 BUTTON MOUSE -Microsoft Compatible w/software included $49 384 Multifunction Card $89 for PC/XTExpands to 384K-SER/PAR/CLKJ Game port. Uses 64K DRAM Retail Office 4025 S. Industrial Blvd. Las Vegas, NV89103 Phone: (702) 732-8689 FAX: (702) 732-0390 Mon - Fri 8am - 5pm Sat 9am -1pm TERMS AND CONDITIONS No surcharge lor MC or VISA Terms: MC • VISA • COD • CASH ■ AMEX add 4% Purchase Orders from qualified firms. 20% restocking lee on non-delective relurns. Prices subject to change. SEND ALL MAIL ORDERS TO P.O. Box 19772 Irvine, CA 92713 Mail Order Division & Retail Store 17222 Armstrong Ave. • Irvine, CA 92714 Phone: (714) 25l-UNTX(251-8 6 8 9) Fax:(714)251-8943 Mon - Fri 7am - 5pm Sat 8am - 2pm nn x£x x nitex, Inc ESTABLISHED 1976 We Accept Purchase Orders from Qualified Firms, Universities and Government Agencies MAILORDER DIVISION FROM ANY WHERE IN THE U.S. & CANADA l-(800)-533-0055 CALL forpricing on additional FLOPPY DISK DRIVES, HARD DISK DRIVES, PRINTERS AND MONITORS SAMSUNG 286 /12 MHz Special Price ! Comes with 40 Meg Mini-Scribe Hard Drive SAMSUNG 286/12MHZ ■ 12mhz Motherboard with CPU Intel 80286/1 2(zero wait state) ■ 80387 Math Co-processor Socket ■ Switchable Speed ■ 8 Expansion Slots ■ 1MB RAM (Expandable to 8) • 40MG Mini-Scribe Hard Drive . With ATI VGA Card or Mono Card & Monitor OUR PRICE $999 I 1.1 FD/HD Controller 1 1 .2MB Floppy Drive 1 1 Parallel Printer Port 1 Serial Port (RS-232 Interface) 101 -Key Enhanced Keyboard I DOS 3.3 I 200 Watt Power Supply I FCC Class B approved 1 YEAR WARRANTY ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ DFI COMPUTER SYSTEMS ' - . \ The New 386 Personal Computer Systems from DFI have some incredible features that outperform machines that cost hundreds of dollars more! We have the configuration with exactly the options you want. DFI-386-20 ■ 20MHz ■ 1 MG RAM ■ Floppy disk drive 1 .2 or 1 .44 ■ Fast IDE 1.1 hard/floppy drive controller ■ Mono Card & Monitor ■ 200 Watt Power Supply ■ FCC Class B approved ■ 101 keyboard ■ 1 Year On-Site warranty Add VGA card & Monitor... $350 Add 40MG Hard Drive...$275 OUR PRICE $1159 DFI-386-25 ■ 25MHz ■ 1 MG RAM ■ Floppy disk drive 1.2 or 1.44 ■ Fast IDE 1.1 hard/floppy drive controller ■ Mono Card & Monitor ■ 200 Watt Power Supply ■ FCC Class B approved ■ 101 keyboard ■ 1 Year On-Site warranty Add VGA card & Monitor... $350 Add 40MG Hard Drive...$275 OUR PRICE $1299 DFI-386-33 ■ 33MHz ■ 1 MG RAM ■ Floppy disk drive 1 .2 or 1 .44 ■ Fast IDE 1.1 hard/floppy drive controller ■ Mono Card & Monitor ■ 32K Cache Memory ■ 200 Watt Power Supply ■ FCC Class B approved ■ 101 keyboard ■ 1 Year On-Site warranty OUR PRICE Add VGA card & Monitor... $350 Add 40MG Hard Drive... $27 5 $2199 KAYPRO COMPUTER SYSTEMS Choose the System thafs perfect for your needs! From the affordable MC-10, the additional speed and power of the MC-20 , to the advanced 32-bit processing with speeds of over 25MHz of the MC-30, Kay pro has your system. MC-10 ■ 8088-1 Omhz ■ 512K RAM ■ 1 360K floppy disk drive ■ 1 para\\e\ port ■ 1 serial port ■ 1 game port ■ clock/ calendar with battery back-up ■ 101 keyboard ■ 150 watt power supply ■ FCC class B approved ■ Dow Jones 48 hourdepot service $429 MC-20 ■ 80286-1 2mhz (zero wait state) ■ 1 MB RAM ■ 1:1 HD/FD controller ■ 1 1.2MB floppy disk drive ■ 1 parallel I port ■ 1 serial port ■ 1 game port ■ 101 keyboard ■ 200 watt power supply ■ FCC class B approved ■ Dow Jones 48 hour depot service $649 MC-30 Series ■ 1 MB RAM ■ 1 :1 HD/FD controller ■ 1 1.2MB floppy disk drive ■ 1 parallell port ■ 1 serial port ■ 1 game port ■ 101 keyboard ■ 200 watt power supply ■ FCC class B approved ■ Dow Jones 48 hour depot service MC-30SX 80386-1 6MHz sx $999 MC-30/20 • 80386-20MHZ $1 299 MC-30/25 80386-25MHZ $1 399 7 YEAR WARRANTY ON ALL KAYPRO PRODUCTS *Prices do not include monitor "I: 1^" — M& j^ PK m ";_i DEB ^^ -JH - Wk Retail Office 4025 S. Industrial Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89103 Phone: (702) 732-8689 FAX: (702) 732-0390 Mon - Fri 8am - 5pm Sat 9am - 1 pm TERMS AND CONDITIONS Terms: Cash • MC or VISA - no surcharge AMEX only add 4% handling fee COD. Purchase Orders from qualified firms. 20% restocking fee on non-defective returns. Prices subject to change. SEND ALL MAIL ORDERS TO P.O. Box 19772 Irvine, CA 92713 Mail Order Division & Retail Store 17222 Armstrong Ave. • Irvine, CA 92714 Phone: (714) 251-UNTX(251-8 6 8 9) Fax:(714)251-8943 Mon - Fri 7am - 5pm Sat 8am - 2pm Circle 310 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 311) Circle 309 on Reader Service Card nMiaxMBKJ YOUR I.C. SOURCE COLLIMATOR PEN — (INFRA-RED) A low power collimator pen containing a MOVPE grown gain guided GaAIAs laser. This collimator pen delivers a maximum CW output power of 2.5 mW at 25°. These collimated laser sources are designed for industrial applications such as data retrieval, telemetry, alignment, etc. The non-hermetic stainless steel encapsulation of the pen is specifically designed for easy alignment in an optical read or write system, and consists of a lens and a laser device. The lens system collimates the diverging laser light. The wavefront quality is diffraction limited. The housing is circular and precision manufactured with a diameter of 1 1 .0 mm and an accuracy between + and - 1 1 u m. L IS T P R IC E: $180 . 48 OUR PRICE: $39.99 • QUALITY COMPONENTS ...LOW PRICES SINCE 1983 • LASER DIODE - (INFRA-RED) Designed for general industrial low power applications such as reading optical discs, optical memories, barcode scanners, se- curity systems, alignment, etc. The gain guided laser is con- structed on an n-type gallium arsenide substrate with a Metal Or- ganic Vapor Phase Epitaxial proc- ess (MOVPE). The device is mounted in a hermetic S0T148D encapsula- tion, (diameter 9.0 mm) The SB1053 is standard equipped witha monitor diode, iso- lated from the case and optically coupled to the rear-emitting Jascet of the laser.This fast-responding moni- tor diode can be used as a sensor to control the laser optical output level. L I ST PR I C E : $ 3 8.00 OUR PRICE: $9.99 • WE CARRY A FULL LINE OF COMPONENTS! • STOCK* PINS cm DESCRIPTION iumo 1-24 25-99 100+ 1702 74 258x4 1us 399 3.79 3.41 2708 74 1024x8 450ns 6.49 6.17 555 2758 24 1024x8 450ns 3.99 3.79 341 2716 24 2048 X 8 450ns(25v> 329 3.13 2.82 2716-1 24 2048 x 8 350ns(25v) 3.79 3.60 3.24 TMS2716 24 2048 x 8 450ns 6.29 5.98 5.38 27C16 24 2048 x 8 450ns (25V-CMOS) 3.99 3.79 3.41 2732 24 4096 x 8 450ns (25v) 3.79 3.60 3.24 2732A-2 24 4096x8 200ns 21v 3.79 360 3.24 2732A 24 4096x8 250ns (21v) 3.69 351 3.16 2732A-4 24 4096x8 450ns (21v) 3.19 3.03 2.73 TMS2532 24 4096x8 450ns |25v| 5.79 5.50 4.95 TMS2532 24 4096x8 450ns (25v) 1.99 1.89 1.70 27C32 24 4096x8 450ns (25v-CMOS) 4.19 3.98 3.58 2764-20 28 8192x8 200ns (21v) 3.99 3.79 3.41 2764 28 8192x8 250ns (21v) 3.79 3.60 3.24 2764A-20 28 8192x8 200ns 12.5v) 399 3.79 341 2764A ?B 8192x8 250ns 12.5v) 329 3.13 282 TMS2564 28 8192x8 250ns 25v) 6.79 6.45 5.81 27C64 28 8192x8 250ns |21 v-CMOS) 4.19 3.98 3.58 27128-20 28 16,384 x 8 200ns (21v) 5.79 5.50 4.95 27128 28 16,384 x 8 250ns |21v] 5.09 4.84 4.35 27128A 2H 16.384x8 250ns 12.5V) 5.79 5.50 4.95 27C128 28 16,384 x 8 250ns 21v) 5.79 5.50 4.95 27256-20 28 32,768 x 8 200ns (l2.5v) 5.29 5.03 4.53 27256 28 32,768x8 250ns 12.5v) 4.79 455 409 27C256 28 32,768 x 8 250ns 12.5V-CMOS) 529 5.03 4.53 27512-20 !8 65.536 x 8 200ns I2.5v| 7.49 712 6.41 27512 28 65,536 x 8 250ns I2.5v| 6.99 664 5.98 27C512 m 65,536 x 8 250ns 12.5v-CMOS) 6.99 664 5.98 27C1024 32 131,072 x8 200ns (12.5v-CMOS) 17.99 17.09 1538 S8764 24 8192x8 450ns 13.99 13.29 11.96 68766 24 8192x8 450ns 1499 14.24 12.82 3 • CALL FO RAF REE CATALOG! • ^^ffl CORN ELECTRONICS 10010 Canoga Ave., Unit B-8 • Chatsworth, CA 91311 OUTSIDE CALIFORNIA: (800) 824-3432 IN CALIFORNIA: 818 341-8833 ORDER BY FAX: 818 998-7975 490 B Y T E • SEPTEMBER 1990 3T YI i P^i J rVdlCE MA1L*TELEMARKETING CALL PROCESSING ' LeVPowerline transform your PC/XT/AT/386 o into a multi-line vaicejprocessing command*^ s center. Have your^omputer intelligently w process your sales, inquiries and rnes- g f ; sages. Complete package. IK* Single Line (agmouth) . .$295.00 1 4f Mufti-Line $895.00 £ (Developer/OEM packages available} Z - VISA -MC-AMEX- COD i Call: (415) 522-3800 FAX: (415) 522-5556 TALKING TECHNOLOGY, INC. 1125 ATLANTIC AVE., ALAMEDA, CA 94501 JUL* Circle 285 on Reader Service Card J Laser 5 . . . $399 faser FfriEiter ControMr Thinking of buying a ■ LaserMaster ■ Intel Visual Edge™ ■ Kofax board J Laser 5 gives you the functions of all three boards combined into one, plus EMS: ■ Fast laser printing ■ Halftones on a laser printer ■ Group 4 file printing and display JTALL TREE SYSTEMS 2585 E Bayshore Rd. ■ Palo Alto, CA 94303 (415) 493-1980 ■ FAX (415) 493-7639 Versions available (or HP Series (l/lll and Canon LBP-4 laser printers All products are trademarks of their respective companies Artwork f orthis ad created with JLaser 5 and included software Circle 286 on Reader Service Card Intelligent Solutions NetWare, DOS, OS/2 & Xenix SCSI CONTROLLERS FOR ISA & MCA Novell tested under NetWare 286 Use with NetWare 286 or 386 Use any size SCSI disk drive Handle large SCSI hard drives and erasable opticais Phone: (216) 234-6387 FAX: (216) 234-2233 The SCSI Professionals 6801 ENGLE ROAD, CLEVELAND, OH 44130 TESTED and APPROVED NetWare Compatible There is a Difference. Lifetime Free Updates EP-1140 $895 A programmer is not just another programmer. That is why BP Microsystems is commited to bringing our customers the highest quality programmers at an affordable price. This commitment is evident in our EP-1140 E/EPR0M programmer supporting thousands of 24-, 28-, 32- and 40 pin devices. A 32-pin model, EP-1132, is available also for $695. And, all of our programmers include future chip support at no charge and an unconditional money back guarantee. BP MICROSYSTEMS 1-800-225-2102 (713) 461-9430 Circle 47 on Reader Service Card LPC Serial/2A HDLC/SDLC Data Communication Controller for IBM PC/AT Bus • Dual Channel Synchronous Controller (Z85C30) • Runs 800K BAUD • Full Duplex DMA • HDLC LapB software option Jft " Computer Modules, Inc. 2348C Walsh Ave. Santa Clara, CA 95051 j^ 1 Tel: (408) 496-1881 Fax: (408) 496-1886 IBM PC/AT is a trademark of IBM, lnc Circle 68 on Reader Service Card Infra-Red Remote Control OCTACOMM®/IR Change TV channels from your PC. Control DOS programs from a hand-held remote. Use a PC to send and receive the infra-red sig- nals used by hand-held remote controllers like those used with TVs, VCRs and other devices. Maintains a database oflR signals I earned from your own hand -he Id remote controller. Hard- ware attaches to the serial port of the IBM-PC. Software for DOS 2.0 and greater. Price: $395.00 Houston Computer Services, Inc. 11331 Richmond Avenue / Suite 10 1/ Houston. Texas 77082 (713)493-9900 M/C - Visa - Discover - AmEx - COD OCTACOMM is a registered trademark of Houston Computer Services, Inc. Circle 225 on Reader Service Card Circle 139 on Reader Service Card There's A Better Way To Add Data Acquisition and Control To Your Computer A Sampling of Products from Our S ummer 1990 Catal og Call 1-800-221-0916 for Yours What is the A-Bus? Why should you choose The A-Bus is a system for connecting the A"BuS? devices to your computer. All ABus It > s affordab | e . From the $65 Digital devices work together: no matter what Input Card t0 the $299 Smart Stepper computer you have. With the A-Bus, you Controller, you get much more than your can perform a myriad of functions: money's worth Sensing. Detecting or reading a switch It , s simple Easy conne ction to your closure or voltage presence. computer and simple wiring with screw Measuring. Determining a force, fre- terminals. Designed to be easy to inte- quency, temperature, weight, or any other grate in software. quantity. These are converted to voltages It , s re i ia ble. Built to commercial stan- which are then measured by A Bus cards. dards using prime components. Switching. Open or close a circuit. It > s versatile . You mix and match low Switch any type of electrical device. cost boards t0 fit your pro j ect Governing. Control the level or position It > s bui , t in Amer ica. Local manufacture of a device. Move objects, drive motors. means quality on . time support In simple terms: A-Bus cards are data Irs proven . Thousands of applications acquisition and control building blocks installed around the world) on se3) in the which can be assembled into any system. a ir, and on land. /m ALPHA /^®@fe^© 242-B West Avenue, Darien, CT 06820 USA Call (203) 656-1806 or Fax 203 656 0756 UK Distributor: Pinna Electronics, Scotland Tel: (0294) 605296 Fax: (0294) 68286 Asia: Batam Development Agency, Singapore Tel: 473-4518 Fax: 479-6496 Scandinavia: A/S Con-Trade, Norway Tel: (04) 41 83 51 Fax: (04) 41 94 72 Circle 15 on Reader Service Card Relay Card: 8 individually controlled industrial relays. 3A at120VAC,SPST. RE-140:$142 High-Speed 12-bit A/D converter: 8 extremely fast (10us) analog inputs. 0-5V, on board amp. FA-154:$179 8 Bit A to D : 8 Analog inputs. 0-5.1 V. 20m V steps. 7500 readngs/sec. AD-142: $1 42 1 2 Bit A to D: Range: ±4V. Ovboard amp. 1 mV resolution. Conversion time 130ms. 1 channel; expand withRE-156orMX-155 AN-146:$153 Temperature Sensor: Range 0-200°F. 10mW.2° Resolution with AD-142. TS-111:$12 Digital Input: 8 optcHSOtated inputs. Read voltage presence or switch closures. 14-141: $65 Latched Digital Input: 8 cptcasolaied inputs. Each input individually latched to catch switch closures and alarm loops. LM57:$85 Smart CXiad Stepper Controller: On board mdoprcces- sor controls tour motors simultaneously. Uses simpfe commands like'MO VE ARM 10.2 (INCHES) LEFT'. Set position, ramping, speed, units.... Many inputs for limit switches etc. Stepper motors available. SC-149: $299 Odin Software: PC compatible. Control relays from analog inputs or time schedules. Logging. Runs in background. OS-189:$129 Reed Relay Card: 8 reed relays (20mA at60VDC, SPST). RE-136:$109 Digital Output Driver : 8 outputs: 250mA at 1 2V. For relays, solenoids, stepper motors, lamps. ST-143:$78 D/A converter: 4 Channel 8 Bit D/A converter with output amplifiers. DA-147:$149 24 lineTTL I/O: Connect24signals,Tn_0/5 V levels or switches. (8255A) DGr148:$72 32 Channel Multiplexer: Switches up to 32 channels to a sirigtecornmon. MX-155:$83 Clock with Alarm: Powerful dock/calendar. Battery backup. CL-144:$98 Touch Tone Decoder: Converts tones to unique values. PH-145:$87 A Bus Prototyping card: PR-152:$16 Cou nter Timer: Three 1 6 bit counterslimers. Count pulses, measure frequency CT-150:$132 Cobra Robot Arm: 5 axis robot Connects to printer port. Excellent resolution and repeatability. SX-190:$549 Motr»erb^rd:Holdsupto5ABus(ards. MB-120:$106 A Bus Adapters: IBMrc/XT/AT&o^mpdtjbles. AR-133:$69 AtaoChannel Adapter: AR-170: $93 Parallel Adapters also available for Apple II, Commodore 64,128, 7RSS0 Serial Adapter: Connect A-Bus systems to any RS-232 port. SAr129$149 Serial Processor: Built in BASIC for off-line monitoring, fogging, decision making. SP-127: $1 89 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 491 CALL 800-654-7762 WITH YOUR BEST PRICE AND WE'LL BEAT IT*!! "We guarantee lowest pricing on Seagate, Everex, Panasonic, DTK Systems, Samsung, all memory expansions, and many more name brand products. Also, NEVADA COMPUTER specializes in oyer stock, discontinued, excess, liquidation, bankrupt, etc. INVENTORIES, of which we purchase large quantities under dealer cost and offer to you at a fraction of everybody elses pricing. Savings up to 90% off! All new with at least 90 day warranties." MEMORIES. (BOARDS & MODULES) Description 1MB Add-on Module 1MB Add-on Module 4MB Add-on Module 4MB Add-on Module 1MB Memory Exp. Bd 1MB Memory Exp. Bd 4MB Memory Exp. Bd 4MB Memory Exp. Bd 1MB Memory Exp. Bd 4MB Memory Exp. Bd 1MB Upgrade Bd 4MB Upgrade Bd Equiv. Compaq For Your Part ft Model # Low Price 113131-001 386/20/25/20e/286E 179°° 113646-001 Deskpro 386S 189°° 113132-001 386f2QI25n0U280E 359°' 112534-001 Deskpro 386S 499°° Deskpro 386/20e 299°° Deskpro 386S 309°° Deskpro 386/20e 799°° Deskpro 386S 799°° 286E 469°° 286E 1299°° SLT/286 399°° 386/16 1299°° 113644-001 113633-001 113645-001 113634-001 117428-001 117429-001 110235-001 108070-001 Description 120NS 100NS 80NS 60NS 256 x 9 IBM 1900 29°° 33°° 59°° 1Meg x 8 Apple 85°° 95°° 99°° - 1Meg x 9 IBM 69°° 74°° 79°° 109°° 4Meg x 9 IBM 599°° 699°° ):WBS»iM*NiWWHS HB^fflSiMiffiffl 1Meg 134°° 2Meg 189°° 4Meg 339 00 HP IIP 1049°° HP LASER JET II 1499°° HP III 1799°° All memory boards expandable to 4 Meg. Specify Machine UJ.LiJ.L xcNIXtt nn'IMI II II II I I I 8 Bit 8087 5MHz or less 88°° 8087-2 8MHz 118°° 8087-1 10MHz or less 149°° 16 Bit 80287 6MHz 149°° 80287-8 8MHz 189°° 80287-10 10MHz 218°° 80C287-12 Laptop 278" 32 Bit 80807-16 16MHz 80387-20 20MHz 80387-25 25MHz 80387-33 33MHz 80387-SX 80287-XL Description 512K Upgrade 2MB Upgrade 1MB Module 2MB Module 2MB Module 1MB Mem. Board 2MB Mem. Board 2MB Exp. 8MB 4MB Module Equiv. IBMPS2 Part* 30F 5348 30F 5360 6450603 6450604 6450608 6450375 6450379 6450605 34F 2933 For Model ft 30/286 30/286 70-E61 & 121 70E61 & 121 70-A21 80-041 80-111 & 311 70/80 70/80 Your Low Price 69°° 189°° 10400 199 00 20900 14900 319°° gggoo 689°° 309°° 359°° 459°° 559°° 29900 228°° i ranches; Description 64 x 1 64 x 4 IW^Jocfc 150NS 120NS 100NS 6* 1" 1« 2" BDNS 70NS 386/25/33 1 Meg 2 Meg 109°° Super 299°° Super 286 1 4 ■Aeq Vleg 359"° 159°° UU-J-UUL ^Rffififit tvcncAr RAM 3000 DELUXE Up to 3 Meg. (EMS) 4.0 OS/2. Back up base memory and expanded and/or extended memory. Uses nnnn 256KD-RAM yy uu RAM 8000 Up to 8MG capacity/support to base extended or expanded memory in any combination. Fully compatible with Lotus, Intel. Microsoft, EMS 4.0, EFMS. Supports Multi-Tasking and DM A Multi-Tasking in hardware software configurable (no dip switches to set). Full 16MG window for future expansion. Zero wait state, uses 1MB nnnnn d-ram iaa uu RAM 10000 Up to 10 MB extended or expanded memory. Compatible with Lotus, Intel, Microsoft, EMS 4.0. Uses 1 MB D-RAM "====E=====sr L£ ' J_IJ_ 1 Meg 149°° 2 Meg Workstation 286/386 259°° 4 Meg 386/16 or 386 C 399 00 Specify Machine Type 256 x 1 256x4 1 Meg x 1 \<^ fti 2 45 1» OVS 06. _ 285 195 800 595 3" 235 900 395 2 45 1000 6« 495 13« 795 179°° 16 8IT MEMORY BOARD FOR 286. 386 AT 0K-8Meg Board • 4.0 LIM Compatible • New 5 Year Warranty • Conventional, Expanded and Extended Memory • Supports DOS, OS/2, LIM/EMS & EEMS • Operates with CPU Speeds to 33 MHz OK - 129°° 2 Meg - 269°° 4 Meg - 389°° 8 Meg - 649°° 2MG Card Toshiba Portable T1600. . 2MG Card Toshiba Portable T3100SX . 4MG Card Toshiba Portable T3100SX. 512K Card Toshiba Portable T3100e . . . 2MG Card Toshiba Portable T3100e . . . 2MG Card Toshiba Portable 13200SX . 4MG Card Toshiba Portable T3200SX 3MG Card Toshiba Portable 13200. . . . 2MG Card Toshiba Portable T5100. . . . 2MG Module Toshiba Portable T5200 . 3MG Module Toshiba Desktop T8500 . 298°° 298°° .79800 . 148oo .298°° 298oo 6980° 498°° 298°° . 298°° .348°° i UJJiAU Ul n L rUiUIAikU,lU,klii;j,Ai-l g^| -LIQUIDATIONS-; X modem card byExerox Z • 300 DPI • 16 Sees per page • 32 Level Gray Scale • 1 year warranty • Ready to go Interface card and cable included List 1595 Your Price 499 00 OPTIONS: OCR 199°° PC Paint By Z-Soft 1.65 79°° Sheet Feeder (also works with HP) 299°° WHILE SUPPLIES LAST - WITH 1 YEAR WARRANTY * Automatic Group III Digital Fax • Background operation • Send text, screen images, scanned pages • Hayes compatible modem built on • Fax 9600/7200/4800/2400 • Software - telephone cord • New, factory sealed List 695 Your Price 149 00 • 6.5MB per minute • Wangtec 5099EN24 drive • Wangtec 8 bit Qic60 controller • Software • Menu driven • DC600 cartridge • Easy installation List 99900 Your Price 399 00 40MB backup no controller189°° QTY LEFT IWHfflW i't^S: ] j SALE PRICE QTY LEFT 14 Microsoft File for Mac 2.0 9 BOMB for Mac II & SE by Everex 109 Nee Cutsheet Feed for 2000/3500 series 14 Wordstar 5.0 SALE PRICE 27 US Robotics 2400 Modem for PS2 99°° 14 Starwriter F-10 40CPS Letter Quality 399°° 175 PFS Proof or Graph 19°° 9 Bernoulli Box 2 -20Meg SCSI Interface 699°° Bffiiffi ] — SUPER SPECIALS ~P0^WpLT& -i MANUFACTURED BY ZOOM PC 2400 HC INTERNAL MODEM • Fully Hayes Compatible • Monitor Speaker with Volume Control • 2400/300 Baud Transmission Rate • Addressable COM 1,2,3,4 • Compatible with IBM PC, XT. AT and Compatibles • Full Duplex Operation • Complete with ProConim Software • Two Year Manufacturer's Warranty • Auto Dial/Auto Answer List 199°° Your Price 79°° Each 2400 BAUD EXTERNAL MODEM List 299°° Your Price 99°° iww IBM DIRECT REPLACEMENT 150 WATT XT Comp. • UL Appr. • 110/20V input switch • 4 200 WATT/286/386 AT comp. • UL Appr. • 110/220V input drives 49°° switch 69°° «i» MfflAHaM!^ll!-ffi EV-923 EverCom 12 300/1200 bps Bitcom Software 69°° EV-941 EverCom 24 2400 Baud Int. Bitcom Software 139°° EV-945 External 2400 Baud 199°° EV-942 2400 PS2 199°° Level 5 MNP Add 39°° 12" Amber w/Tilt & Swivel Base 14" Color 640 x 200, 16 colors 14" EGA 640 x 350, 64 colors/31 VGA 800 x 600 Multisync Compatible 14" VGA Demo looks new, .31 Dot Pitch For Nee Multisync with lowest price. 8900 . . 109°° 369°° 44900 .284°° AT KIT XT KIT ST125-0 20mB 40msec 3.5" S249 $299 ST125-1 20mB 28msec 3.5" S269 S319 ST138-0 30mB 40msec 3.5" S289 5339 ST138-1 30mB 28msec 3.5" S309 $359 ST225 20mB 65msec $199 $249 ST238R (RLL) 3QmB 65msec $219 $279 ST251-1 42mB 28msec $339 $389 ST227R-1 (RLL) 65mB 28msec $379 $429 ST4096 80m8 28msec $579 $629 ST4144 (RLL) 120mB 28msec $649 $699 XT kits include cables, software (over 32MB) controller AT kits Include cables, rails, software (over 32MB) 360K V2 Ht. 5V« M,TSUMI 59°° 1.2 Meg 5V< 79°° 720K 3'/2" Drive w/5% " mounting 69°° 1.44 Meg 3Ho Drive w/5Vao mounting 89 c0 360K Tandon TM100-2 Full Ht (The original IBM) 89°° We also carry Sony, Teac & others. Please Call EGA EV659, 640 x 350, Auto Switch VGA Viewpoint 16 Bit 256 Exp 512k NCC VIDEO CARDS... MonoGraphics (Hercules Compatible) with Par. Port . Color Graphics (Hercules Compatible) with Par. Port . Mono Card Text Only VGA Card 1024 x 768 (256K Exp 512K) STB mono/color card 9900 179°° .29°° .39°° . . .9°° 10 Meg 80 Mil. Sec 89°° 20 Meg 60 Mil. Sec 40 Meg 40 Mil. Sec 299°° .. .189°° H^TtltfONTWdliiERStttf .29°° 8 Bit WD Controller. F0R HARDDRIVES 59°° 16 Bit WD Controller 2:1 .109°° 16 Bit Everex HD/Floppy 1.1 .99°° FOR FLOPPYS Super Floppy Controller 1.2. 360K. 720K & 1.44 Drives 69°° ORDERS ONLY 800-654-7762 TECHNICAL / CUSTOMER SERVICE / ORDER STATUS: 702-294-0204 FAX 702-294-1168 Trademarks art Raglstand with tMr mpactln Cot'* prices Sublect to C All Products 90 Day Warranty unless stated otherwise. S£ HABLA ESPANOL « WE ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL ORDERS ■ NO SOFTWARE RETURNS NO SURCHARGE FOR MC/VISA/AE TERMS: MC • VISA • COD CASH • NET Purchase Orders Irom Qualified Firms Personal Checks • COD add $5.00 20% Restocking Fee on Returns Within 15 Days No Refunds After 30 Days 1000 Nevada Hwy. • Unit 101 Boulder City, NV 89005 Formerly Mead Computer SHIPPING: (mm. I 492 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 203 on Reader Service Card 6 , 101 Keyboard I 803*4/20 CPU Bd, C&T chipset $ 590 8038^25 CPU Bd, C&T chipset $ 695 | 80386/25 Cache Bd, C&T chipset $1095 Dealer Inquiries welcome Jem in i Electronics (408)727-^9986 | 3400 De La Cruz Btvd, Unl T FAX Saita Clara Ca, 95054 (408)727-7687 Circle 153 on Reader Service Card Little Giant C Programmable Controller This shirt pocket sized computer interfaces di- rectly tothe out- side world. Use it to control any- thing. Instantly C programmable with your PC and our Dynamic C. ROM and battery backed RAM to 1024k bytes. 8 Channel. 10/12 bit. A/D with conditioning. High voltage/current drivers. Battery backed time/dateclock. Watchdog/power fail. 4 serial channels. 24 parallel ports. Timers. Integral power supply. Terminations for field wir- ing. Expansion connector. Plastic/ metal packag- ing available. OEM versions from $199.00. Z-World Engineering 1340 Covell Blvd.. Davis. CA 95616 (916) 753-3722 Fax:(916)753-5141 Circle 325 o n Reader Service Card BLACKJACK COMPUTER The ultimate card-counting weapon, operated under complete concealment within the casinos. CPU, "magic" shoes, I/O switches, sensors, power supplies, extensive training and support provided. Win consistently with the latest genera- tion of the technology every casino fears the most. Contact (714) 865-1191 Terminal Emulation TEK 4105/4010 A • Tektronix 4105 jS - Tektronix 4010/4014 4B0R • VT320, VT220, VT102^1 • Picture files ^w^B • VGA and EGA support ^m • High resolution hardcopy ^ VT320 • VT320, VT220, VT10 2 emulation • File transfer • 132 column modes • Color support • Hotkey • Extensive network support m m Diversified Computer Systems, Inc. 3775 Iris Avenue, Suite 1B Boulder, CO 80301 (303)447-9251 FAX 303-447-1406 Trademarks: VT102, VT220 — DEC; Tektronix — Tektronics Inc. Circle 98 on Reader Service Card PC Communications Coprocessors Ourcommunications coprocessors offload serial and parallel communications tasks from PC's used in dedicated applications. RS232 and RS485 style communications. Easily programmed using C A memory mapped interface to the host PC allows high speed data transfer and simple buffer schemes. From 64k to 512k of memory local to the coprocessor but accessible from the host PC Used in many in- dustrial and business systems to dramatically im- prove performance compared to standard PC serial port implementations. Z-World Engineering 1 340 Covell Blvd.. Davis, CA 95616 (916)753-3722 Fax:(916)753-5141 Circle 326 on Reader Service Card SAVE on MEMORY! IBM PS/2 Model 70-E61/061/121 1 MB '603" Call Model 70-E61/121/50Z/55sx 2MB -604- Call Others Call COMPAQ 286E/386- 20/20 E/25/PORT 3 1MB Call 4MB Call Others Call HP LaserJet II.IID.IIP.III 1MB Call 2MB Call 4MB Call APPLE, TOSHIBA, AST, OTHERS Call Call SIMMS/SIPS 256K.1MB 4MB.X8.X9 OTHERS PRODUCTS Modems. FAX Switches Call iAdd On iamerica Div. ROHM Corp. 8 Whatney, Irvine, CA 92718 TEL(714)-855-9537 FAX (714)-855-0727 VISA/M/C Prices subject to change Circle 40 on Reader Service Card TEL 1-800-292-7771 Circle 12 on Reader Service Card Circle 93 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 94) DS-DD^L-""'"'"^ Foreign Enquiries Welcome DS _ HD 5!Lx 5.25" 3M Brand Diskettes 9$L 7 «5«« 3.50" 3M Brand Diskettes 1 4™ 3M DATA CARTRIDGES DC-2000 1 3.95 DC-600A 1 8.99 DC-3Q0XLP ...... 17.39 DC-6150XTD .'..'. 19.99 3M COMPUTER TAPES 777-'/2"-2400'-C55 ... 1 1 .45 700- 1 / 2 "-2400'-C55 ... 1 2.55 777-V2"-1200'-C55 .... 8.95 700-V 2 "-2400'-Ct43 . . 13.45 DEC-TK-50 25.95 DEC-TK-52 37.95 IBM-3480 4.95 Opt. Rewrite Disks . . 1 69.00 3M HIGHLAND DISKETTES 5.25" DS-DD 5.25" DS-HD 3!?box 3M Highland 61$«k 6IL . . . . ... 3.50" BRAND NAME, . . . ;, 1 4IL BASF DS-DD Quantity Discounts Available DS-HD iox .... 5.25" BASF Brand Diskettes .... 7?e?box 729 I PER BC . 3.50" BASF Brand Diskettes . 1Q99 . I V PE R BOX OO BASF 5.25" DS-DD No-Logo Bulk .OL .... w ith sleeves, labels & W/P tabs 2400' w/tape seal .... 10.95 600' w/tape seal 6.95 1 200' w/tape seat 7.95 300' w/tape seal 5.45 iM Verbatim DS-DD Quantity Discounts Available 5?e?box 5.25" DataLife Plus Diskettes DS-HU Q99* V PER BOX 7!Lx 3.50" DataLife Diskettes 1 4™ maxell 3.25" DS/DD 5.25" DS/HD 3.50" DS/DD 3.50" DS/HD 5.39 9.69 7.99 15.49 I jfjj O BULK DS-DD .39 .69 "No-Logo" DS-HD 5.25" Color-Bulk .69 3.50" Color-Bulk. 1 09 BULK DISKETTES 5.25" DS/DD 5.25" DS/HD 3.50" DS/DD 3.50" DS/HD .25* .46* .45 .99 'WITH SLEEVES. LABELS AND W/P TABS HEWLETT Packard Original Toner Cartridges Laserjet Series I P/N 92285A 75.95 Laserjet Series II P/N 92295A 75.95 Laserjet Series IIP P/N 902275A 63.95 5.25" DS/DD 5.25" DS/HD 3.50" DS/DD 3.50" DS/HD 539 069 795 1495 V PER BOX V PEP, BOX I PER BOX I f PER BOX Dysan WE BEAT ANY PRICE!! TERMS: No surcharge on VISA, Mastercard or AMEX. Order packaging and processing = $2.95 per order. COD orders add S3. 95. PO's accepted from recognized institutions on Net 30 days. L/C, T/T and Bank Draft acceptable. Price quoted for case (100 disks or 10 cartridges). For quantities less than 1 case add 10%. SHIPPING: UPS surface $1 .95/5 cartridges; S0.95/50 diskettes. ( Prices subject to change without notice. Errors and omissions not accepted All warranties are from manufacturers.) Toll Free Order Line: 1-800-523-9681 TLX-91 0240471 2 Information Line: 1-801-2550080 FAX -801 -572-3327 n DISKCOTECH 213 Cottage Avenue P.O. Box 1339 Sandy, Utah 84091 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 493 Circle 157 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 158) KNAPCO MASTER DISTRIBUTORS EMERSON UPS YES III KNAPCO DELIVERS EMERSON POWER III MODEL 10 150Va.$J77. MODEL 20 300Va.$244. MODEL 30 500Va.$344. MODEL 40 800Va.$569. MODEL 50 MOOVa. $798. UPS 600 $798. $499. UPS 1250 $1398. $769. UPS 1500 $1798. $995. TRUE ONUNE MODELS PC ET $798 $479. APL5KVA $3217. $1999. AP 3KVA $5550 $3799. AP 5KVA $9499. $5999. AccuCard now$W9. true SINEW AVE or ONUNE \ KNAPCO DELIVERS THE BEST PRICES I'll / SHAPE (fD } LINE TAMERS w FERRO POWER CONDITIONER /~ | > Surge Suppressor / REqulATlON 7% mmmm » 4 OutIets, 6fT. CoRd / IEEESTd.587foRNolsE Ljsu_ ! Retail Dealer 150 Va. $165. $110. >00 Va. $220. $165. 450 Va. $285. $214. 600 Va. $550. $247. 800 Va. $485. $>09. L 1000 Va $540. $>19. J ORDER HOT UNE 800- 827-4718 A/B SERIAL BOX $9.9$ ALL UPS BATTERIES IN STOCK FOR QUICK SHIP 813 - 449 - 0019 FAX 81J - 449 - 0701 N -22 KNAPCQ QUALITY DISTRIBUTION FOR 45 YEARS 1201 HAMLET AVE. CLEARWATER FL 34616 . 494 BYTE' SEPTEMBER 1990 8031/51 Single Board Computer $99 A fast and inexpensive way to implement an embedded controller. 8031/32 processor, 8+ parallel I/O, up to 2 RS232 serial ports, +5 volt operation. The development board option allows simple debugging of 8031/51 family programs. HiTech Equipment Corp 9400 Activity Road San Diego, CA 921 26 (619)566-1892 Circle 137 on Reader Service Card PAL7PLD SOFTWARE Sets The Standard Not Protected CUPL™PLD compiler; the most powerful language for the state machine logic design, now allows front end design entry with popular schematic capture packages such as OrCAD, P-CAD, Schema, Hi-Wire, PADs or RACAL. CUPL supports all PLDs and carries the most extensive update program. Available on MS-DOS'? Apollo'? SUNT VAX™ and most UNIX 1 " based platforms. , 20mw65(hPlace Ft. Lauderdale. F 1 33309 Fax: (305) 974-8531 1-800-331-7766 LOGICAL DHV1CMS, INC. Circle 162 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 163) QUARTERHORSE High Capacity Tape Subsystems for Disk Backup, Data Acquisition, and Archiving on IBM PC/Xr/AT & PS/2 Everything you need in a single high quality package: Drive. SCSI Host Adapter. Enclosure, and DSI's Backup Software. • 150 Mb 1/4" CT $1,395. • 320 Mb 1/4" CT $1,495. • 1.2 Gb 4mm DAT $3,195. • 2.3 Gb 8mm HS $3,695. Optional Application Interface Library (in 'C') available. Full Support. DATA STRATEGIES INTERNATIONAL INC. 9020 Copltal of Tx. H\vy . Suit © 570 Austin. Tx. 78759 (512) 338-4745 FAX(512) 345-1328 OCR Software that works with your scanner... It is fast and accurate... It has all of the features you could ask for... SX-OCR Reads Text • SX-OCR will automatically "re-lyno" your documents, producing text files that work with your word processor • SX-OCR handles English and foreign text, footnotes and head- lines, typeset and typewritten material • SX-OCR will automate the typing process - from simple business letters to illustrated product catalog* SX-OCR Can Learn • SX-OCR can be taught to read nearly everything through its train- able recognition pro cess • In addition, SX-OCR automatically avoids dirt, boxes, lines, logos and graphics while converting text images to ASCII lilcs SX-OCR Manao.es Graphics • SX-OCR uniquely separates graphics from text in one scan,., and remembers both. • SX-OCR can import and export popular image formats such as PCX and TIFF System Requirements • PC-AT with 640K RAM and 2mb available on hard disk - EMS memory can be used in place of the hard disk space to speed up the OCR process • Compatible graphicsmonilor CGA, EGA, VGA, Hercules, Wysc, Genius, and others • Available on 5 1/4" Diskettes, 3 1/2" Diskettes available on request • SX-OCR works directly wit li the following scanners: Cannon, HP, Microtek, Panasonic, Ricoh, Umax, Chinon, Zsoft, Princeton, Abalon, AST.Milsubishi and others; also will work with anyscan- ncr that will make a .PCX lilc or a bilcvel TIF lilc SXVOCR... S395.H . * Dealer Inquiries Invited Call for information 1-800- 759-4001 I rffc | Desktop Technology Corporation Circle 88 on Reader Service Card UNIVERSAL/GANG PROGRAMMER mode in U.S.A. $695.00 includes One Year Update and Warranty a- w HUSKY "programs EE/EPROMS, CMOS PLDS. and Micros. Its your best bet when low cost and quality are both important. From the people who make CUPL and ALLPRO. 1201 N.W. 65th Place ■ Ofl^AI Ft - Lauderdale, FL 33309 SSSF w#4i - ™- ™ ™ 8531 1-800-331-7766 Circle 164 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 165) Laser Printers Memory Upgrades iiiiniij«i«im«miiimmii^ [§1 UP HI/IIP \ JDK..JCALL 1MB ..$185 2MB ..$255 4MB ..$395 HP 11/11%== JJJMB... $235.00 4MB ...$385 |( C * n00 $CALL IBM 4019 JlMB ..$225 2MB ..$295 3.5MB ..$395 j Memory, Modules - .SIMM^JP a a !MBX36-80ns $195.00 Compaq 1 $CALL PC/AT S4MB X 9 - 80 ns $425.00 JlMB X 9 - 70/80/100 ns $GjII/571/$68 J256K X 9 - 70/80/100 ns $Gtll/Sl9/Sl8 SUN Systems J4MB X 9 - 80ns .$425.00 1MB X 9 - 80ns $7] jl %in«maimmi*»»mmiiiai ■ rf MMM Macrotron Systems, Inc. iMSl* Tel(4I5)651 ' 9115 jL*»jia mJ\ 4011 ° i PP er Cl Frer »o,U. CA. 94538 Prices subject to change w/o nuiice. Fax < 415 ) 651 ' 6922 Circle 82 on Reader Service Card Circle 166 on Reader Service Card Hi "Parte-vous Q-TEL?" Oui . . . S i . . Ja. . . now the answer is Yes wherever you go internationally-thanks to our neiv Q-TEL International Database. Q-TEL speaks everyone's language when you're talking about one single source of tele- ^Bj||j|%l communications rate, tariff and regulatory information. Domestically, you've already seen how our Q-TEL Databases (Q-TEL 1000, Q-TEL 5000 Plus, Q-TEL 7000 and Q-TEL 9000) can define a better bottom line for you. Now watch how the newest Q-TEL database translates into maximum cost savings for you internationally. All our Q-TEL products have superior performance packaging, adapting easily to your applications with the most current and accurate rate, tariff and regulatory information to keep you updated and on top of industry activity. So why not parlay our advanced telecommunications capabilities into a unique profit opportunity for you. Remember, whatever your role in telecommunications-manufacturer, ^-^^1 seller, user of equipment or services-you also get our 20 years of S^J^ B telecommunications experience, backed by the information network W fj^m of McGraw-Hill. Parlez with us today. . .Call: 1-800-526-5307 ext: 290 c£Et First-Rate Infortnation SIMM AND SIPP MODULES IBM PS/2 MODEL 70 & 80 256x9-10 $19.50 6450603 1MEG-80NS $99.00 1 MEG x 8-10 (MAC) $55.00 6450604 2 MEG/70-E61, 121 $199.00 1MEGx9-10 $60.00 6450608 2MEG/70-A21 $199.00 1 MEG x 9-80 $63.00 6450379 2 MEG/80-111, 311 $279.00 ORCHID BOARDS 30F2933 4 MEG $875.00 (FORALLPS/2'S) COMPAQ MEMORY RAMQUEST EXTRA 16/32 1 MEG ADD-ON MODULE $129.00 2 MEG $519.00 DESKPRO 386/20, 25 ** PR0DESIGNERIIW/1MEG H^ 4 MEG ADD-ON MODULE $349.00 $345.00 DESKPRO 386/20, 20E, 25 INTEL MATH COPROCESSORS H.P. LASER JETUPGRADES 8087 -1,2 . NEW II&.IID IIP &. Ill 80287 -6,8,10 tfP 80287XL 1 MEG $104.00 1MEG $119.00 80387 -16,20,25,33 80287XLT 2 MEG $169.00 2 MEG $189.00 80387-SX 4 MEG $309.00 4 MEG $329.00 BOCA RESEARCH LAPK)P MEMORY BOC ARAM/AT PLUS 512KFORTOSHIBA13100E $149.00 2 MEG $345.00 2 MG FOR TOSHIBA T1600 $279.00 4 MEG $425.00 2 MG FOR TOSHIBA 13100E $279.00 BOCARAM/AT 2MGF0RT0SHIBA13100SX $279.00 512 $189.00 2 MG FOR TOSHIBA T3200SX $279.00 2 MEG $329.00 2 MG FOR TOSHIBA T5100 $279.00 BOCARAM/AT 10 PLUS 2MGF0RT0SHIBA15200 $279.00 2 MEG $370.00 3MGF0RT0SHIBA73200 $479.00 4 MEG $470.00 t 714855-0411 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS, INC. FAX 714 855 " 8504 4 DistributingComputer Upgrades Worldwide PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE 1 • Circle 106 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 107) SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 495 TM "gives you all the C language routines you need to write an impres- sive scientific graphing program of your own. Highly recommended*' - PC Magazine sir>Cy]*cosCx-y] IBM® PC (with source code) $395 Circle 261 on Reader Service Card Macintosh® (no source code) $295 Circle 262 on Reader Service Card Licensed for personal 'use only DEC® VT1 00/1 02/52 & Tektronix® 4010/4014/4105 Terminal Emulator for IBM® PCs 'its ease of use, high resolution graphics, emulation, and price make it a more attrac- tive purchase than the other products. * " -MINI-MICRO Systems Only $150 until 3/1/90 $195 thereafter Circle 263 on Reader Service Card *Full reprints on request Scientific Endeavors 508 North Kentucky Street Kingston, TN 37763 USA (615)376-4146 FAX:(61 5) 376-1571 496 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 • Intel 8052AH-BASIC CPU • PROM programmer • Now requires 5V Supply only • Enhanced memory mapping; Supports 2K-64K devices to a totdl of 12HK. Still only $228.00 QTY 1 Call Now! (603) 469-3232 Inquire .iboi.it our PKD51 8051 -8(15 J product development kit lor the IBM PC/XT/AT: $595. ,irwl 8051/8052 BASIC piler: $295. U Binary Technology, Inc. MamSt . PO Box 6? • Menken MH03770 Dl DATA ACQUISITION Systems for Lab, Factory & Field • PC Software Included • Serial, Modem. & Bus • Stand Alone Ability • Laptop & Handheld • PC & MAC Cards • Inexpensive OEM & VAR - RTU's FREE CATALOG & DEMO DISK ! Manufacturers of Measurement & Control sys- tems for Laboratory. Industrial. & Field applica- tions. Specialists in Battery-Powered systems. Call for applications info: (201) 299-1615 RO. Box 246: Morris Plains. NJ 07950 U.S.A. Circle 109 on Reader Service Card New, Gridless, 1 00% Autorouting Create schematics and PCBs quickly and simply with HiWIRE-Plus® and your IBM PC. With the new, gridless, multilayer autor- outer (AR) for HiWIRE-Plus, creating printed- circuit layouts is even faster. AR and HiWIRE-Plus are each $895 and come with 30-day money-back guarantees. Credit cards welcome. IVINTIK Corporation 1801 South St., Lafayette, IN 47904 (800) 742-6809 or (31 7) 742-8428 Circle 320 on Reader Service Card DYNAMIC RAMS 4MX9 80ns PS2 2M 604/608 1MX9 100ns 1 MX8 100ns 256X4 100ns ]/ 1MX1 100ns 41464 120ns \/ 41256 120ns 51258 80ns 4164 120ns $365.00 $175.00 $62.00 $58.00 $ 6.25 $ 2.75 $ 3.85 $ 1.90 • For quantity discount, high-speod parts, SIPP Please Call I I MATH C OPROCES SORS 80387-33 33mHz $540.00 80387-25 25mHz $435.00 80387-20 20mHz $350.00 80367-16 16mHz $305.00 80387SX 16mHz $280.00 3C87 IIT/CYHIX 2C87-20 20mHz 2C07-12 12mHz 2C87-10 10mHz 8067-1 lOmHz $CALL $255.00 $220.00 $184.00 $155.00 ■ V-20 8/10mHz $8.5/15 1 51 40 Valley Blvd. City of Industiy.CA 91 744 Customer service: (81 Q) 333 0880 FAX: (618) 369-1236 ORDER: (800) 877-8188 in , Frl .s-spsd CALL FOR CURRENT PRICES & VOLUME DISCOUNTS. Prlco Shown lor cash. ManorCardAfan add 3% Piicos are subject tochanrjo. Minimum order 510.00. Shipping Handling: UPSGroundSS 00. Air S7.0O < 1 1t) ) ALL MERCHANDISE IS 1 00% GUARANTE ED WTTM PROMPT DEI JVERY. Circle 142 on Reader Service Card MULTI-SPEED !!! 9 TRACK TAPE SUBSYSTEM for IBM PC/AT/386 1 YEAR WARRANTY » IBM/ ANSI compatible at 800*/1600/3200 Dpi » Controller, cables and software included » Interfaces for PS/2*, Xenix* and DEC* » SCSI*, AT or MCA* Bus I/O at 25/50/100 ips. *OPTIONAL SHOWN W/OPTIONAL DUST COVER AKSystems Inc 20741 Marilla St. Chatsworth CA 91311 TEL81 8/709-8100 FAX: 818/407-5889 Circle 13 on Reader Service Card 6809 Single Board Computer RAM. EPROM, real-time clock, timer, 44 6-5" PCB EXPANSION MODULES: RAM. EPROM, CMOS RAM/battery, analog I/O, serial I/O, parallel I/O, counter/timer, 1EEE-4B8, EPROM programmer, floppy disks, cassette, breadboard, keyboard/display. WINTEK 801 South Street aiayette, I'M 47904 Circle 321 o n Reader Service Card Up to date. 'Down to earth. Changing the world , UNIX is changing the world of comput- ers, the world of business — quite simply, changing the world. It's revolutionizing office auto- mation. It's required for U.S. government computer contracts. It's the backbone of information strategies worldwide. The information you need. Thats why you need UndcWorld- the magazine that keeps you up to date on the rapidly chang- ing world of opemsystems computing. Each issue brings you the latest product trends and technical advances that can affect your business. The inside story on some of the world's biggest high-tech companies. Easy- to- understand program- ming tips and tutorials that can help you and your company use UNIX to its fullest. And unbiased hardware and software reviews to help you invest wisely when you buy. The whole UNIX-verse . 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A McGraw-Hill publication ■TOSHIBA ¥ptop5 Call for low monthly payments MONTHLY PAYMENTS I TOSHIBA T1 000 $599 $23/mo T1 000 SE Notebook $CALL I T1 000 XE/1 200 XE Notebook $CALL T1200HB20MB $1599 $58/mo T1 600 286 20MB $2399 $64/mo T1 600 286 40MB $2585 $69/mo T1600X40MB $CALL T3100E 286 40MB $3585 $96/mo I T3100 SX 40MB/80MB $3585/CALL 800-383-3199 orders only 714-898-8626 customer service/foreign orders FAX: 714-891-1202 BACKLIT NOTEBOOK # 9. 5Mhz-2 0MB $1295 only6lbs $34/mo IT.P.C. TELEPHONE PRODUCT CENTER 100% FINANCING Bra /mo T3200SX40MB T5100 386100MB T5200 386 40MB T5200 386100MB $4199 $4479 $4879 $CALL $112/mo $119/mo $130/mo LEADING EDGE LAPTOPS 386SX with 20MB 386SX with 40MB $1995 $2095 $52/mo $57/mo POQET $Call ATARI Portfolio ■COMPUTERS! $379-$i5. SHARP MZ-200 2 floppy $ # MZ 250 1 floppy, 20MB $$ # MINI LAPTOP SHARP 4741 MiniLaptop # 8088-lOMhz ► # 40MB hard drive $LO W$ # 3.5" 1.44MB floppy drive # 640x400 res backlit screen HARP lAPIOPj Wcg°Oo$Q LAPTOPS TEXAS INSTR. Tl 12 286 20MB Notebk $1895 $51 /mo Tl 25/45 286 $2249/2349 $65/63/mo Notebook 286 20MB VGA-4lbs $CALL ZENITH LAPTOPS Minisport NOTEBOOK $Call Supersport 184-2 $1695 Supersport286 20MB $2499 Supersport 286 40MB $2699 Supersport 286E 20/40MB SCall 386SX 40MB $3899 NEC LAPTOPS Ultralite 2MB NOTE BOOK SCall Prospeed 286 20MB $2379 $64/mo Prospeed 286 40MB $2595 $70/mo Prospeed 386SX SCall Prospeed 386 40MB $3499 $92/mo MITSUBISHI MP 286-210 2 FD $1265 $35/mo MP 286-220 1 FD,20mb $1639 $45/mo MP 286-240 1 FD,40mb $2139 $58/mo COMPAQ LAPTOPS LTE 20MB $2139 $58/mo LTE 286 20MB $2999 $80/mo LTE 286 40MB $3250 $87/mo COMPAQ SLT 20MB SCall COMPAQ SLT 40MB $LOW SLT 386SX VGA SCall EPSON LAPTOPS 286E 20MB removable $2495 $66/mo 286E 40MB removable $2695 $72/mo 386SX 20MB removable$31 59 $84/mo 386SX 40MB removable $3599 $88/mo GOLDSTAR GS500 286 20MB $1495 $40/mo GS520 386SX VGA SCall MORE LAPTOPS FORA 386SX with 40MB VGA $2395 PACKARD BELL 286-VGA20 $ 1 995 Aris NOTEBOOK SCall PSION SCall Bondwell B200 2 fioppys $795 Bondweff 3 10: 286 40MB $ 1 695 Panasonic CF150B Notebk $599 $23/mo FAX $15/ ft!* SHARP *°*irp*<>n j NOTEBOOK ^C$f**fy # PC 6220: 286 with 20 MB & VGA '// # 8.5"xll"xl.4"-4lbs $Call SHARP 386 Color VGA $185/mo # PC 8081 with 80MB SHARP 5541 286 40MB VGA $2295 $95/mo SHARP 5741 $Call # 386SX-40MB M . Back lit VGA screen-Mini Laptop mo TOSHBA lUUU /ook t | 11000/ 1200 SE/XE lMB/2MBCal!/S299 T 1600/31 00/3200/ S295 5200 2MB BEMM Supersport 1MB/4MB 3199/Call Z386-20/25/33 1MB S145 2MB $249 4MB S649 Z386SX 2MB SI 99 COMPAQ LIE 286 1MB/2MB S295/475 DeskPro 286- 20/20E/25/286-E 1MB/4MB S 165/440 DeskPro 386S 1MB/4MB SI 65/495 DeskPro 386/33 2MB $295 IBM PS/2 /Idl 30/50Z/60 512K/2MB S75/225 Mdl70-E61/121 1MB S125 Mdl 70 A-21 2MB S245 Mdl 80 141 1MB S199 Md! 80 11 1/2 11 2MB S299 lfwIOCOQQ HP LaserJet 1MB/2MB S 145/209 HP IIP/Ill MATH COs 386SX 80287-8 80287-10 80287-12 80387-16 80387-20 80387-25 80387-33 SCall S125 S195 S204 S269 S295 S389 S455 i#™^ wpm DESKTOP l!!i 386-20 GOLDSTAR $1895 F2000 ($20) $550 F3000 %%/ $6 99 : phone 8 FOX phone 15 FOX phone 20 Fax phone 23 Fax phone 25 Fax phone 35 Fax222 T3600 £$23V $659 T3750 $748 W GFfilfl $399 Fax 270 Fax 350 Fax450 Fax 630 Fax 705 Fax 850 $419 $629 $749 $929 $865 $1149 $1495 $1595 $1845 $1995 $2479 $3089 RF860 RF910 RF920 Fax 15 Fax 25 Fax 35 Fax 80 Fax 95 Fax 105 Fax 1010 Fax 1000L $625 $725 $845 $715 $1039 $1099 $1205 $1795 $1819 $2799 $3095 Rra Portable $539 iESI ] F0 215 S589 Portable KXF 100 KXF 120 KXF 220 KXF 320 KXF 50 KXF 90 KX 110 $585 $749 $1045 $1335 SCALL SCALL SCALL UF 170 $925 PDE 120E $495 PDE 160E $679 PDE170E $979 ■El! •JifiiMB M900 --v. $395 M1400 &15J $528 Ml 800 \fi/ $568 Ml 850 $698 F25 $769 F37 $849 F40 $1110 F45 $1299 $599 $699 $859 $1299 $1599 $1995 $2499 $479 $639 0/220v $499 Guisll0/220v $499 Samsung 1 010 $399 FO230 F0 333 FO510 FO550 FO750 FO800 FO 5200 UX110 UX181 Audiovox AF2000 ■ZE Quadfax Hayes JT 9600 $459 9600 FAX + 2400 Modem card $299 Complete PC 9600 $394 9600 Fax card $184 2400 ext SCall 9600 int $395 9600 ext SCall IBM PS/29600 SCall 40MB drive, VGA 386SX- 16Mhz r $999 # 1MB RAM, 1 5V4" 1.2MB floppy drive, 1:1 interleave controller, 40MB HD MAGNAVOX $ 1 6/mo $399 8 Mhz IBM XT compatible, 768K RAM, 1 5V4" 360KB FD, Color/mono card 386-33Mhz 40MB mono $1895 486-25Mhz - Call for configuration IBM PS/2 Model 25 Mono/color $975/1229 IBM 8530 -286 20MB/30MB $1695/1895 mm BM8555SX-30MB $2695 BM8555SX-60MB $3025 BM 8560 286 44MB $3175 BM 8571E61/Q61 $3495/3895 BM8570A61 $5845 Portable 70 60MB/ 120MB $Cal BM 8570-12 120Mhz 386 $4450 BM8570-A2125Mhz386 $6195 8580-041 16Mhz 386, 40MB $4195 8580-111 20Mhz 386, 115MB $5795 COMPAQ Deskpro286E20MB/40MB $2099/2399 Deskpro 386S $Cal Deskpro 386/20E 40MB $4275 Deskpro 386/20E1 10MB $4799 Deskpro 386/25E 84MB $5495 Deskpro 386/25E 110MB $6195 Deskpro 386/25E 300MB $8495 Deskpro 386/33 84MB $7245 SCANNERS Sharp JX 100 S665 Sharp JX 300 $2779 Sharp JX 450 $4779 Chinon DS 3000 $599 Chinon DS 3000 + OCR HP Scanjet Oscam 400dpi full pg + doc feed + OCR $695 I Panasonic 505U $784 S745 $1385 Panasonic 506U $1075 Panasonic 307U $989 Complete PC Is pg $165 Complete PC full pg Logitech 5" ScanMan + OCR $299 Mars400dpi 4" Hand Scan + OCR $179 Mars 800dpi 5" HandScan + OCR $299 Model 486/25N 1 120MB/320MB/650MB $CALL Portable III 2QMB/40MB" $3395/3998 Portable 386 40MB/ 100MB $4799/5599 APPLE MACINTOSH Portable $3899 Mac SE 30/40MB $2950 Mac MX 40MB $4150 T.P.C, 12603 Hoover Sfc, AD 900BT Terms: These are pre-payment prices discounted 2.9% for cash. Discover, VISA/MC/COD are not considered pre-payment. Restocking 20%. We accept Cashiers Checks. We check for stolen credit cards. Prices subject to change, all sales are final. Defective items repaired, in warranty. A $5.95 handling charge will be added to all orders. NO RETURNS. Monthly financing payments are approximations only. Circle 291 on Reader Service Card and availability Write COBOL Applications for DOS, UNIX, VMS, Novell and BOS with qq£ compiler. • Multi-user • Multi-platform • DBMSTools • TransportableObject • Screen Builder • Subroutine Library • Report Writer • Utility Toolkit • Text Editor • Terminal-independent • Debugger • Many more features Call or write for complete information. BOS National, Inc. 2607 Walnut Hill Lane Dallas, TX 75229 (214)956-7722 Circle 46 on Reader Service Card 8051, 8096, 68HC11, 68008 SINGLE BOARD COMPUTERS We feature a series of single board computers for process control applications. Available as bare boards or assembled and tested. Optional EPROM resident System Monitors and BASIC interpreters are also available. ALLEN SYSTEMS 2346 Brandon Road Columbus, Ohio 43221 614-488-7122 SAME DAY SHIPPING R & R Electronics 6050-X, McDonough Drive, Norcross, GA 30093 (404) 368-1777 • Fax (404) 368-9659 Prices subject to change without notice SIMMs 1 PS/2, AST etc. Call 256Kx9-80 $22 1 1 1Mx9-70 $75 256Kx9-100 $20 1 1 1Mx9-80 $72 1Mx8-80 $69 1 | 1Mx9-100 $70 Other Cards Call | DRAMS 256K-70 $2.50 64x1-100 $1.90 256K-80 $2.30 64x4-100 $3.00 256K-100 $2.20 256x4-100 $7.50 256K-120 $2.10 lMxl-80 $7.25 256K-150 $2.00 lMxl-100 $7.00 INTEL - IIT - CYRIX - WEITEK 8087 $ 88 80287-12 $275 8087-2 $115 80387-SX $288 8087-1 $165 80387-16 $315 80287-6 $135 80387-20 $355 80287-8 $185 80387-25 $445 80287-10 $210 80387-33 $548 VfSA 800-736-3644 1 IEEE 488 Easiest to use, GUARANTEED! • IBM PC. PS/2. Macintosh. MP. Sun, DEC • IEEE device drivers tor DOS. UNIX. Louis 1-2-3. VMS. XENIX & Macintosh • Menu or icon-driven acquisition software • IEEE analyzers, expanders, extenders, buffers • Analog I/O. digital I/O. RS-232, RS-422. SCSI, modem & Centronics converters to IEEE 48K Free Catalog & Demo Disks (216) 439-4091 IDt. Ben 25971 Cannon Rd. • Cleveland, OH 44146 Circle 150 on Reader Service Card 9-Track Tape Subsystem for the IBM PC/XT/AT wpiy Now you can exchange data files between your IBM PC and any mainframe or mini- computer using IBM compatible 1600 or 6250 BPI 9Track tape. System can also be used for disk backup. Transfer rate is up to 4 megabytes per minute on PCs and com- patibles. Subsystems include 7" or IOV2" streaming tape drive, tape coupler card and DOS compatible software. For more informa- tion, call us today! flURLSTHRl 9621 Irondale Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311 Telephone: (818) 882-5822 Circle 246 on Reader Service Card PCS 486 WORKSTATION Landmark 155 MHz FAST! Norton SI 101 Power Meter 15.2 MIPS • Intel 80486 25/33 MHz processor • 8K internal/64K ext. cache • 4 Mbytes basic memory • 1 .2 Mbyte 5W floppy Options • 25/33 MHz Weitek 4167 co-processor • Up to 16 Mbytes memory • Hard disk— 100 Mbytes to 1 GByte • Removable hard disk • Non-stop power supply flHRlife gf f r -nr^ PROFESSIONAL :fr^=COMPUTE R (408) 263-0222 =^=s y S T E M s 550 Valley Way, Milpitas, CA 95035 Circle 251 on Reader Service Card Circle 226 on Reader Service Card Circle 95 on Reader Service Card Authorized Distributor Magnetic Media Division 514DD 595 i I PER "BOX 5 1 /4 HD w per:: BOX;: 95 315 HDl 951 895 I795 per : :;;i;::i I 1 per BOX • *■ box;:: Canon LBP-<4 LASER BEAM PRINTER OUR PRICE IS SO LOW THAT THE MANUFACTURER WOULD BE VERY UPSET IF WE WERE TO PUBLISH IT. 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( Prices are subject to change without notice ) n^H VISA FAX ( 405 \ 495-4598 SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 499 PC-LabCard iPC-LabCard \PC-LabCard All-in-One 8028612MHz CPU Card PCA6125 • 12MHz 80286 microprocessor • Socketed for 80287 math coprocessor • Popular AMI BIOS assures compatibility • Up to 4 Mb flexible memory configuration • Built-in HD/FD interface • Supports 2 serial/1 parallel ports a • VLSI CMOS for low power consumption Jr\ For Your Catalog Call A ^J h 408-293-6786 Compact & Rugged Chassis for PC-Bus Node Computer PCXU205 • Passive backplane with 5 AT slots • Built-in 65 watt power supply • Supports one 3.5" or 5.25" floppy drive • Supports one 3.5" hard disk • Built-in 8 ohm speaker and cooling fan • Dimensions 4.76" * 15.85" * 9.7" • Low cost and easy-to-use J\ For Your Catalog Call aJ&X 408-293-6786 PC Bus Extension Kit pcx 795 forXTs&ATs • Excellent solution for PC running out of slots • Bus extender between host PC and expansion unit • All signals buffered on extended slots • Supports DMA and wait-state insertion • Cable assembly for one meter extension Advantech USA & Canada: San Jose.CA Tel: 408-293-6786 Fax: 408-293-4697 International: Taipei, Taiwan Advantech Tel:886-2-9184567 Fax:886-2-9184566 A Circle 20 on Reader Service Card Circle 20 on Reader Service Card Circle 20 on ReaderService Card {CHOOSE FROM— Blue, Orange, Green, Red, bellow, Gray, White, & Black— DS/DD, 800K) SONT Boxes of 10 - 3.5" DD & HD DP 1MB .... $ 8.95/Boi HP 2MB .... $ 16.96/Eoi 3M Boxes of 10 - 5.25" DD & HD PP 360K $ 6.50/Box HP 1.2MB....S 11.50/Bm 3M DATA CARTRIDGES (Min. 2 each) • PC-2000... $ 15.95 • DC-2120...S 24.95 • PC-2080 ... 20.95 • PC-600A ... 20.95 • PC-6150 ... 22.95 • DC 6250 ... 28.95 - CALL FOR LARGE QUANTITY PISCOUNTS - ZOOM 4800Bd SendBUC/Modem Internal... $119. 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BROAD RANGE OF SUPPORT • Currently we support the following microprocessor families (with more in development): Intel 604a RCA 1802,05 Motorola 6800 Motorola 680 1 Hitachi 5301 Motorola 6809 Rockwell 65C02 Intel 8080,85 Hitachi HD64180 Motorola 6 Intel 8051 Intel 6096 Motorola 68HC 11 Motorola 6805 MOS Tech 6502 WDC65C02 ZlogZSO NSC BOO Motorola 68010 Intel 80C196 • A J I products require an IBM PC or compatible. So What Are You Waiting Few? Call us; PseudoCorp Professional Development Produ as Croup 716 Th imble Shoals B|vd, Suite E Newport News, VA 23606 (804) 873-1947 FAX: (804)873-2154 X.25 SDLC 1 QLLC HDLC 1 ADCCP PAD 1 • C source code • ROM-able • Full porting provided • No OS required U^| 41 E. University ^^ |™^ Champaign IL 61 820 L!JLLU (217)352-4266 Specialists in Computer Communications FAX 21 7-352-221 5 Circle 19 on ReaderService Card Circle 234 on Reader Service Card Circle 124 o n Reader Service Card POS-EQUIPMENT Printers Displays Keyboards Scanners Drawers Applications for MS-DOS/UNIX dietrich Zahringer StajSe 326 D-7800 FREIBURG/Germany Phone 49-761-54915 FAX 49-761-56881 SINCE 1928 Real Time Waveform Display. Only CODAS waveform recording systems offer true real time waveform display. * For IBM AT, PS/2 Micro Channel*, and compatibles. * Record up to 16 waveforms to disk in real time at up to 50,000 samples per second for instant playback, analysis, and manipulation. » Includes all necessary hardware and software for fast, turnkey startup. » Includes Microsoft C-compatible library of function calls for customization. For a FREE Evaluation Package, call: 1-800-553-9006. In Ohio, 1-216-434-4284. DATAQ 825 Sweitzer Ave., Akron, OH 44311 r INSTRUMENTS, INC. *IBM, AT, PS/2, and Micro Channel are trademarks o r registered Irademarks of IBM Corp. Microsoft C is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. Advertise your computer products through BYTE BITS (2" x 3" ads) For more information call Mark Stone at 603-924-6830 BYTE One Phoenix Mill Lane Peterborough, NH 03458 Circle 89 on ReaderService Card Circle 84'oft ReaderService Card Circle 49 on Reader Service Card 1 4 YEAR GUARANTEE Since 1976...Low Prices, Full Service, Satisfaction or Your Money Back! jTuEW^uter Ultra 486 $3698 JADE COMPUTER PRO-286 12 MHz $ 698 £, Double The Power, Twice The Speed power r tvAeter- . Full Size Professional Case . 101 Key Enhanced Keyboard . 200 Watt Power Supply - Built-in Clock/Calendar . Assembled & Tested in U.SA . One Year Warranty Monitor Optional True 25 MHz. 80486 CPU 1 M8 Of 32 BIT RAM Expands to 8+ 8 M8 Built-in High Speed Cache 100% Novell & IBM Compatible 1 2 MB 5 1 A" Disk Drive Fast V.I interleave Dual Hard Disk/Dual Floppy Disk Controlla' Weitek 3167 FPP Socket Monitor & Hard Drive Options 40 MB I 80 MB I WOMB System | System | System Complete Monographics System $6698 Monitor Optional ^ —286 POWERHOUSE— ,$4198 $ 4298 1 complete VGA System $4498 1 $ 4698 I $ 6998 80286 processor running at 12 MHz or 20 MHz* Zero wait state 1 Megabyte of RAM 1.2 MB or 1.44 MB drive Hard/floppy controller Six 1 6-Bit & Two 8 Bit expansion slots 1 02 key enhanced keyboard ?Best« Buy " 200 watt power supply 80287 socket Clock/Calendar Norton S.I. 13.7/20.3 * Landmark 16/25.9 * One Year Warranty Monitor & Hard Drive Options (12 MHz) Floppy . 40 80 Only Megabyte | Megabyte Complete Monographics System $798 | $1098 | $1398 Complete VGA System $1098 | $ 1398| $1698 *For 20 MHz System Add '298 Intel" EPSOM Panasonic LX-810 .. . s 178 FX-850 . . ..Call FX-1050 . ..Call LQ-510 . . 5 289 LQ-850 . ..Call LQ-950 . . .Call LQ-1010 ..Call LQ-1050 . ..Call LQ-2550 . ..Call KX-1180 KX-1191 KX-T124 KX-1624 ..Call ,5.369 . s 238 . s 289 . s 428 8087 8087-2 . . 8087-1 .. 80287 . . . 80287-8 . . . s 88 .M18 .M58 .M28 . s 198 80287-1 2. s 278 80387-SX . s 318 80387-1 6. s 348 80387-20. s 388 80387-25 .$488 80387-33. s 598 Microsoft DOS 3.3 $ 78 4.01 _ $ 88 80287- 10. s 228 80287 XL . s 228 ITT Co-Processors 2C87-8 5 198 2C87-10 ..., s 228 2C87-12 . 2C87-20 .$268 . s 328 EPL-6000 Laser Printer.. txa hewlett milKM PACKARD New LaserJet IIP s 998 H.P.Laserjet III s 1698 HP. 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Norton S.I. 18/23/31.6/31.6 Floppy Disk Controller • Landmark 2 1 /25.5/32.6/43.5 • 80387 Socket Monitor & Hard Drive Options (16 MHz SX) Floppy 40 80 Only j Megabyte j Megabyte Complete Monographics System $998 | $ 1398 | $ 1598 Complete VGA System $ 1358| $ 1698 | $ 1898 For 20 MHz add '398 For 25 MHz Cache add *898 For 25 MHz add *498 For 33 MHz Cache add M 1 98 2400 Baud Internal Modem*— - w/Software m*t 1200 internal w /software s 44 1 200 baud external s 88 2400 baud external s 128 2400 PS/2 internal s 198 Trackballs Logitech Trackman Serial s 98 Logitech Trackman BUS s 108 MicnoSpeed PC-Trac Serial s 88 MicroSpeed PC-Trac BUS S 9B MicnoSpeed FastTrap Serial .... s 1 08 MicroSpeed FastTrap BUS s 1 18 640 X V^ Hi-Res Card Roland Plotters DXY-1100 s 798 All Roland Models Available Panasonic vga PanaSync Monitor 1024x768 14" 28 Dot Pitch IIU- VUA $468 for ^°° r Pacific Page PostScript U IIP/HI 5 3" Pacific Page PostScript U 1...... • PDP25in1 (172 Fonts) U /HP • PDP25in 1 (172 Fonts) U III •-• PDP Plotte r in a Cartridge llP/H/W 4 MB Memay Card for U ll/HD Without RAM... 5 98 2MB... 1MB s 198 4 MB. M98 ,5278 , 5 398 . s 248 . . s 498 I With Li* Without RAM MB Newl Memory Card for U 11P/W 5148 2MB s298 51 JADE COMPUTER Technicon 5102 Printer $128 120 CPS. 9 PIN Printer Near Letter Quality Printing EPSON/IBM Compatible International Character Set Four Print Styles One Year Warranty Logitech LogiMouse Hi-Rez. Bus s 88 LogiMouse Hi-Rez Serial s 98 Microsoft BUS Mouse $48 200 DPI w/ Drivers Software 198 4MB 5 S48| Tape Back-up 40 MB Internal s 268 150 MB Internal s 628 250 MB Internal s 728 For External Add s 128 Scanner Diamond Flower HS-3000 Plus . s 198 OCR Software for HS-3000 s 88 Keyboard 1 02 enhanced click s 68 Keyboard Drawer s 34 California Torrance. Costa Mesa. Woodland Hills Kearny Mesa, Sunnyvale Texas Georgia Arizona Addison, Houston Smyrna Phoenix Not all items in stock at our nine retail locations. JADE COMPUTER 4901 W. Rosecrans Ave. Box 5046, Hawthorne, California 90251-5046 213-973-7707 Continental USA. 1 -800-421-5500 Inside California 1-800-262-1710 iClimif* 10 Day Money Back Guarantee lag We accept checks, credit cards (or purchase orders from qualified firms and institutions.) No surcharge on credit card orders. CA.. TX.. GA. & AZ. residents add sales tax. Prices and availability subject to change without notice. s 4.00 minimum shipping and handling charge. Circle 152 on Reader Service Card SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 501 OVER $2 MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF INVENTORY DROPPED IN OUR LAP TO SELL TO YOU AT WHOLESALE PRICES upfffimi 2014 Mcculloch boulevard, suite a lake havasu city, arizona 86403 (602) 453-9555 • 1-800-752-6016 • Fax (602) 453-9379 FIVE YEAR WARRANTY ON ALL SPREE SYSTEMS SPREE COMPUTERS PLEASE CALL ON SPECIAL CONFIGURATION 286-12 MHZ 80286 12 MHZ AT 1 MEG MEMORY 1.2 or 1.44 FLOPPY DRIVE 40 MEG HARD DISK 101 KEYBOARD w/TRACKBALL VGA MONITOR & CARD w/256K TWO SERIAL PORTS ONE PARALLEL $1499 mmm t^j^ii^ii^ii^ 386-20 MHZ 80386 20 MHZ AT 1 MEG MEMORY 1.2 or 1.44 FLOPPY DRIVE 40 MEG HARD DISK 101 KEYBOARD w/TRACKBALL VGA MONITOR & CARD w/256K TWO SERIAL PORTS ONE PARALLEL PORT 25 MHZ AVAIL- (tlQQQ ABLE CALL 4> 1-OW n ::>;?>::>:y:>:x:v:x::>::>:>:^^ *rrr All Seagates Available - CALL FOR PRICING ) to $469 »n P » :. / Plii» Quality Software / Hardware - in use worldwide! 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee if not Satisfied JUST LIKE HAVING A TAPE RECORDER IN A PC. Fastest, easiest Editors with the most features for the price. Quick, simple hardware / software installation. • Use for Animal/ Human communications research. • For Business: Training. Slide Shows - Works with Grasp.QB.C... • For Engineering: Function Gen.. Clear Voice Alarms. Storage Scope.. • For Fun: Create Your Own Mac-like Boot-up Sounds. AHer Your Voice... OrderS:800-969-»41 1 by Silicon ShaCK FAX: 408-374-4412 5120 Campbell Ave. #112, San Jose, CA 95130. Technical: 408-446-4521 Ask for FREE PRODUCT CATALOG o f IBM-PC sound products. Oevelopers: Ask about TurboSound - PC voice sound engine. Circle 268 on Reader Service Card 386SX SYSTEM SPECIAL • Intel 386SX Microprocessor • 1MB RAM Expandable to 8MB • 20MB Seagate Hard Drive • 1.2MB or 1.44MB Floppy Drive •1:1 Hard & Floppy Controller • 101 Key Extended Keyboard • Monochrome Monitor & Adapter w/Printer Port • Choice of Slimline, Desktop or Mini Tower($20 Extra) Case • One Year Warranty Options VGA Color Add $395 40MB HD Add $120 80MB HD Add $350 Second Floppy Add $89 All other upgrades CALL MOTHERBOARD SPECIAL 80286-1 2 Wait , Exp to 4MB, AMI BIOS, OK $129 80386-SX Shadow RAM, Exp to 8MB, OK $319 80386-20 Norton Sl=22.5. AMI BIOS, OK $629 80386-25 Wait, AMI BIOS, Exp to 8MB, OK $899 80386-33 64K Cache, Wait, AMI BIOS, OK $ 1 199 Special !! 80486-25 1 28K Cache, Watt CALL Avantech Solutions, Inc. 3 W.Columbia Ave. Palisades Park, NJ 07650 (201)941 -1961 $1,095 Same Configuration as above with 286-12 $895 386-20 $1495 386-25 $ 16 95 386-33 $1995 Circle 31 on Reader Service Card riff MflRVMflC of discounting Tandy® computers, Fax and Radio Shack® products Radio /haek @ Tandy * We will meet or beat. . . GUARANTEED LOWEST PRICES lllf MARYMflC INDUSTRIES INC. 22511 Katy Fwy. Katy (Houston), TX 77450 1-713-392-0747 FAX (713) 574-4567 Toll Free 800-231-3680 Circle 172 on Reader Service Card PERFORMANCE LEADER 33 MHz 8.3 MIPS System from $ 2,799 386-33 MHz 64K Cache 4 MB memory SIMMs 200 MB HD, 1.2 MB FD 101 Keyboard, 2S, 1P Port Tower Case (Upgrade Your ATI Best Price/Perforrni r] 386-25,33 MHz Cache Boards from 5 599 64K expandable to 256K Cache 33; Landmark 58.7, MIPS 8.3. SI 45.9 25: Landmark 43-5, MIPS 6.0, SI 31.6 Up to 8 MB SIMM on board 8 Slots: 6 16-bit, 1 32-bit, 1 8-bit Supports INTEL/WEITEK Coprocessors TWO Year Warranty Technology Inc. Tel. (408) 441-7500,(800) 899-1889 356 South Milpitas Blvd., Milpitas, CA 95035 Circle 196 on Reader Service Card Circle 51 on Reader Service Card LOW COST INTERFACE CARDS FOR PC/XT/AT RS-485/422 Card [PC485] $95/125 • Serial Async Communication up to 4,000rt; 2 or 4 wires; NS16450UART; • Can be configured as COM1-COM4; Maximum Baud Rate 56KB. • Flexible configuration options. RTS or DTR control of transmission direction. • Full/Half duplex operation. Supports hardware handshaking (R7S.CIS). • Dual drivers/receivers;Handles 64 devices;Compatible with most comm. sf twr. • High speed version available (supports baud rates up to 256KB ) - $165 Dual-Port RS-485/422 [PCL743] $175 • Two independentchannels/UARTs;2or4wireoperation.Max.Baud56KB. • Dipswitch configurable asCOMl-4 (IRQ2-7). On board terminator resistor. IEEE-488 Card [PC488A] $145 1 • IncludesDOS Device Driver and sample Communication program in BASIC. • Additional sample programs in C. Pascal & Assembly - $50. • IRQ (1-6). DMA channel lor 2. Up lo 4 boards per computer. • Compatible with most IEEE-488 Software packages for IBM-PC. • I/O Addresses and Control Registers compatible with NPs GPIB-PCHA IEEE- 488 Card [PC488C] With Built-in Bus Analyzer $445 • Software Support for BASICA, QuickBASIC and GWBASIC. • Additional libraries for C, Pascal, FORTRAN, Assembly available - $50 (all) Full range of Talker, listener, Controller, Serial/Parallel Poll, SRQ, etc... • Powerful menu-driven BUS ANALYZER can be run in the background while 4 programs or commands are executed; Features Program Stepping, Break points, Real Time Bus Data Capture (4K buffer). Instant Screen Toggling. • Complete Controller /Talker /Listener capability. Based on NEC-7210 . • Memoiy-resident Printer Port Emulation Utility included (LFT1-3). • Compatible with Nl's GPIB-PCI1 . TMS-9914 based card - $345. DIGITAL I/O Card [PCL720] $175 • Input: 32 TTL compatible channels; Input load is 0.2 mA at 0.4V. • Output: 32 TTL compatible channcls;Sinks 24mA(0.5V); Sources 15mA(2.0V) • Counter/Timer DC to 2.6MHz; 3 channels; 16 bit counters; 6 counting modes. • Breadboard area for prototyping, Dipswitch I/O port selection (200-3F8 hex). LOW COST DATA AQUISITION & CONTROL CARDS FOR PC/XT/AT 12BITA/D&D/A [PCL711s] $295 • A/D converters single-ended channels; Device: AD574; Conversion time less than 25nsec; Input range: *5V; Software Trigger Mode only. • D/A converter: 1 channel; 12 bit resolution; to +5 V/10V Output Range. • Digital I/O: 16 Input/ 16 Output channels; All I/Os TTL compatible. • External Wiring Terminal Board with mounting accessories included. • Utility Routines and Demo/Sample Programs for BASIC and Quick-B ASIC. 12 BIT A/D & D/A [PCL812] $395 • A/D converter 16 singleended inputs; Device: AD574; Conversion time less than 25itSCc; Built-in programmable pacer; Input ranges: * 10V, ±5V, ±1V. • D/A converter: 2 channels ; 12 bit resolution.; Output Range 0-5V . • Digital I/O: 16 Input / 16 Output channels; All 1/Os TTL compatible. • Counter: 1 channel programmable interval counter/timer; Uses Intel 8254. • DMA and interrupt capability. Utility software for Basic included. FAST 12BIT A/D/A [PCL718] $795 • A/D converter 16 single ended or 8 differential channels; 12 bit resolution; Programmable scan rate; Built-in Interrupt and DM A control circuitry. Conversion speed 60,000 smpls/sec (standard), 100,000 smpls/sec (optional). • Input ranges: Bipolar ±10V, ±5V, ±2.5 V, ± IV, -0.5V; Unipolar 10,5,2.1V. • D/A converter 2 channels; Resolution: 12 bits res; Settling time: 5n$ec; ±5V • Digital I/O: 16 OUT, 16 IN; TTL compatible; All l/Os TTL compatible. • Coun ter 1 6 bit progr. in terval counier/timer; Uses Intel 8254; Pacer clock; • Software: Utility software for BASIC and QuickBASIC included. Supported by labDAS ($195/495), ASYST, LABTECH, UnkelScope 1 6 Channel 12 bit D/A [PCL726] $495] • Output Ranges: Oto +5V,0to + 10V, ±5V, ±10Vor sink4-20mA. • Settling time: 70jiS. Linearity: ± l/2bit. Voltage output driving capacity: +5mA • Digital I/O: 16 digital inputs and 16 digital outputs; TTL compatible. STEPPER MOTOR CARD $395 • Capable of independent and simultaneous control of up to 3 stepper motors. • Speed: Programmable from 3.3 PPS to 3410 PPS; Built-in acceleration control. • Output Mode: One clock (Pulse, Direction) or two clock (CW, CCW pulses) • Step position Read-back; Opto-isolated outputs; Crystal based timing. • Includes 8 bit digital input/output port. Order P/N [PCL-738B] MC / VISA / AMEX Call today for datasheets! Circle 52 on Reader Service Card B&C MICROSYSTEMS INC. 750 N. PASTORIA AVE., SUNNYVALE, CA 94086 USA TEL: (408)730-5511 FAX: (408)730-5521 BBS:(408)730-2317 SEPTEMBER 1990 •BYTE 503 33 MHz 80486 Motherboard Faster than Everex Step ' v & ALR 15 MIPS! $2,990 Qty1 Features: • External 64K or 256K Write Back Cache • IROS Design/Wetter Support • Burst Mode Design torMaximum Throughput • Expand up to 16MB MIPS Cache 0k 4M 486/25 11.4 64K 2599 2899 386/33 8.3 64K 1479 1779 386/25 6.2 64K 1229 1529 386/20 4.9 64K 1069 1369 • We manufacture motherboard and complete system with FCC/UL Available Technology Power Enterprise, Inc. 46560 Fremont Blvd #1 1 8, Fremont CA 94538 Tel (415)623-9162 FAX (41 5) 623-9462 80C51 BASIC-52 BOARD $225 US includes: • Intel 80C51FA, new PWM array • RS422/485, auto RX/TX flow • RS232, auto override select • 128K static RAM, battery back up • 32K CMOS EPROM, 8K Basic-52 • Battery operated & NiCd charge • On board power supply, 300ma • Hitachi LMxx LCD driver port • PC communication software • * * OPTIONS * * * Prototyping Board $39US PC/RS232 < — > RS422/485 . . . .$44US Prgmr 27Cxxx, 87C51/xx $159US BINARY DATA ACQUISITION CORP. 1735 Bayly Street, Pickering, Ontario L1W 3G7 Canada, Phone (416) 420-8029 Fax (416) 831-0510 Cashiers Cheque or Visa COORD I N A TED MOTION CONTROL Indexer LFT • Powerful • Easy To Use • Economical $199 D Software easily converts printer port into multi axis step motor controller. D Use IBM type personal computer to control movement of cameras, positioning stages, valves, robotics, optics, custom plotters, machine tools, or other motion or positioning applications. □ Accepts "plain English" commands from any language or program that can write to a file including BASIC, C, Pascal, spreadsheet and database macros, high level laboratoiy software, and even from DOS batch files! HPGLconverter available. □ Full functions for up to six axes including step, direction, reduced current, power, limit switches, home, acceleration, position tracking, line drawing and more. □ Super Manual covers evei^thing. Easy to read. Easy to use. Numerous examples. U Why fight with RS-232 and cryptic commands AND pay $500 or more per axis? Inquire about Indexer LPT today ! Ability Systemscorp. 1422 Arnold Ave. Roslyn, PA 19001 (215)657-4338 Circle 289 on Reader Service Card Circle 39 on Reader Service Card Circle 10 on Reader Service Card 3M DISKS HenT^tS^ Unformatted Formatted 5 1/4" DS/DD $ .58 ea $ .63 ea 5 1/4" DS/HD $ 1 - 01 ea $ 1 - 07 ea 3 1/2" DS/DD $ .83 ea $ .90 ea 3 1/2" DS/HD $1.53 ea $1.62 ea Smart™ Mouse /^S 100% Microsoft® Compatible K^_y^ 2-Buttons / Lifetime Warranty DB9 & DB25 Connectors (serial version) Order #MOUSE $29.95 Designed tor IBM PC/XT, AT & compatibles. 800-258-0028 S&H:FOB Grand Rapids, Ml. Ml residents + 4% tax. Prices subject to change. COD + $5.50. Precision Data Product*™ P.O. Bat 8367 Grand Rapids. Ml 49518 616-698-2242 FAX:616-698-9047 IG PROMPT DELIVERY!!! SAME DAY SHIPPING (USUALLY) QUANTITY ONE PRICES SHOWN lor JULY 29, 1990 OUTSIDE OKLAHOMA: r2MB Upgrade LJ IIP & III $ DYNAMIC RAM [1MB COMP DeskPro 386S $225.00 I SIMM AST Prem386/33Mhz 160.00 I SIMM lMx9 80 ns 72.00 SIMM 256Kx9 100 ns 23.00 1Mbit iMxi 80 ns 7.15 141256 256Kxi 60 ns 4.10 141256 256Kxi 80 ns 3.10 141256 256Kxi 100 ns 2.15 141256 256Kxi 120 ns 1.95 1 4464 64Kx4 1 00 ns 2.45 1 41 264* 64Kx4 100 ns 5.95 EPROM I27C1000 128Kx8 200 ns $17.50 1 127512 64Kx8 200 ns 7.50 1 27256 32Kx8 200 ns 5.75 |27128 16Kx8 250 ns 3.75 STATIC RAM I62256P-10 32Kx8 100 ns $7.50 I I6264P-12 8Kx8 120 ns 4.50 J OPEN 6 DAYS, 7:30 am-1 pm; SHIP VIA FED-EX ON SAT. SAT DELIVERY INCLUDED ON FED-EX ORDERS RECEIVED BY: R: M J1 7.00,1 lb MasterCard'VISA or UPS CASH COD MICROPROCESSORS UNLIMITED, INC. EStffStr (918) 267-4961 No minimum Order. Please nale puces 5Ub|ecl lo change! Shipping, insurance extra, up ID SI lor packing materials. UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMER & TESTER MODEL: ALL-03 FOR PC XT/AT/386 3595 (COD, VISA, MC) \^ a E(E)PROMs general NMOS & CMOS (16k to 512k, 1M to 4M BlTs) a BIPOLAR PROMs a PAL, CMOS PAL, GAL, PEEL, EPLD, F PL a Microcomputer (8748, 8751, 87C51 & Z8 series) a IC TEST (TTL 74/54 & 40/45 series) a MEMORY TEST a HEX TO BINARY code converter for INTEL 80/86 HEX MOTOROLA S1/S2 HEX and TEKTRONICS HEX a HIGH SPEED ■ 40 PIN test socket with 40 sets of software controlled circuit. 40 sets of programmable a "GO" KEY & "GOOD" —LED permit stand alone machine operation a 4 SOCKET ADAPTER (OPTION) — 1 Year Warranty A 30 Days Money Back Guarantee — ORDER TOLL FREE 1-800-633-3449 IN CALIF. (Tel): 408-748-8491 (FAX) 408748-8492 C&J MICRONICS 1400 Coleman Ave., #D-13, Santa Clara. CA 95050 Circle 224 on Reader Service Card Circle 184 on Reader Service Card Circle 81 on Reader Service Cam NEW UNIQUE POWERFUL! INTRODUCING... NETFAX © NETWORK FAX SYSTEM • Send from within WordPerfect • Automatic inward routing via TTI/CSID • Uses no TSR Memory • Includes facsimile modem & network software • Send FAX messages from any workstation • Merge text and graphics • Automatic personalized cover sheets • Can both send and receive ifnnc • Secure Journal to Users *p""0 Get FAX Power Today! ALL X™ FA*® 1-800-289-3329 Special Offer Introduction of new transputer products CD-TB10/AT 10 slot TRAM motherboard. Onboard root transputer with 1-20 MB memory, FIFO, C004 and T222. High speed 16-bit AT bus inter- face. B008 compatible. Entry level price . . .US$ 2,700 Size 2 TRAM's with T800-20 CD-TRAM2-1, 1MB RAM US$ 1,040 CD-TRAM2-2, 2MB RAM US$ 1,320 CD-TRAM2-4, 4MB RAM US$ 2,240 CD-TRAM2-8, 8MB RAM US$ 3,590 Cresco Data A/S, 148, Oeresundsvej DK-2300 Copenhagen S., Denmark Phone +45 31 55 42 70 Fax +45 31 55 01 53 $120 to repair a hard disk failure! That same $120 could have paid for breakdown insur- ance on a basic com- puter system for an entire year. Insurance against hard disk failures and any other losses. Now SAFEWARE FIXrIT provides insurance for mechanical breakdown, (wear and tear) as well as external losses (theft, fire, power surges, natural disasters and more). All in a single policy, for as little as $100. per year. Call free for full information . ^1-800-822-2345 Local 1-614-262-0708 Fax 614-262-1714 SAFEWARE, The Insurance Agency Inc. 2929 N. High Street P.O. Box 02211 Columbus. 0H 43202 Not Available in All States Circle 14 on Reader Service Card Circle 7 9 on Reader Service Card Circle 256 on Reader Service Card Complete PC Systems For Complex Stand-Alone Applications • Now Available! Systems that are functionally equivalent to large PC's, in compact packages. Our systems are based on single board CPU's and include all hardware, software, and support needed to run your special applications. • Run DOS applications without a disk using our BIOS. Store DOS and user programs in EPROM's. • Debug Monitor, BIOS for disk capability, utilities, and source code are available. • Compatible with PC systems. Run 8088 code and DOS applications. Use standard PC/AT cards in passive backplanes for expansion. • Our CPU cards use V40/V50 micros and drive PC/AT bus. Options: 1meg RAM, 256K ROM, 5 serial ports, SCSI, CMOS, floppy, printer, graphics. s*\/\. CPU Cards $249 (q25) O^UTi Systems $499 (q1) /A\ li 1$) Customization available £&$.*&« (303)444-7737 655 Hawthorne Ave. Boulder. CO 80304 FAX (303) 786-9983 Circle 156 on Reader Service Card UNIPRO, the PC/XT/AT/386 based universal program- mer/tester programs PROMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs up to 4MB and 32-bit wide, PALs, PLDs, GALs, EPLDs, PEELs, and Micro Con- trollers. JEDEC file compatibility and Test Vec- tor verification allow the use of most popular PLD compilers. The unit also tests TTL/CM0S Logic ICs and Dynamic/Static RAMs. 40-pin Gold ZIF socket, built-in protection for short circuit and over current, high speed parallel inter- face to the PC, and menu- driven software are included at $585. XE1TEK 764 San Aleso Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 TEL: (408) 727-6995 • FAX: (408) 727-6996, Circle 323 on Reader Service Card 9-TrackTape For Your IBM PC/XT/AT/PS-2 Read 1600 bpi 9-track tapes from a micro, mini or mainframe in EBCDIC or ASCII as mirror image or by individual files. Use the 2000 PCTfor disk backup, data inter- change or archival storage. PC/XT/AT/PS-2aretrademarksoflBM. 2000 PC is a trademark of Digi-Data. DIGI-DATA CORPORATION 8580 Dorsey Run Road Jessup, MD 20794-9990 (301) 498-0200 800-782-6395 FAX (301) 498-0771 S. . .First in Value LOW COST 15-BIT A/D CONVERTER for IBM" PC/XT/AT COMPUTERS UNUSUAL SPECIFICATIONS: Years since introduction: 6 Total returns for non-performance: Failures in field (including outright abuse): 4 Total service charges parts and labor: $0.00 Price: still $265.00 LAWSON LABS, INC. 5700 RAIBE ROAD COLUMBIA FALLS, MT 59912 800-321-5355 or 406-387-5355 Circle 160 on Reader Service Card LOGIC, the universal PLD programmer supports extensive library of industry-standard logic types, including latest EPLDs, PLAs, GALs, FPLs, and PEELs. The pull-down menu driven software accepts JEDEC files from most PLD a design softwares. The full screen editor for Fuse Maps and Test Vectors is included at $395. Tango-PLD, the ^^^^^^a logic design software 4H generates JEDEC files by Vj W schematic entry, logic H Wf minimization, logic Jfl H simulation, and « design compilation ^P | at $495. "3^ *e5Sn LOGIC and Tango • t -* - PLD are bundled for $745. XELTEK U 764 San Aleso Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 TEL: (408) 727-6995 • FAX: (408) 727-6996 Circle 324 on Reader Service Card FREE CATALOG RS-232C INTERFACE & MONITORING EQUIPMENT CATALOG fT WRITE or CALL tor YOUR FREE C0MPREHENSIVE8&8 ELECTRONICS CATALOG TODAY! Pages and pages of photographs and illustrated, descriptive text for B&B's complete line of RS- 232 converters, P.S-422 con- verters, current loop convert- ers, adapters, break-out box- es, data switches, data split- ters, short haul modems, surge protectors, and much, much more. Most products meet FCC Part 15 J. Your RS-232 needs for quality, service and competitive prices will be more than met by B&B IWKI * Sfltftl ELECTRONICS. Manufacturer to you, no mid- dleman! Money-back guarantee! Same-day shipment! One-year warranty on products! Technical support is available. Write For Your FREE Catalog Today! B&B electrnnicK MM MANUFACTURING COMPANY 4002J Baker Road P.O. Box 1040 • Ottawa, IL 61350 Phone: 815-434-0846 Circle 53 on Reader Service Card Q PC BASED UNIVERSAL DEVICE PROGRAMMER $695/895 • Programs EE/EPROMs, MICROs, BIPOLARs.PALs, GALs, EPLDs, PEELS. (current libraries support over 900 devices by over 35 manufacturers). • Software driven pin drivers. D/A generated programming voltages (8 bit D ACs used to generate voltages from 5-25V with 0.1V resolution for all pins). • Fast device programming /verify/ read via dedicated parallel interface. • Upgradcable for virtually any future programmable devices up to 40 pins. • Sclf-subsistent operation. No additional modules or plug-in adapters required. • Includes user friendly MEMORY BUFFER FULL SCREEN EDITOR. Commands include: Fill, Move, Insert, Delete, Search. Data entry can be done inASCIlorHEXform. FUSEMAP EDITOR for Logic devices. • Friendly Menu-Driven interface. Device selection by P/N and Manufacturer. • Supports 8/16/32 bit data word formats. • Programming algorithms: Normal, Intelligent I & II, Quick Pulse Program- ming. Automatic selection of fastest algorithm for any given part. • Verify operation performed at normal & worst case operating voltage. • Functional test: JEDEC standard functional testing for logic devices. TTL L.ogic functional test for74xx/54xx series devices and memoiy devices. Test libraiy can be updated by the user. User definable test pattern generation. • File formats accepted: JEDEC (rull).JEDEC(kernal), Binaiy, MOS Tech- nology, Motorola Ilex, Intel Hex, Tektronix Hex. • Base price ($695) includes Interface card, cable, Memoiy +Micro+ Bipolar library, TTTVCMOS/MEMORY device test capability, one year free updates. • Complete price ($895) includes all of the above plus Logic Device Library. • Library updates can be received via floppy or B&C Customer Support BBS. • Full I year warranty. Customer support Wa voice line, Fax & dedicated BBS . UNIVERSAL RS-232 PROGRAMMER $345/495 • Programs EE/EProms, ZPRams.Intcl Micros, Flash EProms.Memoiy Cards. » Stand-Alone Mode for EE/EProm and Memoiy Card Duplication /Verify. ► All 24/28/32 pin EE/EProms to 4 MBits (upgradeable to 32 megabits). ► Mieros:8741/A,-2/A,-4,-8,-9 ( -5l,-C51,-C51FA/B,-52,-53,-55,-C521,-C541,9761. • Model UP100 ($345). Model UP200 ($495) accepts dedicated modules. » Memoiy Cards Programming Module (Seiko/Epson,Fujitsu.) - $145. ► GANG ProgrammingModule(4 50ckets)- $145. » Optional built-in Eraser/Timer module- $50; Conductive foam pad. ► On-Board Programming capability; Custom interface modules available. ► User friend.; Menu-Driven Interface Program for IBM-PC and Macintosh. ► Can be operated with any computer containing an RS-232 serial port. ► OEM open board programmer configurations available (from $245). ► One year free software updates and Customer Support. » Customer support via voice line, dedicated BBS or fax; Full I year warranty. Circle 92 on Reader Service Card Circle 33 on Reader Service Card INTELLIGENT [ROM EMULATOR $395 • Emulates 2716 through 27512 EProms (2k to 64k bytes) with a single unit. • Megabit parts can be emulated with multiple units (Mega adapter required). • Connects to the standard parallel printer port. Uses standard printer cable. • FAST data loading via parallel printer port (64k bytes in less than 10 seconds). • Intelligent "ln-Cireuit-Emulator" type features include: Address Compare (with HALToutput), Address Snapshot (for target addr. bus monitoring), Trigger Input (for external events monitoring), Programmable Reset Output. • Powerful Memoiy buITer editor. Selectable wordsizes (8,16,32). • User friendly software. Command set includes: Load, Write, Display, Run, Type, Edit, Fill, Run-Command-File, Monitor, Port, Reset, Help, Calculator. • Cascadable to 8 units. Includes target cable with Trigger, Halt & Reset clips. • CMOS model with NiCad rechargeable 9V batteiy backup - $495. (Can be used in stand-alone mode; Built-in battery recharging circuitry.) • File formats accepted: Binary, Intel Hex, Motorola S. MC / VISA / AMEX Call today for datasheets! B&C MICROSYSTEMS INC. 750N.PASTOR1AAVE., SUNNYVALE, CA 94086 USA TEL: (408)730-5511 FAX:(408)730-5521 BBS:(408)730-2317 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 505 Editorial Index by Company Index of companies covered in articles, columns, or news stories in this issue Each reference is to the first page of the article or section in which the company name appears Company, Page # Inquiry # A Ad Lib, 65 994 ADI Systems, 445 Advanced Concepts, 50 1 1 42 Advanced Micro Devices, 19 Aldus, 81 984 All The Fax, 52 1145 Altech Systems, 429 1068 Apple Computer, 19, 89, 159, 162,169,212 Arnet,50 1140 Artisoft, 65 995 Ashton-Tate, 19, 132, 401 1071 Asymetrix, 159 888 AT&E.19 AT&T, 89 AutoSoft,64 1165 B Baen Books, 65 988 Bartleby Software, 429 1070 Bell Labs, 89 Blue Ribbon Bakery, 429 1053 Borland International, 19, 401 BV Engineering, 62 1160 C-Lab/DigiDesign, 429 1181 C.E. Software, 81 981 Canon USA, 43 1125 Cheetah International, 65 987 Claris, 19,132 1072 CMS, 429 1067 Coda, 429 1061 Cognivision Research, 65 992 Commodore Business Machines, 429 1052 Compaq Computer, 89, 128 Complementary Solutions, 64 1 1 66 Cool Shoes Software, 429 1059 Copam Electronics, 445 Core International, 65 989 Cornerstone Technology, 212 853 Coromandel Industries, 56 1 152 Cray, 89 Cyma, 58 1156 Dariana Techology, 50 1141 Data General, 89,113 Dayna Communications, 19 Decisus, 93 1101 Delta Point, 132 1073 DigiBoard,52 1144 Digipro, 214 881 Digital Equipment, 89, 113, 154, 401 854 Digital Research, 65 990 Distributed Processing Technology, 65 997 Dr. T, 429 1063 Dolch Computer, 42 1121 Dycam,48 1136 Dynamac Computer Products, 169 857 Enable Software, 113 Extended Systems, 48 1135 F Feith Systems, 44 1130 Feldstar Software ,58 1 1 54 Forval America, 50 1 1 43 G Gold Disk, 429 1185 H HardFacts, 120 HIP Software, 429 Huff Software, 132 Hybrid Arts, 429 1002 1064 1074 1062 I IBM, 89, 401,414 Icom Simulations, 81 Information Research, 113 Intel, 19,414 IntelligenceWare, 62 Intelligent Music, 429 Intex Solutions, 58 IXI Software, 81 K Know Ware, 93 982 1162 1065 1157 1103 Landmark Research International, 65 986 Lixco, 401 Locus, 89 Lotus Development, 19, 113,182 887 M MacroMind, 429 1058 Markofthe Unicorn, 429 1182 MDBS, 206 887 Metagraphics Software, 56 1 1 48 Microelectronics and Computer Technology, 19 Microlytics, 64 1167 Micronics Computers, 42 1 122 Microprose Software, 65 998 MicroSlate, 42 1124 Microsoft, 132, 159,414 1075 MicroSolutions Computer Products, 120 100C Microware Systems, 423 1051 Motorola, 401 , 414, 423 Muszertechnika, 401 N National Science Foundation, 1 9 NBI, 120 NEC, 128 NEC Technologies, 19 New Horizons, 1 32 New Wave Software, 429 Nisca, 43 Novell, 19 nuLogic, 62 Number Nine, 44 1001 1076 1060 1126 1158 1134 Object Management Group, 19 Oce Graphics, 19 On Technology, 81 983 Opcode, 429 1056 Outbound Systems, 169 856 P Pacific Data *oducts,48 1139 Palantir, 132 1077 Paragon Concepts, 1 32 1078 Passport, 429 1055 Perceptive Solutions, 65 993 Personal Composer, 429 1183 Peter Norton Computing, 1 20 1 003 Pixel Publishing, 429 ~ 1186 Pocket Soft, 56 1151 Project Software & Development, 58 1 1 53 Q Q/Cor, 188 QMS, 19 Quark, 81 Quicksoft, 64, 65 882 985 996 1163 R Radius, 212 RasterOps, 120 Robotron, 401 852 999 S Samna, 132 1079 Sample Line, 152 1075 Scorpion Systems, 429 1 1 87 Seiko, 19 Seiko Instruments, 43 1127 Shiva, 185 855 Siemens, 401 Softview,58 1155 Sony, 43 1128 Sound Quest, 429 1069 Spinnaker Software, 1 32 1080 SPSS, 93 1102 Steinberg/Jones, 429 1057 Strand Software Technologies, 56 1150 Sun, 89 Sun Moon Star, 42 1123 T T/Maker, 132 1081 Tandy, 19,423 Tatung,44 1133 TheOtherGuys,429 1188 TKi,64 1164 Top Level, 56 1149 TransComputer, 44 1129 Trilobyte,62 1161 Twelve Tone Systems, 429 1054 U Unison Technology, 52 Universal Technical Systems, 62 USVideo, 65 1146 1159 991 V Very Vivid, 429 1066 Visionware, 89 Voyetra Technologies, 429 1 1 84 w WordPerfect, 132 1082 Working Software, 1 32 1 083 WYSIWYG, 132 1084 X Xircom, 48 XTree, 52 1137 1147 Zenith Data Systems, 1 9 506 BYTE* SEPTEMBER 19£C READER SERVICE To get further information on the products advertised in BYTE, fill out the reader service card by circling the numbers on the card that cor- respond to the inquiry number listed with the advertiser. This index is provided as an additional service by the publisher, who assumes no liability for errors or omissions. * Correspond directly with company. Alphabetical Index to Advertisers Inquiry No. Page No. B ABACUS 166 9 ABACUS 166 10 ABILITY SYSTEMS CORP 504 11 ACM 203 12 ADDONAMERICA 493 13 AKSYSTEMS 496 14 ALLTHEFAX 504 • ALLEN SYSTEMS 499 15 ALPHA PRODUCTS 491 16 ALR 2,3 17 ALR 2,3 340 ALTEC ELECTRONIC GMBH .. . 466 18 ALTEC TECHNOLOGY 431 19 AMERICAL GROUP 500 20 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 500 20 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 500 20 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 500 21 AMERICAN P0WERC0NVERSI0N99 22 AMERICAN POWER C0NVERSI0N99 451 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP ..310 452 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP ..310 23 AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS . 137 25 ANNAB00KS 404 28 APPLIED DATA COMM 208 27 APPLIED DATA COMM 208 28 ARTISOFT 142 29 ARTISOFT 142 453 ASHTON-TATE 224,225 454 ASHTON-TATE 224,225 455 ASTRESEARCH 400B 458 ASTRESEARCH 400B 30 ATRON CADRE TECHNOLOGIES .29 31 AVANTECH SOLUTIONSJNC. . . 503 32 A.M.S 488 33 B & B ELECTRONICS 505 34 B & B ELECTRONICS CATALOG 471 35 BASF 188 457 B A YTECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 247 458 BA YTECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 247 459 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 334 480 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 334 38 BEST POWER TECHJNC 503 343 BEST POWER TECHJNC 471 37 BETTER SOFTWARE TECH 150 38 BETTER SOFTWARE TECH 150 39 BINARY DATA ACQUISITION CORP 504 • BINARY TECHNOLOGYJNC . . . 498 • BIX 215 • BIX 450 • BIX 480 450 BIX 466,487 40 BLACKJACK COMPUTER 493 43 BLAISE COMPUTING.INC 8 44 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11 45 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11 481 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL ... 219 482 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL ... 219 551 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL .. . 251 552 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL ... 251 483 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL ... 293 484 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL ... 293 48 BOS NATIONAL.INC 499 47 BP MICROSYSTEMS 490 399 BUFFALO PRODUCTSJNC .... 191 48 BUREAU OF ELECTRONIC PUB ..76 • BUYERS MART 472-482 49 BYTE BITS 500 • BYTE BOOK CLUB 432A-B • BYTE BOOK CLUB 432,433 349 BYTECARDDECK 240 348 BYTE CATALOG SHOWCASE... 471 • BYTESUB.MESSAGE 438 • BYTEWEEK/NEWSLETTER .... 453 50 BZTECHNICAL 484 51 B&C MICROSYSTEMSJNC .... 503 52 B&C MICROSYSTEMSJNC .... 503 53 B&C MICROSYSTEMSJNC .... 505 54 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 402 55 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 402 56 CALERA RECOGNITION SYS .. 422 57 CANON (OPTICAL CARD) 83 58 CANON (PRINTER) 189 59 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP ....72 80 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP ....73 335 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP .. 482 485 CENTRAL POINT SOFTWARE ... 311 81 CHANTAL SYSTEMS CORP.... 149 82 CHANTAL SYSTEMS CORP. ... 149 488 CHRONOLOGIC CORP 357 487 CHRONOLOGIC CORP 357 • CLEOCOMMUNICATIONSJNC . . 112 Inquiry No. Pa ge No. 83 CNS.INC 482 339 COGNIVISION RESEARCH S.A. 441 * COMPAQ 278,279 344 COMPUADD 471 488 COMPUADD 240A-F 85 COMPUCOM 485 489 COMPUSERVE 350 * COMPUTER ACCESSORIES 272A-B 347 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES... 273 348 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES... 273 * COMPUTER BOOK CLUB . . . 98A-B * COMPUTER BOOK CLUB 97 87 COMPUTER FRIENDSJNC . . , , 180 88 COMPUTER MODULESJNC ... 490 89 COMPUTERLANE 483 70 COMPUTERWISEJNC 484 71 COMTROL 187 72 CONTECU.S.A.JNC 471 73 CONTEC U.S.A.JNC 471 * COPIA INTERNATIONAL LTD... 380 74 CORE INTERNATIONAL 419 75 CORE INTERNATIONAL 419 78 CORELSYSTEMS 411 77 COVOX 485 78 COVOX 485 79 CRESCO DATA A/S 504 80 CURTISJNC 94 81 C&J MICRONICS 504 * DAMARK INT'LJNC 447 * DATA COMMUNICATIONS 428 470 DATA GENERAL (N.A.) 332,333 82 DATA STRATEGIES INT'L 494 83 DATA TRANSLATION 41 471 DATALUX CORPORATION 274 472 DATALUX CORPORATION 274 1234 DATAPRO (INT'L) 349 84 DATAQ INSTRUMENTSJNC . . . . 500 85 DELL CII.1 88 DELL 151 * DELL 152A-B 87 DELL 153 474 DELL 218B-D.217 475 DESCRIBE JNC 347 88 DESKTOP TECHNOLOGY CORP 494 89 DIETRICH POS EQUIPMENT. . . 500 90 DIGITAL DISTRIBUTINGJNC 37 91 DIGITAL DISTRIBUTINGJNC 37 478 DIGITAL RESEARCH 319 92 DIGI-DATACORP 505 93 DISKCOTECH 493 94 DISKCOTECH 493 95 DISKETTE CONNECTION 499 98 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING ... 115 97 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING ... 115 98 DIVERSIFIED COMPUTER SYS. 493 99 DIVERSIFIED TECHNOLOGY ....84 100 DP-TEK 164 101 DP-TEK 164 102 DROVER TECHNOLOGIESJNC. 407 103 DSP DEVELOPMENT CORP .... 157 104 DTK 185 105 DTK 185 106 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICSJNC . 495 107 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICSJNC . 495 108 ECOSOFTJNC 200 109 ELEXOR ASSOCIATES JNC .... 496 * EPSON 8,9 111 ERGOCOMPUTING 118,119 112 ERGOCOMPUTING 118,119 * EVEREXSYSTEMSCOMP .143,144 113 E VEREX SYSTEMS COMPUTERS145 1 1 4 EVEREX SYSTEMS COMPUTERS148 115 FAIRCOM 85 118 FIRSTCOMPUTERSYS.JNC. .. 485 117 FIRSTCOMPUTERSYS.JNC... 485 118 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAL487 1 1 9 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATION AL487 338 FLAGSTAFF 202 120 FLYTECH TECHNOLOGY JNC .... 51 477 FORVAL AMERICA 345 478 FORVAL AMERICA 345 121 FOX SOFTWARE 7 479 FRECOM 287 122 FRECOM 408 330 FTP S0F7WAREJNC (INT'L) ... 175 480 FUTURE SOFT ENGINEERING . 280 481 FUTURE SOFT ENGINEERING . 280 123 GALACTICOMM 114 * GATEWAY 2000 288A-H 124 GCOMJNC 500 125 GENERIC SOFTWARE 427 Inquiry No. Page No. Inquiry No. 128 GENERIC SOFTWARE 427 127 GIBSON RESEARCH CORP 88 128 GIBSON RESEARCH CORP 88 1243 GOLDSTAR (INT'L) 332,333 334 GRAPHTEC CORP 449 129 GREENVIEW 74 130 GROUNDHOG GRAPHICS 218 131 GROUNDHOG GRAPHICS 218 483 GROUP 1 SOFTWARE 288 484 GROUP 1 SOFTWARE 288 132 GTEKJNC 201 133 GTEKJNC 201 485 G.W. COMPUTERSJNC 328 486 HARD FACTS 231 134 HAUPPAUGE COMPUTER WKS 177 135 HAVEN TREE SOFTWARE LTD . 452 * HEWLETT PACKARD PERIP . 25-27 * HEWLETT PACKARD PERIP .. . 141 136 HIGHRESTECHNOLOGIES ... 503 137 HITECH EQUIPMENT CORP ... 494 138 HOMESMARTCOMPUTING ... 466 139 HOUSTON COMPUTER SERV.. 490 140 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 409 141 IBM WORKSTATIONS 46,47 142 I.C. EXPRESS 496 143 IN FOCUSSYS.JNC 95 144 IN FOCUS SYS.JNC 95 145 INFORMATIONS CONTROL LAB .88 146 INFORMIX SOFTWARE.INC 31 147 INSIGNIA SOLUTIONSJNC .... 207 487 INTEGRAND 288 148 INTEGRANDRESEARCHCORP 438 468 INTEL 233 489 INTEL 233 149 INTEL CORP/DEV.TOOLS 470 150 IOTECH 499 151 ITT POWERSYSTEMS CORP... 470 152 JADE COMPUTER PRODUCTS . 501 490 JAMECO 253 491 JAMECO 254,255 342 JAMECO ELECTRONICS 470 * JAMES RIVER GROUP JNC 82 8 JDRMICRODEVICES 513-515 7 JDRMICRODEVICES 513-515 492 JDR MICRODEVICES 400A 493 JDR MICRODEVICES 400A 153 JEMINI ELECTRONICS 493 154 JENSEN TOOLSJNC 470 494 JYACC 327 495 JYACC 327 155 KADAK PRODUCTS 110 496 KEASYSTEMS 321 497 KENSINGTON MICROW ARE LTD 281 156 KILA SYSTEMS 505 157 KNAPCO 494 158 KNAPCO 494 498 KNOWLEDGE GARDEN 364 159 LAHEY 102 180 LAWSONLABS 505 499 LEXPERTISE 237 66 LIGHTSPEED TECHNOLOGY JNC421 161 LINK COMPUTER GRAPHICS .. 485 182 LOGICAL DEVICESJNC ....... 494 183 LOGICAL DEVICESJNC 494 164 LOGICAL DEVICESJNC 494 185 LOGICAL DEVICESJNC 494 500 LOGITECHJNC 259 501 LOGITECHJNC 259 * LOTUS (123) 79 * LOTUS (MAGELLAN) 331 166 MACROTRON SYSTEMSJNC . . 494 187 MANNESMANN TALLY 199 186 MANNESMANN TALLY 199 189 MAP INFO 190 * MARK WILLIAMS CO 75 172 MARYMAC INDUSTRIES 503 173 MATHSOFT 403 1301 MAXIT/OSBORNE M-H (INT'L) . . 348 1302 MAXIT/OSBORNE M-H (INT'L) . . 348 332 MOBS 457 333 MDBS 457 178 MEASUREMENT &CONTROLSYS 466 177 MEASUREMENTS CONTROL SYS 466 178 MEGATEL 424 179 MERRITT COMPUTER PROD.JNC. 440 502 MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP.PROD . 298 180 MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP.PROD. 440 * MICROLOGIC 158 181 MICRONICS COMPUTERSJNC. 485 182 MICROPRESS 102 183 MICROPRESS 102 Page No. 184 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD.. 504 * MICROSOFT 21 * MICROSOFT ...71 185 MICROSTAR LABORATORIES ... 410 * MICROWAY 239 * MICROWAY 275 * MICROWAY 337 * MICROWAY 406 503 MIS 308 504 MIS 308 505 MITCHELL PACIFIC COMPUTER 360 186 MITSUBISHI 179 187 MITSUBISHI 179 506 MITSUBISHI 355 507 MITSUBISHI 355 188 MIXSOFTWARE 481 189 MKS 83 508 MOUSE SYSTEMS CORP 313 192 NANAO 139 193 NANAO 139 194 NANTUCKET 204 195 NANTUCKET 205 198 NASCENTTECHNOLOGY 503 197 NATIONAL COMPUTER RIBBONS 70 199 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CHI 198 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS .... 471 200 NATIONALTELEVAR 152 509 NCR CORPORATION (N.A.) . 348,349 510 NEC HOME ELECTRONICS . 220,221 201 NEC TECHNOLOGIES (N.A.) .. . 175 202 NEURALWAREJNC 118 203 NEVADA COMPUTER CORP ... 492 511 NEWGEN SYSTEMS CORP ... . 359 512 NEWGEN SYSTEMS CORP .... 359 513 NISCAJNC 329 204 NOHAU 451 205 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 12,13 514 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 288,287 515 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 300,301 516 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 382,383 206 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 412,413 207 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS. 435 208 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS . 437 * NRI/MCGRAW-HILL (N.A.) . . . 84A-B 210 NUMONICS 80 211 NU-MEGA TECHNOLOGIES 87 212 OAKLAND GROUPJHE 454 213 OKIDATA 130,131 517 OMNITELJNC 328 518 ONLINE PRODUCTS CORP .... 320 519 ONLINE PRODUCTS CORP ... . 320 * ORACLE 181 214 OVERLAND DATA 464 215 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS .... 173 218 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS .... 173 520 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 318 521 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 318 217 PANASONIC (MONITOR) 15 522 PANASONIC (LASERPRINTER) 283 218 PARA SYSTEMSJNC 103 219 PATTON & PATTON 68 * PC CONNECTION 104,105 * PC CONNECTION 106,107 * PC CONNECTION 108,109 523 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONSJNC . 342 524 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONSJNC . 342 220 PERCON 484 525 PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY 381 221 PERSONAL TEXJNC 210 222 PHAR LAP SOFTWARE 111 223 PINNACLE MICRO 147 528 PLUS DEVELOPMENT 297 224 PRECISION DATA PRODUCTS . 504 225 PROCOMP USA 490 228 PROFESSIONAL COMPUTER SYS 499 * PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE ... .57 * PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE ... .59 * PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE . 80,81 * PROGRAMMER'S SHOP.. 192-195 232 PROTECH 125 233 PROTECH 125 234 PSEUDOCORP 500 235 QMSJNC 444 238 QMSJNC 444 237 QUA TECHJNC 468 238 QUA TECHJNC 488 239 QUA TECHJNC 488 240 QUA TECHJNC 468 241 QUA TECHJNC 488 242 QUA TECHJNC 468 243 QUA TECHJNC 486 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 507 READER SERVICE * Correspond directly with company. Alphabetical Index to Advertisers Inquiry No. Page No. 244 QUATECHJNC 468 245 QUATECH.INC 468 246 QUALSTARCORP 499 247 QUANTUM SOFTWARE SYS . . . 425 248 QUARTERDECK 166,167 527 QUARTERDECK 249 249 QUINTUS COMPUTER SYS.JNC 174 250 QUINTUS COMPUTER SYS.JNC 174 251 R & R ELECTRONICS 499 252 RADIO SHACK CIV 331 RAIMACORP 45 253 RAINBOW 53 254 RAINBOW 53 528 RAINBOW 305 529 RAINBOW 305 510 RIO COMPUTERS 260 531 RIO COMPUTERS 260 255 ROSE ELECTRONICS 117 256 SAFEWAREJNC 504 257 SAMSUNG 54,55 258 SAMSUNG 54,55 259 SANTA CRUZ OPERATION 49 260 SASINSTITUTEJNC 90 261 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 496 262 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 496 263 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 498 264 SCOTTSDALE SYSTEMS 487 * SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY 307 265 SEQUITER SOFTWAREJNC ... 439 266 SHARP 209 532 SIA 388 533 SIA ... 388 267 SIGMA DATA 468 268 SILICON SHACK LTD 503 269 SNW COMPUTERS & ELECT 84 * SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYS123 534 SOFTWARE SECURITY 244 270 SPECIALITY SOFTWARE DEVCORP183 271 SPECIALIZED PRODUCTS CO . 471 272 SPECTRUM 463 535 SPECURITY INDUSTRIES LTD . 296 273 SPSS 339 274 STATSOFT 77 275 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE 96 276 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE 98 536 STORAGE DIMENSIONS 341 537 STORAGE DIMENSIONS 341 345 STRAWBERRY TREE 470 277 SUMMAGRAPHICS CORP 211 278 SUMMAGRAPHICS CORP 211 279 SUMMAGRAPHICS CORP 211 280 SUN MICROSYSTEMS 126,127 282 SUPERSOFT 420 263 SUPREME ENTERPRISES .... 502 538 SYSTAT 290 285 TALKING TECHNOLOGYJNC . . 490 286 TALL TREE SYSTEMS 490 287 TATUNG 158 268 TATUNG 158 289 TECHNOLOGY PDWER ENT 504 539 TEKTRONIX 314,315 540 TEKTRONIX 314,315 290 TELEBYTE 404 291 TELEPHONE PRODUCT CENTER498 292 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS 161 * TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS .... 32A-B 293 TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS 32,33 295 THE PERISCOPE COMPANY 69 296 THE PERISCOPE COMPANY 69 297 THE SOFTWARE LINK 170 298 THE SOFTWARE LINK 170 299 THE SOFTWARE LINK 171 300 THESOFTWARELINK 171 541 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES 354 284 TOOLS'91 92 302 TOSHIBA 16,17 303 TOSHIBA 16,17 542 TOTE-A-LAP 367 304 TOUCH BASE SYSTEMS 66 543 TOUCHSTONE 245 544 TOUCHSTONE 245 305 TRANS ERA 100 306 TRANS ERA 100 307 TULIN CORPORATION. . . '. 94 308 TURBO POWER 484 309 UNICORN 490 545 UNISON TECHNOLOGIES. 263-285 546 UNISON TECHNOLOGIES . 263-285 310 UNITEX 468,489 311 UNITEX 468,489 Inquiry No. Page No. • UNIXWORLD 496A-B • UNIXWORLD 497 • US ROBOTICS 443 312 VENTURA PUBLISHER 18 313 VENTURCOM 91 314 VENTURCOM 91 • VERMONT CREATIVE SOFTWARE35 • VERMONT CREATIVE S/W .... 353 482 VERRAN 295 315 VICTORY ENTERPRISE 68 318 VIDEO TEXTBOOK TRAINING.. 418 317 VIDEO TEXTBOOKTRAINING . . 418 547 VOGON ENTERPRISES LTD .. . 309 548 WARD SYSTEMS GROUP 294 549 WARD SYSTEMS GROUP 294 • WATCOM PRODUCTS 405 319 WIESEMANN&THEISGMBH .. 426 320 WINTEK 496 321 WINTEK 496 341 WLTPC EXPRESS 470 322 WYSIWYG CORP .98 323 XELTEK 505 324 XELTEK 505 550 XIRCOM 302 327 ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS 22,23 328 ZIRCO 424 329 ZIRCO 424 • ZORTECH 39 • ZORTECH 89 325 Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 493 328 Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 493 INTERNATIONAL SECTION 84 IS 1-96 No North American Inquiries please. 1201 3EST IS-78 1202 404 TECHNOLOGY IS-66 1203 ACCEL IS-64 1204 ADI CORP IS-87 1205 AGC IS-81 1206 ALADDIN IS-57 1207 AMDS LTD IS-16 1206 AMERICAN BUYING & EXPORTINGIS-52 1209 AOC INT'L USA. IS-33 1210 AOC INT'L USA IS-33 1211 AOC INT'L USA IS-33 1212 AROGSY IS-44 1213 ATICO IS-80,81 1214 BIG DISK LTD IS-52 1216 BLUE CHIP TECHNOLOGY ... IS-70 * BYTE SUB MESSAGE IS-44 * BYTE SUB MESSAGE IS-82 1217 BYTECH SA IS-62 1218 CAF COMPUTER CORP IS-95 1219 CAPRIC IS-77 1221 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-29 1222 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-29 1223 COBALT BLUE IS-58 1224 COMPEX IS-42 1225 COMPEX IS-42 1226 COMPEX IS-43 1227 COMPEX IS-43 1228 COMPUCLASSICS IS-14 1229 COMPUTER QUICK IS-74 1230 COPY MASTER INT'L IS-63 1231 COSI SYSTEMS IS-76 1232 CYBEX IS-58 1233 CTS LTD IS-78 * ELONEX IS-55 1236 FAST ELECTRONIC IS-53 1238 FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING . . IS-41 1239 GALAXYMICROCRAFTSYS.. IS-78 1240 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS IS-46 1241 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS IS-46 1242 GLOCKENSPIEL IS-11 1244 GREY MATTER IS-73 1237 IGEL IS-9 1249 IMT FRANCE IS-54 1250 INES IS-66 1251 INTERQUADLTD IS-5 1252 INTERQUAD LTD IS-7 1253 INTRA ELECTRONICS IS-92 1254 IQ ENGINEERING IS-31 1255 IQ ENGINEERING IS-31 1256 ISLAND SYSTEMS IS-32 1257 ISLAND SYSTEMS IS-32 1258 IXI LTD IS-78 1259 I.E.F IS-59 Inquiry No. Page No. 1260 JCINFOSYSTEMS IS-21 1281 KUN YING ENTERPRISE IS-93 1282 LASERMASTER IS-69 1263 LASERMASTER IS-69 1284 LOGIDATA TECHJNC IS-91 1265 M3PC IS-24,25 1268 MASHOV IS-71 1267 MAYFAIR MICROS IS-40 1270 MICRO DATABASE SYSTEMSJNC IS-47 1271 MICRO DATABASE SYSTEMSJNC IS-47 1272 MICROMINT IS-38 1273 MINOLTA IS-12,13 1274 PACIFIC TECHNOLOGIES.... IS-35 1275 PERFORMANCE TECH IS-75 1278 PHILIPS IS-23 1277 PROGRAMMER'SODYSSEY . IS-16 1246 PROLOG DEVELOPMENTCTR IS-65 1247 PROLOG DEVELOPMENTCTR IS-65 1278 SAGE/POLYTRON IS-48,49 1279 SAMPOTECH.CORP IS-89 1280 SCHNELLMANNINTERHANDELSAG IS-51 1281 SCO COMM COMPUTERS .... IS-70 1282 SIEMENSAG IS-19 1283 SMART SOFTWARE IS-72 • SOFTLINE IS-45 1284 SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTION . IS-87 1285 SOFTWARE DMI IS-68 1268 SOFTWARE DMI IS-70 1287 SOFTWARE DMI IS-80 1245 SUN'S ELECTRONICS CO..LTD IS-90 1268 SURAHJNC IS-78 1289 TATUNG CO IS-85 1290 TEAC IS-79 1291 TECHNICAL TRANSLATION . . IS-80 1292 TRANSTOOLS IS-26 1293 TRIANGLE DIGITAL IS-80 1294 TRIGEM IS-2 1295 UNIVERSAL DATA SYSTEMS . IS-17 1296 UNIVERSAL DATA SYSTEMS . IS-17 1297 USASOFTWARE IS-37 1298 VEGASCOMPUTERCOMM... IS-38 1299 VEGASCOMPUTERCOMM... IS-39 1300 VIKING SOFTWARE SERVICE . IS-54 INT'L DIRECT RESPONSE POSTCARDS • BIESOFT IS • BYTEWEEK7NEWSLETTER IS • C USERS JOURNAL IS • COMPUTER SOLUTIONS IS • DIGITASK BUSINESS SYSTEMS LTDIS • DSP DEVELOPMENT IS • GATEWAY 2000 IS • GIBBS LABORATORIES IS • MICROSOFT SYSTEMS JOURNAL . IS •PARA SYSTEMS IS • PROGRAMMER'SJOURNAL IS • REASONABLE SOLUTIONS IS • SOFTWARE BLACKSMITH IS • STATIC BUSTER.INC IS • TECH SPECIALIST MAGAZINE .... IS • TOUCHBASE SYSTEMS IS • TRANS ERA IS • VIRUS BULLETIN LTD IS REGIONAL SECTIONS Midwest 84MW1-16 1310ACT MW-9 1311 ACT MW-9 1312 BSI MW-13 1313 BSI MW-13 1326BYTECARD DECK MW-2 • CCMI/MCGRAW-HILL MW-4 1314 DERBY TECHNOLOGY MW-5 1315 DERBY TECHNOLOGY MW-5 1316INTERFACE GROUP MW-3 1317MICROCOMCOMPUTERS . . . MW-11 1318 MYODAJNC MW-18 1319 MYODAJNC MW-16 1320 RESOURCE CONCEPTSJNC . MW-10 1321 RESOURCE CONCEPTSJNC .MW-10 1322 SCANTECH *90 MW-15 1323 SCANTECH '90 MW-15 1324TECH CITY MW-7 1325 TECH CITY MW-7 Inquiry No. Page No. Northeast 64NE1-24 1331 AYDIN CONTROLS NE-11 1332 AYDIN CONTROLS NE-11 1333 BOFFIN LTD NE-21 1334 BSI NE-23 1335 BSI NE-23 1336 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS.. NE-16 1337 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS . . NE-16 1359BYTECARD DECK NE-16 1339 COMPULYNK NE-13 1340 DEERFIELD DATA SYSTEMS . . . NE-2 1341 GEMS COMPUTERSJNC NE-7 1338 INFO '90/CAHNERS EXPOSITION GRP NE-3 1342 INTERFACE GROUP NE-5 1348 MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT . . NE-24 • MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT . NE-24A-B 1347 MICROCOM COMPUTERS .... NE-6 1348 MYODAJNC NE-15 1349MYODAJNC NE-15 1350 POWERCARD SUPPLY NE-4 1351 POWERCARD SUPPLY NE-4 1352 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC ..NE-10 1353 RESOURCE CONCEPTSJNC . . NE-10 1354 SOUTHWESTERN NETWORK SYS NE-9 1355 SOUTHWESTERN NETWORK SYS NE-9 1358 TECH CITY NE-19 1357TECH CITY NE-19 1358 UNITED INNOVATIONS NE-18 •UNIX EXPO NE-17 Pacific Coast 64 PC1-24 • AME.FOUNDATION FORTHE BLIND . PC-16 1363BSI PC-17 1364 BSI PC-17 1382 BYTE CARD DECK PC-2 • CCMI/MCGRAW-HILL PC-4 1387 CONVEX RESOURCES PC-13 1368 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3 1369 METAWARE PC-19 1370 MICA COMPUTER PC-9 1371 MICA COMPUTER PC-9 " MICROCOMPUTING MKTG.CNCL PC-24 1372 MICROCOM COMPUTERS ... PC-15 1373 MYODAJNC PC-7 1374 MYODAJNC PC-7 1381 NSTL PC-22,23 1375 RESOURCE CONCEPTSJNC ..PC-10 1376 RESOURCE CONCEPTSJNC ..PC-10 1377 SPECTRAL INNOVATIONS PC-5 1378 TECH CITY PC-21 1379TECH CITY PC-21 1380ZERICON PC-11 South 64S01-24 1387ACT SO-19 1368 ACT SO-19 1389BOFFINLTD SO-20 1390BSI SO-21 1391 BSI SO-21 1417 BYTE CARD DECK SO-16 1392CACHECOMPUTERS SO-23 1393COMTEKSOLUTIONSJNC .... SO-8 1394 COMTEK SOLUTIONS JNC .... SO-8 1395 DERBYTECHNOLOGY ...... SO-13 1396 DERBY TECHNOLOGY SO-13 1397 GEMS COMPUTERSJNC SO-5 1398INTERFACE GROUP SO-7 1399 MICROCOM COMPUTERS ... SO-15 1400 MYODAJNC SO-24 1401 MYODAJNC SO-24 1402 PROGRAMMED INTELLIGENCE CORP SO-3 1403 RESOURCE CONCEPTSJNC . SO-12 1404 RESOURCE CONCEPTSJNC . SO-12 1405SCANTECH '90 SO-17 1406SCANTECH '90 SO-17 1407 SOUTHWESTERN NETWORK SYS SO-11 1406 SOUTHWESTERN NETWORK SYS SO-11 1409 SYSTEM POWERHOUSE JNC. SO-18 1410 SYSTEM POWERHOUSE JNC . SO-16 1411 TECHCITY SO-9 1412 TECHCITY SO-9 1413 TEXCOMP BUSINESS SYS.JNC SO-4 1414 TEXCOMP BUSINESS SYS.JNC SO-4 1415 TRIPP LITE SO-2 1416TRIPP LITE SO-2 508 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 READER SERVICE To get further information on the products advertised in BYTE, fill out the reader service card by circling the numbers on the card that cor- respond to the inquiry number listed with the advertiser. This index is provided as an additional service by the publisher, who assumes no liability for errors or omissions. * Correspond directly with company. Index to Advertisers by Product Category Inquiry No. Page No. HARDWARE BOO ADD INS 20 AMERICAN AD VANTECH 500 1212 AROGSY IS-14 1216 BLUE CHIP TECHNOLOGY ... IS-70 1392 CACHE COMPUTERS SO-23 59 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP ...72 60 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP . . .73 335 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP .. 462 1224 COMPEX IS-42 1225 COMPEX IS-42 1226 COMPEX IS-43 1227 COMPEX IS-43 68 COMPUTER MODULES. INC ... 490 71 COMTROL 187 79 CRESCO DATA A/S 504 1233 CTSLTD IS-76 98 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING ...115 97 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING ...115 99 DIVERSIFIED TECHNOLOGY ....84 100 DP-TEK 164 101 DP-TEK 164 477 FORVAL AMERICA 345 478 FORVAL AMERICA 345 479 FRECOM 287 1239 GALAXY MICROCRAFT SYS.. IS-78 130 GROUNDHOG GRAPHICS 216 131 GROUNDHOG GRAPHICS 216 132 GTEK.INC 201 133 GTEK.INC 201 136 HIGH RES TECHNOLOGIES ... 503 138 HOMESMARTCOMPUTING ... 486 486 INTEL 233 489 INTEL 233 150 IOTECH 499 1260 JC INFO SYSTEMS IS-21 160 LAWSONLABS 505 1301 MAXIT/OSBORNEM-H (INT'L).. 348 1302 MAXIT/OSBORNE M-H INT'L . . 348 181 MICRONICSCOMPUTERS.INC. 485 185 MICROSTAR LABORATORIES ... 410 * MICROWAY 239 * MICROWAY 337 * MICROWAY 406 204 NOHAU 451 517 OMNITEL.INC 328 1350 POWERCARD SUPPLY NE-4 1351 POWERCARD SUPPLY NE-4 225 PROCOMP USA 490 237 QUATECH.INC 468 238 QUATECH.INC 468 239 QUATECH.INC 468 240 QUATECH.INC 468 241 QUATECH.INC 468 242 QUATECH.INC 468 243 QUATECH.INC 468 244 QUA TECH.INC 468 245 QUA TECH.INC 468 1280 SCHNEUMANNINTERHANDELSAG IS-51 287 SIGMA DATA 486 270 SPECIALITY SOFTWARE DEV.CORP183 288 TALL TREE SYSTEMS 490 1289 TATUNG CO IS-85 289 TECHNOLOGY POWER ENT .. . 504 542 TOTE-A-LAP 367 1293 TRIANGLE DIGITAL IS-80 801 DRIVES 80 CURTIS.INC 94 1259 I.E.F IS-59 188 MITSUBISHI 179 187 MITSUBISHI 179 223 PINNACLE MICRO 147 * SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY 307 1294 TRIGEM IS-2 802 FACSIMILE 14 ALLTHE FAX 504 1336 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS. NE-18 1337 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS. NE-16 122 FRECOM 408 479 FRECOM 287 1252 INTERQUAD LTD IS-7 157 KNAPCO 494 158 KNAPCO 494 603 GRAPHICS TABLETS 277 SUMMAGRAPHICS CORP 211 278 SUMMAGRAPHICS CORP 211 279 SUMMAGRAPHICS CORP 211 804 HARDWARE PROGRAMMERS * BINARY TECHNOLOGY.INC ... 496 47 BP MICROSYSTEMS 490 81 C&J MICRONICS 504 161 LINK COMPUTER GRAPHICS .. 485 164 LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 494 Inquiry No. i No. 165 LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 494 307 TULIN CORPORATION 94 323 XELTEK 505 324 XELTEK 505 805 INSTRUMENTATION 84 DATAQ INSTRUMENTS.INC .... 500 109 ELEXORASSOCIATES.INC... 496 290 TELEBYTE 404 806 KEYBOARDS/MICE 471 DATALUX CORPORATION 274 472 DATALUX CORPORATION 274 334 GRAPHTEC CORP 449 139 HOUSTON COMPUTER SERV . . 490 496 KEA SYSTEMS 321 1281 KUN YING ENTERPRISE IS-93 508 MOUSE SYSTEMS CORP 313 205 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS . . 12,13 207 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS ... 435 208 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS... 437 210 NUMONICS 60 220 PERCON 484 807 MASS STORAGE 1203 ACCEL IS-64 13 AK SYSTEMS 498 340 ALTEC ELECTRONIC GMBH ... 486 57 CANON (OPTICAL CARD) 83 74 CORE INTERNATIONAL 419 75 CORE INTERNATIONAL 419 82 DATA STRATEGIES INT'L 494 92 DIGI-DATA CORP 505 338 FLAGSTAFF 202 502 MICRO SOLUTIONS COMPUTER PROD 296 180 MICRO SOUUTIONSCOMPUTER PROD 440 518 ONLINE PRODUCTS CORP .... 320 519 ONLINE PRODUCTS CORP ... . 320 214 OVERLAND DATA 464 523 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC . 342 524 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS. INC. 342 528 PLUS DEVELOPMENT 297 246 QUALSTAR CORP 499 • SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY 307 1290 TEAC IS-79 • TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS .... 32A-B 293 TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS 32,33 547 VOGON ENTERPRISES LTD ... 309 808 MISCELLANEOUS 15 ALPHA PRODUCTS 491 20 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 500 26 APPLIED DATACOMM 208 27 APPLIED DATACOMM 208 35 BASF 168 39 BINARY DATAACQUISITION CORP 504 40 BLACKJACK COMPUTER 493 1230 COPYMASTER INT'L IS-83 77 COVOX 485 78 COVOX 485 89 DIETRICH POS EQUIPMENT. . . 500 1237 IGEL IS-9 143 IN FOCUS SYS..INC 95 144 IN FOCUS SYS..INC 95 487 INTEGRAND 288 148 INTEGRAND RESEARCH CORP 438 1254 IQ ENGINEERING IS-31 1255 IQ ENGINEERING IS-31 497 KENSINGTON MICROWARE LTD 261 168 MACROTRONSYSTEMS.INC .. 494 179 MERRITT COMPUTER PROD..INC. 440 268 SILICON SHACK LTD 503 285 TALKING TECHNOLOGY.INC . . 490 295 THE PERISCOPE COMPANY 69 296 THE PERISCOPE COMPANY 69 1415 TRIPP LITE SO-2 1416 TRIPP LITE SO-2 325 Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 493 326 Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 493 809 MODEMS/MULTIPLEXORS 457 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 247 458 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 247 459 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 334 460 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 334 65 COMPUCOM 485 477 FORVAL AMERICA 345 478 FORVAL AMERICA 345 479 FRECOM 287 123 GALACTICOMM 114 68 LIGHTSPEEDTECH..INC 421 1264 LOGIDATATECH..INC IS-91 304 TOUCHBASE SYSTEMS 68 1295 UNIVERSAL DATA SYSTEMS . IS-17 1296 UNIVERSAL DATA SYSTEMS . IS-17 • US ROBOTICS 443 810 MONITORS 1204 ADICORP IS-87 1209 AOC INT'L USA IS-33 Inquiry No. Page No. 1210 AOC INT'L USA IS-33 1211 AOC INT'L USA IS-33 1251 INTERQUAD LTD IS-5 506 MITSUBISHI 355 507 MITSUBISHI 355 192 NANAO 139 193 NANAO 139 510 NEC HOME ELECTRONICS . 220,221 217 PANASONIC (MONITOR) 15 1276 PHILIPS IS-23 287 TATUNG 158 288 TATUNG 158 811 NETWORK HARDWARE 1201 3EST IS-78 1202 404 TECHNOLOGY IS-66 457 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 247 456 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 247 459 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 334 480 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 334 399 BUFFALO PRODUCTS. INC .... 191 * CLEOCOMMUNICATIONS.INC..112 71 COMTROL 187 80 CURTIS.INC 94 1232 CYBEX IS-58 96 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING ... 115 97 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING ... 115 1250 INES IS-66 176 MEASUREMENT & CONTROL SYS 488 177 MEASUREMENT & CONTROL SYS 486 525 PERFORMANCETECHNOLOGY 361 257 SAMSUNG 54,55 258 SAMSUNG 54,55 297 THE SOFTWARE LINK 170 298 THE SOFTWARE LINK 170 299 THE SOFTWARE LINK 171 300 THE SOFTWARE LINK 171 482 VERRAN 295 550 XIRCOM 302 812 PRINTERS/PLOTTERS 56 CANON (PRINTER) 189 1340 DEERFIELD DATA SYSTEMS.. NE-2 • HEWLETT PACKARD PERIP . . 25,27 * HEWLETT PACKARD PERIP .. . 141 1262 LASERMASTER IS-69 1263 LASERMASTER . . . IS-69 187 MANNESM ANN TALLY 199 188 MANNESM ANN TALLY 199 1273 MINOLTA IS-12,13 200 NATIONAL TELEVAR 152 201 NEC TECHNOLOGIES (N. A.)... 175 511 NEWGEN SYSTEMS CORP ... . 359 512 NEWGEN SYSTEMS CORP.... 359 213 OKIDATA 130,131 215 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS .... 173 216 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS .... 173 520 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 318 521 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 318 522 PANASONIC (LASER PRINTER) 283 235 QMS.INC 444 238 QMS.INC 444 1288 SURAH.INC IS-78 539 TEKTRONIX 314,315 540 TEKTRONIX 314,315 1358 UNITED INNOVATIONS NE-18 1380 ZERICON PC-11 813 PRINTER RIBBONS/SUPPLIES 197 NATIONAL COMPUTER RIBBONS 70 814 SCANNERS/IMAGE PROCESSORS 1217 BYTECH SA IS-62 56 CALERA RECOGNITION SYS . . 422 1238 FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING . . IS-41 140 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 409 500 LOGITECH.INC 259 501 LOGITECH.INC 259 513 NISCA.INC 329 815 SOFTWARE SECURITY 1206 ALADDIN IS-57 1236 FAST ELECTRONIC IS-53 232 PROTECH 125 233 PROTECH . 125 528 RAINBOW 305 529 RAINBOW 305 253 RAINBOW 53 254 RAINBOW 53 534 SOFTWARE SECURITY 244 816 SYSTEMS 1310 ACT MW-9 1311 ACT MW-9 1387 ACT SO-19 1388 ACT SO-19 1205 AGC IS-81 • ALLEN SYSTEMS 499 18 ALR 2,3 17 ALR 2,3 18 ALTEC TECHNOLOGY 431 Inquiry No. Page No. 20 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 500 451 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP .310 452 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP ..310 455 ASTRESEARCH 400B 458 ASTRESEARCH 400B 1331 AYDIN CONTROLS NE-11 1332 AYDIN CONTROLS NE-11 1333 BOFFIN LTD NE-21 1389 BOFFIN LTD SO-20 1312 BSI MW-13 1313 BSI MW-13 1334 BSI NE-23 1335 BSI NE-23 1363 BSI PC-17 1364 BSI PC-17 1390 BSI SO-21 1391 BSI SO-21 54 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 402 55 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 402 1218 CAF COMPUTER CORP IS-95 * COMPAQ 278,279 468 COMPUADD 240A-F 1339 COMPULYNK NE-13 1393 COMTEK SOLUTIONS.INC ... SO-8 1394 COMTEK SOLUTIONS.INC ... SO-8 1340 DEERFIELD DATA SYSTEMS.. NE-2 85 DELL CII.1 68 DELL 151 * DELL 152A-B 87 DELL 153 474 DELL 216B-D 474 DELL 217 1314 DERBY TECHNOLOGY MW-5 1315 DERBY TECHNOLOGY MW-5 1395 DERBY TECHNOLOGY SO-13 1396 DERBYTECHNOLOGY SO-13 90 DIGITAL DISTRIBUTING.INC 37 91 DIGITAL DISTRIBUTING.INC 37 104 DTK 185 105 DTK 185 * ELONEX IS-55 * EPSON 8,9 111 ERGO COMPUTING 118,119 112 ERGOCOMPUTING 118,119 * EVEREX SYSTEMS COMP .143,144 113 EVEREX SYSTEMSCOMPUTERS145 114 EVEREX SYSTEMS COMPUTERS146 116 FIRSTCOMPUTERSYS..INC... 485 117 FIRST COMPUTER SYS..INC... 485 120 FLYTECH TECHNOLOGY.INC ... .51 * GATEWAY 2000 288A-H 1243 GOLDSTAR (INT L) 332,333 134 HAUPPAUGE COMPUTER WRKS 177 137 HITECH EQUIPMENT CORP ... 494 141 IBM WORKSTATIONS 46,47 1253 INTRA ELECTRONICS IS-92 153 JEMINI ELECTRONICS 493 158 KILA SYSTEMS 505 157 KNAPCO • 494 158 KNAPCO 494 1265 M3PC IS-24,25 1348 MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT. NE-24 * MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT NE-24A-B 178 MEGATEL 424 1370 MICA COMPUTER PC-9 1371 MICA COMPUTER PC-9 1317 MICROCOM COMPUTERS . . MW-11 1347 MICROCOM COMPUTERS ... NE-6 1372 MICROCOM COMPUTERS .. PC-15 1399 MICROCOM COMPUTERS .. SO-15 1272 MICROMINT IS-36 * MICROWAY 275 503 MIS 308 504 MIS 308 1318 MYODA.INC MW-18 1319 MYODA.INC MW-18 1348 MYODA.INC NE-15 1349 MYODA.INC NE-15 1373 MYODA.INC PC-7 1374 MYODA.INC PC-7 1400 MYODA.INC SO-24 1401 MYODA.INC SO-24 196 NASCENT TECHNOLOGY 503 509 NCR CORPORATION (N. A.) . 348,349 514 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 266,267 515 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 300,301 518 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 382,383 206 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 412,413 1381 NSTL PC-22,23 1274 PACIFIC TECHNOLOGIES .... IS-35 228 PROFESSIONAL COMPUTER SYS 499 252 RADIO SHACK CIV 1320 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC MW-10 1321 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC MW-10 1352 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC .NE-10 1353 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC .NE-10 1375 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC .PC-10 1378 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC PC-10 1403 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC SO-12 1404 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC SO-12 530 RIO COMPUTERS 260 531 RIO COMPUTERS 260 1279 SAMPO TECH.CORP IS-69 268 SHARP 209 532 SIA 368 533 SIA 368 SEPTEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 509 READER SERVICE To get further information on the products advertised in BYTE, fill out the reader service card by circling the numbers on the card that cor- respond to the inquiry number listed with the advertiser. This index is provided as an additional service by the publisher, who assumes no liability for errors or omissions. * Correspond directly with company. Index to Advertisers by Product Category Inquiry No. Page No. 1282 SIEMENS AG IS-19 1354 SOUTHWESTERN NETWORK SYS NE-9 1355 SOUTHWESTERN NETWORKSYS NE-9 1407 SOUTHWESTERN NETWORKSYS. SO-11 1408 SOUTHWESTERN NETWORK SYS . SO-11 536 STORAGE DIMENSIONS 341 537 STORAGE DIMENSIONS 341 1245 SUN'S ELECTRONICS CO..LTD IS-90 1409 SYSTEM POWERHOUSE.INC SO-16 1410 SYSTEM POWERHOUSE.INC SO-16 1324 TECH CITY MW-7 1325 TECH CITY MW-7 1358 TECH CITY NE-19 1357 TECHCITY NE-19 1378 TECH CITY PC-21 1370 TECH CITY PC-21 1411 TECH CITY SO-9 1412 TECH CITY SO-9 292 TEXASINSTRUMENTS 161 • TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS .... 32A-B 293 TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS 32,33 1413 TEXCOMP BUSINESS SYSJNCSO-4 1414 TEXCOMP BUSINESS SYSJNCSO-4 302 TOSHIBA 16,17 303 TOSHIBA 18,17 1298 VEGAS COMPUTER COMM... IS-38 1299 VEGAS COMPUTER COMM . . . IS-39 315 VICTORY ENTERPRISE 88 321 WINTEK 496 327 ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS 22,23 817 TERMINALS 70 COMPUTERWISE.INC .... 484 818 UPS 21 AMERICAN POWER CON VERSI0N99 22 AMERICAN POWER CON VERSI0N99 36 BESTPOWERTECHJNC 503 * COMPUTER ACCESSORIES 272A-B 347 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES ... 273 348 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES... 273 157 KNAPCO 494 158 KNAPCO 494 218 PARA SYSTEMS.INC 103 545 UNISON TECHNOLOGIES . . 283,285 546 UNISON TECHNOLOGIES . . 283,285 328 ZIRCO 424 329 ZIRCO 424 SOFTWARE 819 APPLE/MAC APPLICATIONS Scientific/Technical 249 QUINTUS COMPUTER SYSJNC 174 250 QUINTUS COMPUTER SYSJNC 174 260 SAS INSTITUTE.INC 90 1377 SPECTRAL INNOVATIONS.... PC-5 538 SYSTAT 290 820 APPLE/MAC UTILITIES 147 INSIGNIA SOLUTIONS ,INC .... 207 821 ATARI/ AMIGA - LAN 1367 CONVEX RESOURCES PC-13 822 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS Business Office 453 ASHTON-TATE 224,225 454 ASHTON-TATE 224,225 463 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL ... 293 464 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL ... 293 466 CHRONOLOGIC CORP 357 487 CHRONOLOGIC CORP 357 339 COGNIVISION RESEARCH S.A. 441 121 FOX SOFTWARE 7 1240 GAMMAPRODUCTIONS IS-46 1241 GAMMAPRODUCTIONS IS-46 146 INFORMIX SOFTWARE.INC 31 499 LEXPERTISE 237 1265 M3PC IS-24,25 ' MICROLOGIC 156 200 NATIONAL TELEVAR 152 1402 PROGRAMMED INTELLIGENCE CORP SO-3 331 RAIMACORP 45 255 ROSE ELECTRONICS 117 265 SEQUITER SOFTWARE.INC ... 439 1300 VIKING SOFTWARE SERVICE, IS-54 823 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS Scientific/Technical 110 ABILITY SYSTEMS CORP 504 83 DATA TRANSLATION 41 103 DSP DEVELOPMENT CORP ....157 108 ECOSOFT.INC 200 135 HAVEN TREE SOFTWARE LTD . 452 Inquiry No. Page No. 494 JYACC 327 495 JYACC 327 1369 METAWARE PC-19 199 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CHI 202 NEURAL WARE.INC 116 211 NU-MEGA TECHNOLOGIES 67 219 PATTON & PATTON 68 249 QUINTUS COMPUTER SYSJNC 174 250 QUINTUSCOMPUTERSYS..INC174 261 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 496 262 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 496 283 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 496 272 SPECTRUM 483 273 SPSS 339 274 STATSOFT 77 538 SYSTAT 290 543 TOUCHSTONE 245 544 TOUCHSTONE 245 548 WARD SYSTEMS GROUP 294 549 WARD SYSTEMS GROUP 294 824 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS Miscellaneous 1214 BIG DISKLTD IS-52 56 CALERA RECOGNITION SYS .. 422 102 DROVER TECHNOLOGIES.INC 407 825 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS Word Processing 475 DESCRIBE.INC 347 499 LEXPERTISE 237 322 WYSIWYG CORP 98 828 IBM/MSDOS — CAD 23 AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS . 137 32 A.M.S 486 1367 CONVEXRESOURCES PC-13 125 GENERIC SOFTWARE 427 126 GENERIC SOFTWARE 427 320 WINTEK 498 321 WINTEK 498 827 IBM/MSDOS COMMUNICATIONS 98 DIVERSIFIED COMPUTER SYS . . . 493 330 FTP SOFTWARE.INC (INT'L) ... 175 480 FUTURE SOFT ENGINEERING. 280 481 FUTURE SOFT ENGINEERING. 280 828 IBM/MSDOS GRAPHICS 76 COREL SYSTEMS 411 103 DSPDEVELOPMENTCORP ....157 130 GROUNDHOG GRAPHICS 216 131 GROUNDHOG GRAPHICS 216 145 INFORMATION & CONTROL LAB .68 829 IBM/MSDOS - LAN 28 ARTISOFT 142 29 ARTISOFT 142 470 DATA GENERAL (N.A.) 332,333 169 MAP INFO 190 518 ONLINE PRODUCTS CORP.... 320 519 ONLINE PRODUCTS CORP.... 320 1275 PERFORMANCE TECH IS-75 830 IBM/MSDOS LANGUAGES 44 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11 45 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11 461 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL ... 219 462 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL ... 219 551 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL ... 251 552 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL ... 251 83 CNS.INC 482 115 FAIRCOM 85 1242 GLOCKENSPIEL IS-11 159 LAHEY 102 332 MDBS 457 333 MDBS 457 1369 METAWARE PC-19 * MICROSOFT 21 188 MIX SOFTWARE 461 194 NANTUCKET. 204 195 NANTUCKET 205 1248 PROLOG DEVELOPMENT CTR IS-85 1247 PROLOG DEVELOPMENT CTR IS-65 275 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE 96 278 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE 96 305 TRANS ERA 100 306 TRANS ERA 100 308 TURBO POWER 464 * VERMONT CREATIVE SOFTWARE35 * WATCOM PRODUCTS 405 * ZORTECH 39 * ZORTECH 89 831 IBM/MSDOS UTILITIES 30 ATRON CADRE TECHNOLOGIES .29 37 BETTER SOFTWARE TECH 150 38 BETTER SOFTWARE TECH 150 43 BLAISE COMPUTING, INC 6 Inquiry No. Page No. 81 CHANTAL SYSTEMS CORP.... 149 62 CHANTAL SYSTEMS CORP.... 149 1221 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-29 1222 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-29 1223 COBALT BLUE IS-56 1231 COSI SYSTEMS IS-76 124 GCOM.INC 500 127 GIBSON RESEARCH CORP 86 128 GIBSON RESEARCH CORP 86 129 GREENVIEW 74 1249 IMT FRANCE IS-54 1256 ISLAND SYSTEMS IS-32 1257 ISLAND SYSTEMS IS-32 * JAMES RIVER GROUP.INC 82 498 KNOWLEDGE GARDEN 384 * LOTUS (MAGELLAN) 331 1266 MASHOV IS-71 1270 MICRO DATABASE SYSTEMS.INC IS-47 1271 MICRO DATABASE SYSTEMS.INC IS-47 • MICROSOFT 71 211 NU-MEGA TECHNOLOGIES 67 212 OAKLAND GROUP.THE 454 222 PHAR LAP SOFTWARE 111 248 QUARTERDECK 166,167 527 QUARTERDECK 249 256 SAFEWARE.INC 504 1278 SAGE/POLYTRON IS-48,49 1285 SOFTWARE DMI IS-88 1287 SOFTWARE DMI IS-80 282 SUPERSOFT 420 541 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES .... 354 • VERMONT CREATIVE 353 OTHER APPLICATIONS Business Office GROUP 1 SOFTWARE 288 GROUP 1 SOFTWARE 288 LOTUSM23) 79 TRANSTOOLS IS-26 483 484 1292 833 OTHER APPLICATIONS Scientific/Technical 249 QUINTUS COMPUTER SYSJNC 174 250 QUINTUS COMPUTER SYSJNC 174 834 OTHER APPLICATIONS Miscellaneous 66 DESKTOP TECHNOLOGY CORP 494 485 GW. COMPUTERS. INC 328 1316 INTERFACE GROUP MW-3 1342 INTERFACE GROUP NE-5 1368 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3 1398 INTERFACE GROUP SO-7 535 SPECURITY INDUSTRIES LTD . 298 316 VIDEOTEXTBOOKTRAINING.. 418 317 VIDEOTEXTBOOKTRAINING.. 418 835 OTHER APPLICATIONS Word Processing 1316 INTERFACE GROUP MW-3 1342 INTERFACE GROUP NE-5 1366 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3 1398 INTERFACE GROUP SO-7 838 OTHER - CAD 173 MATHSOFT 403 837 OTHER - CROSS DEVELOPMENT 46 BOS NATIONAL.INC 499 234 PSEUDOCORP 500 * SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYS123 838 OTHER - LAN * ORACLE 181 839 OTHER - LANGUAGES 63 CNS.INC 462 115 FAIRCOM 85 1316 INTERFACE GROUP MW-3 1342 INTERFACE GROUP NE-5 1368 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3 1398 INTERFACE GROUP SO-7 * MARK WILLIAMS CO 75 1389 METAWARE PC-19 840 OTHER - UTILITIES 129 GREENVIEW 74 280 SUN MICROSYSTEMS 126,127 313 VENTURCOM 91 314 VENTURCOM 91 316 VIDEOTEXTBOOKTRAINING.. 418 317 VIDEOTEXTBOOKTRAINING.. 418 Inquiry No. Page No. 841 DESKTOP PUBLISHING 182 MICROPRESS 102 183 MICROPRESS 102 505 MITCHELL PACIFIC COMPUTER 360 200 NATIONAL TELEVAR 152 221 PERSONALTEX.INC 210 255 ROSE ELECTRONICS 117 312 VENTURA PUBLISHER 18 842 EDUCATIONAL/ INSTRUCTIONAL 8 ABACUS 186 9 ABACUS 186 * AME.F0UNDATI0NF0RTHEBLIND PC-16 33 B & B ELECTRONICS 505 49 BYTE BITS 500 * BYTE BOOK CLUB 432A-B * BYTEBOOKCLUB 432,433 349 BYTECARD DECK 240 1328 BYTECARD DECK MW-2 1359 BYTECARD DECK NE-16 1382 BYTE CARD DECK PC-2 1417 BYTE CARD DECK SO-16 * BYTE SUB MESSAGE 436 * BYTESUB MESSAGE IS-44 " BYTE SUB MESSAGE IS-82 * BYTEWEEK/NEWSLETTER . . . . 453 1219 CAPRIC IS-77 * CCMI/MCGRAW-HILL MW-4 * CCMI/MCGRAW-HILL PC-4 * DATACOMMUNICATIONS 428 1234 DATAPRO (INT L) 349 466 HARD FACTS 231 1258 IXI LTD IS-76 162 LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 494 163 LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 494 * NRI/MCGRAW-HILL (N.A.) . . . 64A-B 1322 SCANTECH '90 MW-15 1323 SCANTECH '90 MW-15 1405 SCANTECH '90 SO-17 1406 SCANTECH '90 SO-17 1288 SOFTWAREDMI IS-70 284 TOOLS '91 92 * UNIXWORLD 496A-B * UNIXWORLD 497 843 MAIL ORDER/ RETAIL 12 ADD ON AMERICA 493 1207 AMDS LTD IS-16 19 AMERICAL GROUP 500 1208 AMERICAN BUYING & EXPORTING IS-52 1213 ATICO IS-60,61 31 AVANTECH SOLUTIONS.INC .. 503 1331 AYDIN CONTROLS . NE-11 1332 AYDINCONTROLS NE-11 34 B & B ELECTRONICS CATALOG 471 51 B&CMICROSYSTEMS.INC .... 503 52 B&C MICROSYSTEMS.INC .... 503 53 B&C MICROSYSTEMS.INC .... 505 343 BEST POWER TECH JNC 471 1333 BOFFIN LTD NE-21 1389 BOFFIN LTD SO-20 48 BUREAU OF ELECTRONIC PUB . . 76 1336 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS . NE-16 1337 BUSINESSCOMPUTERSYS. NE-18 346 BYTE CATALOG SHOWCASE... 471 50 BZTECHNICAL 4W 344 COMPUADD 471 1228 COMPUCLASSICS IS-14 1339 COMPULYNK NE-13 67 COMPUTER FRIENDS.INC .... 180 1229 COMPUTER QUICK IS-74 69 COMPUTERLANE 483 1393 COMTEK SOLUTIONS.INC ... SO-8 1394 COMTEK SOLUTIONS.INC ... SO-8 72 CONTEC U.S.A..INC 471 73 CONTEC U.S.A..INC 471 1387 CONVEX RESOURCES PC-13 * DAMARK INT'L.INC 447 1314 DERBYTECHNOLOGY MW-5 1315 DERBYTECHNOLOGY MW-5 1395 DERBYTECHNOLOGY SO-13 1396 DERBYTECHNOLOGY SO-13 90 DIGITAL DISTRIBUTING.INC ... .37 91 DIGITAL DISTRIBUTING.INC 37 93 DISKCOTECH 493 94 DISKCOTECH 493 95 DISKETTE CONNECTION ..... 499 106 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS.INC . 495 107 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS.INC . 495 118 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAL487 119 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAL467 1341 GEMSCOMPUTERS.INC NE-7 510 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 READER SERVICE 'Correspond directly with company. Inquiry No. Page No. 1397 GEMSCOMPUTERS.INC SO-5 1244 GREY MATTER IS-73 142 I.C. EXPRESS 496 149 INTEL CORP/DEV.TOOLS 470 151 ITT POWERSYSTEMS CORP ... 470 152 JADE COMPUTER PRODUCTS . 501 490 JAMECO 253 491 JAMECO 254,255 342 JAMECO ELECTRONICS 470 6 JDR MICRODEVICES 513,515 7 JDR MICRODEVICES 513,515 492 JDR MICRODEVICES 400A 493 JDR MICRODEVICES 400A 154 JENSEN TOOLS.INC 470 172 MARYMAC INDUSTRIES 503 1267 MAYFAIR MICROS IS-40 1317 MICROCOM COMPUTERS . . MW-11 1347 MICROCOM COMPUTERS ... NE-6 1372 MICROCOM COMPUTERS .. PC-15 1399 MICROCOM COMPUTERS .. SO-15 • MICROCOMPUTING MKTG.CNCL PC-24 184 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD .... 504 1318 MYODA.INC MW-16 1319 MYODA.INC MW-16 1348 MYODA.INC NE-15 1349 MYODA.INC NE-15 1373 MYODA.INC PC-7 1374 MYODA.INC PC-7 1400 MYODA.INC SO-24 1401 MYODA.INC SO-24 197 NATIONAL COMPUTER RIBBONS 70 Inquiry No. Page No. 198 203 205 206 207 208 514 515 516 251 1320 1321 1352 1353 1375 1376 1403 1404 264 532 533 1283 269 NATIONALINSTRRUMENTS ... 471 NEVADACOMPUTERCORP ... 492 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 12,13 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 412,413 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS . 435 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS . 437 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 266,267 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 300,301 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 362,363 PC CONNECTION 104,105 PC CONNECTION 106,107 PC CONNECTION 108,109 PRECISION DATA PRODUCTS . 504 PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE ... .57 PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE ... .59 PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE . 60,61 PROGRAMMER'S SHOP . . . 192,195 R & R ELECTRONICS 499 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC MW-10 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC MW-10 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC .NE-10 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC .NE-10 RESOURCE CONCEPTSJNC .PC-10 RESOURCE CONCEPTSJNC .PC-10 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC SO-12 RESOURCE CONCEPTS.INC SO-12 SCOTTSDALE SYSTEMS 487 SIA 368 SIA 368 SMART SOFTWARE IS-72 SNW COMPUTERS & ELECT 84 Inquiry No. Page No. • SOFTLINE 1S-45 1284 SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTION. IS-67 271 SPECIALIZED PRODUCTS CO . 471 345 STRAWBERRY TREE 470 283 SUPREME ENTERPRISES .... 502 1409 SYSTEM POWERHOUSE.INC SO-16 1410 SYSTEM POWERHOUSE JNC SO-16 291 TELEPHONE PRODUCT CENTER498 1413 TEXCOMP BUSINESS SYS..INCSO-4 1414 TEXCOMP BUSINESS SYS..INCSO-4 309 UNICORN 490 310 UNITEX 488,489 311 UNITEX 488,489 1297 USA SOFTWARE IS-37 316 VIDEO TEXTBOOK TRAINING . . 418 317 VIDEO TEXTBOOK TRAINING.. 418 319 WIESEMANN&THEISGMBH . . 426 341 WLTPC EXPRESS 470 844 MISCELLANEOUS 25 ANNABOOKS 404 * COMPUTER BOOK CLUB . . . 96A-B * COMPUTER BOOK CLUB 97 1338 INFO '90/CAHNERS EXPOSITION GRP 3 1291 TECHNICAL TRANSLATION . . IS-80 * UNIX EXPO NE-17 482 VERRAN 295 Inquiry No. Page No. 845 ON-LINE SERVICES * BIX 215 * BIX 450 * BIX 460 450 BIX 466,467 469 COMPUSERVE 350 * COPIA INTERNATIONAL LTD... 380 488 HARD FACTS 231 846 OPERATING SYSTEMS 476 DIGITAL RESEARCH 319 155 KADAK PRODUCTS 110 1277 PROGRAMMER'S ODYSSEY . IS-16 247 QUANTUM SOFTWARE SYS ... 425 259 SANTA CRUZ OPERATION 49 297 THE SOFTWARE LINK 170 298 THE SOFTWARE LINK 170 299 THE SOFTWARE LINK 171 300 THE SOFTWARE LINK 171 313 VENTURCOM 91 314 VENTURCOM 91 847 RECRUITMENT 11 ACM 203 465 CENTRAL POINT SOFTWARE... 311 1281 SCOCOMM COMPUTERS. . . . IS-70 BYTE ADVERTISING SALES STAFF: Steven M . Vito, Associate Publisher /V.P. of Marketing, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, tel. (603) 924-9281 Arthur Kossack, Eastern Advertising Director, Two Prudential Plaza, 180 North Stetson Ave., Chicago, IL 60601, tel. (312) 616-3341 Jennifer L. Bartel, Western Advertising Director, 14850 Quorum Drive, Suite 380, Dallas, TX 75240, tel. (214) 701-8496 LizCoyman, Inside Sales Director, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, tel. 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Roz Weyman (44-81-545-6269) 4 Ashmount Road, Hornsey Lane Overseas Corp. 503 Wilson House 977 Min Shen E. Road, 1-4 Fir. McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. Highgate, London N19 3BH Room 1528 19-27 Wyndham St. Taipei 10581 , Taiwan ROC Wimbledon Bridge House England Kasumigaseki Bldg. Central, Hong Kong Tel: 886 2 763 0052 One Hartf ield Road Tel: 44 71 2814116 3-2-5 Kasumigaseki, Tel: 852-868-2010 Fax: 886 2 765 6874 Wimbledon, London SW19 3RU FAX:4471 281 8224 Chiyoda-Ku Telex: 60904 SEVEX HX England Tokyo 100, Japan FAX: 852 810 1283 Tel: 44 8 1543 1234 ISRAEL Tel: 81 3 5819811 FAX: 44 81 540 3833 Dan Ehrlich FAX: 81 3 581 4018 SINGAPORE TELEX: 892191 Ehrlich Communication International P.O. Box 11297 Paul Zanowski Seavex Ltd. BENELUX Tel Aviv 61112 400 Orchard Road, #10 01 Frank Tanis Israel Singapore 0923 Batenburg 103 Tel: (972) 3 449823 Republic of Singapore 3437 AB Nieuwegein FAX: (972) 3 5468168 Tel: 65 734 9790 The Netherlands Telex: RS35539 SEAVEX Tel: 31 34 0249496 FAX: 65 732 5129 FAX: 31 34 02 37944 SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 511 REQUEST FREE PRODUCT INFORMATION BY FAX Just fax this page to 1-413-637-4343. Save time because your request for information will be processed immediately. Circle the numbers below which correspond to the numbers assigned to advertisers and pro- ducts that interest you. a Check off the answers to questions "A" through "E v Fill out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT. Name Title Company Address City State/Province Zip Country ( ) ( L 9 Print your name, address, and fax number clearly on the form. Phone Number Fax Number A. What is your primary job function/principal area of responsibility? (Check one.) 1 □ MIS/DP 2 □ Programmer/Systems Analyst 3 □ Administration/Management 4 □ Sales/Marketing 5 □ Engineer/Scientist 6 □ Other B. What is your level of management responsibility? 7 D Senior-level 8D Middle-level 9 □ Professional C. Are you a reseller (VAR, VAD, Dealer, Consultant)? io □ Yes nDNo Q Remove this page or copy this page clearly and fax it to the number above. D. What operating systems are you currently using? (Check all that apply.) 12 D PC/MS-DOS 13 a DOS + Windows 14 □ OS/2 is a unix 16 a MacOS 17 D VAX/VMS E. For how many people do you influence the purchase of hardware or software? is □ 1-25 19 D 26-50 20 D 51-99 2i □ 100 or more Inquiry Numbers 1-495 nquiry Numbers 496-990 Inquiry Numbers 991-1479 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 1000 1001 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008 1009 1010 1011 1012 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019 1020 1021 1022 1023 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 1035 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 1046 1047 1048 1049 1050 1051 1052 1053 1054 1055 1056 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 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I I 1 do not subscribe to BYTE. I I Please send me one year of BYTE Magazine for $24.95 and bill me. Offer valid in U.S. and possessions only. BVIEH SEPTEMBER 1990 PRODUCT INFORMATION Want More Information About the Products and Advertisers Featured in this Issue? £1 Circle numbers on reply card which correspond to numbers assigned to items of interest to you. a Check all the appropriate answers to questions "A" through "E". Print your name and address and mail. FiU out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT. Name C ) Title Phone Company Address City State Inquiry Humbert 1-493 Zip A. What Is your primary Job function/principal area of responsibility? (Check one.) 1 □ MIS/DP 2 D Programmer/Systems Analyst 3 D Administration/Management 4 D Sales/Marketing 5 □ Engineer/Scientist 6 D Other B. What is your level of management responsibility? 7 □ Senior-level 9 □ Professional 8 D Middle-level C Are you a reseller (VAR, VAD, Dealer, Consultant)? 10 D Yes llDNo D, What operating systems are you currently using? (Check all that apply.) 12 □ PC/MS-DOS 15 D UNIX 13 D DOS + Windows 16 □ MacOS 14 D OS/2 17 D VAX/VMS E. For how many people do you influence the purchase of hardware or software? 18 D 1-25 20 □ 51-99 19 □ 26-50 21 □ 100 or more 35 36 52 53 69 70 71 86 67 66 103 104 105 120 121 122 137 138 139 154 155 156 171 172 173 168 189 190 205 206 207 222 223 224 239 240 241 258 257 256 273 274 275 290 291 292 307 308 309 324 325 326 341 342 343 358 359 360 375 376 377 392 393 394 409 410 411 426 427 428 443 444 445 460 461 462 477 478 479 106 107 123 124 140 141 157 158 174 175 191 192 208 209 225 226 242 243 259 260 276 277 293 294 310 311 327 328 344 345 361 362 376 376 395 396 412 413 429 430 446 447 463 464 480 481 108 109 110 111 112 113 125 126 127 128 129 130 142 143 144 145 146 147 159 160 161 162 163 164 176 177 178 179 180 181 193 194 195 196 197 198 210 211 212 213 214 215 227 228 229 230 231 232 244 245 248 247 248 248 261 262 263 264 266 266 278 279 280 281 282 263 295 296 297 298 299 300 312 313 314 315 316 317 329 330 331 332 333 334 346 347 348 349 350 351 363 364 365 368 367 388 380 381 382 383 384 385 397 398 399 400 401 402 414 415 416 417 418 419 431 432 433 434 435 436 448 449 450 451 452 453 465 466 467 468 469 470 482 483 464 485 486 487 12 13 29 30 46 47 63 64 80 81 97 98 114 115 131 132 148 149 165 168 182 183 199 200 216 217 233 234 260 251 267 266 284 285 301 302 318 319 335 336 352 353 369 370 386 387 403 404 420 421 437 436 454 455 471 472 14 15 31 32 82 83 99 100 116 117 133 134 150 151 167 168 184 185 201 202 218 219 235 236 252 253 269 270 286 287 303 304 320 321 337 338 354 355 371 372 368 389 405 406 422 423 439 440 456 457 473 474 490 491 17 34 50 51 67 68 84 85 101 102 118 119 135 136 152 153 169 170 166 167 203 204 220 221 237 238 254 255 271 272 286 289 305 306 322 323 339 340 358 357 373 374 390 391 407 406 424 425 441 442 458 459 475 478 492 493 494 495 511 512 526 529 548 548 562 563 579 560 596 597 613 614 630 631 632 633 647 648 649 650 664 665 666 667 681 682 663 684 698 699 700 701 715 716 732 733 749 750 768 767 783 784 600 801 817 816 834 835 851 852 668 669 670 B71 902 903 919 920 936 937 953 954 970 971 Inquiry Numbors 494-986 498 498 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 506 509 510 515 516 517 516 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 532 533 534 535 536 537 536 539 540 541 542 543 544 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 567 558 559 560 581 568 567 568 568 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 563 584 565 568 587 568 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 648 651 652 653 854 655 656 657 658 659 660 681 662 663 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 875 678 677 678 679 680 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 895 696 897 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 753 754 755 758 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 760 781 782 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 79B 799 604 805 606 607 808 809 810 611 812 813 814 815 816 821 822 823 824 825 626 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 838 839 840 841 642 843 644 845 846 847 848 649 850 855 856 857 856 859 860 861 862 663 864 665 666 887 872 873 874 875 876 877 876 879 680 881 882 663 684 689 890 991 892 893 694 895 896 897 698 899 900 901 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 913 914 915 916 917 918 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 940 941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 952 957 958 959 960 961 962 963 964 965 968 967 968 969 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 965 986 □ Please send me one year of BYTE Magazine for $24.95 and bill me. 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SEPTEMBER IRSD002 Inquiry Numbers 987-1479 987 988 969 990 B91 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 1000 100110021003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008 1009 1010 1011 10121013 10141015 1016 1017 1016 1019 1020 1021 1022 1023 1024 1025 1026 1027 1026 10291030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 10361037 1038 1038 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 1048 1047 1048 1048 1050 1051 1052 1053 1054 1056 1056 1067 1056 1056 1080 1061 1062 1063 1064 1055 1066 1067 1068 1055 1070 1071 1072 1073 1074 1076 1076 1077 1078 1078 1080 1081 1082 1063 1084 1085 1068 1067 1066 106910901091 1092109310941095109610971098109911001101 1102110311041105 11061107 1108 1109 1110 1111 1112 1113 1114 1115 1116 1117 1118 1119 1120 1121 1122 11231124112511261127 1128 1129 1130 1131 1132 1133113411351136113711381139 1140 1141 1142 1143 11441145 1146 11471148 1149 1150 1151 11521153 11541155 1156 1157 1158 11591160 1161 1162 1163 1164 1165 1166 1167 1168116911701171 11721173 1174117511761177117811791180 1161 1182 1183 1164 1165 1186 1167116811691190 1191 11921193 1194 1195 1196 1197 1198 11991200 1201 12021203 1204 1205 12061207 12081209 1210 1211 1212 12131214 12151216 12171218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223 1224 1226 1226 1227 1226 1229 1230 1231 1232 1233 1234 1235 1236 1237 1238 1238 1240 1241 1242 1243 1244 1248 1248 1247 1248 1249 1250 1251 1252 1253 1254 1255 1256 1257 1256 1259 1260 1261 12621 26312641266 1 266 1267 1268 1268 1270 1271 1272 1273 1274 1275 1276 1277 1278 1279 12801281 1282 12831284 1285 1286 12871268 1289 1290 1291 1292 12931294 1295 1296 1297 1298 1299 1300 1301 1302 1303 130413051306 130713081309 13101311 1312131313141315 1316 13171318 1319 1320 1321 1322 1323 1324 1325 1326 1327 1326 1329 1330 1331 1332 1333 1334 1335 1336 1337 1338 1339 13401341 1342 1343 1344 1345 13461347 1348 1349 1350 1351 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360 • 1361 1362 1383 1364 1365 1366 1367 1366 1389 1370 1371 1372 1373 1374 1375 1376 1377 1378 1378 1380 1381 1382 1383 1384 1386 1386 1367 1388 1369 1390 1391 1392 1393 1394 1395 1396 1397 1398 1399 1400 1401 1402 1403 1404 1405 1406 1407 1406 140914101411 1412 1413 1414141514161417 1418 1419 1420 1421 1422 1423 1424 1425 1426 1427 1428 1429 1430 1431 1432 1433 1434 1435 143614371438 1439 1440 1441 14421443 1444 1445 1446 1447 1448 1449 1450 1451 1452 1453 1454 1455 1456 1457 1458 1459 1460 1461 1462 1463 146414651466 14671468 1469 1470 1471 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 1478 1479 NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 176 PITTSFIELD, MA POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE READER SERVICE PO Box 5110 Pittsfield, MA 01203-9926 USA I Il.l.l.. I.I....I.I.II..I..I.I PRODUCT INFORMATION Want More Information About the Products and Advertisers Featured in this Issue? a Circle numbers on reply card W^M Check a11 the appropriate W^%M which correspond to numbers yJ& \ answers t0 questions "A" |Cj assigned to items of interest to you. ^HH through "E". wmam Print your name and address and mail. NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 176 PITTSFELD, MA POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE READER SERVICE PO Box 5110 Pittsfield, MA 01203-9926 USA II. 1. 1. ,1.1... .1.1. II.. I. .1.1 Fill out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT. Name ( ) Title Phone Company Address City Inquiry Numbers 1*493 State Zip A. What is your primary job function/principal area of responsibility? (Check one.) 1 □ MIS/DP 2 □ Programmer/Systems Analyst 3 □ Administration/Management 4 □ Sales/Marketing 5 □ Engineer/Scientist 6 □ Other B. What is your level of management responsibility? 7 □ Senior-level 9 □ Professional 8 □ Middle-level C Are you a reseller (VAR, VAD, Dealer, Consultant)? 10 □ Yes nDNo D. What operating systems are you currently using? (Check all that apply.) 12 □ PC/MS-DOS 15 □ UNIX 13 □ DOS + Windows 16 □ MacOS 14 □ OS/2 17 □ VAX/VMS E. For how many people do you influence the purchase of hardware or software? 18 □ 1-25 20 □ 51-99 19 □ 26-50 21 Q 100 or more Inquiry Numbers 494-988 3 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 506 509 510 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 532 533 534 535 538 537 538 538 540 541 542 543 544 548 550 551 552 553 554 565 568 557 568 568 560 581 568 567 568 568 570 571 572 573 574 575 578 577 576 563 584 565 568 587 568 568 590 591 582 583 594 595 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 634 635 636 837 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 682 663 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 665 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 728 727 728 729 730 731 736 737 736 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 753 754 755 758 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 787 768 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 604 805 B06 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 821 822 823 824 825 826 627 626 829 830 831 632 633 838 839 640 841 842 843 544 845 848 847 848 848 850 855 656 857 858 859 880 861 662 883 864 865 666 667 872 873 874 675 676 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 664 689 890 891 892 893 894 895 696 897 898 899 900 901 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 913 914 915 916 917 918 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 940 941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 952 957 958 959 960 961 962 963 964 965 966 967 966 969 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 966 D Please send me one year of BYTE Magazine for $24.95 and bill me. Offer valid in U.S. and possessions only. SEPTEMBER IRSD002 Inquiry Numbers 987-1479 997 988 669 990 991 992 993 994 996 996 997 996 9991000100110021003 10041005 10061007 10081009 1010 1011 101210131014 1015 1016 1017 10181019 1020 1021 1022 1023 1024 1026 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 1037 1038 1038 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1048 1048 1047 1048 1048 1060 1051 1062 1063 1054 1055 1066 1067 1066 1066 1060 1061 1062 1083 1084 1066 1066 1067 1066 1069 1070 1071 1072 1073 1074 1078 1078 1077 1078 1078 1060 1061 1062 1083 1064 1085 1068 1067 1068 10891090 1091 1092 1093 10941095 1096 1097 1098 1099 1 100 1101 1102110311041105 110611071106110911101111 111211131114 11151116111711181119 11201121 1122 1123 1124 1125 1126 1127 1126 1129 1130 1131 1132 1133 1134 1135 11361137 1136 1139 11401141114211431144 1145 1146 114711481149115011511152115311541155 1156 1157115811591160 1161116211631184116511661167116811691170117111721173 1174117511761177 11781179 11801181 V182 1183 1184 1165 11861187 116811891190 1191 1192 1193 1194 1195 1196 1197 1 198 1199 12001201 1202 1203 1204 120512061207 1208 12091210 1211 1212 1213 121 4 1215 1216 1217 12181219 1220 1221 1222 1223 1224 1225 12261227 1228 1229 1230 1231 1232 1233 1234 1235 12361237 1238 1239 1240 1241 1242 1243 1244 1245 1246 1247 1248 1249 1250 1251 1252 1253 1254 1255 12561257 1256 1259 12601261 1262 1263 1264 1265 1266 1267 1266 1269 1270 1271 1272 1273 1274 1275 1276 1277 1278 1279 1280 1281 12821283 1264 1285 1266 1287 1288 1289 1290 1291 1292 12931294129512961297129812991300130113021303130413051306130713081309 1310 131113121313 1314 1315 1316 1317 131813191320132113221323132413251326 1327 1328 1329 1330 1331 1332 1333 1334 1335 1338 1337 1338 1339 1340 1341 1342 1343 1344 1345 1346 1347 1348 1349 1350 1351 1352 1353 13541 355 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360 1361 1362 1363 1364 1365 1366136713681369 1370 1371 1372 1373 1374 1375 13761377 13781379 13801381 1382 1383 1364 1385 1388 1387 ;388 1389 1390 1391 1392 1393 1394 1395 1396 1397 1398 13991400 1401 1402 1403 1404 1405 1406 1407 1406 1409 1410 141 1 1412 1413141414151416 1417 1418 1419 1420 1421 1422 1423 1424 1425 1426 1427 1428 1429 1430 1431 1432 1433 1434 1435 1436 1437 1438 1439 1440 1441 1442 1443 1444 1445 1446 1447 1446 1449 14501451 1452 1453 1454 1455 1456 1457 1458 1459 1460 1461 1462 1463 14641465 1466 1467 1468 1469 1470 1471 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 1478 1479 Microdevices 2233 BRANHAM LANE, SAN JOSE CA 95124 BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDR! • 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE • 1 YEAR WARRANTY • TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT DYNAMIC RAMS PART* SIZE SPEED PINS PRICE 4116-150 16384x1 150ns 16 1.49 4164-150 65536x1 150ns 16 2.49 4164-120 65536x1 120ns 16 2.89 4164-100 65536x1 100ns 16 3.39 TMS4464-12 65536x4 120ns 16 3.95 41256-150 262144x1 150ns 16 2.59 41256-120 262144x1 120ns 16 2.95 41256-100 262144x1 100ns 16 3.15 41256-80 262144x1 80ns 16 3.75 414256-100 262144x4 100ns 20 12.95 414256-80 262144x4 80ns 20 13.45 1MB-120 1048576x1 120ns 18 11.95 1MB-100 1048576x1 100ns 18 12.35 1MB-80 1048576x1 80ns 18 12.95 SIMM/SIP MODULES PART* SIZE SPEED FOR PRICE 41256A9B-12 256Kx9 120ns SIMM/PC 36.95 41256A9B-80 256K x 9 80ns SIMM/PC 49.95 421000A8B-10 1MBx8 100ns SIMM/MAC 109.95 421000A9B-10 1MBx9 100ns SIMM/PC 113.95 421000A9B-80 1MBx9 80ns SIMM/PC 119.95 256K9SIP-80 256KX9 80ns SiP/PC 54.95 256K9SIP-60 256KX9 60ns SIP/PC 64.95 1MBX9SIP-80 1MBx9 80ns SIP/PC 124.95 MATH CO-PROCESSORS 8-BIT CO-PROCESSORS inf f 5 YEAR inipl WARRANTY 8087 5 MHz 89.95 8087-2 8 MHz 129.95 8087-1 10 MHz 169.95 16-BIT CO-PROCESSORS 80287 6 MHz 139.95 80287-8 8 MHz 209.95 80287-10 10 MHz 239.95 80C827 12MHz 299.95 32-BIT CO-PROCESSORS 80387-16 16 MHz 359.95 80387-SX 16 MHz 319.95 80387-20SX 16MHz 399.95 80387-20 20 MHz 399.95 80387-25 25 MHz 499.95 80387-33 33MHz 649.00 WITH MANUAL & SOFTWARE GUIDE I NEW! THE ULTIMATE IN 287S! 80287-XLT $247.95 FOR COMPAQ LTE/286, TANDY 2800 80287-XL $247.95 FOR ALL OTHER 286-BASED SYSTEMS NT ADVANCED CO-PROCESSORS INTEL COMPATIBLE! FASTER CALCULATION AND LOWER POWER CONSUMPTION. 2C87 AVG. 1.8 X FASTER THAN 80287 (BYTE SEPT. 1987). 16-BI T C O-PROCESSORS 2C87-10 10 MHz $239.95 2C87-12 12 MHz 299.95 2C87-20 20 MHz 349.95 32-BIT CO-PROCESSORS 3C87-16 10 MHz $359.95 3C87-20 12 MHz 399.95 3C87-25 20 MHz 499.95 3C87-33 20 MHz 649.95 CYRIX CO-PROCESSORS NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART MATH CO-PRO- CESSORS SAVE YOU LONGEVITY WORRIES! WITH MANUAL & SOFTWARE GUIDE, FULL UNCONDITIONAL 5-YEAR GUARANTEE! 83D87-16 16 MHz ...$299.95 83D87-20 20 MHz 349.95 L83D87-25 25MHz 439.95 83D87-33 33MHz .. 549.99 83DS87-16 (SX) 16MHz. 269.95 83S87-20 (SX) 20MHz .. 329.95 new! 4.1.17. 486 MOTHERBOARD! LANDMAN i M SPEED 113.2 FOR CAD/CAM/CAE WORKSTATIONS. LAN APPLICATIONS, MULTI- TASKING AND MULTI- USER APPLICATIONS REQ. UNIX OR XENIX' •25MHZ -BASED ON INTEL 80486 PROCESSOR • SOCKETED FOR WEITEK 4167 MATH CO-PROCESSOR • 8K OF INTERNAL RAM CACHE • SUPPORTS SHADOW RAM WITH AN INTERNAL CACHE CONTROLLER • EXPANDABLE TO 4, 8 OR 1 6MB USING 256K OR 1MB SIMMS (OK ON-BOARD) • EIGHT 1 6-BIT BUS SLOTS • 6 LAYER BOARD DESIGN AIR-486MB25 $2,999.00 youn MornzimoAiiD rjomisamom MINI 25MHZ 386 799 • NORTON SI 26.6 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 30.1 • MEMORY INTERLEAVING FOR NEAR ZERO WAIT STATES ■ SOCKETED FOR 80387 COPROCESSOR ■ USES 80NS 256K OR 1MB SIMM/DIP RAMS ■ 16MB RAM CAPACITY: 8MB ON BOARD, 8MB USING OPTIONAL RAM CARD (0KB INSTALLED) • ON-BOARD RAM: 1/2MB USING 4/8 256K SIMMS OR 4/8MB USING 4/8 1MB SIMMS • FIVE 16-BIT SLOTS, TWO 8-BIT SLOTS, ONE 32-BIT SLOT FOR PROPRIETARY RAM CARD • AMI BIOS • SIZE:8.5"X 13" MCT-M386-25 "Selected as Top Performer" by BYTE Mag., April 1990 MCT-M386-M25 PROPRIETARY RAMCARD $99.95 1/2MB USING 36/72 256KX1 DRAMS OR 4/8MB USING 36/72 1MBX1 DRAMS $1495 33MHZ CACHE 386 • NORTON SI 4S.9 • LANDMARK AT SPEED S0.8 • 33MHZ 80386 CPU • 64K ZERO WAIT STATIC RAM CACHE 1/2/4/8MB ON-BOARD RAM USING 80NS SIMMS (0KB INSTALLED) 1/2MB USING 4/8 256K SIMMS OR 4/8MB USING 4/8 1MB SIMMS • SOCKETED FOR 80387-33 MATH CO-PROCESSOR 8 EXPANSION SLOTS (ONE 32-BIT, SIX 16-BIT, ONE 8-BIT) • AMI BIOS ASSURES IBM COMPATIBILITY • 8/33MHZ KEYBOARD ADJUSTABLE SPEEDS MCT-386MBC-33 $1495.00 MCT-386MBC-25 25MHZ VERSION $999.00 MINI 25MHZ $ 1299 CACHE 38G with ram card • NORTON SI 30.S • LANDMARK AT SPEED 40.7 25MHZ 80386 • REQUIRES 1 OF THE RAM CARDS BELOW • SHADOW RAM FOR ROM BIOS ■ MEMORY CACHING FOR SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE • MEMORY INTERLEAVING FOR NEAR WAIT STATE OPERATION (8 BANKS OF MEMORY REQUIRED) • SOCKETED FOR 80387 OR WEITEK 3167 COPROCESSORS MCT-C386-25 $1199.00 RAM CARDS (ONE REQUIRED FOR OPERATION): 1 /2/4MB USING 8/16/32 256KX4 DRAMS AND 4/8/16 256KX1 DRAMS (OK INSTALLED) MCT-C386-M4 $99.95 1/2MB USING 36/72 256KX1 DRAMS OR 4/8MB USING 36/72 1 MBX1 DRAMS (OK INST) MCT-C386-M8 $99.95 1/2/4MB USING 4/8/16 256K SIMMS, 4/8/16MB USING 4/8/16 1MBSIMMSOR 10 MB USING 8 1MB SIMMSAND8 256K SIMMS (OK INSTALLED) MCT-C386-M16 $99.95 CALL FOR A COPY OF OUR NEW CATALOG! 12.5MHZ 286 $ 199 95 • NORTON SI 14.3 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 16.S • STANDARD 8088 LAYOUT • 286-COMPATIBLE • 6/12. 5MHZ KEYBOARD SELECT SPEEDS • EXPANDABLE TO 4MB ON BOARD; 512K/1 MB USING 1 8/36 256KX1 DRAMS; 2/4MB USING 18/36 1MBX1 DRAMS (0KB INSTALLED) • MEMORY SPEED: 120NS FOR 1 WAIT. 100NS FOR WAIT MCT-M286-12 $199.95 $399 95 16 MHZ MINI 386SX • NORTON SI 1S.3 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 20.8 • USES 16MHZ INTEL 80386SX CPU • EXPANDABLE TO 8MB ON BOARD ■ 512K/1MB USING 18/36 256KX1 DRAMS OR 2/4 256K SIPS OR 4/8 256KX4 AND 2/4 256KX1 DRAMS; 2/4MB USING 18/36 1 MBX1 DRAMS OR 2/4 1 MB SIPS; 6/8MB USING 36 1 MBX1 DRAMS AND 2/4 1MB SIPS AMI BIOS • CHOOSE FAST WAIT STATE OR 1 WAIT STATE FOR ECONOMICAL USE OF SLOWER RAM • FIVE 1 6-BIT & THREE 8-BIT EXPANSION SLOTS • CHIPS & TECHNOLOGY NEW ENHANCED ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY (NEAT) CHIPSET • SOCKET FOR 80387SX-16 COPROCESSOR • 8.5" X 13" SIZE FITS IN MINI-286 AND FULL-SIZE 286 CASES MCT-386SX $399.95 20MHZ 286 $389 95 • NORTON SI 20.3 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 26.3 • NEAT CHIPSET HAS POWER TO COMPETE WITH 386 SYSTEMS • EXPANDABLE FROM 512K TO 8MB; 512K/1MB USING 18/36 256KX1 DRAMS OR 2/4 256K SIPS; 2/4MB USING 18/36 1MBX1 DRAMS OR 2/4 1 MB SIPS; 6/8MB USING 36 1 MBX1 DRAMS AND 2/4 1MB SIPS • 20/10MHZ KEYBOARD SELECTABLE SPEEDS • AMI BIOS • SHADOW RAM AND PAGE INTERLEAVED MEMORY • FAST WAIT STATE OR 1 WAIT STATE FOR SLOWER RAM • 8.5" X 13" FITS MOST 8088, MINI-286 & FULL SIZE 286 CASES • FIVE 16-BIT & THREE 8-BIT SLOTS • SOCKET FOR 80287-12 MATH CO-PROCESSOR MCT-M286-20N $389.95 16MHZ 286 W/NEAT CHIPSET $ 289 95 MCT-M286-16N NORTON SI 16.2/ LANDMARK AT 21.1 12MHZ286 W/NEAT CHIPSET $ 269 9S MCT-M286-1 2N Norton si 12.0/ landmark atis.s $ 99 95 10 MHZ 8088 norton si 2.1 • 8088- COM-PATIBLE; OPERATES AT 4.77/10MHZ •KEYBOARDSELECT-ABLE CLOCK SPEEDS • SOCKETFOR 8087-1 COPROCESSOR ■ 8 SLOTS ■ MCT BIOS • 640KRAM CAPACITY(0KBINST.) MCT-TURBO-10 $99.95 CUSTOMER SERVICE 800-538-5001 TECHNICAL SUPPORT 800-538-5002 MON.-FRI. 7 AM. TO 5 P.M., SATURDAY, 9 A.M. TO 3 P.M. (PST) ORDER TOLL-FREE 800-538-5000 Circle 6 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 7) SEPTEMBER 1990 -BYTE 513 Microdevices BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDR! • 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE • 1 YEAR WARRANTY • TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT MONITORS VGA PACKAGE \ $ 499 95 VGA COLOR AND CLARITY AT AN EGA PRICE' • 8-BIT VGA „^ CARD IS FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH IBM VGA • 720X540 MAXIMUM RESOLUTION, 640X480 IN 16 COLORS • 528 X 480 IN 256 COLORS • HIGH RESOLUTION ANALOG MONITOR • EGA/CGA/MONO AND HERCULES COMPATIBLE • DRIVERS FOR WINDOWS, GEM, 1-2-3, SYMPHONY, AUTOCADS VENTURA VGA-PKG-8 $499.95 16-BIT VGA PACKAGE 16-BIT VERSION INCLUDES MCT-VGA-16 VGA-PKG-16 $529.00 r POST CODE DIAGNOSES SYSTEM PROBLEMS! TO DIAGNOSE, PLUG IT INTO A CARD SLOT, | READ THE INDICATORDISPLAY & CHECK THE MANUALFOR THE CORRESPONDING POW-ER-ONSELF-TESTCODE. COMPATIBLE W/80286 & 80386-BASED SYSTEMS. PCODE L PCODE WITH QA PLUS ,. $49.95 ..$69.95 CABLES AND GENDER CHANGERS MOLDED; GOLD-PLATED CONTACTS; 100% SHIELDED CBL-PRNTR-25 CBL-PRINTR-RA CBL-DB25-MM CBL-DB25-MF CBL-9-SERIAL CBL-CNT-MM GENDER-VGA 25 FT. PC PRINTER CABLE 1 5.95 RIGHT ANGLE PRINTER CABLE 1 5.95 DB25 MALE-DB25 MALE 6 FT. 9.95 DB25 MALE-DB25 FEMALE 6 FT. 9.95 DB9 FEMALE-DB25 MALE 6 FT. 6.95 36-PIN CENTRONICS -M/M 14.95 DB9-DB15 ADAPTOR 4.95 HUNDREDS MORE AVAILABLE - CALL FOR MORE INFO n^st^pni" W®**r^i EPROMS PART* 2716-1 2732A 2764 2764-250 2764-200 27128 27128A-200 27256 27C256 27512 27C101-20 SIZE 2048x8 4096x8 8192x8 8192x8 8192x8 16384x8 16384x8 32768x8 32768x8 65536x8 131072x8 SPEED 350ns 250ns 450ns 250ns 200ns 250ns 200ns 250ns 250ns 250ns 200ns Vpp 25V 21V 12.5V 12.5V 12.5V 12.5V 12.5V 12.5V 12.5V 12.5V 12.5V PINS PRICE 24 3.95 24 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 32 3.95 3.49 3.69 4.25 4.25 5.95 4.95 5.95 7.95 24.95 EPROM PROGRAMMER $ 129 9 • PROGRAMS 27XX AND 27XXX EPROMS UP TO 27512 • SPLIT OR COMBINE CONTENTS OF SEVERAL DIFFERENT SIZED EPROMS (VARIOUS FORMATS AND VOLTAGES) ♦ READ, WRITE. COPY, BLANK CHECK AND VERIFY- HEX AND INTEL HEX FORMATS SOFTWARE MOD-EPROM DATARASE II EPROM ERASER $ 39 9S • SMALL SIZEI 'ERASES AtL; SIZE EPROMS UP TO 4 AT A TtME--MOSTIN3 MINUTES • WALL PLUG POWER SUPPLY DATARASE II '■& RELISYS MULTISYNCH $429.95 • 14" NON-GLARE SCREEN • 800X560 MAX RESOLUTION • CGA/EGA/VGA COMPATIBLE • TTUANALOG MODE JDR-MULTI RELYSIS VGA MONITOR $379.95 • 14" ANALOG VGA MONITOR ■ GLARE RESISTANT SCREEN • 720 X480MAXIMUM RESOLUTION • TILT/SWIVEL BASE VGA-MONITOR EGA MONITOR $339.95 •14" NON-GLARE SCREEN WITH 640 X 350 MAXIMUM RESOLUTION • DISPLAY 16 COLORS SIMULTANEOUSLY EGA-MONITOR 14" SCREEN MONO $139. 95 • GLARE-RESISTANT 14" SCREEN WITH AMBER DISPLAY • 720 X 350 RESOLUTION • TILT/SWIVEL BASE GM-1489 MONO-SAMSUNG SAMSUNG 12" FLAT SCREEN $129.95 JDR-MONO 12" MONO WITH GREEN SCREEN $69.95 MONO-VGA PAPERWHITE VGA MONITOR $139.95 NEC-MULTI-3D NEC MULTI-3D MULTISYNC $649.00 CM-1440 SEIKO DUAL FIXED FREQUENCY $599.00 TAXAN-P DUAL PAGE MONO MONITOR & CARD ...$1499.00 DISPLAY CARDS 16-BIT VGA $169.95 • 640 X 480 IN 16 COLORS • 256K VIDEO RAM EXPANDABLE T0 512K • 64 LEVELS OF GRAY SCALE MCT-VGA-16 MCT-VGA-8 8-BIT VERSION $149.95 MCT-VGA-1024 1024X768 INTERLACED VGA $189.95 MCT-VGA VGAWITHTTLSUPPORT $189.95 MONO GRAPHICS/PRINTER $49.95 8088/286 COMPATIBLE • HERCULES COMPATIBLE MONOGRAPHICS • SUPPORTS LOTUS 1-2-3 • 720X348 DISPLAY -ADDRESS PARALLEL PRINTER PORT AS LPT1 OR 2 MCT-MGP OTHER DISPLAY CARDS MCT-MG 8-BIT MONO W/OPTIONAL SERIAL PORT .. $79.95 MCT-MGAIO 286 MONO WITH SER/PAR/GAME $99.95 MCT-CGP CGA GRAPHICS FOR RGB MONITOR $49.95 MCT-EGA EGA CARD WITH 256K RAM $149.95 SOLDER LESS BREADBOARD CARDS ' LOGICALLY GROUPED • ACCESSES ALL I/O SIGNAL CONNECTIONS • ACCEPTS 9, 15, 19, 25 OR 37-PIN D-SUBS PDS-600 8-BIT 149.95 PDS-61016-Bij ; ... $59.95 ABOVE CARDS WITH DECODE • INCLUDES ADDRESS DECODING LOGIC. DATA BUFFERING, 2LSI CIRCUITS FOR PROGRAMMABLE DIGITALI/O AND COUNTER-TIMER FUNCTIONS PDS-601 8-BIT $79.95 PDS-611 16-BIT ..'.$89.95 Littlefoot CASE $249*5 • ACCOMMODATES ALL MOTHER- BOARDS ' INCLUDES 250 WATT POWER SUPPLY • MOUNTS FOR 3 FLOPPY AND 4 HARD DRIVES • TURBO AND RESET SWITCHES • SPEED DISPLAY, POWER, DISK LEDS • MOUNTING HARDWARE, FACEPLATES AND SPEAKER INCLUDED CASE-100 $249.95 CASE-200 "SUPERFOOT--HOLDS11 DRIVES $499.95 CASE-120 "MINIFOOT" W/200 WATT PS $199.95 STANDARD CASES _.* FULL SIZE SLIDE CASE CASE-70 $89.95 CASE-50 FOR 8088 OR MINI-86 MOTHERBOARDS $59.95 CASE-FLIP FLIP-TOP XT-STYLE CASE $39.95 CASE-SLIDE SLIDE TYPE XT-STYLE CASE $39.95 CASE-JR $149.95 WITH 150W POWER SUPPLY. FOR 8088 OR MINl-286 BOARDS. CASE-JR-200 $1 89.95 WITH 200W POWER SUPPLY. FOR 8088 OR MINl-286 BOARDS. NOTE: CASES DO NOT INCLUDE DRIVES. PC POWER SUPPUES PS-135 135 WATT FOR 8088 - U.L. APPROVED $59.95 PS-150 150 WATT FOR 8088 - U.L APPROVED $69.95 PS-200X 200 WATT FOR 8088 - U.L. APPROVED $89.95 PS-200 200 WATT FOR 286/386 - U.L. APPROVED $89.95 PS-250 250 WATT FOR 286/386 $129.95 UNINTERRUPTABLE POWER SUPPUES CONDITIONED CRITICAL LOAD/BACK-UP DURING BLACKOUT PART NO. VA FREQ. CURRENT BATTERY PRICE EMERSON-20 300 60hz 2.50A 10min. $299.95 EMERSON-30 500 60hz 4.20A 10min. $499.95 EMERSON-40 800 60hz 6.70A 10min. $699.95 JDR-PR1 JDR-PR2 JDR-PR2-PK JDR-PR10 JDR-PR10-PK PROTOTYPE CARDS 8-BIT WITH +5V AND GROUND PLANE 27.95 ABOVE WITH I/O DECODING LAYOUT 29.95 PARTS KIT FOR JDR-PR2 ABOVE 8.95 16-BiT WITH I/O DECODING LAYOUT 34.95 PARTS KITFORJDR-PR10 ABOVE 12.95 MODULAR PROGRAMMING SYSTEM EACH MODULE IN THIS SYSTEM USES A COMMON HOST ADAPTOR CARD, SO YOU CAN USE JUST ONE SLOT TO PROGRAM EPROMS, PROMS, PALS & MORE! Z $ 29 95 ^ ^ 3FACEFORALL . V ^' n MODULES! / ih"ffl«bt RESSES ; . , . , (■' «■' $ 499 95 ' COMMON HOST ADAPTOR CARD • UNIVERSAL INTERFACE FOR ALL THE PROGRAMMING MODULES! • SELECTABLE ADDRESSES PREVENTS CONFLICTS ■ MOLDED CABLE MOD-MAC UNIVERSAL MODULE • PROGRAMS EPROMS, EEPROMS, PALS, BI-POLAR PROMS, 8748 & 8751 SERIES DEVICES; 16V8 AND 20V8 GALS (GENER-IC ARRAY LOGIC) FROM LATTICE, NS, SGS • TESTS TTL. CMOS, DYNAMICS STATIC RAMS ,— "^T--- • LOAD DISK, SAVE DISK, EDIT, BLANK CHECK, PROGRAM, AUTO, READ MASTER, VERIFY AND COMPARE «TEXTOOL SOCKET FOR .3" TO .6" WIDE C'S (8-40 PINS) MOD-MUP MOD-MUP-EA 4-UNlT ADAPTOR $99.95 EPROM MODULE *jL19 • PROGRAMS 24-32 PIN EPROMS, CMOS EPROMS & EEPROMS FROM 1 6 K .TO 1 024K • ■ HEX TO OBJ CONVERTER '- AUTO, BLANK CHECK/PROGRAMA/ERIFY • VPP 5, 12.5, 12.75, 13, 21 & 25 VOLTS 'NORMAL, INTELLIGENT, INTERACTIVE & QUICK PULSE PROGRAMMING ALGORITHMS MOD-MEP MOD-MEP-4 4-EPROM PROGRAMMER $169.95 MOD-MEP-8 8-EPROM PROGRAMMER $259.95 MOD-MEP-16 16-EPROM PROGRAMMER ...............$499.95 PAL MODULE $ 249 $$ • PROGRAMS MMI, NS, Tl 20 & Tl 24 PIN DEVICES • BLANK CHECK, PROGRAM, AUTO, READ MASTER. VERIFTY & SECUR ITY FUSE BLOW MOD-MPL OTHER MODULES MOD-MMP MICROPROCESSOR PROGRAMMER .....$179.95 MOD-MIC DIGITAL IC & MEMORY TESTER ..............$129.95 MOD-MBP BI-POLAR PROM PROGRAMMER $259.95 PAL DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE $ 99 9B ENTRY-LEVEL PAL DEVELOPMENTFROM CUPL. FULL SUP- PORT FOR 16L8, 16R4, 16R6, 16R8, 20L8. 20R4, 20R8 AND 20X8, MOD-MPL-SOFT 514 BYTE- SEPTEMBER 1990 Circle 6 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 7) Microdevices 2233 BRANHAM LANE, SAN JOSE CA 95124 BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDR! • 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE • 1 YEAR WARRANTY • TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT HIGH DENSITY HARD DRIVES NEW! NEC 153.5MB! • 153.5MB CAPACITY ■ ESDI INTERFACE • AVG ACCESS TIME : 18MS. • RECORDING: 19,612 BPI BIT 1.240 TRACKDENSIT1ES • 20 SEC. START/STOP TIME • REQ. DC+5V, +12V POWER • USES 2-7 RLL METHOD AND NR2 TRANSFER MODE 5655 $849.00 MICROPOUS DRIVES KITS: F/H CONTROLLER, CABLES, NOVELL NETWARE-286. 1355 157.5MB ESDI, 23MS KIT: $1049 DRIVE: $949 1375 157.5MB SCSI, 23MS KIT: $1099 DRIVE: $899 1558 338.1 MB ESDI, 18MS KIT: $1799 ...DRIVE: $1619 1578 338.1MB SCSI, 18MS KIT: $1799 ...DRIVE: $1619 1566 676.8MB ESDI, 16MS DRIVE: $2499 1588 676.8MB SCSI, 16MS DRIVE: $2499 $ 99 1.44MB 3-1/2" DRIVE • 80 TRACKS • 135 TPI • ULTRA HIGH DENSITY • READ/WRITE 720K DISKS, TOO ■ INCLUDES ALL NECESSARY MOUNTING HARDWARE FDD-1.44X BLACK FACEPLATE FDD-1.44A BEIGE FACEPLATE FDD-1.44SOFT SOFTWARE DRIVER $19.95 I MF355A 3-1/2" MITSUBISHI 1.44MB, BEIGE $129.95 j MF355X 3-1/2" MITSUBISHI! .44MB, BLACK $129.95 FDD-360 5-1/4" DOUBLE-SIDED DD 360K $69.95 FD-55B 5-1/4" TEAC DOUBLE-SIDED DD 360K $89.95 | FDD-1.2 5-1/4" DOUBLE-SIDED HD 1.2M $89.S I-55G 5-1/4" TEAC DOUBLE-SIDED HD 1.2M $129.9 ).95 J.95 J ENHANCED KEYBOARDS FC-3001 101-KEY.12F-KEYS& CALCULATOR $74.95 BTC-5339 101 -KEY WITH 12 FUNCTION KEYS $69.95 BTC-5339R COMPACT 101-KEY, 30% SMALLER $79.95 I MAX-5339101-KEYMAXI-SWITCH (286 ONLY) $84.95 ; K103-A AUDIBLE "CLICK" 101-KEY KEYBOARD $84.95 STANDARD KEYBOARDS BTC-5060 84-KEY WITH 10 FUNCTION KEYS $59.95 j ^MAX-5060 MAXI-SWITCH84-KEY(286 ONLY) $64.95j PC-TRAC $ 89 95 • HIGH RES. (200 PULSE/INCH) ■ 2-AXIS POINTING DEVICE (X&Y) • INCLUDES MAP DEVICE DRIVE WITH BALLISTIC GAIN PC-TRAC W/RS-232C SERIAL INTERFACE FAST-TRAP THE 3-AXIS MOUSE ALTERNATIVE! $109.95 LOGITECH TRACKMAN ■TO 300 DPI RES. • MOUSEWARE UTILITIES, MENUS, MOUSE -2-3 ■ REQ. 256K MIN. MEMORY I TRACKMAN SERIAL VERSION —NO CARD REQ $98.95 TRACKMAN-B BUS VERSION $95.95 | W/SHORT CARD FOR 8088, 286, 386 OR PS/2 MODELS 25 & 30 LOGITECH MICE • 3-BUTTON SERIES 9 • 320 DPI RES. • SERIAL PS/2 COMPAT. LOGC9 SERIAL MOUSE $98.95 LOGC9-C SERIAL MOUSE (NOT PS/2 COMPATIBLE) .. $79.95 LOGC9-P SERIAL MOUSE WITH PAINTSHOW $109.95 LOGC9-PC SERIAL MOUSE WITH PAINT/CAD $154.95 LOGB9 BUS MOUSE $89.95 LOGB9-P BUS MOUSE WITH PAINTSHOW $104.95 LOGB9-PC BUS MOUSE WITH PAINT/CAD $149.95 GENISCAN SCANNER $199*5 • UP TO 400 DPI • 32 LEVELS OF GRAY SCALE • W/INTERFACE CARD.SCAN- EDITIIAND DR.GENIUS Vv GS-4500 $199.95 ^ HARD DISKS 21.4MB $ 199 65.5MB $ 389 DRIVE KITS 21.4MB $ 249 32.7MB $ 219 80.2MB $ 569 32.7MB $ 279 42.8MB $ 339 84.9MB $ 499 '! -''i'**'; r w •; / r i"r k t'i ; ' V\ W V V^V\ V: "V'V" It »'■■.»_%"% A \ ]^ ... ^ J \ \ \ hinged expansion bays which swing open for easy access to card slots and devices. High-resolution VGA graphics support is also included. Easy to buy . . . or lease Hear the USA-made Tandy 2500 XL at any participating Radio Shack Computer, store or dealer. And remember, we have much more to offer: printers, software and the credit and leasing deals to put it all together! CREATING NEW STANDARDS PROVEN LEADERSHIP Over 7,000 USA locations, 39,000 employees, seven research and development centers, 31 USA and overseas manufacturing plants— NOBODY COMPARES! GUARANTEED SATISFACTION Over 35 million customers benefit annually from our satisfaction guarantee. Putting you first has made us#1 in PC compatibles— NOBODY COMPARES! M Radie/haek America's technology Radio Shack is a division of Tandy Corporation. MS-DOS/licensed from Microsoft Corp. Circle 252 on Reader Service Card