MICR ES AND REFINES Page 34 mm„ ■■I- m / ^ M3H*F»*afrWttnu Now Serving PCs With Free Application i^vri^ Special Where Can You Get The Best Byte For Your Buck? Spec i a I We have a brand-new application software buffet. When you buy a Gateway 2000 system, you get to choose one free software package from a smorgasbord of offerings. ere's a new fax/modem card on the menu, too. It's the Gateway TelePath - a 14,400 bps modei 9,600 bps fax capability. The card comes with WinFax Pro" If you're hungry for an ultra high-performance system at a great price, take a look at our new 50MHz 486DX2 computers. Both ISA and EISA §fumm*m _^____L_ -T~- jj _. rr— models are based on the Intel486" DX2 dual speed processor. With a system clock frequency of 25MHz, the internal core of this CPU executes at 50MHz for a 35% increase in performance compared to a 33 MHz 486DX system. Of course we're still serving your old favorites - the hottest PCs at the best prices on the market. 3wse through our other what's new from Gateway decision to buy a Gateway will be easy as pi GATEWAY2000 "You've not a friend in the business. " 8 5 2 3-2000 610 Gateway Drive • P.O. Box 2000 • N. Sioux City, SD 57049-2000 • 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023 © ] 992 Gateway 2000, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. While our competitors talk about getting here. At SunSoft, we're there. Introducing Solaris. Why wait for some yet-to-be-delivered UNIX® knock-off where networking is an afterthought? New Technology is shipping today. It has a name: Solaris. The industry's only shrink-wrapped distributed computing solution. The Solaris CD will put distributed computing on the world's most popular RISC and CISC platforms. The Killer Environment The 1980s was the decade of the killer application. The 1990s is the decade of the killer environment. Solaris. Based on SunOS, the most widely used 32-bit operating system, it will incorporate UNIX SVR4 and add symmetric multiprocessing and multithreading to turbo-charge mission critical applications. And with Solaris ONC™, the network is the computer. More than one million users have experienc- ed the power of connecting to any computer — IBM, Apple, DEC, HP. But Solaris doesn't stop there. It integrates the robust Open Windows™ development platform. Empowering developers to create tomorrow's distributed applications today. Allowing applications to inter- operate — whether they are in the office next door or across the continent. Our present is their future. And our future is yours today. Solaris integrates an extraordinarily powerful framework for tomorrow's technologies that we call Project DOE — Distributed Objects Everywhere. A path that painlessly brings you to the future of computing. With Solaris, objects are closer than they appear. So easy, it can't be UNIX. Solaris: 32-bit Virtual memory. Multitasking. Multivendor connectivity. Application interoperability. Adding this year SVR4, symmetric multiprocessing, multithreading and distributed objects. Imagine this power uniting the world's most popular SPARC and 80x86 computers in 1992. Imagine being able to access it — simply. Imagine no more. Solaris puts all network resources at your fingertips graphically through the 3D OPEN LOOK® desktop metaphor. Magnified Help — -on-line context-sensitive hypertext documentation — acts as your personal tutor. And Solaris adds DeskSet™, a suite of 15 workgroup productivity applications including Multimedia Mail with integrated voice and video capabilities and Workgroup Calendar which links groups and schedules across the world. What's more, Solaris has all your favorite applications. Lotus 1-2-3, Ashton-Tate dBase, WordPerfect. More compatible solutions than any other 32-bit environment. More than 3600 in all. Solaris combines 3D OPEN LOOK with ymtrfawrite applications. To get there, start here. A lot of companies talk about making distributed computing reality. Still more only dream about it. But at SunSoft, we've made it happen. So if you want to hear where distributed computing is going in the 90s, talk to some other manufacturers. But if you want to see where it is, call us. 1-800-227-9227 Because we're there. ^SunSoft A Sun Microsystems, Inc. Business ' Circle 1 74 on Inquiry Card. BVTE April 1992 Volume 1 7, Number 4 COVER STORY FEATURE Practical Desktop Video, parti PAGE 106 FEATURES 23 34 42 51 MICROBYTES Next steps into the Intel-based world, and a powerful start-up called Rambus says "Thanks, but no thanks" for those old memories. FIRST IMPRESSIONS Windows 3.1 Is Ready to Roll Microsoft's new release is finally ready for prime time. <38 Have Docking Station, Will Travel A new Safari notebook hits the road. 41 New from Compaq: Deskpro 50M A speedy graphics workstation from Compaq. New Hard Drives Keep Your Data Safe A new generation of hard drives are fast and ultra-reliable. Cameo Personal Video System, Model 2001, it stars on the Mac 486DX- 50 Cache, a complete 50-MHz PC for $3749 Boxer Text Editing System 3.20, a flexible shareware editor PGC CASE Graphics 1.0, CASE for the inquisitive 58 WHAT'S NEW The Mpression Notebook Presentation System; the Silentwriter Model 95; Project Manager; and more. 106 Practical Desktop Video, Part 1 The BYTE Multimedia Lab's series on desktop video production begins with a look at video formats. 1 19 Windows Goes Real Time The iRMX for Windows operating system provides the best of both worlds on a single PC. STATE OF THE ART 134 AN INTERFACE FOR ALL SENSES Overview: Kinder, Gentler Computing Natural I/O technologies provide computers with the ultimate in user-friendly interfaces. 151 The Power of Speech Automatic speech recognition is going to radically alter how you interact with computers. 165 Even As We Speak Speech synthesis is a practical and valuable computer-output format. 175 The Ultimate User Interface Information systems create environments in which we work. New research aims to allow better design of these information systems. 187 Resource Guide: Natural I/O 4 BYTE • APRIL 1992 COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: MARK ROCKWOOD © 1992 REVIEWS OPINIONS 192 SOLUTIONS FOCUS New LAN Backup Tools The BYTE Lab looks at eight tape backup systems that promise to make your network safe and sound. 212 Rough Gems: First Pen Systems Show Promise, Lack Refinement The first pen-input systems will need to overcome some technical hurdles. 226 BYTE Lab Product Report: Art for Business 's Sake One of these packages is sure to make it easier for you to create good-looking pictures, charts, and graphs. 259 LAN Manager 2.1 Opens the Gates Microsoft's latest showcases TCP/IP, remote access, Mac services, and NetWare connectivity. 262 New MultiSyncs Prove That Flatter Is Better NEC updates the MultiSyncs with four new monitors. 267 Video Goes Digital with Fluency Developers get a head start with this digital-video bundle for PCs. 269 Local Bus Fuels PowerMate's Graphics Response NEC's local-bus design delivers outstanding graphics performance. 272 REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK A superfast super server and wireless print sharing. HANDS ON 14 279 SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED Mac Programming Revealed The Mac is easy to program, within limits. 291 UNDER THE HOOD Wireless Networking New technologies and standards portend the era of mobile computing. 295 SOFTWARE CORNER Batch-File Toolkit Better automation for DOS and Unix and a way to hunt down Mac viruses. 297 BEYOND DOS Inside 386 Enhanced Mode by Martin Heller Under the covers of Windows 386 enhanced mode. 299 ASK BYTE Getting less from VGA, Windows batch-file botches, high-resolution graph- ics for BASIC, and other topics. ■Vi-A- '■:"";■■ ^':&% BYTE (ISSN 0360-5280/92) is published monthly witn an additional issue in October by McGraw-Hill, Inc. US. subscriber rate $29.95 per year. In Canada and Mexico. $34 95 per year. European surface mail subscriptions $50. airmail $70. Non-Europeansubscriptions, $50 surface mail or $75 airmail. All foreign subscriptions are payable in U.S. funds that can be drawn on a U.S. bank. Single copies $350 in the U.S.. $4.50 in Canada. Executive, Editorial, Circulation, and Advertising Offices: One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Second-class postage paid at Peterborough. NH, and additional mailing offices. Postage paid at Winnipeg, Manitoba. Registration number 9321 . Printed in the United States of America. Postmaster: Send address changes. USPS Form 3579, and fulfillment questions to BYTE Subscriptions, P.O. Box 552, Hightstown, NJ 08520. USER'S COLUMN User's Choice Awards by Jerry Pournelle Jerry issues his annual User's Choice Awards. ROUNDTABLE The Future of Pen Computing, Part 2 Pen-software and systems developers discuss the limits of handwriting recognition, display technology, and other issues. 366 PRINT QUEUE Ways to Keep It Lucid Designing better documents, Windows programming, and object- oriented technology explained. 368 STOP BIT Hidden Persuaders The computer you use determines how you work— and how you think. 10 EDITORIAL Pen-Input Systems LETTERS Kudos for classic languages, and questions about OS/2. READER SERVICE 364 Editorial Index by Company 361 Alphabetical Index to Advertisers 362 Index to Advertisers by Product Category Inquiry Reply Cards: 359 PROGRAM LISTINGS From BIX: Join "listings/frombyte92" From Demolink: See ad on page 365 On disk: See ad on page 271 INSIDE BYTE ABOUT THE COVER This month's cover was created by photographer Mark Rockwood in collaboration with ImageSet Design (Portland, ME). Three separate photos, a video camera, and a monitor and keyboard were scanned, color-corrected, and manipulated using state-of-the-art hardware and software from Scitex, Adobe, and Quark. Film was generated with an Agfa Selectset 5000 Imagesetter. COVER CORNER PHOTOGRAPHY: MEL LINDSTROM © 1992 APRIL 1992 -BYTE 5 imate-Power tors'Choiee. mL '" r, -:- ; v-- ,..:..■■■;■: ■■■'■> :...■■: gre'swhv HOT NEW ZEOS '386 PC Magazine calls it "the ultimate-power desktop PC What will you call your new ZEOS '486 Editors Choice system? Probably the hottest computer youVe ever owned! No matter how much power you're looking for, ZEOS has it for you. ANNOUNCING THREE HOT NEW PROCESSOR OPTIONS: '486SX-25, 486DX2-50 AND '486DX-50! Go ahead and Pick your Power! ZEOS gives you all the options. You can start out by taking a look at the de facto desktop power standard, the 386DX-33. Our '386-33 work- horse is a great entry point for true desktop power computing. But if it's a '486 you're after, hang on to your hat! Upgradable. Because you're off to a fast start with a 486SX-20 or our brand-new 486SX-25. The 486SX is like a 486DX without the built-in math co- processor. It's the easiest way to own the '486. And for full blown 486DX power, why not opt for your own Editors Choice system! It's the ZEOS Editors' Choice 486DX-33. Quite simply, there is nothing else like it. Go with the ZEOS '486 if you want the type of quality, performance and value that makes an Editors Choice machine. And if it's 50MHz you've been dreaming about, dream no more. Because right here, right now, ZEOS gives you the option of '486 50MHz power! We're talking power unlike anything you've seen before. Take either the ZEOS 486DX2-50 or the 486DX-50. Absolutely unbelievable performance! And the price? That's what you really won't believe; only a couple hundred dollars more than the ZEOS 486-33. Amazing. AND THAT'S JUST FOR STARTERS. Because ZEOS combines the high speed upgradable proc- essor of your choice with some of the fastest DRAM made. Both tND '486 SYSTEMS! ■ i I i EDITORS CHOICE 2-11-92 ZEOS. Nine times Editors' Choice. Your Best Choice as Well! a r ttMNUli (IK * i OKXi-: 1 j y i.'J'MVJL'M editors' fr»W 4-16-91 3-12-91 I-I5-9I WhSX-ih 1Kb- 20 Mh-ICi 386-I6FS OK SO; flFMMIM 1-10-90 5-30-89 5-30-89 2-28-89 are mounted on your ZEOS system board, one of the most advanced in the industry And that's where your new system really begins to shine. Because to this we add an incredibly fast IDE hard drive and genuine Teac® floppy drives. We have located the ports for these drives right on the mother- board along with your serial, parallel and game ports. The result? Two slots are saved giving your new ZEOS sys- tem a total of eight All this while others Low Cost. are trying to get you to accept fewer slots. It's part of your ZEOS expansion advantage. The slots to expand, how about the room? This is where ZEOS has performed something akin to magic. We call it our SpaceSaver case. Complete with seven drive bays (six with the DX-50), this incredible case is actually smaller than many cases offering only five drive bays. Plus, we've also added a second whisper quiet cooling fan. Why? Because the cooler a system runs the longer it will last. Now that's ZEOS Value. Your new ZEOS system is absolutely loaded with features. Like our 300 watt power supply with built-in surge suppression. And, every ZEOS system is UL® listed. And don't forget you're also receiving 24 Hour a Day Toll Free Technical Support, our 30 day Absolute Satisfaction Money Back Guarantee, Express Parts Re- placement and more. So go ahead. Pick your Power, your Package, and your Price and give us a call. Your friendly, expert ZEOS Sys- tems Consultant is ready to answer any questions you may have. Call Now Toll Free 800-423-5891 ZEOS SYSTEMS— A FEW EXPERT OPINIONS: PC Magazine, "Out of 104 machines from 58 companies. .. For Overall Excellence we selected ZEOS International.." InfoWorld, "We find the ZEOS '386 an excellent value. Speed: Excellent. Compatibility: Excellent. Value: Excellent." Government Computer News, "Arguably the fastest MS-DOS and OS/2 micro in the world." PC Magazine, Editor's Choice, "The ZEOS blows away every other computer.. .a smart choice." ZEOS SYSTEMS. A SMART CHOICE INDEED! ORDER NOW TOLL FREE 800-423-5891 TAKE YOUR PICK! Choose From 4 Great Money Saving Packages. Or Specify Y)ur Own Custom Configuration! ZEOS COMPLETE SYSTEM PACKAGE #1 ■ The Processor and Speed of your choice plus future upgradabilty! ■ 1MB of High Speed RAM, expandable to a system total of 32MB right on the motherboard. ■ 42MB High Speed IDE hard drive with its own cache. ■ 1.2MB or 1.44MB Teac® floppy drive. ■ ZEOS 14" flat screen Hi-Res amber monitor with Tilt/Swivel Base. ■ Shadow RAM and EMS support. ■ ZEOS/RS 101-key SpaceSaver keyboard. ■ Two Serial, one Parallel & one Game Port built right onto the motherboard. ■ 7-16, 1-8 bit expansion slots. 80387 math coprocessor support for '386 systems. ■ Rugged ZEOS SpaceSaver case with twin cooling fans for added reliability and product life. ■ Seven drive bays and our cus- tom 300 watt power supply with built-in surge suppressor! ■ IncludesZEOS24HouraDay Toll Free Technical Support and Customer Satisfaction Package. INCREDIBLE ZEOS PACKAGE #3 Add even more memory, a larger drive. And more Savings! ■ 4 full Megabytes of Ultra High Speed RAM. ■ Our fast 130MB IDE hard drive with built-in cache. ■ Teac® 1.2MB & 1.44MB FDD's! ■ Diamond SpeedStar Hi-Color VGA card/IMB RAM (32,000+ colors) plus WinRIX drawing software! ■ ZEOS 14" High Res 1024x768 Non-interlaced VGA Color Monitor w/ Tilt & Swivel. ■ Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows, Ami Pro 2.0 with Adobe Type Manager, Microsoft Windows, DOS 5.0 plus a Microsoft Mouse! PACKAGES 2, 3 & 4 INCLUDE LOTUS BUNDLE! Pkg.#l Pkg.#2 Pkg.#3 Pkg. #4 386-33 $1395 $1895 $2395 $2895 486-SX20 $1595 $2095 $2595 $3095 486SX-25 $1695 $2195 $2695 $3195 486DX-33 $1795 $2295 $2795 $3295 486DX2-50 $1995 $2495 $2995 $3495 486DX-50 $2195 $2695 $3195 $3695 Add $200 to any price for a 128K cache. 486DX-50 SpaceSaver case has 6 bays. INCREDIBLE ZEOS PACKAGE #2 We take Package #1 and upgrade your ZEOS Modular System to include: ■ 2 full Megabytes of Rip-roaring RAM. ■ Our incredible 107MB IDE hard drive with its own built in cache. ■ Both the Teac® 1.2MB & 1.44MB floppy drives! ■ Diamond SpeedStar Hi-Color VGA card/IMB RAM & Sierra DAC plus WinRIX drawing software! ■ ZEOS 14" Hi Res VGA Mono Monitor with Tilt & Swivel Base. ■ Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows, Ami Pro 2.0, plus Microsoft Windows and DOS 5.0, plus a genuine Microsoft Mouse! Lotus Software Bundle! For a limited time only, order any ZEOS Windows system (like packages 2, 3 and 4 above) and we will also include Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows and Ami Pro 2.0— at no additional charge! Purchase orders subject to approval. All prices and spe ifi ations are subje t to change without notice. Please all to confirm Rricing. specification and warranty details. Lotus 1-2-3 and Ami Pro are trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation; licrosoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Z-Card, SpaceSaver and ZEOS are trademarks of ZEOS International Ltd., 530 5th Avenue, N.W., St. Paul, MN 55112 USA ©1992. THE ULTIMATE ZEOS PACKAGE #4 Now, Memory goes to 8MB and the drive to 210MB. PC Magazine Editors ' Choice as a 486DX-33 Vertical! ■ 8 full Megabytes of High Speed RAM. ■ Your screaming 210MB IDE hard drive with its own built- in cache. ■ Teac® 1.2 & 1.44MB FDD's! ■ Diamond Speedstar Hi- Color VGA card/IMB RAM (32,000+ colors) plus Win- RIX drawing software! ■ ZEOS 14" 1024x768 Non-interlaced VGA Color Monitor w/ Tilt & Swivel. ■ Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows, Ami Pro 2.0 with Adobe Type Manager, Microsoft Windows, DOS 5.0, Microsoft Mouse! ORDER NOW TOLL FREE 800-423-5891 FAX Orders: 612-633-1325 Gov't & Educ: 800-245-2449 Outside US and Canada: 612-633-6131 MasterCard, VISA, Am Exp, Discover, Z-Card, COD and leasing programs. GSA #GSA00K91AGS5176 Open 24 Hours a Day, 365 Days a Year! Circle 141 on Inquiry Card. BYTE Topic Index and Author Guide This index helps you find articles that contain information on each of the listed topics. (The topic list changes each month.) Combined with the table of contents (page 4) and the Editorial Index by Company (page 364), you can identify articles by type, subject, title, author, or product discussed. APPLICATIONS 58 23 192 58 54 262 MOTHERBOARDS 197 51 58 58 MULTIMEDIA 34,51,106,267 MULTISCANNING 262 PRINT SERVER 58 PROGRAMMING 58, 279, 295, 297, 366, 368 PROJECTION PANEL 58 PUBLISHING 366 291 WORKSTATIONS 41 119 23 51,83 FREEWARE/SHAREWARE 52, 295 137 134 42 259 41 NETWORKS 58,192,259,291 134, 151, 165, 187 SUPER VGA 34, 368 HANDWRITING 134,212 HARD DRIVES 42 23 262 259 269, 299 226 PATTERN RECOGNITION 148 151 151 192, 272 272 99,212 51,106,267,269 VIRTUAL REALITY 119 99,212 175 LAPTOPS/NOTEBOOKS/PORTABLES ■ I PRESENTATION GRAPHICS 38,212 106, 226 187 51 58 34,119,297 Alford, Roger C. 197 Allen, Dennis 10 Andrews, D. L. 23 Apiki, Steve 269 Baran, Nicholas 23, 99, 212, 291 Barker, D. 226 Bhasker, Narjala 119 Brain, Marshall 368 Bricklin, Dan 99 Caudill, Maureen 134 Cook, Rick 23 Cote, Raymond GA 52, 54, 226 Dao, Jeff 99 Das, Subrata 151 Diehl, Stanford 192 Edwards, David L. 226 Eglowstein, Howard 192 Gerber, Rick 119 Heller, Martin 297 Holloway, Richard 180 Jacobson, Bob 175 Joch, Alan 262 Katz, Neil 99 Kenner, Hugh 366 Kurzweil, Raymond C. 156 Lazzaro, Joseph J. 165 Liffick, Steve 99 Linderholm, Owen 23 Loeb, Larry 23 Machover, Tod 137 Malloy.Rich 38,41 Marcus, Beth 148 Mentley, David 99 Miastkowski, Stan 42, 52 Nadas, Arthur 151 Nance, Barry 295 Pournelle, Jerry 83 Rajamani, Krishnan 119 Sheldon, Kenneth M. 23,51 Smith, Ben 23, 295 Snyder, Steve 119 Swartz, Carol J. 58 Thompson, Tom 226, 279, 295 Udell, Jon 34,259 Ullman, Ellen 23 Verhaeghe, Bart 158 Waterfield, Amanda L. 58 Wszola, Stan 226 Yager, Tom 35, 106, 192, 267 Zimmerman, Jan 168 APRIL 1992 -BYTE 6E BYTE EDITOR IN CHIEF Dennis Allen EXECUTIVE EDITORS New York: Rich Malloy Peterborough: Michael Nadeau MANAGINGEDITOR Anne Fischer Lent ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Lauren A. Stickler NEWS New York: News Editor: Andrew Reinhardt Peterborough: Sr. Ed., New Products: Stan Miastkowski News Editors. What's New: Martha Hicks, Carol Swartz, Amanda Waterfield Microbytes: D. L. Andrews San Francisco/ West Coast: Bureau Chief: Kenneth M. Sheldon Sr. A/ewsEd/tor.OwenLinderholm Editorial Assistant: Barbara J. Caravello UK/Europe: Bureau Chief: Andrew Redfern BYTE LAB Senior Editor & Director: Alan Joch Technical Director: Rick Grehan Technical Editors: Stephen Apiki: systems, networking D. Barker: applications software Rich Friedman: graphics software, add-ins, peripherals Tom Yager: multimedia, Unix, operating systems, software development Testing Editors/Engineers: Raymond G A Cote, Stanford Diehl, Howard Eglowstein, StanleyWszola Lab Assistant: Selinda Chiquoine STATE OF T H E ART/FEATURES Senior Editor: John W. Donovan Technical Editors: Janet J. Barron, Robert M. Ryan, Ben Smith SENIORTECHNICALEDITORS At Large. Tom Thompson, Jon Udell Columns: Rob Mitchell Special Projects: Gene Smarte ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL EDITORS Ellen Bingham, Susan Colwell, Jeff Edmonds, Tom Kevan, Cathy Kingery, Margaret A. Richard, Warren Williamson SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jerry Pournelle CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Hugh Kenner, Barry Nance CONSULTING EDITORS Roger C. Alford, Jonathan Amsterdam, Nicholas Baran, Don Crabb, David Fiedler, Laurence H. Loeb, Trevor Marshall, Mark J. Minasi, Dick Pountain, Wayne Rash Jr., Phillip Robinson, Jane Morrill Tazelaar, Ellen Ullman, PeterWayner EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Office Manager: Peggy Dunham Assistants: Linda C. Ryan, June Sheldon DESIGN Director: Nancy Rice Associate Director: Joseph A. Gallagher Designer: Jan Muller Assistant Designer: Rebecca Magill PRODUCTION AND FINANCE Director: Claudia Flowers PRODUCTION Director: David M. Cohen Production Manager: David R. 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BYTE is avail- able in microform from University Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Rd., Dept. PR, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106, or 18 Bedford Row, Dept. PR, London WC1R 4EJ, U.K. W^a Copyright © 1992 by McGraw-Hill, pmfi Inc. All rights reserved. BYTE and BVTlare registered trademarks of McGraw-Hill, Inc. Trademark registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. & Member Audit Bureau of Circulation OFFICERS OF MCGRAW-HILL, INC.: Founder: James H. McGraw (1860-1948). Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer: Joseph L. Dionne, Executive Vice President. General Counsel and Secretary: Robert N. Landes, Executive Vice President: Walter D. Serwatka, Senior Vice President, Treasury Operations: Frank D. Penglase, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer: Robert J. Bahash, Executive Vice President, Administration: Thomas J. Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, and Executive Assistant to the Chairman: Mary A. Cooper, Senior Vice President, Editorial: Ralph R. Schulz. 6F BYTE- APRIL 1992 Wordlferfect users prefer McrosoftW)iri forWndows. mstl: ^Tf WordPerfect 7Q% 21% Preferred to use ' y/0 , Easier to learn QO(V Easier to use Would purchase 13% 21% In a recent test conducted by the National Software Testing Labs, nearly 8outofl0usersof WordPerfecfforDOS preferred Microsoft 8 Word for Windows" 2.0. They not only discovered how fast MicrosoftWord lets them accomplish everyday tasks, but they also discovered that Word is an easier up- grade to learn and use than WordPerfect for Windows. To take advantage of our $129 upgrade offer; simply call (800) 323-3577 Dept. Y69. We'll also send you the files you need to test Word yourself. If you're not satisfied, we'll refund your purchase in full.** Microsoft 'Offer good for current licensees of WordPerfect, MultiMatc? WordStar," MS 9 Word for MS-DOS* and DisplayWritc* Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery upon receipt of order by Microsoft. Offer expires 6/30/92. Limit one per customer. Reseller prices may vary. Call for system requirements'* If you're not satisfied with Word for any reason, return the product to Microsoft within 90 days with proof of purchase for a full refund. Offer good only in the 50 United States. To receive only the NSTL test results: In the United States, call (800) 323-3577, Dept. Y69. For information only: In Canada, call (800) 563-9048; outside the U.S. and Canada, call (206) 936-8661. © 1992 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Microsoft, MS, and MS-DOS arc registered trademarks and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. WordPerfect is a registered trademark ofWordPerfect Corp. NSTL is a trademark of the National Software Testing Laboratories, Inc. All the benefits of a laser printer A size { *. DESKTOP CONVENIENCE RELIABILITY LOW COST SHARP, HIGH QUALITY OUTPUT FAST PRINTING SPEED PLAIN PAPER At last. A personal output device that combines D the best features of a desktop laser printer with the ability to produce large C-size drawings. It's called ProTracer — a monochrome ink jet printer/plotter designed for the personal use of PC CAD professionals. MEDIA FLEXIBILITY ProTracer is a desktop printer/plotter that lets you produce A, B, as well as large C-size output. It prints sharp, precise lines on a variety of media including plain and bond paper, plotter paper, and vellum. SPEED ProTracer is fast and quiet because it uses the latest inkjet technology and an Intel i960 processor. Just compare it to any other large format plotter and you'll see. A complex C-size drawing often takes over half an hour on a pen plotter, while ProTracer completes the same drawing in only five minutes! HIGH QUALITY OUTPUT ProTracer achieves its high quality output by utilizing a 64 nozzle printhead to deliver crisp lines and bold, high contrast blacks. Its 360 dpi resolu- tion assures sharp lines needed for everything from the most complex engineering drawings to sophis- ticated text and graphics used in letters and reports. VERSATILE AND EXPANDABLE Unlike other large format devices, ProTracer isn't limited to plotting. Instead, it can produce high quality finished output for a variety of Pacific Dnla Products, Inc., 9 125 RehcoRoad, San Diego, CA92121. ProTracer is a trademark of Pacific Data Products, Inc. PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective manufacturer. Nozzle image courtesy of AutoDesk Inc. Tiger rendering, artist unknown; picture part of public domain. ProTracer uses the latest in high technology innovation including PeerlessPage™, the advanced Imaging Operating System from Peerless, l'UROPUAN OITICES: Geneva Tel (41) 22 41 26 50, l : ax (41) 22 41 06 82, [•'ranee Tel (33) 1 39 23 20 00, Fax (33) 1 39 63 31 20, U.K. Tel {44) 442 231414, Pax (44) 442 23 65 40 On a much lamer scale. Csize applications including word processing, spread- sheets, and desktop publishing. Start with the ProTracer base unit that incorporates resident IBM ProPrinter and Epson LQ- 1050 emulations, as well as an ADI plotter driver for AutoCAD users. Then, depending on your needs, choose from a variety of easily installable upgrades and accessories includ- ing HP-GL and PostScript® language emulations, and memory. Optional Printer Accessories HP-GL emulation card $399 PostScript language emulation card $499 2 MB memory upgrade $299 B MB memory upgrade $899 Sheet feeder 1(100 sheet) $149 Sheet feeder II* (100 sheet) $129 PacificTalk $199 (AppleTalk interface module) *Sheet feeder I is required for use FIRST RATE CUSTOMER SERVICE At Pacific Data Products, we're well known for our devotion to customer service. We offer a 60-day money back guarantee of satisfaction, one year and optional extended warranties, and free lifetime technical support. Should you require a replacement unit while under warranty, one will be rushed to you the next day to minimize your downtime. If you'd like to expand your personal printing and plotting capabilities, call Pacific Data Products at (619) 5974619, Fax (619) 552-0889. PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS © 1992 Pacific Data Products, Inc. EDITORIAL DENNIS ALLEN Pen-Input Systems Despite all the hoopla about pen-input systems, is the world ready for them? Most of the excitement about pen-based com- puters is unwarranted. Industry gurus have been cheerleading for pen technology for well over a year, and even we carried a cover story last November on the Momenta, which prom- ised to replace the traditional notebook computer. Yet those who are building these machines have not been deluged with orders. The reason is that pen-based systems are too expensive, don't deliv- er all the functionality needed, and require too much training. Two paradigms get most of the attention for pen comput- ing. In one, a pen-based sys- tem might replace the note- book computer. That is the approach taken by Momenta. The trouble is that a notebook computer is a moving tar- get. Currently, notebook makers are transforming their products into do-everything, portable replacements for desktop systems with color, lots of power, and lots of memory and disk space. And as if to prove once and for all that a notebook can replace a desktop system, some makers are building desktop "docking stations" to contain the components and add-in cards that don't happen to fit into the notebook itself. Then there's the whole issue of color. How can a notebook replace a desktop system if it doesn't offer high-quality color at a reasonable price? Add to all that the complexity of a pen interface and handwriting recog- nition, and you have a complicated piece of machinery that even NASA can't afford to build. The other paradigm is pen computing as an adjunct to existing computers. Consider a small, highly portable computer that literally replaces a pocket-size paper note- book. The idea is that instead of writing notes on paper to later transcribe into your computer, you would simply "write" those notes on the pocket-size pen computer and later transfer that information to your desktop system. That makes a lot of sense, but there's still one problem: The technology just isn't there yet. Building a pen system to fit into a coat pocket is not too difficult, but packing in enough power to do handwriting recognition — and re- main reasonably fast — is a major hurdle for manufac- turers to overcome. There's no easy way to pack, say, an alkaline-battery-powered 486 CPU with lots of mem- ory and storage and a pen screen into a 10-ounce package that fits in your coat pocket. Even if the engineers could, I'm not sure that you'd want to take the time to train it. Handwriting-recogni- tion technology just isn't good enough to deal with ev- eryone's handwriting style, so you have to teach the sys- tem how you write each letter of the alphabet. Even after training, most pen systems expect you to change the way you write to improve the odds of recognition. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad if the odds weren't stacked against you. The fact is that most systems ask you to rewrite many characters so that they can be rec- ognized. Isn't this the reason that voice recognition nev- er caught on? If you ever sat in front of a microphone saying "Enter" over and over again instead of just hitting the Enter key, you know what I mean. This may all sound as though I don't like the idea of pen computing, but that's not true. What I want to see is a pen-based system that truly makes sense. It wouldn't have to fit into my coat pocket, but it would have to be light — under 2 pounds. It would also have to come in a form with which I'm used to working — roughly the di- mensions of a sheet of paper and no thicker than a pad of paper. I don't want to give up anything I can do on paper. My ideal pen-based system would also run all day before recharging if it used rechargeable batteries, or several weeks before replacing the batteries if it used alkaline batteries. It would also have the power and per- formance to recognize my scribbly, inconsistent hand- writing with perfection, and it would do it so fast that I'd not be particularly aware that it was happening. Most important of all, it would be connected to my desktop system and my office network, so that I could ac- cess any information I need when I need it. It could use a wireless LAN when I'm in a conference room at my of- fice building or a cellular connection when I'm away. And, finally, my system would cost only about $2000. Unfortunately, my ideal system isn't available, and the current offerings don't even come close. When it does become available, you'll probably find it on the cover of BYTE. So the real question is whether pen com- puting is ready for the world. Except for a few special ap- plications, such as electronic forms, the answer is no, not today. — Dennis Allen Editor in Chief (BIX name "dallen") 10 BYTE • APRIL 1992 Introducing Quattro Pro 40 The only DOS spreadsheet with pushbutton power! QUATTROPRO Borland does it again- Sorry, Lotus! No other DOS spreadsheet Bgets your work ,e,, *" 8 | done faster than Borland's new Quattro® Pro 4.0 with pushbutton power! Quattro Pro beats 1-2-3 . . . again! ^ffvvm QuattroPro Lotus 1-2-3 ^JJ^f 4.0 R2.3 R3.1+ Most Powerful Yes Intelligent Graphs Yes No No Novell Network optimized Yes No No Multiple sheets Yes No Yes Multi-variable solver Yes No * Easiest to Use Yes SpeedBar Yes No No Print-To-Fit Yes * * Read Lotus 1-2-3 tiles, styles & macros Yes Yes Yes Best Performance Yes All features in 640K Yes ? No Price $495 $495 $595 ? Yes, but almost no room re mains for da ta. 'Yes, but requires attaching in add-in. B Quattro Pro's customizable, built-in SpeedBar™ is a row of clearly ^ labeled buttons that use simple dm ^- English commands to give you instant mouse-click access to your frequently used features and macros. Plus you get immediate access to a host of new features. Intelligent Graphs let you perform extended analysis with your graphs without changing your data. And Quattro Pro's Optimizer™ allows you to solve complex problems using multiple variables. The best spreadsheet on networks Only Quattro Pro 4.0 gives you superior Novell NetWare support, including automatic logon, drive mapping and a new Print Queue Manager. The most feature-packed DOS spreadsheet ever! And in addition to Quattro Pro 4.0 s dramatic new advances, you get the features that have made it the #l-rated R L A N Software Craftmanship spreadsheet in the world. Features such as WYSIWYG, Print-To-Fir spreadsheet output, superb 1-2-3® compatibility (you can even read Allways, Impress and WYSIWYG files) and more. Top-rated spreadsheet Top-rated company Quattro Pro has won more awards for technical excellence and customer satisfaction than any other DOS spreadsheet. And J.D. Power and Associates ranked Borland "best application software in customer satisfaction in Small to Medium- ' sized and Large Businesses."' Now you know why more than one million people have upgraded to the power of today's spreadsheet. Quattro Pro. i n Attention 1-2-3 users! Step up now! Special Upgrade offer See your dealer today or call now, 1-800*331-0877, Dept.5605 I I '1991 J.D. Power and Associates® Computer End User Satisfaction Study: Phases I and III: Small to Medium-sized Businesses (responses from 1,784 business sites with 1 to 499 employees) and Large Businesses (responses from 1,094 business sites with 500 or more employees). Copyright ©1992 Borland International, Inc. All rights reserved. Pricing is in U.S. dollars. Offer good in U.S. and Canada only. Dealer prices may vary. Bl 1471 Circle 49 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 50). inacaiegoryobse andlighter,compaqw Another Adje 1 3:30 1 A microprocessor inside the battery itself monitors current usage levels and continually calculates the available power remaining. It can even instruct the notebook to save all open files to the hard drive should the battery power run too low. And the energy- JjC^Jj' saving features in Internal Modem is compatible with the broad base of today's communications protocols. i ■* *,;..»: .*;...«:,■* i Just slip the COMPAQ ITE Lite into the COMPAQ Desktop Expan- sion Base and you're instantly con- nected. Expansion slots, external ports, and mass storage bays give you immediate access to monitors, networks, hard drives, tape drives, CD-ROM and more. And all the while, built-in security features en- \vtv\\y\\\ sure a safe har- ».a*m\ MUt ^ borforyour Accurate to within minutes, the COMPAQ PowerSmartPack battery gauge clearly displays remaining battery life at the touch of a button. our newest notebooks go far beyond the presence of an Intel 386SL chip. To make the most of the smarter battery, the new COMPAQ LTE Lite also comes with user-adjustable power-drain settings, and three dif- Make it smaller. Make it lighter. Make it lighter. Make it smaller. These must be the mandates em- blazoned upon every R&D document handed to the engineers of today's crop of notebook computers. Admirable goals to be sure. Goals that the engineers at Compaq, how- ever, believe fall well short of making the most of portable computing. Which explains why the latest 386SL notebook technology from the labs in Houston — the new COMPAQ LTE Lite/25 and LTE Lite/20 PCs - are not only the lightest (a scant 6 lbs.) and the smallest (only 8.5"xll"xl.75") notebook PCs that we've ever built. They're also the smartest. The COMPAQ Hibernation feature saves all open files to the hard drive and turns the unit off, either upon request or as an automatic feature. Power up the COMPAQ LTE Lite later and you're back exactly where you left off. THE BRAINS BEHIND THE OPERATION . When it came time to design a new notebook, we started (logically enough) with the battery. The new COMPAQ Power Smart Pack battery in our new notebooks delivers up to 4.5 hours of computing, a full hour longer than most. *COMPAQ ITE Lite/25 only. © 1992 Compaq Computer Corporation. All rights reserued. COMPAQ, ITE Registered US. Patent and Trademark Office. Maxtightand Power Smart are trademarks of Compaq Computer Corporation. Trademarks and trade names shown are those of the respective companies. The Intel Inside Logo is a trademark of Intel Corporation ferent sleep modes — System Idle, System Standby, and Hibernation. A MOST MODERN MODEM . Our optional 9600-bps modem for the COMPAQ LTE Lite PCs would make even Alexander Graham B. proud. The COMPAQ Enhanced 9600-bps notebook. In modem talk, that means true V32 9600-bps data transmission and V42bis compression for up to 38.4 kbps throughput, as well as full sup- port for Hayes AutoSync. This little marvel negotiates the fastest transmission through- put that the other end of the line can muster, whether it's sending or receiving. It even drops to a low power-drain standby state and monitors incoming signals if you're waiting for a call to come in. Or for that matter, another modem to catch up. NOT ONLY SMART , BUT BRIGHT . The new, efficient COMPAQ Maxlight VGA display makes for a much brighter screen than our pre- vious notebooks, and does it with- out sacrificing battery life. Sharper graphics and text in up ssed with Smaller ould like to suggest cnvE: Smarter. to 64 shades of gray complement an enhanced video subsystem that's so fast it virtually eliminates "subma- rining," better known as "where did that #%$**# cursor go?" A NOTEBOOK THATS USELESS IN THE WRONG HANDS . At Compaq, we realize that data security is every bit as important as hardware security. At the hardware level, DriveLock locks the hard drive, preventing access to data even if the drive is removed. One-touch QuickLock and QuickBlank functions To back them with a one-year worldwide warranty and our toll- free Compaq Customer Support Center hotline would be more like it. So don't choose between a small notebook and a smart notebook. Choose both. in i fo Choose the new COMPAQ LTE Lite. For information about our new notebooks or an Authorized COMPAQ Reseller near you, call Compaq in the U.S. at 1-800-231-0900, Ext. 100, or in Canada at 1-800-263-5868, Ext. 100. comma \ Isolated inverted "T" cursor controls are in a familiar position so you don't have to teach your fingers new tricks. allow you to quickly (sur- prise) disable the keyboard or blank the screen. And of course, our new notebooks come with a Keylock slot for an optional cable lock. With all of the above, plus a 120-MB hard drive; RAM expansion to 10 MB, cache memory, simulta- neous display, and an auxiliary battery, to say / these are the best J notebooks we've ever made would be something of an ; — understatement. 3i£ I Intwducing The COMPAQ LTE Lite -ft 6 4* -"T K ' t. •** *. ■** w K-" Actual weight: 6 lbs. Actual dimensions: 8.5" x II" x 1 75" Actually, this is the best notebook we've ever built. Circle 55 on Inquiry Card. LETTERS APL Praise It was refreshing to read Doris Ap- pleby's "Classic Languages, Part 4: APL" (December 1991). APL deserves much more serious attention both from ex- pert programmers and from managers with difficult problems to resolve. APL has been described by James Mar- tin as the only language worthy of being called a fifth-generation language. Ironi- cally, it is also one of the oldest languages. APL is the only fully international lan- guage, precisely because of its special character set. It is the only language that has been devised for people first and then converted to machine use. Because of its power, the scope of APL is almost cer- tainly far wider than that of any other language. This power makes it unequaled in fields, such as actuarial mathematics, statistics, and operations research model- ing, where common languages are terribly cumbersome and tedious to use. This power is equally evident and just as useful in business when there is need for resolving complex questions in a hurry and for adapting to ever- changing conditions. Georges Brigham Wilton, CT Great Road Maps The article "Distributed Open Environments" (No- vember 1991) is the best I've seen on the subject. Soon every personal computer will be part of a global network. We need road maps, and we need to know the traffic rules, the rule makers, and the rule-making groups, as well as the products, construction/configura- tion/arc}iitecture, and management techniques. Articles like this are the reason I subscribe to BYTE. Don't spare the detail, and keep up the good work. George McKee Houston, TX More on OS/2 2.0 Jon Udell's "OS/2 2.0: A Pilgrim's Journey" (De- cember 1991) raises more questions than it answers. First: Where's the software? My favorite mail-order house advertises a hundred products for Windows and not one for OS/2. Did Udell use any OS/2 applications? He doesn't mention any. He says that "potent" OS/2 soft- ware "waits in the wings," as has been said since 1987. Meanwhile, as the curtain rises on OS/2 2.0, Lotus uses a four-page color foldout inside BYTE's front cover to tell us about 1-2-3 for Windows. Second: If OS/2 is a "better DOS than DOS," why is there a multiple boot facility? Substitute "DOS 5.0," a WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Address correspondence to Letters Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, or send BlXmail do "editors. " Your letter may be edited for length and clarity. APL truly better DOS, in place of "OS/2" in one of Udell's remarks and see how it reads: "Even the most partisan DOS 5.0 users occasionally need to boot plain old DOS 3.3." Udell goes on to call the multiple boot facility "one of OS/2 2.0's nicest features." If you found that DOS 5.0 users always keep DOS 3.3 ready on their disks as well, would you accept that as anyone's idea of a "better DOS than DOS"? Third: Exactly how much does it cost a Windows user, in extra RAM and disk space, to run OS/2? Even if Windows ap- plications run just as well, OS/2 is not "a better Windows than Windows" if it takes more re- sources to do the same job. Underneath a lot of techno- speak about VDM and DPMI, I think that Udell is tell- ing us that it takes a lot more. Windows applications ran "fine" on his 12-MB Systempro but "poorly" on his 4- MB Swan. Yet 4 MB is twice what vendors ship with their "Windows-ready" PCs. Finally: Will IBM really support OS/2 on non-IBM hardware? When Udell wrote in April 1990 ("OS/2 2.0: It's a Family Affair") that OS/2 2.0 was the system he wanted, it was backed by Microsoft. Now it's in the hands of a hardware vendor whose ads for years sug- gested that OS/2 required the Micro Channel to run reli- ably. IBM's current ads don't say that— but they say nothing at all about what machines it will run on or who will provide the software support. Udell succeeded in running OS/2 on his Swan and his Systempro, but I would like to know if this is just an experimental obser- vation, or if IBM certifies and supports it for those plat- forms. How does the OS/2 list compare with Micro- soft's list of nearly 200 platforms that support Windows? Daniel P. B. Smith Norwood, MA "Where 's the software ? " Although your mail-order house may not prominently advertise the fact, OS/2 ver- sions of many of the most important Windows (and DOS) applications exist. I run OS/2 versions of Smalltalk/V , PageMaker, Epsilon, and Hyper Access, for example, along with OS/2-only gems like the Hamilton C Shell. Of course, that 'sjust the icing on the cake. OS/2 2. sub- sumes nearly all existing DOS and Windows programs, so the answer to your question will be "everywhere " if 2.0's Windows support turns out as well as its DOS sup- port has. As to multiple boot, it 's just plain useful. As a devel- oper, I'd love to be able to use a single machine to test my application under DOS 3. 3, 4, and 5, as well as OS/2 1.3 and 2.0. And note that the multiboot feature isn 'tjust a way to fall back to DOS— you can use it to toggle be- tween OS/2 and Unix or other operating systems. Now that you mention it, yes, I think multiple boot would be a nice enhancement to DOS 5. as well. How much extra RAM? As I mentioned, the Windows support in the early version of OS/2 1 tested did not yet successfully exploit OS/2 's memory manager. Clearly, that 's critical. Windows can 't be said to run well under OS/2 unless it can perform on a 4-MB machine. Will it? The jury's still out. Note, however, that OS/2 and DOS 14 BYTE • APRIL 1992 C programme: interface development & screen management in a Utopian environment! In the perfect world, you probably wouldn't choose to spend excessive time and energy (read: any) sweating the interface to satisfy the constantly changing whims of your end-users. On the other hand, the perfect world wouldn't have end-users. But the real world does. And the more difficult, picky, and fickle they get about how their screens look and function, the more likely it is you're going to want to change careers. Vermont Views™ v3.0 Fortunately, we can end your end-user night- mares — whether you're developing for UNIX, DOS, VMS, or all three! Vermont Views takes the aggravation out of coding and recoding perfect C language inter- faces. Instead, we let you create sophisticated screens interactively, with our program's powerful, intuitive, menu-driven Designer. With the Designer, you can create window- based data-entry forms that have tickertape and memo fields, pushbuttons and radio buttons, scrollable form regions, choice lists, scroll bars, shadow borders, and more. Just peruse, choose, and there they are! Changes? Easy! New details? No problem! Whole new approaches? Go for it! In fact, there's almostnothingyoucariYdo. because Vermont Views is backed by an in credible library of 586 tested, debugged, reliable functions. Which means that every screen you create can look and run distinctively, uniquely, and pre- cisely the way you need it to. Of course, the real beauty of Vermont Views may be the easy por- tability among DOS, UNIX, POSIX, XENIX, and VMS. That you can use it with Oracle, Informix, db_Vista, Sybase, Btrieve, C-tree — or any Circle 133 on Inquiry Card. database that interfaces to C. Or run it on IBM, NCR, DEC, HP, AT&T, and all the others. How come? Because Vermont Views functions independently of operating system, database, and hardware. And we supply shrouded source, so you know you'll be able to move applications to any desired platform — without paying runtime fees or royalties. Which isn't to say that Vermont Views' portable interfaces are restricted in capability. Anything but! Our DOS interfaces have everything that anyone has imag- ined — including full mouse support. And our terminal versions have the fastest screen updates in the business. How fast? Don't bother reaching for the Twinkies. That's how fast. Now take that blinding execution speed, that fourth generation language convience, that power and flexibility, and top it all with great documentation, superb tech support, seven years of developer input... and immediately, one fundamental question leaps to mind: Why are you still letting your end-users whack your fragile head against their hard, heartless walls? Join our thousands and thousands of happy, healthy customers. Take that big step towards developer's dreamland. Demo paradise for yourself. Free. Call l-800-848-1248us & can (Please mention "Offer 279") Vermont Creative Software Pinnacle Meadows, Richford, VT USA 05476 (802) 848-7731, fax (802) 848-3502 ©1992 Vermont Creative Software pga&mitfRg MVP JLXIXOl T£.t©@5X nit \,a\t v** ro VES-TOpWNORS ~1 . ' a- W' WiW^W^' W'> #*; ».«■; <#i *** ~~ Sy sa ^ fj w If " €i "* fi 4i & . *li ■ ■ *s J *M ■■,-.■ j& ' ,.-& ? . j ;,;.., * j y \i * \i i . i nug ^^MW^M^^^^^^Siii The award winning T2200SX If you need any more power than this If your desire for power is on the scale of say, Louis XIV consider the Toshiba T2200SX. Weighing a mere 5.5 pounds and taking up just half a briefcase, it possesses an awesome 20 MHz 386SX microprocessor and a 40, 60 or 80 MB hard drive with 2MB RAM expandable to 10 MB. And it's powerful enough to have grabbed both a PC/Computing MVP award and a PC Magazine Technical Excellence Award. ©1992 Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. The Intellnside logo is a trademark of Intel Corporation. All symbols are trademarked and/ or registered by their respective manufacturers. ': "is ^ U . \J , \l ' xl ' (i " vl * J Al ' *\l '" *il i gf o ... j ixxien, president of Microsoft reseller Loden „«2ides <**o resells both built-in defaults." Compu^i Associates and Computer Associates out- Lotus Products, say VARBUSINESS Spreadsheet Report Card CA-SupefCafc Lotus 1-2-3 Microsoft Excel Ease of use 7.30 6.50 7.11 Memory Requirement 7.00 5.41 6.14 Ease of programming 6.48 5.86 6.26 Ability to manipulate data 7.31 6.71 7.00 Sorting capabilities 7.50 6.64 6.68 Provision for software security 6.96 5.25 5.10 Report writing capabilities 6.78 5.33 6.17 Ease of use of Interface 7.45 6.19 6.77 Software Integration capabilities 7.30 6.23 6.78 Ease of data retrieval 7.50 6.78 7.00 Satisfaction with product profitability 6.81 5.75 6.42 Overall quality of product 7.70 7.18 7.53 Provision for customer support 7.52 5.79 6.22 Charges for training time 6.43 5.60 5.71 Provision for technical support 7.34 5.55 5.95 Provision for marketing support 6.69 5.71 5.93 Documentation & product Information 6.90 6.70 6.98 Frequency of updates & revisions 6.59 5.75 6.15 OVERALL AVERAGE A 6.05 6.44 C ^, Recently, VARBUSINESS conducted a survey of some people who know more about spreadsheets than anyone. The people who sell, install, and support them for a living. The survey asked hundreds of spreadsheet dealers and FSHSlIHi rese U ers a U kinds of questions to find CA-SuperCalc out what the pros rate as the best spreadsheet. And the pros told them. CA-SuperCalc.® In virtually every category from tetmSnfo ease-of-use to technical support, m 90s. CA-SuperCalc was rated higher than Lotus® 1-2-3® and Microsoft® Excel. We're not surprised. While Lotus and Microsoft have been fussing over their many different spread- © Computer Associates International, Inc., One Computer Associates Plaza, Islandia, NY 11788-7000. All product names referenced herein are trademarks of their respective companies. © 1991 by CMP Publications, Inc., 600 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030. Reprinted from VARBUSINESS with permission. Circle 58 on Inquiry Card. sheet versions, we've been stuffing one spreadsheet, CA-SuperCalc, with everything you would ever want. From spreadsheet linking to 3-D graphics and beautiful, p resentation-quality output, CA-SuperCalc has it all. And it runs on just about any PC. But the best part is the price. At $149.00, CA-SuperCalc costs less thanhalfthe price of Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel. Heard enough? Call 1-800-CALL CAI today for the name of the nearest dealer where you can buy the best spread- ^yoJre willing to fezJ^^T J„- spend a couple hundred jTmSSOQAlTES dollars less. Software superior b y design. NEWS MICROBYTES Next to Step into the 486 Arena Kicking off the first NextWorld Expo in San Francisco, Steve Jobs, president and CEO of Next, confirmed the long-standing rumor that Next will supply its NextStep interface and software development environment on the Intel 486 platform. The entire operating system — the same Mach version of Unix used on the Next plat- form — will be ported. Rumors circulated at the show that Jobs would announce licensing deals with Compaq and Dell, but Jobs would only say that Next is negotiating licensing agree- ments with several manufacturers. Nevertheless, Next demonstrated alpha ver- sions of NextStep 3.0 running on both Dell and Compaq 486 machines during Jobs's presentation and on the show floor. Jobs emphasized that the Intel port in no way affects the company's intent to compete in the hardware marketplace. NextStep for the 486 will be available in a shrink-wrapped version directly from Next, with an end-user version priced at $995 and a full developer's version priced at $2495. Both versions are essentially identical to their Next computer counterparts. Jobs said that a beta version of NextStep for the 486 will be ready in the second quar- ter of this year and that a production version will ship in the third quarter. Jobs claimed that NextStep is catching on in corporate U.S., Japan, and Europe as the premier tool for custom software development, particularly for "in-house, mis- sion-critical custom applications." Jobs said NextStep's object-oriented development environment, Display PostScript imaging model and graphical interface, and Mach multitasking Unix kernel are technically superior to any of the competition's. "We're three to five years ahead of Solaris, Windows NT, and Taligent," boast- ed Jobs. Jobs claimed that Next is getting more opportunities to compete with Sun Microsystems for volume sales deals and is "winning 80 percent [of them]." The problem is that NextStep's advantages are not readily apparent to end users. While software developers find NextStep attractive, they are reluctant to invest in it unless they can see a large installed base of users. Whether NextStep on the 486 can turn things around remains to be seen. — Nicholas Baran Quorum Converts Mac to RISC, Provides Latitude over PowerPC Quorum Software Systems (Menlo Park, CA) is developing a software porting system that helps developers turn Mac System 7.0 programs into native im- plementations on SPARC, IBM RISC Sys- tem/6000, and Silicon Graphics Iris Indi- go RISC workstations. Quorum's Latitude system maps Mac system and user-inter- face calls to the native calls of the target platform. The porting system, slated for release in June, lets developers reach an unprecedented number of platforms with a single instance of source code. Silicon Graphics and SunSoft officials expressed delight at seeing Mac applica- tions migrating to their platforms. But Lat- itude provoked quite a different attitude from at least one Apple official. Roger Heinen, vice president and general man- ager of Apple's Macintosh Software Ar- chitecture Division, sat quietly in the au- dience as he watched Latitude's unveiling at the UniForum trade show and said only that he could not comment. Quorum's product was previewed at the Mac World Expo. At that show, Mac soft- ware was shown running blazingly fast on an Indigo workstation. One possible reason for Heinen 's mut- ed response is that Apple may have en- tered into its alliance with IBM mainly in the hope of seeing the Mac integrated into the RISC world on the PowerPC. Quorum Latitude appears to do now what the Power- PC will do in 1993 or 1994. —Ellen Ullman NANOBYTES Canon plans to distribute a kanji version of NextStep 3.0 in Japan. Reports in the Japanese press also indicate that Canon will port a Japanese version of NextStep for the 486 to its 32-bit PCs. □ A major revision to the NextStep interface and development envi- ronment is scheduled to ship in June. In the networking arena, NextStep 3.0 will include built-in Novell NetWare and AppleShare protocols, which will allow seam- less networking to PCs and Macs and to Unix workstations that sup- port NetWare. Version 3.0 will in- clude support for PostScript Level 2 and the RenderMan 3-D develop- ment specification. NextStep 3.0 also includes two long-awaited fea- tures: object linking and a database toolkit. □ In the keynote speech of January's Usenix conference, Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development and more recently the chairman of On Technol- ogy, discussed the commercial access and use of the Internet network, which is dedicated to research and educational use. The Inter- net is becoming increasingly com- mercial, raising the same types of questions first asked about TV dur- ing its infancy, such as who is go- ing to own it and who is going to control it. Before TV became pop- ular, everyone thought that it would be the uplifting factor that would raise our culture from ignorance and apathy. Of course, that's not quite what happened. Kapor plead- ed with his listeners not to let the Internet end up like the "vast wasteland of TV." □ APRIL 1992 -BYTE 23 Now you can and not get Introducing new RISC System/6000 POWERstations If you're interested in open systems but don't want to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous prices, IBM is about to hit you where you live. The RISC System/6000™ POWERstation 220 gives you more wallop for your money, while delivering a hefty 25.9 SPECmarks™ That's compared to the SUN IPCs™ 13.4 SPECmarks and the DEC5000s™ 17.8. Scientists see stars. CASE users can start with a grayscale work- station with a paging disk for just $7,185. If it's CAD clout you're after, you can get a workstation specially outfitted for mechani- cal design— with 2D color graphics and 400MB of fixed disk storage — for only $9,995. All models in the POWERstation 220 series come with two expansion In Canada, call 1 800 465-1234. **16MB, Paging Disk, Display, Operating System. Graphical User Interface. '16MB,400MBDisk, Display. Operating System, Graphical User Interface. IBM is a registered trademark and RISC System/6000 is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. SPECmark is a geometric mean of the ten SPECmark tests and is a trademark of Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. All SPECmark figures listed are as published by their respective manufacturers. All prices listed are MSRP Remarketer prices may vary. IPC is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. DEC5000 is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX Systems Laboratories. HAGARTHE HORRIBLE Character(s) © 1992 King Features Syndicate, Inc. ©1992IBM Corp. Model Entry Grayscale Workstation" Entry 8-bit Color Workstationt IBM 220W $7,185 $9,995 HP 705/710 $8,415 $14,065 get more clout clobbered. i and POWERservers that pack more punch for less. slots and upgradable components. And industry- standard memory upgrades and add-ons for both are affordable, so growing won't be a pain. Striking a blow for business. The POWERserver 220 is great for commercial UNIX® solutions, too. You can configure it as a commercial server, to give your business the speed, muscle and openness of UNIX, for only $9,715. And the POWERserver 220 is as expandable as all our other models. IBM is in your corner. Nobody else delivers the knockout support of IBM. An IBM customer engineer can install your machines, configure your network and integrate all your systems, whether they're made by IBM or not. And IBM Credit Corporation has flexible financing packages to meet your needs. Cet hit with the details. Call your IBM marketing repre- sentative or Business Partner. For literature, call 1 800 IBM-6676, ext. 769* And, for those who decide to shop for UNIX solutions elsewhere, a word of advice. Duck. he RISC System/6000 For the Power Seeker. NEWS MICROBYTES Rambus's New Memory Architecture Could Put More Video PCs on Desktops Rambus, a start-up company backed by three venture-capital f inns and stocked with a stable of technical engineers, has developed a DRAM architecture and chip- to-chip data transfer technology that could solve the classic memory bottleneck prob- lem. Geoff Tate, president and CEO of the Mountain View, California, company, said that the Rambus interface standard can be directly implemented on CMOS DRAMs, memory controllers, processors, graph- ics/video chips, and other components. Tate said that Rambus's solution will de- liver a tenfold increase in component throughput. A single Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) delivers up to "500 million bytes per second on a standard PC over a narrow, high-speed bus," he said. The company expects to capture more than 50 percent of the DRAM market by 1997. Tate adds that the company's solution uses fewer ICs and a modular system. The problem Rambus addresses is well known to systems designers: The data transfer rate of memory ICs lags behind a processor's ability to handle data. Although DRAM densities have increased, DRAM performance has improved only marginal- ly. Because of this, systems designers have resorted to complex workarounds of the bottleneck by using multilevel memory hierarchies, with Level 2 static RAM (SRAM) caches and cache controllers. And as display resolutions increase and customers clamor for true color, costs are driven up due to the memory needed to supply pixels at a high rate for a flicker- free display. Animation graphics and video also require high data transfer rates to dis- play images in real time. All these re- quirements have resulted in complex ar- chitectures that use specialized multiport DRAMs or video RAMs (VRAMs) to maintain the high data transfer rates. Rambus replaces all these subsystems with a solution made up of masters, slaves, and a narrow, high-speed bus. Rambus en- gineers have developed a bus that's 1 byte (9 bits) wide and capable of transferring data at 500 MBps by using both edges of a 250-MHz clock. Masters and slaves con- nect to the printed-circuit board via a sim- ple 32-pin interface. Small signal swings replace conventional, noisy TTL signals and operate in a controlled-impedance transmission-line environment, the com- pany says. Rambus says that its design will elimi- nate the need for Level 2 SRAM caches, cache controllers, and today's VRAM. Toshiba, Fujitsu, and NEC have already agreed to become Rambus interface li- censees. Tate predicts that RDRAMs will enable designers to jump from 8-bit VGA 256- color palettes to low-cost 24-bit true-color graphics. But he admits that there are still barriers to the Rambus vision. "You're not going to do animated graphics on today's monochrome displays." Nevertheless, Rambus may provide a solution that will accelerate the progression toward true video PCs. — D. L. Andrews BSDI: Unixlike and Free of AT&T To a cheering audience of 1000 Usenix conference attendees, former SunSoft employee Rob Kolstad announced his new company, BSDI (Falls Church, VA), and its new product, a Berkeley Unix-com- patible operating system for 386 and 486 PCs. The Unixlike software, called BSD/386, is 100 percent free of AT&T code and licenses, which means it costs less: Including the kernel and full source code, it sells for $995. A binary-only (i.e., non-source code) version should be avail- able in the third quarter of this year for $500. BSD/386 is a complete operating sys- tem that is compatible with BSD 4.3 with BSD 4.2 networking. It includes TCP/IP, X Window System 1 1.5, Posix functions, ANSI C, C++, tr off , Tex,andareim- plementation of Sun's Network File Sys- tem. It supports more than a dozen popu- lar Super VGA cards, most mice, and SCSI, IDE, and ESDI controllers. To use it, you'll need a 386 or higher PC with 4 MB of RAM and a 100-MB hard drive. By the third quarter, BSD/386 will be able to run all SCO Unix applications without a hitch, BSDI says. The product is the result of years of effort by the Unix community to create a widely available, AT&T-code-free Unix work- alike. The crowd responded to Kolstad 's presentation with great enthusiasm, ap- plauding and cheering each member of his team. — Ben Smith NANO BYTES It wasn't quite the same as Dire Straits front man Mark Knopf ler singing about moving refrigerators and color TVs, but as BSDI program man- ager Rob Kol- stad explained all the various licensing op- ._,*/» tions of his corn- el ^Ji B| pany's Unixlike ■^ **^J^ BSD/386 soft- ware, he said with his usual wit, "I'm Crazy Rob. I've gotta move these kernels." □ At Buscon/92-West in Long Beach, California, IBM showed a technol- ogy demonstration of streaming data approaching a 160-MBps data transfer peak. The demonstration used a modified RISC System/6000 deskside unit and a bus-master adapter card on the Micro Channel bus, both developed specifically for the demonstration. □ At UniForum, DEC announced ver- sion 1 .0 of DEC OSF/1, what the company calls the "first production version" of the Open Software Foundation operating system. Users can't install this system, which is a developer's version, scheduled to ship last month. The end-user plat- form will be version 2.0, due in the second half of the year. □ At the recent National Association of Music Merchants International Music Market show, Passport De- signs (Half Moon Bay, CA) an- nounced a preliminary version of Producer, which the company calls "integrated digital audio and MIDI soundtrack software." The software, the first version of which will run on the Mac, will integrate computer animation, graphics, titling, laser discs, video, CD-ROM, MIDI, sam- plers, sound cards, and soundtrack software. The company also plans a Windows version. Passport says that the main use of Producer is as a media integration tool, accepting inputs from many sources and let- ting you build a final product. □ 26 BYTE • APRIL 1992 Deliverin ► The Wide, 32-bit DOS, ► The Industry's Leading Code Optimizer Advanced-global optimizer with new 486. optimizatio ► The Most Comprehensive Toolset - Debugger, profiler; prot^ Kn r - -y 32-bit DOS extender witll royalty-free run-time, ijcer componentslrom^j^rosott SDK r and rnor* ► The Best Value in 32-Bit Tools: Unleash 32-bit Power! WATCOM C9.0/386 lets you exploit the two key 32-bit performance benefits. The 32-bit flat memory model simplifies memory management and lets applications address beyond the 640K limit. Powerful 32-bit instruction processing delivers a significant speed advantage: typically at least a 2x speedup. You Get: ► 100% ANSI and SAA compatible: C9.0/386 passes all Plum Hall Validation Suite tests ► Extensive Microsoft compatibility simplifies porting of 1 6-bit code ► Royalty-free run-time for 32-bit DOS, Windows and OS/2 apps ► Comprehensive toolset includes debugger, linker, profiler and more ► DOS extender support for Rational, Phar Lap and Ergo ► Run-time compatible with WATCOM FORTRAN 77/386 32-bit DOS support includes the DOS/4GW 32-bit DOS extender by Rational Systems with royalty- free runtime license ► Virtual Memory support up to 32Mb 32-bit WindOWS support enables development and debugging of true 32-bit GUI applications and DLL's. ► Includes licensed Microsoft SDK components 32-bit OS/2 2.0 support includes development for multiple target environments including OS/2 2.0, 32-bit DOS and 32-bit Windows ► Access to full OS/2 2.0 API including Presentation Manager ► Integrated with IBM Workframe/2 Environment AutoCAD ADS and ADI Development: Everything you need to develop and debug ADS and ADI applications for AutoCAD Release 1 1 Novell's Network Cfor NLM's SDK includes C/386 The Industry's Choice. Autodesk, Robert Wenig, Manager, AutoCAD for Windows: 'At Autodesk, we're using WATCOM C/386 in the development of strategic new products since it gives us a competitive edge through early access to new technologies. We also highly recommend WATCOM C/386 to third party AutoCAD add-on (ADS and ADI) developers." FOX Software, David Fulton, President: "FoxPro 2.0 itself is written in WATCOM C, and takes advantage of its many superior features. Optimizing for either speed or compactness is not uncommon, but to accomplish both was quite remarkable." GO, Robert Can, Vice President of Software: "After looking at the 32-bit Intel 80x86 tools available in the industry, WATCOM C was the best choice. Key factors in our decision were performance, functionality, reliability and technical support." IBM, John Soyring, Director of OS 1 2 Software Developer Programs: "IBM and WATCOM are working together closely to integrate these compilers with the OS/2 2.0 Programmer's Workbench." LotUS, David Reed, Chief Scientist and Vice President, Pen-Based Applications: "In new product development we're working with WATCOM C because of superior code optimization, responsive support, and timely delivery of technologies important to us like p-code and support for GO Corp's. PenPoint." Novell, Nancy Woodward, VR and G.M., Development Products: "We searched the industry for the best 386 C compiler technology to incorporate with our developer toolkits. Our choice was WATCOM." I T I 1 i i i i INFO WORLD/ V BEST IN ITS CLASS EDITORS' CHOICE WATi 1-800-265-4555 LANGUAGE The Leader in 32-bit Development Tools 415 Phillip Street. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Telephone: (519) 886-3700, Fax: (519)747-4971. "Price does not include freight and taxes where applicable. Authorized dealers may sell for less. WATCOM C and Lightning Device are trademarks of WATCOM Systems Inc. 00S/4G and D0S/16M are trademarks of Rational Systems Inc. Other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. Copyright 1992 WATCOM Products Inc. Circle 1 35 on Inquiry Card. NEWS MICROBYTES Spreadsheet Could Boost PenPoint At-Hand, a spreadsheet developed for Go Corp.'s PenPoint operating sys- tem for pen-based computers, could be the first application to validate the PenPoint platform. Developed under the direction of Dan Bricklin, vice president of devel- opment for Slate (Scottsdale, AZ), the pro- gram fully exploits the advantages of pen computing. Bricklin gave this reporter a preview of At-Hand running on a prototype pen-based machine from Samsung. Instead of using a traditional spreadsheet's edit line to enter labels and values, you just write directly into cells using the stylus. At-Hand offers a 256- by 8192-cell grid, immediate ac- cess to 90 built-in functions, and 15 types of charts and graphs. Bricklin described the language as "BASIC-like...but it knows about spreadsheet primitives such as cells and ranges." At-Hand reads and writes WK1 (Lotus 1-2-3) and XLS (Excel) files. In a typical scenario, Bricklin says, users will trans- fer files to and from their pen and desk- top systems. When At-Hand files are sent to the desktop, the program provides a choice of export formats. Of course, it sup- ports PenPoint's standard gestures and connectivity and recognizes handwriting, with optional deferred recognition. It also incorporates an extensible graphics lan- guage that lets corporate developers im- prove the spreadsheet's graphing capabil- ity by creating specialized graph types. The software uses 1.5 MB of hard disk space and requires only about 500 KB of RAM to run. Although it is scheduled to ship in the second quarter of this year at a list price of $295, At-Hand product man- ager Lisa Underkoffler cautions that the schedule is dependent on Go's releasing PenPoint. — D. L. Andrews RFI Problems Plague Pen Systems I assive increases in RFI from pen- I based computers are causing the FCC to rethink its testing procedures; it has already delayed the release of at least one pen-based system. The RFI problem doesn't pose a health threat to users, but it does mean that some of the eagerly await- ed pen-based designs will be later to mar- ket than expected because of redesigns. The problem is that when you place your hand close to the screen of an operating pen-based computer, the RFI the computer produces increases enormously. Since all pen-based systems involve writing on the screen with a stylus, that increase occurs with normal use of the system. Charles N. Cobbs, chief of the FCC's equipment and authorization branch (Columbia, MD), says that the emissions increase can be as much as 15 dB. "This is not like tripping over a curb, it's like fal- ling over a cliff," Cobbs says. "We couldn't let that go." Essentially, the human body serves as an antenna to radiate additional energy from the computer. The radiation is not dangerous to people, but it is enough to interfere with electronic equipment. The problem was unexpected because the FCC's current test standards don't allow for a user's effect on the system RFI. As a result, the manufacturers weren't looking for those effects in their designs. The first company to get caught with this problem was NCR and its 3125 pen system. —Rick Cook Apple and Sharp May Be Paired Up in the Consumer Market Now that Apple chairman and CEO John Sculley has said that Apple will enter the consumer electronics market, ob- servers have wondered what products the company will offer. Sculley told attendees at the semiannual Consumer Electronics Show that Apple will enter the "digital consumer information products sector of the consumer electronics industry" and re- iterated Apple's interest in the technology of Personal Digital Assistants. Sculley also said that Apple has worked this year to establish relationships with several leading consumer-electronics com- panies. Sony may be the company that comes to mind as first choice for a part- nership, but sources say that Apple will work with Sharp on CD-based devices, which may already be built. Longtime Apple partner Frogdesign may also have had a hand in the devices' design. — Larry Loeb NANOBYTES When you see this man's face, think of QuickTime. In his keynote ad- dress at the MacWorld Expo show, Apple chairman and CEO John Sculley said that what people would remember the most about his time at Apple is Quick- Time — even more than the Mac- It's also now clear that Apple thinks QuickTime will influence platforms other than the Mac. At the show, Apple announced plans to bring the benefits of QuickTime to other computing environments such as DOS, Silicon Graphics, DEC, and Cray Research. To further extend the adoption of Apple's Movie file format, Corel Systems is develop- ing a file format translator to be shipped with the QuickTime Starter Kit, a product for those who want to explore the capabilities of Quick- Time. The Corel utility will allow the conversion of popular DOS and Windows format presentations, graphics, and animation files into QuickTime movies. Apple wants QuickTime to be the cross-platform method for personal computers to handle multimedia. □ At NetWorld, CE Software an- nounced QuickMail for MHS (Message Handling Services), which the company says will pro- vide Novell network users with "similar functionality and flexibil- ity" to the QuickMail product for the Mac. Previous versions of QuickMail supported Macs and PCs, but they required both a Mac server and an AppleShare network. The planned new version will pro- vide native NetWare MHS sup- portfor the Macintosh. □ Apple is reportedly working on new technology that lets people control off-the-shelf Macs using ordinary spoken language. The technology may be used in future consumer products. □ 28 BYTE • APRIL 1992 NEC introduces a 486 series that has a built-in survival instinct. Next time you need a mission- critical PC or network server, here's something you might want to think about: NEC is one of a handful of companies that have received the Deming Award, the highest honor bestowed in the quality assurance field, on five separate NEC's new PowerMate Express Series. A lesson in survival and security. Imagine a line of affordable 486 PCs and towers that is completely modular and upgradable. Now imagine how secure you'd feel in your decision to purchase such a system. A system that would not only meet your needs today, but also adapt to changing technologies. We adapt to your environment. With NEC's new PowerMate* Express 1 " Series, you get total sub- system modularity and scalability, including CPU, memory, video, disk subsystems, and EISA option slots at no extra cost. All working in balance with each other. And flexible enough for your particular needs. An easy-open chassis design, featuring thumb screws and snap-in device rails, gives you convenient access to all internal subsystems. Standard SIMM sockets-16 of them— provide for easy, inexpensive memory expansion. You can add an MIS-preferred EISA SCSI host adaptor. And choose from three video options-Base VGA, 1024 VGA, even BITBLT EVGA for graphics- intensive applications. In short, you can configure your system exactly the way you want it. 128-bit memory path gives us quicker reflexes. Instead of the traditional 32-bit memory path, our PCs have one that's four times as wide, guaran- teeing you 0-wait state performance even at faster processor speeds. Giving you the ability to handle data-intensive applications or networking demands with ease. Our best feature hasn't been invented yet. Perhaps the best feature of the PowerMate Express Series is its ability to reduce the possibility of your system becoming obsolete soon after you buy it. Computers and Communications 'Manufacturer's suggested retail pr i. Power Male is a registered In el Corp. All other ot N6C Tecftnotog as Inc. Intel ts ei9S2NECTu<;linolaBie«. b«. Our CPU scalability starts at 486SX/20 for only $2,999* and goes up through 486SX/25, 486/33, and beyond. All at affordable prices. What's more, our modular systems are ready for the next generation of Intel" microprocessors, and adaptable to new developments in video and memory technologies. We can take the heat. We've given each of our PCs generous power supplies to handle even the most power-hungry components. As well as a three- or four-fan array, to enable your system to keep cool— and keep working— under any amount of pressure. Proof that a well-balanced system is a weapon. Scalability. And balance. In the end, that's what distinguishes our 486 computers from others in their class. Just look at a side-by-side com- parison of our features versus COMPAQ'S and AST's. We think it's further proof that investing in a PowerMate Express Series PC or tower could very well be one of the best decisions you'll ever make. A decision that will help you survive in today's business environment. And tomorrow's. Desktops; NEC Pomr.Mttt* COMPAQ Dttkpmi/M Mm AST Pnnlu 11 Sarin A" What comes to mind when you picture the classic 50's diner? Good food and plenty of it. Great service. And the price on the check is remarkably affordable. When you buy a personal computer from Gateway 2000, the experience has its similarities. You get a solid quality, high-performance computer that comes fully loaded with all the ■ it w iffl \ % M w I Vi ii F l X. TTris orf was photographed at A Othelsehgrncters are Gatewa features you want. The service is unsurpassed anywhere. And the price you pay is also remarkably affordable. Go ahead and browse through the Gateway Cafe menu. We serve a wide selection of the freshest items in the PC industry. You're sure to find something that will appeal to your taste and budget. City, Iowa. Archie is behind th departments throughout the a "You've got a friend in the business," Side Orders Side r d e r s Introducing The Gateway TelePath New Video Options For Your PC For $ 1 95, you get the Gateway TelePath - a new custom- designed V.32bis modem with 9,600 bps fax capability plus WinFax Pro,™ Crosstalk' for Windows 1 " and a free 30-day subscription to CompuServe' Basic Services. Anywhere else you'd pay more for the software alone! Speed. The Gateway TelePath modem operates up to 14,400 bps. The Gateway TelePath send/receive fax runs at 9,600 bps. Compatibility. The 14,400 bps modem is compatible with the standard AT command set and can be used with almost any compatible software. With the Gateway TelePath fax, you can send to or receive from any Group 3 or earlier fax machine using Class 1 or Class 2 commands. ■ Faxmode:V17,V.29,andV.27ter ■ Data mode: (try to find one we don't support!) V.32bis, V.32, V.22bis,V22,V21, Bell 212Aand 103, V42 and MNP 2-4 error correction, V42bis/MNP 5 data compression Price. You'll find comparable fax/modem packages can cost in excess of $500 not including the software. At $195, the Gateway TelePath price is very easy to swallow. j^. 'Jmri^IZ-^- ' The 15-Inch Crystal Scan 1572FS The new 15-inch Crystal Scan 1572FS has a flat, square, non-glare screen to reduce distortion around the corners and provide an edge-to-edge display area. We've also moved the fine tuning controls to the front of the monitor for easy access. The Crystal Scan 1572FS is an option with 386DX and 486 systems for an additional $195. Availability is limited. -^ iZLm »■.-„.-. ^P """ — h . 1 , '•- ----' The new 15-inch Crystal Scan is bigger and better than the 1024 series. The ATI" Graphics Accelerator You're really cookin' when you run a Gateway 2000 system with ATI's graphics accelerator, the Graphics Ultra. ATI achieves a quantum leap in performance by using a highly optimized graphics coprocessor on the Graphics Ultra card. The 1024 x 768 mode is fully compatible with IBM' 8514/A, VGA, Super VGA and previous IBM graphics standards, which makes it easy to install applications using the standard video drivers. The ATI Graphics Ultra video card is standard with the 486DX/33 system, optional with other DX systems. The street price of this card is over $500, but with the purchase of a Gateway 2000 system, you can upgrade to it for $150! j JSM1X ■ m inJ pn» i J.-J h) AT I Tcchnotogii Peripherals are sold only with the purchase of a system. If you already own a Ga desserts Desserts New On The Menu: Choose One Software Option Free With Your PC! With the purchase of any Gateway 2000 computer system, you now receive your choice of free application software. Pick one from the seven application options in our software buffet. We'll install one software option on your hard drive, optimally configured for your system and Windows, and provide you with the master diskettes and manuals - absolutely free. You can also buy additional software at extremely competitive prices, or choose from other popular applications not listed here. Ask your sales person for the details. Option #1 Microsoft Excel for Windows" 3.0 ■ A powerful graphical spreadsheet program ■ Includes online help for Lotus' 1-2-3* users ■ PC Magazines Editor's Choice Retail value: $495. Discount value: $300+. Can be yours free with a Gateway 2000 PC! Option #2 Microsoft Word for Windows" 2.0 ■ Best selling word processor for Windows ■ New version 2.0 adds spectacular refinements ■ Includes online help for WordPerfect' users Retail value: $495. Discount value: $300+. Can be yours free with a Gateway 2000 PC! Option #3 Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows™ 2.0 ■ Easy-to-use desktop presentations program ■ Creates high-quality overheads and 35mm slides Retail value: $495. Discount value: $300+. Can be yours free with a Gateway 2000 PC! Option #4 The Paradox 9 3.5 ■ Award-winning database management program ■ From Borland" the leader in database and programming software Retail value: $695. Discount value: $500+. Can be yours free with a Gateway 2000 PC! Option #5 The Entrepreneur Pack Includes Microsoft's Works,"' Publisher™ and Money" 1 the latest versions, and an Entertainment Pack, all for Windows, plus TurboTax for Windows' from ChipSof t ■ Works integrates a word processor, spreadsheet, database and more into one easy-to-use program ■ Publisher has page layout tools to create publications ■ Money helps you control your finances by writing checks, setting budgets, tracking expenses ■ Entertainment Pack, eight games including Tetris 3 ■ TurboTax is an easy-to-use tax preparation program with online help for understanding IRS rules Retail value: $607. Discount value: $400+. Can be yours free with a Gateway 2000 PC! way 2000 computer, you can buy peripherals separately. Availability is limited. D e s s e r t s M a i n Course Option #6 The Windows Programmer Pack Includes Microsoft's QuickC for Windows^ Visual Basic for Windows!" Windows Control Development KiC MS Windows Help Compiler 1 " and MS Windows Programmer's Online Reference 1 " ■ Everything you need to create programs for Windows You can't buy all of these tools in one package elsewhere, but this option can be yours free with a Gateway 2000 PC! Option #7 Microsoft Project for Windows™ 3.0 ■ Flexible and easy project management program ■ Includes interactive online tutorial ■ PC Magazine calls it the best program in its category Retail value: $695. Discount value: $425+. Can be yours free with a Gateway 2000 PC! If the free software packages offered here don't suit your needs, we have others that are very competitively priced. For example, if you'd rather get Microsoft Office,™ which includes Word for Windows, Excel and PowerPoint, you can upgrade to it. Office retails for $750, with a discount value of $499. It can be yours for only $ 1 75 with a Gateway 2000 PC. Ask your sales representative for details. This offer includes the identical applications contained in retail packages hut will not include the retail box. You get a complete set of diskettes and manuals, shrink-wrapped and packaged in a Gateway 2000 box. Feast Your Eyes On These Entrees - Includin Gateway 2000 computer systems - the meat and potatoes of our menu - come with all the trimmings at no extra charge. And if you're hungry for an ultra high-performance system at a great price, take a look at our new 50MHz 486DX2 computers. Both ISA and EISA models are based on the Intel486 DX2 dual speed processor. With a system clock frequency of 25MHz, the internal core of this CPU executes at 50MHz for a 35% increase in performance compared to a 33MHz 486DX system. 50MHz 486DX2 $3195 50MHz 486DX2 EISA $4095 % increase 386SX Systems Gateway 2000's 386SX systems come in a compact, mini desktop model. To give you plenty of room f orexpansion in a small footprint system, we integrated the diskette drive controller, the video chip set and the I/O card on the motherboard, leaving five 16-bit slots open in the standard configuration. The mini desktop models have a TriTTiTmTrrrrrrrmTTrmt standard mouse port (PS/2' compatible), leaving two serial ports open. RAM on these systems is expandable to 16MB on the motherboard. The Western Digital 8 IDE hard drives feature a 32K read-look-ahead cache buffer. All mini desktop models have QuadteP BIOS and 200 watt power supplies. The 124-key AnyKey keyboard comes standard with all Gateway systems. M a i n Course Main Course 6™ gANew 486DX2 Special! 386DX Systems The 386DX systems have a true 32-bit memory bus and more expansion capability. We start with a genuine Inter 80386 microprocessor on a Micronics* . . . . motherboard. We add a generous portion of RAM - 4MB expandable to a system total of 64MB. Put in 64KofcacheRAMonthe386DX/33 for a nice performance boost. Add IDE hard drives from Western Digital. Then give them Diamond Speedstar Plus rM 16-bit VGA graphics cards with 1MB RAM, non-interlaced 14-inch Crystal Scan 1024 x 768 color monitors, Phoenix™ BIOS, a Weitek socket on the 33 and 200 watt power supplies. That's the basic recipe f Ijlllllllljlllllljiwif for these tried-and-true, workhorse computers. Both systems have a 32-bit slot open in the standard configuration for RAM expansion. The motherboard has a total of one 32-bit and seven 16-bit slots, with one 32-bit and five 16-bit expansion slots available in the advertised configuration. Gateway's 386DX and 486 systems come in a desktop model that is roomy and easily accessible. A floor-standing tower model is an option for an additional $100. • o 486DX And DX2 Systems Gateway 2000's 486 systems run on the real McCoy - an Intel486™ processor with built-in math coprocessor and 8K instruction cache. The ISA systems have a Micronics' motherboard, while the motherboard for the EISA systems is custom-manufactured for Gateway 2000. RAM is expandable to a system total of 64MB. New on the ISA models is the AIT Graphics Ultra, which is the fastest video card by far in its class. The EISA models include a Diamond Speedstar Plus, which is also a high-performance video card. Both systems come with 1MB video RAM. The ISA systems have eight 16-bit slots on the motherboard, six * available in the standard configuration. The EISA machines have eight 32-bit EISA slots on the system board. You have five 32-bit EISA slots open in our standard configuration. The ISA systems have Phoenix BIOS, while the EISA computers use Award BIOS. All systems come with Weitek sockets and 200 watt power supplies. INCLUDED WITH EVERY SYSTEM: • One-year limited warranty • 30-day money-back guarantee • Lifetime toll-free technical support • Free on-site service to most locations • Free bulletin board technical support • C.O.D. terms and major credit cards honored • Net 30-day credit terms and leasing options available to qualified commercial customers 16MHz 386SX 20MHz 386SX 25MHz 386DX 33MHz 386DX I Intel® 80386SX Processor I 2MB RAM I 1.2MB 5.25" Drive I 1.44MB 3.5" Drive 140MB 17ms IDE Drive with 32K Cache I 16-Bit VGA with 5 12K I 14" Crystal Scan 1024 Color VGA Monitor I 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports I 1 PS/2 Mouse Port I 1 24-Key AnyKey™ Keyboard I Microsoft® Mouse I MS® DOS® 5.0 I MS Windows™ 3.0 I Choice of Application Software $1445 I Intel 80386SX Processor I 32K Cache RAM I 4MB RAM I 1.2MB 5.25" Drive I 1.44MB 3.5" Drive 180MB 17ms IDE Drive with 32K Cache I 16-Bit VGA with 5 12K I 14" Crystal Scan 1024 Color VGA Monitor I 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports I 1 PS/2 Mouse Port I 1 24-Key AnyKey Keyboard I Microsoft Mouse I MS DOS 5.0 I MS Windows 3.0 I Choice of Application Software I Intel 80386 Processor I 4MB RAM I 1.2MB 5.25" Drive I 1.44MB 3.5" Drive I 80MB 17ms IDE Drive with 32K Cache I 16-Bit VGA with 1MB I 14" Crystal Scan 1024NI Color VGA Monitor I 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports I 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard I Microsoft Mouse I MS DOS 5.0 I MS Windows 3.0 I Choice of Application Software $1895 I Intel 80386 Processor I 64K Cache RAM I 4MB RAM I 1.2MB 5.25" Drive I 1.44MB 3.5" Drive 1200MB 15ms IDE Drive with 64K Multi-Segmented Cache I 16-Bit VGA with 1MB I 14" Crystal Scan 1024NI Color VGA Monitor I 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports I 1 24-Key AnyKey Keyboard I Microsoft Mouse I MS DOS 5.0 I MS Windows 3.0 I Choice of Application Software $1745 $2395 33MHz 486DX I Intel 80486 Processor I 64K Cache RAM I 8MB RAM I 1.2MB 5.25" Drive I 1.44MB 3.5" Drive 1 200MB 15ms IDE Drive with 64K Multi-Segmented Cache I ATI™ Ultra 85 14/A Video with 1MB I 14" Crystal Scan 1024N1 Color VGA Monitor I 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports I 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard I Microsoft Mouse mSSi I MS DOS 5.0 I MS Windows 3.0 I Choice of Application Software 50MHz 486DX2 33MHz 486DX EISA I 50MHz 486DX2 EISA I Intel 80486DX2 Processor I 64K Cache RAM I 8MB RAM I 1.2MB 5.25" Drive I 1.44MB 3.5" Drive I 200MB 15ms IDE* Drive with 64K Multi-Segmented Cache I ATI Ultra 85 14/A Video with 1MB I 14" Crystal Scan 1024NI Color VGA Monitor I 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports I 1 24-Key AnyKey Keyboard I Microsoft Mouse I MS DOS 5.0 I MS Windows 3.0 I Choice of Application Software $2945 $3195 "Enhanced IDE with RIDE (Rapid Integrated Drive Electronics) technology. I Intel 80486 Processor I 128K Cache RAM I 8MB RAM I 1.2MB 5.25" Drive I 1.44MB 3.5" Drive I 340MB 15ms SCSI Drive with 128K Multi-Sesmented Cache I 32-Bit EISA SCSI Controller I 16-Bit VGA with 1MB I 14" Crystal Scan 1024N1 Color VGA Monitor I 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports I 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard I Microsoft Mouse I MS DOS 5.0 I MS Windows 3.0 I Choice of Application Software $3895 BEST BUYS I Get our 33MHz 386DX system, same configuration as listed, with a 120MB IDE hard drive instead of the 200MB drive. $2145 I Intel 80486DX2 Processor H28KCacheRAM I 8MB RAM I 1.2MB 5.25" Drive I 1.44MB 3.5" Drive I 340MB 15ms SCSI Drive with 128K Multi-Segmented Cache I 32-Bit EISA SCSI Controller I 16-Bit VGA with 1MB I 14" Crystal Scan 1024N1 Color VGA Monitor I 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports I 1 24-Key AnyKey Keyboard I Microsoft Mouse I MS DOS 5.0 I MS Windows 3.0 I Choice of Application Software $4095 I Same features as our 33MHz 486DX system except this mac- hine has 4MB RAM instead of 8, and a 120MB IDE hard drive instead of the 200MB drive in our standard configuration. $2495 Sales Hours: 7am-10pm Weekdays, 9am-4pm Saturdays (CST) Service Hours: 6am-Midnight Weekdays, 9am-2pm Saturdays (CST) All prices are subject to change. Prices do not include shipping. GATEWAY2000 ® GU§>5AL ~MLEAF' "You've got a friend in the business." 8 -523-2000 610 Gateway Drive • P.O. Box 2000 • N. Sioux City. SD 57049-2000 • 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023 ©1992 Gateway 20CX1. Inc. AnyKey and TelePath are trademarks of Gateway 2000, Inc. Intel and Intel Inside are trademarks oflntel Corporation. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. NEWS FIRST IMPRESSIONS The VideoPhone Goes Home Computer The company that provid- ed the compression algo- rithm and the hardware for the AT&T VideoPhone 2500— Compression Labs — has an- nounced a computer-based ver- sion of the same system. The Cameo Personal Video Sys- tem, Model 2001 consists of a small video camera that sits atop your Mac. The camera is connected to a video proces- sor module that sits beside the system, sidecar-style. The cam- era passes the image to the video processor and then to an ISDN card in the computer, which transmits it over ISDN lines to another Cameo unit. When your system receives a video im- age, the video processor passes it to a dig- itizing video card, which displays it on the monitor. Unfortunately, those images still suffer from the need to cram lots of video infor- mation through a narrow communications bandwidth. At 15 frames per second — about half of what's needed for smooth motion — and a resolution about that of a VHS movie, this is a far cry from the viewscreens on the starship Enterprise. (If you don't want a caller to see you, you can close the shutter over the camera.) The software that comes with the Cameo system is easy to use, mimicking a full- featured telephone. With a click of a mouse button, you can dial, activate the video image, see your own image, mute the au- dio, hang up, put your party on hold, or take a snapshot of a party's image. A graphical phone directory lets you store those snapshots, so you can later call some- one just by clicking on his or her image. Slider bars let you adjust the image bright- ness and tint, as well as the audio volume (which comes through your regular tele- phone). While it's less expensive than previous commercial videophones, the Cameo sys- tem isn't cheap. You'll need a Mac Ilci, Ilfx, or Quadra with System 7.0, Quick- Time, a RasterOps digitizing display card, an Apple ISDN card, and access to ISDN lines. If you already have the Mac and the ISDN lines, the extra pieces will cost you about $2000, not including the Cameo sys- tem itself, which costs $2095. (The Cameo cost is $1595 if you use your own video camera, which you can plug into the stan- dard NTSC interface on the video proces- sor.) Given those constraints, Compression Labs is wisely aiming the Cameo system at businesses that are looking for a lower- cost alternative to the expensive telecon- ferencing systems they've been using. Many of those customers already have the ISDN lines in- stalled. For the rest of us, however, Compression Labs has plans to branch out very soon. The com- pany says it will have an IBM PC-compatible Cameo system later this year (the video pro- cessor itself is platform inde- pendent), as well as versions that will operate over normal (i.e., analog) telephone lines (which will make them compatible with the AT&T VideoPhone). Other proposed features include a "chalkboard" that will let you transmit freehand drawings as you talk about them. Those kinds of ad- ditions could move the videophone from the realm of technological curiosity to stan- dard consumer device. — Kenneth M. Sheldon THE FACTS Cameo Personal Video System, Model 2001 including camera, $2095; without camera, $1595 Compression Labs, Inc. 2860 Junction Ave. San Jose, CA 95 134 (800) 225-5254 (408) 435-3000 fax: (408) 922-5429 Circle 1216 on Inquiry Card. Blue Dolphin Makes a Splash The PC price/performance race shows no signs of slowing down, and it's certainly one area where end users are bene- fiting. The latest conspicuous example is the 486DX-50 Cache from the interest- ingly named Blue Dolphin Computers. This is one loaded, powerful, and incred- ibly fast system at a price that will raise some eyebrows. At $3749 complete, it is (as this was written) the most inexpensive 50-MHz system on the market. As its name implies, the 486DX-50 Cache is built around Intel's 50-MHz 486 chip, which is finally becoming available in quantity. Besides the 486's internal 8- KB cache, the system includes a 64-KB external static RAM cache. As you'd ex- pect, this is a screamer of a system. My preliminary BYTE Lab benchmark results showed this to be one of the fastest sys- tems we've ever tested. Running processor- and graphics-inten- sive applications at this speed is a revela- tion. It's especially noticeable with a GUI like Windows. There's virtually no delay in applications. One of my personal fa- vorites for subjective performance mea- surement is AutoDesk's Chaos, which makes heavy use of the 486's built-in math coprocessor. Drawing a standard Mandel- brot set on the 486DX-50 Cache takes just a few seconds. (It can take minutes on slow 386 systems.) It takes more than a fast processor to make a fast computer, and the 486DX- 50 Cache is a well-integrated system. It comes standard with a Diamond Stealth video RAM graphics card with 1 MB of memory. One of the fastest VGA cards APRIL 1992 -BYTE 51 NEWS FIRST IMPRESSIONS available, the Diamond Stealth includes a number of software drivers, including Win- dows at up to 1024- by 768-pixel resolu- tion. The 486DX-50 Cache comes with an Optiquest-2000, a 15-inch flat-screen monitor that handles high-resolution non- interlaced Windows at a display size that makes it eminently usable. The Optiquest- 2000 is a high-quality monitor at a fair price, making it a perfect match for the 486DX-50 Cache. Other standard features include a 2 1 2- MB hard drive (either Seagate or Maxtor), a 5/4-inch 1.2-MB floppy drive, and a Sc- inch 2.88-MB floppy drive (soon to be a standard for small floppy drives). There's also 8 MB of RAM (expandable to 64 MB on the motherboard) and the usual com- plement of ports. Rounding things out are a Key Tronic keyboard and a Logitech mouse. DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.0 are preloaded on the system. At BYTE, we see many "me-too" clone THE FACTS 486DX-50 Cache $3749 Blue Dolphin Computers, Inc. 890F Cowan Rd. Burlingame,CA94010 (800) 345-0633 (415)259-9890 fax:(415)259-9898 Circle 1217 on Inquiry Card. systems. Too many are hastily put togeth- er from substandard parts and pieces, and the companies often go out of business within months. Blue Dolphin is a refresh- ing exception to this trend. It's been in business for over six years. Obviously, the Blue Dolphin 486DX-50 Cache system is also put together from standard parts and pieces. However, the company has done an enviable job of in- tegrating high-performance and mid- priced components into an impressive sys- tem. No, it's not a big-name system from a big-name company. Some corners did have to be cut. But Blue Dolphin backs up its products with a 45-day money-back guarantee, a 45-day system replacement policy, a one-year warranty, and lifetime toll-free technical support. If you need (or want) cutting-edge PC performance at an affordable price, the 486DX-50 Cache is the system for you. — Stan Miastkowski Boxer: A Text Editor with Punch One of the easiest ways to launch an argument among programmers is to emphatically state that one text editor is better than another. The Boxer Text Edit- ing System 3.20 from Boxer Software is a quick, powerful shareware product that deserves to receive some strong support of its own. The text editor's smoothly in- tegrated mouse support is pleasingly com- fortable and intuitive. If you edit text files for a living, you won't find much lacking in Boxer. Al- though it is restricted to in-memory editing, this should be no problem for many of the programmers for whom Boxer is designed. I was able to load a 1 63-KB file in a 549- KB DOS session. The memory limitation appears serious only when you attempt to edit multiple files simultaneously. This editor has more features than I have space to describe, yet I did not experience feature overload. Each function is but a single menu or keystroke away. Some of my favorite functions include 26 single-key macros, the ability to write all files with a single command, remov- ing extra blanks from the end of lines, and the addition of configurable headers and footers on printouts. The ability to search and replace text across all open files is a real time-saver. You can perform search- es using text only or full regular expression matching, including checks for end of line, start of line, and match only complete to- kens. Boxer provides support for special VGA video modes. In addition to the common 43- and 50-line modes, Boxer provides a 52 BYTE • APRIL 1992 SCREAMING SPEED YOU Ni Windows Accelerators, from $499* GRAPHICS ULTRA GRAPHICS VANTAGE. (HxSVGAf Where we're going, there are no speed limits. ATI® Graphics Accelerators boost graphical applications like Windows® to escape velocity — and beyond. PC Magazine picked our 8514-ULTRA® as their Editors' Choice among high-end graphics cards, calling it "...the fastest Windows performer." Now our new Graphics Vantage® takes its place alongside the 851 4-ULTRA and the Graphics ULTRA®, as the most eco- nomical way of accelerating your PC beyond earthbound speeds. Powered by the same Mach 8® graphics engine as the ULTRA products, the Graphics Vantage delivers resolutions from VGA® "flpward, and propels 800x600 and j,024x768 modes — in 256 dazzling colors — to over eleven times the speed of Super-VGA adapters. It's like transforming your 386 into a rocket-powered 486 — instantly. Our CRYSTAL Fonts® and flicker-free refresh rates — up to 72 Hz — clarify Windows with "near laser quality" text, readable down to 5 points even on 14" monitors. We've also equipped the Graphics Vantage with a Microsoft®- compatible mouse — and a down-to-earth price that will definitely give you no cause to scream — except perhaps with amazement. ATI Graphics Accelerators. Because in today's world, there's no such thing as "fast enough." GRAPHICS ULTRA One of the ATI Graphics Accelerators™ \mmw\i EDITORS' CHOICE June 25, 1991 ATI 8514-ULTRA ^ EVTE EVTE GRAPHICS VANTAGE See Us At ^Windows World'92 Thf OlfoatContwenceandfiDOStco (ot Wmf Sue Kletri.rimU.-5 Not all data cor are created equal! >n products SuperStor New Version Stacker 2.0 2.0 Compresses hard drives, RAM, floppy, and other removable media by an average ratio of 2:1, doubling your disk capacity! 1 Real-time on the fly data compression doesn't slow down your PC! Universal Data Exchange allows compressed floppies or removable drives to be read and saved by any PC! Fully integrated menu-driven software program offers ease of installation and operation! \ Advanced Compression Utility Tool Kit scans, I checks, and repairs compressed data! (Advanced Disk Optimization Utility defragments or consolidates compressed data for optimal disk performance! Highest compression ratio of any data compression software (up to 25% greater with version 2.0!). Automatically updates CONFIG.SYS on physical j partition to further enhance transparent operation! Dynamically adjusts drive capacity to fit more data on compressed disks with less effort! Performance enhancing Disk Cache results in faster system performance! Device driver easily loads high, maximizing conventional memory for RAM-intensive applications! ■ 1 I 1 I Circle 1 70 on Inquiry Card. I j i i [iV JTT MjT^B %f J 1 m 1 ► riiOiii^iw BEilA!l3liII iH; ., ""H Hi 1 nf A TM \iTHjB I m i \ I [>] I TTTj 71 ] 1 4 I fSrfSSs (2 n M JW 77?e KX-P2124, a 24- pin with A TM* and color option. A few dot- matrix printers offer you sea I able fonts. A few, color. But no other printer offers you scalable fonts. ..color. .and Panasonic® Quiet Technology. PutourKX-P2124ahd 2123 to work and you II get the flexibility of Adobe j Type Manager® and scalable fonts. ..you'll add drama to your documents with our optional color kit.. .and you'll hear very little, indeed. Put any of our other Quiet Technology printers to >fMfel^%V| work and v ^^iJ|f you can option accom- plish whatever your needs. From our 2123, a budget- minded 24-pin with Adobe Type Manager* and optional color.. .to our 2624 wide- carriage business printer with ATM*,...toour9-pin 2180 with 6 near letter quality fonts and optional color. All with the kind of features that made Panasonic printers the leaders of the industry. Such as multiple paper paths, EZ ™ Set control panels, and a two-year limited warranty on parts and labor 1 ". The Panasonic 2000 Series Quiet Technology Printers. Call us for more informa- tion: 1-800-742-8086. Or visit your Panasonic dealer. tSee your dealer for warranty details. *ATM and Adobe Type Manager are regis- tered trademarks of Adobe. Available on selected printers only. Panasonic/ Office Automation / f = \^ ONCE YOU'VE TRIED OUR QUIET TECHNOLOGY PRINTERS, YOU'LL NEVER SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LESS. Quiei?Z%% The KX-P2123, a 24-pin with ATM* and color option. The KX-P2180, a 9- pin with color option. ATM* not available. r~irnmr~i wf&n The KX-P2624, a 24-pin with ATM*. Coloroption not available. PQ9-BY Circle 99 on Inquiry Card. NEWS WHAT'S NEW • CONNECTIVITY Phone and Fax While on the Move FaxPak, an integrated cellular phone and fax machine, uses a cellular transceiver from Motorola, ensuring reliable perfor- mance in remote areas, ac- cording to the company. With a five-page document feeder and 98-foot rolls of paper, the FaxPak provides easy faxing while you're traveling. Compatible with stan- dard office fax machines, the 1-ppm FaxPak FP-100B can be powered three ways: via its internal rechargeable batteries, a cigarette lighter adapter, or an AC 1 10-V adapter. The sealed lead-acid batteries recharge whenever the unit is connected to an external power source, per- mitting you to use it while the batteries are charging. Price: $2295. Contact: Infinidisc Corp., 7 Littleton Rd., Westford, MA 01886, (508)692- 0898. Circle 1289 on Inquiry Card. Pocket a Parallel Port Print Server You can install the Pocket Print Server ESI- 2828A for lOBase-T net- works on the parallel port of any printer, which lets the printer attach anywhere on the network. Supporting NetWare 2.15 or higher and NetWare 386, the Pocket Print Server's parallel inter- face transfers data into the printer in large blocks at speeds of up to 60 KBps. Price: $495. Contact: Extended Sys- tems, 6123 North Meeker Ave., Boise, ID 83704, (208) 322-7575; fax (208) 377-1906. Circle 1290 on Inquiry Card. The FaxPak integrated solution to the portable office gives you first-rate communications in the field. Fax from Your Desktop The 2400 ETC-Fax in- ternal modem supports V.42 error correction and V.42bisandMNPlevel5 data compression. Able to send and receive faxes at 9600 bps, the fax modem is compatible with Group 3 and EIA Class 1 fax machines. The modem includes Multi- ple Interrupt Selection, which lets it coexist with other add-ins, such as net- work cards, memory boards, and mouse controllers. The modem also features the ca- pability to schedule fax transmissions during off- peak hours, broadcast faxes to multiple destinations, and create custom cover pages. Price: $249. Contact: ATI Technol- ogies, Inc., 3761 Victoria Park Ave. , Scarborough, Ontario, Canada M1W 3S2, (416) 756-0718; fax (416) 756-0720. Circle 1291 on Inquiry Card. Miniature MAU Patton Electronics' Model 2100 MiniMAU lOBase-T transceiver/ multistation access unit lets you use your Ethernet attach- ment unit interface ports to communicate over twisted- pair cable. The 2- by 1.68- by 0.79-inch unit with CMOS circuitry supports cable runs of up to 300 feet without AC power or batter- ies. Raised LEDs are read- able from most angles for easy monitoring of autopolar- ity, collision, jabber, link integrity, transmit, receive, and power functions. Price: $89. Contact: Patton Electronics Co., 7958 Cessna Ave., Gaithersburg, MD 20879, (301)975-1000. Circle 1292 on Inquiry Card. Qmodem 5 Offers New Features Version 5 of Qmodem adds a number of en- hancements to the commu- nications program. The major addition, the Off Line Mail Reader, lets you download packets of mail from an originating BBS and read them off-line at your leisure. The feature also lets you write your replies off- line and then upload them for sending. New features in the Dial- ing Directory let you specify the directory entry setting, such as name of service, phone number, and baud rate, for automatic dialing of subsequent calls. Other ad- ditions to the Dialing Direc- tory include the capability to attach notes to any dialing entry, automatically redial an unlimited number of en- tries, and sort your direc- tory by an entry's name, phone number, or total number of calls. Terminal emulations added to Qmodem include the IBM 3101, DEC VT52, and Heath Zenith 19. You also can now preconf igure the program for more than 90 commercial modems. The learn mode now lets you create automated scripts to record repetitive tasks. The scripts help you by automat- ing common functions such as log-in sequences, trans- ferring files, downloading messages, and sending replies. Price: $99. Contact: Mustang Soft- ware, Inc., P.O. Box 2264, Bakersf ield, CA 93303, (805) 395-0223; fax (805) 395-0713. Circle 1 293 on Inquiry Card. 68 BYTE • APRIL 1992 WHEN IT COMES TO MATH COPROCESSORS THE CHOICE IS SIMPLE! HIGH PERFORMANCE 7'" 1 Leading Competitor No Math CoProcessor 1 493,340 10,800 538,503 Whetstone Benchmark (Operations/Second) LOW POWER CONSUMPTION Leading Competitor HIGHEST SPEED GRADES / 3C87 vrmrimwmmwmmrmm s/lIT 2C87 3C87SX 387 117 Leading ^7 Competitor Average Consumption (mA) with Clock Running at Full Speed 387SX 10 MHz 12 MHz 20 MHz 16 MHz 20 MHz 25 MHz 16 MHz I 20 MHz VALUE / Guaranteed 100% Compatibility with all 286, 386 v and 386SX systems \J Warranteed For the Lifetime of Your System / Free QAPIus and POWERMETER Software Test results obtained on a 20 MHz 386SX system. The IIT logo is a trademark of Integrated Information Technology, Inc. (HT). QAPlus and POWERMETER are trademarks of DiagSoft, Inc. All other trademarks are of their respective companies. ©1991 IIT. All rights reserved. Call now for more information 800-832-0770 408-727-1885 INTEGRATED Will 11 INFORMATION O L o c Circle 77 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 78). NEWS WHAT'S NEW • CONNECTIVITY Mini Modem for Portables The ViVa 2400 Pocket modem lets you commu- nicate with remote com- puters or time-sharing sys- tems via your portable computer. The 6 '/2-ounce, 2400-bps unit works in full-duplex mode over a dial- up or two-wire leased tele- phone line. Able to automatically dial a call and answer incom- ing calls over the phone line from a remote system, the ViVa 2400 Pocket can re- dial a busy number and dial an originate-only modem. The four LEDs include a mo- dem-ready light that indi- cates when the unit is receiv- ing power, two lights that shpw when a carrier is de- tected and when the battery is low, and a light that indi- cates when the unit is oper- ating at high speed. The modem comes with communications software, a wall-mount power pack, and a 9-V battery. Software packages supported include Smartcom II 2. 1 , Symphony, WordStar 2000, PC-Talk, Crosstalk, and Sidekick. Price: $139. Contact: Computer Periph- erals, Inc., 667 Rancho Con- ejo Blvd., Newbury Park, CA91320, (800) 854-7600 or (805) 499-5751; fax (805)498-8306. Circle 1 294 on Inquiry Card. Take Automatic Inventory of Your LAN The LAN Directory hardware and software inventory program gathers and reports information in hundreds of categories for each workstation on your LAN. The utility automati- cally audits workstations and file servers for information The ViVa 2400 Pocket modem travels in your pocket for use anywhere. and can inventory stand- alone personal computers by running the software at each machine. You can au- dit external devices manually and then enter the informa- tion into the software. The custom reporting feature in LAN Directory lets you create your own re- ports or build on and modify the reports that are included in the utility. You can create multiple headers and foot- ers and move text around the screen> placing the title and data areas wherever you wish. You can gather LAN workstation data automati- cally by adding a command to the log-in script. Price: $495. Contact: Frye Computer Systems, Inc., 19 Temple Place, Boston, MA 021 11, (617) 451-6364; fax (617) 451-6711. Circle 1295 on Inquiry Card. A Modem for Secure Communications The SecureModem 2032e has the double se- curity feature of callback access control and DES data encryption. The dual fea- ture protects dial-in networks from unauthorized access and secures sensitive data transmission against illegal tampering and monitoring. The SecureModem 2032e has V.42 error control and MNP level 5 data com- pression, a combination that enables error-free encryp- tion throughput of 19,200 bps. The desktop unit's full-screen menus are easily configured to automatically authenticate an incoming call, perform call-back or pass-through, and secure communications by scram- bling data. Price: $895. Contact: Cettlan Corp., P.O. Box 397, Irvine, CA 92650, (714) 559-4016; fax (714) 262-0708. Circle 1296 on Inquiry Card. Create a Skyline View of Network Traffic Skyline/E, a Macintosh- based network-analysis tool, provides managers of mixed-vendor, multiple-pro- tocol networks with a histo- ry of Ethernet network traf- fic. Designed to provide a visual overview of network traffic, Skyline/E captures and stores data over extended periods. The main window shows a histogram-type chart with bars that represent network use over a length of time of from 1 second to hours or days. You can assign colors and levels of use to the bars for an instant picture of traf- fic over a designated period. Price: $695. Contact: The AG Group, Inc., 2540 Camino Diablo, Suite 202, Walnut Creek, CA 94596, (510)937-7900; fax (510) 937-2479. Circle 1 297 on Inquiry Card. Eight-Port Hub for lOBase-T An eight-port 1 0Base-T Ethernet concentrator, the 10T Hub/8 includes a BNC port for connecting to thin coaxial cable. The hub features auto-partitioning, which automatically shuts down a bad port when the hub detects jamming sig- nals, and it has the ability to shut off Link Integrity port by port. It includes an in/out- selectable unshielded twisted-pair port that lets you connect to other hubs with UTP cabling. Price: $399. Contact: Asante Technol- ogies, Inc., 404 Tasman Dr., Sunnyvale, CA 94089, (408) 752-8388; fax (408) 734-4864. Circle 1298 on Inquiry Card. 70 BYTE- APRIL 1992 LOOK AT THE INSDE STORY ON POWER SUPPLIES. What power supply is inside your computer? If you are like most people, you dorit know, and frankly, don't care. But, because your computer's power supply is a critical system component, what you don't know, may hurt you. An inferior power supply can cause interference, rebooting, hard drive errors, and other nasty hard-to-track problems. So why take chances? Call the power supply specialists at PC Power and Cooling today. ^'■■l Turbo-Cool 300 Ordinary Power Supply HERE ARE TEN GREAT REASONS TO SELECT THE INDUSTRY'S BEST, THE TURBO-COOL™ 300 AND TURBO-COOL™ 450. 1. 50% TO 100% MORE POWER The more power, the better! Our high-capacity units start drive motors with ease, run cooler, last longer, and allow for future expansion. 2. BUILT-IN LINE CONDITIONING Turbo-Cool power INPUT VOLTAGE (MM) 1 ORDINARY POWER SUPPLY supplies won't skip a beat when the line voltage sags.Their wide input range (85-135Y170-270V) and heavy-duty input components protect your PC and its data from sags, surges and spikes. 3. FCC-B AND VDE-B LINE FILTER A dual-stage EMI filter keeps electrical noise well below agency standards. 4. INDEPENDENT REGULATION Turbo-Coors superior independent-regulation design keeps output voltage tolerances 20 times tighter than that of an ordinary power supply This exceptional stability improves hard drive reliability during critical access periods. 5. ULTRA-CLEAN DC OUTPUT A dual-stage output filter ensures that sensitive computer chips receive pure, low-ripple power. 6. PROTECTION CIRCUITRY Our units offer the most complete protection from dangerous overvoltage, overcurrent, and short circuit conditions. 7. THERMASENSE™ COOLING FAN The Turbo-Cool 300 features ThermaSense, our high-capacity, thermostatically- controlled, variable- _ speed fan. It's ideal! a, High-performance 1 systems operate up to 35° cooler while standard ones run as much as 75% quieter. ThermaSense fan 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 Air Temperature (°F) 8. UL/CSA/TUV APPROVALS Our high-capacity units are safety approved by not only UL, but also by Canada's CSA and Germany's strict TUV. 9. TWO-YEAR WARRANTY Turbo-Cools are designed and tested for MTBFs of over 100,000 hours. They come with a no-hassle 2-year warranty and a 30-day money-back guarantee. 10. GREAT VALUE Loaded with premium features, a Turbo-Cool power supply will upgrade the performance of your PC or LAN file server at a retail cost ofonly554to804 per watt. You'll be powered by a unit that is popular with award- winning PC manufacturers and recommended by experts Turbo-Cool 450 such as the PC Magazine Advisor! PC POWER & COOLING, INC. 5995 Avenida Encinas, Carlsbad, CA 92008 • (619) 931-5700 • (800) 722-6555 • Fax (619) 931-6988 Circle 101 on InquiryCard (RESELLERS: 102). notebook co In its review of our UltraLite* SL/25C notebook, PC Magazine said, "NEC is about to make the future of porta- ble computing a whole lot brighter]' We couldn't agree more. The best color display in a notebook. Ever. The fact is, NEC is the first to offer an active-matrix TFT color screen in a notebook, and yet, in the words of PC Magazine, "its price tag rivals lower-quality^ passive-matrix offerings!' What's the difference , between active-matrix and passive-matrix color screens? One looks vivid, sharp and bright, like your desktop monitor. The other doesn't. One can be viewed from wide angles. The other can't. One is clearly the future of notebook computing. The other isn't. The best processing technology in a notebook. Ever. To quote PC Magazine once more, our SL/25C "has more going for it than just spectacular color. It's also one of the first notebooks to use Intel's new 25-MHz 386SL chip set!' The new chip provides all the pro- cessing punch of a 386 desktop PC. Offers intelligent power management for longer battery life. And runs even the most complex applications at blazing speed. The 7.5 lb. SL/25C comes standard with 2MB of RAM (expandable to 10MB), an 80MB hard disk, internal floppy and 64KB cache. As well as^MS-DOS*5.0 and Windows™ ^^L 3.0, loaded and ready ^k ^L to run. Just what exactly is active-matrix TFT display anyhow? Active matrix TFT (thin- film transistor) display means that far each pixel on the screen, there is a tiny transistor. In the case of the SL/25C, that adds up to over 900,000 transistors covering the entire screen, forming the image. With each pixel controlled by its own transistor, the image is always in sharp focus, and far brighter than other screen designs permit. NEC has long been a world leader in display technology. And the SL/25C is one example of this. It does everything a powerful desktop does. Except chain you to a desk. There's a serial port, SuperVGA CRT port, PS/2® mouse port and optional internal modem. An enhanced parallel port allowing improved throughput for network connections. And an optional full- function, portable Docking Station'" unit— with two expansion slots and a 3.5" drive bay— that not only turns the SL/25C into a desktop you can take anywhere, it also gives you other options, like fully integrating sound and image to create your very own portable multimedia platform. A powerful argument for color, right here in black and white. It also has a brilliant VGA display. A palette of over 225,000 colors. A fast screen refresh rate (so you never lose your cursor). And a "simul- taneous video" feature— so the image you see on your screen can also be viewed on an external video device, like a big-screen projector. All of which makes one thing perfectly clear: the SL/25C is truly the ultimate presen- tation tool. Call today. For more details, call 1-800-NEC-INFO. Or call NEC FastFacts at 1-800-366-0476, #ULSL25C (8575252). In Canada, call 1-800-343-4418. We'll give you enough information about the SL/25C to make you not want to be without it. Ever. CsC Computers and Communications Because l is the way you want to go. SEC Circle 95 on Inquiry Card. NEWS WHAT'S NEW • PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE Multiplatform Applications with Objects WinTran uses a system of named visual ob- jects, such as text, lists, images, or tables, rather than windows, to develop multi- platform GUI applications. The WinTran application code is written in standard programming language but is not tied to any particular windowing model. Win- Tran treats visual objects uniformly across GUI plat- forms, so you can port their associated applications across Windows, OS/2, Mac- intosh, OSF/Motif, and other platforms. Price: Windows version, $495. Contact: Guideware Corp., 2483 Old Middlefield Way, Suite 224, Mountain View, CA 94043, (415) 969-6851; fax (415) 969-3862. Circle 1299 on Inquiry Card. Knowledge Garden Upgrades Its OOP Tool Version 2.0 of the KnowledgePro Win- dows (KPWin) object-ori- ented programming environ- ment features improve- ments to its design tools, dynamic link library (DLL) access, and Multimedia Ex- tensions support. The upgrade lets you use objects such as combo boxes WinTran 's Project Manager consolidates all the application elements and presents a visual map of the project as it develops. The Builder window on the right provides tools for building interface screens without your having to switch back and forth between programs. or buttons by selecting them from a library, drop- ping them into a window, and applying attributes like size, color, and font. KPWin automatically gener- ates alterable corresponding code. You can link your ob- jects to external DLLs via one-line commands. This DLL support lets you ac- cess all the commands in the Microsoft Multimedia De- velopers Kit, the company reports. Knowledge Garden also offers the KPWin SVW Video Toolkit, an add-in toolkit for controlling motion video in real time. The Video Toolkit works with New Media Graphics' Super VideoWindows over- lay board. Price: KPWin 2.0, $249; SVW Video Toolkit, $299. Contact: Knowledge Gar- den, Inc., 12-8 Technology Dr.,Setauket, NY11733, (516)246-5400; fax (5 16) 246-5452. Circle 1300 on Inquiry Card. IKnowledgePro Windows 2.0 ^1H c-*- :i| ..''7.--L Next ! Wat* !. The KnowlegePro Windows visual design tools come with source code. You can generate code interactively, amend it, and then feed it back to the design tool. Link and Swap Memory with Blinker 2.0 Said by its developer to be the only linker offer- ing an integrated memory- swap function, Blinker per- forms linking and dynamic overlaying of programs writ- ten in Microsoft C , Zortech and Borland C++, and many other languages. Blinker 2.0 can also dynamically overlay the Microsoft BASIC PDS 7.1 development system. Blinker's memory- swap capability lets you use expanded or extended memory to save an executing program and then shell out and run a second program from within the first. Price: $299. Contact: Blinkinc, P.O. Box 7154, Richmond, VA 23221, (804) 355-4444; fax (804)355-1676. Circle 1301 on Inquiry Card. Add Neural Networking to Windows NeuroWindows lets you incorporate neural net- works into your applica- tions. Release 2.0 adds real- time execution of super- vised and unsupervised learning processes. The li- brary lets you incorporate up to 128 neural networks within a single program. A driver that provides support for the company's Neuro- Board (a RISC-based board for speeding up network training time) is included in release 2.0. Price: NeuroWindows, $369; NeuroBoard, $2000 to $3100, depending on configuration. Contact: Ward Systems Group, Inc., 245 West Pat- rick St., Frederick, MD 21701, (301) 662-7950; fax (301)662-5666. Circle 1 302 on Inquiry Card. A Video Library for C and BASIC LiveWindows lets you write your own video- based applications in C or BASIC. The LiveWindows li- brary lets you scale cap- tured NTSC or PAL video to any size and display it in an on-screen window. The program lets you place VGA text or graphics on your live or frozen video. The LiveWindows li- brary is available for a vari- ety of languages and com- pilers. A motion video board and VGA card with feature connector are required. Price: $395; $995 with video board. Contact: Software Inter- phase, Inc., 82 Cucumber Hill Rd., Suite 140, Foster, RI 02825, (800) 542-2742; fax (401) 397-6814. Circle 1 303 on Inquiry Card. 74 BYTE- APRIL 1992 Raima Database Engine s Fortune 500 ith Record Speed Now Raima Data Manager Formerly^ Accelerated Database Performance Compared to conventional relational databases, retrieval of records can be 10— 20— even 50 times faster with Raima Data Manager from Raima Corporation. Propelling The Biggest Names In Business Companies like General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Eastman Kodak, Rockwell and others are using Raima Data Manager in their competitive environments. Today's most critical, most demanding applications demand the high performance of Raima Data Manager. Powerfully Efficient Leading-Edge Technology Raima's combined technology merges the flexibility of relational databases with the lightning speed and efficient Px ITf TM The High Performance DBMS storage of the network model. With the program written entirely in C, you can "fine-tune" the Raima Data Manager engine for optimum performance in any application. Put Yourself In Fast Company Give yourself the competitive edge of Raima Data Manager • Speed — faster access to data • Portability — supports most environments • Royalty-free — increase your profits • Source code availability— total programming flexibility • Full Raima support services — including training Whether you're writing a stand-alone DOS application, or one for UNIX accessing thousands of records, Raima Data Manager will put your application on the fast track. Race to the phone and call for more information! In the U.S. or Canada, call: 1-800-DB-RAIMA In Washington state or international, call: (206)747-5570 Specifications Relational B-tree indexing. Network data model. Relational SQL query and report writer. Single & multi-user. Automatic recovery. Built-in referential integrity. Supports: VMS, QNX, ULTRIX, UNIX System V, Berkeley 4.2, AIX, SunOS, SCO, MS DOS, MS Windows, and OS/2. Most C Compilers and LANs supported. Raima Corporation 3245 146th Place S.E., Bellevue, WA 98007 USA (206)747-5570 Fax: (206)747-1991 International Distributors: Australia: 61 2 419 7177 Belgium: 32 2 734 9818 Finland: 358 080405350 France: 33 1 46 09 27 84 Germany: 49 7022 34077; 49 214 91051 Italy: 39 49 829 1285 Japan: 81 33 865 2140 Mexico: 52 83 49 53 00 The Netherlands: 31 2159 46814 Norway: 47 2 38 48 88 Singapore: 65 334 0061 Sweden: 46 1 3 1 1 1 588 Switzerland: 41 64 517475 Taiwan: 886 2 552 3277 United Kingdom: 44 992 5009 1 9 Copyright ©1992 Raima Corporation, AH ri K his reserved, Photo: Dale ImI- allelic Circle 11 5 on Inquiry Card. NEWS WHAT'S NEW • BUSINESS SOFTWARE Share Windows, Mac, or GEM Scheduling Data With version 4.0L, Ar- temis Schedule Pub- lisher offers real-time cal- culation of schedules, resources, and costs. The project management tool runs on Windows, Macin- tosh, or GEM systems and lets you share files among the three environments. Schedule Publisher 4.0L uses on-screen option boxes to automatically trigger scheduling data, such as placement of resources or descriptions within the project. Integrated with Schedule Publisher is Artemis Presents 2.0A, Lucas's graphics pre- sentation program. Presents lets you compile reports that include text files, scanned images, and CAD drawings. Price: Schedule Publisher, $1995; Presents, $995; both, $2495. Contact: Lucas Manage- ment Systems, Inc., 12701 Fair Lakes Cir., Suite 350, Fairfax, VA 22033, (703) 222-1 111; fax (703) 222- 8203. Circle 1304 on Inquiry Card. t^iTfl'ing^T'i-iiii-i'ivi-i'i-iiirtv^rini-JI rtmil Kymliolr. M;»»tt:rn Cnltir Sr.lt crluh: Financial Finesse with Mutual Fund CD-ROM Now you can be your own broker by using Morningstar Mutual Funds OnDisc to evaluate, com- pare, and track more than 2200 mutual funds. The CD- ROM package contains a database of front-load, no- load, equity, and fixed-in- come funds. You can use fund data in conjunction with the program's searching and graphing capabilities to select funds and plot them against each other, compare j,™ irjhHr.-hMi'.'biir.: !|n::hiVi;!|Mii::j:nTf:'|-;ni::rii'i'i;:j:! ; ii A SPIF5E JPITYWALKDOWH M M fPtfMECHl'KIl'* ■ MM a u ■ ci B DFSOAJJWCJfl cohfic r?.Lt >}ff?J7rTRW"nn7j inks its Mr ^ )ft 'Milium Aismt fy ± ;.M» 5HIPWEIT £5E JllSTOHAJE Cffl Y/rf>ffl Rai»JTAT0UJUPB-WTE$T gg2 USIIinilllfuCHLL j REMOVE K'i'OkTEK W Artemis Schedule Publisher 's real-time calculation tools let you use a mouse to slide a particular resource and immediately see the impact of your change on other resources. returns for funds over a period of time, and present your findings as graphs or re- ports. You can export fund data via PCX, WK1, and ASCII files for use in spreadsheet, word process- ing, presentation, or other applications. You can measure your Mutual Funds OnDisc selec- tions against nine bench- mark indexes, including the Standard & Poor's 500. The program includes a his- tory and complete portfolio for each fund. In many cases, Morningstar pro- vides information acquired directly from the fund manager. Price: Subscription with annual update, $295; with quarterly update, $495; with monthly update, $795. Contact: Morningstar, 53 West Jackson Bl vd . , Chica- go, IL 60604, (312) 427- 1985; fax (312) 427-9215. Circle 1 305 on Inquiry Card. All-in-One Mac Office Software HandiWorks combines a word processor, a spreadsheet, a basic draw- ing program, page layout tools, and an address data- base in a single Macintosh program. The package pro- vides tools for linking textual and numerical data and up- dating that data within a document. You can import and export ASCII, Microsoft Word, MacWrite, and WriteNow files. HandiWorks supports a variety of graph- ics file formats. Using Clar- is's XTND filters, Handi- Works can exchange files with other word processors and spreadsheets. Price: $175. Contact: MacVonk.USA, 313 Iona Ave. , Narberth, PA 19072, (215)660-0606. Circle 1 306 on Inquiry Card . Heluork H.IJ. lMJlt.ll - \ni[!U(.MilTWUvJtfHJUt«.IIW Using Network H. Q. , the network administrator can collect and update key workstation files such as CONFIG.SYS or WIN. INI. Kim tnJuineed 't Inl-ort 6.W, IRQS KfiJtm&lM. 25tK) ■ :■<■-> txj\ Cfu wax 307ZK M72 Translation Program for HP 95LX The Globalink Transla- tion ROM cards run on Hewlett-Packard's HP 95LX portable computer and use grammatical analysis to do sentence-by-sentence translations between En- glish and German, Spanish, or French. Each 2-MB card contains a pair of dictionaries with more than 50,000 terms. Price: $299 per language pair; $815 for one pair and the HP 95LX. Contact: Globalink, Inc., 9302 Lee Hwy., Fourth Floor, Fairfax, VA 22031, (800) 255-5660 or (703) 273- 5600. Circle 1307 on Inquiry Card. Survey Your Networked Hardware Network administrators can now use Network H.Q. over a variety of net- works to track workstation configurations. Version 2.0 runs over NetWare, Micro- soft LAN Manager, Banyan Vines, and Hayes Lan/Step NOS networks and identi- fies PC model numbers, chip-set data, and other hardware information. Ac- cording to Magee Enter- prises, the H.Q. utility will survey Macs connected to your network. Network H.Q. also surveys software on both the server and worksta- tion internal drives. Price: $395 for 100- work- station license; $595 per server with unlimited users. Contact: Magee Enter- prises, Inc., P.O. Box 1587, Norcross,CA 3007 1,(404) 446-6611; fax (404) 368- 0719. Circle 1 308 on Inquiry Card. 76 B YTE • APRIL 1992 Open new windows with TI microLaser™ printers* And get powerful fonts and graphics, ease of use and more speed than even By now you ve heard how fest and easy Microsoft® Windows™ makes it to tap all that PC power you Ve got on your desk. WeU now there's an affordable, easy way to put that power on paper — microLaser from Texas Instruments. Right out of the box, microl-aser comes with what you need to print the dazzling pages of text and graphics you Ve dreamed of. */m Justplugitinandgo.EJ postscript- That's because microLaser PS models come with PostScript® software from Adobe® and the memory it takes to use it Plus you gety our choice of either 17 or 35 scalable fonts, starring at just $1,399*. New model. More speed* Same price. When it comes to print speed, the new microLaser Plus zips along at 9 ppm. If you need a shared printer solu- tion, turn to the 16 ppm microLaser XL If all that isn't enough, just look at what else you get with microLaser. It's the smallest printer in its class. It han- dles more paper and envelopes in more ways. And it supports more than 4,000 software packages, including your Windows applications. So when you add it all up, you'll understand why the power of your ideas needs the power, convenience and econ- omy of microl-aser. Let microLaser open new windows for you. For the name of the nearest dealer, call 1-800-527-3500. ^r Texas Instruments *T1 suggested retail price. (Dealer prices may vary.) microlaser is a trademark of Texas Instruments Incorporated. Microsoft is a registered trademark and Windows is a trademaikof Microsoft Corporation. Adobe, PostScript and the PostScript logo aie registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. © 1991 TI 71860 Circle 1 30 on Inquiry Card. Set Van RUN. rogram indow Run We've just added a new word to the database vocabulary: RUN. And it can make you a master of your database management universe. Even if you've never managed a database before. The most power fill PC DBMS available is now the easiest to use, too: FoxPro ™ 2.0. Pick Run from the FoxPro 2.0 main menu and you have instant access to your information. Click on Report, choose the name of the report you want, and it's yours. Do the same for queries, forms, labels and applications. For answers on-the-fly, pick RQBE (Relational Query By Example) and get a simple interface for creating custom queries quickly and easily. Unlike other query systems, RQBE lets you browse the information or create instant databases, reports, labels, or business graphs (with optional FoxGraph or other graphic program). Custom systems are easy, too. You create quick reports, forms, labels and applications by clicking on the New button in the dialog box instead of picking a name from the list. Then using our simple tools, you build forms containing buttons, lists, check boxes, text regions and data fields. Reports with headers, footers and subtotals, And even complete applications. All without any programming. So while it's the most powerful DBMS you can get today, it's ideal for small businesses and large. In industry or government. For invoicing and inventory control, order entry and accounting, and all your data handling needs, FoxPro is the state-of-the-database-art. FoxPro 2.0 is the object-oriented, event-driven DBMS programmers have been waiting for, too. We've added over 100 new and enhanced commands. 4GL (Fourth Generation Language) tools for creating screens, reports and menus as reusable application objects. And the ability to attach entry and exit procedures to fields, forms and windows for pre- and post-processing. We've integrated SQL SELECT, UPDATE and CREATE TABLE into the language, with the ability to use RQBE for creating SELECT statements you just cut and paste into your application code. We've added a project manager on top of our debugger, trace window, and editor, We provide an Application Program Interface (API) that links to C or assembler function libraries (Library Construction Kit optional). And we offer an optional Distribution Kit to distribute your applications royalty-free. Today's best choice for upgrading or downsizing critical database applications. FoxPro is devastatingly faster than competitive products (see chair- the difference is even greater in single-user tests), and has out-queried even mainframe data- bases like Oracle, XBD and DB2, using our patent-pending Rushmore" query optimization, It's backward compatible with dBASE III+/IV and earlier versions of Fox software to protect your investments in hard- ware, software, training, and support. And in the few months since its release, FoxPro 2.0 has swept the awards. Best DOS Application - Spring COMDEX. Technical Excellence -PC. Award of Excellence -Byte. Best DBMS -Data Based Advisor. And many, many others from both editors and users of FoxPro 2.0. No one comes close to FoxPro's multi-user query response. DOS, Windows, Macintosh AND UNIX databases SQL Server Applications developed today with FoxPro for DOS, unlike other databases, will be able to run under Windows and SCO/UNIX and on the Macintosh when we release our new versions of FoxPro later this year. Get a headstart on tomorrow today. Today, FoxPro exchanges data with FoxBASE+ on Macs and on PCs running SCO UNIX. Later this year, FoxPro will be available for Windows, UNIX, and the Mac, all with access to Netware SQL, SQL Server, and Oracle databases. And applications written using FoxPro's 4GL tools will be platform-adaptive, so DOS or Windows applications will run on UNIX or the Macintosh, and vice-versa. Which means you can get a headstart on your future by starting your Windows, Mac or UNIX devel- opment now with FoxPro on your current DOS PCs. It comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee. So pick up a copy of FoxPro 2.0 at your nearest computer or software store. Try it out for 60 days, then if you don't like it, just return it to your dealer for a full refund. But we think you'll agree with Byte magazine in their 1/92 review of dBASE: ",, .FoxPro is the better product." Call 1-800-837-FOX2 today. (419-874-0162 from Canada) AskforLitPakBYT401 tQuery benchmark tests performed by Micro Endeavors, Inc. (215) 449-4680, from Data Based Advisor 8/91. FoxPro, FoxBASE+ and FoxBASEWMac are trademarks of Fox Holdings Inc.; other products are not. © Fox Holdings Inc. 1992. Circle 70 on Inquiry Card. NEWS WHAT'S NEW • SCIENCE / ENGINEERING SOFTWARE Animate Your Spyglass Data Models Anew scripting capabil- ity enables Spyglass Transform 2. 1 for the Mac- intosh to create animated images from your plotted data. Scripting lets you auto- mate Transform commands and batch-process your 2-D data files. Because the pro- gram accepts Apple events, you can run Transform commands from other appli- cations. The template fea- ture lets you save Transform commands performed on one data set and execute them later on another data set. According to Spyglass, the program performs five to 1 times faster than the pre- vious version. Transform 2. 1 lets you control orientation, axis loca- tion, and labeling. You can run plot animations as PICS, HDF, or PICT sequences. Price: $495. Contact: Spyglass, Inc., 701 Devonshire Dr., C- 17, Champaign, IL 61820, (217) 355-6000; fax (217) 355-8925. Circle 1309 on Inquiry Card. Turn Your Monitor into a Meter Display PCImeter lets you dis- play analog data on- screen as digital and analog meters and bar graphs. You hi' am Prttl<*tn:3 M u nth jteain r. You can scale Spyglass Transform colors to represent actual numeric values. can run up to 16 meters si- multaneously, and you can set high and low alarm points for each meter. If you so desire, PCImeter can be configured to trigger digital outputs as your data reaches the setpoints. You can save meters to your PCImeter application files and recon- figure them at any time. PCImeter runs under Windows 3.0 or higher. The program acquires data for analysis via an Intelligent In- strumentation I/O board, and it can export the results to Microsoft Excel spread- sheets using Dynamic Data Exchange. Price: $95. Contact: Intelligent Instru- mentation, 1 141 West Grant Rd.,MS 131, Tucson, AZ 85705, (602) 623-9801; fax (602)623-8965. Circle 1 31 on Inquiry Card. PCImeter, here displaying a digital meter (lower right corner), an analog meter (bottom center), and bar graphs (left and top). Math Modeling with Expanded Graphics Tools atlab 4.0 merges nu- meric computation software with application- specific tools and graphics capabilities to provide a mathematical modeling tool with a variety of analytical functions. Enhancements to the X Window System pro- gram include sparse matrix support, support for data import and export via any ar- bitrary file format, and sound output. Version 4.0 provides tools for analyzing and visualizing data, as well as optimizing engineering sys- tem designs and algo- rithms. You can use Matlab 4.0 to create mathematical models, solve systems of equations, and perform general computations. The program lets you create and animate 3-D graphs using rectangular, spherical, and general parametric coordi- nate systems. Matlab 4.0 is available for the Sparcstation; Hewlett- Packard 900/300, 400, and 700; IBM RISC System/ 6000; DECstation Ultrix; and Silicon Graphics workstations. Price: $2995. Contact: The MathWorks, Inc., Cochituate Place, 24 Prime Park Way, Natick, MA 01760, (508)653-1415; fax (508) 653-2997. Circle 1311 on Inquiry Card. Develop and Plot Systems of Equations With VisSim for Win- dows, you can turn the most convoluted equation into a sensible data model. VisSim lets you build flow- chart-style programs from data blocks and connect the blocks with function-per- forming FlexWires. Once you've developed your pro- gram (e.g., for representing the cycles of a bouncing ball or the flow of blood in the human body), VisSim plots it against a time element. Ver- sion 1 . 1 lets you alter your data model by using a slider control to adjust the source data. You can save your Vis- Sim models as screens and export them to Windows applications such as Word- Perfect. The program lets you import and export ASCII data files, and you can print your models on all Windows- supported output hardware. VisSim lets you build model programs that contain up to 16,300 data blocks. Visual Solutions also offers a personal version with a 255-block limit. The com- pany recommends using a math coprocessor with VisSim. Price: Professional version, $895; personal version, $190. Contact: Visual Solutions, Inc., 487 Groton Rd., West- ford, MA 01886, (508) 692-5499; fax (508) 692- 3102. Circle 1 31 2 on Inquiry Card. 80 BYTE* APRIL 1992 14,400 bps DATA 14/400 bps RAX Voice' Caller ID* 5 Year Warranty Are We Connecting Yet? Introducing the amazing new SupraFAX- Modem™ V.32bis! On the fax side, it has 1 4,400 bps send and receive fax, Class 1 and 2 commands, and compatibility with the millions of Group 3 fax machines in use. On the data side, it connects at 300 to 14,400 bps and provides up to 57,600 bps throughput with (It has MNP 2-5 and 1 0, too.) Plus its revolutionary display gives you 25 different status reports! And far just a little more, you can easily add caller ID and voice capabilities later this year. In addition to the $ 399 95 stand-alone version (without software), SupraFAXModems are available in Windows™, DOS™, and Macintosh™ V.42bis compression. 9600 bps Version Supm Corporation* packages. 1 -800-727-8647 7101 Supra Drive S.W., Albany, OR 97321 USA • 503-967-2410 • Fax: 503-967-2401 * Low-cost, user-installable Voice & Caller ID upgrades available Q2 '92. All trademarks belong to their respective companies, Circle 171 on Inquiry Card. NEWS WHAT'S NEW • CAD AND GRAPHICS SOFTWARE View AutoCAD Files on Your Sparcstation Drawing Librarian for Sun lets you view and make notes on AutoCAD, DXF, and slide files. You can access AutoCAD draw- ings on your Sparcstation via Sun's Open Look interface or use Drawing Librarian to convert DWG files to DXF. Using a menu of drawing commands, Drawing Librar- ian lets you mark up CAD images and save the notations in a separate file. The pro- gram's functions include zoom and rotate, and you can display blocks, layers, and other AutoCAD infor- mation. Drawing Librarian supports AutoCAD versions up through release 1 1 . Price: $1000. Contact: SoftSource, 301 West Holly St., Bellingham, WA 98225, (206) 676- 0999; fax (206) 671-1 131. Circle 1 3 1 3 o n Inquiry Card. FreeHand Upgrades for Mac and Windows Upgrades to the Aldus FreeHand design pro- gram are available for Win- dows and Macintosh environ- ments. FreeHand 3.0 for Windows lets you access tools and layers via floating palettes. You can also use the Windows upgrade to draw and edit in full-screen color preview mode. FreeHand 3 . 1 for the Mac offers a pres- sure-sensitive capability for use with freehand drawing tools. The program fully supports System 7.0 and of- fers new file import and ex- port options. Price: $595 each. Contact: Aldus Corp., 411 First Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98104,(206)628-2320. Circle 1314 on Inquiry Card. Drawing Librarian lets you view and add notes to files faster than with AutoCAD, SoftSource reports. Graphing and Presentation Tools for Mac Version 1.5 of Delta- Graph Professional of- fers System 7.0 support and more than 40 styles of busi- ness and scientific charts. DGP lets you import text and graphics data via WKS, PICT, and other filters, Pub- lish/Subscribe, or a direct link to Microsoft Excel. Once you import your data, you can plot it as a column, pie, or other business chart or as a scientific chart (e.g., a time line, spider, or bub- ble). Charting options in- clude scatter, surface, and true 3-D jc, y, z surface plots. DGP lets you create un- limited libraries in which to store custom-formatted charts, clip art, or other items. The Slide Show fea- ture lets you present charts from the screen as printouts or as screen captures. Slide Show offers 32 slide transi- tion effects. Price: $295. Contact: DeltaPoint, Inc., 2 Harris Court, Suite B-l , Monterey, CA 93940, (408) 648-4000; fax (408) 648- 4020. Circle 1315 on Inquiry Card. SPREAD THE WORD Please address new product information to New Products Editors, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Better yet, use your modem and mail new product information to the mi- crobytes.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. A Multitude of Tools for AutoCAD With version 5.0 of ASG Core, you can now apply a wide variety of tools and utilities to Auto- CAD applications. The pro- gram contains a hierarchical layer manager, a scheduling manager, a cost-estimating interface, menu and text file editors, Advanced Mod- eling Extension menus, full metric and imperial support, compatibility with NetWare and other networks, and other features. Price: $495. Contact: ASG, 4000 Bridgeway, Suite 309, Sausa- lito, CA 94965, (415) 332- 2123; fax (415) 332-2146. Circle 1316 on Inquiry Card. Scan Text and Graphics with OmniPage OmniPage, for Macin- tosh systems, automati- cally separates text from graphics and lets you scan any document, regardless of the number of typefaces or columns. OmniPage's opti- cal-character-recognition tools let you process text at rates of up to 2000 words per minute. The Verification Window lets you edit a scanned document while si- multaneously viewing a bit- mapped image of the origi- nal page. Other features include the ability to recognize and correct upside-down scans, correct interpretation of simi- lar-looking characters, and System 7. support. Price: $995. Contact: Caere Corp., 100 Cooper Court, Los Gatos, CA 95030, (408) 395-7000; fax (408) 354-2743. Circle 1 3 1 7 on Inquiry Card. 82 BYTE* APRIL 1992 DIGITAL ft HAS AN IMPORT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR WHOSE WORK TAKES THEM OFF THE BEATEN PATH. ^a;=: I ,Q f w f E I" I T IfeiM ' -I Mfel* I! fir a t s f D i F i s i H i j i K -I L T* *i :: u iff insar WEIL BE THERE WHEN YOU GET THERE. Desktop Direct from Digital™ With Desktop Direct from Digital, you're never alone on the road. A support team of 10,000 stands behind every i386™-based, 20MHz DECpc™ 320P Notebook Personal Computer. Wherever you are, we're just a free phone call away. So whether you need help running Windows™ in a Wisconsin coffee shop or advice on connecting a modem in a midtown Manhattan hotel, give us a call. If we can't solve your problem over the telephone, we'll send you a repaired system— even on the road— within 48 hours. Even in the unlikely event that your disk drive goes down in Des Plaines or your keyboard comes loose in Kalamazoo. Think of it as travel insurance for your notebook computer. Circle 65 on Inquiry Card. DECpc 320P Wherever you go, you won't miss any connections with the DECpc 320P Notebook. That's because the 320P comes standard With a 2400 baud modem so you won't get behind in answering your MCI (R) Mail -or get cut off from your company database. And at $1,995 the DECpc 320P Notebook is priced to go. Fast. We put it all on the table. The 20MH2 DECpc 320P Notebook Personal Computer is the most comfortable to use on the market today, while the components inside are the hottest. We started with the Intel™ 3 8 6sx™ processor and the built-in 2400 baud modem (optional data/FAX modem). Because we don't believe you should have to sacrifice power for portability. r— j j _ Next, we made the standard 2MB memory expandable to 8MB -plenty of room for running multiple Windows applications. For extra oomph in spreadsheet recalcs, we made room for an optional 80387sx™ Math Coprocessor. Then we added a 40MB (optional 80MB) hard drive and a 3.5" Floppy diskette drive for ample storage -with DOS™ 5.0 and Windows 3.0 pre-installed. We topped off the chassis with the Triple Super Twist (TST) Backlit VGA display— "that puts Windows on-screen without an aggravating blur. nC CIf TAP We built an AC adapter to weigh less than a pound— so it's easy to fflDFOT carry around— andwe added the Logitech™ TrackMan®Portable,for FREE, from We even included a three-hour plus battery life to keep you j|G| IAl up and running even when you're away from it all. So call Desktop Direct, before you go, anywhere. Taking PCs into the world ahead Call Desktop Direct at 1-800 PC BY DEC (1-800-722-9332) Please reference ALU when you call. 8:30 am to 8:00 pm (ET) Mon.-Fri . 'r\ V* • Circle 65 on Inquiry Card. LEADER OF The DECpc 320P Notebook Includes: Microprocessor: Intel i386sx running at 20MHz Memory: 2MB Storage: 40MB IDE Hard Disk Drive 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Display: TST Backlit VGA Modem: 2400 bps Data Keyboard: 84-key Keyboard Mouse: Logitech TrackMan Portable Operating Systems: MS-DOS 5.0 and MS-Windows 3.0 (factory installed) (Carrying case included) Special Package Price $4 , FR-PCPll-AA *3 r The DECpc 31 6sx Includes: Microprocessor: Memory: Storage: Resolution Mode: Display: Keyboard: Mouse: Intel i386sx running at 16MHz 1MB, 80ns Memory Kit 52MB IDE Hard Disk Drive 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy 1024 X 768 SVGA Adapter 14" Multi-sync VGA Color Monitor 101 -key Keyboard Three-button Mouse Operating Systems: MS-DOS 5.0 and MS-Windows 3.0 Special Package Price $4 7/lCk \ rOVl \ DJ-PC444-05 Ijf »T^ \j?SK5-* The DECstation 325c Includes: Microprocessor: Memory: Storage: Resolution Mode: Display: Keyboard: Mouse: Intel i386 running at 25MHz 4MB, 80ns Memory Kit 52MB IDE Hard Disk Drive 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy 1.2" dd Floppy 1024 X 768 SVGA Adapter 14" VGA Color Monitor 101-key Keyboard Three-button Mouse Operating Systems: MS-DOS 5.0 and MS-Windows 3-0 r^S? Special Package Price $« 4 7Q \ii)SN* DJ-PC462-04 ^jll9 \*PBVC^J Circle 65 on Inquiry Card. THE PACKS. The DECpc 320P Notebook Includes: Microprocessor: Intel i386sx running at 20MHz Memory: 2MB Storage: 80MB IDE Hard Disk Drive 3.5" L44MB Floppy Display: TST Backlit VGA Modem: 2400 bps Data Keyboard: 84-key Keyboard Mouse: Logitech TrackMan Portable Operating Systems: MS-DOS 5.0 and MS-Windows 3.0 (factory installed) (Carrying case included) Special Package Price $i FR-PCP11-FA '2,495 The DECstation™ 320sx Includes: Microprocessor: Memory: Storage: Resolution Mode: Display: Keyboard: Mouse: Operating Systems: Intel i386sx running at 20MHz 1MB, 80ns Memory Kit 52MB IDE Hard Disk Drive 1024 X 768 SVGA Adapter 14" Multi-sync VGA Color Monitor 101-key Keyboard Three-button Mouse MS-DOS 5.0 and MS-Windows 3.0 Special Package Price DJ-PC443-05 *1,849 vagi The DECpc 433 Workstation Includes: Microprocessor: Memory: Storage: Resolution Mode: Display: Keyboard: Mouse: Operating Systems: MS-DOS 5.0 and MS-Windows 3.0 Intel i486 running at 33MHz 8MB, 70ns Memory Kit 40MB IDE Hard Disk Drive 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy 1280 X 1024 TIGA Adapter 20" Color Monitor 101-key Keyboard Three-button Mouse DESKTOP DRECT from DIGITAL Taking PCs into the world ahead Special Package Price Offer Good Thru 3/3 1/92 DJ-PCW 10-02 "4,999 Off' 1-800 PC BY DEC (1-800-722-9332) Please reference ALU When you Call. Circle 65 on Inquiry Card. PUT YOUR PC TOGETHER ON PAPER. and we'll send you a special system recommendation. Or call 1-800-722-9332 and we'll recommend by phone. DESKTOP DRECT from DIGITAL Taking PCs into the world ahead i iKC. iJMsx. H(>iH7$i and Intel are trademarks of Iniel Corporarion. MCI Mail is a rc^isciTi'J rradumark of MCI Cummunicanons Corporation. Windows, and DOS ar trademarks and Microsoft and MS-DOS arc registered rrademarks of Microsoft Corporation Logitech is a rradrmark and TrackMan is a registered trademark of Logitech lntcrnjtiun.il S. A. Apple is a registered trade-mark of Apple Corpnration. Compaq is a registered Trademark of COMPAQ Compurer Corporation. AST is a Trademark of AST Researchers, Inc. Dell is J registered trademark of Dell Corporation OS/2 and PC/AT arc- registered trademarks and Presentation Manager isa trademark of Intcrnatinnal Bosiness Machines. Q&A is a registered trademark of Symantec Corporation. NetWare is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. Banyar Vines is i registered trademark of Banyan Systems. Inc. Vl-SI is a registered trademark of V1.S1 Design Associates TOPCAT is a registered trademark of Westinghnuse Coloration. The DIGITAL logo, DECpi , DECstarion and I'ATHWORKSare trademarksof Digital i:t]itipinent Corporation. Circle 65 on Inquiry Card. Title Company Name Address City State Zip Your Telephone No. Your FAX No. I'd like information on: D DECpc i386 and i386sx based systems LJ DECpc i486 and i486sx based systems □ The DECpc 320P Notebook LZI The Catalog Customization Worksheet Your base system is a: □ 286 □ 386 □ 486 □ Other How many applications will your PC(s) run in a typical workday? What best describes the type of work the system will be used for? (Check all that apply) □ Desktop Publishing [H Education □ Design (CAD/CAM) □ Engineering □ Industrial Process Control D Word Processing [H Order-entry □ Database (filing records) [H Financial Calculations [D Retail Store Management D Scientific Research □ Software Development □ E-Mail [H Other industry-specific applications (please specify) How many people work in your group, department or small business? □ Less than 10 □ 10-20 □ 20-35 D More Is your operating system: □ DOS □ DOS with Windows DOS/2 DMAC DUNIX™ D Other Which of the following graphics-oriented applications best describes your needs? (Check all that apply) □ Desktop Publishing □ Realtime Modeling Q AutoCad D CAD/CAM □ Animation □ Business Graphics □ Image Processing LAN Communication How many PCs do you have installed?. . From how many manufacturers?- What kinds of connections does your PC(s) require? (Check all that apply) [D Links with other PCs in the immediate surroundings D Connection to the local area network (LAN) throughout a building D A line to a host system in a remote location What kind of media (cable) is used in your LANs today?. What is the networking software now being used in your company?. What kind of host system will your PC communicate with? DDEC DIBM □ Other What Kind of Service Do You Really Need? D On-site Hardware Support □ Software Support □ Telephone Support □ Training □ FAX Hotline How many of your users take portables on the road?_ Do you currently have a service contract(s) for your PCs? How many?. 1-800 PC BY DEC (1-800-722-9332) Please reference ALU when you call. FREE PRODUCT INFORMATION Mail Your Completed Card Today. For Quicker Response, Fax to 1-41 '3-637-4343! Circle the numbers on Inquiry Card which correspond to inquiry numbers assigned to items of interest to you. Check all the appropriate answers to questions "A" through "E". Print Your name and address and mail, or fax to 1-413-637-4343 Fill out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT. A. What is your primary Job function/principal area of responsibility? (Check one.) 1 D MIS/DP 4 □ Sales/Marketing 2 □ Programmer/Systems Analysl 5 □ Engineer/Scientist 3 D Adminislralion/Managemenl 6 □ Other B. What is your level of management responsibility? 7 D Senior-level g □ Professional 8 D Middle-level C Are you a reseller (VAR, VAD, Dealer, Consultant)? 10 □ Yes 1 1 □ No Inquiry Numbers 1-493 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103104105 120 121 122 137138139 154 155 156 171 172 173 188 189 190 205 206 207 222 223 224 106 107 108 123 124 125 140 141 142 157 158 159 174 175 176 191 192 193 208 209 210 225 226 227 109 110 111 126127 128 143 144 145 160 161 162 177 178 179 194 195 196 211 212 213 228 229 230 112 113 114 129 130 131 146147 148 163164 165 180 181 182 197 198 199 214 215 216 231 232 233 115 116 117 118 119 132133134 135 136 149 150 151 152 153 166 167 168 169 170 183 184 185 186 187 200 201 202 203 204 217 218 219 220 221 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 266 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 266 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 336 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 365 366 367 382 383 384 399 400 401 416 417 418 433 434 435 450 451 452 467 468 469 484 485 486 368 369 370 385 386 387 402 403 404 419 420 421 436 437 438 453 454 455 470 471 472 487 488 489 371 372 373 374 386 389 390 391 405 405 407 408 422 423 424 425 439 440 441 442 456 457 458 459 473 474 475 476 490 491 492 493 Inquiry Numbers 494-986 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 676 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722723724 725726727728729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 766 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822823824825826827828829 830831 832 833 834 835 936 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 648 849 850 851 652 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 901 902 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 913 914 915 916 917 918 919 920921 922 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 936 937 936 939 940 941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 956 959 960 961 962 963 964 965 968 957 968 969 970 971 972 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 O. What operating systems are you currently using? (Check all that apply.) 12 □ PC/MS-DDS 15 □ UNIX 1 3 D DOS + Windows 1 6 □ MacDS 14 DOS/2 17 □ 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 D Please send me one year of BYTE Magazine for $24.95 and bill me. Offer valid in US. and possessions only. APR II Inquiry Numbers 987-1479 IRSD04C 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 1000 1001 1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008 1009 1010 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019 1020 1021 1022 1023 1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 1048 1049 1050 1051 1052 1053 1054 1055 1056 1057 1058 1059 1060 1061 1062 1063 1064 1065 1066 1067 1068 1069 1070 1071 1072 1073 1074 1075 1076 1077 1078 1079 1080 1081 1082 1083 1084 1085 1086 1087 1088 1089 1090 1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 1097 1098 1099 tlOO 1101 1102 1103 1104 1105 1106 1107 1108 1109 1110 1111 1112 1113 1114 1115 1116 1117 1118 1119 1120 1121 1122 1123 1124 1125 1126 1127 1128 1129 1130 1131 1132 1133 1134 1135 1136 1137 1138 1139 1140 1141 1142 1143 1144 1145 1146 1147 1148 1149 1150 1151 1152 1153 1154 1155 1156 1157 1158 1159 1160 1161 1162 1163 1164 1165 1166 1167 1168 1169 1170 1171 1172 1173 1174 1175 1176 1177 1178 1179 1180 1181 1182 1183 1184 1185 1186 1187 1188 1189 1190 1191 1192 1193 1194 1195 1196 1197 1198 119912001201 120212031204 1205 12061207 1208 1209 1210 1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223 1224 122512261227 1242 1243 1244 1259 1260 1261 127612771278 1293 1294 1295 1310 1311 1312 1327 1328 1329 12281229 1245 1246 1262 1263 1279 1280 1296 1297 13131314 13301331 1344 1345 1361 1362 13781379 1395 1396 14121413 1429 1430 1446 1447 1463 1464 1346 1347 1348 1363 1364 1365 1380 1381 1382 1397 1398 1399 141414151416 143114321433 144814491450 1465 1466 1467 1230 1231 1247 1248 1264 1265 1281 1282 1298 1299 13151316 1332 1333 1349 1350 1366 1367 1383 1384 14001401 14171418 1434 1435 1451 1452 1468 1469 1232 1233 1249 1250 12661267 1283 1284 1300 1301 13171318 1334 1335 1351 1352 13681369 1385 1386 1402 1403 14191420 1436 1437 1453 1454 1470 1471 1234 1235 1251 1252 1268 1269 12851286 1302 1303 1319 1320 13361337 1353 1354 1370 1371 13871388 1404 1405 1421 1422 1438 1439 1455 1456 14721473 123612371238 1253 1254 1255 1270 1271 1272 1287 1288 1289 1304 1305 1306 1321 1322 1323 1338 1339 1340 1239 1240 1241 1256 1257 1258 1273 1274 1275 1290 1291 1292 1307 1308 1309 1324 1325 1326 1341 1342 1343 13551356 1372 1373 1389 1390 14061407 14231424 14401441 1457 1458 1474 1475 1357 1358 1359 1360 1374 1375 1376 1377 1391 1392 1393 1394 1408 1409 1410 1411 1425 14261427 1428 1442 1443 1444 1445 1459 1460 1461 1462 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 BVTE READER SERVICE PO Box 5110 Pittsfleld, MA 01203-9926 USA ...II..I.III II, I.I.. I.I.. ..I.I.II..I..I.I FREE PRODUCT INFORMATION Mail Your Completed Card Today. For Quicker Response, Fax to 1-413-637-43431 Circle the numbers on Inquiry Card which correspond to inquiry numbers assigned to items of interest to you. Check all the appropriate answers to questions "A" through "E". * ^ Print Your name and address and mail, or rax to 1-413-637-4343 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 BVTE READER SERVICE PO Box 5110 Pittsfield, MA 01203-9926 USA • ILI.III II.I.I..I.I....I.I.II..I..I.I Fill out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT. CITY ( ) PHONE FAX Inquiry Numbers 1-493 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 120 121 122 123 137 138 139 140 154 155 156 157 171 172 173 174 188 189 190 191 205 206 207 208 222 223 224 225 107 108 109 124 125 126 141 142 143 158 159 160 175 176 177 192 193 194 209 210 2t1 226 227 228 no ni 112 127 128 129 144 145 146 161 162 163 178 179 180 195 196 197 212 213 214 229 230 231 T13 TI4 115 130 131 132 147 148 149 164 165 166 181 182 183 198 199 200 215 216 217 232 233 234 T16 T17 TIB t19 133 134 135 136 150 151 152 153 167 168 169 170 184 185 186 187 201 202 203 204 218 219 220 221 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 3T1 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 336 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 375 376 377 378 379 392 393 394 395 396 409 410 4T1 412 413 426 427 428 429 430 443 444 445 446 447 460 461 482 463 464 477 478 479 480 481 363 364 365 380 381 382 397 398 399 414 415 416 431 432 433 448 449 450 465 466 467 462 483 484 366 367 366 383 384 385 400 401 402 417 4T8 419 434 435 436 451 452 453 468 469 470 465 466 487 369 370 371 386 387 388 403 404 405 420 421 422 437 438 439 454 455 456 471 472 473 466 489 490 372 373 374 389 390 391 408 407 408 423 424 425 440 441 442 457 456 459 474 475 476 491 492 493 A. What is your primary job function/principal area of responsibility? (Check one.) ID MIS/DP 4 □ Sales/Marketing 2 D Programmer/Systems Analyst 5 □ Engineer/Scientist 3 D Administration/Management 6 □ Other B. What is your level of management responsibility? 7 □ Senior-level 9 □ Professional 8 a Middle-level C. Are you a reseller (VAR, VAO, Dealer, Consultant)? 10 □ Yes 11DNo Inquiry Numbers 494-986 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 5tl 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522523 524 525526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 596 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 608 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 7I8 719 720721 722723 724 725726727728729 730731 732733734 749 750 751 766 767 768 783 784 785 800 801 802 817 818 819 834 835 838 851 852 853 868 869 870 885 886 887 902 903 904 919 920 921 936 937 938 953 954 955 970 971 972 735736737738739 752 753 754 755 756 769 770 771 772 773 786 787 788 789 790 803 804 805 806 807 820 821 822 823 824 837 838 839 840 841 740741742743744745 757 758 759 760 761 762 774 775 776 777 778 779 791 792 793 794 795 796 808 809 810 8T1 812 813 825 826 827 828 829 830 842 843 844 845 846 847 746 747 748 763 764 765 780 781 782 797 798 799 814 815 816 831 832 833 848 849 850 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 901 905 906 907 908 909 910 9t1 912 913 914 915 916 917 918 922 923 924 925 926 927 926 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 939 940 941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 952 956 957 958 959 960 961 962 963 964 965 966 967 968 969 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 D. What operating systems are you currently using? (Check all that apply.) 12 □ PC/MS-DOS 15 □ UNIX 13 □ DOS + Windows 16 □ MacOS 14 D OS/2 17 □ VAX/VMS E. For how many people do you Influence the purchase of hardware or software? 18 □ 1-25 20 D 51-99 19 □ 26-50 21 D100 or more □ Please send me one year of BYTE Magazine for $24.95 and bill me. Offer valid in U.S. and possessions only. APRIL Inquiry Numbers 987-1479 IRSD04C 987 988 1004 1005 1021 1022 1038 1039 10551056 10721073 1089 1090 989 990 1006 1007 1023 1024 1040 1041 1057 1058 1074 1075 1091 1092 991 992 1008 1009 1025 1026 1042 1043 1059 1060 1076 1077 1093 1094 993 994 1010 1011 1027 1028 1044 1045 1061 1062 10781079 1095 1096 995 996 10121013 10291030 1046 1047 10631064 10801081 1097 1098 997 998 1014 1015 1031 1032 1048 1049 10651066 1082 1083 1099 1100 9991000100110021003 10161017101810191020 10331034 103510361037 10501051105210531054 1067 1068 1069 1070 1071 1084 1085 1086 1087 1088 T101 T102 T103 T104 T105 1106 1107 1108 1123 1124 1125 T140 T141 T142 1157 1158 T159 1174 tl 75 T176 TI91 1192 1193 120812091210 T109 T110 1126 1127 TI43 1144 TI60 1161 1177 TI78 1194 1195 T2TJ 1212 tin 1112 1113 Tl 14 1115 1116 1117 T118 T119 T120 1121 1122 TI28 TI29 1130 1131 T132 1133 1134 1135 1136 1137 TT38 1139 T145 1146 T147 T148 1149 1150 1151 T152 T153 T154 tl 55 T156 Tl 62 T163 t164 T165 T166 T167 1168 1169 T170 11 71 TI72 T173 TI79 T180 1181 TI82 H83 1184 1185 T186 T187 1188 T189 T190 1196 TI97 1198 1199 1200 1201 1202 1203 1204 1205 1206 1207 1213 1214 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223 1224 1225 1226 1242 1243 1259 1260 1276 1277 1293 1294 1310 13T1 1327 1328 1227 1228 1229 124412451246 1261 1262 1263 127812791280 1 295 1296 1 297 13121313 1314 1329 1330 1331 1230 1231 1232 124712481249 1264 1265 1266 1281 12821283 129812991300 131513161317 1332 1333 1334 12331234 12501251 1267 1268 1284 1285 1301 1302 1318 1319 13351336 1235 1236 12521253 1269 1270 1286 1287 13031304 1320 1321 1337 1338 123712381239 125412551256 127112721273 128812891290 130513061307 132213231324 1339 1340 1341 134413451346 1361 1362 1363 137813791380 139513961397 141214131414 1429 1430 1431 144614471448 1463 1464 1465 1347 1348 1364 1365 1381 1382 1398 1399 14151416 1432 1433 1449 1450 1466 1467 1349 1350 13661367 1383 1384 1400 1401 1417 1418 1434 1435 1451 1452 1468 1469 1351135213531354 1368 1369 1370 1371 138513861387 1388 1402 1403 1404 1405 1419 14201421 1422 1436 1437 1438 1439 14531454 14551456 14701471 147214/3 13551356 1372 1373 13891390 1406 1407 1423 1424 1440 1441 1457 1458 1474 1475 1357 1358 1374 1375 1391 1392 1408 1409 1425 1426 1442 1443 14591460 14761477 12401241 12571258 12741275 1291 1292 13081309 1325 1326 13421343 1359 1360 13761377 1393 1394 1410 14T1 1427 1428 1444 1445 1461 1462 14781479 USER'S COLUMN JERRY POURNELLE User's Choice Awards It's that time again. Unlike some people, I don't give my annual awards until the end of the year, which means it is now time for the 1991 User's Choice Awards and the Chaos Manor Orchid and Onion Parade. Two cheers for IBM for not releasing OS/2 2.0 in 1991. They advertised that it will be a better DOS than DOS and a better Windows than Windows, and no mat- ter that it's been coming Real Soon Now for quite a while, they're not going to ship it until it works proper- ly. I can agree with that decision. Two cheers for Bill Gates for delaying the release of Windows 3.1 and announcing Windows NT (New Tech- nology) years before it will ship. Meanwhile, out here in User Land, we'd just like something stable that works and won't give us unrecoverable applications errors.... Three cheers and an orchid for AMD and their 386 chip, which has sent the prices of 386 systems tumbling, and for developing a 40-MHz 386 chip. Two cheers to the Taiwanese clone makers who advertise systems as "Intel Inside" and then in small print tell us they're using AMD chips.... User's Choice I began the annual User's Choice Awards on a whim. This was long before everyone else began giving awards. It was also duiing the early days in the computer indus- try, when there weren't many products that deserved awards. I conceived it as part of my job to drive the com- puter industry in directions I thought would be best for users. The awards, as well as the onions and orchids, were designed to further that end, and they've had some success. The trouble is that I began with the wrong approach, because I wanted to give awards for "the best of the year." That wasn't bad in the early days, when I really could look at most of the major items in any given cate- gory, but now it's often plain ridiculous to pretend that I have looked at everything significant. Worse, though, is how do I choose when several products are more than good enough? Sometimes, though, a product will stand out so much that there's little doubt, and I have no hesitation in call- ing it the top product in its field. When that happens, I'll say so. But do understand that just because some product stands out alone doesn't mean that it's "better" in some absolute sense than another wonderful product that has to share the glory with a competitor. Good enough is good enough, and that's how User's Choice Awards should be taken. By designating a product as User's Choice, I'm saying that if you need its capability, you won't be sorry you bought it. The rules here are simple: I don't recommend any- thing I have not personally used long enough to have confidence in. I discuss these decisions with my BYTE editorial colleagues, and BYTE helps distribute the cer- tificates, but the User's Choice Awards remain my sole responsibility. Blame me, not BYTE.... The annual Orchid and Onion Parade at Chaos Manor Upgrading Your System Probably the best upgrade you can buy for your DOS system is a caching drive controller. Caching is a means of antici- pating what data your comput- er will want next and putting that data where the machine can find it fast. For example, all caching systems keep the disk directory and file allocation table in cache memory so that the computer doesn't have to physically access the disk to find out where to get or store a file. After that the caching programs vary, although all of them use some kind of "most used, last discarded" algorithm. One way to get the benefit of caching is to add more mem- ory and use one of the better software caching programs (e.g., Vcache from Golden Bow Systems or even the SMART- DRV.SYS that comes with Windows). However, those programs just add to the work load of your CPU and bus, and they tie up memory you could be using for other things. By contrast, caching controllers have an on-board CPU, so you're doing true multiprocessing. They have al- gorithms at least as good as the software-only caching programs and caching memory on the controller card. The result is a dramatic improvement in performance: reads and writes go much quicker than under straight DOS or DOS with a software cache, and you still have all your expanded memory. Moreover, you can save sys- tem memory. I have not been able to see any difference ILLUSTRATION: STEVE TURK© 1992 APRIL 1992 -BYTE 83 USER'S COLUMN in performance with or without buffers, which wasn't true prior to my getting a caching controller. I have used two caching controllers. The first one I got is from Distributed Pro- cessing Technology, the PM20 11/90 for SCSI hard drives. (I also have their PM301 1/70 for ESDI hard drives.) The other one is the HyperStore 1 600 from Perceptive Solutions, Inc. They both work splendidly. I have to work hard to devise tests that will show any performance ad- vantage to either one. One test I have is a big matrix inversion that repeatedly stores intermediate results on the hard disk. Caching controllers typically save about 50 percent of the 5 minutes the program re- quires when running with a noncache con- troller, and the difference in time for the controllers from DPT and PSI is negligible. Both these controllers are easily in- stalled. Each company has SCSI and ESDI controllers. PSI has configuration mod- ules for other types of drives, so if you Move to Windows, stay with the WAK. Considering Windows? But can't afford to lose contact with your host? KEAterm420is the solution: DEC VT420 terminal emulation software for Windows 3. Now, you can have the best of both worlds! KEAterm 420 is a true Windows 3 application which provides the functionality of DEC's VT420,VT320and VT220 terminals in a window. KEAterm 420 version 2 gives you the features that count: multiple pages, multiple sessions, file transfer, multilingual support (English, French and German), script language and DDE support as well as network connections. Using the familiar Windows interface, KEAterm makes it easy to move between servers, hosts and PC applications. With KEAterm, you can do it easier, do it faster, do it better! To tie it all together, use KEA's network connection software: KEAlink LAT, KEAlink TCP/IP, and KEAlink IPX for concurrently connecting to your Novell network and your VAX or UNIX host. To eliminate keyboard remapping, select KEA's PowerStation VT layout keyboard to plug into your PC. And if you're a DOS or UNIX user, KEA Systems offers the ZSTEM family of VT graphics and text emulation software for desktops running DOS or UNIX. For superior PC- VAX-UNIX connectivity, call today! KEA Systems Ltd. Orders: 1-800-663-8702 Telephone: (604)431-0727 Fax:(604)431-0818 See us at Windows World and Comdex Spring '92, Booth 2742 VT Emulation Under Windows KEA Systems Ltd, 3738 North Fraser Way, Unit 101, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5J 5GL The KEA logo, KEAterm, KEAlink, ZSTEM and PowerStation are trademarks of KEA Systems Ltd. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Copyright© KEA SYSTEMS LTD. 1991. All rights reserved. have such a drive, your choice is clear. Othei-wise, you simply have to go on brand loyalty and price. Moreover, both PSI and DPT controllers have modes to let you use just about any old drive you have available. PSI has a way to add on several different kinds of physical drives and run them all at once through add-on modules known as media adapters. This could be useful if you have, say, a SCSI drive and an IDE drive and want to use both in the same machine. Both PSI and DPT controllers have ways of making your machine believe you have an AT-compatible hard drive, no matter what it really is; they will also let you use the latest and greatest hard drives and soft- ware. Both companies have excellent tech- nical support. Although it isn't needed for simple installations, it can be important as soon as things get tricky. I've been writing about both companies for three years, and I have received no read- er complaints against either. DPT is a big- ger company and has been around longer. Their products cost more, and they use proprietary memory cards. PSI has been steadily gaining market share in the last two years and has been around long enough that I'm sure they'll be here for a while. PSI charges less and uses standard SIMMs for memory. In a word, both companies are plenty good enough. I am pleased to award DPT and PSI User's Choice Awards for 1991 for their caching controllers. Video Boards Windows with old and slow video is near- ly intolerable. If you want to switch to Windows, it's imperative that you get a fast video board. The improvements are dramatic. Our friend Steve Allen Mitchell, a Unix workstation guru, has to work with Windows off and on. He was recently in- troduced to a 486 with an ATI Technolo- gies Graphics Ultra video board and said, "That's as close to a workstation as a PC is going to get." Unfortunately, pure speed is not enough: there are boards out there that are plenty fast enough, but whose BIOS hogs mem- ory the board doesn't really need. It's im- portant to get a board that works properly with Windows, yet allows you to use good memory managers; and it's important to get that board from a company that under- stands driver software. I have had half a dozen video-board companies recommended to me. I'm sure they're all good, but I can recommend only what I use myself. Do understand, I have tested these only under Windows, not un- der the X Window System or Unix. For Windows, the two video boards and 84 BYTE • APRIL 1992 Circle 83 on Inquiry Card. MINUTEMAN TAKES CHARGE IN OVER WOO JCPENNEY STORES. Every time JCPenney sells a pair of jeans, a toaster or a bottle of perfume, MINUTE- MAN takes charge. That's because more than one thousand JCPenney stores rely on MINUTEMAN UPS systems to back up power to their point-of-sale systems. Every day your company relies on its voice and data communications equipment to stay productive. Unfortu- nately, the electricity that powers these vital systems is not reliable. Blackouts, brownouts, spikes, surges and even lightning strikes are common in most business environments. And the high 1 jl ■■- I----I m m - - 1 i£ ! i -o. MINUTEMAN PRODUCTS ■ On-line and standby UPS ■ Shutdown software for every available operating system -300VAtolOKVA ■ Power boost design on the new MINUTEMAN Power Master 600 ■ Automatic voltage regulators ■ International models cost of losing vital informa- tion and productivity due to power outages and surges calls for preventive measures. Power requirements can be confusing. And your company has unique needs that often require Recently JCPenney Co., Inc. changed its operations from the old POS systems to the new PC-based technology, relying on PC platforms for point-of-sale and in-store support. And they back each DickPatefield, Senior Project Manager for Store Systems Support, JCPenney one up with help from MINUTEMAN. "There was a violent surge in one of our stores, " says Patefield. "If we didn 't have the MINUTEMAN unit, it probably would have seriously damaged all of our point-of-sale equipment. "The key was the switch-over time from AC to battery" says Patefield. "It really has the best continuity of the UPS systems we evaluated. Also, the price was very favorable. When you 're installing them in as many locations as we are, the pricing was very attractive." custom solutions. MINUTEMAN offers the most comprehensive line of UPS systems available, protecting all your business equipment from stand-alone workstations to the largest ofthelBMASMOOs. MINUTEMAN products are sold and serviced worldwide. Call on our skilled professionals to help you determine your exact power protection needs. Call our toll-free POWER HOTLINE now for your free Power Protection Guide. (800) 238-7272 MINUTEOMAN UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLIES SEE US AT COMDEX CHICAGO BOOTH #113 © 1992 Para Systems, Inc. , 1455 LeMay Drive, Carrollton, Texas 75007 (214)446-7363 (214) 446-9011 fax Circle 1 00 on Inquiry Card. USER'S COLUMN video software that I currently recommend are from ATI and Sota Technology. Both boards are easy to install, the physical board and software drivers. The documents are complete and easily understood, and technical support is good. I'm pleased to give the ATI Graphics Ultra and the Sota Lightning VGA my 1991 User's Choice Awards. Printers For many years, we have had one of the very first Hewlett-Packard LaserJet print- ers ever made. It was eventually refur- bished as a LaserJet Plus and became The Printer That Would Not Die. Over the years, I came to dislike certain features, particularly the fact that it stacked the pa- per face-up, meaning that a book came out with its pages in the wrong order. It was also difficult to insert letterhead. It wasn't particularly fast, although compared to the Diablo daisy-wheel printer it replaced, it certainly was. All that was mere grousing, though; that printer was wonderful. It worked year af- ter year — never in the shop, never out of service, always there when I needed it. I turned out thousands of letters and a dozen or more books on that printer. It still works and is in use at a church school. But this year I replaced it with a LaserJet III, and once again I'm in love. If you need a real workhorse printer, one good enough for most office work, the LaserJet III is more than just good enough; it's outstanding. It's easily installed. There are dozens of fonts for it (it uses all the font cartridges from my old LaserJet I), and nearly every software package pro- vides drivers for it. It's fast, it's designed so that it's easy to insert letterhead or print envelopes, and it's very reliable. I have no hesitation in giving the Laser- Jet III a User's Choice Award as the most useful printer of 1991. The LaserJet III does have resolution limits, although they aren't severe. As I detailed in a previous column, Jim Baen was able to do the final typesetting of Go Tell the Spartans by Pournelle and Stir- ling using the Baskerville typeface, Ven- tura Publisher, and a LaserJet III to pro- duce masters that were then photoreduced to make the printing plates. However, that book was an all-text paperback printed on typical paperback paper; this process would not have been good enough to do the typeset masters of a larger-format book on slick paper. For that kind of resolution, I recom- mend the LaserMaster TrueTech 1000. This produces 1000-dot-per-inch resolu- tion output with well-shaped letters. The LaserMaster algorithms for increasing printer resolution appear to be better than HP's trick for accomplishing that. Indeed, I see no reason why LaserMaster output couldn't be used to master any book I have, regardless of size, typeface, and pa- per stock. Let me hasten to add that I don't pretend to be the final authority on type- setting, and if you're contemplating do- ing high-resolution print masters, you prob- ably want to spend some time researching the situation. I do know that the LaserMaster True- Tech 1000 produces aesthetically pleas- ing copy. Moreover, unlike the photo- typesetter it can often replace, the LaserMaster doesn't require nasty chemi- cals, and, also unlike most phototypeset- ters, it's extremely reliable. If you need high resolution, you'll be happy with the LaserMaster TrueTech 1000. It gets a User's Choice Award in the Very High Resolution Printer category. The CED wants to know when it will be finished. The staff wants to know when they can start A.B. Kaufman Novel Executive Summary Concept Oovotooncnt sjsjs i ^zt - j^ jZl*. x ««~ti y : jr. ■ A.B. Kaufman Novel Work Schedule March £«■ y m T[>J yjw ^ E „ Sj! s ■^^W ... 1 T 4 16 11 u u | OaMH Opcnoo «' 11 " '• T 1 r B . . a * » _■: • . . ■-.•- 1 ■ m a " As a project manager, you've seen it all before. Everyone who needs to know, all too often, needs to kiow something dif- ferent. Which is why there's new Microsoft* Project version 3.0 for Windows" It not only makes it easy to present things the way they want, but also lets you plan things the way you want Now you can enter and view data in a variety of ways-Gantts, tables, graphs, forms and more. Microsoft Project also has a customizable Toolbar; giving you access ©1992 Microsoft Corporation All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Offer good only in the 50 United States. To order a Working Model for $9.95 or for more information: In the United States, call (80$) 541-1261, Deft. . 86 BYTE • APRIL 1992 USER'S COLUMN File Conversions There's always a need to convert files from one format to another. It's especially true when changing over to Windows, but since I use Q&A Write, hardly a week goes by when I don't get a file in a format different from that of my word processor. When that happens, I rely on Word for Word from Mastersoft to convert the file, and that usually works. I say usually for accuracy; I'm not try- ing to be hard on Word for Word. The problem is that there are a lot of file for- mats out there, and some of them use some obscure tricks. It would be surprising if everything worked the first time every time. I've used a lot of file-conversion pro- grams, and the one that has worked con- sistently best has been Word for Word; moreover, they keep updating it, and each revision is an improvement. I'm not 100 percent satisfied with the program: I wish there were better "intelli- gent ASCII" conversions for use on files pulled off-line, and once in a while I get some odd glitches when converting to Q&A Write format. But it's still the best conversion program I know, plenty good enough to win a User's Choice Award. Windows vs. Desqview I can't decide. I have used Desqview for years, and I'm comfortable with it. Desq- view with a 386 machine is so superior to DOS that until Windows 3.0, I couldn't imagine using anything else — and it's in- dispensable for 286 systems. It's true that you have to fuss a bit with Desqview, but even that's much simpler now that Quar- terdeck has revamped the installation pro- gram. Desqview works and works well, and I'm used to it, so I can jump from word processor to notebook to telephone book to diary to communications program simply and easily, and I generally have no prob- lems at all. Alas, it's not fun, while Windows is. I confess it: I like being able to customize my start-up screen. I like wallpaper, and flying toasters are fun, and so is having a Gary Larson Far Side cartoon come up with my calendar page on start-up. I like having silly little customized icons. I can even offer the intellectual defense that see- ing all those icons on my computer desk- top reminds me that they're there, just as having books all around me in my office reminds me of things I read long ago. Then, too, there really are some Windows programs that are so good that it may be worth buying Windows to be able to run them. I'll get to those in a minute. The point is, there's a lot to like about Win- dows. Alas, there are a couple of things to hate, too. The one I hate most is that Windows is far more likely to crash than Desqview, and when it does, it's likely to crash ut- terly and completely, requiring a hardware reset and certainly losing any unsaved work. In fairness, I have to say that I never in- stall and try a new application in either Windows or Desqview without saving everything first, so the amount of work I have actually lost due to Windows crash- es is small to nonexistent. Also, the time lost to having to go through hardware reset is probably made up by the fact that it's generally faster and easier to install a DOS program under Windows than to get it right on Desqview. I also have to say that Desq- view used to crash fairly often, and I stuck with it, and I'm not sorry. The programs that crash Windows have generally been games. Some of them, like Strategic Studies Group's Warlords, will run under Desqview but crash Windows. continued The controller wants to know how much it will cost We want to know what you're waiting for. A.B. Kaufman Novel Cost Summary siaeajiw S6J0000 scmj 521,08000 S1CUM0.OO AC-Z7 S8,200.O0 W.tOO.OO IJVV ^-T --■■ For /jjifj'jrti /Vr»«r: Hanniiix Spiral to the functions you use most with a click of the mouse. While PlanningWizards give you online assistance to help develop plans Whafs more, new Microsoft Project has WYSIWYG and Multi-Page Print Pre- view, so plan on visiting the printer less. For your upgrade or the name of a reseller, call (800) 541-1261, Dept X13. You'll satisfy a lot more people. Including yourself. Microsoft r information only: In Canada, call (800) 563-9048; outside tfw United States and Canada, call (206) 936-8661. Microsoft is a registered trademark and Windows and Toolbar are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. APRIL 1992 -BYTE 87 Circle 126 on Inquiry Card. BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! USER'S COLUMN SpeedStor™ A Hard Drive Installation, Management And Diagnostic Software • Install and partition hard drives in minutes • Maximize speed, capacity and efficiency with advanced utilities • Comprehensive diagnostics not found in DOS NEW v6.0 FEATURES! • DOS 5.0-compatible • Supports 8-, 16- and 32-bit controllers • Works with memory managers $99.95* SRP $29.95* Upgrade •Plus tax, postage and handling To order, call 800-967-4246 Ext. 2 OVER 700,000 INSTALLED STORAGE [DIMENSIONS The Industry Leader In Storage Solutions But I have to confess that I seldom play games under either Windows or Desqview, so the problem would seem more theo- retical than real — but the theoretical prob- lem is that if that game will crash Win- dows, what else will? And once in a while I get some very mysterious glitches, but I'm pretty sure they're specific to the Win- dows 3.1 update and will be fixed before you read this. Alex points out that you can run Win- dows under Desqview; that way, you run all the DOS applications as Desqview ap- plications and all the Windows applica- tions in Windows. What you get that way is standard-mode Windows, but the prac- tical effect of what enhanced mode really does is memory-address checking, and the combination of QEMM and Desqview does that better and faster anyway. Even so, it feels like akludge, and I'd rather not have to run two different environments, particularly when I'm testing new soft- ware. The gripping hand, as Moties are wont to say, is that if Windows hasn't quite be- come good enough, it won't be long before it gets there. While I will keep Desqview and use it when necessary, I expect the switch to Windows to be done by the end of this year. Therefore, the User's Choice Award for Operating Environment of the Year goes to Microsoft Windows. Memory Management I like Windows, and clearly I recommend that if you don't change to Windows, you should run Desqview. Either way, you'll need a memory manager; fortunately, the same one works for both. It used to be that QEMM and Windows had some problems, but no longer. Now they work together just fine. Moreover, installing QEMM-386 6.02 is a snap, and so is optimizing for ei- ther Windows or Desqview. As an exam- ple, we are looking at a Tandy 4033LX multimedia machine. It comes nicely in- tegrated with Windows and CD-ROM and DOS extensions; the only problem is that as it comes, it has DOS windows of 530 KB. We installed QEMM and let the Op- timize program do its thing; we now have 630-KB DOS windows on that machine. I've looked at a lot of memory man- agers this year, and I have no trouble at all choosing Quarterdeck's QEMM-386 6.02 as the User's Choice for Best Memory Manager of 1991. Windows 3 Secrets If you use Windows, run, do not walk, to your nearest bookstore and get Brian Liv- ingston's Windows 3 Secrets. Read the first four chapters, and I guarantee that you'll then know more about Windows than almost anyone you know. This book explains in clear language just what Win- dows is doing, what it's trying to do, and what its programmers thought they were trying to do. It explains undocumented features. It interprets the Windows error messages, including those that imply precisely the opposite of what they seem to be saying. It explains what standard mode is, and why you probably want to use it even though you have a 386 system. It tells you how to make Windows save your desktop with- out exiting and restarting (i.e., open a DOS application and attempt to leave Windows with the "save on exit" switch on; Pro- gram Manager will inform you that there are open applications, but before it finds that out, it has saved the current desktop). It tells you what the "About Program Man- ager" display in "Help" means (and it's nothing to do with help at all). Finally, the book comes with two disks of shareware Windows programs that will make your life a lot easier. I don't care how many Windows books you already have; get this one. If you have this one, it's not likely you'll need any other. Windows 3 Secrets hands down wins the User's Choice Award for the Best Win- dows Book of 1991. Ascend The Franklin Time Management System is one of the best known of the paper and notebook time management systems. It's usually presented in a 4-hour seminar that teaches and motivates you to use the tools. Of course, some people find all that un- pleasant and aren't interested in time man- agement systems and tools. I've even heard a few call the system inflexible. I don't see it that way. I find the Franklin system a useful way to organize my work and set priorities on what I want to accomplish. Ascend is a Windows implementation of the Franklin system. It comes with forms and notebooks to hold the calendars and schedules that the program generates, a software implementation of the Franklin system, and tapes and workbooks that pre- sent the Franklin seminar about as you'd get it if you attended in person. The result is that you have everything you need to change your life. Now, if you don't need to have your life changed, this program isn't going to do much for you. Some people are well or- ganized and don't need any help. Others are hopelessly disorganized, and it's pos- sible that this won't help them because they like being the way they are. For the rest of us, the Franklin system offers some hope. Franklin is a bit different from its rival 88 B YTE • APRIL 1992 GATEBUSTERS! wts *-. :£ * * " w; ~ " 1 r ^ itffl SS^ p&J- ^«te ■"«»*»■■» §*' s^ s »pr» $2,899 $3,499 486-33 ISA - 486-33 EISA" 32-Bit Intel 80486/33 MHz CPU • Burst Mode Support Zero-Wait 64KB (Exp. to 2 56KB) High Speed Cache* Zero- Walt 128KB High Speed Cache * ' 4MB Zero-Wait State 32-bit memory on the World's Best Motherboard made by AMI (Expands to 32MB* /96MB* *) H Expansion Slots l6-bit*/7-EISAand 1-32/8 bit* * SONY 1304 HG 14" SVGA Monitor (1024 x 768 Non-interlaced) Orchid ProDesigner II VGA Card with 1MB RAM 207MB 15ms Maxtor IDE Hard Drive Tcac 1.2 AND 1.44 Floppy Drives 2 Serial/1 Parallel Ports I/O* • 2 Serial/2 Parallel Ports I/O** PC Power & Cooling 300 Watt Power Supply Vertical Case: 6 Bays/Security Lock/LED (Also shown is our optional deluxe case 450 W PS) Keytronlcs 101-key Enhanced Keyboard AMI BIOS/CMOS Set-up/Diagnostlcs/Clock/Calendar • 3-Ring Cloth Binder for Manual and Software 10-year Lithium Battery/ TCWO* Tool 800 number for Lifetime Technical Support ' TRW On-Site Service Available to Most Locations » Federal Express Replacement of Defective Components » FCC B Certification Made in the USA r !OVCHE A PCPRQS Company 8205 South Cass Avenue Darien, Illinois 60559 708/810-1010 Fax 708/810-9490 $1,899 386-33 MHz COMPLETE SYSTEM Upgradable to 486 386 20SX Starting at $799 COLORADO 120MB Tape Back-Up Option $249 BOCA 2400 Baud Internal Modem Option $69 ;_^ -" ^^ Wjfcj ^^ THE 70L&ff COMMITMENT TO QUALITY AND VALUE KEEPS GROWING! OUTSTANDING. That is the word PC Magazine used to describe our system! We're very proud of our 486-33 review and we encourage you to read it. One example: Of 30 systems reviewed, 70£^ ranked #1 in the small-record DOS access file test and #2 in the large DOS access file test for speed! To achieve this feat we relied on Maxtor and Ultrastor, two fantastic product partners. Maxtor and Ultrastor are just two companies on a long list of companies we obtain high-quality components from to custom-build high-quality systems. AMI-SONY-Intel-Teac— Orchid-Keytrohics- Micropolis-CYRIX-SIEMENS-PC Power & Gooling-BOCA are all names you'll easily recognize. You'll never see us offer components from Fui-Manchui or other tongue-twisting companies you've never heard of before. WYSIWYG is a term used in desktop publishing. What You See Is What You Get is also a standard we use in building our systems. That means you get exactly what you expect when you receive your order from us. No hidden surprises or cut corners that many of our competitors try to sneak by with cheap or low quality components. The use of AMI motherboards guarantees full DOS-UNEX-OS2 compatibility. We custom-build every system and offer special prices on enhancement items to upgrade your system like CD ROM's, digitizers, laser printers, scanners, 20" monitors, and hundreds of other products. Our parent company, PC PROS, was founded in 1982. Be/ore you buy any system, ask all the hard questions and compare. Who makes the motherboard? This is one of the most important questions to ask since this is the heart and soul of any computer. We use more AMI motherboards than anyone in the world. Don't be fooled by claims of an AMI BIOS equaling an AMI motherboard. Insist you receive a system with the best motherboard money can buy . . . an AMI. Whether you're government, FORTUNE, major institution or just need a machine or two for your home or office, we offer the absolute best quality and service anywhere! WHO YA GONNA CALL? 708/810-1010 Circle 1 45 on Inquiry Card. USER'S COLUMN BY HAND. OR BY NOON Flow Charting™ 3 Now, even complex flowcharts that once took days to perfect can be presentation- perfect-in no time! Quick to master and a snap to use, Patton & Patton's flowcharting software is the standard of both large and small businesses around the world-and is availablethrough all major software dealers. See your dealer today! Or, for a "live'/ interactive demo disk, call: 800-525-0082, ext.1116. International: 408-778-6557, ext. 1116. PATTON&PATTON Software Corporation Excellence in charting the [low of ideas! Works on IBM & 100% compatible PC's, supports CGA/EGA/VGA and over 150 dot matrix and laser printers, with multiple print densities and 10 font sizes. Creates multi-page charts, portraitor landscape, on moststandard paper sizes. Mouse or keyboard controlled. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Day-Timer, because the essence of the Franklin system has to do with setting pri- orities and goals. But the schedules and calendars that Franklin generates are fair- ly similar to those in a Day-Timer. I used to carry a Day-Timer everywhere I went, but I found that I wasn't able to coordi- nate between information gathered on the road and the home-base calendar. Ascend uses the computer to do much of that co- ordinating for you. If you've been hoping to find something that would let your computer help orga- nize your life, this program may be it. In any event, it gets a User's Choice Award for Windows Applications Software. The Far Side The Far Side Computer Calendar won't change your life. It's just a good Windows- based calendar program. On the other hand, it's fun, with a different Larson Far Side cartoon every day and some anima- tions done by Larson himself. It has the standard features of a calendar, with schedules and alarms and suchlike, and it will print them out in reasonable formats. But you wouldn't buy it for that since there are shareware programs that do as well. The Far Side Computer Cal- endar gets an orchid because it's fun. Database Applications For ordinary flat-file database applications, we use Q&A. There's a new version, 4.0, that fixes most of the annoyances of earli- er versions and makes several improve- ments, including adding mouse support. Do understand, the problems we've had with Q&A have been minor annoyances, not major aggravations. Q&A remains the easiest database to learn and use that we know. A technoklutz can sit down in front of a Q&A screen and be building database forms within an hour; within a week, he or she will be able to do Christmas cards and print the labels, handle inventories, log in receivables, and generate reports. Q&A Write is similarly easy to learn as a word processor, and it's powerful enough for anything I need: I write all my books and columns with it. Indeed, I recently in- stalled Microsoft Word for Windows, and while it's elegant and has many features Q&A Write will never have, it didn't take long before I installed a Q&A Write icon and brought that up in Windows. I sup- pose someday I'll learn Word for Win- dows, but what's the hurry? Flat-file databases may not be enough. You may need a really powerful full rela- tional database. Most people don't. One of these days when I don't have to cover a zillion awards, I'll devote a chunk of the column to examining when and why 90 BYTE • APRIL 1992 Circle 22 on Inquiry Card. New QEMM-386 v6. ••It's nothing less than a dream come true %% -Steve Gibson InfoWorld 8J26J91 Suddenly PC users have a lot of memory managers to choose from. Seems that everyone has figured out what users have been telling us for years: they need every last 'K' of available memory between 640K and 1 megabyte— especially if they're running on a network. Or using TSRs. Our new QEMM-386 version 6 is the best way to get the most out of memory. It 'pools' all your memory so that it's available in whatever form your programs need— expanded or extended. You don't even need to know the differ- ence. QEMM does it all for you. Instantly. Whereas DOS 5, for exam- ple, requires you to figure out what you need, then manually allocate memory and re-boot every time you need to change. As for the all-important 'conventional' memory area, our new version 6 increases the amount of memory freed-up. Our exclusive 'optimize' feature automatically seeks out TSRs and device drivers and moves them into high memory— the area between 640K and 1 megabyte. All you I need do is type 'optimize'. QEMM-386 v6 finds more high memory than any other memory mana- ger. Byte Magazine's tests showed it produced net memory gains of 21 K to QEMM is the 132K over DOS 5.0 alone, number one selling c • , PC utility, for instance. _ There's no better way to manage your memory. What you can expect Automatic High Memory Gain Comparison DOSS alone DOS 3 or 4 DOSS with QEMM-386 v6 Stealth takes you to network and TSR heaven. Our breakthrough 'Stealth' technology makes available areas normally taken up by ROM. Areas that QEMM-386 can use to load memory-hogging drivers and TSRs. Big programs can get the memory they need to run fast and efficiently. And you get to have your TSRs, Not every PC can benefit from Stealth. But every PC can benefit from 'Squeeze'— our new feature to manage those TSRs that need more memory at start up and less when they're resi- dent. Memory allocation is temporarily increased, then squeezed down after if s needed. QEMM can use idle video memory to produce a further 96K gain on EGA and VGA systems when running character-based programs. A priceless $60 bonus. QEMM comes with Quarterdeck Manifest the award-winning analysis program that makes it easy to see what's going on 'under the hood' of your PC. Manifest does for memory what PC Tools Deluxe does for disks. Benefits for Windows, too. Whether you're running DOS 3, 4, 5, or Windows, QEMM can improve your 386/486's performance. That means you may not need a faster CPU. You may not need more RAM. QEMM makes your favorite programs work better by giving them more memory. QEMM helps you get the most out of the software you own today See and understand how your PC works with Manifest Quarterdeck Office Systems, 150 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90405 (310) 392-9851 Fax (310) 314-4219 Quarterdeck International Ltd., B.I.M. House, Crofton Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland Tel. (353) (1) 288-1444 Fax: (353) (1) 284-4380 ©1992 Quarterdeck Office Systems. PC Week Analyst's Choice Logo, ©1991, Zif f Communications Company. PC Week is a registered tmdemark and the PC Week Analysl'schoicelogo is a trademark of the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Circle 1 1 4 on Inquiry Card. USER'S COLUMN you need a full relational database. In any event, if you do need one, I recommend Borland's Paradox, which is relatively easy to set up and is certainly powerful enough. For Windows, though, you want an ob- ject-oriented database. For the moment, the best one of those I've seen is Bell At- lantic's Thinx, which I talked about in a past column. It's clever, the tutorial is suf- ficient for learning it, and it gets easier to use with practice. It's certainly powerful enough for most user needs. I'm happy to give Q&A 4.0 and Thinx the User's Choice Awards for Best DOS and Windows Applications, respectively. Clip'nSave Several readers nominated this for an or- chid. Clip'nSave makes it easy to capture Windows screens, save them in a BMP file, and convert them to different formats. There are detailed instructions on making your own wallpaper and a lot of informa- tion on bit-map formats and how they Electronics Workbench® The electronics lab in a computer Powerful software to build and simulate analog and digital circuits. Building and testing circuits is fast and easy mth Electronics Workbench. Just click-and-drag with a mouse to add parts, run wires, and adjust instruments. The traces on the simulated instruments are the same as you'd get on real equipment. Electronics Workbench really is an electronics lab in a computer. It's ideal for learning about electronics, experimenting, and prototyping circuits. "Electronics Workbench is pretty amazing." -Jerry Pournetle, Ph.D., htfoWorld DOS Professional Version - $299 Macintosh Version - $199 Electronics Workbench Includes: • Analog Module with passive and active components including transistors, diodes, and op-amps; a function generator, an oscilloscope, a multimeter, and a Bode plotter. • Digital Module with gates, flip-flops, adders, a word generator, a logic analyzer, and a unique logic converter and simplifies (416) 361-0333 Interactive Image Technologies Ltd. 908 Niagara Falls Boulevard North Tonawanda, NY 14120-2060 Fax (4l6) 368-5799 ~ INTERACTIVE Prices are IrfUS dollars. Offer valid In the USA and Canada only. Macintosh Version 1$ monochrome only; All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. unia rnz ¥1 <£> =: r- := £33 I jbj xnzi ■ 9 £32 n.^fta ttL-.fii JS work. It has the disconcerting feature of mucking up your desktop when you in- stall it, but a quick trip to the control pan- el will fix that, after which you've got a great utility. There's one problem. I've found a few conflicts between this and Windows 3.1. 1 suspect, though, that by the time you read this, the problems will be taken care of. In general, the readers are right: this de- serves an orchid. Trantor I think of Trantor as a new company, but in fact, they've been around since CP/M days. They've since gone over to being special- ists in SCSI. Their best-known product is the T338 MiniSCSI Parallel-to-SCSI Host Adapter, which enables you to use SCSI devices — CD-ROM drives, optical drives, and Bernoulli Boxes — with a portable computer. They also make Micro Chan- nel SCSI boards and other stuff, and they're continually improving what they do; it's a company well worth watching. A Chaos Manor orchid to Trantor, and a User's Choice Award to the T338 Mini- SCSI Parallel-to-SCSI Host Adapter. System of the Year I like Windows and big 486 systems, but as time goes on, I get more and more attract- ed to Apple's Mac way of life. I had little use for the original 128-KB Mac, which I thought was an overpriced toy, but that was a long time ago. Since then, Macs have been greatly improved, and I note that many users who don't know or care what's going on inside a computer are able to sit down at a Mac and get a lot of work done. One defect the Apple system had until this year was the lack of a decent portable. But that has been fixed with the Power- Books. Apple's System software was elegantly integrated, but MultiFinder did odd things and unexpectedly brought down the system at very inconvenient times. That, too, was remedied this year. A large orchid to Apple: System 7.0 is great, and the Mac Quadra 900 is won- derful. I don't count it a defect of the Quad- ra 900 and System 7.0 that some older software won't run properly: Apple has been telling people for years that you must not write self-modifying code. Apple's programming standards are published and clear, for which Apple deserves yet an- other orchid. Two cheers for shipping ma- chines like the Quadra 900 and the Mac Classic II with only 2 MB of memory when System 7.0 takes up more than half of that, but that's a minor quibble. I think that the Quadra 900 and System 92 BYTE • APRIL 1992 Circle 160 on Inquiry Card. Before You Upgrade To MPC r Listen To This. GVTE USER'S COUffl SoundBlaster . . One of the boards we installed in the A?che 486 was Sound Blaster. With its associated software, it has qmety (no nun intended, but what the heck) become KnSard sound system for advanced PCs. The Poland board has much h^he sound quality for a higher price but for anything short of professional music quality, Sound Blaster is Rood enougj. - One use. "JS'S^olher accessories you JSfor^d Blaster, including mu- can get tor sounu . v0ice S ical i«f u TBl^e has become the dustry, at least ncre Recommended. j er ry Pournelle_ SOUND BLASTER PRO By Barry Brenesal The Marines may look for a few | good men, but any PC game player I will gladly settle for a single good I sound caixi: one that plays both Sound | Blaster and AdLib scores, one that | doesn't liy your other boards, one that never draws attention to itself, one that delivers all the sophisticated sound effects and music bundled into the latest batch of game software. Look no further: Sound Blaster Pro I docs it all, and more. At $299.95 it's not cheap, but neither are its features. Testing: One, Two . . . Installing Sound Blaster Pro is a I I snap. The 16-bit card slips easily into I place. It comes with Irving out Sound Blaster Pro is a treat. It's got great frequency response - that's the difference between listening to a film score on a tinny, muffled AM radio and hearing it on a stereo movie-theater speaker system. The orchestral soundtrack to Origin's Wing Commander is a good example, because it changes mood and melody to match the success of your current battle. Add Sound Blaster Pro 10 a good VGA screen and a responsive joystick (which you can plug into Sound Blaster l^osjoyst^k pon. and the iUusicTi of doghghLMi iWL'IIH SceorgeLucas-style film becomes iHWo^ Creative Labs^ Waster Pro is a big winner. It s quicKi ,, 1 easv to use, full-featured,! t0i rnmDauble with SoundBlaster! exceUeru^Andl COMPUT E SNEAK PEEK S ISOOND BLASTER In just two years, the Sound Blaster has become one of the the most widely-supported PC sound cards. It's easy to see why. The Sound I Blaster contains an 1 1 -voice FM syn- thesizer that makes it fully compatible with the popular Ad Lib Music Card. The day it hit store shelves, the Sound Blaster could be used with hundreds of Ad Lib compatible games and edu- | cational programs. To add even more value, the original Sound Blaster in- I eluded a DAC (Digital to Analog Con- verter) for digitized voice and sound I effects, a microphone jack for voice input, a built-in game port, a built-in | 4-watt amplifier, and an optional MIDI interface. Pin minimi- The built-in mixer makes the | Sound Blaster Pro fully compliant with Microsoft's Multimedia Level 1 Extensions to Windows. Multimedia software will be able to fade-in, fade- out, and pan the various audio sources to create elaborate sound montages. The Sound Blaster Pro includes a CD-ROM interface for either an inter- nal or external CD-ROM player. There's also an internal connector for CD-Audio. The MIDI interface is compatible with the original Sound Blaster's MIDI interface, but adds the MIDI time-stamp that's part of Microsoft's new multimedia standard. All in all, the Sound Blaster Pro is chock-full of new features, yet it's fully compatible with its younger brother. DAVIDENGLJSH Scheduled Release: September 1991 For IBM PC and compatibles— S299.95 CREATIVE LABS 2050 Duane Ave. Santa Clara, CA 95054 (406)986-1461 PC HOME JOURNAL Sound Blaster Does It All Review by Harvey Bernstein 7\ n he Sound Blaster has so many audio applications packed into one half-sized board that it almost boggles the mind. First, it has an 11-voice stereo music synthesizer that is fully compatible with the widely used AdLib sound format. Older software that only supports the AdLib board will automatically tum on the AdLib mode — | no adjustment by the user is necessary. A separate channel is exclusively for reproducing digitized speech. A microphone jack on the back of the card allows you to digitize your own input voices. With a 4-watt stereo amplifier built in. you can run speakers or headphones directly from the card — no additional amplification is necessary. A standard joystick port also doubles as a MIDI interface, allowing you to connect a synthesizer or any other MIDI instrument. Combine this with an excellent library of software, and it is easy to see why the Sound Blaster has become so popular. 111 he : sound Blaster worth the investment? Yes, v es. a thousand times yes!!! When you hear how much the Sound I Blaster increases the capabilities of your PC. you"ll wonder how you ever got along without one. <© | mm Now you can get the number one sound card as part of our new Multimedia CREATIVE LflBS Upgrade Kit. Which also comes with a MIDI kit, an internal CD-ROM drive and 5 CD-ROM titles, including Microsoft® Bookshelf® and Windows™ with Multimedia Extensions. In all, $2,000 worth of goodies for just under $850. CTE So before you get into multimedia, call 1-800-544-6146 or see your dealer. BjLf&S I Eli $? f 1 1 i ■ i WRw WH*9k B tHbt IB SHI HI M You II like what you hear. -^PCj Creative Labs, Inc., 2050 Duane Ave., Santa Clara, CA 95054 Telephone: (408) 986-1461 Fax: (408) 986-1777 For international information, fax Creative Technology tiRffnrerciifl at (65) 773 0353. Sound Blaster is a registered trademark of Creative Labs, Inc. Windows and Bookshelf are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Circle 1 54 on Inquiry Card. USER'S COLUMN 7.0 are a giant step forward for computer users and now set the new standard for productivity — as well as being a lot of fun to use. The Chaos Manor User's Choice Award for Machine of the Year goes to the Quadra 900. Portable Computers This was the year I abandoned my back- breaking Zenith 386SX portable. It's not that it isn't a great machine; indeed, once I get to my destination, I sometimes wish I had brought it for the large bright screen and big keyboard. On the other hand, I don't miss lugging 20 pounds of comput- er, case, power supply, and accessories while racing from gate to gate to catch an airplane. This year, I tried a number of portable machines and one palmtop. I found that I'm too set in my ways to make much use of a palmtop, but my son Phillip uses a Poqet every day. He's a Navy officer and has found the little machine invaluable and rugged enough for his needs. He does advise that you get rechargeable batteries and a recharging device, since his early version of the Poqet uses up penlight bat- teries like mad. I used about a dozen notebook comput- ers this year, and two stood out: the Sa- fari NSX/20 and the TravelMate 3000 WinSX from Texas Instruments (TI). We've taken them both all over the country. The TravelMate bounced around in the Bronco while we drove down to Baja for the eclipse, and the NSX/20 trav- eled with us to Tahoe for the Hackers' Conference and then down to Las Vegas for Comdex. The TravelMate is preferable as a gen- eral-purpose DOS and sometimes Win- dows machine, largely because the ROM character set is more aesthetically pleasing. It's also better for Desqview users because it is able to use QEMM's Stealth technol- ogy to get larger windows. The NSX/20, on the other hand, has wonderful provisions for communications and does Windows extremely well. Also, it is a more handsome — and handy — unit. I especially like the battery arrangement that lets you change batteries on the fly. In a word, they're both good enough. What's happened is that Roberta, who still prefers Desqview to Windows, has taken over the TravelMate. She now carries it in preference to Toshiba-san, the Toshiba T1000 she's had for many years. Given that the TravelMate weighs about twice what the T1000 does, that's quite a con- cession. That leaves the NSX/20 for me, which works out well because I'm working hard at getting used to Windows; also, I do much more communications, includ- ing faxing, when I'm on the road. What I really like is that TI and Safari Systems aren't the only companies working on im- proving laptop computing. I'm pleased to give User's Choice Awards to the TravelMate 3000 WinSX and the Safari NSX/20. Logitech TrackMan Portable Safari considered the Microsoft Ballpoint mouse, which was my previous favorite choice for a pointing device for portables, but chose the Logitech TrackMan Portable trackball to bundle with the NSX/20 — a wise decision. Whatever portable you get, if you use Windows, get the TrackMan Portable. It's wonderful. In fact, it's so good that I am strongly tempted to attach it to the keyboard of my regular machine and abandon regular mice altogether. This gadget just plain feels right. It's also rug- ged enough for portable use. A very large Chaos Manor orchid and a User's Choice Award to Logitech for the Pointing Device of the Year. Try this one. I bet you'll love it. I did. CD-ROM There were about a zillion CD-ROMs this year, far more than any one human could keep track of. However, one stands out above the others: the Bureau of Electron- ic Publishing's Monarch Notes are likely to have a major impact on the country. Monarch Notes, like Cliffs Notes, are short booklets that summarize various great works of literature, point out the intellec- tual lessons, draw conclusions, and ask questions. They are supposed to be used in con- junction with the works they discuss rather than as a substitute for reading them, but we all know how that goes. I suppose it was inevitable that CD-ROMs would not only make available the world's great lit- erature, but also make it easier to avoid reading it and still get college credit. Put- ting every one of the Monarch Notes on one CD-ROM certainly hastened the pro- cess. Having said that, I sure wish I'd had this disc when I was an undergrad; and on reflection, I think every college literature teacher had better get one in self-defense. In any event, the User's Choice Award for CD-ROM of the Year goes to Monarch Notes from the Bureau of Electronic Pub- lishing. Games This is an unusual situation. I had already chosen Broderbund's Patton Strikes Back, a Battle of the Bulge game by Chris Craw- ford, the genius dean of war-game de- signers, as game of the month and a can- didate for game of the year. Like all Crawford designs, it's unique. The bias is toward playability and just having fun, and it does that. It also presents live-action video in small pop-up screens. There are sounds, advice from generals, and just all kinds of interesting features. Then, just before Christmas, came an- other box: MicroProse's Civilization, the newest game by Railroad Tycoon design- er Sid Meier. "Too late to be considered," I thought, as I opened it. "But it doesn't hurt to have a look." Six hours later it was dawn, and I was still playing. Look: do yourself a favor and do not buy this one just when you have an important deadline coming up. It's fasci- nating. Worse, it's addictive. Maybe more than addictive. In theory, it resembles the Avalon Hill board game of the same name; in some ways, it resembles Mark Bald- win's classic Empire; and overall, it's like nothing you've ever tried before. Like Patton Strikes Back, you can play Civilization with very little attention to the manual; but like Railroad Tycoon, you will not play it well unless you study the manual very closely. This is a compli- cated game, and everything interacts with everything else. I like Crawford's game a lot, but Civilization stands out as the Chaos Manor Game of the Year and gets the User's Choice Award for that. Winding Down The CD-ROM of the month is Library of the Future, Series Second Edition, from World Library, Inc. (12914 Haster St., Garden Grove, CA 92640, (800) 443- 0238). Nine hundred titles on one CD- ROM for $695. There's more here, and I'm out of space. Next month, disk drives, both conventional and optical, CD-ROM drives, modems and communications, and backup systems. I'll be giving out more onions and orchids (in- cluding the Orchid and Onion of the Year) and more User's Choice Awards. I'll also have a look at multimedia and make some predictions about the Brave New Worlds the computer revolution is bringing us. ■ Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psy- chology and is a science fiction writer who also earns a comfortable living writing about computers present and future. Jeny welcomes readers' comments and opin- ions. Send a self -addressed, stamped en- velope to Jerry Pournelle, do BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Please put your address on the let- ter as well as on the envelope. Due to the high volume of letters, Jerry cannot guar- antee a personal reply. You can also con- tact him on BIX as "jerry p." 94 BYTE • APRIL 1992 H3A01HV1S poddns l|J>8; OU SBll pxeoq vsia P^Moduij 3)VdS I >DV8 09 suiajqoid ^iliqipdmoa smj \*> AMI EISA The Only Game In Tbwn For EISA, there is only one player to consider— AMI. Whether it's motherboards, BIOS, utilities, or SCSI host adapters, AMI is the single source for advanced EISA technology. ADVANCED EISA & MODU- LAR CPU MOTHERBOARDS With AMI leading the way in EISA motherboard designs, you will benefit from bulletproof performance and proven reliability. ■ EZ-Flex— A new modular CPU design offering easy upgrades to future technology. ■ Enterprise II— A proven EISA per- former, popular for critical applications. (C) 1386-1900 AMI ALL flfGHTS RESERVED 488 EISA s* Hi £1886 IBS ■HVED H THE LEADING EISA BIOS AMI is the world- wide standard for BIOS. AMI's EISA BIOS provides the reliability, compatibility, and features you desire. Plus, it's compatible ^ with AMI's BIOS Configura- tion Utility, providing on-site customization for the Integrator or OEM. jm EISA UTILITIES MAKE THE JOB SIMPLE AMI designed and developed the EISA Configuration Utility to make configuring EISA products a snap. Run the ECU and select the auto configuration option, or modify the I/O ports, inter- rupts, or DMA settings as you desire. EISA ADD-ON CARDS The East Disk EISA SCSI Host Adapter, with a combination of 16 MB cache, and intelligent 386SX I/O management, is the fastest SCSI host adapter on the market today. Look to AMI for other EISA cards in the near future . THE AMI DIFFERENCE AMI's expertise covers the entire EISA environment. With research, engineering and support functions under one roof, =j^ AMI is unmatched in knowledge and support. Call AMI, and you will understand why AMI's "monopoly" on EISA makes it the only game in town. Circle 40 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 41). Single Source Technology AMERICAN MEGATRENDS, INC. 800-U-BUY-AMI or 800-828-9264, 404-263-8181, fax 404-263-9381 GO TO BANKRUPTCY Discount EISA boards have high failure rate GO BACK 3 SPACES Discount board has slow video speed LOSE TURN Use highly compatible AMI EISA BIOS USER'S COLUMN | ITEMS DISCUSSED \ Ascend Monarch Notes CD-ROM ....$99 TravelMate 3000 WinSX with Planner ..$299 Bureau of Electronic Publishing with 120 MB $3999 NewQuest Technologies, Inc. 141 New Rd. Texas Instruments, Inc. 2550 South Decker Lake Blvd. Parsippany, NJ 07054 P.O. Box 202230 Salt Lake City, UT 841 19 (800) 828-4766 Austin, TX 78720 (800)877-1814 (201)808-2700 (800) 527-3500 (801)975-9992 fax:(201)808-2676 Circle 1 166 on Inquiry Card. fax:(801)975-9995 Circle 1 1 58 on Inquiry Card. Circle 1 150 on Inquiry Card. T338 MiniSCSI Parallel-to-SCSI PM2011/90 ..$595 Host Adapter $179 Civilization 1 B69.95 PM3011/70 ..$835 Trantor Systems, Ltd. MicroProse Software, Inc. Distributed Processing Technology 5415 Randall Place 180LakefrontDr. 140 Candace Dr. Fremont, C A 94538 Hunt Valley, MD 21030 Maitland, FL 32751 (510)770-1400 (410)771-1151 (407) 830-5522 fax:(510)770-9910 Circle 1151 on Inquiry Card. fax: (407) 260-5366 Circle 1 1 59 on Inquiry Card. Circle 1 167 on Inquiry Card. Graphics Ultra with 1 MB ..$799 Q&A4.0 ..$399 Windows 3 Secrets $39.95 IDG Books ATI Technologies, Inc. Symantec Corp. 155BovetRd., Suite 730 3761 Victoria Park Ave. 10201 Torre Ave. San Mateo, CA 94402 Scarborough, Ontario, Cupertino, C A 95014 (415)358-1250 Canada Ml W3S2 (800)228-4122 Circle 1 168 on Inquiry Card. (416)756-0718 (408) 253-9600 fax:(416)756-0720 fax: (408) 253-4092 Word for Word $149 Circle 1 152 on Inquiry Card. Circle 1 160 on Inquiry Card. Mastersoft, Inc. 6991 East Camelback Rd., Suite A320 HyperStore 1600 configuration modules $250 ..$650 QEMM-386 6.02 $<^ Smttsdale A7 8^2^1 -$325 Quarterdeck Office Systems (800)624-6107 Perceptive Solutions, Inc. 150 Pico Blvd. (602) 277-0900 2700 Flora St. Santa Monica, CA 90405 fax: (602) 970-0706 Dallas, TX 7520 1 (800) 354-3222 Circle 1 169 on Inquiry Card. (800) 486-3278 (213)392-9851 (214)954-1774 fax:(213)399-3802 ORCHID PARADE fax:(214)953-1774 Circle 1 161 on Inquiry Card. Circle 1 1 53 on Inquiry Card. Safari NSX/20 Am386-40 OEM Advanced Micro Devices LaserJet III $2395 with 80 MB $5749 901 Thompson Place Hewlett-Packard, Inc. Safari Systems P.O. Box 3453 1131 IChinden Blvd. 14K World's Fair Dr. Sunnyvale, C A 94088 Boise, ID 83714 Somerset, NJ 08875 (800) 538-8450 (800) 752-0900 (908) 302-5800 (408) 732-2400 (208)323-2551 fax: (908) 469-4578 fax:(408)982-6161 fax: (208) 344-4809 Circle 1 1 62 on Inquiry Card. Circle 1 1 70 on Inquiry Card. Circle 1 1 54 on Inquiry Card. Sota Lightning VGA Clip'nSave $79.95 LaserMaster with 1 MB ..$445 Dynalink Technologies, Inc. TrueTechlOOO $6995 Sota Technology, Inc. P.O. Box 593 LaserMaster Corp. 559 Weddell Dr. Beaconsf ield, Quebec, 6900 Shady Oak Rd. Sunnyvale, CA 94089 Canada H9W 5V3 Eden Prairie, MN 55344 (800) 933-7682 (514)489-3007 (800)477-7717 (408)745-1111 Circle 1 171 on Inquiry Card. (612)944-9457 fax:(408)745-1640 Circle 1 1 55 on Inquiry Card. Circle 1 163 on Inquiry Card. The Far Side Computer Calendar $69.95 Mac Quadra 900 $8499 Thinx ..$495 Amaze, Inc. Apple Computer, Inc. Bell Atlantic Thinx Software 11810 1 15th Ave. NE 20525 Mariani Ave. 9 South High St. Kirkland, WA 98034 Cupertino, CA 95014 Morgantown, WV 26505 (800) 367-4802 (408)996-1010 (800) 688-4469 (206) 820-7007 Circle 1 1 56 on Inquiry Card. Circle 1 1 64 on Inquiry Card. fax: (206) 823-0568 Circle 1 172 on Inquiry Card. Microsoft Windows 3.1 TrackMan Portable ..$169 (price not available) Logitech, Inc. System 7.0 $99 Microsoft Corp. 6505 Kaiser Dr. Apple Computer, Inc. 1 Microsoft Way Fremont, C A 94555 20525 Mariani Ave. Redmond, W A 98052 (800)231-7717 Cupertino, C A 95014 (800) 426-9400 (510)795-8500 (408)996-1010 fax:(206)883-8101 fax:(510)792-8901 Circle 1 1 73 on Inquiry Card. Circle 1 157 on Inquiry Card. Circle 1 165 on Inquiry Card. 96 BYTE • APRIL 1992 pppii BI 850 CPS & TOUGH AS NAILS! OJV vr *• That's right- 850 characters-per-second! TOUGH AS NAILS. Why take a chance? Thousands of owners use the 850XL printer from 2 to 1 8 hours per day. It just keeps on printing, day-in, day-out! And, over 50% of all 850XL printers sold are purchased by existing | owners. That alone tells the |f ai^ gM| story for this | * ^ \ ^ comes in a g* variety of "11a- 4£m vors" to suit your ( specific needs and supports MS DOS* MS Windows* and Macintosh operating systems. So if you're ready to add a dynamic new dimension to the way you use information, like 25,000 other Strategic Mapping customers, call us for a free Desktop Mapping Guidebook and demo disk. We'd be happy to map out a plan for you. Phone: (408) 985-7400 FAX: (408) 985-0859 In Canada, tall 416-693-4166 In Germany, call 49-22S-62-73-S2 In the UK, call 44-S 1-994-2780 In Australia, call 61-3-866-1766 In lk-tgium/LUX, call 32-2-771-25-75 In France, call 33-1-45-27-20-61 In tlic^Nelherlands, call 31-340-266-336 In New Zealand, call 644-4791-731 The Strategic Mapping, Inc. logo .uul Atlas Software are registered trademarks of Strategic Mapping, Inc. All otlur trademarks are of their respective companies. Circle 127 on Inquiry Card. Circle 86 on Inquiry Card. ROUNDTABLE Just Add Code Lahey F77L . EM/32 32-bit protected-mode Fortran Your Fortran code is important. Trust it to the company that has been writing award-winning Fortran language systems for 25 years. (800) 548-4778 Lahey CmniiuliTSysli-itis, live. */ Fortran is our forte (702) 831-2500 ■ Fax: (702) 831-8123 ■ P.O. Box 6091 ■ Incline Village NV 89450 handwriting recognition a hungry user of processing power, voice recognition is rav- enous. How would you sum up the current state of pen computing? BRICKLIN: We have to realize that pen computers are a different beast. You don't want a traditional GUI on many of these machines (other than the Windows ma- chine that happens to have a pen instead of a mouse), but rather a PUI (for pen user in- terface). Go Corp. has developed one such interface, which it calls NUI (for notebook user interface), but there will be others. As the handwriting-recognition people point out, we need more MIPS. We need them for better recognition. We also need them to make the screen respond fast enough to feel "as good as paper, and bet- ter" (Slate's motto). When you turn a page, it should turn instantly. "Ink" should look as sharp as it does on paper but take up as little storage space as possible. LIFFICK: Pen computing has become the favorite child of PC industry hypesters — with good reason. The prospects for pen input are particularly compelling: portabil- ity, natural pen and paper input, and bring- ing the benefits of powerful and easy-to- use computing to large, untapped markets. The economic reality of pen computing is that inexpensive machines appropriate for the masses are two years out. There will always be "heat seekers" adopting the technology before it is economically rea- sonable to do so. But the large market for pen computing in the next two years will be with those entities that can justify its price in terms of real and immediate cost benefits. Those entities are corporations seeking increased productivity and pro- spective notebook buyers looking to ex- tend the reach and scope of their current computing power. KATZ: We're on the verge of a new era in computing, possibly as great or greater an opportunity than the original IBM PC. The opportunity is to bring the power of the computer to workers who cannot or will not use a keyboard in their day-to-day jobs. [It will take] hardware that is compet- itively priced, rugged, easy to use, and light- weight. More important, [it will take] an operating system and set of applications that are intuitive and friendly and present a noncomputerlike interface. All aspects of input will need to be brought to bear to make this market happen, including hand- writing, voice, and wireless communica- tions. The synergy of these will make this new market take off. ■ 102 BYTE • APRIL 1992 Circle 121 on Inquiry Card. Why do they call it a dongle? He wasn't famous. He didn't drive a fancy car, but dressed in his favorite Comdex T-shirt and faded blue jeans, he set out to change the course of the computer software industry. Quite a task for a lonely software developer. Sitting in front of his computer, drinking pots of coffee and smoking 'cartons of cigarettes, he'd write pages of code. It took time, Years in fact. But he did it. He wrote the most powerful computer program in the world. Now came the hard part. Selling it. The Most Powerful Program in the World Determined to make those long years pay off, he called on every distributor, VAR and dealer in the world. He drove from Beantown to San Diego. Flew from Dublin to Borneo. Everyone loved the program. So he sold a few. Only a few. Back in Boston he waited. After a long year with only 13 orders he set out to see what happened. As he drove across the /1 ^^^^ country and flew around the world he discovered everyone knew about his program. Everyone had it too. The Global Marketplace From Paris to Prague, his program was everywhere in Europe. When he got off the plane in Hong Kong he found his program stacked to the ceiling in every computer store. Amazed in disbelief, he bought a hundred cartons of cigarettes and a hundred pounds of Indonesian coffee and flew back to Boston. Beaten, battered and bruised he went back to the drawing board. This time he would really change the face of the software industry, He would develop a device that would prevent unauthorized distribution of software programs. Call It What You Like He developed a hardware key. His peers applauded his efforts. Finally, a solid solution for revenue protection. But he didn't know what to call it. He thought of naming it after an exotic place he visited in his travels, Madagascar was a bit too long, though. "Name it after you, Don!", urged his peers. So he did. Soon everyone was calling the key a dongle, * after Don Gall— J#* the lonely software developer who did what he had to do. You've Come A Long Way, Baby Today, dongles are different. Fact is, they've come a long way. Leading the industry with security solutions, Rainbow Technologies has changed the face of hardware keys. They work with multiple applications, are programmable and network versions control concurrent usage. And they're always transparent to the end-user. Sentinel Family from Rainbow Truth is, more and more developers are using keys. And the Sentinel Family is the most widely used in the world. In fact, over 6,000 developers use Sentinel from Rainbow. Why? They are simply the most effective, reliable and easy to implement keys on the market. Learn more about securing I your software ^g and how keys provide developers with extra value. Call for a free copy of "The Sentinel Guide to Securing # Software." And see just how easy it is to install a hardware key into your application in just minutes. Try it with our low cost Sentinel Evaluation Kit. Order one for your DOS, OS/2, Windows, Macintosh or UNIX based application. And remember, when you need a dongle, you need Sentinel —the only dongle Don Gall would use. CALL 800/852-8569 FOR YOUR FREE GUIDE TO SECURING SOFTWARE SEminEL Securing the future of software Some call it a dongle. Those who know, call it Sentinel. ^.RAINBOW T E G H N L 9292 JERONIMO ROAD, IRVINE, CALIFORNIA 92718 ■ 714/ 454-2100 ■ fax 714/ 454-8557 International offices are located in the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Circle 1 1 6 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 117). BEST DOR REPORT CARD INFO NOVEMBER 4, 1991 Performance WORLD DR DOS MS DOS Version 6.0 Version 5.0 Memory handling Excellent Very Good User interface Very Good Very Good 1 Speed Good Very Good Compatibility Very Good Very Good Documentation Excellent Very Good Setup Good Very Good Ease off learning Very Good Very Good Ease off use Very Good Good Error handling Satisfactory Satisfactory Support Support policies Good Satisfactory Technical support Satisfactory Satisfactory Value Excellent Excellent Final Scores 7.6 7.1 jTj lil THE INTERFACE \ GROUP When the competition is good, you have to be better. And the critics agree: DR DOS® 6.0 delivers more of what todays PC users are looking for in a state-of-the-art DOS operating system. That means better performance: "...tops [MS-DOS 5] with better disk performance, faster task switching, access to more RAM, and improved security, while providing full Windows™ SUppOrt" PC World, January 1992 Flawless operation of all your PC applications, with advanced capabilities that help you be your productive best: » 1 Digital Research and DR DOS are registered trademarks, and MemoryMAX, DiskMAX, Task MAX, ViewMAX and FileUNK are trademarks of Digital Research Inc. Novell and the Novell logo are registered BEST \ALUE *Siiperior memory management, optional "bri-tKe-nV* life compression, high-performance disk caching, instant task switching* comprehensive password security, PC-to-PC transfer software, and more. '.'. . complete MS-DOS 5 compat- ibility with more features and Junctions" PC Magazine, November 12, 1991 And a complete package of indispensable uti ities that norma y would cost nearly $400 extra: " . an excellent value" InfoWorld, November 4, 1991 Find out today why DR DOS 6.0 is the best DOS. And the best value, too. Get the facts by fax: 1-800-955-DOS6. fean. Or call us today for detai s and the name of the DR DOS rese ler nearest you: 1-800-274-4DRI. trademarks of Novell, Inc. Other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright © 1992, Digital Research Inc. iNOVELL Digital Research Systems Group Circle 66 on Inquiry Card. COVER STORY FEATURE Practical Desktop Video PART 1 - The BYTE Multimedia Lab introduces desktop video production in this first article in a series on desktop video TOM YAGER Few things in today's world are growing faster than our dependence on video- based information. The video medium incorporates the elements of color, movement, and sound in a way that we're powerfully drawn to. As a result, video can persuade and motivate more effectively than any other medium. It's no wonder that advertisers spend billions of dollars each year producing ads and plac- ing them on TV: If you've got a point to make, you presently have no more efficient path into other people's minds than through video. Today the power of video communication can be applied in a way you might not have considered: as a vehicle for your message. Desktop video production means that you, with the help of a computer, can express your ideas through sights and sounds that can make a powerful impression on your audience. This article, produced by the BYTE Multimedia Lab, is the first in a series on desk- top video. The focus of the series will be on practical uses for existing video tech- nology. At the end, you'll know enough about desktop video production to get started creating your own professional-looking videos. What Good Is It? Even if you're willing to take for granted that you can produce your own videos, you might wonder why you'd ever want to. Consider this example: You run a con- struction company, and you're bidding on a contract for a huge office building. The client fiim is looking for skill, experience, and an uncompromising dedication to qual- ity. How do you convince the client's representatives, in the short time you have their attention, that your firm has these qualities and deserves to be placed above the com- petition? Today you'd probably pitch to them using time-honored methods: over- head transparencies, flip charts and magic markers, and perhaps even 35mm slides. The overheads might summarize your company's financial history, the flip charts might show rough plans for the project under consideration, and the slides might de- pict similar buildings already constructed by your firm. The problem with these presentation methods is that they do nothing more than put dry facts in front of your audience: Eveiything else is up to you. When you place your presentation on video, however, all you do is insert the cassette and press Play — the presentation speaks for itself. No facts are forgotten, no slides get inserted upside down, and no smudges or fingerprints obscure your message. Beyond such mundane considerations, video lets you present facts and figures as 106 BYTE • APRIL 1992 PHOTOGRAPHY: MARK ROCKWOOD ©1992 APRIL 1992 -BYTE 107 PRACTICAL DESKTOP VIDEO computer graphics — using animation if you like. The graphics can be interspersed with live video, voice-overs, and music that ad- vance the audience's respect for your company and ensure that the facts are interpreted the way you want them to be. The building plans can become a virtual prototype — a shaded, three-dimen- sional model that you can view from several angles, rotate, and even place in simulated surroundings. Video lets you transport V. ideo can provide the edge that gets you, your ideas, and your company noticed. your audience to other places. You can take them to a building site where your engineers can be seen working closely with con- struction crews, include them in a planning meeting where your staff is discussing a project similar to the one in question, and let them see the people behind the numbers and the plans. Finally, you can show them your completed projects. The value that video adds can be seen in several ways. Of the traditional methods mentioned earlier, none offers the combi- nation of sound, color, and motion. Video combines them all, and these things attract and hold an audience's attention. Also, a well-done video presentation always makes a more profes- sional impression than a stack of transparencies or slides. Finally, video is unique in its ability to condense information. A 5- minute video can hold the equivalent information of innumer- able transparencies because you have the freedom to combine graphics, video, voice, music, animation, and other elements to tell your story. You'll see as this series progresses that video works well in set- tings outside the boardroom, too. In these days of intense com- petition, it can provide the edge that gets you, your ideas, and your company noticed. Its Noble Heritage Computers have a long history of involvement with video, dat- ing back to the days when videotape recorders (VTRs) were first cabled to specialized computers called edit controllers, so raw video could be BVTE ACTION SUMMARY Video presentations are un- paralleled in their ability to make a point. With technology available on the desktop today, you can harness the power of video for your own presenta- tions. edited into a finished product. Like most of desktop video's roots, these early editing sys- tems were expensive and were seen mostly at TV stations and organiza- tions with deep pockets and a knowledgeable staff. Specialized com- puters were also used to switch smoothly from one video signal to an- other, as when a news- cast goes from the an- chor to a tape, back to the anchor, and then to the weather reporter. More expensive versions of these systems (called switchers) could do more than just cut or fade between two video sources: They could apply special effects. The least of them did wipes (i.e., the new video replaces the old in a sweep across the screen), but the best of them could do advanced effects like mapping video sources to the sides of a cube and spinning it through space. Computers were also used to generate text (character generators) and graphics (paint systems). There are many other examples of computer technology in video, and the amount of digital hardware used in today's broadcast and professional fa- cilities far outstrips what existed in the early days. Even today, however, many of these capabilities — editing, switching, special effects, character generation, and graphics — are handled by several specialized systems capable of doing nothing else. The old-fashioned edit controllers still exist, as do stand-alone character generators and specialized graphics sys- tems. To be fair, each has advantages (though sometimes small) over its desktop video equivalent. The Quality Question Among the advantages of expensive, component-based gear is quality: Everyone who spends large sums of money on special- ized equipment expects broadcast quality. That's a phrase you'll hear often in association with video, and it has different mean- ings depending on who's saying it. For our purposes, I'll simply place broadcast quality as a far right tick on a quality scale. It's the best you can get, and to get it, you need to invest in the kind of gear you'd find at CNN or CBS. On the far left side of the scale, place a tick at consumer-quality, or hobby-level, video. This is where standard VHS VCRs and most camcorders fall. You can also find inexpensive titlers, editors, enhancers, and other modules at this level, but what works well for video snap- shots falls apart on a 20-inch monitor in the boardroom. And what starts out bad only gets worse during editing and duplica- tion processes. Our domain will be somewhere between these two bound- aries. Between consumer quality and broadcast quality lies a somewhat newly defined market area known by several names. Some call it prosumer, while others call it industrial, or com- mercial, quality. Whatever you call it, it's easy to spot. The video side is dominated by equipment that often looks and acts like broadcast gear but is at least slightly less capable. The VTRs and players themselves are tuned to producing sta- ble, high-quality images with enhanced resolution (compared to VHS). But perhaps most important, most video gear in this category can be computer controlled. That's where the real computer as- sist comes in. The computer takes control of the VCR, telling it when to play, record, pause, and so on. If you add a card to your system that handles an incoming video signal, you can display what's playing on the tape on your computer's monitor. If that card also has a video output, you immediately gain the ability to take an incoming video signal, add computer graphics to it (e.g., a title), and send it back out again to be recorded. Once you've done these few things (and added the not-so-incidental software, of course), you've built yourself a very inexpensive editing, titling, and graphics system. The Multimedia Lab This feature series on desktop video is the first major under- taking of the BYTE Multimedia Lab, and there's a reason desk- top video is the first subject. Among the many concepts and technologies that come under the multimedia umbrella, desktop video has developed to the point where widespread adoption and 108 BYTE • APRIL 1992 PRACTICAL DESKTOP VIDEO MAKING CONNECTIONS ALR PowerVEISA 486/33 Truevision ATVista (24-bit graphics, RGB video I/O) Diaquest DQ-422 (dual VTR control) RGB-to-NTSC (composite) conversion through Vidl/O Box > VTR control ► Video out Video in Mac llci Truevision NuVista+ (24-bit graphics, composite video I/O) Diaquest DQ-Animaq (dual VTR control) Video Toaster preview monitor — ^ Video in VTR control Video out Video in Program (main video) monitor Video in'' VTR control [ Video in Video out Amiga 2500/30 NewTek Video Toaster (24-bit graphics, four composite video inputs, two outputs) Diaquest DQ-Taco (dual VTR control) Panasonic AG-7750 S-VHS recorder VTR control }— Video in ^— Panasonic AG-7650 S-VHS player VTR control >— Video out ^~ I S-IIVI IX o o o o o a DDiD a nl nan ■ IS lis ILs. o e e e a e DDID - ana u ' All three systems in the BYTE Multimedia Lab are equipped to handle video I/O. The end of the line is always the video input of the AG-7750 S-VHS VCR. If only the real interconnections were as neat and manageable as in this diagram. use is possible. While standards for other types of multimedia applications are just beginning to emerge, it's already possible to build effective desktop video setups around the platform (more or less) of your choice. Like BYTE, the Multimedia Lab takes a multiplatform view of the world. I decided to employ three systems I believe represent the bulk of BYTE's readers. The PC system is an ALR Power- VEISA 486/33 with 13 MB of memory and a 600-MB hard drive. The Mac llci has 8 MB of memory and an 80-MB hard drive. The Amiga 2500/30 has 7 MB of memory and a 370-MB hard drive (330 MB of which is on a Micropolis SCSI drive I installed). YouTl notice that these are all pretty beefy configurations — ev- erything you've heard about multimedia being demanding of memory and disk space is true. The video-related hardware came next. Since I'm not evaluating products per se, I chose not to duplicate equipment where it could be avoided. In this endeavor, three veterans of the video indus- try — Panasonic, Diaquest, and Truevision — made building the lab much easier. Panasonic provided most of the video equipment: a pair of computer-controllable Super VHS video decks (one AG-7750 recorder and one AG-7650 player), three (model BTM 1 3 1 0Y) professional monitors, and a Super VHS camcorder. Diaquest outfitted all three computer systems with the video- synchronized, intelligent serial interfaces needed to control the decks. They not only tell the decks what to do, but also collect in- put from the decks regarding tape position, status, and so on. The Diaquest DQ-422 board in the PC also acts as the main source of video synchronization for the entire lab. (Its impor- tance will be made clear in the next article.) The Mac and the Ami- ga have DQ-Animaq and DQ-Taco boards, respectively. Truevision provided the professional video cards for the PC and the Mac. The PC's ATVista card uses an external signal converter (called the Vidl/O Box) to translate composite (or recordable) video signals to RGB for processing and then con- vert the board's RGB output to video for recording. The ATVista doesn't replace the PC's main display card, so it must be specif- ically supported by applications. Fortunately, the ATVista is popular enough that support is widespread. On the Mac, the Nu- Vista+ handles video I/O directly (without the external con- verter). Both cards offer 24-bit (or true color) graphics, video overlay (i.e., computer graphics added to an incoming video signal), and limited special effects. The Amiga's video I/O and APRIL 1992 -BYTE 109 PRACTICAL DESKTOP VIDEO The most basic desktop- produced video starts with live material (top left), blends in computer graphics (which either share the frame with the live video or use the entire screen) (top right), and then brings together all the various pieces through editing (bottom right). » File Edit Go Font Style Control g> gj Feature Opener Edit - Scene 1 of 4 Source |UideoTape ▼! O Assemble S Uideo (•) Insert IW Audio Tape .Unknown. Tape...... □ Mark 13&M GG.;C.i.,;.33.£S. ran Straight Cut Start None Duration OEdit In ,.siy..*y.y„'..? '-■ !, t:"-' (S> Edit Out Note: 5 Record Scene Record Edit 9 © i Ptayer ▼ || 1 19 c"l •'.«! FI> PIS * ** ;-B r lpIP^ M;|C0:GC:3C:GG a * v; ®Jog O Shuttle nearly everything else is handled by a NewTek Video Toaster. The Toaster has most of the same capabilities the Truevision boards have, but the Toaster has custom chips on-board that per- form dazzling digital special effects and other functions. The figure shows the lab's video setup more clearly. There's more to the picture than this, and I will go into more detail in future articles. I plan to introduce you to the various products in the lab as they come into use. Making the First Connection Video I/O boards (actually a misnomer, because these boards do much more than just process video) like the Truevision Nu- Vista+ and ATVista let you mix computer graphics and incom- ing video in just about any way you can imagine. These boards, however, do not drive the main display of your computer sys- tem — that is, the display on which program interfaces appear. That's because a recordable video signal, thanks to its use of in- terlacing and its reduced resolution, makes a poor carrier for complex user interfaces. The Mac in the Multimedia Lab uses an 8 # 24 GC card to drive its interface display, while the PC uses a standard VGA adapter. The Amiga uses three displays (the third is for the "preview" signal, described later). But when the Video Toaster is in use, all the displays flicker because the Amiga can synchronize its on-board video controller to an external signal (a process called genlocking), and the Video Toaster asks it to do that. As a result, the Amiga's interface display flickers when the Toaster is be- ing used, but the Toaster software adapts its interface appropri- ately. Using two (or three) monitors on your system may seem re- dundant and wasteful, but it has a distinct advantage: The sepa- rate interface display lets applications interact with you using 110 B YTE • APRIL 1992 Avis features GM cars: Buick Rei Discover the Avis Corporate Account Program. Because small businesses deserve large perks. Small, growing businesses like yours deserve the kind of benefits that used to be reserved only for big business. That's why we've created the Avis Corporate Account Program. Sign up and the savings begin. It doesn't cost anything to enroll in the program, not even a registration fee. 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As part of the Avis Corporate Awards Program, you'll receive a detailed monthly statement outlining all qualified rental activity - including renters' names, rental dates, locations and more. So you'll spend less time on paperwork and more on helping your business grow. Plus, other Avis services like Avis Express® and Roving Rapid Return® can save precious time for you and your travelers. Call Avis at 1-800-321-3709, Operator 54, for more details. Or send in the coupon below and sign up today. It's the best way to get the big perks your small business deserves. @1992 Wi2ard CoJnc . □ Yes! I'd like to find out how the Avis Corporate Account Program can help my company grow. Send to: Avis Corporate Accounts, P.O. Box 690360, Tulsa, OK 74 1 69-0360. Or fax to: 1 -9 1 8-62 1-4820. Please send me more information about the Avis Corporate Account Program. NAME TITLE PHONE f NATURE •!•' BUSINESS ESTIMATED NUMBER tF MtNTHLY CAR RENTALS Do you currently have a Corporate Account with another car rental company? OYes DNo INT 051 Circle 1 59 on Inquiry Card. PRACTICAL DESKTOP VIDEO all the screen space they need, without worrying about getting out of the way when it's time to record. And since the second mon- itor is typically for the signal being sent to your recording VCR, you can use a single monitor to view both the live, recordable computer output and the playback of the videotaped result. Some applications, however, require the broader color range of the video I/O board for their interfaces. While it's often worthwhile to create a computer graphic and record it to tape, it's much more valuable to combine computer- generated graphics with external video. Take, for example, the im- age in the screen on page 1 1 0. The background image of a person working on a piece of manufacturing machinery came from a videotape that was shot with a camcorder. I hooked the video output from the AG-7650 video player to the video input on the Mac's NuVista+ board. I then used a presentation graphics pack- age to construct the text and graphics, leaving the background a solid color. Next, I used AT&T Graphics Software Labs' Stu- dioMaster Pro software to turn the graphic into an overlay by selecting the graphic's background as the key color. StudioMas- ter Pro moved the playback tape into position, loaded the graph- ics file, and switched on the NuVista+'s video overlay. The key color becomes transparent, so the video on the NuVista+'s input appears wherever the key color (the background, in this case) is painted. The combined image — video input plus computer-gen- erated graphics — appears on the NuVista+'s video output, suit- able for recording to tape. This entire exercise took about a minute to complete, and it wouldn't have been much more difficult on the PC or the Ami- ga. This bird's-eye view of a titling exercise is only for illus- tration, but it should start you thinking. Any system that does video overlay (including inexpensive systems like external Amiga genlocks and specialized VGA cards for PCs) is gener- ally capable of combining computer graphics and video in what- ever way you like, provided the video fills the entire screen. Nearly all video input cards also allow you to capture an in- coming video signal, freeze it, and store the frozen image as a file for use elsewhere. The combination of moving video, captured images, and computer-generated graphics is a powerful one, as you'll see. But for now, I will digress and put a couple of thorny issues to rest. The Great Format Wars It would save a lot of time if you could take the video side of desktop video for granted, but you can't. The gear required to do the job properly can't be found in a department store or even in most video specialty stores. The equipment I selected for the lab, based on criteria I think most desktop video producers would use, falls into the industrial and "prosumer" classes I described earlier. What sets these units apart from consumer equipment are cost, quality, and computer controllability. There are a number of standards for methods of recording video on tape. These are referred to as video formats, and there are more of them than you can imagine. But if you limit your scope to the formats that are affordable to people less well-off than Ted Turner, some cost/capability isobars begin to emerge. Closest to the average desktop video producer's comfort zone lie two relatively new video formats: Super VHS (S- VHS) and high- band 8 mm (Hi8). As their names suggest, both are improvements The Ultimate True-Color Image Presentation Tool For Windows™ Presentation Power • Full 16-bit and 24-bit support, with optimized palette color compression on 256-color systems • Attention-grabbing transitions between images: file, louvre, wipe and snap with control over direction, style and display speed • Ultra fost loading of BMP, TIF, PCX, GIF, Torgo(TGA, VST) and other formats • Portable presentation generation: one file contains the entire runable show - copyright free! • Speaker notes: print your notes and images • File conversion: save any image os a Windows bitmap • ImageQ Viewer (sold separately): can be controlled by your application through Windows DDE ImageQ is a Ifcdemoik of Image Notlh Technologies -Windows is o Irodematk Ease Of Use • Slide sorting by name or visual matrix • Automatic, multiple visual image directories • Preview window for full size image display • Cut and paste of text, graphics and images from any other Windows application thot supports the clipboard Presentation Control Language • Full multi-media support at the MCI string level • Control of image sequence with keyboard and mouse • Define "click-on" regions in your image for even greater flow control • Looping, conditional branching, random image access • Adjustable run level adapts presentation to audience of Microsoft Corporation ■ Images courlesy Truevision AM Contest © 1 991 IM-flE isr^"«j =^3 ImageQ ™ $349 • Contact (800)363-3400 International: (51 9) 570-91 1 1 Fax: (519) 570-9140 Image North Technologies Inc. - 180 King St. S,, Suite 360 Waterloo, Ontario, Conoda * N2J 1 P8 ■ Dealer Inquiries Welcome 112 BYTE • APRIL 1992 Circle 1 57 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 1 58). 4 ' >.:■: . 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You know time is money, and link time is no exception. Free Demo To try our free demo on your own code [3 High Performance Dynamic Overlay Linker Don't Settle for Less. Other major features include full CodeView® support, use of EMS/XMS at program run time, and enhanced execution speed of overlaid code. Call: 804-355-4444 FAX: 804-355-1676 Order now! If you can't wait any longer, we offer a risk free 30 day money back guarantee. Available in 5.25" ^ or 3.5" diskette format. or Price $299 plus shipping & handling Blinkmc RD. Bdx 7154 Richmond VA © 1991 Blinkinc. Blinker is a trademark or' ABM. Inc. Offer only applicable in US and Canada. Circle 165 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 166). PRACTICAL DESKTOP VIDEO over the existing VHS and 8-mm formats. At a minimum, these improvements increase the resolution of the basic formats, but most S-VHS and Hi8 decks also employ other image-quality en- hancements. Even though these two standards deliver roughly the same image quality and call for similar levels of investment, they are at odds with each other. Just as in the VHS-versus-Beta wars of old, proponents of S-VHS and Hi8 are battling for the same au- dience. In my view, it shouldn't be so; the Multimedia Lab in- corporates both formats into its work, and I couldn't imagine it any other way. Hi8 is attractive because of its mix of high quality and light weight. My Canon Al Digital camcorder weighs less than 4 pounds — battery, tape, and all — and it's considered a heavyweight among midrange Hi8 camcorders. It travels well, and despite its birdlike physical attributes, it doesn't skimp on features or quality. Hi8 suffers, however, from the very things that make it so ap- pealing. Because the tape is so compact, the video heads have less surface area on which to "spread out" their signal. Dropouts (i.e., image degradation caused by flaking of the tape's magnetic coat- ing) are common after several plays and tend to be much more no- ticeable than on larger formats. Some Hi 8 tapes are less suscep- tible to dropouts than others, but in general, Hi8 is not durable enough for the thrashing that tapes get in a typical editing session. For gathering material, however, Hi8 is perfect. An S-VHS tape weighs a ton by comparison. S-VHS tapes and gear are not nearly as easy to carry and use as Hi8. But S-VHS has proven, in my experience, to be equal to the demanding re- quirements of editing and multiple plays. A number of highly capable professional S-VHS video decks have been released re- cently, and these units are, in all ways except cost and image quality, the equal of broadcast decks costing much more. It's a fringe benefit that these decks are also capable of recording and playing standard VHS tapes; there's no need for a specialized VHS mastering deck. The equipment mix I finally settled on for the Multimedia Lab takes advantage of the best attributes of both formats. All the live video is collected using Hi8 camcorders and then is transferred to S-VHS for editing. Animations and other strictly computer-gen- erated material are sent directly to the AG-7750, which has frame- accurate computer control and other attributes that I will describe later. Segue Alert Now that you understand some of the basics, it's time to take a breather until the next article in this series. There, you'll begin do- ing some real work, pulling together the raw materials that are part of a typical desktop video production. You'll learn more about live video acquisition, film transfers, video capture, and image enhancement. I'll discuss the products and techniques used to acquire and shape these materials, which can later be combined to form finished productions. ■ Tom Yager is the director of the BYTE Multimedia Lab. You can reach him on BIX as "tyager" or on Internet as tyager@ bytepb.byte.com. COMPANY INFORMATION j ALR Canon USA NewTek, Inc. (Power VEISA systems) (Digital camcorders) (Video switching and effects) 94091 Jeronimo 1 Canon Plaza 215 Southwest Eighth St. Irvine, CA 92718 Lake Success, NY 11042 Topeka, KS 66603 (714)581-6770 (516)488-6700 (800) 843-8934 Circle 1 131 on Inquiry Card. fax:(516)354-5805 (913)354-1146 Circle 1 1 34 on Inquiry Card. fax:(913)354-1584 Apple Computer, Inc. Circle 1 138 on Inquiry Card. (Macintosh systems) Commodore Business Machines 20525 Mariani Ave. (Amiga systems) Panasonic Broadcast Cupertino, CA 95014 1200 Wilson Dr. and Television Systems (408)996-1010 West Chester, PA 19380 1 Panasonic Way Circle 1 132 on Inquiry Card. (215)431-9100 Secaucus, NJ 07094 Circle 1 135 on Inquiry Card. (800) 524-0864 AT&T Graphics Software Labs Circle 1 139 on Inquiry Card. (Video processing software) Diaquest, Inc. 3520 Commerce Crossing, Suite 300 (VTR controllers) Truevision, Inc. Indianapolis, IN 46240 1440 San Pablo Ave. (Desktop video adapters) (317)844-4364 Berkeley, CA 94702 7340 Shadeland Station fax:(317)845-6917 (510)526-7167 Indianapolis, IN 46256 Circle 1 133 on Inquiry Card. fax:(510)526-7073 (317)841-0332 Circle 1 136 on Inquiry Card. fax:(317)576-7700 Circle 1 140 on Inquiry Card. Micropolis Corp. (Hard drives) 21211 Nordhoff St. Chatsworth, CA 91311 (800) 395-3748 (818)709-3300 fax:(818)709-3497 Circle 1 137 on Inquiry Card. 114 B YTE • APRIL 1992 Finally. A Real PC for Windows Users ® Hauppaugei i Hauppauge PC's: You've been using our Hauppauge MotherBoards for years. Now, you'll love our new computer systems. Designed by our engineers and built in the U.S., they're for Windows users like you who need more performance at an affordable price. 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FEATURE Windows Goes Real Time The iRMX for Windows operating system provides the best of both worlds: real-time and DOS/ Windows applications together on a single PC KRISHNAN RAJAMANI, NARJALA BHASKER, RICK GERBER, AND STEVE SNYDER Real-time applications have long been the domain of expensive proprietary hardware. But the relatively low cost of personal computers, the range of GUIs they can support, and the variety of software pack- ages available for them make small systems an attractive al- ternative. The question is, can real time on personal comput- ers work with acceptable response times and without losing access to popular DOS and Windows applications? DOS certainly does not provide the bed for the multitasking necessary for real-time applications; nor does it provide ade- quate run-time support for them. TSR programs provide only a semblance of multitasking. Even Windows doesn't provide the preemptive priority-based multitasking that sophisti- cated real-time applications need. Equally important, neither DOS nor Windows guarantees a bounded interrupt-response time (i.e., the time that elapses from when an intenupt occurs to when its interrupt handler starts to execute). Historically, proprietary kernels (i.e., operating systems) have provided the bounded interrupt la- tency, deterministic task-switch time, and other features that real-time applications need. However, completely abandoning DOS and Windows in favor of a proprietary real-time ker- nel is not attractive, either. Such a solution for- sakes the wealth of GUI, data-analysis, and display packages that are available under DOS and Win- dows. Without these packages, it's hard for real- time applications to meet the expectations of per- sonal computer users. "Reinventing the wheel" on proprietary kernels also is not cost-effective. Systems designed to support real-time appli- cations must respond to external asynchronous events within a predictable time frame. Whereas realtime is often interpreted to mean fast, a better synonym would be predictable or deterministic. The technology inherent in making a system real- time can add significant benefits to any application that requires a predictable response time. Real-time systems must support asynchronous I/O to maximize predictability. This support goes further than just making I/O fast; it enables a system to concurrently execute other portions of an appli- cation during I/O. Intel's iRMX for Windows operating system forms a bridge between DOS/Windows and real time. (Note: We use the term DOS/Windows here to imply either DOS alone or DOS and Windows together.) This operating system runs DOS/Win- dows as a single task under the iRMX (for real-time multi- tasking executive) 32-bit protected-mode operating system. It allows you to use the capabilities of iRMX with the Win- dows GUI to develop real-time applications supporting a wide ILLUSTRATION: RAPHAEL LOPEZ ©1992 APRIL 1992 -BYTE 119 WINDOWS GOES REAL TIME range of configurations, from single CPU systems to multipro- cessor systems based on networks or Multibus II. (For more in- formation on iRMX for Windows, call (800) 438-4769.) In the past, the iRMX family of operating systems was fo- cused on either component-level applications or applications us- ing Multibus. (For more information on the characteristics of the iRMX operating system, see the text box "Exploring the iRMX Pedigree" on page 122.) With the advent of iRMX for Windows, iRMX has been unbundled from such proprietary hardware. iRMX for Windows will run on any IBM- or Compaq- compatible 386 or 486 machine. The extended features of the 386 architecture, such as V86 mode, multiring protection, and multiple address spaces, make the marriage between DOS/Windows and iRMX possible. (Note that the term iRMX by itself refers to the non-DOS/Windows aspect of iRMX for Windows.) A Real-Time Windows Application Picture a hypothetical control system, say a luggage-tag engraver, running on a personal computer. The luggage tags sit in three bins, each bin containing different colored tags. For each en- graving request, a tag is retrieved from the appropriate bin and placed on a conveyer. The conveyer moves the tag to an engrav- ing station where a robotic arm moves it to an engraver. A vacu- um pump activates to hold the tag in place and clean the station of engraving debris. The engraver activates and engraves the tag. When the engraving is complete, the robotic arm places the tag back on the conveyer, which moves it to a collection point. The upper section of figure 1 shows the real-time components of such an application. Typically, they consist of control tasks of varying priorities and, perhaps, some hardware interrupt han- dlers. Together, these tasks and inteirupt handlers control and respond to hardware events in a timely manner. Imagine that a Windows screen (e.g., an Excel window per- forming order entry for the system, a custom window displaying a graphical representation of the control system replete with moving parts, a soft-control panel, and so forth, illustrated at the bottom of figure 1) conceals the control system illustrated at the top of the figure. Now picture a PC simultaneously running the control system with the user interface at the bottom of the figure. iRMX for Windows lets you do that. Figure 1 shows how the iRMX nucleus schedules DOS/ Windows and its appli- BVTE ACTION SUMMARY Combining real-time applica- tions with the relatively low cost of personal computers, the range of GUIs they can support, and the variety of software packages available for them is an exciting new development. Accessing DOS and Windows capabilities in a real-time envi- ronment provides the best of both worlds. cations as a task along with the other real-time control tasks. (You would probably want to set the priority of the control tasks higher than that of the DOS/Windows task.) The control tasks communicate not only among themselves, but also with DOS/Windows applications through a variety of interfaces. Under iRMX, Win- dows can run in real or standard mode. Since iRMX applications can install 32-bit interrupt handlers at Ring (the most privileged execu- tion state on an Intel pro- cessor, and the state where operating-system kernels normally run), they get control directly, regardless of the processor mode, with a bounded la- tency. A Multitude of APIs Since iRMX for Windows merges different operating systems, it contains a rich set of application programming interfaces. An ap- plication may not need all of them, but their availability provides flexibility. The APIs fall into three categories: native iRMX APIs for iRMX tasks, native DOS and Windows APIs for DOS/Win- dows programs, and Bridge APIs that allow DOS/Windows pro- grams to communicate and synchronize with iRMX tasks. The iRMX APIs include system calls that support preemptive priority-based multitasking, interrupt management, exception handling, 32-bit memory management, and intertask communi- cation, synchronization, and mutual exclusion. These APIs also provide device-independent I/O and network access. DOS and Windows provide the native DOS and Windows APIs. Since DOS and Windows actually coexist with iRMX, the full range of native DOS APIs is available. Windows is option- al, and its associated APIs are available if you load it. The typical application envisioned for iRMX for Windows includes the interaction of real-time components; of user-interface and non-real-time components; and of real-time components and non-real-time components, including the user interface. With these functions in mind, you would use iRMX APIs to imple- ment the real-time components of the application; DOS/Win- dows APIs to run the user-interface and non-real-time applications, such as a spreadsheet; and the Bridge APIs to bridge between the real-time components and the user-interface components. Bridge APIs The Bridge APIs come in three forms: real-time extensions, net- work interfaces, and Dynamic Data Exchange. The RTEs provide a critical subset of iRMX services — including semaphores and mailboxes — to DOS/Windows programs. A DOS/Windows pro- gram can use these primitives just as any other iRMX task would. The standard networking interface lets DOS/Windows programs use the NetBIOS interface to talk to iRMX tasks. Windows pro- vides the DDE mechanism for programmatic communications between applications. Many popular applications, including Ex- cel, Intouch, Visual Basic, and Toolbook, support DDE largely to implement the notion of links between documents. DDE is there- fore the key to providing iRMX applications with the ability to communicate with standard Windows applications. The DDE communications model considers each application to have a set of data items named by strings. Each application de- fines the format and meaning of data-item names (e.g., Excel re- quires that data items referring to cells use RnCn notation). Data items are located using an address with three elements: the ap- plication name, the topic name, and the data-item name. The topic name distinguishes among multiple application in- stances. For example, with two instances of Excel active, the DDE mechanism uses the name of the file that each instance is running to distinguish between them. Applications can set and query data items owned by each oth- er. They can also ask to be notified if a data item's value changes for event-driven operation. An application that actively makes DDE requests is called a DDE client. An application that passively responds to them is called a DDE server. DDE support in iRMX for Windows consists of two elements: a DDE Library to enable iRMX applications to participate in DDE communications, and a DDE Router Windows program that converts them to network communications. The DDE Library contains simple calls that iRMX DDE clients use to set and reset 120 B YTE • APRIL 1992 Mathematica 2.0: the standard for technical computing "The importance of the program cannot be overlooked ... it so fundamentally alters the mechanics of mathematics." New York Times "Mathematics has the potential to change the world of science at least as much as word processing has changed the world of writing/ fnfoWorfd "Mathematics is a startlingly good tool.' Nature Macworld 1991 World Class Software Award Survey I Mathematics MathCAD I Theorist Eureka PowerMath MATLAB All others Available across PC, Macintosh, Unix, and VMS platforms, Mathematica includes a full range of interactive numerical, graphical, and symbolic computation capabilities, all linked to the power- ful built-in Mathematica language. Mathematica 2.0 adds still more features to the proven leader in technical computing software, including sound generation and flexible external program communication. Mathematica has rapidly become the standard for technical computing, with more than a dozen textbooks, a quarterly journal, and several newslet- ters devoted to the system. Mathematica is in use at all of the 50 largest U.S. universities, all of the technical Fortune 50 companies, and most of the world's larger engineering firms. In fact, more than 100,000 technical professionals and students around the world are working with Mathematica every day. To find out what Mathematica can do for you, call Wolfram Research at 1-800 -441-MATH. Mathematica has also received best software/new product awards from: Macworld, 1990-91 MacUser, 1989 Discover, 1990 Business Week, 1988 BYTE, 1989 InfoWorld, 1988 Mathematica.2.0 A System for Doing Mathematics by Computer For Macintosh information circle 1 36, For IBM/Compatible information circle 137, For UNIX information circle 1 38 on Inquiry Card. Mathematica is currently available for: MS-DOS 386, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, CONVEX, DG AViiON, DEC VAX (ULTRIX and VMS), DEC RISC, HP 9000, Apollo, IBM RISC System/6000, MIPS, NeXT, Silicon Graphics, Sony, Sun-3, and SPARC. Prices in U. S. and Canada statt a t $595. Educational discounts and student versions ate available. Wolfram Research, Inc.. 100 Trade Center Drive. Champaign. IL 61820-7237. USA 217-398-0700; fax: 217-398-0747; email: info@wri.com. Wolfram Research (UK) Ltd.. P.O. Box 114. Abingdon. Oxon 0X13 6TG. United Kingdom +44 (235) 550440; fax: +44 (235) 550 445; email: info-uk@wri.com © 1991 Wolfram Research. Inc. War/wmaftes is a registered trademark of Wolfram Research. Inc. Mathematical not associated with Mathematica Inc.. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.. orMatriTech.lnc. All other product names mentioned are tiadematks of their producers. Photo: George Rehrey WINDOWS GOES REAL TIME Exploring the iRMX Pedigree The iRMX family of real-time op- erating systems has been on the market for more than 13 years. It is widely used in such mission- critical applications as check and mail sorting using high-speed imaging, med- ical instrumentation, machine and pro- cess control, satellite communications, energy management, financial trader workstations, and Automatic Teller Ma- chines. The basis of the new iRMX for Win- dows operating system is iRMX EI. The new system is a true 32-bit multitask- ing operating system with real-time programming facilities, including the following: • Preemptive, priority-based task scheduling with optional round-robin (or time-slice) scheduling within a priority level. • Advanced interrupt-management facilities that provide a deterministic response to asynchronous external events. • Efficient memory management with 4 gigabytes of memory accessibility. • Multiple intertask communication and mutual-exclusion mechanisms to pro- vide optimum task cooperation. • Full integration with the protection mechanisms of the 386 architecture for clean-code enforcement and program isolation. • An extensible set of system objects with built-in type checking for in- creased programming clarity. The iRMX model for program iso- lation is an object called a job. A job defines the environment for a program and contains all the resources that its various components use. Each job has its own memory segments. Its resources are by default private but can be made public, if desired, so other jobs can use them. A job can have multiple threads of execution, each of which is called a task. Tasks are the active objects with- in a job. Each task has its priority spec- ified when it is created. Tasks progress through a number of action states while they exist, between running (in control of the CPU), ready (preempted by a higher-priority task), and delayed (waiting for an event). Tasks communicate with each other through system calls, which include the following: • send_message lets a task send sys- tem objects, such as segments, to object mailboxes. • receive_message lets a task re- ceive system objects, such as segments, at object mailboxes. • send_data lets a task send data to data mailboxes. • receive_data lets a task receive data at data mailboxes. • send_units lets a task send several abstract counting units to a semaphore. • receive_units lets a- task receive several abstract counting units from a semaphore. • catalog_ob ject allows a task to catalog the name of a mailbox or semaphore in a job's object directory so that other tasks can look it up by name and use it for intertask communi- cations. • lookup_ob ject lets a task look up the name of a mailbox or semaphore in a job's object directory and use these exchanges for intertask communica- tions. • signal_ interrupt lets an interrupt handler signal an interrupt task to provide additional processing for an interrupt — processing that the interrupt handler itself cannot provide. • wait_ interrupt lets an interrupt task wait for an interrupt that needs special processing. Task priorities and these intertask communications mechanisms provide all the tools necessary to meet the real- time requirements of even the most de- manding applications. Other calls al- low the creation and deletion of these various exchanges, as well as the re- moval of objects from object directo- ries. The various receive calls have time limits associated with them, so tasks that use them may be blocked (or de- layed) until the requested information is received. Other system calls also exist and pro- vide management for memory, objects, exception handlers, interrupts, files (in- cluding device-independent I/O), and operator interfaces. The iRMX III op- erating system also allows you to define new object types and produce new sys- tem calls to manipulate objects of these new types. Such extensibility provides a great deal of flexibility. data items in DDE servers. It also provides calls that iRMX DDE servers use to advertise data-item or topic names and register handlers to invoke when requests arrive for any data item. The DDE Library communicates with the DDE Router using a simple applications protocol built with standard network in- terfaces. This protocol extends DDE addressing by adding the net- work name of the machine. So a DDE address has four compo- nents: a machine name, an application name, a topic name, and a data-item name. Both polled and event-driven operations are possible for iRMX applications. Of the Bridge APIs, RTE is more efficient than the network in- terface or DDE, but it is not natural for DOS/Windows pro- grammers. NetBIOS and DDE are more familiar. In fact, many Windows software packages already support data manipulation 122 BYTE- APRIL 1992 via DDE. So, it may be more convenient for iRMX tasks to com- municate with those packages in that way. Using NetBIOS or DDE to communicate between DOS and iRMX has another subtle advantage. NetBIOS and DDE lend themselves to transparently distributing the real-time and user- interface components across multiple machines. The user interface and non-real-time components could execute on one machine while the real-time elements execute on another. Communica- tions between the components could then occur over the network. However, you don't need network hardware if the entire ap- plication resides on a single PC. The networking interfaces work transparently whether short-circuited on one machine or dis- persed across several systems. Similarly, the network-based DDE Router provides transparent scalability for the DDE interface. continued About the only thing Superbase 4 can't contain is yDur imagination Imagine this. A Windows™ database that can handle virtually any data type. If s called Superbase®4 from Software Publishing Corporation. With it, the development possibilities are, well, thought provoking. Consider bar coding. Think creatively and any thing's fair game. One high-security prison, for example, uses Superbase 4 to keep track of their prisoners. "2 > Or how about video? Through DLL you can store still $ shots from a full-motion video camera. Or grab key images from a previously recorded tape. What's more, any photographic or graphic image can be included in any data file. So you can dress up product _ c catalogs. Personnel records. You name it. * And through DDE you can even pull in everyday business accessories. Like maps, graphs, charts, and spreadsheets. But this versatility doesn't come at SS££ the expense of power. Superbase 4 is fast. It lets you include an unlimited number of char- acters in any text field. And supporting SQL, it connects with some formidable ^ databases— SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, dBase, and DB2, among others. m YOU'LL NtVttt HAVf TO WORK AGAIN, SWEEPSTAKI5. In fact, Superbase 4 already manages a direct mail database containing over one million rec- ords. It could handle a lot more. So if s no wonder Superbase 4 is the worldwide market leader in Windows databases. Just imagine what it can do for you. S Sl'PERBAW Imagine, a free demo disk just by calling 1-800-336-8360, Operator 626. Superbase is a registered trademark and Superbase 4 isa trademark of Software Publishing Corporation. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. ©1991 Software f'ublishingCorporation, 3165 KiferRoad,SantaClara,CA9S05l. V|X 'SOFTWARE OXV< PUBLISHING WINDOWS GOES REAL TIME A REAL-TIME WINDOWS APPLICATION Conveyor Position indicators iRMX DOS/Windows Luggage tag order entry Excel worksheet Figure 1: The top part of the figure details the real-time components of a luggage-tag engraving application, including control tasks and hardware interrupt handlers. The bottom part shows a Windows screen (e.g., an Excel window for order entry, a cus- tom window showing the control system graphically, and a soft-control panel), which might conceal the control system at the top. The iRMX for Windows operating system establishes the linkages to accomplish this on a PC. File Systems and Other Devices Under iRMX for Windows, DOS and Windows programs con- tinue to access I/O peripherals and the DOS file system as usual. They can also access remote file systems through any of the available network products (e.g., NetWare and MS-Net). Other iRMX tasks can access these file systems simultaneously via na- tive iRMX I/O APIs. Here, iRMX requests are internally translated into DOS service requests. Optionally, iRMX also provides a native iRMX file system that can reside on a separate disk, co-reside with the DOS file sys- tem on a partitioned volume, or exist elsewhere on the network. However, iRMX tasks use the same iRMX APIs to access ei- ther the DOS or the iRMX file system. DOS programs can also map drive letters to iRMX file systems and access the iRMX files via the usual DOS I/O APIs. In this case, requests are internally translated into iRMX service requests. A special iRMX for Windows API allows iRMX tasks to in- voke real-mode software interrupts. Thus, the tasks can directly access special DOS device drivers as well as standard DOS or ROM BIOS services. Remote file sharing includes both client and server capabilities. Since the DOS file system is visible to iRMX, a system running iRMX for Windows can enable remote clients to access the DOS file system while simultaneously allowing DOS/Windows and iRMX tasks to access remote servers. And since remote file sys- tems are also visible to iRMX, that same system can act as a gate- way for clients that can't access them directly. For example, an MS-Net client could access a Novell server in this environment. iRMX for Windows also provides ISO transport services to iRMX tasks via Intel's PCL2A Ethernet controller. A network redirector subsystem allows NetBIOS applications from DOS/Windows to share that controller. DOS/Windows programs can also access a wide variety of other network hardware and software. Under iRMX, applications can dynamically install new de- vice drivers at run time. These drivers have a well-defined in- terface to the iRMX I/O system. Applications access them via de- vice-independent APIs and through special driver-specific APIs. The device drivers in iRMX for Windows run at Ring 0. The associated interrupt handlers obtain control directly, regardless of processor mode. This not only improves interrupt latency for de- vice drivers, but also removes the burden of installing dual-mode interrupt handlers. Under iRMX for Windows, applications can also install operating-system extensions to define new APIs and even new object types at run time. The Inside Story To establish DOS as an iRMX task, you first boot DOS and load a special iRMX TSR, which reserves a small portion of conven- tional memory for iRMX. Next, the iRMX for Windows loader puts iRMX in extended memory, where it takes control of the CPU in protected mode and initializes each of the operating sys- tem' s internal layers and system tasks. This initialization creates a special system task and dispatch- es it in V86 mode to the loader's return address. Then the load- er cleans itself up and returns to COMMAND.COM, which re- sumes the DOS idle loop. DOS is now set up as an iRMX task, and all subsequent DOS programs will execute in this context 124 B YTE • APRIL 1992 Close-Up Wins Remote Honors PCW#RLD Close~Up is fast, easy to use, and reliable. What else do you need in a remote package Close-Up Dual Pack 4.0 earns its Best Buy by virtue of lightning speed, an easy ► A interface, reliable error handling, and a complete set of tools for controlling one computer from another and collaborating with a partner. It's also the only package that can run Windows reliably from afar — even in extended mode. Runner-up Remote2 isn't quite as fast, and its toolbox is smaller, but it is perfeclly dependable with graphics. Excellent •••• Good ••• Fair •• Poor • Remote Performance: Why Close-Up is Best • Supports both Windows and DOS with the same pro ram. • Fastest VGA, EGA and CGA raphics. • Fastest file transfers and remote screens. • Runs Windows in all 3 modes. No restrictions. • Runs multiple Windows and DOS applications simultaneously, full- screen or windowed. • Remote mouse and keyboard control. • Self-installing, fully- automated for fast, easy operation. Call for FREE Working Model Overall value is calculated by multiplying each category rating by the category's weight percentage, summing the results, and rounding to the nearest half number Actual test results reprinted from PC Worlds Review of Remote Communications Software, Febuary 1992. "Close-Up... The Best Program \bu Can Buy for Remote Control" * — RpnrintpH frnm PP. M^a^7inp Tannarv 14- 1QQ9 —Reprinted from PC Magazine, January 14, 1992 The Ultimate Remote Program "Norton-Lambert's Cbse-Up is the fastest, easiest, and the most reliable program we looked at. . . " -PC World, February 1992 The results are in and the experts agree. New Close-Up* 4.0 has proven time and again to be the most advanced remote control system available. Close-Up lets you view & control PCs miles away by modem. Now with full support for Windows, DOS, graphics and mice at record-breaking speeds, Close-Up is the fastest, easiest way to handle all your remote communications needs. What You Can Do: /Take control of PCs at any location. • Work remotely on the road via laptop. • Control your office PC from home. / Access your company's branch offices. • Train your associates on any application. y/ Help customers miles away, remotely. y/ Transfer text, data, any file between PCs. y/ Remotely install and run Windows. y/ Automate remote operations at night. t/ Access networks all over the world. BBS BEST OF 1991 i j y EDITORS' CHOICE January 1992 February 1992 November 1991 February 1992 Winner of the Top Awards "Close-Up has been highly polished and if s flexibility and capability clearly make it the best program you can buy for remote control" -PC Magazine "Best of 1991," January 14, 1992 "If you're serious about going remote, check out Close-Up. The program's handling of Windows is simply dazzling. " -PC World "Best Buy," February 1992 "Close-Up is one of the fastest products we've seen. It had the fastest file transfer times and the shortest times redrawing the screens. " -LAN Times, November 18, 1991 "You will not find a better all-around remote-conttvl program. " —PC Magazine "Editors' Choice," February 25, 1992 Control both Windows and DOS with just one program Now with double the remote power, Close-Up gives you full support of both Windows and DOS. That's like getting two remote programs for the price of one! ^Spectacular Savings! Clos hCbse-lp Now you can receive the Close-Up 4.0 Dual P&ck including > both sides for only $199-you save $240! | Upgrade Now! Upgrade your current remote program to new Close-Up 4.0. Call l for special pricing. Call 805-964-676 Norton-Lambert Bringing People Together* ^ P.O. Box 4085, Santa Barbara, CA 93140 USA Phone 805-964-6767 Fax 805-683-5679 Limited time offer. All prices in US Dollai-s. Prices exclude shipping. © 1992, Norton-Lambert Corp. Circle 97 on Inquiry Card. Circle 59 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 60). • It - Savers Stand-Alone LCD Monitor $995.00 This 10" black on white monitor is easy-to-read, yet compact. Resolution is 640x480 for sharp, flicker-free image. Sharp's high refresh rate, triple supertwist nematic technology with back lighting provides a super bright, low radiation screen with a wide viewing angle. The adjustable monitor base is only 29x14 cm. It lets you mount the LCD monitor on vertical surfaces or fold for transport. Comes with 1.5 m cable and VGA adaptor card. No external power required. IBM AT compatible. Popular Space-Saver Keyboard $98.00 First successful alternative to conventional keyboard saves 60% desk space with a foot print of 27.3 x 15.2 cm. Has full travel tactilly responsive keys with standard left-right spacing for easy touch typing. 100 keys, compatible with IBM XT/AT PS/2. Many language versions available. 9" VGA Monochrome Monitor $1 98.00 640 x 480 resolution black on white screen with a foot print to match the Space-Saver Keyboard of only 25.0 x 25.7 cm. Tilt and swivel stand. No adaptor card included. To Order Call Toll Free 1-800-328-2589 1 year warranty on all products shown. Order direct from stock with 15 day full return privileges. Visa, MasterCard, AmEx charges and COD accepted. OEM and reseller volume discounts available. Spec Sheets Sent By Automatic 24 hr. FAX Transmission 1-703-662-1675 First Choice In SpaceSaver Peripherals 2836 Cessna Drive • Winchester, VA 22601 Phone 703 662-1500 • Fax 703 662-1682 MasterCard] VISA WINDOWS GOES REAL TIME 1 THE DOS/IRMX RELATIONSHIP .... J jf iRMX real-time multitasking executive Priority-based preemptive scheduler Rescheduling can occur on interrupt or on a 10-millisecond clock tick ROM BIOS Video RAM, EMS, and drivers DOS applications iRMX interface TSR DOS Encapsulated DOS Figure 2: DOS runs as an iRMX task like any other in V86 mode. The DOS task contains a normal DOS system complete with drivers, ROM BIOS, and applications. In that same iRMX task, you can initiate Windows just as you would on a dedicat- ed DOS system. (see figure 2). Now you can start Windows from DOS, if you wish. It will run in the same iRMX task that DOS does. An application's real-time components can be loaded as pro- tected-mode iRMX jobs at any time, either automatically after sys- tem initialization or manually from the console. Several jobs can run in the background, and each can contain multiple tasks. The iRMX kernel runs in protected mode at Ring 0, while DOS and real-mode Windows run in V86 mode. If you load Windows in standard mode, it runs in protected mode but at a less- privileged level than iRMX. iRMX owns the global descriptor table and interrupt descriptor table, as well as its own local de- scriptor table. Standard-mode Windows has a private LDT. Initially, iRMX owns and manages all the extended memory. Standard-mode Windows obtains extended memory from an iRMX Extended Memory Specification driver. Windows is then responsible for managing its own extended memory. The XMS driver provides functionality similar to that of HIMEM.SYS. Figure 3 shows how DOS, Windows, and iRMX use system memory. The iRMX kernel schedules native iRMX tasks along with the DOS/Windows task according to priority. iRMX switches the CPU between V86 mode and protected mode as required when switching between tasks or dispatching interrupt handlers. Any task, including the DOS/Windows task, can take hard- ware interrupts. The system first traps those that DOS/Windows handles in Ring and then reflects them to the appropriate real- mode handler or Windows protected-mode handler (see figure 126 BYTE • APRIL 1992 w uster Presentations Curtain Call™ Presents. . . Titles, Effects, Backgrounds, Paint, Slide Show, Sound and Music for Windows. Get Rave Reviews. Produce top-of-the-line presentations or videos that look good on the bottom line. You've got to try Curtain Call. Talent Not Needed. Because Curtain Call provides the cast and crew, making spectacular images is now a breeze. Start by producing a rainbow of beautiful back- grounds with just a click of the mouse. Then transform any Windows fonts into dazzling titles with shadows, outlines, metallics and 3D extrusions. Add your own artistry with Curtain Call's full-featured Businessman's Budget Dazzling Titles and easy-to-use paint tools. Finish it off with pictures, text, graphs, or still-frame video imported from other programs through Curtain Call's clipboard. It's Show Time. Your images can be sequenced and controlled with the mouse or menu-driven script editor. Slick variable speed transition and overlay effects add lots of polish. Preview any portion of your show at any time. Synchronize voice, sound effects and music, through Sound Blaster or another PC sound board. It's a blast! Dynamic Graphics Curtain Going Up. It doesn't take an M.B.A. to figure it out. What used to cost thousands can now be yours for under $200. All names of companies and products as they appear are the registered trademarks and/or trade names of the respective companies. Gradations (pfMi Sheens f 3D Powerful Effects Make Curtain Call your Windows presentation star and listen to the applause. Break a leg for $199.95. &ZumaGroup 160 Knowles Drive, Los Gatos, CA 95030 (cSOO) 451 -0900 (outside CA) (408) 378-3838 (inside CA) (408) 378-3577 (fax) Circle 172 on Inquiry Card. Circle 76 on Inquiry Card ANY CAMERA ANY VCR ANY TV VGA VIDEO GALA The Complete Desktop Video Graphics Solution 1. Its a Super VGA board! 2. Recordable output to VCRs and TV monitors! 3. Live TV in a window and frame grabbing! HIGHRES TECMOLOGIESmC The VGA Video Gala is only $595 To order or for more information, call or fax us at: High Res Technologies Inc. PO Box 76 Lewiston, NY 14092 USA Tel: (416) 497-6493 Fax: (416) 497-1636 WINDOWS GOES REAL TIME COMPUTER SECURITY PRODUCTS COMPLETE LINE OF PROVEN AND EASY TO INSTALL COMPUTER SECURITY PRODUCTS FOR COMPUTERS. PREVENT COMPUTER THEFT! DISK DRIVE LOCK 77 HiminBii * * KMU^Security System This system allows you to secure all your computer components: CPU, monitor, keyboard, printer. Internal component security: Kablit fasteners secure the rear panel of CPU protecting internal boards and hard drives. Fasteners available for all applications. Prices $34.95 to $49.95 depending on system. . IBM PS-2 DLK-270 Series Now you can lock a diskette into your disk drive and force the computer to boot from the diskette. Disk Drive Lock models available for PS/2 - 30, 55SX, 50, 70 and 90. Protect your data from viruses or from being copied. Other drive locks to fit most non IBM PS/2 and Macintosh disk drives. List price $24.95 Order your free catalog of these and many other security products. Purchase orders accepted. Quantity pricing available. Shipping not included. MC/VISA accepted. Dealer inquiries invited. Secure-It, Inc. i .enn.4^1 -7^Q1 18 Maple Court East Longmeadow, MA 01028 JL "O W *T*7 A " / ^S*1 THE DOS/WINDOWS/IRMX MEMORY MAP f J ~^Top of physical memory Managed by iRMX free space manager 1 MB + 64 KB iRMX XMS manager 1 MB iRMX for Windows High Memory Area (DOS 5.0 can reside here) Protected-mode part operates here I Standard-mode Windows EMS board (optional) 640 KB EMS page frame (optional) I/O space Real-mode part operates here DOS and DOS applications Figure 3: How do DOS, Windows, and iRMX share system memory? At first, iRMX has all the extended memory. Then, standard-mode Windows obtains some from an iRMX XMS driver, which fund ions as a high-memory manager, taking responsibility for its management. 4). It also traps the return from these handlers to ensure that the interrupted task resumes execution in the appropriate CPU mode. Similarly, the system traps all software interrupts from DOS/Windows programs and reflects them to the appropriate DOS/Windows handler. It also traps any attempt by Windows to switch the CPU between real and protected mode. iRMX for Windows performs any mode switching. In addition to CPU sharing, iRMX shares other hardware re- sources with DOS and Windows. DOS and Windows can use the numerics coprocessor for floating-point instructions, as can iRMX applications, since iRMX maintains the numerics register con- text on a per-task basis. Both iRMX and DOS/Windows need the timer, so iRMX traps timer interrupts and reflects them to DOS or Windows at appropriate intervals. Also, iRMX and DOS/Win- dows can share hard and floppy drives. iRMX uses DOS APIs to access these resources. The iRMX TSR serves as a surrogate DOS process in whose context iRMX can obtain these services. Remaining Predictable Despite the presence of DOS/Windows and their applications, iRMX for Windows guarantees real-time response for critical iRMX tasks. First, the priority of a DOS/Windows task is low; it will run only when higher-priority tasks are idle. Higher-priority real-time tasks can preempt DOS /Windows tasks at any time. Second, by using 386 protection features, iRMX traps any at- tempt to disable CPU interrupts from DOS or Windows. The ac- tual CPU interrupt flag is always set to enable interrupts whenever DOS/Windows is running. However, iRMX maintains the DOS virtual state of this flag so that it won't reflect any hardware in- terrupts while DOS/Windows has disabled CPU interrupts. This ensures the integrity of DOS/ Windows while it bounds the latency for iRMX hardware interrupts. Third, iRMX traps DOS/Windows' I/O instructions that mod- ify the interrupt masks of the programmable interrupt controller. The 128 BYTE • APRIL 1992 Circle 1 1 8 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 119). HH WE CHANGED THE SHAPE OF COMPUTING. . We put the best features of your favorite computer into a keyboard. eforeKNS (Keyboard Network Station), when you purchased a computer system, the manufacturer threw-in the keyboard. Now, when you buy a KNS keyboard, we'll throw-in the computer. And what a computer! Choose from 286 and 386SX models in a variety of CPU speeds. Specify up to 4MB of RAM. Your KNS comes standard with Super VGA adapter, 3.5" floppy disk drive, 2 serial ports, 1 parallel port and a 16-bit expansion slot-all housed in a lightweight, portable, AT-style keyboard. A network interface card can be installed in the built-in 16-bit expansion slot; installation is quick and easy. And, KNS is compatible with most popular network operating systems. We changed the shape of computing and the KNS will change the way you add workstations to your network. ULTRATEK-Everything for the LAN Builder" BBC ULTRATEK Products, Inc. Distributed by: AIC (U.S.A.) • (714) 894-1675 EM AIC (U.K.) 081-961-9661 Circle 1 67 on Inquiry Card. AccSys" for WINDOWS GOES REAL TIME Set of C libraries for easy access to dBASE data and index files. Source available but not required, o" Increased performance shortens processing time. - Total control over data memo, MDX and NDX index files. Network and single-user versions available. Copici International Ltd Wheaton, Illinois 60187 708/682-8898 FAX: 708/665-9841 Instant info, via FaxFacts: 708/924-7465 Press: 889832# A Message To Our Subscribers FROM TIME TO TIME WE MAKE THE BYTE SUBSCRIBER list available to other companies who wish to send our subscribers material about their products. We take great care to screen these companies, choosing only those who arc reputable, and whose products, services or information we feel would be of interest to you. Direct mail is an efficient medium for presenting the latest personal computer goods and services to our subscribers. Many BYTE subscribers appreciate this controlled use of our mailing list, and look forward to finding information of interest to them in the mail. Used arc our subscribers' names and addresses only (no other information we may have is ever given). While we believe the distribution of this information is of benefit to our subscribers, we firmly respect the wishes of any subscriber who does not want to receive such promotional literature. Should you wish to restrict the use of your name, simply send your request to the following address. Ljlrlt Magazine Attn: Subscriber Service P.O. Box 555 Hightstown, NJ 08520 DOS/WINDOWS INTERRUPT REFLECTION DOS/ Windows DOS/ ROM BIOS service request Return from interrupt/ task Interrupt descriptor table n-1 handler n handler iRMX for Windows Dispatcher interrupt handlers INT n-1 handler INT n handler Real-mode interrupt vector table n-t handler n handler Standard-mode Windows interrupt descriptor table n-1 handler n handler Figure 4: Any iRMX task, including DOS/Windows, can initiate hardware interrupts. The system traps DOS /Windows inter- rupts in Ring 0; reflects them to the appropriate handler, whether real-mode or protected-mode; and then traps the return to route the tasks to the appropriate mode. operating system emulates PIC operations in such a way that DOS cannot change the mask for iRMX's interrupt levels. Each interrupt controller has two logical parts: iRMX owns one, and DOS/Windows owns the other. Finally, iRMX ensures that tasks above a certain priority do not take DOS/Windows interrupts. Thus, an application task can guard itself from long interruptions, such as a long list of TSRs triggered by the timer. Making Trades Trade-offs occur in uniting iRMX and DOS/Windows. To pre- serve the determinism of iRMX-owned interrupts and high-pri- ority tasks, DOS and Windows pay a performance penalty. Similarly, to maximize the device independence of standard AT peripherals, iRMX does not access them directly, but uses DOS and the BIOS to do so. iRMX for Windows doesn't require spe- cial device drivers to access a drive or file system. An alternative would have been to emulate DOS file and other I/O services with higher-performance device drivers and file systems. This marriage sacrifices the functionality of enhanced-mode Windows (e.g., virtual memory and multiple DOS sessions). But it supports the faster standard-mode Windows. Despite these trade-offs, however, iRMX for Windows brings real-time appli- cations to the PC. More than that, it encourages their cohabitation with DOS/Windows applications, providing the best of both worlds. ■ Krishnan Rajamani, Narjala Bhasker, Rick Gerber, and Steve Snyder are senior software engineers at Intel Corp. in Santa Clara, California. You can reach them on BIX do "editors.'" 130 BYTE • APRIL 1992 for Power Users Read these in-depth Computing 'Know How 1 books PC Intern - For the DOS Programmer PC Intern is a completely revised and expanded edition of our bestselling PC System Programming book. It's a literal encyclopedia for the DOS programmer. If you program in assembly language, C, Pascal or BASIC, you'll find dozens of practical, parallel working examples in each of these languages. PC Intern clearly describes the technical aspects of programming under DOS. More than 1200 pages are devoted to making DOS programming easier, including: • COM and EXE programs, the BIOS and services • Writing device drivers, overview of ports and accessing them • Interrupts, interupt calls and their significance • New and expanded appendices and much, much more 1200+ pages with 3 Vi" companion diskette. #B145 ISBN 1-55755-145-6 $59.95 Order Toll Free 1 -800-45 1 -431 9 Available at B. Dalton Booksellers, Waldensoftware, Software Etc. Crown Books, and other fine bookstores nationwide. In the UK contact Computer Bookshops 021-706-1188. In Australia contact Pactronics 02-748-4700 Abacus Dept.B4, 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 $5.00 postage. Foreign orders outside Noith America add $13.00 surface rate or $20.00 air mail per book. We accept Visa, Master Card or American Express. Call or write for your free catalog of PC Books. 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Sales Tax Rates for applicable states: Calif ornia=6.25% (plus local option tax); Massachusetts=4% (plus local option tax); New York=4% (plus local option tax); Texas=6%; Washington=8.2% POCKETBOOKS DayBook+, Instant Database and Make Your Point are trademarks of the Asymetrix Corporation. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Circle 169 on Inquiry Card. 134 BYTE • APRIL 1992 ILLUSTRATION: JAMES ENDICOTT ©1992 STATE OF THE ART KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING Natural I/O technologies make your computer work for you, instead of the other way around MAUREEN CAUDILL It's April 1993, and you've just purchased a top-of-the-line personal computer from Big Apple. You open the box and begin to assemble it, but to your surprise, you don't see a keyboard, only a special pad and pen that resemble those in an executive portfolio. The box also contains clothing: a body suit, a pair of gloves, and a headband. You see no monitor, only a helmet and goggles. What's going on here? What you're about to experience is your first taste of natu- ral computing: making computers interact with users in a hu- manlike manner. Natural computing emphasizes how com- puters interface with humans on a sensory level rather than through the cognitive command logic today's devices use. Natural computing intrinsically deals with human sensory perception. Neural networks, or processing systems modeled after the human brain, are particularly good at the low-level sensory tasks that digital computers find difficult to perform. Natural input includes such technologies as speech and handwriting recognition and gesture interpretation. Natural output includes speech; meaningful, humanlike gestures and motions; and virtual-reality environments. Natural I/O is the ultimate user-friendly interface. It places the burden of communication squarely on the computer rather than on the human: Instead of the user having to learn the computer's preferred interface, the computer must deal with the user's preferences. Although computers have been mov- ing in the direction of natural I/O for years, the relevant en- abling technologies are only now becoming mature enough to make this capability a reality in the immediate future. Learning to Talk Probably the first thing you thought of when you read the term natural I/O was a speech interface, so it's no surprise when you discover that your Big Apple system comes com- plete with a microphone and stereo sound. (Speech I/O is new; sound in general is not. Since 1990, systems such as the Next machine and the Macs have included sound capabili- ties as a part of their standard configurations.) With natural-speech input, you face the two separate but interdependent problems of speech-to-text conversion and natural-language processing (NLP). Natural-speech output technologies confront the problems involved in speech gen- eration. Some excellent systems use hybrid expert-network tech- nology married with traditional digital signal processing (DSP) techniques. Because words and phonemes frequently require several fractions of a second to utter, the sonograms (visual patterns representing sound waves) for even discontinuous words represent very large, complex blocks of data. Also, because of variations in pitch, tone, accent, dialect, and pro- nunciation, computers have an extremely difficult time recog- nizing even simple words like cat. They can do it, however, under limited circumstances. Any number of commercial products offer single-speaker, single-word voice-recognition capabilities with various levels of competence. A few can han- dle single-speaker continuous speech with a small vocabulary, and some can process multiple- speaker discontinuous speech with limited vocabularies. But very few can handle many speakers, continuous speech, and large vocabularies. "Speak," Typewriter In the late 1980s, Teuvo Ko- honen of the Helsinki Univer- sity of Technology developed a APRIL 1992 -BYTE 135 Kinder, Gentler Computing BY MAUREEN CAUDILL 134 The Power of Speech BY SUBRATADASAND ARTHUR NADAS 151 Even as We Speak BYJOSEPHJ.LAZZARO 165 The Ultimate User Interface BYBOBJACOBSON 175 Resource Guide: NATURAL I/O 187 KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING voice typewriter using a combination of all available technologies: DSP, rule-based systems, and neural networks. It's this blend of the traditional and the new that made it such a success. Using the voice typewriter, you speak into a noise-canceling microphone. The sounds you make are digitized into a 12-bit Gray Code and are sampled every 10 mil- liseconds, and a Fourier transform (a math- ematical technique that converts time-sam- pled data to the frequency domain) is applied. The transform, of course, discards phase information in the signal — a weak- ness in this preliminary design. The frequency-smoothed logarithms of the transformed signals are reduced in di- mension to normalized 15-element vec- tors. A series of vector-quantizing neural networks categorize these vectors into probable phoneme-text conversions. The main neural network handles simple con- versions; specialized networks process more subtle distinctions (e.g., between the sounds of\k\, \p\, and\t\) separately. A rule-based expert system then corrects mis- takes and handles contextual or coarticu- lation problems (a coarticulation effect is one where the pronunciation of a phoneme is affected by the previous or the following phonemes; see figure 1). The voice typewriter has achieved some remarkable results. It was tested using the most extreme speech-to-text case: multiple speakers, continuous speech, and a large vocabulary. Although the first 100 or so words from each speaker were used as training data for the neural network, the system did not have to be trained on the complete vocabulary of each speaker — only on a representative sample of words. Under these conditions, the voice type- writer achieved between 92 percent and 97 percent accuracy in converting speech to text. Further, it was able to type the text on a system monitor with a time delay of only about a quarter of a second. These results are not quite good enough KOHONEN VOICE TYPEWRITER BVTE ACTION SUMMARY Finally, there are easier ways to interact with your computer. With the coming of natural I/O technologies — innovative GUIs, better speech I/O, and novel interfaces — your computer will do more of the work for you. Preamplifier Subtract Normalize f average vector Neural networks "How are you? Figure 1 : The Kohonen voice typewriter marries conventional digital signal processing with neural networks and rule-based experts to produce an excellent speech-to-text system that re- sponds in about l A second with accuracy in the 92 percent to 97 percent range. for widespread commercial use; the voice typewriter is a little too slow and inaccurate for the average user to accept. Neverthe- less, this marriage of multiple technol- ogies into a finely crafted solution pro- vides strong clues to how future speech solutions may be constructed. Say What You Mean Although great strides have been made in speech-to-text conversions, the ability to convert sounds to characters doesn't mean you can construct a system that compre- hends words. Solving this essential piece of the puzzle falls into the realm of NLP. NLP is probably the most difficult chal- lenge that AI researchers face. If they can build devices that truly understand human language — natural language — they will have a powerful tool that will open the way for breakthroughs in other areas. NLP involves a series of issues that be- gins with straightforward syntactical anal- ysis of a sentence parsing and continues with semantic analysis, in which the struc- tures identified in parsing are interpreted as pertaining to objects in the known envi- ronment. Once these steps are complete, each sentence has to be correlated with the entire conversational history. The challenges of producing NLP sys- tems are enormous, and research is going on in many areas. The greatest successes have been in the realm of syntactical and semantic processing in highly restricted knowledge domains (see the text box "Giv- ing Feeling to Speech" on page 168). Scripts and Frames Two basic components of NLP, context correlation and pragmatic interpretation, are far less developed than semantic and syntactic parsing. Each of these basic com- ponents requires access to one or more databases that contain extensive knowl- edge about the world; thus, knowledge representation becomes a critical issue. One classic technique for storing such knowledge is a script, which is an envi- ronment in which actors and objects have stereotypical roles that are correlated with objects in a sentence. Semantic parsing associates words with these stereotypical notions and can use the known roles in the stereotype to reveal the meaning of the sentence. A restaurant script, for instance, might contain roles for the waiter and the diner, as well as the associated actions (e.g., read- ing a menu, ordering a meal, or serving a meal) of the appropriate actors. People mentioned in a sentence who look at or receive a menu might be assigned the role of diners. The comprehension/reason for their visit to the restaurant (i.e., hunger) would be coupled with the probable after- math of having eaten food (a satisfied ap- petite and a smaller amount of money). Another common way of representing knowledge is by using a frame system. In this scenario, each object has associated inheritable properties and attributes. These individual frames are linked as nodes in a directed graph structure (i.e., a semantic network) that illustrates the relationships between the frames. Usually systems iden- tified as frame-based have more organi- zation than those labeled semantic net- works, but the general characteristics of both are the same. AI researchers have recently realized that cooperating processors can achieve more, faster, than any one processor. As a result, many more NLP systems are being implemented using parallel architectures — preferably on parallel hardware (e.g., hy- percubes or transputers). However, using multitasking operating systems provides limited parallel performance. Interprocess communication is handled most frequently by the blackboard meth- od, a technique that allows independent processing modules to post information in a common area (i.e., a blackboard) for other modules to access. Alternatively, message- passing systems can direct information to 136 BYTE • APRIL 1992 KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING Music: A Natural Link to Our Emotional Selves TOD MACHOVER Many of us believe that the most significant element missing from computers is emotion. One of the ways people con- vey information is through emotional content. Because music is an important way people communicate emotions, why not use it to interface with our computers? New Ways to Use an Old Friend People often think of music as a pleas- ant enhancement to their everyday lives. They listen to music on the ra- dio while driving a car, on a Walkman while exercising, as a soundtrack of a motion picture, and as soothing ambi- ence while dining or reading. Various domains of research are transforming the way people learn, per- form, listen to, and understand music — the way they naturally integrate it into their lives. These changes suggest that music may soon assume a more cen- tral role in our lives. Researchers are developing a new generation of musical instruments in- tended to combine virtuosic perfor- mance and intelligent computer moni- toring. For instance, the MIT Media Lab's hyperinstrument project, which I've directed since 1986, has developed techniques that allow musicians to use their skills on a traditional acoustic in- strument to control many simultaneous layers of computer sound. Recently, re- searchers at the media lab developed a hypercello for the artist Yo-Yo Ma. A hyperinstrument is a computer simulation of a musical instrument that goes beyond the capability of the real instrument it's based on. Hyperinstru- ments are intended to greatly expand a human's control of the instrument and the sound it produces. Few other human skills involve such direct and natural translation of mental concepts into physical movement. Hyperinstru- ments provide examples of the future of human-computer interface devices. In their design of hyperinstruments, researchers are trying to develop a pure- ly musical interface: to have the control information transmitted from the user to the computer (and vice versa) either through the natural gestures of the mu- sical performance or through the music itself. This model is important because music seems to represent an abstract outline of people's psychological states. Although most hyperinstruments are designed for skillful musicians, exam- ples of similar technology are surfacing in applications for music students and music lovers. Researchers are devel- oping systems that will allow people to learn to play instruments, to conduct a virtual orchestra at home, or to learn about musical structure through inter- active video games. The Role of Technology Ideas such as these bring up important philosophical questions: Should tech- nology encourage creativity or simu- late it? Should human-computer in- terfaces enable everyone to perform certain difficult tasks equally well (serv- ing a kind of prosthetic or compen- satory function), or should they allow individual differences to produce dif- ferent results? My own work has led me to believe that technology should always promote individualism. Natural applications of technology should permit people to use their skills to control and shape un- charted expressive regions. Certainly, new possibilities discovered through increasingly natural uses of technology should stimulate individuals to master new skills. Musical models truly can help people create new and increas- ingly natural tools — that is, if they lis- ten carefully. Tod Machover is an associate professor of music and media at the MIT Media Lab (Cambridge, MA) and director of the lab's experimental media facility. He is a pioneer in the development of hyperinstruments, and his recordings have won many awards both in the U.S. and internationally. You can reach him on BIX do "editors" or on Internet as tod@media-lab.mit. edu. specific modules for action. The black- board approach was used by L. Erman in the Hearsay II and Hearsay III speech- recognition systems. In Hearsay II, each independent pro- cessing module contains semantic or syn- tactic information about the language. The blackboard posts hypotheses about the meaning of a particular sentence organized along two axes: time and processing level. A control system supervises the modules to improve the likelihood of success. On activation (as determined by the con- trol system), each module examines the state of the blackboard and either modi- fies the existing hypothesis or writes a new one. When it completes its task, another module performs the same procedure. Spe- cific situational triggers determine when each module should be activated. Some of the latest NLP systems use neu- ral-network or fuzzy-logic technologies to enhance these AI approaches. In particular, researchers are considering the use of neu- ral networks to implement semantic net- works and frames (as well as other direct- ed acyclical graph applications). Fuzzy logic is useful in implementing semantic grammar and in coping with certain knowl- edge-representation problems. Hearing It Talk Converting text to natural-sounding speech is one of the functions of natural I/O. You may already have encountered applica- tions of speech-output technology in au- tomated voice mail, telephone directory assistance, and over-the-phone banking systems. And you may have listened to APRIL 1992 'BYTE 137 KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING Figure 2: The hierarchical neocog nitron can recognize handwritten numerals. Each processing stage contains two layers of neurodes: One observes the previous stage s output, and the other provides limited translational independence of the image. Each successive stage detects higher -lev el features in the input image; the last stage makes the final character determination. digitized music output (e.g., background music) from devices such as answering machines and voice-mail systems. The most natural-sounding text-to- speech systems available use digitized and edited human-voice recordings combined with pitch, intonation, and speed controls to generate fluent sentences. Individual phonemes and combinations of phonemes are recorded and edited for use as needed (see the text box 'Toward Continuous- Speech Recognition" on page 158). Natural-sounding speech is not easy to achieve because word intonation depends to a great extent on the context and mean- ing of what you say. English has many words that sound alike but have different meanings (e.g., read, which can sound like either red or reed), depending on the con- text. Further, for many speech-output ap- plications, such as telephone directory as- sistance or automated banking, the text contains abbreviations, telephone numbers, and other nonword information. Thus, a good speech-generation system must per- form some of the same syntactical and se- mantic processing that NLP systems do. Once the system translates the text into the appropriate phonetics, it must convert these tokens to specific phonemes that the speech synthesizer can process. But this process can result in an atonal, artificial- sounding output unless the phonemes are further manipulated. Individual phonemes are not the only factors that make speech sound natural. The transitions between phonemes add a natural flow to what you say. In addition, phonemes in human speech have varying durations in different words and sentences. To compensate for these effects, many good text-to-speech systems use a rule- based system to help them determine the correct parameters for each sentence. The rules are based on the sentence structure of the message, and they help provide a hu- manlike sound. Emotional Highs Natural I/O deals with human emotions. One of the key ways humans express their feelings is through music. Computers of the future may have to accept, understand, and generate music to participate fully in this type of communication (see the text box "Music: A Natural Link to Our Emo- tional Selves" on page 1 37). Many researchers have developed mu- sic-generation systems, using a wide vari- ety of techniques. One example illustrates how such systems can learn to compose their own music. Teuvo Kohonen began development of a unique music-composition system by ana- lyzing the works of about two dozen com- posers, from Bach to Beethoven to Brahms. Out of these analyses, he created a collec- tion of grammars that describe how each composer used notes, chords, and themes. Kohonen trained a series of neural net- works with these grammars; some trained on the grammar of only one composer, and others received training on grammars from two or more composers. Kohonen set up the networks so that they were giv- en signals after training (the details of which Kohonen has kept private) that caused the networks to compose music in the style of a composer it learned from. The music composed by the networks trained on one composer's grammar is fresh and pleasing. The music generated by networks trained on multiple compos- ers, however, is extremely unusual and ex- traordinarily interesting, sounding much like a collaboration between, say, Mozart and Bach, or Brahms and Beethoven. Ko- honen even has one network trained on all the grammars. That network generates an oddly atonal, quite modernistic music that has a peculiar appeal of its own. This and other music-synthesis systems can provide computers with a range of emotional response, which soon may well match humans' natural expressiveness. Reading Your Writing As you consider the pen and pad in your Big Apple system, it occurs to you that people not only talk to each other, they also write notes. Handwriting recognition is another key form of natural input. Using a keyboard is a skill that many people never acquire. But most children are taught to print and write. Thus, a com- puter that recognizes your handwriting is more natural than one that requires you to type in your commands. Generally, there are two methods by which a system can recognize handwrit- ing. One method is dynamic recognition, a process in which the system notes stroke sequences and uses that information to identify the characters. For example, a sys- tem might distinguish a capital E from a capital B in part by the order in which you make the character's strokes. Alternative- ly, you can use static recognition, a tech- nique in which the system only receives the image of the finished character. Static recognition can be more difficult than dynamic recognition because there is less information available to identify the letter you have written. Stroke order of- ten gives clues to where each character starts and ends — clues that are missing in a static image of the final character. This problem, called character segmentation, is probably the most significant challenge faced when constructing a handwriting- recognition system. Before they develop a handwriting-rec- ognition system, vendors must decide if 138 B YTE • APRIL 1992 KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING they want it to recognize cursive writing as well as printed text. Most commercial sys- tems process only printed letters. Handwritten characters do not have a fixed size or position, and they can overlap each other in the field of view. They can be translated, rotated, misshapen, or incom- plete — all of which makes it hard for the system to recognize the characters. Neural Networks That Read Researchers and developers have used a variety of neural-network algorithms to attack the reading problem, from the Re- duced Coulomb Energy algorithm to back- propagation networks to the neocognitron (which was developed by Kunihiko Fu- kushima of Osaka University). A back- propagation network iteratively leams to recognize characters by adjusting the net- work's weighted connections using back- propagated errors. The neocognitron is a complex hierarchical series of overlapping feature detectors that identify images. It has the ability to handle most trans- lation and distortion variations with little or no preprocessing (but less success with rotated characters). It pays a price in com- plexity for this capability, however. A neo- cognitron network that can recognize only the 10 arabic numerals requires tens of thou- sands of connections and several layers of neurodes. To achieve such recognition ca- pabilities, the neocognitron uses a com- plex hierarchical collection of stages. Each stage contains two layers of neurodes. The first layer consists of neurodes that receive small overlapping segments of the image of the image-capture layer. These neurodes extract features from the image, and control neurodes embedded in the lay- er prevent each small group of neurodes from responding to more than one feature. The second layer of the stage provides lim- ited translational independence by blur- ring the exact position of each detected feature (see figure 2). The neocognitron idea is to extract more complex features at each progressive stage. The stages closest to the original image deal with low-level features; later stages handle more complex features and com- binations of low-level features. This en- ables the final stage to identify the letter. Neatness Matters Other handwriting-recognition schemes frequently use similar designs, although the technology that is used may not be a neocognitron or even another neural-net- work model. As with other image-pro- cessing systems, the general rule is to de- termine low-level features, synthesize these into more complex features, and identify the image from this hierarchical series. Except in the case of notepad comput- ers, it's rarely sufficient for a handwriting system to recognize the writing of just one person. It usually must be able to process legible handwriting samples from many people. The greatest difficulty here arises from the large training sets required to pro- vide good general recognition. Because of this problem and the hard- ware limitations that require network de- velopment to be performed in software simulation, parallel network microproces- sors that can learn on the chip are just now becoming available. Developing a neural- network handwriting-recognition system requires patience. Training can take weeks, and (depending on the network design used) the networks may never train well. Taking Notes Several products can recognize the hand- writing of one person (sometimes of a few Three Good Reasons for Choosing Videx Bar Code Readers: Mathew Mifcih 1 mm \m Portable Durable Programmable Proven performers in any environment-from the office to the outdoors-Videx's family of bar code readers leads the industry as the most portable, durable, programmable data collectors. Make your job easy. Keep track of time, attendance, assets, inventory, work-in-process, shipping and receiving with a bar code reader from Videx®. Time Wand® I, DuraWand™, and Time Wand II are designed for todays world of diverse applications and demanding environments. All at prices that make them the obvious choice. Time Wand I $248 DuraWand $495 Time Wand II $698 For a free information kit/ call Videx today at 503-758-0521. idex See us at Comdex/Spring, April 6-9, Chicago, Booth %106S, and at ID Expo, June 16-18, Chicago, Booth #355 Videx, Inc., 1105 NE Circle Blvd., Corvallis, OR 97330-4285 • 503-758-0521 • FAX 503-752-5285 Videx and TimeWand are registered trademarks and DuraWand is a trademark of Videx, Inc. Circle 134 on Inquiry Card. KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING people). Most notable of these are notepad computers, which use a stylus and a touch- sensitive screen that reacts to the user's handwriting. Such pen-based personal computers must interpret the user's hand- writing and convert it into text, as well as process user interactions with software buttons and other interface elements se- lected by stylus touches. Pen interfaces offer a number of ad- vantages. You don't have to learn such "unnatural" skills as typing. Additional- ly, they are portable, and you can use them almost anywhere. Many businesses have found them to be very effective in situa- tions where a lot of data is collected off-site and analyzed or used in other locations. Disadvantages include having to deal with a system that holds relatively small amounts of data (handwritten text generally takes up more screen space than an equiv- alent amount of screen-font characters), and the necessity of training the system to recognize each person's handwriting. In addition, pen interfaces still can't reliably comprehend everyone's writing. If you scribble or use cursive writing instead of printing, there's a good chance the system won't be able to translate it correctly. Notepad computers still make occa- sional errors, although at least one device uses a rule-based system to correct obvious typos and convert them into reasonable guesses. Among the extensions of these notepad computers are drawing-pad pe- ripherals that let you draw on the screen us- ing a similar pad-and-stylus arrangement. The best of these drawing devices use a pressure-sensitive surface to relay rela- tive-hand-pressure information to the drawing program. The graphics software uses that data to simulate an artist's heavy (or light) hand with a brush, a pastel, or a pencil. In the best cases, the resulting screen effects are almost indistinguishable from the variety of effects you can achieve with real-life painting tools. Body Language Among the other obvious forms of natural input are biological feedback devices that deal with your hand and body motions (see the text box "Feedback Devices: The Hu- man Machine Connection" on page 148). These particular inputs can be processed either through a direct connection between you and your computer (often using fiber optics) or by having your computer watch your motions and interpret them. The first kind of input is most common today, but some systems can also use intelligent ma- chine vision. In a body suit or glove, you literally wear the interface. Sensors attached to the fabric of the glove measure angular mo- tions of your fingers, hands, arms, legs, or other body parts. In one product, VPL's DataGlove, the sensors detect the dimming of light passing through a short fiber-optic cable that is aligned over two knuckles of each finger. The cable must be accurately positioned over the center of each joint so that the cable bends when you flex the fin- ger. The bending of the fiber-optic cable causes the light passing through the cable to dim, which provides a measure of the angular deflection of that joint. A DataGlove subsystem determines the overall position of the hand. The mo- tion of your hand through a magnetic field induces a current in three axial coils on the back of the glove. The magnetic field is generated by three similar coils on a stationary mount within about 3 feet of the glove. A small device mounted on the wrist detects the resulting currents, and microprocessors compute the hand's Point Click, and Send Aggravation Free Faxing for Millions of Windows Users BitFax for Windows makes sending a fax as easy as printing. Point, click, and send. It's as simple as that. Fax any combination of fonts or graphics from any Windows application with a few clicks of a mouse. There's no need to quit your application, or print a hard copy, or line up for the fax machine. Just point, click, and send. BitFax for Windows does ~mZ the rest. BitFax for Windows works with just about any fax/ modem card. It's compatible with all El A Class I and Class II cards including AT&T, AST, Best, Cardinal, NEC, Tl, Sharp, Zoltrix, and Zoom to name a few. And Say good-bye to ugly faxes. BitFax for Windows sends your image at an incredible 200 x 200 dpi resolution. ■All regisierwi trademarks *«.• ihc property of I heir respective owners. Bypassing the feeble scanner found in most fax machines means your faxes will be clear, precise, and very readable. A special Quick Dial feature allows single click transmis- sions and the easy to use phone Book is in standard dBase format. Other productivity features include background auto re-dial and fax logging. BitFax for Windows offers the freedom to send and receive documents and forms directly from your desktop, laptop, or notebook computer. It's available in German, Spanish, Italian, and French versions and includes an comprehensive manual. MS/DOS and OS/2 versions are also available. But best of all, BitFax for Windows won't cost you a fortune. The suggested list * • i BIT Software Inc. price is $79.00 and dealers || [ 47987 Fremont Blvd. may even sell for less. \J I J Fremont, C A 94538 Tel: (510) 490-2928 Fax: (510) 490-9490 140 BYTE • APRIL 1992 Circle 47 on Inquiry Card. ■ffli »fc£iw*"" I esignCAD2D. Like Leonardo da Vinci's con- ji- I cept of a rotary blade aircraft, it is ahead of its time, not only in technology, but also in cost and value. DesignCAD 2D is only $349, and it has more and better features than the other CAD programs that cost $3,000! And, if you're ready for a three dimensional CAD program, there is the state-of-the-art DesignCAD 3D . . . for only $499! So, how come theirs costs several thousand dollars and ours costs a couple hundred? Go figure. (Why do you think the Mona Lisa is smiling like that?) Your product designed with DesignCAD? Let us know, and maybe we r it put it in one _ of our ads. m w ■ [i'-'J. ^1 1 T . 1 1 1 1 1 1 _*■ 1 i i i i i i i i i M im i i ^ J^ MAGAZINE! MAGAZINE CAD/CAM Software K l> [TORS'! CHOICE | EDITORS 1 CHOICE For a free demo disk and 16 page color brochure, contact: Ik r American Small Business Computers, Inc. One American Way* Pryor, Oklahoma 74361 (918) 825-4844* FAX (918) 825-6359 European Headquarters: 102 Rue La Fontaine* 75016 Paris, France Phone 331 4 +1 •^■JiV#ctc*" Other office Athens • B; Mexico City] ^-""^ Circle 43 on Inquiry Card. KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING DYNAMIC MONOCULAR MACHINE VISION \/ A/D A/D Video cameras A/D A/D Four-channel video bus 80x86 80x86 80x86 80x86 80x86 80x86 80x86 ! 80x86 j 80x86! 80x86! ; 80x86 (up to 15 parallel processors) 80x86 System bus ^> 80x86 Figure 3: Dickmanns and Graefe's dynamic monocular machine vision system uses custom hardware. The 286-based board has multiple processors that receive four video channels in parallel to provide a wider viewing angle. The on- board RISC controller chip performs many of the image-processing correlation computations. position within the field. You must connect this system to a large computer that monitors, controls, and in- terprets the glove's sensor data. One of the greatest drawbacks to using this de- vice is the physical constraints it involves. Not only must you keep your hand within range of the transmitter coils, but you usu- ally must keep the other end of the glove's cable attached to a large computer that is not particularly portable. Other disadvan- tages of this kind of system lay in their in- herent inaccuracies in measuring and in- terpreting data. The most common body suits and gloves are made of stretchy lycra fabrics that fit tightly on the body or hand. The same fabric elasticity that enables you to put on the garment can cause the positions of the sensors relative to the joints and bones to slip and vary as you gesture and move. Some attempts have been made to overcome this predicament, including the development of Exos's Dexterous Hand- Master (DHM), which replaces the glove with an external articulated cage. To use the DHM, you put your hand in- side an awkward-looking but lightweight and natural-feeling metallic articulated skeletal structure. The very nature of this design keeps the angle sensors accurately aligned with your hand and fingers. The result is more accurate input data. Fur- thermore, this design allows the DMH to detect side-to-side motion, using additional sensors. Overall hand position is deter- mined using the same induced-current technology found in the DataGlove. Other types of human- interface devices have been developed, and new, improved generic and application-specific equipment is evolving. The development of human- machine interfaces is a dynamic field, where researchers and vendors are rapidly making significant progress. Watching You Move Perhaps a better way to make your com- puter understand your gestures is to have it interpret them the same way a human would — by watching you move. There are several approaches to natural machine vi- sion systems. In the long run, sophisticat- ed machine vision systems may become more popular for natural I/O than the di- rect-wire link devices. Interpreting gestures is not the same as identifying objects in a fixed-frame im- age. Hand and body movements are ac- tions, and one way to interpret them is to use a dynamic machine vision system. Two German scientists, Ernst Dieter Dick- manns and Volker Graef e, have created such a system. Their dynamic monocular machine vision system provides human- like characteristics to interpret moving im- ages. The ideas behind the system are both simple and profound. First, assume the system has processed one frame of a movie and located a specific object using traditional image-processing techniques. To locate the same object in the next frame, it's not necessary to search the entire image. Because real objects don't blink in and out of existence, the most probable location of the object in the next frame is near its position in the first frame. Using this insight, the Dickmanns and Graefe system localizes the search space for known objects from frame to frame. Rather than searching the entire image for the ball that was in the upper-right comer of the frame in the previous image, their system looks for the ball in a localized search box somewhat larger than the ball's position in the previous image. If it doesn't find the ball there, it expands the box un- til it locates the ball's new position. In a typical 512- by 512-pixel video camera image, this simple procedure can dramat- ically reduce the search time for all inter- esting objects in view. Because the system is searching each local area for a specific object, its method of search can be optimized for that object. The system can scan the entire locator box using edge-detecting algorithms or an- other machine vision technique, or it can search the box by looking for a specific kind of surface. Dickmanns and Graefe noted that the human visual system is not perfect when exposed to objects that move rapidly in and out of view (see figure 3). Although Dickmanns and Graefe have not applied their machine vision system to interpreting hand or body gestures, they have high hopes for its evolution into oth- er related areas. For instance, it provides feature tracking in dynamic scenes, which is just what is needed for gesture interpre- tation and other applications in the natural- input environment. A Smile Says It All A key element missing from all these sys- tems is the ability to perceive and inter- pret facial expressions. Much human com- munication occurs through smiles, frowns, and grimaces. The MIT Media Laborato- ry is a pioneer in this area of study. Another research group — split between the University of California at San Diego and Dartmouth College — has trained neu- ral networks to recognize facial expres- sions associated with specific emotions and to identify gender. These scientists used a series of standard 5 1 2- by 5 1 2-pix- el video images of faces expressing emo- tions (e.g., anger, boredom, and astonish- ment). The images were reduced to 64 by 64 pixels by averaging the relative gray- scale level in each pixel and normalizing the brightness; they were then passed through a data-compression network. The I/O layers are the same size in this neural network — in this case, 64 by 64 neu- rodes — but the middle layer is significantly 142 B YTE • APRIL 1992 >OMe people woiild.loiocJk .lis lor ike kind 01 ciowii wa :m eeoonn we ire oneri Mure Remember images ojtbe Berlin Wall falling: people dancing and singing because, Jor tbejirsi time in generations, tbey could move freely, with no restrictions? Today, freedom-loving people have another reason to celebrate.- the Super Cordless Mouse from Z-Nix. With no annoying cord to get in the way, it promises ultimate freedom of movement --from distances up to 6 1 away — to take full advantage of the Windows® revolution. And it won't discriminate between right- and lefi-handed users. No cord, no getting hung up around your coffee cup. If you think we're exaggerating how much better it can be, just think back to the first time you used a remote controlled TV. In fact, the Super Cordless Mouse works on similar, dependable technology, using infrared light to transmit data. And to give you free, uninterrupted use, we designed our mouse with two rechargeable batteries. One is in the mouse, and the other is kept fully charged inside the handy mouse holder which doubles as your infrared receiver. On top of that, as the pioneer of 400 dpi resolution technology, Z-Nix delivers the industry's most developed, intelligent driver software to put special preferences for cursor control in your hands. The Super Cordless Mouse offers both IBM and Macintosh users unsurpassed freedom and ease of use. For more information on how to get your hands on our mouse, call (714) 629-8050. And let freedom ring. Z-NIX COMPANY, INC A 9t mt 2 ' 1 Erie Street ' Pomona - CA 9 ' 768 a£a A No Strings Atlacbtl Circle 1 42 on Inquiry Card. KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING smaller. The idea is to train the output lay- er to reproduce the input image after it has passed through the small middle layer. Once the data-compression system was able to accurately reproduce the original images, each image was passed through the network, and the resulting response vectors of the middle-layer neurodes were extracted. These compressed vectors be- came the inputs to a second two-layer net- work, which identified the emotion ex- pressed by the person in the image. The scientists achieved good research results. The neural networks were able to correctly identify most of the portrayed emotions, and when the network erred, the mistakes were usually similar to those hu- man judges made on the same photos. In particular, the network more often con- fused negative emotions (e.g., anger, bore- dom, and misery) than positive ones (e.g., astonishment, delight, and pleasure). These results are consistent with those derived in human psychological tests. Given an expanded, enhanced version of this technology, it is conceivable that your Big Apple computer may one day be able to tell when you're feeling blue and offer a cheery joke to lighten your day. Reading Your Mind The Big Apple system you purchase in 1 993 includes a headband for you to wear, which provides yet another form of natu- ral input: It can read your mind. You wear the headband (or skullcap, depending on design) so that the computer can monitor your brain waves and do what you mean instead of what you say. Prototype telepathic controllers have already been constructed at the Nippon Telegraph & Telephone labs in Japan and at Stanford University in the U.S. The devices that users wear on their heads can be as simple as a headband or as com- plex as a lycra helmet. Sensors attached to the device detect the user's brain waves, just as an electroencephalograph detects brain waves (an EEG was the basis for many of the prototypes). The telepathic controllers usually transmitted a few dozen signals to a neural network for in- terpretation. The neural networks train as a user con- centrates on specific word commands, and the thoughts generate characteristic brain- wave variations. Researchers are just be- ginning to learn how thoughts affect brain- wave variations. One or more neural networks interpret the signals and translate them into con- trolling commands. In one prototype sys- tem, a user was asked to concentrate on the words left, right, up, and down. The neural network (usually a back-propagation network) learned to interpret the brain- wave characteristics of each word, and it associated them with the appropriate con- trol commands for a joystick. The ultimate result: The joystick moved as a direct re- sponse to the user's thoughts. Several problems must be overcome be- fore this technology becomes part of any commercial product: ensuring the precise positioning of the sensors on the head, shortening the response time of the sys- tem, and avoiding the necessity of training the system for each user. Also, it isn't clear how hard you must concentrate on a word to provide an adequate signal for the sys- tem to reliably detect. Ubiquitous Computing Your B ig Apple computer is only one part of what has been termed ubiquitous com- puting. What this term means is that small- er, faster, cheaper, and smarter computers will become essential components of every 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 mjc Here's what a BYTE Deck advertiser has to say: "Ten years ago we advertised in the very first BYTE Deck— the number of sales leads we received was enormous! Vie BYTE Deck was so successful for us, that we have continued to use it over the past ten years! ' ' Lisa Tarpoff, Marketing Manager, Heath Company, Benton Harbor, MI 144 BYTE- APRIL 1992 "I can't beUeve it's not UNIX." Take it from the critics, Coherent is so close to UNIX, you won't believe your eyes. Or the price. "Mark Williams Co. seems to have mastered the art of illusion; Coherent comes so fully qualified as a UNIX clone, you find yourself thinking 'I can't beHeve it's not UNIX!" -Sean Fulton, UNIX Today!, November 26, 1990 "...(Coherent) may be the best thing that has happened to UNIX yet." -William Zachmann, PC Week, November 5, 1990 "If you want to come as close as you can to real UNIX for a low price, COHERENT can't be beat" -Warren Keuffel, Computer Language Magazine, November 1990 "If you want a UNIX-like develop- ment and learning system for less than $100. . . I don't see how you can go wrong with Coherent." -David Fiedler, BYTE Magazine, Novemberl990 OVER 30,000 USERS, AND MORE EVERY DAY! Why is Coherent now the world's best-selling UNIX clone? Sean Fulton, UNIX Today! MWC SCO COHERENT XENIX 286 Version 3.2 Version 2.3.2. No. of Manuals 1 8 No. of Disks 5 21 Kernel Size 64K 198K Install Time 20-30 min. 3-4hours Suggested Disk Space 10 meg 30 meg Min. Memory Requirec 640K 1-2 meg Performance* 38.7 sec 100.3 sec Price $99.95 $1495.00 *ByteExecl benchmark, 1000 iterations on 20 MHZ386. Hardware rsquirements: 12 meg 5V4* or L4 meg 3%" floppy, and hard disk. NEW RELEASE 3.2 *99.95* Because like the original UNIX, Coherent is a powerful, multi-user, multi-tasking development system with a complete UNIX-compatible kernel and C compiler. Features include Lex and Yacc, a vi editor, SCSI support and UUCP capabilities. And Coherent comes with a full set of over 200 UNIX commands including text processing, program development, administrative and maintenance functions. All of it fully documented in our highly acclaimed 1200 page manual. WHATUNKWASMEANTTO BE. Unlike current versions of UNIX, Coherent is lean and efficient. Small and beautifully powerful, the way UNIX was originally designed. Coherent runs on affordable 286 as well as 386 and 486 based IBM-PCs and compatibles with space to spare. Enough space to keep DOS co-residing on your hard disk. And it's so fast to install, so fast to learn and just so fast, Coherent leaves UNIX in the dust. HARD TO BELIEVE? IT KEEPS GETTING BETTER. Like Coherent, all Mark Williams products are incredible values. Including regular updates with new and enhanced features. Our write-your-own device driver kit. And COHware, contributed software on diskette. There's also on-going free tech- nical support via telephone. An active user network and a UUCP Bulletin Board System. Plus, with our new 3.2 release: • A new Korn shell with sophisti- cated command-line editing. • Postscript and PCL support for troff adding access to hundreds of new fonts. • Improved UUCP support. • International keyboard and character set support. TAKE60DAYSTO CONVINCE YOURSELE Will you agree with the critics and Coherent's 25,000-plus users? Try it. And if you don't think Coherent is everything you ever wanted in UNIX, we'll refund your money. No problem. No hassle. You can't go wrong. So get to a phone, FAX or mailbox now and order Coherent today. At $99.95, it's unbelievable. 1-800-MARKWMS (1-800-627-5967 or 1-708-291-6700) FAX: 1-708-291-6750 60-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTIEE! 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. Distributors: Australia (07) 266-2270, Czechoslovakia 632-62877, Denmark 42-88-72-49, Finland 47-871-201, France (1) 46-72-1 Germany (0511) 53-72-95/(030) 313-7015, Norway 211-0950, Singapore 336-0188, Sweden (0) 660492-90. )-74, KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING item you deal with every day. When this environment becomes com- monplace, ordinary items will naturally adapt to you instead of your having to un- naturally adapt to them. You will become so used to this way of interacting with inanimate objects that you won't realize there is a computer inside them. Xerox Palo Alto Research Center sci- entist Mark Weiser envisions such a day arriving perhaps as soon as the turn of the century. The scientists in his lab foresee computers embedded in objects at three different scales: inch-scale, foot-scale, and yard-scale. Inch-scale computers include microprocessors buried inside everything from identification badges to electronic chalk to paperless notes. These systems would connect via infrared links to other computers in each room of your home or in your office. A room will contain countless small computers, none of which needs to be par- ticularly smart. But when they are mas- sively linked via wireless channels, your house or office becomes a place where electronic chalk writes on a yard-scale blackboard and your inch-scale coffee- machine computer asks if you want it to start your morning brew. Note that many of these computers need recognize only "yes" and "no"; they do not need to understand language. To you, these devices operate as naturally as they always have, except that now your bul- letin board displays information from across the country and your identification badge forwards your calls without any ef- fort on your part. Today's operating systems and net- works, however, can't handle the loads needed to deal with the hundreds of com- puters that make up your ubiquitously computerized world. To implement this notion, we will have to solve significant problems in software and communications. For example, operating systems will have to deal with hardware configura- tions that literally walk out of (or into) the system. And what happens when the window of an application has to move from computer to computer as you walk through a building? We must also en- hance our networking technology so that we can seamlessly integrate wireless and hard-wired systems and cope with sys- tem configurations that change in the blink of an eye. The World as You Know It The last elements of your new Big Apple computer are the helmet and the goggles, with their wraparound three-dimensional display. These devices provide the ulti- mate in natural I/O — a virtual-reality en- vironment (VR is an artificially generated domain in which you can experience and interact with a complete 3-D world). The best-known example of this type of virtual space is often portrayed on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in the Enter- prise's holodeck. Simply by programming the computer, crew members can create the London of Sherlock Holmes's time, the Genesis planet, and any other place or time — real or imaginary. Although the holodeck is fictional, sim- pler VR systems are already very real. Some of the first impressive VRs were the flight simulators used to train pilots. Using this technology, pilots can experience take- offs and landings, enjoy calm flights, and deal with emergencies. Through practice, they learn to handle airplanes skillfully in every kind of situation. A good VR system uses some or most of the technologies I've discussed, but it adds at least one more: realistic, often 3-D 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 r Here's what a BYTE Deck advertiser has to say: "Ten years ago we advertised in the very first BYTE Deck— the number of sales leads we received was enormous! Tl\e BYTE Deck was so successful for us, that we have continued to use it over the past ten years! ' ' Lisa Tarpoff, Marketing Manager, Heath Company, Benton Harbor, MI 146 BYTE- APRIL 1992 A Little 5 © — ^ it. o. -ENTER O f - ' ' ' ■ " mm /D-.SUB DEGAUSS LO T560i Yes, it displays images that crisp. Yes, it does conform to the strict new Swedish MPR II and TCO guidelines, the world's toughest VLF and ELF emission standards. Yes, it does have an intelligent front control panel. Yes, it is a NANAO monitor. And the closer you get, the better we look. Take a close look at the increased clarity and brightness of Trinitron technology through graphic appli- cations such as CAD, Desktop Publishing and Windows, and see their true colors. 7660/ With flicker-free 1 280 x 1 024 ultra high resolu- tion and .26mm trio pitch, the 1 7-inch FLEXSCAN T560i gives you more work space without sacrific- ing desk space. For those who prefer a largerworkarea,theFLEXSCANT660i's 20-inch screen size is ideal. With the innovation and ergonom- ics of NANAO's FLEXSCAN T-Series monitors, no other monitor can come close. That's why the _,^^_ T560i won the 1991 BYTE BVTE AWARD OF DISTINCTION. Take a closer look at your nearest NANAO dealer today, or for more information call NANAO. NANAO 1 -800-800-5202 1-310-325-5202 (CA) Fax: 1-310-530-1679 (H) Trinitron, Windows and FLEXSC\N are trademarks o f their respective companies. "Satellite" graphic images created by lerry D . Flynn, Design Engineer, Cocoa Beach, FL. "Lunar Landing" created by Design Visualization Group, McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Company Circle 18 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 1 9). KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING Feedback Devices: The Human Machine Connection BETH MARCUS Imagine trying to pick a flower with one eye closed or grasp an egg wear- ing heavy gloves. That's precisely what we're doing in most computer applications. The link between the hu- man and the computer can be either a barrier to productivity or a natural con- duit for information and experiences. Now there are new, more natural ways for you to interact with your computer. Feedback technology is ready to reduce the barriers between you and your com- puter. Pick any three-dimensional applica- tion and describe what you want to ac- complish with it and what kinds of vari- ables and objects must be manipulated, and you are defining the specifications for a feedback device. The applications that feedback technology can enhance are as varied as the applications of virtual reality (VR), 3-D graphics, and high- speed computing. One of the research institutions now investigating teleconferencing, a feed- back-technology application for use in business, is AT&T Bell Laboratories. Obviously, holding teleconferences would be easier and more practical if all parties only had to feel present rather than travel to various sites to hold criti- cal meetings. This is just one area in which feedback technology can play a major role. In medicine, the applications are many, varied, and increasing. Medical students and practicing surgeons must watch videos and observe actual surgery to leam new procedures. With VR, they will have an expert lead them through a procedure, and they can practice as of- ten as they wish. What's Out There? Feedback technology has been evolv- ing concurrently with the complexity and capability of computers and appli- cations (see figure A). Following the de- velopment of this particular process, the technology diverged into two different directions: toward general-purpose and NATURAL INPUT DEVICES Figure A: Faster computing and 3-D applications offered hard- ware and software manufacturers two choices: Build bigger desks and clone more arms for power users, or develop more capabili- ties and adaptable input devices to take advantage of our natural dexterity and coordination. Economics and comon sense pointed toward developing advanced feedback devices. Vv, Mouse n DataGlove (VPL) 3D Spaceball (Spatial Systems) t Dexterous HandMaster 3-D Mouse (Logitech) (Exos) Early 1980s Late 1980s 148 BYTE • APRIL 1992 ILLUSTRATIONS: R. KENTON NELSON © 1992 KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING special-purpose devices. 3D Trackers, a pioneering effort in the process, measure the position and orientation of a sensor-implanted ob- ject in free space. Three of the most widely used products are the Bird by Ascension, the 3Space Tracker by Pol- hemus, and the 3-D Mouse by Logi- tech. To mold an object, manipulate something in your fingertips, or grab an object in a particular orientation, you are required to measure finger and hand motion. By identifying hand ges- tures and postures, whole-hand devices permit you to do that — and more. Some common examples are the VPL Data- Glove, the Dexterous HandMaster (DHM) from Exos, and the Virtex Cy- berglove. Imagine inserting a key into a lock without feeling any contact or force. That's what it feels like to use most VR systems. But providing the sense of touch, motion, and force feedback is essential to accomplishing useful tasks with VR. If you take the DHM or any whole-hand sensor and add the Touch- Master (a simple tactile-feedback de- vice), you have an inexpensive, easy- to-use method of displaying contact information. Exos has shown that tac- tile feedback can sometimes provide performance comparable to force feed- back. Force feedback has been around for a while in the world of robotics, but recently it has taken hold in virtual en- vironments. Tskuba University re- searchers are developing a system to apply force to the thumb, two fingers, and the palm. The system is being used Joystick (Bell Laboratories) Experimental btonic nerve chip (Dartmouth College) SAFIRE (Exos) Increased sophistication 2010 to preview new products. The Sensing and Force Reflecting Exoskeleton is Exos's effort in this di- rection. The aim of SAFIRE is to pro- vide accurate feedback to the free- moving hand without encumbering or restricting its movement. Solving Specific Problems Bell Laboratories has developed a high- performance, compact-force feedback joystick intended for engineering, busi- ness, and scientific applications. It could also provide an effective inter- face for disabled users. This device has been used to navigate through an elec- tronics GAD program. It is not in pro- duction, but it could be priced within the reach of workstation or PC power users. The MIT CAD Lab has developed a controller for sheet-metal design that is like a mouse with a hinge in the mid- dle. Although the first prototype did not provide force feedback, that fea- ture could easily be implemented. With evolution, this device could become a simple, low-cost method of specifying complex CAD shapes. What's Next Today, general-purpose feedback de- vices are probably not cost-effective or available enough to plug in and solve most problems. However, soon these devices will become lighter, more available, and more capable. In the near future, equipment may exist that will resemble thin, flexible armor with embedded integrated sen- sor/actuator components. Then newly created techniques and technologies can be turned into a toolkit for de- signing application-specific devices that will effectively and economically solve problems. Beth Marcus is president and founder of Exos (Burlington, MA), a company that manufactures medical measure- ment and rehabilitation equipment. You can reach her on BIX do "edi- tors " or on Internet as bam@media- lab. media, mit. edu. APRIL 1992 -BYTE 149 KINDER, GENTLER COMPUTING graphical computer output — natural out- put, if you like — to make the experience look and feel correct and complete. VR can also involve the use of data gloves and body suits, NLP, and sound generation. Some systems, like Autodesk, interface a stationary bicycle to the system so that you appear to pedal your way through a virtual world. Because VR makes use of a combina- tion of emerging technologies, it makes certain factors more important — for ex- ample, the key issue of response speed. This term refers to the speed at which the system can receive and interpret your in- put — whether it may be gesture, hand- writing, speech, or thoughts — and react to that input by generating an appropriate output. Again, this output may be sound (e.g., speech, music, and sound effects) as well as text display or graphics. The re- sponse can also be a combination of some or all of these. But don't confuse response speed with Put an end to software piracy! Meet the growing family of security keys from Software Security. Each one a specialist at enforcing your license agreement in virtually any user environment you can think of. Whether it's DOS, UNIX, Macintosh or OS/2...whether it's a single user installation or a LAN. Simply connect the appropriate key to a single user computer, or a non-dedicated file server in a network, and you control all access to your protected application. Users, however, won't even know it's there. 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