|-=>CompuNotes<=-| -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Notes from The Cutting Edge of Personal Computing April 60, 1997 Issue 72 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Managing Editor: Patrick Grote -- mailto:pgrote@inlink.com Assistant Editor: Writer Liaison: Doug Reed-- mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com Graphics Editor, Webmaster: Judy Litt mailto:jlitt@aol.com Archives: ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/compunotes/ LOOK *** NEW WEBSITE!!!!! Website: http://www.geocities.com/~compunotes email: mailto:notes@inlink.com fax: (314) 909-1662 voice: (314) 909-1662 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CONTENTS My Notes: 1=> Link to Us! 2=> My Other Mailing Lists 3=> This Week's Winner! Reviews: 4=> Product: Upgrading and Repairing PCs -Sixth Edition by Scott Mueller, Reviewed By: Don Hughes mailto:dhughes@wwdc.com 5=> Product: Diablo Reviewed By: Bill Frazier mailto:wfrazier@techline.com 6=> Product: Internet Phone Connection. by Cheryl Kirk. Reviewed By: Richard Malinski, mailto:richard@acs.ryerson.ca 7=> Product: Visual Cafe Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CompuNotes B440 1315 Woodgate Drive St. Louis, MO 63122 notes@inlink.com +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= To subscribe, send an email to listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com SUBSCRIBE COMPUNOTES-L FirstName LastName To unsubscribe, send an email to listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com SIGNOFF COMPUNOTES-L +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Patrick's Notes 1=> Link to Us! Well, we have a new website up and running! Please come visit us! We have a complete archive of all CompuNotes sites up and about 30% of the reviews we have done! Our page: http://www.geocities.com/~compunotes We would also like to offer a link on our LINKS page to you! All it takes is you putting a link of us on your page! We'll then add you to the list of CompuNotes supporters who have their own page! We even have a neat graphic for your to use if you would like! Send the details of your page to Patrick Grote. mailto:pgrote@inlink.com. 2=> Just in case you don't know, I run three other mailing lists. They are: The Microsoft list I run is a daily list which features tidbits about Microsoft such as press clippings or software update notices. This is for people who are hard core Microsoft fans. To subscribe send a message to MSOFT@INLINK.COM with the subject of SUBSCRIBE. The SE list I run is for folks who work as systems engineers, technicians, technical support or help desk folks. This is a daily list with a resource that helps you do your job better. To subscribe send a message to SE@INLINK.COM with the subject of SUBSCRIBE. The SEIR list I run is for Simply Excellent Internet Resources. Everyday you'll receive hot internet resource will end up in your mailbox. This resource could be a website, mail list, ftp site or whatever. The common aspect is that it is excellent and you can access it right away! To subscribe send a mail message to SEIR@USA.NET with the subject of SUBSCRIBE. 3=> Winner! This week's winner is mailto:chris@ed-tech.com! Send them a congrats message mailto:chris@ed-tech.com! 4=> Product: Upgrading and Repairing PCs -Sixth Edition by Scott Mueller Reviewed By: Don Hughes mailto:dhughes@wwdc.com Upgrading and Repairing PCs embodies over one thousand-four hundred and thirty-three pages and is a complete and extensive reference guide for older and current PC computers' models. Included with the book is a CD-ROM containing Ziff Davis PC benchmarking diagnostic tools. This encyclopedia guidepost to PC Repair, intended to be used by a service shop workbench, field service personnel, or by anyone interested in learning about their PC. Chapter one presents the reader with an overview of the personal computer history, using the invention of the transistor in 1948 by Bell Laboratories as the starting point. In Chapter two, the PC is broken down into two classes, the 8-bit (PC/XT-class)systems and the 16/32/64 (AT-class) systems of today. In chapter two of his book, Scott Mueller, explains to the reader the different bus systems of the PCs: 16-bit ISA Bus. 16/32-bit Extended ISA (EISA) Bus. 16/32-bit PS/2 Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) Bus. 16-bit PC-Card (PCMCIA) Bus. 32/64-bit VESA Local (VL) Bus. 32/64-bit Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus. Confusing as the varied bus designs may seem at first glance, the author performs an admirable task explaining each version of the PC bus and the differences between them. From the first page the reader is constantly guided and complex technical subject matter explained in plain English. The author Scott Mueller and the publisher Que books deserve high marks for producing this brilliant computer reference text for the common people. Que's "Up Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Sixth Edition" is filled to overflowing with advice and tips. The author states: "One of the biggest problems in troubleshooting, servicing, or upgrading a system is having proper documentation. There are several types of documentation available for a given system, from the basic manuals you normally get with the system, to extra cost technical reference or service manuals. Also, because most systems today are made up of components from many different companies, I often recommend obtaining documentation specific to these components from the component manufactures." Therein lies one the problems when repairing Personal Computers (PCs), and that is one of obtaining the necessary service information. Some customers misplace of lose the manuals that came with their system, or they were never given the documentation in the first place--which of course amplifies the problem. Furthermore, some component manufactures cease operation, and finding documentation then becomes near impossible. In Chapter three "System Teardown and Inspection" the reader is first given a summary of the hand tools and electronic test equipment required for proper PC repair or upgrading. The Author includes Internet web sites for various tool supply houses. Many of the suppliers mentioned provided field service tools for the electronic industry. Section three covers in detail how to use: proper test equipment, logic probes and logic pulsers, outlet testers, SIMM Testers, Chemicals, types of Hardware, and the differences between English and Metric. How to disassemble and reassemble of a PC are explained starting with the Case or cover, adapter boards, disk drives, power supply, motherboard, to the hard drive(s). The use of precautions, such as ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection of critical and delicate logic circuits and other components is mandatory. Scott Muller declares these words of caution when working on a computer system: Some people have recommended placing loose circuit boards and chips on sheets of aluminum foil. This procedure is absolutely not recommended and can actually result in an explosion....Many motherboards, adapter cards have built-in lithium or Ni-cad batteries....If the batteries are shorted out....They will quickly overheat and possibly explode like a large firecracker (with dangerous shrapnel)....The safest practice is to never place any board on any conductive metal surface such as foil. It is recommended that you unplug the PC from the power line before remove or installing memory chips or boards. If you intend to go into the field of computer repair or you just want to save money by upgrading your computer, take the authors warning to heart and work wisely and make safety first a priority. The author states: "While you are disassembling a system, it is a good idea to record all the physical settings and configurations within the system, including jumper and switch settings, cable orientations and placement, ground-wire locations, and even adapter-board placement. By writing down the information you will have a record, just in case when the computer is reassemble it does not work, due to a jumper or switch that was moved or misplaced." If you place a CMOS battery in backwards it can destroy or damage the CMOS ship, usually soldered on the motherboard, and you then may have to replace the whole motherboard. Like the old saying "A once of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Upgrading and Repairing PCs, is an abundant resource of information, contained within these 1433 pages are numerous diagrams and illustrations. These cover such things as: case removal, adapter screw placement and removal, power connectors, hard drives, floppy drives, mother boards, and adapter or daughter boards, and the power supply. Scott Muller and QUE books have left nothing to chance for the novice or the professional repair person. One chapter leads to another, building the reader's knowledge one step at a time. The best part is the text is written in plain English, no double talk, no fancy, unexplained technical terms. However, once a technical term is used the plain English translation and explanation is presented to the reader. Throughout the book Internet references are provided for companies that supply software, shareware and other sources of information. The chapters cover PCs in depth starting with: System Components, Input/Output Hardware, Mass Storage Systems, Assembly and Maintenance, Troubleshooting and Appendixes. If you are involved in the field of PC repair or simply an end user who wants to learn more of what makes a PC tick, then Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Sixth Edition, is a necessity. The CD-ROM Utilities included can give you a detailed system inventory, and compare how well your computer compares when benchmarked. The CD-ROM supplied utilities are from Ziff-Davis, and contain, Winbench and Winstone 96, and Winstone 32 for both Windows 3.X and Windows 95. Handy as these free utilities are, it is the wealth of technical computer information in plain English, that make "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" an excellent bargain. Publisher QUE Corporation 201 W. 103rd Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46290 USA Compuserve (type GO QUEBOOKS at any prompt) $49.99 USA /$70.95 Canada Ratings: Install/ease of Use: Silver User Friendliness: Gold Quality: Gold End User: Technicians, or anyone who wants to learn more about how their PC works. 5=> Product: Diablo Reviewed By: Bill Frazier mailto:wfrazier@techline.com Requirements: 60 MHz Pentium, 8 MB RAM, 2X CD-ROM, SVGA, Windows 95. Multiplayer requires 16 MB RAM. MSRP: $54.95 What does a company to do after producing a pair of games as successful as Warcraft and Warcraft II? Usually try to produce something else just as good, and fail miserably. Blizzard Entertainment is the company the proves the rule by being the exception. Their new role-playing-game (RPG), Diablo, is destined to become a number one seller and possibly Game of the Year in 1997. If you're already an RPG fan, there's no sense in reading any further, get the game now. The game's premise is simple. You play the role of a young man or woman returning to your home town, Tristram. Unfortunately, nearly everyone, including your family, is dead. As you question the few inhabitants who remain, you discover that Diablo, the Lord of Terror lives under the cathedral. Protected by his dark minions, few dare to challenge the might of Diablo. You have the option of playing one of three character types, a Warrior, a Rogue, or a Sorcerer. Each type has it's own strengths and weaknesses. One common problem with RPGs is after you've played the game through once, there's nothing new to discover. You know where everything is, know which weapons work best, and any subsequent play is a bore. Blizzard attacks this problem head on in Diablo. Every new game is produced by a random story generator, providing unique quests and mazes for the character to pursue and explore, while leaving intact the ultimate goal of finding and destroying Diablo. According to Blizzard Entertainment, there are about 40 major quests, with a player coming across about four in any one game. In addition to the major quests, minor quests abound. Like the Warcraft series, Diablo provides a number of ways to enable multi- player play. Two players can compete with or against each other via a modem connection. If you are connected to an IPX network or direct connect your computers, as many as four players can join a single game. Finally, Blizzard Entertainment maintains an on-line Internet gaming service called Battle.net. This service is currently provided at no charge, and is probably the most active site on the net. On Battle.net you can join or challenge players from around the world. In addition to games, you can participate in numerous chat channels devoted to Diablo and contact support personnel. Installation is easy, as long as you follow instructions. Perhaps most important is to install DirectX 3.0, provided on the Diablo CD-ROM, before you try to install the game. I did it the opposite way and concluded the game wouldn't't run on my newest machine, a Pentium Pro 200. I then loaded Diablo on a Pentium 100 computer and it ran flawlessly. Flushed with success, I removed Diablo from the Pentium Pro, installed DirectX, and then reinstalled the game. This time it worked. Like it's predecessors Warcraft and Warcraft II, the graphics in Diablo are stunning SVGA. Your perspective is a three-quarters overhead view. Character movement throughout the town and in the underground is smooth and fluid. Battle sequences give you the feeling of being there. Meanwhile, in the background you here the clash of sword against shield, grunts of pain, and finally, the cry of death. Diablo is rated M (Mature), ages 17+, by the ESRB, and probably rightfully so. Monsters die in gruesome detail. Arms, heads, and torsos fly in all directions. As you venture through the catacombs and caves you find rooms filled with impaled corpses. When you reach level 13 in the caves, you encounter barely clad hoards of female demons intent on your destruction. Blizzard painted this dark setting fully aware that the program would probably earn the mature rating, but I think they achieved their purpose. You realize that true evil exists in the dungeon, and only you can exorcise it. I'm three weeks and about fifty hours into this game. I'm playing a single player game at home and compete multi-player on the Internet. I have no doubt that Blizzard has another winner on their hands. If you can find it, get Diablo. If you're still not sure that this is the game for you, download a shareware version of Diablo from Blizzard Entertainment's WEB site at http://www.blizzard.com. This version includes all the detail of the retail version, but limits you to the Warrior class character and exploring levels 1 and 2 in the dungeons. Blizzard Entertainment P.O. Box 18979 Irvine, CA 92713 800-953-7669 Installation/Ease of Use: Silver Medal User-Friendliness: Gold Medal Quality: Gold Medal Audience: All 6=> Product: Internet Phone Connection. by Cheryl Kirk. Reviewed By: Richard Malinski, mailto:richard@acs.ryerson.ca Requirements: 486/33mhz, Speakers, microphone, CD-ROM drive. MSRP: $29.99 US Here is another Osborne publication that is jam packed full of more than enough information and software to get you up and running with an internet phone. This is written in a chatty style. You don't need to be a technician to understand and use the material. In fact, if you want to really be quick about using an internet phone, browse through the software descriptions, pick one that is on the cd-rom, read Appendix A and your off! When in doubt or if you hit a snag, the help files on the cd-rom and the informative chapters in the book are there to bail you out. Ms Kirk even offers to help you out. You can reach her at her web site noted at the end of this review. The book is divided into 10 chapters and one appendix. The first two chapters introduce you to internet phone, illustrate how it might be used and tell you a bit of the history to its development. Most of this material is not directly useful to getting up and running but it does show how rapidly the internet phone market has developed and what people are doing with it. The next three chapters cover more technical aspects of internet phone software and hardware. Here you'll learn about what initial equipment you'll need. This is basic information that you'd find in any good introduction to computers, to modems and to sound compression. If you are comfortable with computers and the internet you should be familiar with these first two chapters. The chapter on sound compression however, is valuable if you want to really get the most out of your internet phone. With the material in this chapter (Chapter 5) you'll be able to understand how to tweak your system to get the best voice quality and combination of parameters from your internet telephone. Chapter 6 provides you with insights into 20 different internet phone software products. Many of these items are on the cd-rom! Whether the software is on the cd-rom or not there is still an address, telephone, e-mail and home page noted for each product. Ms Kirk also sets out her ratings so that you can compare these products. She rates the software products on Voice quality, Ease of use, Overall product features and whether it worked the first time or not, is server-based or not, has text chat or not, permits file transfer, has voicemail or is linkable via a web page. She also lists the platforms that the software works on, what the minimum requirements are and what the cost is. If this isn't enough she also provides you with major features of each piece of software along with her personal opinions on its values, its problems and any idiosyncracies that she has found. This chapter is excellent for giving an overview of the software and enabling the reader to decide which software products would probably fit best. Even if you try one and it doesn't work for you, with the software on the cd-rom you can try several! While Chapter 6 outlines software, Chapter 7 covers the steps that you should go through to transfer, unzip and start your chosen software. You might find this chapter too basic for you but I'd suggest that you give it a try. Ms Kirk does not forgo suggesting once again the need to back up your hard disk drive. If you load some of this software and through no fault of the software there is a conflict and/or a crash, you have yourself to blame. BACKUP! Other comments and suggestions may seem maudlin but they are the key to success. Some of you who have an interest in gadgets will like Chapter 8. Here there are a number of comments on peripherals that you might use to increase the versatility of your internet experience. There are headphones and headsets, multimedia keyboards, RFI eliminators, sound cards for laptops and cameras. While many are for 'gadget freaks', the introduction of cameras such as the CONNECTIX QuickCam moves you closer to full audio-video interactivity. For the novice computer buff or those of you new to internet phone this chapter opens up more interesting routes for you to travel. The last section gives more of the same. In Chapter 9 there are many tips and hints on improving your internet phone connection. Throughout this chapter and the others there are comments about web sites with free or shareware software that you can download to help with your system. In Chapter 10 there are comments on audio and video products that you might want to try. Here are specific audio-video products like Cu-SeeMe that links up with the cameras in an earlier chapter. As noted earlier, the Appendix gives you specific information on using the cd-rom. The cd-rom is easy to work with. There are directories and sub- directors for specific categories of software and particular internet phone programs for the PC and the MAC. Also included are versions of WinZip for both Windows 3.1 and Windows95. All in all this is a very useful book and cd-rom combination. I'd rate the installation as gold for its simplicity and stability. I'd give it a gold again for its usability and quantity of information. Strictly speaking it has a great deal more than you'd need to get started and some of it is repetitive but I found myself going back to it again and again to compare software, to check options and figure out the many internet phone features. GOLD!! Osborne/McGraw Hill 2600 Tenth Street Berkeley California 94710 Information on Osborne books - http://www.osborne.com Cheryl Kirk web site - http://www.netphones.com 7=> Product: Visual Cafe Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com Requirements: 486, 16MB RAM, CDROM drive, Windows 95 Earlier this year Symantec released the first commercially developed GUI for Java programmers, Symantec Cafe. Cafe was a huge hit, quickly achieving market dominance even after the release of free betas of both Microsoft's J++ and Sun's own Java Workshop. Cafe came equipped with all the tools a programmer needed to design Java applets and applications, however, it was primarily designed for professional programmers. To embrace the need of "non-programmers" to create Java applets and applications quickly and easily, Symantec has now released Visual Cafe. Visual Cafe is not simply an enhanced version of Cafe; Visual Cafe was designed from the ground up for quick and easy program development, and the polish is considerable. Symantec may have achieved orbit with Cafe, however, Visual Cafe is set to take them out of the solar system. Visual Cafe has been specifically designed to be as much as possible a visual design and development tool (Symantec calls it a RAD, rapid application development tool, similar to Visual Basic or Delphi). In this context, it means that the user concentrates on designing the look and feel of the Java program as well as building the interactions between the various components of the applet or application, without having to touch the source code of the actually Java program. Visual Cafe was designed to make Java available "to the masses", non- professional programmers looking to quickly and easily design applications. Thanks to autoplay Visual Cafe is easily installed from the CDROM; the CD also includes Windows 95 versions of Netscape Navigator 3.01 and the Adobe Acrobat reader, necessary to read the 104 page tutorial that comes on the CDROM and that is designed to help you learn how to use Visual Cafe. After the rather sparse documentation with Cafe (although Cafe version 1.5 did include the Cafe Companion), the large tutorial and extensive on-line help is very welcome. Symantec seems to have realized that the target audience (non-professional programmers) is probably going to need all the help it can get! Visual Cafe relies extensively on designing "forms". Forms in Visual Cafe are not what the typical web designer/Java programmer might be thinking of (interactive forms for acquiring feedback or input). In Visual Cafe, forms are a blank "page" upon which to build your Java applet/application. Visual Cafe comes with a number of components that the programmer can drag onto the page, using the components to assemble the look and feel of the applet/application as well as the functionality. Choices include basic fields such as buttons and textfields, multimedia components such as slide shows and firecrackers, as well as utility components, etc... In addition, Visual Cafe will work with any third party vendor components that are written to Sun's Java Beans API specification (get more information on Java Beans from Sun, http://www.sun.com). Loading Visual Cafe brings up a Toolbar that covers a large portion of the upper third of the screen along with a "Form Designer" window, a Project window, and a Properties window. A series of tabs across the toolbar provides ready access to the aforementioned wide assortment of Java components - from form components like textfields and buttons to animation effects like fireworks and slide shows. To put one into your Java program, you simply click on the desired component, drag it onto the Form Designer window, and then size it to meet your needs. Visual Cafe automatically inserts the component into the source code for the applet - which you can confirm by double- clicking on the component and calling up the Source Code window. From either the Source Code window or the Properties window you can modify the name and attributes of the component, further customizing it to fit your needs. The source code is changed dynamically, as you type, so that you can automatically see any changes you make. Once you have two or more elements in the form you can click on the Interaction button and create an interaction between the various elements. This brings up a wizard which allows you to select from a range of possible events (like onClick) and resultant actions (like clear the textfield in the form). Very slick, and incredibly user friendly! About the only problem with the various components was with the fireworks - when you drag them onto the applet they immediately start going off, a neat effect but it bogs down the system especially if you are at the low end of the system requirements. I've sent a message to Symantec's technical support team to find out if there is a way to shut off the animation but haven't received a reply. Given the normally very excellent support for both Cafe and Visual Cafe on the Internet, I have to assume that probably there is no work around and is simply something you must live with if your applet or application just has to have animation (or simply buy a faster computer :^) ). Symantec provides no less than three tutorials to help you get up and running. Two are available from their website at cafe.symantec.com and are designed to show to easily create Java applets for the Internet (creating the fireworks display mentioned above is one of the two). In addition a third tutorial is available on the CD in Acrobat format, a 104 page monster designed to teach how to create a Java application with Visual Cafe. This tutorial is by far the most informative of the lot, providing considerable in-depth information by leading you through the steps to creating an application for a fictitious travel agency, one that can create sample itineraries, process surveys, and interact with prospective customers. Visual Cafe also includes a number of tools that will be very familiar to Cafe users; the Class Browser and the Hierarchy Editor. The Class Browser lists all the classes of your program, including all methods and data members that belong to the class, while the Hierarchy Editor visually displays the relationship amongst classes in your program and allows you to dynamically create, move, and edit classes. Visual Cafe also includes a visual debugger, written in C++ to insure (according to Symantec) "the fastest performance and to prevent conflicts in Java source code execution". I'm still fairly new at programming, but the debugger included in Visual Cafe is easy to use, flexible, and appears to work very well in helping catch the bugs that seem to creep into almost any program. In addition to debugging applets/applications on a local machine, Visual Cafe does allow for "remote debugging" - i.e., debugging an applet or application running on a different machine than the one you are currently using. I haven't yet tried this, but the possibility of running your applet on a remote web server and debugging it from your local machine seems quite intriguing. Visual Cafe also comes with the same tremendous technical support as Cafe, since it was designed by the same team. Symantec's tools programmers are very vocal and responsive on the various Java newsgroups. Once you've purchased Visual Cafe you gain access to the member's only portions of cafe.symantec.com, which includes the ability to download Visual Cafe from their site, download patches or new components, and gain access to newsgroups set up by Symantec and devoted to Visual Cafe. Symantec has really brought out the fine silver with Visual Cafe; the program runs quite well and the chrome and polish really shows. Visual Cafe is not perfect; it is not always easy to determine how to do certain elements of programming in Java, especially networking components. The information is there - it just isn't as easy to find as one might like. At times you will still have to create your own code to do some things in Visual Cafe, however, as more components become available this will likely decrease considerably. The press evaluation guide included with the software contains considerable information about how Symantec's Java JIT (Just-In-Time) compiler is faster than anyone else's, a fairly important consideration especially when creating those large applications. But even without the faster JIT, Symantec's Visual Cafe is a terrific tool for quickly and easily creating Java programs. Thumbs up for Visual Cafe! Symantec, Inc. 10201 Torre Ave. Cupertino, CA 95014 (800) 441-7234 Web: http://www.symantec.com http://cafe.symantec.com (for all of Symantec's Java-related offerings) --END OF ISSUE .