CompuNotes Notes from The Cutting Edge of Personal Computing September 1, 1997 Issue 96 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= To subscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com SUBSCRIBE COMPUNOTES-L FirstName LastName To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com SIGNOFF COMPUNOTES-L +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CONTENTS My Notes: 1=> Princess Di and Electronic Media, mailto:pgrote@i1.net 2=> This Issue's Winner! Reviews: 3=> Product: Red Hat Linux Release 4 and Applixware for Red Hat Linux - operating system/applications Reviewed By: Roger W. Klein, mailto:kleinrw@i1.net 4=> Hexen II Demo - game/action Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com 5=> Product: Voice Type for OS/2 WARP 4 - business/voice Reviewed By: Richard Malinski, mailto:richard@acs.ryerson.ca 6=> Product: How Intranets Work - book/networking Reviewed By: Patrick Grote, mailto:pgrote@i1.net --- BEGIN ISSUE 1=> Princess Di and Electronic Media, mailto:pgrote@i1.net Well, by now we have all heard that Princess Di is dead. Although I am an American, I am sorry to see her die. She was beginning to user her celebrity to bring media attention to causes which are very important. My condolences to all British citizens. Royalty is a unique term, which we Americans do not fully understand. I dedicated myself to working all weekend to the dismay of my family. With so many projects going on from CompuNotes to a new business I needed the time to get a handle on things. Someday I will learn you can't get a handle on things . . . Anyway, I was taking a break on Saturday night eating dinner. I was flipping through the channels on TV and caught CNN when they broke in with the story. Five minutes later I called my wife, who was enjoying a family meal at my mother in law's, to let her know. My wife asked if Princess Di was OK. I told her due to the fact no one is giving any status reports things didn't look good. Throughout the night I kept an eye on the CNN web page for changes in the situation. There were none. I took a break to enjoy, as David Letterman would say, a cool beverage, and began watching CNN. The anchor said, "This was just handed to me." I knew it was a report Princess Di was dead. He confirmed what I thought. I immediately leapt from the chair and into my office. I had the CNN web page loaded and hit refresh. Same story from before. I hit refresh twice more and the second time it loaded new graphics and stories indicating Princess Di was dead. This was incredible. Unlike the dud coverage with the Mars Rover, CNN was on top of this. Within one minute of announcing it on TV they had an updated web site! I popped over to ABCNEWS and they still had the old story. Popping over to MSNBC, and suffering through their new horrible interface, showed that they, too, had the new story. Now, I get almost all my news now from the web. I used to enjoy Peter Jennings on ABC at night, but now I rarely watch. I catch CNN Headline News in the morning and the web throughout the day to catch up on what is going on. I never watch local news. I was amazed, yet disconcerted over the relative speed CNN and MSNBC posted the fact Princess Di was dead. For CNN and ABC to announce it on TV is one thing. That is dynamic and instantaneous. Speaking is something you do without fore thought. On the other hand, creating content for a web page, especially one like CNN, takes time and effort. No one, and I mean no HTML Jedi Knight, could have created the graphics and stories in one minutes. To me this means that CNN and MSNBC had created these efforts before the announcement as a contingency. Now, I am not naive enough to think the TV news folks didn't do the same thing, I guess I was shocked by the immediacy of the web as a delivery device. In the days since I have thought about the implications of this. Why did the web site have more of an affect on me than the TV broadcast? How does having the information delivered electronically affect the reader? I am starting to have problems with how fast and unregulated we are advancing our technology. No where in our lives do the underlying infrastructure and dynamics of the tools change as much as in technology. Is this good or bad? I don't know, but it does trouble me. The ironic thing is that I make my living in this industry. When will the advances and changes slow to a manageable speed and we all become maintainers instead of implementors? Damn, I need some more Dr. Pepper. As always, I welcome your comments! ---------------- Take a Few Moments to Read ------------------- VirtualBusiness.News "Hard core 'How-To' for Small Business" Improve cash flow, reduce expenses, save time, money and headaches. If you're a businessperson who wants practical info to help boost your productivity and profits without a lot of hype, VBNews is for you. Software reviews, networking tips, and feature articles about every phase of business, from people who've been there. No theory. No bizopps. And no trouble finding the articles between the ads. Subscribe Today! Send any email to mailto:VBNews@just-business.com ---------------- Take a Few Moments to Read ------------------- 2=> Winner! This week's winner: mstoico@METLIFE.COM. 3=> Product: Red Hat Linux Release 4 and Applixware for Red Hat Linux - operating system/applications Reviewed By: Roger W. Klein, mailto:kleinrw@i1.net Reviewed on: P166, 64 MB EDO RAM Requires: Intel compatible 386 to the latest Pentium Pro CPU's For those of you who are tired of the time it takes downloading your favorite version of Linux from the net there is a great way to get one of the best. The "Official" Red Hat Linux Release 4 is available on CDROM. And as a bonus you get a ton of valuable software to complement one of the most powerful, complete versions of Linux to date. "Official" Red Hat Linux includes all of the newest Linux tools and utilities out there. This includes additional support for the latest 2.0 kernel. If you're not sure what the 2.0 Linux Kernel has to offer you there's a host of features: * True protected-mode Multitasking * Multi-user * ELF shared libraries * Virtual memory flat memory model * Full complement of TCP/IP protocols * Modular hardware drivers * Ethernet, PPP, SLIP, NFS * Network firewalling, Network aliasing (virtual hosting} * Read support for DOS and OS/2 file systems Red Hat also ships with a host of other software packages including: development tools for C, C++, Objective C , Pascal, assembler, Fortran, Basic, Perl, Python, Tcl/Tk, LISP, Scheme, Debugger, and debugging malloc() library. Internet Tools include: Red Baron, Spyglass-based advanced web browser, Arena browser, FTP, Gopher clients, high performance HTTP and FTP servers, and Sendmail SMTP server and client. Communication protocols include PPP, SLIP, X/Y/Z modem protocols and terminal programs for dialup connections. X Window support includes X11R6, both Xree86 and Metro-X servers, support for 8,16, and 24 bit modes with resolutions up to 1680 X 1024 and additional graphical development libraries. Multimedia support has also been improved with Release 4 of Red Hat. The package includes image viewers for JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, MPEG, AVI, and QuickTime video viewers. Most SoundBlaster compatible sound cards are supported and there are some slick image retouching, and manipulation paint programs. Publishing support is offered for TeX, LaTex, groff text formatting systems, PostScript, PDF, and DVI previewers. Red Hat supports all PCL and PostScript printers. And of course no operating system can be complete without games! Red Hat includes an assortment of Arcade Games, Strategy Games, Flight simulators and includes some pretty cool screen savers. The nicest thing about getting a package like Red Hat is that the source code to all of the above software, with the exception of the Red Baron browser and the Metro-X server, is included in the box! The greatest thing about Red Hat Release 4 is that the large majority of the included software packages and utilities need either very little or no configuration. Everyone who uses any flavor of Linux knows what a blessing this can be! Red Hat Linux is a POSIX based operating system with many features not even found on commercial Unix systems costing much, much, more. Red Hat Linux comes with the complete source code for the entire operating system including all of the compilers, libraries, utilities, and the X Windows System. Red Hat Linux allows your PC to effectively become a POSIX compliant UNIX workstation giving you the ability to complete advanced computing tasks. Red Hat is perfect for setting up Internet Web or FTP servers, Intranet applications, and software development. Red Hat Linux uses what is called the RPM packaging system and combines that with the modular kernel making the installation of the operating system easier than ever before. Services allowed for in the installation of Red Hat Linux include: * C and C++ development * Anonymous FTP/Gopher Server * News Server * Network Management Workstation * Dialup Workstation * Game Machine * X Window System * Web Server * Print Server * NFS Server * Networked Workstation * DOS/Windows Connectivity * Multimedia Machine * TeX document Formatting * OR manually configure Red Hat to do whatever you need it to Advanced system and Network Security Features are allowed for by the RPM system giving Red Hat Linux the reputation as one of the most secure operation systems available. Even with this security sometimes holes are found but Red Hat Software makes fixes for these immediately available on the internet. Even with all of included features and utilities of Red Hat you'll want to make your Red Hat workstation even more functional and that is where Applixware for Red Hat Linux comes in. Applixware is the leading Office Suite on UNIX, and that's not surprising. With Red Hat Linux being a true multi-user, multi-tasking, internetworking operating system you need an office package that takes advantage of these features and that's just what Applixware does. Applixware includes Applix Words a mail-enabled compound document application that includes live links to all of the Applixware applications and data sources. Applix Words supports tables and frames, borders, shading, landscape, portrait, merge printing, multiple undo, multiple typefaces, type styles, dictionary, thesaurus, spell checker, conditional text, cross referencing and find and replace features. These features and many others are ones you would only expect to find in the top PC based office suites but Applixware has them all. For development Applixware includes Applix Builder a full-featured development platform that supports the object-oriented programming model allowing you to leverage other Applixware applications for integrated system configuration. The object-oriented database interface is based on ODBC APIs for unmatched compatibility. Also included with Applixware are Applix Spreadsheets, Applix Presentation Graphics, and Applix Mail. All of these packages include many outstanding features and have the ability to be customized to accomplish even the most demanding tasks. Applixware includes several filter packs making sure that you are compatible with the rest of the world. The Standard Filter pack includes filters for: ASCII, EPSI, HPGL, XWD, SYLK, CSV, TIFF, DIF/XDIF, GIF, SunRaster - MS Windows, MS Excel 3.0 and 4.0, X Bitmap/X Pixmap, WKS/WK1/WK3, and MS Windows Bitmap. Very useful is the Words Pack which includes filters for importing and exporting RTF (Rich Text Format), MS Word (PC and Windows), Wordperfect 5.0, 5.1, Applixware, and ASCII. The Graphics Pack includes filters for CGM, GIF, PCX, DXF, PICT and MacPaint. With everything that comes with Red Hat Linux and Applixware there's hardly anything else you would need for a small business for home office. And if the internet/intranet arena is your playground, you'll find Red Hat Linux Release 4 to have all of the tools you'll need. BUT WAIT. there's more. Red Hat Software has just released Red Hat Linux Release 4.2 with many improvements on an already great product. These include: * Increased security. Red Hat leads the industry in producing the most up to date security features. By updating to the latest versions of sendmail, Apache, bind, inn, and others, Red Hat maintains this lead. * Enhanced stability. Red Hat excels as a highly available, high performance server in extremely demanding environments. Run your workstation with more confidence and fewer headaches. * Easier installation. Smarter network configuration with bootp, PLIP installs, NFS mounts (including mounting /usr read-only), and installation from an SMB server. * New version of RPM. RPM 2.3.11 includes dependencies, improved PGP/MD5/size signature capability, verify scripts, and shared NFS mounts. * Improved X Windows support. XFree86 3.2 supports more cards (including Matrox Millenium and #9 Imagine 128), with better acceleration. Also included is easier X Windows configuration. Just pick your video card and monitor from the provided lists and you are done. Latest MetroLink X server 3.1.5 (Only available with the Official Red Hat Linux/Intel boxed set.) * Expanded Red Hat Linux User's Guide. 250 pages of installation and configuration information. Complete coverage of the control-panel tools, including the network, user/group, and printer tools. Covers basics and configuration of PAM security architecture. Includes MetroLink X server configuration information. The User's Guide is available via FTP and the Red Hat Software web site! * Improved network configuration. Improved graphical network configuration control panel tool. Allows for simple configuration of PPP and SLIP network connections. Makes it simple to move your machine between networks, add ethernet cards, etc. Now supports PAP authentication for PPP connections. * Control Panel Tools In addition to the improved network configuration tool, the user and group configuration tool has been revised and the printer tool has been enhanced for simpler configuration. * Red Baron secure web browser. Red Baron 3.1 supports forms, frames, SSL, SET. Faster than Netscape! (Only available on Official Red Hat Linux/Intel boxed set.) * Sun's Java Development Kit JDK 1.0.2.2 now ships with Red Hat Linux/Intel. * Glibc for Red Hat Linux/Alpha This version of glibc now includes support for NIS. * Upgrades and Fixes. Tcl/Tk 7.6pl2/4.2pl2, tetex 0.4pl8 (LaTeX 2e) Over 200 updated packages, and 19 new packages. The full package list is available at (http://www.redhat.com/). Many security fixes and bug fixes -- most of which are not shipping with other UNIX/Linux systems. The above information on Red Hat Linux Release 4.2 was taken from the Red Hat Web site. Red Hat Software, Inc. 4=> Hexen II Demo - game/action Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com Requirements: Win95, Pentium, 16 MB RAM, 3Dfx graphics card (recommended) Reviewed on: Win 95, Pentium-166, 24 MB RAM, Nitro3D (S3 Virge chip) MSRP: Free Download It's three o'clock in the morning and I am not tired. I've just finished a marathon session of Hexen II, and it has me so wired I don't know when I'll get to sleep. For those looking for the first "Quake-beater" to arrive, your wait is over: Hexen II is here and it rocks. First, some background. In 1994, a tiny company called Raven Software released Heretic, a medieval fantasy game using the Doom game engine, which introduced such innovations as special items, flying, and crouching. Who could ever forget the ability to turn an opponent into a chicken? Heretic was a huge success, and Raven quickly followed it up in 1995 with Hexen, using the ultimate incarnation of the Doom engine. Hexen also introduced a number of new innovations, including character classes and tightly linked levels such that you could travel back and forth between levels, and events on one level could affect other levels. Raven is now a division of Activision, and their first joint project is Hexen II, now using the Quake engine with a number of improvements. What kind? Essentially graphical improvements such as rotational brushes, these new features allow for things such as windmills and transparent water (without a 3Dfx graphics card) - all of which you can see in the demo. In addition, the look of the monsters is dramatically improved over Quake - the "skin" does not look stretched on the sides as with Quake monsters; the spiders, squid, and sorcerers are particularly impressive and nasty beasties to contend with. A quick look at some Hexen sites confirmed that Hexen II monsters are texture-mapped from all sides, not just the front and back ala Quake. An improvement over Hexen includes an additional role-playing class, the Assassin, for a total of four classes. In the demo you can play either the Paladin or the Assassin. Different classes, of course, come with different weapons and different magic abilities. My quick look at the demo shows the distinct differences in Hexen II from Quake. Beyond the graphical improvements, Hexen II is geared considerably more towards single player action than was Quake; the same multi-player options are available as with Quake, but the difference here is the depth of the single-player action. The graphics are impressive even at "low-res"; high-resolution modes are breathtaking. The windmill, castles, monsters, transparent water, all of it is so incredible it must be experienced to be believed. You will gasp the first time you jump in the water and see how transparent it is. When the octopus comes up to attack and squirt you with ink, you will blink in amazement. Then there are the sorcerers, nasty fellows that transport themselves behind you and then move again before you can retaliate. Wow! The environment is considerably more immersive than previous games. All kinds of items are movable or destructable - see that tapestry on the wall? Hey, you can knock it down! See that sheep bleating in the field? You can kill it! See that catapult? That's the way to get into the castle (talk about going airborne!) Although large (11.9 MB) the demo is not incredible long - it covers only 2 single-player levels and one multi-player level. The full release will have some 35 levels (5 multi-player only), making the length about average for a first-person shooter. For fans of first-person games, this is a must-have. It does definitely appear to still be a beta-version of the game, however, few if any bugs could be seen. My Assassin 3D controller was fully supported - I just copied my autoexec.cfg file over and I was up and running! Hexen II looks like it will have all the right elements to be a huge hit, which is good because if Hexen II is released as expected in September it will have a good head start over the competition. And what a competition it will be - Quake II, Jedi Knight (Dark Forces II), and Daikatana (the first game by former id-guru John Romero) to name a few are expected to also hit stores this fall. So download the demo and try it out. As for me, I'm going back to figure what I can do with old Loric's bones... >From the Hexen2 web site (http://www.hexen2.com), the following URLs will download the demo: 5=> Product: Voice Type for OS/2 WARP 4 - business/voice Reviewed By: Richard Malinski, mailto:richard@acs.ryerson.ca Installed on: PC 133mhz Pentium, 16mb ram, SB Pro compatible sound card, Andrea headset (ANC500). MSRP: $349 Canadian for OS/2 WARP 4 with Voice Type. This review will deal specifically with Voice Type navigation and dictation software rather than with the whole OS/2 WARP 4 package. Voice Type is the professional version of what many of you may have seen in the stores as Simply Speaking for Windows95 (MSRP $149). The Voice Type version bundled with OS/2 WARP 4 is the same as the version sold separately for $900! System requirements are an important issue if you want blazingly fast response. To use Voice Type for OS/2 Warp navigation and dictation you should have at least a 100mhz cpu. There is also a recommendation of an extra 8 to 12 mb of ram in addition to the recommended 16 mb of ram to run OS/2 WARP. What this means is that the system runs slowly if you don't have that extra ram but it works nevertheless. In addition to the 100 - 300 mb of free disk space to install OS/2 Warp you will need space for the large dictation files. You should clean out you disk drives of the old dictation files as you transfer them to your word processor. Voice Type also requires a sound card supporting 16 bit, 11 khz sampling. Having said all this, the home page suggests that you can run Voice Type with a 486 at 25mhz and 16 ram. Go figure! The headset or microphone that you choose should have a noise filter. This is noted in several places in the documentation. The Andrea Anti-noise (ANC 500) that came with this package worked without a hitch. The home environment is quiet and not like a busy office but still with some background and intrusive noise. Training Voice Type to recognize your speech means that even if someone comes in and begins speaking there is no a great likelihood that he or she will have an effect on the software. I've used other microphones for internet telephoning and had some static and noise interruption but I've had no problem now that I use the ANC 500. The VoiceType tutorial is a good way to start learning about this product. The online is divided into four sections, i.e., basics, navigation, dictation and recognition. Throughout each of these sections there are practices for you to try. I found these useful in training myself to speak to suit the program. Yes, I know that sounds like I'm too immersed in technology! Working with Voice Type makes you think a lot about AI with the 'A' representing alien not artificial! It can be very frustrating at first but fascinating to start talking to the computer as you go through the tutorial. You can do this by bringing up Voice Manager and setting up your microphone to 'listen' for your commands. I started by jumping right into the Voice Manager but after a couple of attempts I went through the tutorial. The four sections are easy to follow and well worth the time. The basics section covers simple definitions, opening Voice Manager, setting up your microphone and using the "What can I say?" window. This "What" window gives you quick access to commands that you can use just in case you forget something. The navigation section includes opening an object on the Desktop or from the "Where can I go?" window, closing an object, displaying a pop-up menu and entering text into a entry field. Entering text can be done either word by word or letter by letter. In the latter case you can use the 'Begin Spell' command to spell out the word either using A, B, C or alpha, bravo, charlie or whatever the letters are. This is cute but effective especially if you've got a voice that the computer can't 'understand'. The third section, dictation, gets down to some of the real actions, e.g., setting up dictation, correcting misrecognized words and saving your dictation. This section explains that if you're having difficulty you can 'Correct Error' by clicking on a word from a list of alternates. I could never go through dictation without using the mouse and typing in words. Either I get a better computer which is unlikely at the moment or change my voice which is even more unlikely! The fourth section deals with recognition. This covers training the system to recognize a word or phrase and your voice. It also includes enrollment which allows several people to use Voice Type on the same computer and to have different vocabularies. To enhance Voice Type you can purchase special dictionaries for the legal and medical professions. These extra vocabularies add about 14,000 words to the initial 22,000 word vocabularies. Uses for Voice Type cover navigation and dictation from simple one word commands to full text within a word processing package. Invoking Voice Type links it automatically with the OS/2 programs. You recognize this by the small microphone icon that appears in the top most command bar. An example occurs in the OS/2 Enhanced Editor where the icon is on the top row and second from the left margin. If the icon does not appear, check to make sure that you started Voice Type at the beginning of your session. After you have started Voice Manager, you start your word processing package either by saying the commands or by key stroke. Once in the word processor, you start dictation by invoking the command, 'Begin Dictation.' Use the microphone and/or keys and mouse to set down your text. If you don't want to continue dictating but want to type, you can say the command, 'Go to sleep' to shut off the microphone. You turn on the microphone and dictation by saying, 'Wake up please.' Finish your composition and 'Stop Dictation' to return to the command mode. (Note that with Simply Speaking you are not in your word processor so that when you 'Save' the dictation it is to a file which you must open with your word processor and copy it into your document for further work.) In the case of Voice Type, the dictation is right in your word processor document! If there are repeated commands, you can also develop macros which you can invoke with a specific word or phrase. There is a great deal of flexibility but you must remember to be flexible and patient while 'teaching' the software how you want to work and teaching yourself how to handle the software. Having heard of other dictation software such as Dragon Dictate, I expected more from Voice Type. Now that I've worked with Voice Type, I've a better appreciation of the time and effort that goes into setting up and 'training' such software. The limitations are inherent in me, the user. This is a complex and versatile product that is going to take me some time to fully understand and utilize. Nevertheless, I think that I'll persevere. You never know, I might be able to produce documents as quickly as I talk. Eh? Installation - Gold User friendliness - Gold Quality - Gold (within this price range) Documentation - Gold (online) IBM 5=> Product: How Intranets Work - book/networking Reviewed By: Patrick Grote, mailto:pgrote@i1.net Published By: ZDPress Authored: Preston Gralla MSRP: $29.99 As the pace of technology quickens, we are constantly presented with new paradigms, concepts and buzzwords. One new creation is the Intranet. As the consummate computing professional I wanted to get a better understanding of Intranets and what made them unique. Looking through the book list I came across this title and was curious. Did the title catch my eye? No. Did the content? Sort of. What really caught my eye was the author. Preston Gralla is the individual who is best known as Mr. Shareware for ZiffDavis Publications. In a former life I wanted to make my living reviewing shareware and always admired Preston Gralla as someone who was doing this. The book is a little over 200 pages in 8.5x11 glossy format. It is brilliantly illustrated by Mina Reimer in a modern, humorous format that works on all levels. There are 26 chapters which are usually less than 10 pages in length. I like the breakdown like this, as I can digest each section as I read it and frequently take breaks to sleep or drive the car. Each chapter is explained two or three pages of text then a wonderful illustration describing the process behind what you just read. For example, the chapter on encryption is wonderful. Using illustrations of fingerprints and keys you easily understand how the data is being affected by the process. Wonderful! If you are looking for a book to explain just what the heck Intranets are you need this book! I have constantly referred to it as I design new systems or prepare user reports! ZDPress +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Managing Editor: Patrick Grote -- mailto:pgrote@i1.net Assistant Editor: Writer Liaison: Doug Reed-- mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com Archives: ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/compunotes/ Website: e-mail: mailto:notes@compunotes.com fax: (314) 909-1662 voice: (314) 909-1662 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CompuNotes is: Available weekly via e-mail and on-line. We cover the PC computing world with comprehensive reviews, news, hot web sites, great columns and interviews. We also give away one software package a week to a lucky winner for just reading our fine publication! Never dull, sometimes tardy, we are here to bring you the computing world the way it is! Please tell every on-line friend about us! CompuNotes B440 1315 Woodgate Drive St. Louis, MO 63122 notes@compunotes.com (C)1997 Patrick Grote +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= END OF ISSUE .