CompuNotes Notes from The Cutting Edge of Personal Computing April 24, 1999 Issue 149 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= 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 For Contact and Other Information See Bottom of Publication! +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CONTENTS My Notes: 1=> CompuNotes Notes, Buying On-line - Nightmares and Fantasies, mailto:pgrote@i1.net 2=> This Issue's Winner! News: 3=> News of the Week, mailto:pgrote@i1.net Reviews: 4=> Product: Asteroids, game Reviewed By: Doug Reed, dr2web@sprynet.com 5=> Product: Interactive Sailing, game/simulation Reviewed By: Paul Schneider, mailto:p-schne@uiuc.edu 6=> Product: Tecmar Travan NS20 External SCSI Tape Drive, backup hardware Reviewed By: Howard Carson & Proton Research, mailto:lrhc@interlog.com 7=> Product: NovaNet(R) Backup version 7, network server and client backup Reviewed by: Howard Carson, Jack Reikel and Proton Research, 8=> Products: QuickScore Elite Level II v8.0 and Copyist v5.0, released by Sion Software Ltd. Reviewed By: Songmuh Jong, mailto:songmuh@bitsmart.com 9=> Product: NetPad v3., utility Reviewed By: Howard Carson & Proton Research, mailto:lrhc@interlog.com 1=> CompuNotes Notes, mailto:pgrote@i1.net Buying On-line - Nightmares and Fantasies, mailto:pgrote@i1.net Do people really buy computer equipment from sources other than the Internet? I guess they do. I still do only when I absolutely have to. The service and prices are horrible. The worst offender is CompuUSA. I mean how tough is it to be the only game in town? Times when I really need something immediately or when I am depressed. (Shopping picks me up . . .) A few months ago I got the finance department, read my wife, to approve the purchase of a new PC for me. This was a monumental decision as A) My wife is usually against large purchases and B) I have never bought a new PC. All my previous PCs have been hand me downs or self-built from some new and used parts. Seeing as my PC at the time was a clone Pentium 100 with 32 megabytes, I was really ready for a new PC and a new operating system. I wanted to move from Windows 95 to Windows NT on my workstation. Why? Stability, performance and learning. I wanted the stability of Windows NT when it comes to handling errant applications. The performance gains from the operating system were also a desire. My real motivation was to learn the ins and outs of the OS, as most professional organizations use Windows NT Workstation. Buying locally was never a consideration for me. I didn't need, nor did I really like the quality, of the Best Buy or Circuit City technology packages. Wow, a 400Mhz processor and your going to throw in a 300dpi color printer and 15" monitor. Yippee. I had a nice 17" monitor, and our 1200dpi color printer is still technically viable, so I decided all I need was a base system. I didn't want to go less than 400Mhz and 64 megabytes of RAM. Past that, I was open to anything. I didn't need a DVD drive, since I don't play many games and think watching movies on your PC is really, really lame. I didn't need a boss hard drive as I only use the local hard drive for applications. All my data is on servers. I figured I would have to spend about $700.00 on the whole shebang. Weeks went by as I pretty much decided an on-line auction was the way to go. I drooled over the prices and the configurations I saw. Many of you know I am a huge Ebay (http://www.ebay.com) fan. Yes, I trust who I am buying things from on Ebay, but let's get real, this is a major purchase and I don't trust many people that much. Most of my issues were satisfied by OnSale (http://www.onsale.com). They had really neat listings, a bunch of products, a professional support service and they accepted credit cards. I carefully watched the bidding trends and charted the best time to bid on auctions. On Ebay (http://www.ebay.com), Tuesdays are the best time to get steals. On OnSale it seemed to be Sunday evenings. I staked my territory and decided I would pounce on the Elite PC special I saw. O.K., yes, I know you are thinking "Elite PC?", yes. Remember, I had pretty much built all my own PCs, so I feel very comfortable with clones. The PC I bid on was a: Elite PC w/ AMD K6-2 400 3D Now, 32MB, 4.3GB HD, 40X CD, 8MB Video (New). All this for $599.99. I figured $100.00 less that what I was approved for was call. After further approval from the finance committee, I added another 64 megabytes of RAM. I bid on the product using the inane customer number/password combination OnSale makes you use. Having recently moved I presumed that I would be able to change the shipping address. Boy was I wrong. I immediately sent OnSale a message telling them to make the change and ensure the changes get passed on to the seller. The auction ended and I won. At this point ComputersWholesale entered the picture (http://www.computerswholesale.com). See, OnSale sells products from their own warehouses, but they also sell products from other companies. I knew this and from my past dealing with OnSale, this was cool. I sent ComputerWholesalers a message indicating I wanted to extra memory and imploring them to change my address for delivery. In my messages to OnSale and ComputerWholesalers, I asked they respond letting me know the issue was put to bed. OnSale responded that they changed my record, but nothing on the shipping. ComputerWholesalers never responded. The auction officially closed on Mon Jan 18, 1999 11:12 am PST. The official shipping listed on the order was 5 business days (M-F), so I expected to have my PC by Tuesday of the following week at the latest. Boy was I wrong! I am not the most patient man. Couple this with the fact this was my first new PC ever and you had one anxious person. The 25th came and went with no luck. I opened a ticket with OnSale to get them moving and then I tried to call ComputerWholesalers. Hmmm, their phone answers, but goes to voice mail. Always. No fail. I leave a message. Never hear back. I leave e-mail for ComputerWholesalers and no answer. I even spilled my guts and explained that it was my first new PC, etc. Nothing. Finally I get something on the 25th saying my computer would ship soon. On the 28th I get the tracking number at it is wrong. I call OnSale, good luck getting their number, and they send me the right tracking number. I ask them if the shipping address was changed and they assure me it was done. The PC is now over a week late. I am starting to think I should have bought it on Ebay The big day comes and UPS tracking tells me the PC should be delivered. I rush home from work at lunch and wait for the UPS person. An hour goes by and they don't arrive. You need to understand that the UPS person and my family are on a first name basis. If Terry isn't here by 1:00pm we aren't getting anything. It's now 1:20pm and no Terry. I casually check the UPS website for tracking your package and notice something that freaks me out. The UPS person attempted to deliver my package, but no one was home. What?!?!?! Reading closer I notice it was sent to my old address! Luckily we moved less than a mile from our old house. I race to my car, whip out of the drive and hit a passing truck. No, not really, but wouldn't that have been weird? I race over to my old house, which is now empty. As I am pulling onto the street I notice a UPS truck heading my way over the hill. I immediately pull over and flag the lady down. Of course, we were friends with the old UPS driver. Luckily, Julie has my box. My great box! I sign for it and she indicated I was pretty lucky as the box would have been delayed another 2-3 days had I not caught her. With the box secure I arrive home. I unpack the computer and gently connect it to the monitor and keyboard. Turn it on and it powers up! For joy! Uh, oh. What is the 350Mhz thing? I bought a 400Mhz! As quick as the system can auto identity a hard drive, I am on the phone with OnSale. They knock off $25.00 for the shipping error and promise to follow-up with ComputerWholesalers about the CPU. I e-mail ComputerWholesalers and never hear from them. From no where four weeks later I get a 400Mhz CPU delivered by UPS. Two weeks later I decide to install it. I carefully remove the existing CPU and install the new one. I bring the PC up and it says 350Mhz. Darn! I must have put the old CPU back as the new one. I pull the CPU from the motherboard again and compare to the new one. They are not 400Mhz! Bummer. Cool. Something. I search through the motherboard book that came with my PC and can't really figure out how to set the speed. Of course, I leave another message with OnSale and try emailing ComputerWholesalers again. No dice on either one. Just this past week OnSale sent me an automated message thanking me for my problem and since it has been resolved they were closing the issue. Great. On the other hand, I heartily recommend Buy.com (http://www.buy.com). I know there are a bunch of anti-Buy.com sites out there (http://students.washington.edu/robcole/buycom/). My experience with them has been nothing less than spectacular. Recently I decided I wanted to manipulate the collection of game videos from this season's basketball experience. I coached an 8th grade boys basketball team. I thought it would be cool to pull in the highlights from each game, add sound and transitions and export to videotape. I carefully did research on the subject going to cNet (http://www.cnet.com), checking out the Usenet groups (http://www.dejanews.com) and reading a video editing primer. I decided on the Matrox Marvel (http://computers.com/product/item/0,31,0-19-667070,00.html). Since Buy.Com has always been good to me I decided to order from them. I needed a PCI card, since I was now running NT on my primary workstation and the card only works with Windows 9X. I ordered the card through Buy.Com and even ordered a Diamond Stealth II G460. Buy.Com shipped my product quickly and I literally had them the next day. Everything worked great with the Matrox Marvel. The problem was with the Diamond card. It doesn't work with a non-Intel chipset and my new PC has a SIS chipset. Of course, I found this out after screwing up my NT installation . . . I needed to return it. Usually, returning an item to mail order company is a process as pain free as being on the rack. I went to Buy.Com and was amazed they had live, technical support folks on-line. Within a matter of minutes after I submitted my request a live person responded with the proper instructions. I packaged the card, sent it back and was sent an e-mail indicating they received it and my credit card was credited. VERY COOL. What I have learned is that in this ear of ecommerce the flashiest site, the site with the best prices or the site with the most selection isn't going to flourish. The site with the best customer support will flourish. Wait a minute, isn't that how it is now in retail? What do you think? Send me a comment if you are still awake. mailto:pgrote@i1.net. 2=> Winner! This week's winner: . 3=> News and Game Bits, mailto:pgrote@i1.net or mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com Domain Ownership Doesn't Prove Trademark . . . http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,35610,00.html?st.ne.fd.tohhed.ni Ebay Adds E-mail Item Notification . . . http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,0-35581,00.html?st.ne.ni.lh Amazon.com for Groceries? http://www.currents.net/newstoday/99/04/22/news5.html Amazon.com has new Competitor ... Balloon Man . . . http://www.latimes.com/CNS_DAYS/990423/t000036382.html Star Wars Short Films ... Godzilla vs. Disco Lando . . . http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/19305.html I Was Kidnapped ... O.K., I wasn't . . . http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/19293.html Don't Forget the DOT in DOTCOM . . . http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/04/cyber/cyberlaw/23law.html First Deep Blue, Now a Crossword Playing Computer . . . http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/Research/XWORD.htm HP's Free Mainframe Program . . . http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2247181,00.html 4=> Product: Asteroids, game Reviewed By: Doug Reed, dr2web@sprynet.com Requirements: Win95/98, Pentium 90, 16 MB RAM, 70 MB Hard Drive space, 4x CDROM, sound card, mouse, PCI/AGP video card, 16 bit high color Recommended: Pentium 133+, 32 MB RAM+, joystick or gamepad Reviewed on: Pentium 166, 48 MB RAM, Voodoo Rush graphics card MSRP: $29.99 Retro is in, right? That must Activision's thinking - last year they introduced a revamped version of Battlezone, an arcade classic from a long, long time ago. Battlezone was originally wire-frame graphics, but was updated to make use of the latest and greatest in hardware requirements, including 16-bit or higher color, 3D graphics, and sound. With Battlezone, however, Activision built an entirely new premise and game around the original concept. Activision has now turned to another wire-frame classic, the granddaddy of arcade games, Asteroids. Just from looking at the box and manual it becomes clear immediately that this game is not the same old Asteroids. Three-dimensional color graphics have replaced the old wire-frame graphics. Seventy megabytes of hard drive space is required for the game, a staggering amount compared to what is required for the old version of Asteroids marketed by Microsoft in it's Entertainment Packs. This new version also has movies and cut scenes! I will state that graphically this new version of Asteroids can be spectacular, from the explosions, flaming meteorites, black holes, worm holes, and so on. The movies are also nicely done, but they bring up the biggest problem with the game. Asteroids is first and foremost an arcade game, not an adventure game, a wargame, or a first-person shooter. Asteroids with a storyline is an oxymoron, kind of like Army Intelligence. Do you care why you're blasting asteroids? Do you want to wade through five minutes or so of movies to find out why? NO! You just want to blast them! If you're doing this while taking a break at work, do you want to wait? NO! One other point about the graphics. While they are extremely nice to look at, the background images can often get in the way. On the first "zone" a planet spins in the lower right background. I was so busy trying to blast it, I didn't pay attention to the real asteroid which promptly blew me to bits! Getting beyond my gripes, this is still good old Asteroids. Boot it up and blast away. All kinds of nifty power-ups (called 'wildcard weapons') exist, including mines, homing missiles, ramming shields, and the plasma sword. Beyond the basic asteroids to shoot at, there are regenerating crystal asteroids, fireball comets, indestructible asteroids, and even egg asteroids that release a horde of worms when destroyed. Alien ships include the basic alien saucer, asteroid tugs, vulturoids, and so forth. All of these inhabit five different zones comprised of 15 levels each (that's 75 total levels). And you can also play against a single human opponent on the same computer. Installation was a snap, and I noticed no bugs or crashes during my testing. I'd recommend Asteroids to anyone with an itchy trigger finger or who is nostalgic for the good old days of video games. It is every bit as addictive as the original and makes a nice way to spend a few minutes relaxing during your break. Activision Asteroids Product Info: http://www.activision.com 5=> Product: Interactive Sailing, game/simulation Reviewed By: Paul Schneider, mailto:p-schne@uiuc.edu Requirements: Windows 3.1 or higher, 486SX, 8 MB, MPC compatible CD ROM drive, 256 color VGA or SVGA, Windows compatible mouse, 8-bit (or higher) sound card Recommended: No recommendations Reviewed on: AMDK2-233, 96 MB RAM, 2x CDROM, MX300 Sound, Mystic Video card MSRP: $12.99 I was pumped to get this game. You see, one of my dreams is to own a big sailboat and sail around the world. Well, in that respect this game falls short. It is not the "Flight Simulator" of sailing. However, this does not mean it is without its merits. Interactive Sailing is a yacht racing simulation. Instead of tearing around streets you are either captain, crew, or both for a J/105 sailboat. Your objective: Sail one of three courses correctly and more swiftly than any of your computer opponents. The game is billed as fun and challenging for expert and novice sailors alike. I'm a relatively novice sailor (yeah, I was hoping this would be a step towards that dream!) and was able to learn the basics of operating the J/105 quite quickly. There are three types of help to get you going: Windows help menus, an overview video, and live sailing videos. The Windows help was concise and filled with helpful illustrations. A quick read of these and you were up and sailing. The "overview video", in principle, would have been very helpful, but it never worked for me and e-mail tech support has yet to get back to me! Last, they have over 30 minutes of live sailing videos illustrating the various principles of racing and sailing. The concept behind this was good, and in some cases I gleaned valuable tips about racing, but overall I was a bit disappointed in the video interface controls and viewpoint of the camera. In many instances it was hard to tell what was going on. A video shot with a wider angle from up higher in the back of the boat would have been much more instructional. Terms: The authors point out that terms are an important part of sailing. In this regard the simulation is quite accurate. The terms are well explained in the instructions and videos. Also, when simulating a race, help is yelled out, but unless you know the terms, the help, is well, rather unhelpful. When I first played this was kind of amusing. The captain or crew would say something, I would guess at what they meant and then they would chastise me when I guessed wrong! Needless to say, I quickly went back to the help to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. The simulation itself offers two main modes, practice and racing. They are pretty much the same except in the practice mode you are the only one on the course. The racing option allows you to choose one of three races and then vary the course difficulty by changing wind speeds, the expertise of your opponents, the length of the course, and a few other factors. The interface is divided, literally, into three windows: Sailing View, Controls, and Map. The Sailing View is a graphical representation of your sailboat and the things around it. You can view the action from the captain's eye or from an external camera. The graphics are fairly simple, which is not terribly surprising given the computer requirements, but they did display events accurately. In every instance, whether you switched sails, raised or lowered them, or switched sides, the Sailing View displayed an accurate, if not dramatic, change. The control panel contained all of the important aspects of the crew and captain controls. The interface was easy to understand and control once you knew what jib, spinnaker, and tacking meant. When picking the race you choose whether you want to control the crew (sails) or the captain (wheel) or both (a sure-fire disaster for novices) and if you overstep your bounds, such as touching the wheel when you are only the crew, the captain will yell at you. All in all, I appreciated the humor of the game and helpful hints the captain or crew would yell out. The map is the third window. This gives you the course layout and icons representing the ships, markers, wind, etc. The map was pretty basic and although it was quite useful I thought it could have used a makeover with things such as a resizable map. This is a sailing race simulation game. If you are looking for something like Flight Simulator for sailing this is probably not your best bet. However, if you are into yacht racing or just want to practice sailing this might be the ticket. At 12.99 it's not a bad deal if you want to learn about sailing and specifically yacht racing. In sum, when else can you control the weather, request hurricane like winds of 50 knots, and then race your sailboat around a course without even getting wet! Expert Software Interactive Sailing Product Info: http://www.expertsoftware.com 6=> Product: Tecmar Travan NS20 External SCSI Tape Drive, backup hardware Reviewed By: Howard Carson & Proton Research, mailto:lrhc@interlog.com Requires: SCSI connection, backup software (NovaNet Backup version 7, Seagate Backup Exec, NT Backup, etc.) MSRP: US$649 (internal), US$769 (external) Since 1982, Tecmar Technologies has been a pioneer in the DC6000 data cartridge and 4mm DAT tape industry. Tecmar developed products under the Wangtek(tm), WangDAT(R), Proline(R) and QualityTape(tm) brands. Tecmar's new Travan NS (network series) 20 GB tape drives have the highest capacity and fastest transfer rates of any Travan drives available. Delivering 20 gigabytes of compressed capacity at a transfer rate of more than 2 megabytes per second, the new drives are aimed at the popular, fast growing class of Windows NT servers and workstations. We tested the Tecmar Travan NS20 External SCSI unit over a period of 10 days. We did four daily backups of approximately 16GB each. Using 12 Imation Travan NS, 20GB tapes we created a rotating series of four generations of backup sets. The drive was connected through an Adaptec 2940 SCSI adapter to one of our secondary file servers - a dual Pentium II 350MHz machine with 256MB of RAM, running Windows NT 4.0 (SP4). We accessed the drive via three pieces of software: NovaNet Backup version 7, Seagate Backup Exec (which is bundled with the drive), and NT Backup which is integrated with Windows NT Server. Before putting the drive into full service, we performed some full read/write backup operations on fixed size directories, to get an idea of exactly how long actual backups would take. The results were impressive. We used five different test directories, performed 5 backups on each one, and cycled each directory through 3 different combinations of backup settings (A, B, and C below): 1 - 288 files in 12 sub-directories totaling 40.35MB of mixed data 2 - 1,207 files in 30 sub-directories totaling 90.1MB of mixed data 3 - 40 files in 3 sub-directories totaling 113.2MB of mixed data 4 - 6,000 files in 208 sub-directories totaling 1.1GB of mixed data 5 - 22,000 files in 1,000 sub-directories totaling 2.6GB of mixed data Here are the weighted test results: A - full directory read, compression, data write, full write verification, drive spin down, and tape eject. The weighted data backup rate ranged from 103.7KB/second in test 1 up to 1.4MB/sec in test 5. B - full directory read, compression, data write, drive spin down, tape eject, no write verification (see the "read-while-write" recording feature description below). The weighted data rate ranged from 391.8KB/sec in test 1 up to a 1.7MB/sec in test 5. C - full directory read, data write, drive spin down, tape eject, no write verification, no compression. The weighted data rate ranged from 301.2KB/sec in test 1 up to 1.2MB/sec in test 5, obviously slower than the compressed rate. Conclusions - as overall data sizes increased, weighted backup times improved dramatically. In other words, these drives are designed to backup huge amounts of compressed data, very quickly. Compare top quality DLT backup drives which provide a weighted rate of 1.6MB/sec. Note - actual continuous throughput 5 seconds into the write procedure in two of the compressed tests hit nearly 2.1MB/second (which exceeds Tecmar's published rating for the drive - very impressive). The high rates occurred when doing throughput of video files (40MB-65MB AVIs). Travan NS industry standard ALDC hardware data compression improves the interchange of compressed data, adds an additional level of redundancy and improves overall system performance. The read-while-write data recording feature, an technique pioneered by Tecmar, eliminates the need for a full verification pass, which significantly reduces total backup time. When you add compression to the whole scheme, impressive backup speeds can be achieved. Travan NS uses linear recording technology as used by DC6000 data cartridges and DLT technology. According to the technical description, data tracks are recorded in serpentine fashion, which is supposed to require fewer moving parts, thereby increasing overall reliability. The drive uses Imation's NS tape mini-cartridges. Imation licenses the NS trademark to products that use read-while-write data recording and hardware data compression. If you're looking for more specs to compare, the following should help. The drive boasts a 250,000 hour MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure which in this case indicates an very long service life), 20% duty cycle (heavy-duty usage), SCSI and ATAPI interfaces, search/rewind speed of 110 inches per second, transfer rates of 1MB/sec uncompressed, 2MB/sec compressed, and a capacity of 10GB uncompressed and 20GB compressed. The drive is accessible with a lot of different backup software. Check the Tecmar Web site for complete, regularly updated compatibility list. In the NS20, Tecmar has introduced NSync(tm) soft loading technology, which adds many of the same security and reliability enhancing features used by high-end tape drives. It's also the first Travan NS drive that loads the cartridge completely into the drive. The metal cartridge deck (the baseplate of the cartridge) provides more precise positioning in the drive mechanism, and dissipates more heat than other configurations. In addition, full registration of the cartridge reduces track offsets and electrostatic discharge from the cartridge base plate. Data security is also increased with TapeAlert diagnostics, proprietary extended diagnostics and locking manual eject. Data recovery is reportedly enhanced by patented Redundant Read technology, which defaults to a secondary read channel if the primary channel fails, and by automatically updating the tape directory upon eject (we believe it, but we hope never to have to make use of it!) Cons: We couldn't find anything wrong with the drive. We've now begun some long-term testing/usage with NovaNet Backup version 7 driving the Tecmar Travan NS20 and we'll report back to CompuNotes in a follow-up review. Pros: The Tecmar Travan NS20 provides much needed price and performance benchmarks for the extremely fast growing Windows NT server market, and proves it by operating at the same speed as pricey, top quality, high capacity (70GB) DLT drives. The drive is well-made, operates quietly, and treats NS20 tapes with great care. The initial combinations of NovaStor's NovaNet Backup version 7, Seagate Backup Exec, or NT Backup and the Tecmar Travan NS20 are excellent. We're big fans of SCSI drives and we rate this backup powerhouse at the top of our list. Tecmar Technologies Travan NS20 Tape Drive Product Web site: Product Info: http://www.tecmar.com/product/office/travan20/travan20.html 7=> Product: NovaNet(R) Backup version 7, network server and client backup Reviewed by: Howard Carson, Jack Reikel and Proton Research, mailto:lrhc@interlog.com Requires: Microsoft NT Server or Novell(R) Server running NetWare(TM), Pentium CPU, 16MB RAM, minimum 20MB free disk space. MSRP: Windows NT - US$999 (full), US$299 (single server, no clients). Pricing for the NetWare version is almost identical. NovaNet Backup version 7 is the latest among NovaStor's network server and client backup software solution offerings. The family of products starts with a low cost single Windows NT(R) or Novell NetWare server license, and is scalable up to the flagship NovaNet 7 Alliance - a comprehensive backup solution for an unlimited number of servers and workstations in an integrated Windows NT network or Novell Server (running NetWare) environment. NovaNet 7 works with your existing network. It offers full network views and job management, backup/restore of Windows 95/98 and NT registry, multilevel object based security, automatic tape drive configuration, plug-in support for Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL, Open File Manager, Btrieve database agent, reads ARCserve 4.x & 6.x tapes, supports multiple Windows NT servers, an unlimited number of users/clients, the ability to backup to any tape drive on the network, distributed architecture which provides extremely fast backup speeds, and library support. We installed NovaNet 7 in a Windows NT 4.0 (SP3) server environment (running connected Win95 and 98 clients). We tried two different servers: a single CPU Pentium II 266MHz, and a dual-CPU Pentium II 400MHz, each running 256MB RAM and Adaptec 2940UW SCSI cards. Installation was flawless on both machines and it should be noted that the autorun InstallShield can be re-run at anytime to add options, remove options or re-install/un-install NovaNet 7. The InstallShield routine contains a small GUI which permits point and click selections - very useful and extremely easy to understand. There are only a few preliminary setup issues to deal with: the name of the storage management zone you have to create, selecting the machine which will act as the storage management server, and which workstations or file servers will belong to the zone. Every network manager, IS/IT manager, and general operations manager faces the same dilemma: how often should backups be done, how can backup drive/device costs be justified, how can media costs for multiple generations of backups be justified, how can the cost of off-site backup storage be justified, and if the worst happens, how well will the backups work? It's definitely a problem. But if the boys at Data Recovery Inc., are anything to go by, the costly losses incurred through non-backed up hard drives which have 'packed it in' far outweigh the cost of setting up a proper backup infrastructure. According to the latest reports in IS/IT journals, hard drive recovery costs and lost data costs resulting from a lack of backups is costing upwards of $10 billion a year. It makes sense too, when you figure in the expensive process of recreating lost data, downtime, fouled up schedules and so on. The rules are simple. Every piece of data you backup today, is a piece of data you'll have available tomorrow. Every piece of data you backup today and then store off-site, is a piece of data you'll have tomorrow, a week from tomorrow and a year from tomorrow - guaranteed. At anywhere from US$500-$1500 for extremely robust turnkey systems (NovaNet 7, a tape drive, SCSI card and backup media), why take chances? Running fast, server hard drives in an Ultra-Wide SCSI environment, is a very fast way of accessing data. Doing tape backups from such servers across a 100Mb network is also relatively fast - but you've got to have the right software. At the moment, NovaNet 7 appears to be one of the front-runners. 3 gigabytes in 30 minutes, uncompressed? 30,000 files? With Verification turned on? Comparable restore speed? Not bad. 10 gigabytes in 100 minutes, uncompressed? 110,000 files? With Verification turned on? Comparable restore speed? Not bad again. Over the course of two weeks of testing we used the comprehensive scheduling features to setup ridiculously complex and well as simple backup sessions. Background backup operation was seamless. There are a variety of pre-defined schedules included with NovaNet 7 which served as excellent templates for our testing. NovaNet 7 also features extremely thorough and reliable security options. User Permissions can be assigned through one of the tabbed dialog sheets. Administrators can assign permissions for access to folders, volumes, storage devices, media and jobs. Two features stood out for us because of some prevailing conditions on the test network: job status information displays, and distributed network device connections. The job status data includes everything from throughput rates to the number of errors and failed files. Distributed network device connections control allows for concurrent backup, restore, and verify jobs from almost any server or workstation. Windows NT and Novell NetWare networks will benefit from NovaNet 7. The software offers safety and security at a very reasonable price. Add to that its versatility and speed, and you've got yourself an ideal network backup solution which can grow with your business. NovaNet 7 is highly recommended. Cons: Some third party networking products that replace the standard Wsock32.dll may cause conflicts with NovaNet. Under Windows 95 using Microsoft NWLink IPX protocol driver, communication errors can be caused by an excessive number of dropped packets going in to the workstation. If you are using the Windows 95 machine as a device server, NovaStor recommends using either the Novell Client 32 or TCP/IP for your communications protocol. The problem does not occur under Windows NT. There is a little bit of cryptic language used in the interface terminology. NovaStor and plenty of other companies have got to hand over the job of interface terminology to good writers, and take the responsibility away from engineers and programmers. Pros: We were eager to test NovaNet 7 with the new Tecmar Travan NS20 tape drive, but it did not arrive in time for this review. We'll bring the results to you in the drive review. With excellent documentation, plug-in support for Microsoft Exchange, SQL server, and open file backup, NovaNet Backup 7 is a comprehensive backup solution for small, medium and large enterprises. The Backup Wizard is a terrific tool for relatively 'green' IS managers or small business technical staff doubling as IS managers. The main software interface with its tabbed dialogs sheets is uncluttered and very easy to use. With a starting price of US$299 (single server, no clients), NovaNet 7 is one of the best deals in robust, professional backup software today. NovaStor(R) Corporation NovaNet Backup 7 Product Info: http://network-backup.com/datasheets/nnet7_ds.html 8=> Products: QuickScore Elite Level II v8.0 and Copyist v5.0, released by Sion Software Ltd. Reviewed By: Songmuh Jong, mailto:songmuh@bitsmart.com Requires: 386 33MHz or higher PC running Windows 3.1 or later with minimum 4MB RAM. (MIDI keyboard optional) Reviewed On: Pentium 166MMX, 64MB RAM, Windows 95, SVGA 4MB, 16-bit Sound card, speakers. MSRP: US$179.95 for QuickScore Elite Level II v8.0, and US$69.95 for Copyist v5.0. The bundled price is US$219.95. Music notation and sequencing software have been rare and high-priced, probably because of the tremendous amount of effort that are needed for a special type of software like this. Another complication is that current computer capabilities present a difficulty between users and the music software developers. A special convention needs to be established in order to facilitate the translation of music on the screen, in print, and in the real world. The logic developed by programmers may not be obvious to software users--even for those who are considered experts in Music. Thus a steep learning curve has to be mastered before the software can be productively used. Earlier versions of QuickScore have won Editor's Choice for Notation Software from Electronic Musician in 1995 and 1998. Thus, it should represent an advanced product in this category. The new version has several enhancements over the previous version. In this review, I'll try to focus on the discussion of the two products (QuickScore and Copyist) in their current forms. Both QuickScore and Copyist share the same installation process: They ask if you want to install to the hard drive or to a floppy disk. Then they ask if you want to install the Mozart font to the system. The whole process takes less than one minute, and then the installation program suggests that you restart Windows. I did not encounter any difficulty during installation of either product at all. Getting started with either product, however, requires some reading of the manuals that come with the software. When you start the QuickScore, several default windows are opened, including score editor, piano roll editor, and controller editor. Five other windows are minimized at the bottom of the MDI frame window. Since it has been the Editor's Choice for notation software, I test its flexibility in allowing me to enter notes with my mouse. The interface is pretty intuitive. You select the type of note from the menu, set the position of the note with the left or right mouse button (depending on the tool you are using--pointer tool use left mouse button, whereas pencil tool uses right mouse button), and place the note by clicking the left or right button (again, depending on the tool--pointer tool uses right mouse button, whereas pencil tool uses left mouse button) on the position. The difficulty lies in the entry of notes with dot notation. The menu does not offer an obvious choice for that. After a sound overnight sleep, I picked up the manual and read it. A line reads, "The duration value is chosen from the duration palette at the right-hand side in the main control area." After a short period of exploration, I found the button that initially displays a duple. Clicking on it changes it to triple, and another click changes it to dotted note. Its location is actually the eighth button from the left of the top menu bar. After this is discovered, entering a note becomes an enjoyable process in QuickScore. The Copyist is even harder to get started. An empty window is presented to you when you choose File/New. There is no staff line for you to enter notes. It took me a while to read the manual before I could select the staff line option and draw the lines on the screen. That's because the staff option is hidden behind a menu button and there is a menu button that works as a Select tool but looks like the Line tool. Without reading the manual, you tend to try the Select tool and only find nothing happen on the screen. I think the reason it is designed this way is that Copyist is meant for touching up the score you generated from other program such as QuickScore. You can easily add text or symbol to the music without worrying about the music rules. And that's all about the functionality of Copyist. Changing the notes you have already entered in QuickScore also requires you to go though the tutorial section in the manual. The icons with arrows are actually the dragging tools for changing the notes. Once you have gone through the tutorial sections, you gain a tremendous amount of flexibility in entering and modifying notes in the score editor. This is a case where reading the tutorials in the manual really help you master the software. Although I don't have a MIDI keyboard to do the step entry, I am able to mimic the process using the mouse. This software is extremely powerful if you want to compose music. One needs to take note for the QuickScore: When you move in position, the display may not show what you have for the particular bar. For example, notes from one bar linked to the next one will show a rest if the display is only for the second bar. If you think you have forgotten to enter a note for that bar and try to enter one, you will end up with two notes instead of one. Other than the learning curve that could have been shorter, both products perform what they are supposed to do: QuickScore is a professional package for composing music while the Copyist is a graphical tool to modify or enter music without being bound by the music rule. I am particular impressed by the smallness in size of both products. Unlike other bloatware, Copyist comes in one floppy disk and QuickScore comes in two floppy disks. That's a good example of careful programming efforts to put a lot of functionality into small programs. If you are serious about composing music, QuickScore is the best package that I have ever seen. Sion Software Ltd. QuickScore Elite Level II v8.0 & Copyist v5.0 Product Info: http://www.sionsoft.com/ 9=> Product: NetPad v3., utility Reviewed By: Howard Carson & Proton Research, mailto:lrhc@interlog.com Requires: 486DX66 or higher, Windows 95, 98 or NT4, 8MB RAM. MSRP: US$19.95 There is a powerful movement to organize the torrent of information we encounter every day into some sort of rational order. In August 1998 at the Seybold Publishing Exhibition in San Francisco, President of Microsoft Steve Ballmer suggested that "the heart, soul and core of the concept of a Web lifestyle is people's use of digital systems and information to communicate and express themselves. It's got to make sense and be compatible within the context of the existing modes of communication among consumers and business partners. We also see, certainly, a set of challenges in this electronic mode of inter-relating." There's nothing new in all that. After all (as the old expression goes) a visionary is just a dreamer with a PR department behind him. Information exchange and organization, on and off the Web, has reached what Intel calls an 'Inflection Point'. Andy Grove, Chairman of Intel, wrote a book about this called "Only the Paranoid Survive." Avram Miller, Vice President of Corporate business Development at Intel describes it this way: "Inflection points are really critical moments where many things come together and the linear changes that we normally understand and internalize, even if they are fast, change. Suddenly, we find ourselves in a radical, uncharted, almost chaotic point in time." If you agree, then you must believe we've reached that point in our contemporary lives (as we interact at home and in business through the Web, the Internet and on Intranets) where we have no choice but to collate, sort and organize our own spheres of influence. If we don't, we're liable to fall behind. In and of itself, "falling behind" is nothing to fear. The problem is that we are being driven to feel that "falling behind" is somehow inadequate. Our lives and the world around us are changing moment by moment, and the information streamed at us which can explain many of the changes must be captured and organized. We surely don't need to store terabytes of data, we surely do need to provide ourselves with hints and tips which will key thoughts and ideas which can help us anchor our daily existences. Such anchors provide a way to filter much of the information being directed at us. NetPad can help. It's a small utility which installs on virtually any Windows 95, 98 or NT 4 system. It contains little that is radical or innovative, except for the novel way in which it insists you organize your thoughts, information you wish to keep for reference, notes to yourself, sudden inspirations, statistics, to-do lists, and a myriad of other information. Simply put, NetPad allows you to add links from any piece of text you type or paste into its editor, to a telephone number, URL, or any part of any document located almost any place in the world you can access - from your hard drive to Timbucto. It's used this way: 1 - Install it. Start it. 2 - Start work (or check your e-mail, browse the Web, play with the kids, watch TV, read a book, phone a friend, etc.) 3 - Sooner or later, no matter what you're doing, some thought will float into your overburdened mind (something you forgot, an appointment, an idea for discussion, the germ of a new theory, a quote you want to remember, a joke you want to tell, etc.), or some piece of information will be streamed at you (news, weather, sports, current events). You will encounter some piece of information you wish to retain. Call up NetPad, click the 'New Idea' icon and type your thoughts or ideas. If the idea is related to something you're looking at on-line, highlight a portion of the text you've typed into Netpad, right click on it, and add a link to the URL you're visiting. 4 - If the idea is related to something different (a document you've been working on at the office, a reminder, or anything else), create a folder in the right side of the NetPad interface which highlights or features the idea. Link the idea to an existing document (which will then automatically call the application in which the original document was created and load the original document). The right side of the NetPad interface shows all the ideas you create in a tree view. Place a folder higher or lower in the chain - move things around to establish priorities. 5 - Jot down an idea for later discussion and then create a link which dials the telephone number of the person with whom you want to start (or continue) the discussion. 6 - Jot down ideas, reminders or critical planning information. Copy and paste research information from Web sites. Create encrypted folders for security. In an age when, with the click of a button, we can enter great art galleries, or the world's largest shopping mall, the great libraries of the world, or any university, we will also acknowledge that as information is power, the ability to organize and use information for great good and effect is one of the supreme powers. I recommend NetPad. It's a useful tool to help accomplish useful tasks and goals. Cons: NetPad is not a replacement for existing Workgroup software. It is accommodating only for individual users. Pros: It is unique in its approach to linking and organizing information. Virtually anyone can find a use for Netpad, and it is wonderfully easy to use. Flying Objects Software Inc. NetPad v3.1 Product Info: http://www.netpadsoft.com/netpad_intro.html +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Managing Editor: Patrick Grote -- mailto:pgrote@i1.net Assistant Editor: Doug Reed-- mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com Assistant Editor: Robin Nobles, mailto:smslady@netdoor.com Archives: ftp://ftp.compunotes.com/pub/archive Website: e-mail: mailto:notes@compunotes.com Want to Write for Us?: mailto:writers@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 1114 West Essex Ave. St. Louis, MO 63122 notes@compunotes.com (C)1999 Patrick Grote Patrick Grote, MCSE Author of Teach Yourself Microsoft Exchange 5.5 in 10 Minutes http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672315564/compunotes/ Managing Editor of CompuNotes http://www.compunotes.com/main.html "The First and Best Victory is to Conquer Self." Plato