AFTER READING THIS FILE, CLICK THE "FILE" MENU (IN THE WINDOWS PROGRAM) AND CLICK OFF "PSL-NEWS". Programming On 2 CDs: ==================== New programs this month take over 400 MB of disk space, even in ZIP format (which means that you are really getting over 800 MB of new files when uncompressed). This doesn't leave much room for the Section Of The Month, Programming, on a 660MB CD-ROM. Just since the last Programming CD (Vol.3, Num.8), we have received more than 200MB of new Programming files. As a result, this month's Programming section contains only those new files since the last Programming CD-ROM. If you already have the Vol.3, Num.8 CD, then that CD and this one contain all the Programming related files in PsL's library. If you do not have the last Programming CD, you can get it for a special price of just $10, including shipping. Send a check or money order (U.S. banks only) to PsL, P.O.Box 35705, Houston, Texas 77235-5705 or call 800-242-4775 with any major credit card. Overseas, add $4 additional shipping. Note: The PSL_SHRW.EXE program only displays write-ups of the programs on this month's CD-ROM. The PsL Shareware Database program, PSL_DB.EXE, contains write-ups of ALL the files on all PsL CD-ROMs, including the last Programming CD. CD-ROMs Versus Internet: ======================= Will the Internet make CD-ROM distribution of shareware obsolete the way CD-ROMs made diskette shareware distribution obsolete? Or do CD-ROMs and the Internet each have advantages which will allow them to co-exist well into the future the way theaters and video tapes or network TV and cable TV co-exist? The advantage of the Internet is that assuming that you have an Internet account for a flat fee for unlimited usage, the only cost for shareware is your time, assuming that you can find the file you want and successfully download it. The advantage of CD-ROMs is that you can quickly and easily read about and try out programs without the aggravations of trying to get connected to the Net, waiting for pages to come up as you slowly move from one link to another (patiently bypassing discontinued pages) in search of each program you want to get, and waiting for large program files to download. And if you call during a time of heavy Net usage, slow response time can mean that the file you want NEVER completes its download or that the Web page you need to get to is already overbooked and it shuts you out completely. Another advantage of the PsL CD-ROM is that you are assured that every program has been virus-checked and quality tested. The same cannot be said of every download site on the Internet. We have sometimes found viruses on disks sent to us by authors, so even downloading from an author's site is no guarantee of safety. Finally, parents may be concerned about giving their children access to the Internet, which has widespread offerings of extreme pornography which can be easily accessed by kids. PsL's CDs have no such materials on them. Until everyone has high-speed T1 lines (which appears to be cost prohibitive for the forseeable future) and until effective ways are created to protect children from pornography on the Internet, we think that CD-ROMs will continue to be a very attractive alternative to downloading from the Internet. CD-ROM Sections Of The Month: ============================ Following is a list of the sections from the most recent CDs. By getting all of these CDs, you would have every program/file in PsL's collection. Programs for both DOS and Windows are included in each group. Vol. Num. 4 6 Programming (new programs since V.3, N.8) (assembler, Basic, C, Cobol, Fortran, Pascal, Modula, Visual Basic, general tools, and more.) 4 5 Communications & Networking 4 4 Education 4 3 Words & Graphics (word processing, drawing program, clip art, desktop publishing, spelling/grammar checkers, hypertext, fonts, printer utilities, and more.) (new programs since V.3, N.5) 4 2 Home Apps for DOS 4 1 Utilities for DOS & Windows and All OS/2 Programs (new programs since V.3, N.4 CD) 3 12 Home Apps for Windows 3 11 Business (accounting, finance, general business, time managers, general business, database, spreadsheet, mailing list managers, and more.) (Some older files on 2/95 Business CD not on this CD.) 3 10 Games and Sounds & Music for DOS 3 9 Games and Sounds & Music for Windows 3 8 Programming (up to 8/95) 3 7 Communications & Network (comm programs and utilities, BBS systems, programs for FAX cards, pagers, etc., plus networking pgms.) 3 5 Words & Graphics (up to 5/95) 3 4 Utilities for DOS & Windows and All OS/2 Files (up to 4/95) FUTURE CD's: Following is the schedule for the section-of-the-month for coming CDs. Because the number of programs in each section continues to grow each month, it may be necessary to split up one or more of the following sections onto separate months' CDs. If this is important to you, check before ordering. ("Num." indicates the month of the year. "Vol.4" is 1996 and "Vol.5" is 1997.) Vol. Num. 4 07 Games & Sounds & Music for Windows 4 08 Games & Sounds & Music for DOS 4 09 Business 4 10 Home Apps for Windows 4 11 Home Apps for DOS 4 12 Utilities for DOS & Windows plus all OS/2 Problems: ======== In all the years of producing the PsL Monthly CD, we have NEVER found a single problem caused by a "bad CD copy". If you cannot get a CD to work on your machine, please try it on another machine if possible. Otherwise, please read the following Q&A's. If none of this works for you, return the CD and we will check it and replace it if necessary. (1.) "My machine locks up or reboots when I try to install a program." You have one of the small percentage of systems with a CD-ROM driver that is incompatible with PKUNZIP. To get around that problem, we have placed a public domain unzip program on the CD. To invoke it with the DOS-based program, run it using the syntax: "PSL_SHRD /U" (without the quotes). In the Windows based program, select UNZIP in the window that appears after pushing the Install button. In Windows, you can also elect to use WinZip to dearchive files. (2.) "There are no files on the CD." "There are no files in one of the directories." "I get an error trying to copy a file from the CD." We have only had a few such complaints, but in all cases, there was nothing wrong with the CD. Some of the users who made the complaints were able to read the CDs without error on other machines or even when trying later on the same machine. We suspect that the problem is with dust or dirt in the drive or, more specifically, on the laser lens, or on the CD-ROM disc itself. If you do not have a CD lens cleaner, get one from your dealer. Also inspect the non-printed side of the CD for dust or debris. One caller took the CD out, wiped it off, put it back in, and it worked. Maybe it was dirty or maybe just re-seating it helped. (3.) "When I install from the Windows access program, it tells me FILE NOT FOUND." Some combination of flukes in Windows/DOS cause some systems not to be able to find PKUNZIP.EXE on the CD-ROM drive. The solution is to copy PKUNZIP.EXE into your WINDOWS directory on your hard disk. SOUND BLASTER PRO OWNERS: On the January 1995 CD-ROM, we went over 600MB on the CD for the first time and a couple of people with Sound Blaster Pro cards and CD drives were unable to get a directory on the CD. If you have a Sound Blaster Pro and have this problem on a future CD-ROM, ask Creative Labs for a new CD-ROM driver. Frequently Asked Questions: ========================== (1.) "Why don't you install the programs on the CD ready to run instead of in ZIP format?" There are many reasons: - Many programs try to write back to the directory that they are installed in, which cannot be done on a CD. - Many programmers require that their programs be distributed in archived format. - Some installation programs configure the software to the system they are installed on, so that a program installed on our system may not work on yours. - Because we add a section of PsL's disk-based library to the CD each month, there is not room to have all the programs dearchived. - For use of the CDs on BBSs, files must be in archive format. Distributing the programs in archive format makes for a much neater package, making programs easier to find. Dearchiving a program to hard disk only takes a few seconds and by using a temporary directory, you can easily delete the files when done. (2.) "Are the same programs repeated on each month's CD?" No. The \DOS, \WIN, and \OS2 directories contain only the new programs received by PsL during the last 30 days. In addition, we put a different section of our disk-based library on each month's CD. These sections do repeat every eigth months, but they are updated for the thousands of new files received during the previous eight months. (3.) "I'm not interested in the section of PsL being added to the CD this month. Why should I have to pay for a CD with a section I don't want in order to get the lower subscription price?" For the same reason that a magazine purchased from a newsstand costs twice as much as the same issue if you subscribe. The reason for the lower price in a subscription is that you agree to take every issue. In addition, focusing on the old programs, which we decided to add to the CD as a free bonus, is ignoring the purpose of the CD. The PsL Monthly CD was conceived (and priced) as a way to get the many hundreds of new programs received at PsL each month out to the public in an economical way. The first CD was released in July 1993 with about 350 programs on it and sold out in two weeks. We did not start adding sections of our library to the CD until December 1993. By that time, the number of new programs on each month's CD doubled to an average of over 700. Even though it meant a back-breaking amount of work to get the additional 2000 to 3000+ files onto the CD each month, we did not raise the price of the CD a penny. Yet some people who had happily paid $19.95 to get the 700 or so new programs each month, suddenly focused only on the programs on the files that they did NOT want - a particular section of our disk-based library. That may be because for retail sales purposes, WE have had to emphasize the library section on the cover of the CD, even though that is not the purpose of the CD. Please remember that there is no other source to get so many new programs on such a timely basis for such a low price. If you do not have a need for a particular section of our disk-based library, just ignore it and focus on the new programs on the CD. You only have to use/enjoy a few programs, clip art files, sound files, etc., per month out of the 1000+ new programs each month to more than offset the cost of the CD compared to disk fees and download fees. (4.) "After the PSL_NEWS program installs a file, the program sometimes has to be installed again from those files. Why can't it just be installed once directly from the CD-ROM?" Some shareware authors have custom installation programs which create directories, put files in specific directories, configure the program to the user's specific hardware, etc. We cannot have multiple INSTALL programs in the same directory and it would be cumbersome to have a separate directory for each program, so we are forced to archive such programs, resulting in their having to be dearchived from the CD-ROM before they can be installed with the author's installation program. Contacting PsL: ============== Your comments and suggestions are appreciated. We are striving to make this the ideal CD for sysops and vendors, as well as for individual and users. We will implement every possibly suggestion which will still allow us to produce the CD in a timely manner and which will not degrade the CD is some other way. If you are a programmer and want your program distributed on this CD, simply send it on disk to the address below or if it is a Windows program, upload it to our forum on Compuserve (GO PSLWIN). Public (software) Library P.O.Box 35705 Houston, TX 77235-5705 Voice: 713-524-6394 FAX: 713-524-6398 CompuServe: 74777,3465