HoTMaiL
NOTE: Our July meeting will be held on the 2nd Thursday of July, the 11th (instead of the 1st Thursday), because of the July 4th holiday. There are also changes in the Paradox and Real Estate SIG meetings; check the calendar on page 15 for all the details.
July's meeting features HoTMaiL, a new (and we do mean NEW, being officially released July 4th) and exciting service that is destined to change the world of traditional Internet e-mail! Sabeer Bhatia, president and cofounder of HoTMaiL, will be our guest speaker. He can explain how you will be able to send and receive e-mail from almost any PC with Internet access, without any customization, configuration or additional software, and without regard to your Internet Service Provider or On-Line Service setup. We're also having our first SIGFEST -- find out what our SIGs do -- and you'll find one to join!
DVPC meetings are held in the lobby conference room in Building B at the Bank of America Technology Center in Concord, located at the northeast corner of Clayton Road at Galindo (see the map, directions, and parking information on page 14). Please use the main entrance of the building, which is in the center of the front of the building that faces Clayton road.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. The New User's SIG meeting will be
held from 6:30 to 7:00. We'll have the
SIGFEST and the Networking Table from 7:00 to 7:30. If you
have something to sell or trade, need technical help, or just want to exchange views, visit the
Networking Table. Also, as usual, we'll have library disks and those great
DVPC mugs for sale, SIG news, random access, and some of our usual
great door prizes. See you at the meeting!
Directions to Bank of America Building B in Concord
Take the Clayton Road exit off of the 242 Freeway, and go east on Clayton Road.
After about 1½ miles you'll come to Galindo, and you'll see the Bank of America complex of four high-rise office buildings.
Building B is the first high-rise building on your left, near the northeast corner of Clayton and Galindo.
Parking: Turn right on Grant Street (the first block past Galindo), then right into the BART parking lot at the back of the BofA complex. Or turn left on Galindo then right onto Concord Avenue to find street parking.
Be sure to observe parking regulations! Concord parking officers are very efficient!
Multiple Dial-Up Networking Connections
If you have more than one Internet or other dial-up account, you can create additional connections using the Dial-Up Networking New Connections wizard. First, go into Control Panel and double-click on the Networking icon, click on TCP/IP, then click on the Properties button. Clear the DNS, Gateway, and IP settings if any are filled in. This way, Windows 95 will use the settings in each of your individual connections. Now run the New Connections wizard by double clicking on My Computer, double-clicking on Dial-Up Networking, then double-clicking on Make a New Connection. The wizard will start; follow the instructions. When you have finished setting up the new dial-up account, right-click on it and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Click on the Server Type button then on the TCP/IP Settings... button, and enter the TCP/IP settings for the new dial-up account.
Writing Scripts for Dial-Up Networking
Many Internet service providers and on-line services require that you manually enter information, such as your user name and password, to establish a connection. Dial-Up Networking includes a scripting feature called the Dial-Up Scripting Tool that can be used to write scripts to automate connections.
A script is a text file that contains a series of commands, parameters, and expressions required by your Internet service provider or on-line service to establish the connection and use the service. You can use any text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad, to create a script file. Once you've created your script file, you can then assign it to a specific Dial-Up Networking connection by running the Dial-Up Scripting Tool.
The Dial-Up Scripting Tool is included in Microsoft Plus! There's an instruction manual, script.doc, installed in your Program Files\Plus! folder with documentation for writing your own scripts. The documentation is terse and short on hand-holding, but if you can work your way through it you'll be able to automate many of the entries you otherwise have to make manually.
I had a problem! Every time I ran a Norton defrag of my "C" drive, the computer screen looked like somebody shot at it with a shot gun, because with all of the increasing numbers of bad blocks, and with impending doom in the offering I opt to put in a new "C" disk.
This is not as simple it sounds, because I boot up in SCSI, and this also controls all the SCSI peripherals such as a Zip drive, a CD-ROM drive, and my Windows 95 is installed on that SCSI drive, too.
The problem solver is back to basics, that's spelled D-O-S. And you thought DOS was Dead. Since it was to be a new hard disk I also installed a new SCSI host controller board (both wide but this is another story).
Now to get this thing to run. I sure am glad that I made the startup disk that Windows 95 wanted me to make (on
my original installation). After configuring the SCSI host control board (with SCSI boot you have two BIOS's: the one
on the SCSI board & the main one on the mother board). With this start-up floppy I started the boot well this brings you
up to Dos cursor Point, but now you must Partition your new disk, using the "Fdisk" program. The first partition must be
a primary, and made active [this will be your bootable drive], any more drives will be made with extended
partition, subdivided into logic drives. Now each of these partitions must be formatted [this is OK this is not a IDE drive], now I
can run the SCSI program disk floppy (Adaptec EZ-SCSI 4.0) this enables all of the SCSI peripherals to run all but the
CD-
ROM. Since we are still in DOS (Windows 95) you have to make entries in the AUTOEXEC.BAT and
CONFIG.SYS files which I put in using DOS Edit (also from the start up disk). Also, I was glad that I had made copies of my
original Windows 95 and DOS 6.2. When you get the CD-ROM on line, you can reinstall Windows 95, and then you can
reinstall what ever programs you wish.
With Windows 95, because of the "Registry," if you change drives, etc. you must go through reinstall [unless you are an Ace registry editor]. You can think of the registry as being nosy and wants to run the whole show, but must be told of changes made, that's what reinstall does. Its much more involved than that, but that's the idea, anyhow. "So have fun."
Windows 95 Upgrade Blues
If you upgrade the motherboard of a PC that has Windows 95 installed, you may find that it won't run when you try to restart. That's because Windows 95 builds a hardware profile of your system, and changing the motherboard or CPU changes that profile. To solve this problem, reinstall Windows 95 to update your installation.
Modem Blues
Many 14,400 baud modems use a Rockwell International chip set that contains a hardware bug. This includes Cardinal, U.S. Robotics, and Zoom modems. The bug prevents you from getting both error correction and data compression to work together correctly, and may require a software upgrade. You can find information about fixing this problem on the Web at:
www.nb.rockwell.com
Alan Mildwurm President/Programs 770-5770 (work)
Jessica Mildwurm Treasurer 829-5858 (home)
Morris Abell Co-Librarian 602-0697 (work)
Ron Ogg Newsletter Editor 283-7900 x201 (work)
Nicholas Chase Special Events 680-4211 (home)
Rich Patterson Co-Librarian 458-8659 (home)
Charlie Crothers Publicity 829-2237 (home)
Janet Rose Membership Secretary 837-4174 (home)
Bill Earl SIG Coordinator 939-5874 (home)
Henry Shaw BBS SysOp
Jim Espinoza Vice President 675-4695 (work)
Steve Israel Past President 283-7900 x202 (work)
Tom Krauss Secretary 689-9960 (home)
The Board of Directors usually meets on the Wednesday evening following the general meeting each month. Check the DVPC Calendar on page 15 of each issue of Diablo Blue, or the DVPC BBS, or the DVPC home page on the Internet (www.dvpc.org) for the meeting date, time, and location.
You can reach any of the officers and directors by posting a message to them on the
DVPC BBS or leaving a message on the
DVPC VoiceMail System.
The Diablo Valley PC User's Group operates a BBS for its members and other interested users in the area. Current paid-up DVPC members can access the BBS on a line reserved exclusively for their use, 943-6244. Others can call 943-6238. Set your modem to 14,400, 9600, 2400, or 1200 baud, 8N1 (8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity).
DVPC has a computer-based voice mail system. The new phone number for the DVPC VMS is 556-1449. This communication vehicle provides:
1. Members with up-to-date information about monthly and SIG meetings.
2. Potential new members with information about DVPC.
3. A message center for Board of Directors members and SIG Leaders.
Diablo Blue is the monthly newsletter of the Diablo Valley PC User's Group.
Editor Ronald Ogg
Mailing Janet Rose
Please submit articles and columns to the Newsletter section of the DVPC BBS, or mail to the editor:
Ronald Ogg, P.O. Box 2222, Orinda, CA 94563-2222
Entire contents © 1996 by Diablo Valley PC User's Group. All commercial rights reserved.
DVPC is a member of APCUG, the Association of PC Users Groups.
Diablo Blue needs articles from the members of DVPC. See your name in print! Achieve fame and fortune! (Well, maybe just some limited fame in Contra Costa County...) We are particularly interested in product and book reviews and articles about your PC experiences.
Commercial advertising is available in Diablo Blue. Prices are $75 for a full page, $40 for a half page, and $25 for a quarter page for one insertion -- or get three consecutive insertions for the price of two. For more information, call editor Ronald Ogg, at 283-7900, Ext. 201 (days).
Members of DVPC can submit personal classified ads that will be printed in Diablo Blue for three insertions at no charge. The rules are simple: up to 9 lines (as we typeset it), material must be suitable for publication (the editor is the sole judge of suitability), the member must be in good standing (current dues paid), and ad space is available on a first-come first-served space available basis only. If you want fewer than 3 insertions note that on your ad copy.
If members want their business card reproduced, the rate is $10 for one insertion, or $25 for three insertions. The card must be horizontal and must be scannable.
Upload your articles or member ad copy to the Newsletter section on the DVPC BBS, or mail to:
See the deadline information in the Calendar on page 15 of each issue of Diablo Blue.
Editor, Diablo Blue, P.O. Box 2222, Orinda, CA 94563-2222.
DVPC has a new home page on the Internet -- thanks to our Jim Espinoza, DVPC Webmeister. You can surf your way to our own domain and home page by starting your favorite Web browser and typing the following address:
http://www.dvpc.org
Be sure to save it in your browser's hotlist so you don't have to type it each time.
See the DVPC Calendar on page 15 for the date and time of each SIG meeting.
The Access and Visual Basic SIGs have combined into one SIG. The Access/Visual Basic SIG meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at Gateway Group's offices, 3687 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Suite 350, in Lafayette.
Directions: take Highway 24 west to the Central Lafayette exit, and keep to your left to the stop sign at Deer Hill Road at the end of the exit ramp. Turn left onto Deer Hill Road, and continue to where it dead ends at Happy Valley Road. Turn left onto Happy Valley Road. Turn right at the traffic signal at Mt. Diablo Blvd. Take Mt. Diablo Blvd. through the next traffic signal and turn left into the driveway at 3685/3687. Immediately turn right into the parking lot in front of 3687. Take the elevator to the third floor to suite 350 at the end of the hallway. If you get lost, call Ron Ogg at 283-7900 Ext. 201.
Everyone who is using or is interested in Access or in Visual Basic, including Visual Basic for Applications, is invited to attend the Access/Visual Basic SIG meetings. In July we'll discuss creating data-driven HTML documents using Access and the Access Internet Assistant.
The Advanced Users SIG meets on the third Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at Gateway Group's offices in Lafayette (see the Access/Visual Basic SIG notice above for directions). Note that this is a new meeting day!
If you're interested in getting together with other advanced users to discuss topics of interest (including networking, Windows 95 migration, Windows NT Workstation, the best Pentium motherboards, etc.) join us at the Advanced Users SIG!
The new Clarion for Windows SIG meets at 7:00 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month at Gateway Group's offices, 3687 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Suite 350, in Lafayette. See the Access/VB SIG notice for directions.
Clarion for Windows is a powerful database development tool that competes with products like Visual Basic and Delphi and even products like PowerBuilder. If you are an advanced Clarion for Windows developer, you are invited to join the SIG. This is a SIG for advanced user's, so beginners will want to get more hands-on experience before joining.
The Education and Entertainment SIG usually meets at 7:30 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month at Montevideo School in San Ramon, but for June, July, and August will be on vacation because Montevideo school is closed for the summer.
The E&E SIG is oriented to exploring the best in education and entertainment software for the PC. Everyone is invited
to attend our meetings when they resume in September, and bring your kids along -- they'll have a great time, too!
Direc
tions: Take 680 to Bollinger Canyon Road, go west to San Ramon Valley Blvd., go south to Montevideo Rd. and turn
left. Proceed east on Montevideo about 3 blocks to Broadmoor and turn left The school's 1 block on the right. We meet
in Room 22.
"Your Pit Stop on the Information Superhighway"
The Internet SIG meetings are held at 1800 Oak Park Blvd., Suite A, in Pleasant Hill on the third Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Enter at the rear. An Internet beginner's session normally meets at noon just before the regular Internet SIG meeting.
We hope to see you there!
Tom Vitale has taken a new job in Tracy (congratulations, Tom!), and as a result will not be able to head or host the Internet SIG 2'sday meetings. As a result, SIG meetings have been postponed until a new SIG leader and meeting location can be found. If you can volunteer to be SIG leader, please phone Bill Earl at 939-5874 or see him at the DVPC monthly meeting.
Microsoft Project SIG meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month at InterPro ADF's office at 3569 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Suite 210. Park in the lot behind Radio Shack. The entrance to suite 210 is at the back of the building. Enter through the door marked "210" at the parking lot end of the walkway from the street and take the stairs to the second floor.
Everyone who is interested in Microsoft Project and project management is invited to attend. If you plan on attending, please call Elias Asmar at 510-299-8500, Fax 510-299-8511, leave a message on the DVPC BBS, or send an E-mail message on the Internet to:
73762.723@compuserve.com.
The New Users SIG holds its meetings at 6:30 p.m. prior to the regular DVPC monthly meeting on the first Thursday of each month at Bank of America building B.
We discuss whatever is confusing or puzzling new PC users. If you are a new user of PCs who would like to meet with other new users -- and some experienced users who can answer your questions as well -- then join us at the New Users SIG meetings at 6:30 p.m. prior to each DVPC monthly meeting.
The Paradox SIG usually meets on the second Thursday of each month, but because of the July 4th holiday we'll
be
meeting on the third Thursday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Mero's home at 3636 Sanford Street in Concord.
Directions: From Route 242 North, exit at Olivera Road. At the bottom of the off-ramp, take a right (East). Take the next left (by the Glenbrook School) onto Sanford St. Follow Sanford St. through two intersections. After the second (Floyd Lane), the house will be on your left, number 3636 Sanford St. If you need further directions, Kathleen is available by phone at (510) 685-2484.
The June Paradox SIG was held at the Mero's. We had a smaller group than usual but took advantage of this opportunity to engage in a freewheeling discussion of a number of database problems and programming issues. Fueled by a generous supply of popcorn, soft drinks, and coffee, the SIG group worked on several problems that dealt with manipulating and maintaining databases in a net work environment.
One discussion and handout concerned the incorporation of Windows API or DLL's in Paradox programming code. This led to a side discussion concerned how Delphi programming might be used effectively in a Paradox database environment. Another example discussed illustrated the ease with which one can use various Paradox FileSystem variables in ObjectPal to allow users access to computer hard disk and resource information. We also examined the problem of calling up and running the table rebuild utility with ObjectPal code.
For the Paradox SIG meeting in July, call Scott Saftler at 675-7373 or e-mail sssaftler@BSLA.com. The meeting will be held this one time only at the third Thursday in July rather than the second Thursday. The Mero's will be surfing real waves rather than the Net during part of July.
The meetings are very unstructured and flexible so that any and all topics related to either DOS or Windows Paradox related items are welcome. We also urge everyone to bring their own floppy disks for copies of forms, reports, queries and codes that the group creates or that our members are willing to share. The official meeting always begins promptly at 7:30 P.M. Early birds may be forced to listen to and participate in discussions of tips and gossip on the stock market and mutual funds.
The June SIG left us with a new perspective on the role and definition of the East Bay Regional Park District. Led by Bob Buscha and Jaimie Perkins we toured Contra Costa County's trails and park systems. It was interesting to see how the district provided trails and the role that developers played in the creation of parks and trails. The meeting was very informative and we thank our leaders for a great presentation.
Our July meeting will be held on Monday, July 1st from 11:00AM to 1:00PM at Old Republic Title located at 3000 Clayton Road in the training room. Our future meetings will be held on the first Friday of each month from 11:00AM to 1:00PM at the same time and place.
July is the month in which we celebrate our independence and the successes of our country. The explosive growth of Contra Costa county has demanded improved freeway access, BART extensions, and alternative commute options.
While our guest speaker is not an authority on the Super Information Highway, United States Congressman Bill Baker does reside on the Transportation Committee and plans to impart his knowledge at our Real Estate SIG on Monday, July 1st.
As this event may require additional lunch accommodations we have to ask you to make reservations by leaving a voice mail with Teresa Saunders stating your name, company, and telephone number at 746-0118. Please make your reservation now, mark your calendar for July 1st, pack a lunch, and make plans for a very informative meeting. Old Republic Title will be providing the beverages, chips and cookies.
The Windows SIG meets on the first Tuesday of each month at Nordic Computers in Concord (see their ad on page 11 for a map) at 7:30 p.m.
We're unsure about the topic for the next WinSIG meeting. At least, as usual, Windows 95 questions (and even, sometimes, answers!) will be covered during Random Access.
Everyone who uses, is interested in, or is curious about Windows, and especially Windows 95, and getting the most out of any version of Windows on their PC, is invited to attend the WinSIG meetings.
Be Sure to Attend Our First SIGFEST At the July 11th DVPC Meeting
This is the conclusion of the Java Report.
5. Security
Security is a tricky subject because on one hand people want things opened up more to make Java more powerful and flexible, on the other hand, they are worried about the possibilities of viruses if it is allowed to perform these powerful tasks. This is because a rogue applet downloaded from an unknown host could try to break into your client system. Java includes a sophisticated set of security options and allows browser vendors to modify these options. For example to protect against that possibility, applets are written in a secure subset of the Java language. Applets are restricted from performing most file I/O routines and file system access. Sun is trying to get a minimum-security model agreed on and trying to get browser vendors to adopt it uniformly (Karpinsk). The new standard minimum-security policy would have two parts: a Java applet would not be able to read or write to any local file, and a Java applet could only make network connections back to the host from which the applet came. Sun encourages browser vendors to include optional settings that would allow greater flexibility in handling Java applets. One of Java's primary lines of defense is its memory allocation and reference model. Once an Applet is downloaded it runs in a "protected space" that limits the program's access to do damage to the local computer. The Applet is only allowed to allocate memory from loader and the byte code verifier make no assumptions about the primary source of the byte code stream -- the code may have come from the local system, or it may have traveled halfway around the world. The byte code verifier acts as a sort of gatekeeper: it ensures that code passed to the Java interpreter is in a fit state to be executed and can run without fear of breaking the Java interpreter. Imported code is not allowed to execute by any means until after it has passed the verifier's tests. While all this checking is very detailed, by the time the byte code verifier has done its work, the Java interpreter can proceed, knowing that the code will run securely. Knowing this makes the Java interpreter much faster, because it doesn't have to check anything. There are no operand type checks and no stack overflow checks. The interpreter can thus function at full speed without compromising reliability. With Java being a interpreted language and all the runtime checking that occurs performance has become a problem.
6. Performance and Multithreading
Sun has acknowledged that Java currently runs 10 to 20 times slower than C (Hayashi, p. 82) The Java language is in
the middle ground between very high-level and portable but slow scripting languages, such as Shells and TCL, and very
low level and fast but non-portable and unreliable compiled languages, such as C and C++. The Java language fits
somewhere in the middle of this space. In addition to being extremely simple to program, highly portable and architecture neutral,
the Java language provides a level of performance that's entirely adequate for all but the most compute-intensive
applica
tions. Prospective adopters of the Java language need to examine how it compares to the other higher-level and
lower-level languages based on their needs.
To address performance to some extent Java has built-in support for multithreading. This means that multiple applets can be loaded and running at the same time. Built-in support for threads provides Java programmers with a powerful tool to improve interactive performance of graphical applications. If your application needs to run animation and play music while scrolling the page and downloading a text file from a server, multithreading is the way to obtain fast, lightweight concurrency within a single process space. Threads are sometimes also called lightweight processes or execution contexts. Threads are an essential keystone of Java. Java provides a Thread class that supports a rich collection of methods to start a thread, run a thread, stop a thread, and check on a thread's status. Java's threads are preemptive, and depending on platform on which the Java interpreter executes, threads can also be time-sliced. But multithreading is not going to improve performance enough for many potential business users. That is why Sun is helping Borland International Inc. to develop a just-in-time compiler.
7. Future enhancements to the Java environment
Borland International Inc. has a product coming out which is called an AppAccelerator or Just-in-Time compiler. It compiles Java byte code to a native executable file, in real time, as it is downloaded. This boosts Java applet performance by an order of magnitude (Levin, p76). Symantec, along with Next and Metrowerks, is working on Java compilers that will compile Java code before it is distributed (LaMonica and Wingfield, p. 22). These compilers will be necessary if Java is to be used for server applications that require high performance.
Another enhancement Sun is working on is persistent objects. Persistence is where the users will be able to store applets on the client machine to be run later, even when the connection to the server has been broken.
Other developments slated for release is a Java OCX that will let Windows applications access Java applets, new multimedia and graphics classes to be built in conjunction with Java licensees Macromedia Inc. and Silicon Graphics Inc., and midyear rollout of an already-developed Java-to-CORBA interface that will make it easier to work with Java as a front end to CORBA-based back-end distributed object systems (Karpinsk).
Sun is settling the final legal issues for implementing RSA Data Security Inc.'s encryption as part of Java. That will make it possible to add secure digital-signature authentication to the process of downloading an applet. Encryption will be included to protect developers' intellectual property. It will prevent people from reverse-engineering Java applets. Authentication is going to be introduced so when you're ordering something over the Internet and the Java byte codes are part of the order transaction processing software, you can make sure that what you are receiving is coming from where you placed the order and not somewhere else (Taft and Hwang).
8. Summary
Java is a new computer language, and it's acceptance has grown at a phenomenal rate. Java was first introduced in May 1995 and since then many companies have announced their support for it including: Netscape, IBM, Oracle, Borland and even Microsoft. It is a powerful object oriented language that is designed to solve a set of problems in doing distributed computing. This design makes it perfect for operating on the Internet. It can transform static home pages into visually appealing, dynamic, interactive pages that seam to come to live. It is fast becoming the de facto standard language for the Internet and it shows every sign of success.
References
Gosling, James and McGilton, Henry The Java Language Environment: A White Paper. http://java.sun.com/whitePaper/java-whitepaper-1.html
Hayashi, Alden M. (1996, February). Reality behind the Java Hype. Application Development Trends.
Karpinsk, Richard (1996, January 8). Sun Opens Door to Java Development. http://techweb.cmp.com.
LaMonica, Martin and Wingfield, Nick (1996, February 5). Java is getting stronger: Compilers in the works to boost performance. Info World.
Levin, Rich (1996, February 12). Borland makes big Internet Play. Information Week.
Taft, Darryl and Hwang, Diana (1996, January 8). Sun to give Java tighter security, links to Telescript. http://techweb.cmp.com.
Now that the excitement generated by our first-ever contest has subsided, your Board of Directors has decided that it's time for yet, another great contest! Here's one for all of you real computing old-timers: We're looking for the oldest PC computer magazine. Bring it in and show us all at the August general meeting, and the winner will receive a great surprise gift!
No mainframe or minicomputer magazines, please. PC, Apple, Atari, CP/M... any magazine in these or similar categories is eligible. No newsletters, booklets, or whatever, just magazines. The Board members present at the August general meeting will be the final arbiters of any disputes. And there won't be any ties: we'll flip a coin if two people bring in the magazine with the oldest date.
So, start searching that attic, the garage, that dusty corner. Find those old computer magazines, and bring the oldest to the August meeting. You may be our winner!
Meeting Date: June 12, 1996, 7:00 p.m.
Location: Alan Mildwurm's house
Bank Account: $2,600.00 (Approx.)
Newsletter Deadline: 7/19/96
Upcoming Speakers: Jul 11 -- HoTMaiL
Aug 1 -- Nolo Press
Sep 5 -- Partition Magic
Oct 3 -- Corel (Not firm yet)
Nov 7 -- Windows Night
Old Business:
It was a relaxed meeting, even for us, with little or no agenda. Madame Treasurer was occupied with calls from agents and the press as a result of her recent stage appearance. Bill set the tone by describing the problems he was having locating and viewing dirty pictures on the Internet. Various members gave him technical suggestions and discussed the merits of their favorite sites. Slowly we settled down to business.
Non-Profit: The State has yet to send us our official nonprofit status notification.
DVPC Mugs: The old mugs have arrived! After months of debate about whether or not there was one remaining case of mugs from the original order, the purchase of new mugs proved to be the catalyst needed for Steve Israel to discover the missing case.
VoiceMail System: An impressive three calls were handled by the VoiceMail system last month. The callers used the options for getting directions to the meeting and for information about SIGs.
Newsletter: There was essentially no reaction at the June meeting when Jim mentioned that the Board was considering options for electronic delivery of the newsletter as a means of cutting costs, and this attitude carried over to the Board. No further discussion or decisions took place.
Richard provided an updated report on his research into current postal regulations and rates: "Postcards will go to 22¢ sometime soon." More to follow.
Visual Display System: Charlie reported that our current equipment is worth about $1,600 to $1,800 if we sell it ourselves, and there is a glut of comparable units on the market.
We gave the Rossmore computer club too much time to think and they went and bought a new model.
New equipment with the key features we want is coming down a bit in price due to even newer models appearing, but is still between $4,500 to $5,500.
New Business:
Windows Night: Steve is working on a list of vendors to solicit for Windows night. It will be distributed at the next Board meeting. Alan will post last year's list on the BBS.
DVPC Home Page: Tom distributed a write-up (two months in the preparation -- at least, Jim asked for it two months ago) on his pro bono activity and spoke briefly on his thoughts as to the information and format we should follow in presenting this on our home page. Those members sleeping got up and left, and the rest dozed off. It seemed an appropriate time to adjourn the meeting, but Nick complained for the third time that he hadn't had a chance to vote on anything. It was then moved and seconded that we adjourn, the motion was voted on and carried, and Nick went home happy to his new baby daughter.
I recently tried out the Microsoft Mastering Series for Visual Basic CD-ROM, a Microsoft self-paced multimedia learning product that claims to offer in-depth, interactive training for the experienced developer. In practically all aspects it measures up to its claims.
The CD-ROM is well-organized and is very easy to navigate. The demonstrations are clear audiovisual presentations that allow the programmer to become quickly knowledgeable with the subjects presented.
The CD-ROM is organized into 13 chapters, each chapter covering a major topic such as input validation, error checking, OLE, or databases development. Each chapter gives an explanation as well as hands-on lab exercises with lots of code samples. The labs are well designed because they provide the developer with sufficient information to implement an application.
Microsoft is correct in asserting that this tool is for experienced developers only and is not an introduction to programming. The tool is very interactive and offers a variety of ways to learn, depending on one's personal style: subjects include a course, interactive labs, demonstration, sample code, and articles. There are a variety of valuable "Tips" and Knowledge Base comments on the CD-ROM. However, the FAQ section is rather limited.
The searching tools are powerful and allow the developer to access the information needed through links. By structuring the course in this nonlinear manner, learning can be done in a way that suits the developer's schedule and study approach. In my opinion, I do not find this product to be an "in-depth" training tool. It does not go into any real detail. However, the necessary detail can be obtained from other sources. But this tool will get you off to a fast start on any intermediate or advanced topic.
These courses are part of the Microsoft Official Curriculum and may be used to gain the skills necessary for Microsoft Certification.
Currently Mastering CD-ROMs are available for Visual FoxPro, Visual Basic, Visual C++, and Access 7.0 Programming. The price is around $80 per CD-ROM.
Can you keep a secret? This month our speakers from HoTMaiL will unveil their new product. It's so secret, not even our intrepid reporters know what it does! All I know is that I'm told it is very interesting. Our Webmeister, who has an "in," tells me that we will enjoy the presentation.
I'm also very excited about our SIGFEST scheduled for this meeting. We have a number of great SIGs that put on exciting programs every month. I don't always have the time to go to their meetings and this will be a good opportunity for all of us to check out what they do.
Upcoming speakers include Nolo Press, Ricochet, Partition Magic, IBM and Microsoft. I'm also working on a presentation by Corel.
Our incorporation is moving along. The Franchise Tax Board wanted a small amendment to our articles and I believe we will shortly receive our nonprofit status.
Charlie Crothers is continuing his research of a new presentation device. It appears that "new models" are just coming out, which means that there are some good deals on "last year's models." Of course, we also need to find a buyer (or trade-in) for our existing device. I expect we will attempt to get a test unit (or two) to try at the meeting so we can all decide.
We have started working on Windows Night, presently set for our November meeting. I think it should be lots of fun. If there is a particular vendor you'd be interested in having participate in Windows Night, be sure to let us know.
Lastly, we found a box of those version 1.0 CLASSIC DVPC mugs -- be sure to pick one up -- they're definitely slated to be collectors' items!
Thank goodness! School is out! The play and 8th grade graduation was the best part of school. The dance was a bore, but the free food was great -- but let's not get into that. My parents gave me a graduation gift -- they cleaned my room. I was not thrilled -- there are endangered species happily living there and I don't like to upset their habitat. I thumped up to my room and went into my secret room (a little alcove). I saw my computer and thought that my sister or brother had been in there and I vowed to get them later -- when mom and dad weren't around. Then I noticed: the printer was different, but wait... by George, the computer was new, too! I think I died: a new computer and a clean room -- it was too much. My parents were lucky I didn't have "The Big One" right then and there! Anyway... hooked up to my new computer, Osiris, was an HP682C.
The HP682C is one of HP's newest inkjet printers. It is REALLY cool. It is a color inkjet printer that holds both a black and a 3-color ink cartridge. Hooking it up, I am told, was easy. Plug it in, load the Windows 95 drivers using the add printer option in Control Panel, and you're printing. What's so great (and different) about this printer? IT PRINTS BANNERS AND DOES TWO SIDED PRINTING!!!!! So??? All printers print banners (if you don't mind using scissors and tape). But this printer takes banner paper! Real banners! Just flip a switch on the paper tray, load in banner (fanfold) paper, select banners in the print settings dialog box, and print! Of course the printer also prints transparencies, labels, envelopes and card stock. Double sided printing is accomplished by selecting either Book or Tablet in the Paper dialog box. Book allows binding on the left and tablet allows binding on top (a margin adjustment). With double sided, the printer prints the odd numbered pages first, allows you to remove them and turn them over and then print the even sided pages. The printer supports lots of media sizes.
Wait there's more! Best mode resolution is 600x600 in black and 600x300 in color. This printer is much faster than our 550C (and our Epson Color Stylus). It can print black in Econofast mode at 5 pages per minute. I use normal color mode of 0.7 pages per minute. A number of character sets, built in fonts, and true type fonts are included.
If you buy the 682C (as opposed to the 680C, which uses the same hardware) you get some cool software as well!
The
Mickey and Friends Print Studio makes cards, banners, calendars and other print projects. This program is geared
specifically for the 682C. The Disney characters are great. Also included is a
Family Fun Kit from Print Packs (again, a
special 682C edition) which makes magnets, iron-on transfers, pinwheels, Windows art transparencies and frames, extra
graphics, and more.
The printer requires a 386 or better, 8 MB of RAM, and up to 20 MB of hard drive space (less if you are only loading DOS drivers or Windows 3.1x drivers). The software requires a 486, CD-ROM drive, and another 15 MB of hard drive space. The Print Pack takes another 10 MB and a sound card. WOW!
Did I tell you the printer does a great job? I'm sure the ancient Egyptians would have loved this printer! I plan to give it all my print jobs!
Special note: Thanks Mom and Dad, Omi and Pop-pop. I love my new computer and printer. Certainly it will be helpful in High School. Now I just have to overcome my fear of those scary seniors.
"You can't do anything about the weather." "If you don't like the weather -- wait 20 minutes" (this applies to Florida). Well, we can't do much about the weather except learn about it. Everything Weather by the Weather Channel and the Bureau of Electronic Publishing tries to do just that. This CD-ROM is a very interesting educational program about weather and weather forecasting. It contains a large database of weather data for major cities of the world.
There is a module which permits a modem equipped computer to dial into a weather service and download a local forecast for any one of several hundred cities around the world for 75 cents a call. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get this module to work. The modem dials but makes no connection or is unable to log in. Since it appears the format is text only (as opposed to a recent weather map), we may not be missing much. Many of the on-line services and the Internet allow you to download recent radar and satellite maps which are really interesting. The help screen doesn't give any diagnostic help, nor is there any documentation which tells where/what we are attempting to dial.
Setting this problem aside, the rest of the program is very good. There are a number of videos and stills which are well narrated showing historical weather events, weather tools, satellite launches. Special sections are included on: forecasting, winter storms, thunderstorms, tornados and hurricanes. There is also a large database of US and global weather information. The glossary is good with a linking ability between articles. I would prefer having more ability to manipulate the parameters in the database. It would also be nice to have some Internet links to some of the excellent weather information on the net. This program covers a lot of territory -- I would prefer a little more depth in the topics. I think it would easily incorporate into the 5th grade curriculum which studies weather.
Microsoft has released an update to Windows 95 that resolves a memory leak which occurs when opening and closing the Windows Sockets API (winsock.dll). If you use Netscape or Internet Explorer heavily, download the patch from:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/software/krnlupd.htm