283 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
283 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
RAndY's RumOR RaG
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December 1993
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NEWS IN YER FACE
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Here we go again - another "greener" product. While scanning
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the monthly specials from a supplier I noticed a new series of
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mousepads. Get 'em now - Rainforest pads. These mousepads have
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photographs of rainforests and various plants and animals that live
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therein. Included with each mousepad is "an educational booklet
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which helps heighten awareness of rainforest biodiversity and
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function".
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Seagate is seeking to diversify, looking into tape and optical
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drives, flat-panel displays and hardware, and software interfaces
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such as wireless and handwriting technologies. To this end, they
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have added an investment banker as senior vice president of
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corporate development.
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Corel is now shipping Corel Ventura 4.2 for Windows that
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includes two CD-ROMs with 600 fonts, 10,000 EPS clip-art images,
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and 100 Kodak PhotoCD photos - for a list price of $249.
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IBM is getting ready for a fully functional version of OS/2
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code-named Ferengi which is designed to easily install on top of
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DOS and Windows as an upgrade to Windows 3.1, letting users adopt
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the system without giving up their existing configuration. By now
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you know of this as OS/2 for Windows, a brilliant marketing
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decision (I'm serious). The price will be in the $50 range and
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will require between 15 and 17 disks.
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Hewlett-Packard is whispered to be planning a 16-bit sound
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card which will sell for about $150.
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Apple's in-house BBS has a course called "Life After Layoffs",
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the only hitch being you have to be unemployed to take it.
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I recently came a cross a new product that is simple,
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innovative, relatively inexpensive, and useful - a strange
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combination these days.
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The product is called "DIP to SIMM". It's a little circuit
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board which holds nine DIPs and plugs into a SIMM socket. A lot of
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older motherboards used DIPs and it's a shame to throw them away
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when you upgrade to a new motherboard. Here's a way to keep your
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memory chips and save some money.
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You can get the cards for $8.50 or send your chips to the
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company and they'll solder them for you for $13.50.
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The reborn SIMM is taller than a regular SIMM module, so you
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will want to be sure the increased height will not interfere with
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any cards, the power supply, or whatever.
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For complete information, contact Autotime at (503)452-8577.
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WORDPERFECT PIM
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In the first quarter of 1994, WordPerfect will be releasing
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CIA (Central Intelligence Access). This is a Windows-based PIM
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which makes you enter information only once.
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You can have as much or as little information on each person,
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place, thing, or whatever through the Outline View. The Outline
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View shows how your information is interconnected and lets you
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access "tabs" to keep things organized. Updated information in one
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tab is automatically updated in related tabs where necessary.
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Of course you've got a Calendar View and Address Book View
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which let you drag-and-drop appointments and schedule tasks. The
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Address Book can be printed in standard day planner sizes.
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A feature called Related File Launch lets you access
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information in the PIM and automatically bring that information
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into any Windows program.
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CIA will also be compatible with any pen computer using
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Windows for Pen Computing. The suggested retail price will be
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$149.
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DOS COLORS REVISITED
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Every time they update DOS, I feel it necessary to go through
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the routine for changing the default colors. Here we are on
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Version 6.2 and they still give us white on black - ugh!
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Here is the procedure for changing the default colors; some of
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the addresses will be different, but the principle is the same.
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Remember, the new color only take effect when you do a CLS.
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DEBUG \COMMAND.COM
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-RCX
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CX BAE5
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-S 100 L BAE5 CD 10
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22CC:432B
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22CC:4337
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22CC:435F
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22CC:436C
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22CC:4370
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22CC:4376
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-U 4300
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-
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- Enter U a few times
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-
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-U
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22CC:4366 B406 MOV AH,06
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22CC:4368 B707 MOV BH,07
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22CC:436A 32DB XOR Bl,BL
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-Q
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What you're looking for here is the MOV BH,07 instruction.
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Remember to hit ENTER twice after the RCX instruction. The address
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you get after RCX and the listing when you enter the S command
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determines where you start looking for the MOV instruction. Note
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that in the example above, the address for the MOV you're after is
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4368. Add 1 to that address (whatever you come up with) and then
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do the following:
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DEBUG \COMMAND.COM
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-D 4369 L1
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22CC:4369 07
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-Q
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You should see 07 off to the right, otherwise go back and
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search again. When you've found the correct address, do the
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following:
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DEBUG \COMMAND.COM
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-E 4369
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22CC:4369 07.
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-W
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Writing 0BAFB bytes
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-Q
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After you do the E instruction, debug will return the address
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with the "07."; now select the colors you want and enter them after
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the period. The first number is the background, the second is
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foreground. Don't enter a number larger than 7 for the first
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number or the screen will blink. Here's the list of colors:
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Black - 0 Grey - 8
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Blue - 1 Bright Blue - 9
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Green - 2 Bright Green - A
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Cyan - 3 Bright Cyan - B
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Red - 4 Bright Red - C
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Magenta - 5 Bright Magenta - D
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Brown - 6 Yellow - E
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White - 7 Bright White - F
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You may want to change where you start searching from. The
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important thing is to look for the MOV BH,07 instruction.
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MORE NEWS IN YER FACE
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You may not have heard it yet - that Microsoft co-founder and
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Asymmetrix CEO Paul Allen owns 25% of America Online - and now he's
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buying up TicketMaster.
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Intel is preparing to ship their first software product, code-
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named Miata, in the first half of 1994. Miata is an interactive
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file-sharing Windows application.
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It lets two users view the same file over a modem connection
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and contains tools that let users annotate a document or
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spreadsheet being discussed. A "chalkboard" mode lets users jot
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notes that can be seen by both viewers. Eventually beta testers
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expect to see the product incorporate support for voice and data
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communications via the same connection.
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A utility known as Jump Start lets Miata users show files to
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users who do not have the full version of the software.
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The new OS/2 for Windows will not work with MS-DOS 6 and
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Microsoft says it might not work with the next version of Windows
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whenever it ships. HAHAHAHA!!
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ENCARTA UPDATE
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Microsoft has updated their excellent Encarta product to a
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1994 version. Included in the changes is a new interface that is
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similar enough to the original, yet somewhat better. It's hard to
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describe, but you'll like it.
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I can do without the self-serving "Microsoft Home" logo that
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comes up every time you start the program. Also some of the
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"facts" espoused throughout tend to be liberal in philosophy.
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They've added new articles on politics, sports, and a variety
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of notable individuals. There is new video of the fall of the
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Berlin Wall, native art forms of the world, and much more. There
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is an interactive orbit simulation that is pretty cool.
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Unfortunately the video is still jerky (too slow fps rate).
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There are new audio clips including Maya Angelou's inaugural
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poem (if you can make sense of that gibberish let me know) along
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with 14 new languages and hundreds of new color photos.
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Microsoft says that it's faster, and that's somewhat true.
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It's hard to tell if the program is faster or if DOS 6.2's caching
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of CD drives is doing the job. Anyway, the combination of the two
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make Encarta 1994 and improved product.
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Microsoft is charging $79 for the upgrade and that's not bad
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for a 29-volume multimedia encyclopedia. I still say that this is
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the best multimedia title you'll find - and it's gotten better.
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LIVING WITH DOS
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It's been about a month since I switched to DOS 6.2 and for
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the most part I like it.
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I want to know why Microsoft can't make DISKCOPY use the
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memory in your computer rather than the hard drive when copying
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high density disks. Jeez, shareware authors have been doing this
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for several years now.
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I like the commas. It's a lot easier to get a feel for the
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sizes of files and subdirectories with them. I also like the
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overwrite protection with MOVE, COPY, and XCOPY. Too bad it's
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taken them 12 years and 6+ versions of DOS to get there.
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I guess it's better than what we've had but it sometimes seems
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like they're holding back. How foolish of me to think they'd
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produce a DOS that people really want. (Hey, we've got DOS
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7/Windows 4 coming next year.) Maybe by the time we get to DOS 7
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we'll have an easy way of changing default screen colors (HA).
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PERSONAL STUFF
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I've had a number of sysops call lately asking me about using
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the RaG on their BBS's. Here's my policy - use it as you wish,
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just don't change my words, please. The RaG is usually uploaded to
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GEnie on the first weekend of the month. America Online and
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ModemNews get it about the same time. If you want to be sure to
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have the latest issue, here are some local BBS numbers which carry
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it in my area:
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COMM-1 (206) 532-7952 9600
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Hangar 18 (206) 538-0382 14400
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Lightning Rod (206) 289-0971 14400
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Techline (206) 249-5372 14400
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Regarding mail, I usually log onto GEnie each Friday night.
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I haven't been on America Online since February of 1992 since we
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don't have a local access node. That may be changing soon and I'll
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keep you posted. The best way to contact me is either by phone or
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postal letter, the information for both is located in the
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disclaimer at the end of each issue.
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Finally, I've gotten some electronic mail and a couple of
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phone calls taking me to task for expressing views on political and
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social issues. These complainers have said that they don't want to
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hear about political and social issues in a publication dealing
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with computers.
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I understand your outrage (I feel your pain?) but I'm not the
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one producing "green" computers, pro-animal rights software,
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whining about cutting down trees to make paper, or marketing
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compact discs extolling the virtues of Robert Mapplelthorpe.
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A sysop in British Columbia called the other day and said he
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sometimes puts the RaG next to his section promoting GreenPeace -
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whew - that's equal time!
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PERSONAL STUFF II
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Just for your information, on November 15 I was almost killed
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in a car accident. While on my way to a business appointment, I
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was rear-ended by a truck doing about 50 mph (I was stopped with
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lights on and blinker flashing). My car was demolished and I was
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left with three stitches in the back of my head. I'm OK now, but
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each day is an adventure with a different part of my body aching.
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It's in the hands of lawyers and insurance companies now.
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Just thought you'd want to know these things.
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NEXT MONTH
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Well, Excel 5.0 didn't make it in time. I talked to Microsoft
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and in their characteristically vague manner suggested it would be
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closer to the end of December before it was released. That means
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you'll have to wait until the January issue.
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Not sure what else is around the corner in terms of software.
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I may lower my standards and look at Word for Windows 6. I hope to
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have the new PC Magazine Benchmarks Tests on CD in time for the
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January issue also.
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=================================
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DISCLAIMER
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RAndY's RumOR RaG is published on a monthly basis by AINSWORTH
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COMPUTER SERVICES and is available on various local BBS's, GEnie,
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and America Online as well as in Modem News.
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In case anyone cares, RAndY's RumOR RaG is produced on a 486-
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50 with 8 megs of memory, Diamond Stealth Pro VESA VLB (1 MB), 105
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MB Toshiba IDE hard drive, Teac 1.2 MB and 1.44 MB floppies, Pro
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Audio Spectrum 16 running a Hitachi 3750 CD ROM drive, Sceptre SVGA
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display, Microsoft mouse, WordPerfect for Windows and transmitted
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through a US Robotics HST Dual Standard modem.
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Opinions expressed are those of the author. Comments should
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be addressed to Ainsworth Computer Services on GEnie, America
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Online, phone, analog mail, or whatever method makes you feel good.
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AINSWORTH COMPUTER SERVICES
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605 W. Wishkah
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Aberdeen, WA 98520-6031
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(206) 533-6647
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GEnie Address: RAG
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America Online: RumOR RaG |