1028 lines
30 KiB
Plaintext
1028 lines
30 KiB
Plaintext
_____________________________________
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ZMAGAZINE JULY 31, 1987
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ISSUE #64
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_____________________________________
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ZMAGAZINE INFORMATION NETWORK
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(201) 968-8148 300/1200 BAUD
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ACCESSIBLE THROUGH PC PURSUIT
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_____________________________________
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Publisher/Editor: Ron Kovacs
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Assistant Publishers:Ken Kirchner,
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Susan Perry, Rich Decowski
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Zmag Correspondents: Leo Newman
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Mike Brown
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_____________________________________
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Xx ZMAG INDEX 64
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_____________________________________
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<*> Zmag Update
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<*> New Zmag Column
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<*> Surge Protection
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<*> Zmag Newswire
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<*> Zmag Special Report
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(Computer Security Act)
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<*> Zmag Technical Assistance
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<*> The Wizard -Oasis Support-
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<*> Zmag Software Review
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_____________________________________
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Xx ZMAG UPDATE
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_____________________________________
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Here's what's happening at Zmag:
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In the weeks ahead look for our
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format to change. New columnist's
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have joined Zmag, Mike Brown, Leo
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Newman, Bill Whitton, Calamity Jane,
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and a few others still deciding.
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I am trying to get people to write
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articles for Zmag to make this a
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more diversified publication. Sit
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back and watch Zmag in the weeks
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ahead for more updates.
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This week, Mike Brown debuts his
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User Group column. Look for more
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from Mike next week.
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Mr. Goodprobe is coming to Zmag!!
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Who is this you ask?? He will be
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Zmag's Hardware expert. Ask your
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questions and look for fact filled
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replies about your hardware. Mods,
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specifications, upgrade and repair
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information coming soon. If you
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would like to get information now,
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about any of the items listed above,
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you can call Midtown TV in Ohio at:
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(216) 633-0997. Tell them you read
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this in Zmag!! Otherwise, Good 'Ol
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Mr G wont know who you are!!
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The copyright problem with Issue 62
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on CompuServe has still not been
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cleared up. As soon as the details
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are in, I will let you know.
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Issue 63 finally made it into access
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on CIS!! Wenesday July 29th!! Only 6
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days past the original upload date. I
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must apologize for this, Perhaps we
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should locate another outlet for
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the latest issues??
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Thanks for supporting Zmag!!
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_____________________________________
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Xx NEW ZMAG COLUMN
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...User Group Focus...
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_____________________________________
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By: ZMAG Correspondent Mike Brown
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Let me take a moment to say hello to
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the readers out there; a while back
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Ron and I were in CHAT on the ZMag
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Information Network and Ron lamented
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that he needed someone to help
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coordinate and edit the user group
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reports that were coming in from all
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over. Well, being the kind of a guy
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that I am, I was easily talked into
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giving it a try. It may take some
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time doing this feature before I
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develop a format that will be
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consistent, so please bear with me.
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As the User Group Focus -evolves-. I
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would prefer that if you wish to
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submit material from your user group,
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upload it to my BBS;
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The Balloon Works (419) 289-8392.
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The reason for this is that Ron's
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system is long distance for me and I
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promised myself that I would try to
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cut down on these $180/month phone
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bills I have been getting lately! If
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you can't upload it, send the
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information to me at:
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268 E. Fourth St. Box 32
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Ashland, OH 44805.
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This month's edition of the User
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Group Report focuses on an up-and-
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coming group serving the Cleveland
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Ohio area, The Atari Peekers of
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Lakewood.
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The Peekers were started over six
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years ago by Claudette Tischler
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because -There was a huge need in the
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area for support, It seemed like the
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stores were selling computer systems
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as fast as they could get them, but
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tha was as far as the support went-.
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One of the dealers in the area that
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was also an authorized service
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center, B&G Electronics, felt the
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same way, and offered a great deal of
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assistance in organizing and
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promoting TAP. B&G's biggest
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contribution to TAP been providing
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duplicating services for the club
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newsletter at no cost. B&G also
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actively participates by offering
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discounts to club members, and by
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supplying demo equipment and software
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for the meetings.
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The Peekers are not only a large, but
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active group. It is not uncommon to
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have several members per monthly
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meeting stand up and give
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presentations on original software
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that they have written or have
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discovered in the public domain. For
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a while there, it seemed like
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everyone was doing POKEY music,
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lately several excellent
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presentations have concerned the
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flood of new languages for the
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8-bits. The Peekers are fortunate to
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have commercially published
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programmers as well as educators as
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active members.
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The ST owners are not forgotten,
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there are several demonstrations of
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the latest in ST titles at each
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meeting.
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A large public domain library is
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currently maintained for both the
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8-bit and the ST machines. Disks can
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be checked out for no cost overnite
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upon presenting a TAP membership
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card. They are considering changing
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the newsletter format to include all
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articles on disk along with public
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domain software and graphics
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displays. Something unique that TAP
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is experimenting with is a magazine,
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book and newsletter library.
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Currently there are a handful of
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popular titles that can be checked
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out by members at no cost.
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As most user groups do these days,
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TAP offers a BBS system (216 228-7335
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300/1200) that is open to the public
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and has special SIGs and Message
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bases for the exclusive use of the
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membership. The TAP BBS is currently
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run on an 8-bit system using one of
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the first ICD MIO devices. They
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depend on a rather Rube Goldberg
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appearing Hard Disk System and BBS
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Express! software to keep things
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running smoothly. Currently there are
|
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separate download sections for the
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8-bits and the ST as well as a
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technical message base where callers
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can find help and guidance when they
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get into bad situations.
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There is also a group in the same
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area that operates out of Case
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Western Reserve University. They tend
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to be a bit more large-system, and
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programming oriented. There is
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considerable interchange between the
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two groups, with many people
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belonging to both groups.
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If you are a resident of the northern
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Ohio area, I would encourage you to
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contact the Peekers or stop by one of
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their meetings. The meetings are held
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on the second Tuesday of each month
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at 7:00 pm at the Lakewood Center on
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Aging, 16022 Madison Ave., Lakewood,
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OH. Their mailing address is:
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The Atari Peekers Of Lakewood
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2160 Eldred
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Lakewood, Ohio 44107
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Club Officers:
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President D. Terry Stiglic
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Vice President Jim Haynes
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Treasurer Paul Banasik
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Corr. Secretary Chuck Gies
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Rept. Secretary David Butera
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8-Bit Libr. Dave LaForm
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ST Libr. George J. Neff Sr.
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Newsletter Ed. Jim Haynes
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Membership Fees:
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First Year Initiation Fee: $13
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Yearly membership: $12
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Your comments and opinions on this
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feature are invited!!
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_____________________________________
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Xx SURGE PROTECTION
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_____________________________________
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Copyright (C) 1987 by Garry Jones
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DO-IT-YOUSELF SURGE PROTECTION FOR
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YOUR COMPUTER
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When setting up a computer system,
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one piece of equipment which might
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get overlooked is a surge protector.
|
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The purpose of a surge protector is
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to protect equipment from voltage
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spikes and surges caused by lightning
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strikes on power lines (c'mon, it
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never rains is Southern California,
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does it?), electrical equipment
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turning on and off (you didn't really
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plug your computer into the same
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circuit as your refrigerator, did
|
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you?), the crummy wiring in your
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apartment that your landlords won't
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fix because they're too cheap, and
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just plain lousy performance by your
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friendly local Edison Company.
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A surge protector works by clamping
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the voltage and preventing it from
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rising beyond 130 volts when a sudden
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increase occurs. To do this, a surge
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protector uses a device called a
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metal oxide varistor, or MOV for
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short. Of course, you want to know
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if they wear out, and when they do,
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how to tell. MOVs do have a finite
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life, depending on the number and
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severity of surges they're exposed
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to. When they fail, they typically
|
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create a short which will pop a
|
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circuit breaker if one is included in
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the circuit, immediately shutting off
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the power and saving the equipment.
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Buying a surge protector is something
|
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of a problem, since not all surge
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protectors are created equal. Good
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ones are fairly expensive (there's
|
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plenty of expensive junk out there,
|
|
too); how do you tell the good from
|
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the bad, and what do you do for cash
|
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after you spent the last of it on
|
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some superwhizbang software for your
|
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new computer? Good news for you
|
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clever hacker types who can tell a
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hot soldering iron when you pick it
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up (by the wrong end): Make your own
|
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surge protector. It's easy, it's
|
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chep, and best of all, it might even
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work. For the rest of you who
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haven't developed opposable thumbs
|
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yet, watch the ground for pennies,
|
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steal candy from babies and sell it
|
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to bigger babies, see a loan shark,
|
|
and read PC (Can you say, -PC?-
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Sure. I knew you could. It does
|
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mean IBM, but your tongue didn't dry
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up and fall out of your mouth, did
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it?) Magazine's product tests and
|
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take their advice.
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Anyway, on to the project. You'll
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need a power strip (make sure you get
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the kind you can disassemble with a
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screwdriver instead of a hacksaw),
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three metal oxide varistors (General
|
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Electric part no. V130LA20A (which
|
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means 130 volts 20 amps) or Radio
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Shack catalog no. 276-568B), some
|
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rosin core solder (DO NOT USE ACID
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CORE SOLDER OR FLUX: it will corrode
|
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the solder joints in time, ruining
|
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them), some miscellaneous tools, like
|
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Xacto knives, alligator clips, wire
|
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cutters, etc., and a soldering iron.
|
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Three hands would be nice, but you
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can probably manage with two. Most
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of us do.
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Take the back off the power strip and
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look inside. It probably looks like
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the drawing included in this archive.
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If it doesn't, don't worry. If it
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has outlets, wires (three of them?),
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and a cord, it'll work. Notice the
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three wires inside: they're probably
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black, green, and white. White is
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the hot wire, green the ground, and
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black the common. Now, strip some
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insulation off the wires as shown in
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the illustration. Take one varistor
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and solder one of its' wire legs to
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the white wire, and the other leg to
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the green wire as shown. Fasten an
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alligator clip to the leg being
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soldered between the solder joint and
|
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the varistor to prevent heat damage
|
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to the varistor while soldering. Do
|
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the same thing with the second
|
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varistor, except it should be
|
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soldered to the green wire and the
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black wire. Solder the third
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varistor to the black wire and the
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white wire.
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Clean the solder joints with a rag
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dipped in a little alcohol, and
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examine the joints. There should be
|
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a smooth shiny flow of solder between
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the wire leg of the varistor and the
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copper wire in the power strip. If
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the joint is dull, lumpy, or flawed
|
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in appearance, resolder it. When all
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the joints look good, reassemble the
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power strip. Sit back. Relax.
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You're done now. Wasn't that easy?
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Can you say, -Easy?- Sure. I knew
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you could.
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-Garry Jones-
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Compuserve: 72030,273
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GENIE: GXRAY
|
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_____________________________________
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Xx ZMAG NEWSWIRE
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_____________________________________
|
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Responding to requests from large
|
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schools for volume discounts,
|
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Mindscape is offering the educational
|
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software industry's largest site-
|
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licensing plan, which lets a school
|
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district make a specified number of
|
|
copies of the disks and buy lab packs
|
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at discount prices.
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While site licensing is widely used
|
|
-- and debated -- among corporate
|
|
users, Mindscape's action serves
|
|
another major purposes: It is the
|
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first major foray into combatting
|
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illegal copying.
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Mindscape will make 55 titles
|
|
available for the plan, including
|
|
Keyboard Cadet, Tonk in the Land of
|
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Buddy Bots, The Halley Project: A
|
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Mission in our Solar System and
|
|
Vocabulary Challenge.
|
|
_____________________________________
|
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This week's charging of nine youths
|
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in Pennsylvania in an alleged
|
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computer cracker ring may lead to
|
|
further arrests in up to seven other
|
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states.
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A six-week investigation of alleged
|
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computer intrusion and credit card
|
|
fraud culminated with the arrests of
|
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the nine, all students at Mount
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Lebanon Junior-Senior High School,
|
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ages 14 to 17.
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Local and federal authorities accuse
|
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the Mount Lebanon nine -- eight boys
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and one girl, unidentified in press
|
|
accounts because they are minors --
|
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of feloniously using home computers
|
|
to raid the files of a credit card
|
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authorization center on the West
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Coast and obtain lists of card
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numbers and expiration dates.
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Police say the teens ordered
|
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thousands of dollars in merchandise,
|
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from clothes to skateboards. The nine
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also are accused of making long-
|
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distance telephone calls with stolen
|
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access codes and making phone hookups
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between their computers and systems
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in banks, businesses and government
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agencies.
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Investigators told the wire service
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they found evidence of one conference
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call involving 10 computer operators,
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one of them in France.
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Computer vandals from across the
|
|
country apparently are responsible
|
|
for some $38,800 worth of
|
|
unauthorized telephone calls charged
|
|
to a Des Moines, Iowa, law firm's
|
|
account.
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|
A spokesman for the firm of Davis,
|
|
Hockenberg, Wine, Brown, Koehn and
|
|
Shors told The Associated Press he
|
|
took a call from several Texas
|
|
youngsters who said they got the
|
|
firm's 700 number, used to set up
|
|
conference calls, from a computer
|
|
bulletin board system. The BBS has
|
|
been traced to New Jersey, he said.
|
|
|
|
Now the firm has added a piece of
|
|
equipment to make it possible for
|
|
employees to call from outside the
|
|
office into the system using a secret
|
|
number for billing.
|
|
_____________________________________
|
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New York authorities said they have
|
|
confiscated the computers of three
|
|
alleged crackers accused of breaking
|
|
into systems operated by telephone
|
|
companies, financial institutions and
|
|
credit bureaus across the country.
|
|
|
|
The three juveniles -- two boys in
|
|
Brooklyn and another in Bronxville --
|
|
may be part of the same so-called
|
|
-network- of crackers revealed
|
|
earlier this week with the arrests of
|
|
nine youths in Mount Lebanon, Pa.
|
|
|
|
Investigators have confiscated
|
|
computer systems, hundreds of
|
|
diskettes, manuals and printouts that
|
|
filled 21 boxes from the three
|
|
youths. The telephone records showed
|
|
the three made calls to banks, credit
|
|
bureaus, insurance companies,
|
|
universities and other large computer
|
|
systems.
|
|
|
|
The US Secret Service is said to be
|
|
conducting investigations with local
|
|
authorities in as many as seven
|
|
states in connection with the ring.
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
Disk makers at Seagate Technology say
|
|
they will open a research facility in
|
|
Boulder, Colo., adding they chose
|
|
that region for its large pool of
|
|
experienced engineers.
|
|
|
|
According to The Associated Press,
|
|
the Scotts Valley, Calif., -based
|
|
firm initially will hire about a
|
|
dozen people to work at the Boulder
|
|
County facility.
|
|
|
|
However, Seagate said the company is
|
|
looking for an existing facility of
|
|
at least 10,000 square feet with
|
|
possibilities for expansion.
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
Xx ZMAG SPECIAL REPORT
|
|
...Computer Security Act...
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
Even with the Reagan administration's
|
|
backing, the House Of
|
|
Representatives' Computer Security
|
|
Act of 1987 (HR 145) must still dodge
|
|
National Security Agency (NSA)
|
|
opposition, which could affect the
|
|
outcome when the Senate considers the
|
|
bill this month.
|
|
|
|
Awaiting its fate, the measure now
|
|
sits in the Senate. Although the
|
|
Senate does not currently have
|
|
companion legislation to match the
|
|
House, it could either eventually
|
|
propose its own bill, make some
|
|
adjustments to the House bill or
|
|
adopt the House bill in its entirety.
|
|
|
|
-Right now, the House bill is being
|
|
held at the desk,- said Ann Harkins,
|
|
chief counsel for the Senate
|
|
Committee on technology and the law.
|
|
|
|
The holdup has given the NSA an
|
|
opportunity to influence the Senate
|
|
legislation and industry sources said
|
|
that the NSA is indeed talking to
|
|
Senate leaders. The NSA declined
|
|
comment on the whole subject.
|
|
|
|
-I assume the NSA will fight it all
|
|
the way, going through the Senate (to
|
|
argue its case),- said Donald Peyton,
|
|
director of government relations for
|
|
the Information Industry Association
|
|
(IIA) in Washington D.C. -But based
|
|
on what we know the bill has a good
|
|
chance of going through the Senate as
|
|
is.-
|
|
|
|
The NSA has a vested interest in the
|
|
bill, which places the National
|
|
Bureau of Standards (NBS) in charge
|
|
of computer security standards for
|
|
-sensitive but unclassified- data in
|
|
the federal government.
|
|
|
|
Although the NSA and the Defense
|
|
Department will remain in charge of
|
|
Classified data, industry sources
|
|
said that in the eyes of defense-
|
|
minded officials, the bill still
|
|
leaves too much information at the
|
|
fingertips of the public.
|
|
|
|
-NSA believes that it should control
|
|
all of the (sensitive but
|
|
unclassified) information,- said one
|
|
information provider.
|
|
|
|
Neither was Jack Simpson, President
|
|
of Mead Data Central Inc. of Dayton,
|
|
Ohio, sure that the Computer Security
|
|
Act would smooth ruffled defense
|
|
establishment feathers. -Its a
|
|
temporary victory but nothing has
|
|
been resolved (yet),- he said.
|
|
|
|
The Defense department started
|
|
studying data flow in early 1986,
|
|
when the Air Force dispatched its
|
|
AFMAG (Air force Management Advisory
|
|
Group) to check into private industry
|
|
database services. It was then that
|
|
Dialog received a visit from AFMAG.
|
|
|
|
Dialog was AFMAG's first stop and all
|
|
the firm had to provide was
|
|
information that was already publicly
|
|
available. -They knew little about
|
|
on-line data and asked us which
|
|
databases were available,- said Bob
|
|
Simons, company council for Dialog
|
|
Information Services Inc. -We gave
|
|
them a copy of our catalog, and
|
|
explained what we have and how its
|
|
obtained. It was a pleasant meeting.-
|
|
|
|
For some other database companies, a
|
|
visit from Uncle Sam was not so
|
|
pleasant. Mead Data met AFMAG, FBI
|
|
and the NSA representatives on
|
|
various occasions.
|
|
|
|
At that time, Simpson said, the NSA
|
|
was -most interested in patents and
|
|
Nexis- information availability.
|
|
-They wanted to know how our system
|
|
worked, who our customers were, and
|
|
if we could monitor (customer access)
|
|
and if we could stop (some customers)
|
|
from accessing some data,- Simpson
|
|
explained.
|
|
|
|
According to Simpson, these visits as
|
|
well as visits to other database
|
|
companies such as CompuServe; EIC
|
|
Intelligence in N.Y., Chemical
|
|
Abstract, Columbus, Ohio; and Digital
|
|
Information Group, Stamford Conn.,
|
|
were all part of a plan to implement
|
|
restrictions on data availability.
|
|
Hence the National Telecommunications
|
|
Information Systems and Security
|
|
(NTISS) Policy Directive No. 2 issued
|
|
by former national security adviser
|
|
Adm. John Poindexter in late 1986
|
|
|
|
Mead Data's federal guests weren't
|
|
happy with its National Technical
|
|
Information Service (NTIS) database,
|
|
which comes from Department of
|
|
Commerce public-domain information.
|
|
As it was, Mead's NTIS offering was
|
|
not faring well commercially, so the
|
|
company deleted it from its database
|
|
in February of this year. -We hoped
|
|
that would settle this whole issue,-
|
|
Simpson added.
|
|
|
|
Opponents of the bill argue the
|
|
-puzzle pieces- theory, where foreign
|
|
intelligence or domestic hackers
|
|
could take bits of publicly available
|
|
data and pull together strategic
|
|
information that as a sum of its
|
|
parts could be considered classified.
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
Xx ZMAG TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
|
|
...SG10 Printer Driver
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
After 2 years of frustration and many
|
|
dollars spent on -custom- printer
|
|
drivers, I think I have a solution.
|
|
|
|
Below is a printer driver that I have
|
|
been using with great success to
|
|
solve many of the Star Gemini -
|
|
AtariWriter+ problems. It may give
|
|
you some ideas to help you build one
|
|
that will suit your own needs.
|
|
|
|
UNDERLINE DRIFT
|
|
===============
|
|
Most of my word processor print outs
|
|
require underlining in NLQ. If you
|
|
have tried this with inverse video
|
|
underline command you will have a
|
|
problem with what is called underline
|
|
-drift-. The words and underline
|
|
-drift- down as the printer does half
|
|
spacing. Since I seldom have need for
|
|
superscript or subscript, I have
|
|
eliminated the type font macros for
|
|
these and substituted direct codes
|
|
for underline on and underline off
|
|
(AW+ [controls G8 and G9 are what I
|
|
use]. My printer driver allows for
|
|
the use of inverse video when in
|
|
draft mode. To underline in NLQ I
|
|
use the G8 to begin underline and G9
|
|
to end underline. NO DRIFT!! Many
|
|
times I will creat my document using
|
|
inverse for rough drafts and then
|
|
when I am ready for final print out
|
|
go back and visually key off the
|
|
inverse video, insert the G8 and G9
|
|
codes there and -undo- the inverse
|
|
video using [control] U.
|
|
|
|
You will also find that the G8 and G9
|
|
codes will give you a -solid-
|
|
underline (underlining the spaces
|
|
between words as well).
|
|
|
|
TURNING OFF NLQ AND MIXING FONTS
|
|
================================
|
|
My printer driver allows some degree
|
|
of flexibility to change fonts using
|
|
the -G- codes. You will note that
|
|
all Font type commands begin with 27
|
|
66 5. This is the SG10 code to turn
|
|
off NLQ. If you are in NLQ and want
|
|
to change to italics with double
|
|
strike you may do so with G5 and G7
|
|
command. If you look at the G1
|
|
(pica) commands you will see the
|
|
commands to turn off all the other
|
|
font styles. It is important to
|
|
remember that you MUST -pass through-
|
|
G1 to move from all typestyles except
|
|
NLQ or you might get some funny
|
|
looking print outs.
|
|
|
|
In effect G1 will -undo- everything
|
|
(except underline) and put you back
|
|
in draft mode. If you have need for
|
|
subscript and superscript AND NLQ
|
|
underlining, you may need to make
|
|
modifications to this program. This
|
|
canbe done by substituting sub and
|
|
superscript for perhaps Elite and
|
|
condenced fonts. If you do this be
|
|
sure to also substitute the -turn off
|
|
commands- in the G1 (pica) codes. It
|
|
would be a good Idea to keep a print
|
|
out of which G codes you are using
|
|
forwhat on hand.
|
|
|
|
It may also be necessary to build
|
|
more than one driver if your
|
|
documents vary in format. Hope this
|
|
is of some help to all the SG10
|
|
users.
|
|
|
|
CODES TO ENTER FOR EDITOR PROMPTS:
|
|
==================================
|
|
Initalize every line
|
|
blank Line
|
|
feed & CR 155
|
|
Underline off blank
|
|
Underline on blank
|
|
Backspace 8
|
|
Elongate off 27,87,0
|
|
Elongate on 27,87,1
|
|
Bold off 27,70
|
|
Bold on 27,69
|
|
Up 1/2 line blank
|
|
Down 1/2 line blank
|
|
Down 1/2 line and CR blank
|
|
Return w/o line feed 155
|
|
|
|
Font Type Codes
|
|
=========================
|
|
1 Pica 27 66 5 27 53 27
|
|
72 27 112 0
|
|
2 Condensed 27 66 5 27 66 3
|
|
3 Proportiional 27 66 5 27 112 1
|
|
4 NLQ 27 66 4
|
|
5 Italics 27 66 5 27 52
|
|
6 Elite 27 66 5 27 66 2
|
|
7 Double Strike 27 66 5 27 71
|
|
8 Underline on 27 45 1
|
|
9 Underline off 27 45 0
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
Xx THE WIZARD
|
|
...Oasis BBS Support...
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
We return this week with a couple of
|
|
questions and possible problems for
|
|
SysOps who run the Oasis BBS.
|
|
|
|
Understand from my end when a SysOp
|
|
leaves me a message and says, -my
|
|
board crashed, help!- It sort of
|
|
leaves me grasping at straws to find
|
|
out what his problem is. This past
|
|
week I have been going thru
|
|
everything I could to get a SysOp to
|
|
tell me where his board 'crashed' so
|
|
I could tell him what his problem
|
|
was.
|
|
|
|
After many messages back and forth I
|
|
was finally able to get him to tell
|
|
me where and what the user was doing
|
|
whe the system locked up on him. Ah
|
|
ha! Some information is extremely
|
|
helpfull!
|
|
|
|
His problem was the BBS would lock up
|
|
whenever a user tried to save e-mail
|
|
on his system. I almost knew without
|
|
asking him what his problem was and
|
|
that there was a very simple cure for
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
The SysOp was using a P:R Connection
|
|
on his system, and the simple cure
|
|
for his problem was to use the
|
|
PRC.SYS file instead of the standard
|
|
RS232.COM in his batch file. This
|
|
cured his lock up problem, and now he
|
|
is happy.
|
|
|
|
The reason I mentioned this problem
|
|
is to let you folks know that when
|
|
you write or call someone to complain
|
|
about a problem you are having with
|
|
any thing, software or hardware, let
|
|
them know who, what, when and where
|
|
the problem occurs. It can save you
|
|
many hours of problems and of course
|
|
the person you contacted for support
|
|
a lot of frustration in trying to
|
|
help.
|
|
|
|
The second problem that came up was a
|
|
SysOp wanted to let me know he had
|
|
discovered a 'bug' in the bbs
|
|
program. He had noticed that a few
|
|
of the users names had the first
|
|
letter of their name in inverse. He
|
|
knew the bbs had to have a bug and he
|
|
hated to tell me about it. He also
|
|
told me he had been 'fixing' the
|
|
user names himself.
|
|
|
|
If you are an Oasis SysOp and have
|
|
noticed this, it is not a bug!!!
|
|
This is how the bbs actually flags a
|
|
user that he has e-mail waiting.
|
|
Unlike some other systems that has to
|
|
look thru all the e-mail each time
|
|
you log onto the system, Oasis will
|
|
only search for e-mail if you have
|
|
e-mail waiting. You can also check
|
|
for e-mail once you are online by
|
|
hitting the C command to read old
|
|
e-mail you may have not deleted for
|
|
one reason or another.
|
|
|
|
Now for a little tech tip for Avatex
|
|
modem users. Understand that all
|
|
software written based on hayes
|
|
compatibility is written based on the
|
|
original Hayes 300 Smartmodem. Hayes
|
|
had internally tied pins 6 and 8
|
|
together, something that Avatex did
|
|
not do. This can cause your modem to
|
|
go into a loop, sending and receiving
|
|
data constantly. There is an easy
|
|
cure for this, on the DB25 pin
|
|
connector, the plug that goes into
|
|
the rear of your modem. Unsolder the
|
|
wire going to pin 6 and move it to
|
|
pin 8 and resolder it in place. This
|
|
will now give you 2 wires connected
|
|
to pin 8, and also the same
|
|
configuration as the original Hayes
|
|
300 Smartmodem.
|
|
|
|
If you have any questions about the
|
|
Oasis BBS System, call (316)-683-7514
|
|
300/1200/2400 and leave a message to
|
|
the SysOp. Or write to:
|
|
|
|
Leo Newman
|
|
3900 N Woodlawn #17 Chisholm
|
|
Wichita, KS 67220
|
|
|
|
Your reply will appear in the next
|
|
issue of ZMAG. Look forward to
|
|
hearing from you....
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
Xx ZMAG SOFTWARE REVIEW
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
The Print Shop Companion
|
|
By Charles Brown
|
|
|
|
In this article I will review a
|
|
utility program for The Print Shop.
|
|
It is called The Print Shop
|
|
Companion. This program contains
|
|
several useful utilities for the main
|
|
Print Shop program. It also has some
|
|
extra pictures, fonts, and borders
|
|
for you to use with The Print Shop.
|
|
|
|
When you first use the Companion
|
|
disk, you must let your Print Shop
|
|
disk know that you will be using the
|
|
features added by The Print Shop
|
|
Companion. This is accomplished in
|
|
the set-up routine. The instruction
|
|
manual just tells you to follow the
|
|
on-screen prompts to do this set-up.
|
|
When finished, the new set-up data
|
|
will be saved to your Print Shop disk
|
|
and copied to your Companion disk.
|
|
The Print Shop disk will now
|
|
recognize the Companion disk. You
|
|
should put a write protect tab on
|
|
both your Print Shop and Companion
|
|
disks.
|
|
|
|
Like The Print Shop, the Companion
|
|
disk can be used with either the
|
|
Joystick, the Koala Pad or the Atari
|
|
Touch Tablet. The Print Shop
|
|
Companion has several new features.
|
|
You access them from the main menu,
|
|
just as in The Print Shop.
|
|
|
|
The first selection is the Graphic
|
|
Editor. I feel that this editor is
|
|
much better than the one provided
|
|
with The Print Shop program. It has
|
|
many more features, such as: a
|
|
selection of 17 patterns that you can
|
|
use to fill in different areas of
|
|
your picture; different -mirror
|
|
image- effects (as in Atari Artist);
|
|
flipping of the graphic both
|
|
horizontally and vertically; a
|
|
negative feature, which creates an
|
|
inverse of the graphic. This editor
|
|
even automatically draws circles,
|
|
boxes, and ovals for you. I feel
|
|
that this editor is very useful, and
|
|
that you will find it to be very
|
|
helpful.
|
|
|
|
The next selection from the menu is
|
|
the Border Editor. You can use it to
|
|
modify one or more of the 50 borders
|
|
provided on this disk. You can even
|
|
load in and modify the borders from
|
|
the main Print Shop disk, or you can
|
|
use it to create your very own
|
|
borders. When this feature is
|
|
loaded, you will have three different
|
|
editing boxes. The first box is used
|
|
to edit the four corners of the
|
|
border. The second box is used to
|
|
edit the top and bottom parts of the
|
|
border, while the third box is used
|
|
for the sides of the border. This
|
|
editor uses many of the same features
|
|
as the graphic editor. With the three
|
|
editing boxes and all the editing
|
|
tools, you can really be creative
|
|
with your borders.
|
|
|
|
The next feature is a Font Editor.
|
|
ou can use it to modify any of The
|
|
Print Shop's eight fonts. An
|
|
additional twelve fonts are provided
|
|
on the Companion disk as well. You
|
|
can even create your own. I haven't
|
|
really tried this one out, so can't
|
|
comment on its usefulness. I am sure
|
|
it has the same features as many of
|
|
the other font editors you've seen.
|
|
|
|
The next feature chosen from the main
|
|
menu is Tile Magic. This feature is
|
|
very similar to the kaleidoscopes
|
|
from the screen magic part of The
|
|
Print Shop. You can browse through
|
|
the different patterns that are
|
|
provided. When you see one that you
|
|
like, you simply hit a key to freeze
|
|
it n the screen. Then, you can save
|
|
the pattern to a data disk, or you
|
|
can go to the graphic editor to
|
|
modify it. You can use it to create
|
|
a whole lot of different things for
|
|
your creations.
|
|
|
|
The next feature chosen from the main
|
|
menu is a Creature Maker. In this
|
|
part you have a choice of different
|
|
zany creatures to start with. You can
|
|
change the three parts of a creatures
|
|
ody. They are the Head, the Middle
|
|
and the Feet. You can exchange all
|
|
of these parts at will. Once you have
|
|
made your own creature, you can save
|
|
it to disk as a graphic, or you can
|
|
go to the graphic editor and modify
|
|
it even more. (My kids love this part
|
|
of the program! - Ed.)
|
|
|
|
The last selection from the main menu
|
|
is the Calendar Maker. You can use
|
|
this mode to create and print out
|
|
your very own calendars. You can
|
|
either make a weekly or monthly
|
|
calendar. You can put graphics on
|
|
it. You can use different fonts on it
|
|
for unique effects. A very nice
|
|
feature is that you can put your own
|
|
messages in the daily spots on the
|
|
calendar; you can put in things like
|
|
birthdays, anniversaries,
|
|
appointments or anything you want to
|
|
remind yourself of. This way, it
|
|
will be already printed when you do
|
|
the whole calendar. This is nice for
|
|
people like me who have poor hand
|
|
writing (or people like me with poor
|
|
memories! - Ed.). After you have
|
|
made your calendar, you can print it
|
|
or save it to disk. It is nice to
|
|
save it, and then load it back in
|
|
later to either print or revise it.
|
|
|
|
As you can see, The Print Shop
|
|
Companion is a very powerful utility
|
|
for the main Print Shop program. If
|
|
you really want to create your own
|
|
Print Shop icons, I feel that the
|
|
graphic editor on the Companion disk
|
|
is far superior to the one on the
|
|
Print Shop disk. If you are serious
|
|
about using the The Print Shop
|
|
program, I'm certain that you will
|
|
find the Companion disk very helpful.
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
ZMAGAZINE NEW JERSEY JULY 31, 1987
|
|
PLEASE CONTRIBUTE YOUR ARTICLES!
|
|
_____________________________________
|
|
ISSUE #64 ISSUE #64 ISSUE #64
|