Editor: Brian Christopher
Welcome back to SPAUG. It has been a while.
One of the perks that the president of a User Group has is an opportunity to review the many Newsletters produced by numerous other groups. Most of them are very good in supplying informational tidbits on just about everything you can imagine that has to do with the computer industry in general and the business of User Groups in particular. It is only a little comforting to know that we all have the same problems. As you all know the big story toward the end of last year was the demise of the Boston Computer Society. It wasn't a lack of membership exactly. Their membership totaled 18,000, down from a high of 32,000. In their fiscal year ending June 30, 1995 they lost $125,000. Fortunately for SPAUG we don't have quite that much to lose in membership or dollars. We count our blessings?
Priority number one currently with most user groups is determining what is of most interest to their members. In an effort to provide answers, a number of groups have been distributing questionnaires to their members and getting good answers. You may recall we did that at SPAUG the early part of last year. The answers the other clubs are getting are very close to our own results. Our members wanted demos on utility software that provides information about their computers and "Fix It" programs that locate problems and fix those problems (sometimes). All by way of saying that we will continue our attempts to come up with demos on the latest applications that fit these categories.
Most important, we want your input on your interests. You have my numbers in PRINTSCREEN. Please don't hesitate to call me and let me know what you want. We want to stay alive and can do so as long as we continue our renewals of our membership and add new members on a continuing basis. Please, please, bring guests. They are most welcome as guests and potential new members. Have a great '97.
Present: Bob Mitchell, President, Walter Varner, Treasurer, Brian Christopher, PrintScreen Editor, Beverly Altman, Director at Large,
The meeting was called to order at the home of Beverly Altman at 7:30 PM.
LAST GENERAL MEETING: The last general meeting in November was discussed. Attendance was down somewhat, probably because of the timing of the meeting, it being so close to Thanksgiving.
SPAUG HOLIDAY PARTY: Also the SPAUG holiday party was discussed. We expressed thanks to Mildred Kohn who allowed us to have the party in her home. Thanks also went to Jim Dinkey for providing entertainment in the form of Harmonica History and Highlights. The Harmonicats would be proud. Most important, particular bouquets to all of the individuals who prepared the delicious food.
FUTURE GENERAL MEETINGS: The availability of the EPRI Conference Center for our next general meeting was confirmed for January 29. The guest presentation has yet to be confirmed. A guest can never be confirmed until we can lock in the EPRI facilities each month, which frequently makes it difficult to announce the guest presentation at the planning meeting. Disk of the Month demonstrations were also discussed. Walt Varner offered to assist, working with Robert Mitchell in doing the DOM demonstrations. It was also suggested that members should be continually encouraged to invite their friends and relatives to the meetings in an effort to attract new members. Brian Christopher will establish a permanent reminder in each PrintScreen.
PUBLICITY: We are still looking for a Publicity Chairperson. The job is primarily limited to sending out a notice each month to a prepared list of print media, advising them of the date of the upcoming meeting and the guest demonstrators.
SPAUG COMPUTER: We are in need of additional memory and a CD ROM for the SPAUG computer. Authorization was given to purchase additional memory. We are hoping that there might be a SPAUG member who has recently upgraded to a faster CD ROM and is looking around for somebody or some group to whom he can contribute his old unit. We are that group! We also want to put it to use in future meetings. It would best be used by a club member who is preparing for a demonstration at an upcoming meeting. That person could arrange to pick it up in advance and load it with the software for the demonstration.
SPAUG VCR LIBRARY: We would like to start up a SPAUG library of instructional videotapes on a wide variety of software programming and other subjects tied in to computers. Some consideration is given to some suppliers who offer first tape orders for the cost of the tape. Assigned members could place first orders on a variety of tapes for which they would be reimbursed. There is another supplier who is willing to supply such tutorial tapes free so long as there is a monthly review of each tape in the Newsletter. We can to that!
EARLY MEETING: Some thought was given to a "pre-meeting" leading to each general meeting that could be a specific SIG for novices or any other purpose. This might be an ideal opportunity to utilize a videotape tutorial library. This will be discussed further.
The next planning meeting will be February 5.
Members and guests were welcomed to the meeting. Tom Passel of EPRI was also present as a guest. Members were reminded that it was through the good grace of Tom that we have been able to use the facilities of EPRI for our meetings.
Kendric Smith made a particularly interesting and informative presentation covering Web Sites in general and the SPAUG Home Page in particular. He also demonstrated how through the SPAUG Web page could be used as a gateway to various sites on the Internet.
Bob Mitchell updated those attending on the current leaders in the SPAUG Fantasy Portfolio.
An auction was then held by Jan Altman for a wealth of software, hardware and books that were picked up by various member at absolute bargain basement prices.
The meeting concluded at approximately 9:45 PM.
Complied from:
ILC Glossary of Internet Terms
http://www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html
Netscape Corp.
http://www.netscape.com
Ivan Hyslop
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~ijh/index.html
UUENCODE
(Unix to Unix Encoding) -- A method for converting files from Binary to ASCII (text) so that they can be sent across the Internet via e-mail.
MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) -- The standard for attaching non-text files to standard Internet mail messages. Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor documents, sound files, etc. An email program is said to be MIME Compliant if it can both send and receive files using the MIME standard. When non-text files are sent using the MIME standard they are converted (encoded) into text - although the resulting text is not really readable. Generally speaking the MIME standard is a way of specifying both the type of file being sent (e.g. a Quicktime(TM) video file), and the method that should be used to turn it back into its original form. Besides email software, the MIME standard is also universally used by Web Servers to identify the files they are sending to Web Clients, in this way new file formats can be accommodated simply by updating the Browsers' list of pairs of MIME-Types and appropriate software for handling each type.
Binhex
(BINary HEXadecimal) -- A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII. When I send mail with attached images, why does Netscape use MIME Base64 instead of uuencode?
Base64 (part of the MIME standard) was designed as a replacement for uuencode because uuencode was never really standardized (leading to many slightly-incompatible implementations) and because uuencode is known to be very sensitive to existing non-ASCII mail gateways. A document encoded with Base64 is far more likely to reach its destination unharmed than a document encoded with uuencode.
Most modern mail and news readers can deal with MIME attachments as easily as uencoded pseudo-attachments.
If you really must send uuencoded data, here is the process by which you can do that in Netscape 3.0:
First, uuencode the file you want to send using an external encoder program.You will end up with a file on disk which contains uuencoded data, and has a name like file.jpg.uu.
Next, attach that file to your mail message the way you would attach any file.
Netscape will recognise, by the file name, that this is a JPEG file that is already uuencoded, and will not encode it further. It will send out the uuencoded data as a MIME attachment with Encoding: x-uuencode instead of Encoding: base64.
However, this doesn't work in Netscape 2.0 (it's a bug which was fixed in later versions.)
What are the MIME types used by helper applications?
HTTP servers use HTML formatting. Netscape software has the built-in capability to read HTML formatted pages (as well as the GIF, JPEG, and XBM graphic file formats). Netscape can interpret many other file formats with the help of external helper applications. To accommodate the file formats requiring helper applications, Netscape keeps a mapping of file formats to helper applications.
MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is a standardized method for organizing divergent file formats. The method organizes file formats according to the file's MIME type. When Netscape software retrieves a file from a server, the server provides the MIME type of the file. Netscape uses the MIME type to establish whether the file format can be read by the software's built-in capabilities or, if not, whether a suitable helper application is available to read the file.
For servers that do not provide a MIME type with a file, Netscape interprets the file's extension (a suffix appended to a file name). For example, the .html extension in the file name index.html suggests a file in the HTML format. Likewise, a .zip extension suggests a compressed file, an .rtf extension suggests a file in the Rich Text Format, and so on. You can view and configure the mapping of all MIME types to helper applications by using the General|Helpers panel. (On UNIX, edit your global or personal MIME types file whose pathname is designated.)
Note that on Windows the panel currently lacks a Delete button and the ability to assign arbitrary values to file types. If needed, advanced users might want to edit the preferences file directly.
What are MIME, Types files, and Mailcap files?
The MIME protocol is used in Internet communications to transmit documents of varying formats. The protocol handles complexities by establishing a relationship (a mapping) between the format of a document's content and the format of the document's computer representation. Applications using MIME can establish the type of software necessary to interpret the content of a transmitted document. With the proper Helper Application settings and software, Netscape can automatically initiate the necessary actions to provide you access to content transmitted in numerous formats.
On Windows and Macintosh, the mapping of MIME types is handled in the General|Helpers panel. On UNIX, the mapping of MIME types uses two kinds of files: a Types file and a Mailcap file (each can be configured with global, default, and personal files).
A Types file maps a file format (on the left) with an identifying file name suffix (on the right). Here's a sample from a.mime.types file:
application/dvi dvi
image/jpeg jpeg
audio/basic au, wav?
A Mailcap file maps a file format (on the left) with a software application capable interpreting the format (on the right). Here's a sample from a .mailcap file:
application/dvi; dvi-app-name %s
image/*; xv %s
audio/basic; audiotool %s
As an example, an audio file mySound.au plays using the audiotool application.
MIME - Base64
MIME/Base64 decoding is included in some Email programs. Programs such as WINCODE or STUFFIT (for Windows) ( Decoders) can handle MIME/Base 64 and also MPACK/MUNPACK (for DOS) as mentioned below. MIME is becoming more popular for file transfer than UUE apart from Usenet which still uses UUE mainly.
MIME Information
A good example of MIME is two people using programs such as Eudora Pro or Microsoft Exchange. One attaches a file of any type to their email and sends it to the recipient When the recipient receives the attachment will show up either as an icon of the associated program used on that PC in the email message or in a preset directory. When the recipient double clicks the attachment icon it will run the associated program to use or view the attachment. If the recipient does not have a MIME compliant email program then the attachment will arrive in binary format and will require decoding with a base64/MIME decoder.
To associate a file type: I will use .gif file format as an example
In Windows 3.x or Workgroups 3.x Select the file you want to associate a type with, e.g., piccy.gif in File Manager.
In File menu select Associate and track down the .exe of your graphic viewer eg lviewpro.exe and click OK - thats it.
For servers that do not provide a MIME type with a file, Netscape interprets the file's extension (a suffix appended to a file name). For example, the .html extension in the file name index.html suggests a file in the HTML format. Likewise, a .zip extension suggests a compressed file, an .rtf extension suggests a file in the Rich Text Format, and so on. You can view and configure the mapping of all MIME types to helper applications by using the General|Helpers panel. (On UNIX, edit your global or personal MIME types file whose pathname is designated.)
Note that on Windows the panel currently lacks a Delete button and the ability to assign arbitrary values to file types. If needed, advanced users might want to edit the preferences file directly.
What are MIME, Types files, and Mailcap files?
The MIME protocol is used in Internet communications to transmit documents of varying formats.The protocol handles complexities by establishing a relationship (a mapping) between the format of a document's content and the format of the document's computer representation. Applications using MIME can establish the type of software necessary to interpret the content of a transmitted document. With the proper Helper Application settings and software, Netscape can automatically initiate the necessary actions to provide you access to content transmitted in numerous formats.
On Windows and Macintosh, the mapping of MIME types is handled in the General|Helpers panel On UNIX, the mapping of MIME types uses two kinds of files: a Types file and a Mailcap file (each can be configured with global, default, and personal files).
A Types file maps a file format (on the left) with an identifying file name suffix (on the right). Here's a sample from a .mime.types file:
application/dvi dvi
image/jpeg jpeg
audio/basic au, wav
As an example, an audio file mySound.au plays using the audiotool application.
MIME - Base64
MIME/Base64 decoding is included in some Email programs. Programs such as WINCODE or STUFFIT (for Windows) ( Decoders) can handle MIME/Base 64 and also MPACK/MUNPACK (for DOS) as mentioned below. MIME is becoming more popular for file transfer than UUE apart from Usenet which still uses UUE mainly.
MIME Information
A good example of MIME is two people using programs such as Eudora Pro or Microsoft exchange. One attaches a file of any type to their email and sends it to the recipient When the recipient receives the attachment will show up either as an icon of the associated program used on that PC in the email message or in a preset directory. When the recipient double clicks the attachment icon it will run the associated program to use or view the attachment. If the recipient does not have a MIME compliant email program then the attachment will arrive in binary format and will require decoding with a base64/MIME decoder.
To associate a file type: I will use .gif file format as an example
In Windows 3.x or Workgroups 3.x Select the file you want to associate a type with eg piccy.gif in File Manager.
In File menu select Associate and track down the .exe of your graphic viewer eg lviewpro.exe and click ok - thats it.
In Windows95 go into My Computer or Explorer and choose View/Options/File Types From there choose New Type and in the Associated Extension box type .gif
Then under the Actions box click on New and type Open in the Action box and then in the Application used to Perform Action use browse to locate your viewer eg C:\Internet\lview\lviewpro.exe and click a ok and close and it is done. (You can go back and change the associated icon later if you wish)
You will now be able to double click any .gif file from File Manager, My Computer or Explorer and it will run the associated program.
For more information on MIME you can read the newsgroup or get the faqs, (3 parts) from one of the following:-
It is posted approximately monthly to the newsgroups comp.mail.mime, comp.answers, and news.answers. The "Expires:" field is set such that on systems which honor this field, the most recent edition will always be in the news spool.
Many sites archive news.answers postings, including these:
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.answers/mail/mime-faq/ OR
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/mail/mime-faq/
and Mirror at ftp.cs.ruu.nl.
Take a look at the MIME news group alt.MIME
mpack/munpack:- Is a smart decoder that handles both MIME and uuencode formats.
Base64 decoder for DOS.
ftp.andrew.cmu.edu:pub/mpack/mpack15d.zip
Versions are included for unix, pc, os2, mac, amiga and archimedes systems.
Mpack and munpack are utilities for encoding and decoding (respectively) binary files in MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) format mail messages. For compatibility with older forms of transferring binary files, the munpack program can also decode messages in split-uuencoded format. The Macintosh version can also decode messages in split-BinHex format.
To decode a MIME message, first save it to a text file. If possible, save it with all headers included.Munpack can decode some MIME files when the headers are missing or incomplete, other files it cannot decode without having the information in the headers. In general, messages which have a statement at the beginning that they are in MIME format can be decoded without the headers. Messages which have been split into multiple parts generally require all headers in order to be reassembled and decoded.
Some LAN-based mail systems and some mail providers (including America Online, as of the writing of this document) place the mail headers at the bottom of the message, instead of at the top of the message. If you are having problems decoding a MIME message on such a system, you need to convert the mail back into the standard format by removing the system's nonstandard headers and moving the standard Internet headers to the top of the message (separated from the message body with a blank line).
There must be exactly one message per file. Munpack cannot deal with multiple messages in a single file, to decode things correctly it must know when one message ends and the next one begins.
To decode a message, run the command:- munpack file where "file" is the name of the file containing the message. More than one filename may be specified, munpack will try to decode the message in each file. For more information on ways to run munpack, see the documentation that comes with mpack/munpack.
The Basic Principals of decoding encoded files
The Basic Principals of decoding encoded files will depend on the software and platform that you are using.
All binary image files on newsgroups are encoded from binary to ASCII text so that they can be "read" as messages by different computer platforms accessing the Internet. The trick is to decode the ASCII back to binary for proper viewing.
Keep in mind that there are a lot of different platforms using the Internet and it is not always easy to read something that has been posted by another platform. Example of some file types that are a little more dificult to understand for PC/Windows users: filename.something.tar.z or filename.sit or some_bit-long.filename.gz or another~file part-72 with a long filename and no extension at all. Most can be read with some type of software if you go to enough trouble.
Most of the formats below are either compressed formats. Some Mac file extensions are *.bin, *.cpt,*.sit,*.hqx, *.sea. Some Unix file extensions are *.z, *.gz, *.tar, plus combinations of these There are others such as *.zoo, *.arj, *.arc, *.dl_, *.lha, *.taz, *.tgz, plus dozens of others in graphic, sound and movie formats
If you have a TCP/IP Internet connection you should be using a SLIP/PPP newsreader like News Xpress for Windows 3.x or Windows 95. There are other SLIP newsreaders available, but my personal favourite is News Xpress which will decode UUE and the later 32 bit versions will also handle Base64/MIME encoded binary
Most of the modern software eg. Netscape 2.x or better will manage binary attachments both in their built-in Email and Usenet news programs. When files are handled by modern programs they are often sent encoded in MIME (Base 64) format, and the encoding and encoding/decoding process is rarely seen by the user.
The most common method for software posting files/binaries to Usenet is automatic encoding and posting in a UUEncode (UUE) format (Netscape does not encode this format and encodes in MIME). News Readers such as News Xpress and Free Agent will both post and read these files when posted in UUE and sometimes has problems decoding MIME/Base 64.
This being the case you may need a separate decoder that will handle the files that your particular News Reader can not handle. Wincode is one of many that will decode both UUE and MIME/Base 64.
Another encoding format is Binhex which is not as common as the other two. Binhex is often used by Macs (Wincode and others can decode Binhex also).
Once your file is decoded you will then need software to make use of that file.
* A graphic viewer for a picture
* A sound player for a sound file (of which there are several formats)
* A video player for a movie (of which there are several formats)
* A decompression program if the file is compressed as *.zip or *.gz or similar compression methods.
Keep in mind that anything can be sent either via Email or posted to Usenet groups (Commercial programs should not), files such as Microsoft Word documents sent to a client, a picture, a compressed file made up of several files sent to a printing service etc.
Some software can be associated with the later versions of Netscape and some News Readers so that when a picture, movie, sound or zip file etc is received the associated program will run and view that file automatically. The most common encoding method now for Email is MIME/Base 64. Problems do arise however when the senders and the recipients use software that encode/decode by a different method.
If an Email program that encodes its attachments in MIME/Base 64 and the recipients Email programcan only recieve in UUE then all you get is a heap of encoded unreadable garbage. And the same applies if an Email program that encodes its attachments in UUE and the recipients Email program can only recieve in MIME/Base 64 then all you get is a heap of encoded unreadable garbage.
When receiving one of these garbled messages you can normally save it into a text file and decode it with an independant decoder such as Wincode mentioned above.
An example of a file encoded in UUE is that every line will start with a M and it will have begin 644 in the top line as in the sample encoded page section 1/1 file file1-4.txt [ Wincode 2.7.0 ] begin 644 file1-4.txt
An example of MIME/Base 64 is that the header will have something like the following in it.
MIE-Version: 1.0
Content-Description: "Base64 encode of file1-4.txt by Wincode 2.7.0"
Content-Type: message/partial
id="14364215102105108101049045052046116120116"
number=1; total=12
Message-ID: <14364230073068@localhost>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; name="file1-4.txt"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: Base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="file1-4.txt"
An example of a Binhex header will look like:
Message-ID: <14564560073068@localhost>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Description: "BinHex encode of file1-4.txt by Wincode 2.7.0"
Content-Type: application/mac-binhex40; name="file1-4.txt"
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="file1-4.txt"
All the above examples will differ slightly in the headers depending on what encoder encoded the file.
The following "Sample" page maybe of use if you do NOT have a News Reader that can handle automatic UUE decoding:
To convert the usenet binary messages into a usable format. First: Save the usenet message in numerical order as it is posted.
In the example on the next page the message SMPLE.GIF was in five parts with sample.gif 0/4 being the introduction posting to the file consisting of only a text description of the file with no binary to decode and the rest posted as smple.gif 1/4, smple.gif 2/4, smple.gif 3/4 and smple.gif 4/4,
These files I saved as FILE1.txt, FILE2.txt, FILE3.txt and FILE4.txt. I could also have called it anything at all and also could have had .uue extension instead of .txt extension.
Without using a Smart Decoder you will have to strip off the extra text above and below (where necessary) on each of the saved binary messages.
DECODERS - DOS / Windows
Examples of decoders, uudecoders, smart decoders and smart uudecoders for DOS/Windows:-
WINCODE
Snappy Software's Home Page is open from midnight to noon Eastern Standard Time each day. (or about 7pm to 7am GMT depending on Daylight Saving Time)(NOT 24 Hours) You can visit the HomePage at: http://snappy.globalone.net/ Although the page is still under construction and should be running again properly sometime in Feburary 1996.
WINCODE 2.7.1
There is a new Wincode Email Request form on
http://www.globalone.net/users/snappy/snappy/mirror_request.html
for those wanting it sent via email.
There is also a new Help File Request form for Wincode on
http://www.globalone.net/users/
snappy/snappy/mirror_helpreq.html
Wincode Version 2.7.0
ttp://www.globalone.net/users/snappy/snappy/
Wincode Version 2.6.6
ftp://ftp.std.com/customers3/src/pc/archivers/wncod266.zip
Other Locations for Wincode:
1. ftp.cica.indiana.edu/pub/pc/win3/util/wncode26.zip
2. leica.ccu.edu.tw//pub/msdos/windows/util/wncode26.zip
3. info.nic.surfnet.nl/mirror-archive/software/cica-win3/util/wncode26.zip
Winzip
Winzip the popular decompressor now supports the following in its new 6.1a beta release.
NEW BETA 6.1 --- This version lets you open and extract UUencoded, XXencoded, BinHex, and MIME files. These files can be opened via the File/Open dialog or via drag and drop.
The new Actions->UUencode menu entry makes it easy to encode files.
The new "Favorite" toolbar button and the File->Favorite Zip Folders menu entry lists all Zip files in your favorite folders by date for easy access.
STUFFIT Expander - Windows
(This program is also mentioned in the Mac to PC heading as it supports Binhex encoded files..)
StuffIt Expander v1.0 for Windows is a freeware utility from Aladdin Systems that expands eight compressed and encoded formats, including StuffIt (.sit), Zip (.zip), Arj (.arj), Arc (.arc), gzip (.gz), uuencode (.uue), BinHex (.hqx), and MacBinary (.bin).
Supports Drag & Dropping of files for decoding decompressing.
1. http://www.aladdinsys.com/
2. ftp://ftp.aladdinsys.com/
3. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/archiver/sitex10.exe
4. SimTel/win3/archiver/sitex10.exe
Expands SIT/ZIP/ARJ/ARC/GZ/UUE/HQX/BIN formats. A Macintosh versions are also available as FreeWare and ShareWare.
Stuffit For Windows
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/archiver/sitex10.exe
MPACK/MUNPACK
Is a smart decoder that handles both MIME and uuencode formats.
Base64 Decoder for DOS
ftp.andrew.cmu.edu/pub/mpack/mpack15d.zip
Versions are included for unix, pc, os2, mac, amiga and archimedes systems.
UU
An extremely smart and fast decoder for DOS. UU will extract multiple files and multiple sections in multiple files. The sections and files need NOT be in order as UU will read all files and create a map before extracting. Without 'begin' lines UU will read 'Subject:' headings etc to try to determine the file/section name and position.
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/decode/uu40s.zip
Wincode Version 2.7.1
There is a new Wincode Email Request form on
http://www.globalone.net/users/snappy/snappy/mirror_request.html
for those wanting it sent via email.
There is also a new Help File Request form for Wincode on
http://www.globalone.net/users/
snappy/snappy/mirror_helpreq.html
Wincode Version 2.7.0
http://www.globalone.net/users/snappy/snappy/
Wincode Version 2.6.6
ftp://ftp.std.com/customers3/src/pc/archivers/wncod266.zip
Other Locations for Wincode:
1. ftp.cica.indiana.edu/pub/pc/win3/util/wncode26.zip
2. leica.ccu.edu.tw//pub/msdos/windows/util/wncode26.zip
3. info.nic.surfnet.nl/mirror-archive/software/cica-win3/util/wncode26.zip
Winzip
Winzip the popular decompressor now supports the following in its new 6.1a beta release.
NEW BETA 6.1
This version lets you open and extract UUencoded, XXencoded, BinHex, and MIME files. These files can be opened via the File/Open dialog or via drag and drop.
The new Actions->UUencode menu entry makes it easy to encode files.
The new "Favorite" toolbar button and the File->Favorite Zip Folders menu entry lists all Zip files in your favorite folders by date for easy access.
STUFFIT Expander - Windows
(This program is also mentioned in the Mac to PC heading as it supports Binhex encoded files..)
StuffIt Expander v1.0 for Windows is a freeware utility from Aladdin Systems that expands eight compressed and encoded formats, including StuffIt (.sit), Zip (.zip), Arj (.arj), Arc (.arc), gzip (.gz), uuencode (.uue), BinHex (.hqx), and MacBinary (.bin).
Supports Drag & Dropping of files for decoding decompressing.
1. http://www.aladdinsys.com/
2. ftp://ftp.aladdinsys.com/
3. ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/archiver/sitex10.exe
4. SimTel/win3/archiver/sitex10.exe
Expands SIT/ZIP/ARJ/ARC/GZ/UUE/HQX/BIN formats. A Macintosh versions are also available as FreeWare and ShareWare.
Stuffit For Windows
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/archiver/sitex10.exe
MPACK/MUNPACK
Is a smart decoder that handles both MIME and uuencode formats. Base64 decoder for dos
ftp.andrew.cmu.edu/pub/mpack/mpack15d.zip
Versions are included for unix, pc, os2, mac, amiga and archimedes systems.
UU
An extremely smart and fast decoder for DOS. UU will extract multiple files and multiple sections in multiple files. The sections and files need NOT be in order as UU will read all files and create a map before extracting. Without 'begin' lines UU will read 'Subject:' headings etc to try to determine the file/section name and position.
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/decode/uu40s.zip
Jim Tucker
jtucker@byron.apana.org.au has written three DOS programs which enable binary files to be emailed in ASCII format without requiring decoding. The target files are similar to UUE, however, they are executable text (.COM files) and therefore no decoding software is required. The source files are limited to ~52K, however the programs include a built-in UUEncoder and an ASCII format decoder for larger files.
NETSEND
The source file is converted to a self-extracting ASCII file. Executing the ASCII file extracts the original binary file (data or program).
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/decode/netsend1.zip
NETRUN
The source program (.COM or .EXE) is converted to a program in ASCII text format. Executing the text file will run the program! Command line parameters for the original program can be used. Error level exits are preserved.
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/decode/netrun31.zip
NETPIC
Converts a .GIF file into an viewable ASCII program. When the ASCII text is executed the programdisplays the original GIF picture as 320x200x256 colors. The recipient does NOT need decoding OR VIEWING software. Includes automatic resizing of larger pictures.
ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/graphics/netpic32.zip
MUUD.COM
This is a plain (not very smart but small) DOS UUdecoder written by Jim Tucker
jtucker@byron.apana.org.au which can be emailed as plain ASCII text. This solves the chicken and egg problem -- how to mail a UUdecoder to somebody who does not have a UUdecoder. The program which created this, NETRUN, is available on SimTel and mirror sites:
SimTel/msdos/decode/netrun31.zip.
UUDEVIEW
A nice and user-friendly decoder for UNIX, DOS and WINDOWS.
AUTHOR & SUPPORT
fp@informatik.uni-frankfurt.de ftp.uni-frankfurt.de/pub/dist/frankuudeview-0.4.tar.gz (Unix sourcecode), uudvd-04.zip (DOS), uudvw-04.zip (Windows). Take a look at the UUdeview Home Page, http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/~fp/uudeview/
Also on sites:-
oak.oakland.edu/Simtel/msdos/decode/uudvd-04.zip (DOS)
oak.oakland.edu/Simtel/win3/encode/uudvw-04.zip (Windows)
This Smart decoder can save all news articles into one or multiple files. uudeview will scan the file(s) for uuencoded data and will then ask you whether you want each file de-coded or not. Works with most postings. You do not need to manually edit the article file!
Winpack Delux
RetroSpect has just released WinPack32 Deluxe v1.00 Alpha 7 to the public. While this is an Alpha, it is stable enough to be useful. This version of AshSoft's WinPack Deluxe will handle MIME and VirusScanning. Drag-n-Drop has been modified, along with much of the interface. The final version of version 1.00will support disk spanning, and multipart archives. Please check it out, and let us know what bugs are encountered. For more information
Randy Snow
02 Jul 1996
snow@retrospect.com
finger snow@qns.com for pgp key
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/RetroSpect
ZR FileWks
ZR FileWks 6.0a Jpeg,Gif,Bmp,UUE,ZIP,AR*,LZH, Pcx, Tif, Tga, Dib, etc. viewer with built-in UUE controls to merge and decode UUE files recieved via internet mail or usenet. Also can extract UUE files fromonline logs, unZIP, ARC, ARJ, LZH, or ZOO compressed files, create them, add to existing ones, delete files from them, UUEncode them, breakup the UUE file into smaller files of any size to mail them,etc.
ftp://oak.oakland.edu/SimTel/win3/graphics/zrfw60.zip
AAAUUE v2.0:
Drag drop UUE merge, en/decode - 31084 bytes
aaauue20.zip
ECD Windows UUE/MIME/SHIP/BTOA Encoder/Decode
ecd67win.zip
EXTRCT 3.4 UUdecoder for Windows 3.x or DOS
extrct34.zip
UUDVW 04E UUDeview: Smart Decoder UU/XX/Base64 decoder/encode
uudvw04e.zip
XFERP 110 UU, XX, MIME (base64) & Binhex 4.0 en/decode
xferp110.zip
UUCODE314 uencoder/decoder
uucode314.zip
PC BinHex 1.3 BinHex encoder/decoder.
binhex13.zip
binhex.zip
UDEC1_1 - Binhex
udec1_2.zip
Most of these will be found on the major ftp sites.
Simtel's own site: ftp.coast.net, oak.oakland.edu and mirrors.
There is an entire directory, /SimTel/msdos/decode, dedicated to these programs.
Tin and Unix Shell Users
If you do NOT have a true TCP/IP Internet connection or are using tin with a Unix shell account, then you should follow use an independant decoder such as Wincode (windows/windows 95) and follow the basic decoding instructions.
America On Line
For those using America On Line (AOL) try reading the AOL Online Binaries FAQ part 1 & 2 is posted every other Friday to several groups including news.answers by Leslie Jones - macfaq@aol.com
With the release of 2.5 for Windows AOL, has incorporating the "File Grabber" into the system. When you see an article that contains an image that you would like to see simply click once to highlight, then press "read". A screen will appear with several options, one of which is Download file. Press this option and display the image, click again to save the image.
Netcom
There seems to be an impression abroad among newbie Netcruiser users that Netcruiser is some sort of net-wide thing. It isn't. It's proprietary to Netcom, and, percentage-wise, very few people on the net know a damn thing about it. You have just posted your question of very narrow interest to a global newsgroup, where people in Australia, New Zealand and Austria may be scratching their heads wondering what in the hell you're talking about.
Because of this, Netcom has gone to a bit of trouble to set up newsgroups specifically for Netcruiser customers, I suggest you use them first before pestering me.
* netcom.netcruiser.announce:
* netcom.netcruiser.apps
* netcom.netcruiser.general
* netcom.netcruiser.newusers
* netcom.netcruiser.tech
* netcom.netcruiser.test
Before you can use news for the first time you need to configure Netscape to point to your Usenet news server. Set the host name of your news (NNTP) server in the Mail and News|Servers panel. Your newsgroup subscription information is stored in a News file. If you have no previous News file, Netscape creates one that lists a couple of newsgroups designed for new users. By default, news messages are displayed in a threaded format. The threaded format groups all messages that are related to each other in a compact, ordered listing. Messages that are responses to previous messages are nested under the parent messages.
Newsgroup pane: shows a listing of the news servers and Usenet groups currently available. Click on a newsgroup to display its messages in the message heading pane.
Settings in the Options menu let you change the newsgroups you see in the pane. You can subscribe to newsgroups by first showing all newsgroups, then clicking a particular newsgroup's Subscribe icon (a check mark) in the pane. After subscribing to newsgroups you want, you can change the Options menu setting so that you view only subscribed newsgroups. (An active newsgroup is a subscribed newsgroup with unread messages.) Other columns in the newsgroup pane tell you the number of unread messages and the total number of messages per newsgroup.
The leftmost folders in the newsgroup pane show the news servers (news hosts) you've connected to.You'll have only one folder here if you've connected to the default news server only. You'll have more than one folder if you've connected to multiple news servers.
Message heading pane: shows a list of a selected newsgroup's messages. Click on a message heading to display its content in the message pane.
Message content pane: shows a single message. The message can contain links to other messages or Internet pages.
Use the toolbar or menu items to display the Message Composition window for replying to a message or posting a new message. You can also use the Message Composition window to reply by email to the message sender.
How do you create cascading (hierarchical) bookmark menus?
1. Choose the Window|Bookmarks menu item to view the Bookmarks window.
2. Click on the icon above where you want to position a new folder. Each folder represents a level (header) in a cascading (hierarchical) pull-down menu.
3. Choose Item|Insert Folder, type a title in the Name field, and click OK to create a new folder.
4. Drag and drop any bookmark icon on top of the new folder (or select the folder, choose the Insert Bookmark menu item, and enter a name and URL).
How do you convert hotlists to bookmarks?
Other browsers use hotlists similar to the way that Netscape uses bookmarks. Users of other browsers might want to preserve the URLs they have accumulated as hotlists by converting them to bookmarks.
Choose the Window|Bookmarks menu item. Choose the File|Import menu item in the Bookmarks window. These commands read any HTML file containing links and convert the links into Bookmarks.
To import a hotlist into Netscape, you should first convert your hotlist to HTML. Several downloadable utilities perform this conversion. You can also use another browser's mail command to transmit a hotlist in HTML format.
Microsoft AnswerStation is a Windows 95 add-on tool for users of VoiceView-compatible modems. VoiceView technology allows voice and data to be transmitted over the same telephone line. Support Engineers can, with permission, use this technology to view and edit configuration files or settings, or perform troubleshooting steps on remote computers without having to disconnect the existing call or restart the computer.
Setup and Installation:
Microsoft supports the installation of AnswerStation and related files on a Windows 95-based computer equipped with a VoiceView-compatible modem. Microsoft Product Support Services will verify that the VoiceView-compatible modem is selected and properly configured and that Microsoft File Transfer (provided with AnswerStation) is fully functional.
To determine if the modem is VoiceView-compatible, check the Diagnostics tab in Modems properties. Select the COM port for the modem and click More Info. The "AT+FCLASS=?" line should return a string of numbers such as "0,1,2,80 , 0=Data compatible, 1=Class 1 Fax, 2=Class 2 Fax, 80=VoiceView compatible."
Microsoft File Transfer:
Microsoft supports the usability and functionality of File Transfer, provided that the computer is equipped with a VoiceView-compatible modem and the remote site is equipped with a VoiceView-compatible modem and is running File Transfer. Microsoft does not support running File Transfer in conjunction with a third-party VoiceView program.
VoiceView Performance Issues:
Microsoft does not support VoiceView performance issues. The modem vendor should be consulted for these types of issues or suggestions. Microsoft Support Engineers can only verify that the VoiceView software components are installed correctly and that File Transfer is fully functional.
Third-Party VoiceView Programs:
Microsoft does not support third-party VoiceView programs. These programs are supported by the software manufacturer. Microsoft Support Engineers support only Microsoft File Transfer.
Downloading and Installing Microsoft AnswerStation 1.0
To install AnswerStation, follow these steps:
1. Download the ANSINST.EXE file from one of the online services listed below to an empty folder.
2. In My Computer or Windows Explorer, double-click the ANSINST.EXE file.
3. Follow the instructions on the screen.
You can find ANSINST.EXE on the following services:
Microsoft's World Wide Web Site on the Internet
* On the www.microsoft.com home page, click the Support icon.
* Click Knowledge Base, and select Windows 95.
* Enter kbfile ANSINST.EXE, and click GO!
* Open the article, and click the button to download the file.
Internet (anonymous FTP)
* ftp ftp.microsoft.com
* Change to the Softlib/Mslfiles folder.
* Get ANSINST.EXE
Microsoft Download Service (MSDL)
* Dial (206) 936-6735 to connect to MSDL
* Download ANSINST.EXE
We have just completed two phases of our Network Upgrade program. As of 1/1/97 MediaCity is part of PacBells Fiber Network which provides our customers with the highest level of redundancy and shortens the time for the implementation of new services for both our own network and customers who decide to purchase MediaCity's dedicated Internet Access Services (1.544Mbps to 10Mbps). With our fiber connection also comes an MCI DS3 (45Mbps) dedicated Internet Backbone connection (MCI's fastest and most expensive service).
Secondly, as promised in our previous network update announcement, we have completed the renovation of our old dial-up facilities and have added several new locations. All listed numbers can carry both analog modems and ISDN traffic. Since all hardware in our dial-up facilities consists of new Ascend Max4004 access routers, we will be able to provide our customers with support for 56kbps modem access via a software update once Ascend makes it available to MediaCity. Additionally, all Dial-Up facilities are also configured for ISDN Centrex for customers who wish to maintain a dedicated 64/128kbps connection for their SOHO or business application. Charges for MediaCity ISDN Centrex connections are $282/mo and $357/mo for 64kbps and 28kbps respectively which includes Internet Access and PacBell line and usage charges.
All MediaCity POP's are listed below: San Francisco (415) 357-1691 San Mateo (415) 571-1336 Redwood City (415) 780-0187 Menlo Park (415) 234-9526 Palo Alto (North) (415) 329 0206 Palo Alto (South) (415) 843 1058 Mountain View (415) 938-1062 San Jose (408) 289-1078 Hayward (510) 728-0160
As a reminder, PPP will become the standard for dial-up connections and is supported on all platforms (Mac, PC, Unix, etc.). If you have not converted to PPP, please call technical support directly at (415) 237-1460 for assistance.
Based on how our Engineers have implemented our Network Topology and the fact that MediaCity does not oversubscribe its network like most ISP's, MediaCity customers should enjoy some of the fastest Internet connectivity in the Northern California.
In response to our requirement of a credit card on file for individual Gold and Executive Dial-Up accounts, we have decided to offer an Annually billed dial-up service with the following criteria:
I. Gold Annual Fee: $119.40
II. Executive Annual Fee: $299.40
III. Additional hours still apply and will be billed monthly
A. Gold: 10 Free Hours, additional hours at $2.00/Hour
B. Executive: 35 Free Hours, additional hours at $1.00/Hour
IV. Delinquent payments for additional hours will result in temporary suspension of service until the account is brought current.
V. Payments for the Annually billed service may be by check or by phone with a credit card.
VI.There will be no refunds for account termination prior to the term of the annual contract.
This perhaps is a little late for reviewing 1996, and looking into the future of 1997, but I'll avoid the obvious cliche. In review, we did have some rather positive things happen. For openers, we were fortunate in arranging with EPRI the use of the wonderful facilities we currently enjoy. PrintScreen sparkles. Brian Christopher as editor has added a number of features and come up with extremely interesting and informative articles for every issue. Kendric Smith, our Webmaster continually maintains a very attractive and informative Web Page that tells the world what SPAUG is about. He has made it very easy to browse and move onto countless locations. Robert Mitchell has kept very busy scouting new shareware applications for the disk-of-the-month, that is attractive to a maximum number of people at every meeting. Mildred Kohn makes her regular trips to the Stanford Post Office to see that we all get our mail on a regular basis, and has renewed the practice of supplying all of our members with the minutes of our planning meetings so that everyone knows what to expect in SPAUG's future. Walt Varner, our treasurer has done his level best to see that we pay our bills, collect our dues and maintain solvency in the organization. Arlan Kertz in addition to having spent a horrendous amount of time in finally establishing our legitimacy as a non-profit group to the IRS, is now our vice president and backs up the Prez in meetings, and keeps him humble and honest at all of the staff meetings. Most important, Beverly Altman, who throughout all these many years has been truly the rock that maintains the existence of SPAUG in so many ways too numerous to mention. Thanks to all of the above and to all of the other members who contribute their efforts in answering the questions that come up in Random Access sessions, work with groups in building a computer (Jim Dinkey), and take the phone calls from members in computer trouble. With that kind of a team how can we go wrong. Now, if only we had a Publicity Chairman!
Present: Bob Mitchell, President, Arlan Kertz, Walter Varner, Treasurer, Brian Christopher, PrintScreen Editor, Beverly Altman, Director at Large
The meeting was called to order at the home of Beverly Altman at 7:30 PM.
LAST GENERAL MEETING: The Last general meeting in January was discussed. There were 25 members in attendance plus 8 guests. Based on the number who signed up for SIGs on the Internet and on Windows 95, plans will be set up to arrange for regularly scheduled SIGs.
FUTURE GENERAL MEETINGS: It was announced that the date of the next SPAUG General Meeting has been moved up to February 19. There is a meeting scheduled by EPRI that prevented us from using the room on February 26. We were reminded that for very understandable reasons we will always be subject to pre-emption by the business needs of the EPRI organization. Because of the change in dates we could not confirm a guest for this next meeting at the time of the meeting.
PUBLICITY: We are still looking for a Publicity Chairperson. The job is primarily limited to sending out a notice each month to a prepared list of print media advising them of the date of the upcoming meeting and the guest demonstrators. This is a vital part of the operation of SPAUG. If we intend to grow in membership we must have published information about SPAUG in all potential publications.
SPAUG COMPUTER: Robert Mitchell has agreed to donate a CD ROM and sound card to enhance our SPAUG computer. The planning staff also agreed to purchase additional memory in order that we will have a full 32 MB of memory. We will also add Windows 95 to the existing Windows 3.1 and set it up for a dual boot operation in order to make it as flexible as possible for all needs.
FINANCIAL: Treasurer Walt Varner reported on the current SPAUG financial status. Our newsletter, PRINTSCREEN which has expanded by several pages in the past few months will have a minimal cut back in size in order to maintain a reasonable balance in our funds.
SEARCH FOR A NEW LOCATION: While there are no immediate plans to move our meeting location from EPRI, and the very fine facilities that the management of EPRI so graciously allows us to use, we must consider the possibility that the needs of EPRI may eventually preclude the possibility of our use of their facilities in the future. All members will be asked to explore all other possibilities for future locations.
The next planning meeting was scheduled for March 5.
Members and guests were welcomed to the meeting. Tom Passell of EPRI was also present as a guest. We expressed our thanks to Tom and EPRI for allowing us the use of its fine facilities each month for SPAUG meetings.
Members were asked their preferences for possible special interest groups (SIG's) Interest was expressed in a SIG for Windows 95 and a SIG to continue for the Internet. Eleven members signed up for Windows 95 and eight for the SIG on the Internet.
Hugh Bowen of Hugh Bowen and Associates announced the opportunity for SPAUG members to participate in focus group sessions to evaluate various software applications primarily in the areas of games for all various age groups. He indicated they would be paid for their time.
Helen Lupowitz of One Day Workshops demonstrated a software application entitled Home Page and Brochure Writer that was designed to simplify the preparation of professional home pages, brochures and other presentations.
Robert Mitchell demonstrated the latest DOM disk. A program for a solitaire version of the card game, Bridge was particularly interesting. All disks sold out.
A number of questions were raised in Random Access, in particular a recommendation for what to expect in the current state of the art for a computer in the $2,500 - $3,000 range for one who would want to devote a rather substantial amount of time surfing the Internet. There were a number of thoughts advanced initially but in the end there was a rather definite consensus of opinion.
The usual raffle took place with a substantial number of software programs and Cds that were picked up by those in attendance.
(9/8/95 to 2/2/97) -- Total Hits = 2630 -- Average Hits per day = 5
1 com 843 1165 (Commercial) 2 net 331 363 (Network) 3 edu 190 257 (Educational) 4 206 52 65 5 ca 27 49 (Canada) 6 204 32 35 7 208 23 33 8 205 23 30 9 us 16 29 (USA) 10 jp 27 28 (Japan) 11 198 27 28 12 gov 23 26 (Government) 13 au 19 23 (Australia) 14 org 17 22 (Organization, usually nonprofits) 15 se 18 18 (Sweden) 16 207 16 17 17 194 17 17 18 fr 16 16 (France) 19 sg 9 14 (Singapore) 20 nl 13 14 (Netherlands) 21 uk 12 12 (United Kingdom) 22 it 11 12 (Italy) 23 de 10 12 (Germany) 24 199 10 12 25 192 10 12 26 202 10 11 27 152 11 11 28 203 9 10 29 193 9 10 30 130 6 10It is interesting that SPAUG has Italy and Singapore (the MAC Group does not), and the MAC Group has Korea, Finland, and Military (SPAUG does not).
1 com.netcom 183 213 2 com.ao 74 152 3 edu.stanford 79 135 4 com.best 29 69 5 com.compuserve 51 56 6 com.mediacity 8 39 7 net.concentric 27 30 8 com.cris 10 29 9 net.uu 25 26 10 com.hp 7 24 11 net.pacbell 21 23 12 208.138 12 22 13 ca.ualberta 1 20 14 us.ca 7 19 15 206.24 9 19 16 net.hooked 16 17 17 net.alter 16 17 18 com.crl 15 17 19 au.net 11 15 20 jp.or 13 14 21 com.gnn 10 12 22 gov.nasa 9 11 23 com.sgi 1 11 24 net.sonic 9 10 25 com.cisco 5 10 26 com.xerox 4 9 27 com.netframe 3 9 28 sg.net 3 8 29 net.slip 8 8 30 net.mci 8 8
What Is Overclocking?
The term 'overclocking' describes the process of running your CPU at a clock and/or bus speed that the CPU hasn't been specified for - logically, that speed is usually higher.
Why Overclocking?
The tempting idea behind overclocking is to increase system performance at very little cost. In many
cases you only need to change a few settings on your motherboard to make your system run faster. In
other cases you only
have to add a few components (usually for cooling) to achieve the performance increase.
In the past, overclocking was usually nothing more than increasing a CPU's clock speed to that of the
next higher model, e.g. a Pentium 120 to a Pentium 133. Now, with new bus speeds available on several
motherboards, you can change the clock and bus speed of a CPU to values that don't officially exist.
This new
way of overclocking is yielding an even higher performance increase than the classic one. It even gives
you the ability to increase the performance of the fastest model of a particular CPU production line
(e.g. P200 to 250 MHz, PPro 200 to 233 Mhz).
Why not Overclocking?
Although there are millions of tales of damaged CPUs and other system components, in most cases
overclocking is completely harmless.There are, however, a few things to take into consideration.
Your CPU could be damaged by so-called 'electromigration'. Electromigration takes place on the actual silicon chip of your CPU in areas which operate at a very high temperature, and can cause permanent damage to the chip. Before you start to panic, you should first realize a few things. CPUs are designed to run at temperatures between -25 and 80 degrees Celsius. To give you an idea, 80 degrees Celsius is a temperature that nobody is able to touch for longer than 1/10 second. I have never come across a CPU at this temperature. There are plenty of ways to keep the CPU case at less than 50 degrees Celsius which increases the probability of keeping the chip inside at less than 80 degrees. Also, electromigration does not immediately damage your chip. It is a slow process, which more or less shortens the life span of a CPU running at a very high temperature. A normal CPU is meant to live for about 10 years. However, in ten years nobody is going to be using a CPU with today's technology. I won't even use my CPU anymore in 2 months. If you want to be kept free from this electromigration scare, you have to do as much as possible to cool the CPU. Cooling is the Numero Uno Oncho in overclocking!!! Never ever forget that!
These terms don't necessarily apply for Cyrix, IBM, and AMD CPUs. Because of the already high rate of heat production at their original clock rate, you must work extra hard to keep them cool in overclocked conditions. I've come across several dead Cyrix 6x86 CPUs so far, so be careful or just let it be!
Nobody likes system crashes or hangs, but in a professional business environment, avoiding a system crash or hang can be most crucial. It certainly is a fact that you are increasing the probability of system faults by overclocking your CPU. But this is only the probability !! If you have just overclocked your system and the first thing you do is use it to start writing your dissertation, don't be surprised if a system crash occurs which causes you to lose all your data. After finishing the overclocking process you have to put your system through a tough and thorough testing procedure. If the system passes all the testing, only then can you talk of successful overclocking and feel confident everything is working well. I'm using Winstone and the BAPCo Suite for reliability testing. You may not have the BAPCo, but it certainly is worth getting the new Winstone 97.
The third debate against overclocking is that your father, brother, best friend, neighbour, or boss thinks it's immoral. Well, I always enjoyed living in sin, but if you've got problems with that, read the next chapter.
Is Overclocking Immoral?
My dear visitors, I can tell you that I have come across a lot of animosities from the really straight-up
type of law book fellows who have
told me how irresponsible and immoral my website is. There are quite a few different ways to respond
to this topic:
If you are unwilling or afraid to overclock your CPU, there is no reason to annoy other people with your opinion. Just because the CPU manufacturers have an opinion on overclocking does not make it the right one. People who are overclocking their CPUs appreciate and respect this point of view, but choose to see it differently and are benefiting from their opinion. As long as there is no sentence against overclocking, we are not doing anything against the law and hence there is no pleasure in denunciation. Period!
It is also fairly questionable if there actually is a difference between Pentium chips with different official clock speeds. The best example of this is the P150 and the P166. Isn't it strange, that all P150s are standard voltage chips and almost all P166s are VRE voltage chips? Doesn't it sound like Intel is using the same chip in both of them, but it only runs stable enough at 166 MHz with VRE voltage. Intel is selling the P150 only to satisfy the market and probably gets a good chuckle at the stupidity of the general public who don't realize this.
In Europe there are a lot remarked Pentium chips around, as recently discovered when all over Europe there were several concurrent razzias against criminal organizations that re-marked thousands of P133s to P166. The proud owners of these CPUs are convinced they have a real P166, just because it's written on the chip. Do you think such things do not occur in the US? Hahaha!! I'm wondering how many people own faked P166s, who would NEVER overclock their CPU! Isn't that a funny thought? Did you know that Intel isn't interested in marking their chips reliably via a software readout at all? As long as they sell enough chips, they don't mind the re-marking of Pentiums. They even tried to avoid the publication of the recent events in Europe and I bet hardly anybody in the US ever heard about that.
The main idea behind sensible overclocking is simply to use your brain, which brings me back to my 'car driving' introduction. If you want to successfully overclock your system without any loss in reliability, you will have to take care of proper cooling, do decent testing, and stay within the bounds of common sense. Don't try to overclock a P100 to 200 Mhz or anything crazy like that. Just use your brain!
http://www.dfw.net/~sdw/fastutil.html
Looking for ways to speed up your PC? These utilities will help you do just that. If you own a Pentium Pro, Cyrix 6x86, or Cyrix 5x86, keep reading - this is your lucky day.
Intel Pentium Pro Processor
CTPPRO.ZIP [16k]
This utility enables the PPro write buffers on the Intel Orion and Natoma Chipsets, increases video
performance by re-programming the PPro's internal Memory Type Range Register (MTRR), and
enables the
fast strings of the PPro.
FASTVID.ZIP [237k]
You have undoubtedly heard of this utility on Usenet. It is indeed hard to find, but you've found it. It
enhances video performance by
programming the PPro's MTRR's to write combined and enables the write buffers of the Orion Chipset.
Cyrix 6x86
6XOPT074.ZIP [19k]
Written by Mikael Johansson - This program optimizes the 6x86 processor by enabling features of that
are disabled by default such as
the Branch Target Buffer (BTB), and the Linear Frame Buffer. It also enables Windows 95 to correctly identify the 6x86.
M1.EXE [163k]
Utility from IBM that allows you to view and edit the 6x86 settings.
M1OPT.EXE
Enables features of the 6x86 that are disabled by default to increase performance.
Condensed for PrintScreen
This survey will put these two powerhouses up against each other for the ultimate test.Who will come out ahead? If you own a PC with one of these processors, read on to learn how to benchmark the performance of your system and add your score to this survey. If you are looking to buy one of these processors, but can't decide which, this is your lucky day!
The survey will use two benchmark programs: ZDlabs PC-Bench v9.0 for DOS, and CacheChk v4.0 for DOS. These benchmarks will help reveal the performance of each processor.
Running the Tests
Downloading CacheChk v4.0
http://www.dfw.net/~sdw/cachk4.html
Downloading PC-Bench v9.0
http://www.zdnet.com/zdbop/
pcbench/pcbench.html
Setup your system so it will run reliably (don't just speed up your system to an unreliable state for the benchmark and then lower the speed - run the benchmark at the speed that you would run applications). Unzip cachechk4.zip and run cachechk: record the Main Memory Score (in MB/s). In PC-Bench, you only need to obtain the CPUmark score.
Simply fill out the survey and submit it to help
answer the question; who will come out ahead?
http://www.dfw.net/~sdw/cgi-bin/bench/cicomp/cisurvey.html
Benchmark Statistics
Updated: Sat Feb.08,1997
Intel P5-200 Averages (n=10)
PC-Bench CPUmark 403.65
CacheChk 104.50
Cyrix P200+ Averages (n=24)
PC-Bench CPUmark 403.44
CacheChk 146.72
Note: 'n' denotes number of CPUs included in statistics.
Since the new SDRAMs came out, the good old DIMM standard is getting popular in PC systems and the poor PC users don't know what it is. I know that all Mac users will smile now - MACs have been using DIMMs for ages. So what is it ?
DIMM stands for Dual In line Memory Module in opposition to SIMM, which simply is Single In line Memory Module. DIMM or SIMM only specifies the package RAM comes in, not the type! You can get each RAM type for each module, but as far as PCs are concerned, DIMMs are at present only used for SDRAM. The benefit of a DIMM is that it has a 64 bit (72 bit with parity) wide data path and therefore can be used single in Pentium boards, which normally require two SIMMs to work (valid for the fast chipsets only, SiS and others got around that by decreasing memory performance). You also can mix each size with another - no thinking in pairs anymore as for SIMMs. Well that's all the secret about DIMMs.
THE WINNER -Well, here we are, this is the other type of RAM, which possibly will get very popular soon, 'cause it's supported by the new Intel Triton VX chipset and all new VIA chipsets, the 580VP, 590VP (for Pentiums, 6x86) and the 680VP (for Pentium Pro)! As the name says already, this RAM is able to handle all input and output signals synchronized to the system clock, which is quite amazing, for that is something a short while ago only Static Cache RAM was able to achieve. The fastest access speed of SDRAM in CPU cycles is 5-1-1-1 for a four data (Byte/Word/Dword) burst read, which makes it exactly as fast as BEDO RAM, however the best thing about SDRAM is that it easily handles bus speeds up to 100 MHz !!!!!!! This is exactly what is needed in the near future, the bus speeds soon will reach these dimensions and only SDRAM seems to be able to keep up with it.
Condensed for PrintScreen
Intel chipsets have become extremely successful these days, starting with the huge success of the 430 FX or 'Triton' chipset two years ago. Intel was able to sweep away all the competitors and now only VIA and SiS have products to compete with Intel. The big advantage of Intel is firstly of course the fact that they have the best knowledge of their CPUs, they are the most successful semiconductor producer world wide with an extremely high budget to play with. They have also invented the PCI bus and the USB and are now introducing a new bus the AGP - Advanced Graphics Bus. This and its name gives Intel a huge advantage above other chipset producers and so far they have been able to produce the currently fastest chipsets. Since Intel doesn't like it's competitors in the CPU market very much at all, it of course doesn't include any special support for Cyrix or AMD products in its chipsets. This is the best reason why Intel officially also disapproves to run any of its chipsets at more than 66 MHz bus speed, because it doesn't want to support the 75 MHz bus speed of its competitor Cyrix. Fortunately the Intel chipsets DO run at 75 and even 83 MHz just fine, which gave lots of 6x86 P200+ users the ability to run their CPU on an Intel chipset equipped motherboard.
Although VIA and SiS as well as some other even less successful chipset manufacturers are trying their best to compete with Intel chipsets, also by officially supporting the higher bus speeds and e.g. the Cyrix 6x86 own 'linear burst', the performance of boards with these new chipsets hasn't been able to reach the dimensions of Intel chipset boards. VIA is currently closest to Intel and may be able to catch up with it fairly soon. SiS has still got a way ahead of them, but is now getting back into business with it's P200+ support. Obviously VIA is unable to PR their products as successful as SiS, because their chipsets are superior to SiS chipsets, but less known and used.
The 430 FX or 'Triton' chipset was the first Intel chipset to become extremely successful and is responsible for Intel's success to blow away all other competitors like the formerly well known SiS, UMC and ALI. It was the first x86 chipset using EDO RAM and is responsible for EDO being the standard RAM now. Compared to the latest chipsets it's not quite up to the competition anymore, but still a decent performer.
It doesn't have any multi CPU support, no ECC support, only supports memory up to 128 MB and can cache only up to 64 MB of memory. Its PCI and memory performance is less than the performance of the later Intel chipsets, but compared to chipsets from other companies, it's still considerably fast.
The 430 HX chipset, also called 'Triton 2', includes almost all the features we missed in the 430 FX chipset. It supports up to 512 MB memory, which can be cached completely as long as the motherboard is equipped with a special tag RAM chip, it can be used for dual Pentium systems and supports ECC.
The performance of the 430HX is so far unreached by any other Pentium chipset. This is due to its deep buffers between CPU, PCI and memory and also to its fast DRAM timings. PCI performance as well as memory performance is even faster than the VX chipset, although the VX can use SDRAM and the HX can't.
The only thing we are missing in this chipset is the support of SDRAM. It is otherwise most convenient and can be used in desktop systems as well as in servers, due to the large max. memory, the dual CPU support and ECC. So far there doesn't seem to be any worthy Intel successor of this chipset, since the upcoming 430 TX chipset doesn't support all the above named special high-end features of the HX chipset. The 430 VX chipset was originally designed for low end desktop computers, leaving the 430 HX for the high-end users. It is inferior to the 430 HX chipset in almost every area, but it has got one big ace, the SDRAM support.
No multi CPU support, max. RAM only 128 MB, cacheable only up to 64 MB and no ECC. The buffers between CPU, PCI and memory are smaller than in the 430 HX chipset and the DRAM timings are slower as well. This is the reason, why systems with the VX chipset are a little bit slower than systems with the HX chipset, even when you equip the VX systems with SDRAM. One of the problems of the VX chipset is the slow SDRAM timing of only 7-1-1-1, although 5-1-1-1 would be technically possible from the SDRAM's point of view.
The VX chipset is a decent performer in systems, which don't need more than 64 MB RAM, no dual CPU support and no ECC. It's still faster than any competitor from different chipset manufacturers in real life.
The 430 TX chipset seems indeed to be a direct successor to the VX chipset. It still doesn't support ECC, multi CPU and not even more than 64 MB cacheable RAM. The max. RAM has been raised to 256 MB, but what help is this if only a quarter of this will be cached? Maybe the information is wrong and there is a way to top up the cacheability to 256 MB, but so far it doesn't sound like this at all.
The only advance above current chipsets is the inclusion of the new DMA/33 EIDE protocol, which can boost your EIDE interface to a data rate of up to 33 MB/s, as long as you've got a HDD with this specification. The other advance is the faster SDRAM timing of now correct 5-1-1-1. If you are looking for AGP support you will be looking in vain. Not even the PCI buffers have been topped up to the level of the HX chipset! Hence there isn't too much to expect of this chipset and I'll carry on waiting for a successor of the HX chipset.
A listing of the improvememts:
* SDRAM Timing now 5-1-1-1 against 7-1-1-1 in the VX chipset
* ATA-33 or DMA/33 support
* 256 MB max. memory
* 6 CAS lines instead of four in the VX. This will enable TX boards to have up to 6 SIMM or 3 DIMM slots instead of 4 SIMM and 2 DIMM slots in VX boards.
Condensed for PrintScreen
15 days after its official release I eventually received my very own Pentium MMX 200. It was actually a kind donation of Erik Wagner from Nutek Systems USA, IL. I installed it on my system and it it ran straight away without any problems even at 208/83, 225/75 and 250/83 MHz. I am currently using it on my ABIT IT5V at 225/75 MHz with 64 MB SDRAM.
Before you start bombarding me with emails, asking why I used 205/68 instead of 200/66, or 166/66 instead of 171/86, I would like to explain the reason for it. I wanted to show most impressingly, that under some conditions the Pentium MMX 166 is even faster than a slightly tuned Pentium Classic 200 at 205/68. Hence I used the slowest Pentium MMX to compete against the fastest official Pentium Classic at turbo frequency.
The most impressive performance Advantage of the new Pentium MMX CPUs are reached when running normal Windows applications. At the same CPU speed, the Pentium MMX shows a performance advantage of 16% over the Pentium Classic. This is only achieved by the new cache size and design, the branch prediction unit, the enlarged pipeline and all the other enhancements besides MMX. The performance advantage could be much bigger with image processing applications that are using the new MMX instructions.
For people who are using lots of Windows business applications, the Pentium MMX is certainly worth getting. Even the Pentium MMX 166 is already 5% faster than a maxed out Pentium Classic 200 at 205/68 MHz.
The first disappointment about the new Pentium MMX is its DirectX, especially its Direct3D performance. It is hardly any better than the performance of a Pentium Classic. This wasn't expected by me, since MMX was meant to enhance DirectX directly. The Benchmarks were all run with the latest DirectX 3 drivers installed. Obviously the best improvement is seen in RGB mode. RAMP mode hardly shows any difference.
My Monster Truck Madness Benchmark didn't show any improve over the Pentium Classic at all. This is to be considered as fairly sad, because lots of gamers were hoping to save the purchase of a 3D enhanced Video Card, like e.g. the Diamond Monster3D, due to the MMX enhancements of the P55C. Obviously so far we can forget about this. Either Microsoft has to improve their DirectX, especially Direct3D drivers, or the games have to use MMX instructions directly.
Currently Windows 95 gamers certainly hardly benefit from MMX at all and they can stick to the cheaper Pentium Classic for now.
I found an explanation for this problem, which doesn't make MMX look too good for 3D freaks at all. It's the missing 32bit SIMD multiply option of MMX.
The new Pentium MMX hardly shows any improvement for DOS Gamers. An increase of 2.5% is hardly worth mentioning. Even the other new architecture improvements of the Pentium MMX besides the MMX extension don't bring us much of a difference in games like Quake or DukeNukem. Hence DOS gamers will have to hope for games to soon use the MMX instructions or they happily can stick to their good old Pentium Classics.
Conclusion
The new Pentium MMX certainly yields at least some increased performance out of your system. In
current Windows business applications it already runs about 16% faster than the Pentium Classic. As
soon as MMX instructions will be used in all applications, the improvement may be considerably
higher, particularly in image processing applications.
For the majority of the Windows business application users the Pentium MMX is certainly to be recommended. Don't forget that a Pentium MMX 166 is already faster than a Pentium Classic 200 under these circumstances and hence the Pentium Classic 200 should only be purchased if it is cheaper than the Pentium MMX 166.
However, for people who are using their computer mainly for gaming, which seems to be an increasing number, the Pentium MMX so far doesn't show much of an improvement. If you are belonging to this group, you can either stick to your old system, or you could get a MMX approved motherboard now and wait until the Pentium MMX gets cheaper. The prices of the Pentium Classic will drop soon, so if you want to get a CPU for gaming now, you might as well take advantage of the cheaper Pentium Classic. After all this CPU still is a good performer, which kept us happy until Jan 8, 1997.
Tests for bad RAM memory chips in DOS.
Download
ftp://ftp.coast.net/coast/msdos/memutil/rt302.zip - (55k)
Thorough RAM testing utility for DOS.
Download
ftp://ftp.coast.net/coast/msdos/memutil/nmi.zip - (5k)
MemorySpy32 v1.0: Memory gauge for Win95.
Download
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/simtelnet/win95/util/mspy3210.zip - (239k)
Displays DOS memory information
Download
ftp://oak.oakland.edu/pub/simtelnet/msdos/sysinfo/reveal11.zip - (33k)
You are about to enter Yahoo! 3D, Yahoo!'s VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) based virtual world. Yahoo! 3D allows YOU to explore our 14 main categories in 3D space, interacting with objects rather than text! Using Caligari's VRML-based modeling tool, Yahoo! and Caligari have created 15 worlds that include hundreds of objects. We encourage you to explore these worlds and use this site as a demonstration of the emerging technologies on the Internet.
Software Requirements
Yahoo! 3D requires that your browser support Live3D. If you experience "garbage" characters on your
screen, this means that you will need to install or reinstall the Live3D plug-in, or
update your browser. Current, complete versions of Netscape Navigator 3.0 (PowerPC and Windows
only) and Internet Explorer
3.0 support Live3D. Netscape Navigator users can download the latest Live3D plug-in from Netscape.
SGI IRIX users can use CosmoPlayer to view these worlds.
Performance
VRML-based worlds are rich in geometry. The 15 worlds vary in size from 100K to 200K, and all are
compressed. Because of their size, it will be best to view these worlds if you have an ISDNlevel
(128kbps) connection or higher. Users with modems will experience significant download times for
some worlds (about 1 to
2 minutes). In addition, each world is compressed (to minimize download time) and need to be
decompressed by the browser (which may take another 1 to 2 minutes, depending on processor speed
and available memory). Navigation through the worlds may be sluggish on slower processors with low
memory availability.
Navigating on Yahoo! 3D
Yahoo! 3D uses three dimensional space to organize the various categories. You can use the mouse or
arrow keys on your keyboard
to navigate through them. If you use the arrow keys, you may need to clik on the world once to start
"walking." Navigating in 3D space can be a bit challenging. The curret specification for VRML does not
allow for collision detection, so you will be able to go through walls and floors.
To make navigating easier, we have placed a number of pre-defined "camera angles" for you. To use them, just click on the "view"arrows on the navigation tool bar (see below). Not all browsers may have this feature. Clicking the up or down view arrows takes you to several strategically placed camera angles that will help you see all of the objects in each world.
You can also create your own VRML world using Caligari's Pioneer software, which is available at retail locations and on their web site.
http://www.netaxs.com/people/dmorgen/de-code.html
News Express for Windows 95 Version 2.0 Beta 2
http://tucows.myriad.net/files/nx20b2.zip
News Express is The Best News Reader.
For Usenet Groups Makes Downloading Very Simple.
This Program Will Decode The Files For You.
News Express for Windows 3.1
http://tucows.myriad.net/files/nx10b4-p.zip
WINCODE ver 2.7.3a
The greatest software for Encoding & Decoding
http://tucows.myriad.net/files/wc273r16.zip
( All Binary Files In The News Groups That Are Encoded )
You Need To Decode Them To Run ,See Or Play Them.
Information Transfer Professional ver 1.1.0
This Is One Easy encoder/decoder.
http://tucows.myriad.net/files/xferp110.zip
Location, location, location! If you''re familiar with the restaurant business, and for that matter almost any business that must depend on off-the-street traffic to stay alive, you know that that is the most important thing. In many ways it is also one of the most important concerns for us at SPAUG, particularly now. We are most grateful to the people at EPRI for providing us a place with the finest facilities for our meetings.....whenever they can and at no cost to us.
There are times when EPRI has early morning meetings and the room must be ready for those meetings the first thing in the morning. When this happens the room cannot be scheduled for anything else the night before. In such cases we must pick another date or maintain the scheduled date and pick another location. Not always easy. The problems we have in not being able to be consistent in dates and locations effect us not only in keeping all of you our membership up to date, but in having the ability to book guest presenters well in advance of our meetings.
Unlike it may have been at one time, companies are more concerned with what they spend on such promotional areas as User Group Presentations. The user group representatives travel throughout the country and judiciously establish their schedules well in advance to minimize their cost of travel. The ideal size of a group is around a hundred in attendance. If this is impossible they will schedule 3 or 4 smaller groups on successive nights in the same area. The current size of our club and the attendance at our meetings dictates that we must be put into that latter category. It also means that we must book months ahead and avoid any last minute cancellations. Under the present circumstances, not always possible.
This was the major topic of our last planning meeting. We are continually reviewing what options we have, which are few. We want to offer you consistency. We want to schedule top guest presenters. We want to keep the club solvent. We want to keep the members we now have and increase the number of new members that are signing up. The more members we have the better chance we will have of attracting the best guest presenters and the more income we have the more we can afford a good location that would insure consistent meeting dates.
Now you know the problem. It is important for you to know that while there is no panic at this time and that SPAUG is very much alive and well. It could be a problem down the road if we never resolve this problem. We are open to your suggestions.
By the way, we will be at Cubberley for our March 26 meeting, but we will be back at EPRI for our April 30 meeting. Our guest for April 30 will be from Intuit with Quicken and other Financial planning software.
Present: Bob Mitchell, President, Walter Varner, Treasurer, Brian Christopher, PrintScreen Editor, Beverly Altman, Director at Large, Kendric Smith, Webmaster, Jim Dinkey, Member
The meeting was called to order at the home of Beverly Altman at 7:30 PM.
LAST GENERAL MEETING: The general meeting in February was discussed. There were 23 members in attendance plus 5 guests. A few people were concerned with the lack of space at the designated meeting room at Cubberley Community Center, and what we might do for a location for future meetings when EPRI is not available. A suggestion was made that we use a mike for future Cubberley meetings despite the relatively small size of the room. It was also suggested that we concentrate on utility programs for the DOM disk that would make it more valuable, and justify a price of $3.
FUTURE GENERAL MEETINGS: The members discussed what might be best for SPAUG in the location of future meetings that would insure us the same location and the same day of the month consistent with maintaining solvency in the treasury. We also discussed the alternative of remaining with EPRI so long as we are able to do so, and seek out other locations on those months when EPRI is not available. Since EPRI will not be available for our March 26 meeting, we will again meet at Cubberley. EPRI will be available for our April 30 meeting. It was also suggested that in the interests of avoiding further depletion of our treasury, we encourage the membership to purchase additional raffle tickets. Jim Dinkey agreed to sell tickets. It was also agreed that we would obtain instructional videotapes to have available at future meetings in the event a scheduled speaker should not be able to make a presentation.
PUBLICITY: We are still looking for a Publicity Chairperson. This vital part of the operation of SPAUG must be filled if we intend to grow in membership.
FINANCIAL: Treasurer Walt Varner reported on the current SPAUG financial status, which has been depleted by the need to pay for the Cubberley facilities and insurance plus the cost for the rental of an overhead projector. The reduction in the number of pages in PRINTSCREEN has helped to minimize that loss.
The next planning meeting is scheduled for April 2.
Members and guests were welcomed to the meeting which was held for the first time at the Cubberley Community Center. There were 25 members plus 3 guests.
Peter Petroni of Metrocom demonstrated the Ricochet Wireless Modem. He pointed out the economies and other advantages using Ricochet over a cellular phone hookup when a regular telephone connection is not available. Several sites of the Internet were contacted using the Ricochet setup.
Ron Nokashima of Mindworks demonstrated "Recollect", which is a software application that stores scanned documents and using fuzzy logic search technology quickly retrieves scanned documents. A copy of "Recollect" was offered to the group to be included in the raffle.
Robert Mitchell demonstrated the latest DOM disk, which included the latest McAffee anti-virus program, several wave files (sound effects), and a Nevada style game of Blackjack.
The current state of the SPAUG Fantasy Portfolio was reviewed. The members who were the current leaders are Leon Lowery with Merck (+$4,631), Bob Mitchell with Disney (+$3,070), Laddie Hughes with Coca Cola (+$3,048), and Brian Christopher with Lucent (+$2,714).
The copy of "Recollect" plus a number of other applications and manuals were raffled off.
The Webby Awards was hosted by The Web magazine (a San Francisco monthly) that rates web sites and interviews celebrities about thier Internet habits. (3/6/97)
(R) = reader's pick, (J) = judge's pick, (B) = picked both by readers and judges
Things are starting to look up. We will be back at EPRI this month with a guest we had to book about 5 months ago in order to get him.
Fortunately EPRI was able to provide us with their facilities on our regular meeting night, the last Wednesday of the month. Richard Katz of Intuit is a very popular guest. He covers User Groups all over the United States. I think we are going to learn a lot about a number of programs from Intuit, which as you know is the house that built Quicken. It looks like we can also plan on Roche Center as a backup to EPRI, albeit for a price. Our club computer now has sufficient memory to handle and be loaded with Win 95. We can depend on it to handle just about any program application. Because of this we will be booking a number of months into the future. This should provide us with an opportunity to get some top guests and get a maximum amount of publicity, which in turn may bring in some new members and hopefully bring back a number of ongoing members who haven't attended lately. It should also encourage all of our members to bring guests and expose them to what we can offer them.
All by way of telling everybody that we are alive and kicking and speaking for all of the officers and very active members, we will be anxious to see a number of old faces and new faces at the meeting on April 30.
Members and guests were welcomed to the meeting which was held at Cubberly Center. There were 21 members and 5 guests.
The Power Quest Corporation, the makers of Partition Magic supplied us with a complete presentation kit which offered a very complete demonstration covering hard disk partitioning basics. It explained the many values to establishing partitions, particularly on today's multi-megabyte hard drives. They also supplied a copy of Partition Magic which was used to actually go through the steps in establishing partitions in a hard drive. (For those who may have missed that demonstration, the highlights are printed in this issue of Print Screen along with some information about file allocation tables, more popularly known as FAT.
Robert Mitchell demonstrated some of the programs contained in the disk of the month (DOM).
There was some very agressive bidding that took place when a hard drive donated by Jim Dinkey was auctioned off.
The raffle included such prizes as Norton Utilities, Corel All Movie CD and Partition Magic plus a number of T-Shirts supplied by Power Quest.
Members were reminded that we will be returning to EPRI for our next meeting with Richard Katz of Intuit as our special guest who will be doing a demo on the latest version of Quicken and the Intuit Financial Planner.
For openers you say, "Who cares?" You can pick up gigabyte hard drives now for a song and there is no reason to bother with partitioning any more. Really? Well let's look at it a bit closer.
You've now invested in Win 95 and have quite possibly discovered that some of your Windows 3.X application don't work as well as they used to, or maybe don't work at all. There may also be a few DOS programs that you still like to use with which you are now having problems. It would be so nice to on occasion elect to boot up Win 3.x rather than Win 95. There are of course dual boot programs that will do this even though the two Windows programs are on the same partition, but you'll find it a lot cleaner if you can devote one partition to Win 3.X and have a separate parition for WIN 95 and its programs. Setting up your hard drive with two (or more) primary partitions will do this. That's the first reason.
Did you know that your 1.2 gigabyte drive is probably only about 60% efficient. That means that with one partition you only are using about 720 megabytes. The rest are wasted. Why is that? Let's talk about "clusters" for a moment. A cluster is the smallest allocation of disk space that your system uses to store your files. Files are placed in one or more clusters depending on the size of the file. Very large files would be stored in multiple clusters with the last cluster only being partially filled. A small file would be stored in one entire cluster. The key thing here is that files cannot share clusters.
Not a problem you say. A larger hard drive has more clusters. Wrong! Unless of course it has more than one partition. There are 65,000 clusters in a 100 MB partition. There are 65,000 in a 1 Gigabyte drive, in a 2 gigabyte drive, in a 3 gigabyte drive. So what happens when you increase the size of the drive. You increase the size of the cluster. For example the clusters in a partition just under 512 MB are 8K. The clusters in a 1GB partition are 32 KB. This might not be a problem were it not for the fact that most of your files are small. For example each shortcut file in Win 95 creates a 2K file. You're using a ÒhallÓ that will accomodate 32 people for two people. The answer of course is to create a second partition by splitting your 1 GB drive in half. Each partition will have clusters 8K in size. Make sense? That's the second reason.
Now about FAT or "File Allocation Table" In order for your computer to access the files that you or your applications request, it must have some source of information to tell it where those files are. Every partition has a FAT to perform that function. It keeps track of the location for every part of every file. It also maintains an inventory of all clusters that are available to act as a home for newly saved files. By the way, you know that when you "delete" a file you don't actually erase it. You only tell the FAT that you don't want that file and you are allowing FAT to open up those clusters used for the "deleted" file for the next files to be saved. That is why programs such as Norton Utilities can usually resurrect those "deleted" files and why it is important to use it before you save new files. But then you knew that didn't you.
Incidently the newer file systems that have come out such as OS/2's HPFS and Windows NT's NTFS and Microsoft's FAT32 are designed so that clusters are not a problem. But of course if you are still using the original FAT file system, and most of us are, we must do the best with what we have.
There is a third reason to establish additional partitions. There is this phenomena known as fragmentation. That comes about as you constantly delete some files and add others. Ideally you would want to save files in adjacent clusters. This makes it much easier and faster for your computer to locate all of the clusters that make up a file and copy them to your random access memory so that you can work with them. Try as it may, your old friend FAT cannot always do this. It must find open cluster space wherever it can. As a result the file that you need may have bits and pieces in separated clusters all over your hard disk. Not good. So what do you do. So far you have two primary partitions, one for Win 3.x and one for Win 95. You might wish to create a third primary partition as an "extended" partition and on it create "logical" partitions. You would then place program applications on one logical partition and data files on the other logical partition. Why do this? You do it to separate your somewhat "stable" files such as your program applications from your "active" data files that are constantly being changed. That way most of your fragmentation will be confined to one partition. You need only defrag one relatively small partition which will take no time at all. This will also help when you back up your files. Since all of the data files that you would normally back up are on one partition it will be much easier and faster for you to do your daily backup. You do backup your files on a daily basis don't you? Well, do you? That's a lot of information crammed in a very limited amount of space. While many of you may feel that this is all a part of Computers 101 that you learned a long time ago, there is that possibility that something in all this was helpful to you. I hope so.
Nothing inspires one to greater efforts than one's peers acknowledging those efforts. A letter was sent to a few members who had been active in the group in the past but who had not attended meetings in the last few months. They were asked for their thoughts on what they would want to see improved in SPAUG along with a special invitation to the next meeting. The response was very pleasing and gratifying. This is to express my appreciation for those who took the time to write and offer their very positive thoughts. In almost all cases they valued their membership in SPAUG and there was a desire to continue as members and attend future meetings as free time would allow them to do.
A number of people have been asking about the Internet and Windows 95 SIGS that they signed up for. I have been attempting to come up with meeting dates that will fit the schedule of the most number of people. By the next meeting we should have that locked up.
The guest appearance of Richard Katz which featured all of the new bells and whistles of Quicken and other Intuit products, drew the largest crowd that we have had in a very long time. It was a meeting not to have missed. Richard is one of the better presenters of software products, exhibiting a thorough knowledge of his product accompanied by some very amusing material, well delivered.
In the next few months our guests will include a repeat appearance of Jan Altman who will have some more tips and tricks on Word for Windows and possibly a touch of tips and tricks for Excel, time permitting. Those who were here for her last tips and tricks may remember she was a very big hit. Rick Altman has also agreed to take time out of his very busy schedule of personal appearances and do a session on the magic of Corel. That session should be an outstanding visual treat. In addition, Larry Magid who as you know is a columnist and industry expert on just about everything relating to the computer field has also volunteered to be a guest, whenever he can fit us into his busy schedule.
Suffice it to say there are some big times ahead for SPAUG. We hope that every member will be able to attend our upcoming meetings, and bring their guests.
Members and guests were welcomed back to EPRI for our April meeting. There were 40 members along with 7 guests.
Richard Katz who represents the Intuit Corporation put on an outstanding presentation combining wit and humor with a serious product demonstration that was entertaining as well as informative on Quicken and other Intuit products. It was a lively session with a Q&A session that went well into the mid-break
Robert Mitchell demonstrated some of the programs contained in the disk of the month (DOM).
Random Access also was lively with many problems brought up followed by a number of responses offering a fix. There were also some problems that seemed to stump everyone.
The raffle included such prizes as Quicken Pro, Quicken Financial Manager donated by Intuit. There were also a number of other software applications that were included in the raffle.
The May 7, 1997, Planning Meeting came to order at the home of Beverly Altman at 7:30 p.m. Present were Bob Mitchell, President, Arlen Kertz, Vice-President, Walter Varner, Accountant, Beverly Altman, Membership Director, Mildred Kohn, Secretary, Ted Murdoch, Member, and LaVonne Murdoch.
Our last general meeting was the most successful in our recent history, probably sparked by 3 factors: the rallying letter of President Bob Mitchell, the return to our favorite meeting site at EPRI, and the promise of a great presentation by Richard Katz of Intuit. Present were 40 members and 7 guests. The guests included one or two former members who have been guests for several meetings. These may find themselves confronted with a request to re-join the club.
The next general meeting will be on May 28 at EPRI. Most of our Silicon Valley technical people will be in Chicago at the Comdex meeting. Coming to our rescue will be Jan Altman with Tips and Tricks for Excel.
Someone at the meeting suggested an occasional "field trip" to a video studio, for example. Opinions and suggestions are requested.
Elections, which should take place in April, were overlooked. Bob Mitchell agreed to run for President again, and all the other officers present agreed to run also. However, nominations from the floor will be gratefully accepted at the next meeting. Volunteer-Nominate yourself!
Ted Murdoch attended the meeting in order to tell us he has been unable to get help from club members with difficulties which occur with his 486. Having written a manual for the Unix, he is able to find solutions for many of his problems by looking through books in the library, but for the problems he can't solve, he gets no help from our members. He likes his set-up and doesn't wish to upgrade.
Many of our DOMs are zipped, so it was suggested that the PrintScreen publish directions for unzipping in DOS and Windows.
Walter Varner presented the financial report, which is much more favorable since we have returned to EPRI and don't have to pay the rentals and insurance fees required at Cubberly.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mildred Kohn, Secretary
A helicopter was flying around above Seattle yesterday when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft's electronic navigation and communications equipment. Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the helicopter's position and course to steer to the airport.
The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a handwritten sign, and held it in the helicopter's window. The pilot's sign said "WHERE AM I?" in large letters. People in the tall building quickly responded to the aircraft, drew a large sign, and held it in a building window. Their sign said "YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER."
The pilot smiled, waved, looked at his map, determined the course to steer to SEATAC airport, and landed safely. After they were on the ground, the co-pilot asked the pilot, "How did the YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER sign help determine our position?"
The pilot responded "I knew that had to be the MICROSOFT building because, similar to their help-lines, they gave me a technically correct but completely useless answer."
A nonprofit corporation whose goals are:
1. Placing large numbers of computers in public schools for the purpose of education.
2. Increasing community awareness that reusing computer equipment reduces hazardous landfill waste.
3. Supporting computers donated to schools, and providing low-cost computer systems for students and families.
4. Providing valuable job experience for our volunteer staff, and offering vocational training for effective employment in high-technology job markets.
SO, DONATE YOUR NEW AND USED COMPUTER EQUIPMENT AND PERIPHERALS, AND BOOKS AND SOFTWARE, AND TAKE A TAX WRITEOFF.
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It's always a good idea to start off with good news. (Probably a good idea to end with it too.) That good news is that there is a reasonably good chance that we will be offered the opportunity to use the facilities of EPRI through April of next year. Tom Passell our sponsor for EPRI has indicated that while he will be retiring from EPRI, there doesn't seem to be any objection to the present arrangement that we have with EPRI. We are exceedingly grateful (still) for Tom's efforts on our behalf.
Also on the subject of good news, all of the officers and administrators have agreed to remain on for another year, having been duly elected. Also good news, Jim Dinkey has agreed to take over Publicity for the club. Thank you Jim, and all.
Right on the heels of that dynamic, entertaining and educational presentation by Jan Altman on Excel Tip and Tricks we will have brother, Rick Altman at our June 25 presentation who will be offering some magic with Corel Draw. In addition to writing a column for a number of years, he has also been a nationally recognized authority on Ventura Publisher (now a part of Corel) and all of the Corel products. He regularly conducts seminars for Corel on a national basis. His next assignment is in Toronto, which now makes him in an international authority. For those of you who don't know, Rick is also a past president of SPAUG. Thank you Bev, for Jan and Rick
Please be reminded that SPAUG exists for the pleasure and enlightenment of all of its members. One of the best ways to derive enjoyment out of a club such as this is to participate in the activities. This can take on a number of forms. You might wish to offer some material for the Web Page or Print Screen. You might also wish to demonstrate some fascinating software or you may have heard of a particularly good presenter that you'd like to see. Please call me on anything that you feel could work to the benefit of all the members. It will be appreciated.
Members and guests were welcomed to our May meeting. There were 33 members along with 3 guests.
Officers and administrators for the SPAUG 96/97 season were individually introduced along with an acknowledgment for their past efforts on behalf of all of the members. If nominated, all of these officers agreed to serve for another year. Members present were offered the opportunity to nominate new officers. There were no new nominations. A motion was made to nominate and elect the incumbent officers and administrators by acclamation. That motion was seconded and approved.
Jan Altman as promised returned to do her latest Tip & Tricks presentation, this time on Excel. There may have some members who don't use the Excel spreadsheet application on a regular basis, but you would not have known it from the rapt attention paid to every tip and trick Jan offered that made Excel fairly jump off the screen. It was another presentation you would not have wanted to miss.
Robert Mitchell demonstrated two DOM programs. One shareware program that seemed most interesting allowed you to view the content of your hard disk using a pie chart that very graphically offered a clear view of how many unnecessary programs one collects over time.
There were a number of good applications that were raffled off, including the latest Symantec (Delrina) Winfax suite.
The next meeting was announced for June 25, to be held at EPRI.
Planning Meeting - June 4, 1997
Present: Bob Mitchell, President; Walter Varner, Accountant; Kendric Smith, Webmaster; Beverly Altman, Director at Large; Robert Mitchell, DOM Manager; Mildred Kohn, Secretary; Ted Murdoch, Member; LaVonne Murdoch, Guest.
Bob Mitchell had culled the suggested meeting times for the SIGs. Both will have first meetings at his home at 7:30 p.m. Other times and locations can be negotiated at the first meeting. The Win95 SIG will meet the second Monday of the month. July 14 is the date of the first meeting. The Internet meetings will take place the first Tuesday of the month, so July 8 is the date of the first meeting. President Bob Mitchell's home is at 1516 Whipple, Redwood City. His phone number is 415-368-9530.
We discussed the possibility of purchasing some training tapes to be used in the SIGs and perhaps, if they are interesting enough, to be used in an emergency at a general meeting when the guest speaker doesn't show up.
Referring to the article on Info-Zip in the May PrintScreen, Ted Murdoch said that he has been unable to find clear instructions about unzipping files. When the experts present rushed to tell how easy it is and listed the steps, it became obvious that experts automatically perform the preliminary steps and fail to communicate them to the learner. Ted challenged the group to come up with a complete list of instructions which would assure success to the uninitiated. A promise was made that such instructions would appear in PrintScreen soon.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mildred Kohn
This article will discuss only the DOS-based program, PKUNZIP.EXE
1. CREATE AN EMPTY SUBDIRECTORY. I use File Manager (under File select Create Directory). I have several empty subdirectories on my hard disk for unzipping stuff and copying stuff from disk to disk. I call them COPY1, COPY2, etc. If you only UnZip files, you can call them UNZIP1, UNZIP2, etc. [Below I will use COPY#, where # is any number that you choose.]
2. Keep a copy of PKUNZIP.EXE in the root directory (C:\) of your hard drive.
3. If you are downloading a zipped file from the Internet, send the file to one of your empty COPY# subdirectories.
4. If you want to unzip a file (e.g., FILE.ZIP) from a Disk of the Month disk, copy it from the distribution disk to one of your empty COPY# subdirectories.
5. Using File Manager, copy PKUNZIP.EXE to the COPY# subdirectory containing the zipped file.
6. UNZIP THE FILE UNDER DOS. Switch to DOS, and go to the COPY# subdirectory, type: CD\COPY#.
All of the unzipped files will be in one unique subdirectory, in case you want to trash them later. If you want to keep this program, you can "move" all of the files with File Manager to a new subdirectory with a unique name.
7. If you have unzipped a big program with a SETUP.EXE file, then when you run SETUP.EXE it will ask you which subdirectory you want to finally put all of the files in. After the setup is complete, you can trash the residual files in your COPY# subdirectory.
8. SELF-EXTRACTING ZIPPED FILES. If you have a self-extracting zipped file (e.g., FILE.EXE), then copy it to an *EMPTY* COPY# subdirectory, and at the DOS prompt, type FILE.EXE and it will unzip.
It is fairly well established that Special Interest Groups (SIG) are important to the success of any User Group. They provide a closer relationship among members in areas of interest where it is not practical in full general meetings. They also afford more complete information on specific subjects when total time can be devoted to that singular subject. If the attendance at our first official Internet SIG is any indication, we just may have the return of SIG's to SPAUG. As with the WIN 95 SIG, the agenda for the first Internet SIG was established as a planning meeting to determine what the specific interests were for the group, what their level of understanding was with the Internet, what their favorite Web sites were, what hardware they had and the ISP's they have used and what they currently were using. Jim Dinkey as a new "Elk" has made arrangements for us to try out one of the meeting areas at the Elk's Club in Palo Alto for the second meetings of the Internet and WIN 95 SIG's. Thank you Jim. Both SIG's remain open for additional members.
We continue to be grateful to those members who frequently bring in new guests to expose them to what SPAUG is all about. We will do our best to offer programming at our meetings that will convince these guests that they should consider becoming a member. As always, your input is important to us in the planning of upcoming meetings. Keep in touch.
Members and guests were welcomed to our June meeting. There were 34 members along with 5 guests.
A member of the Altman clan did it again. Rick Altman, former president of SPAUG and currently on a very heavy schedule with his Altman & Associates found time to return to SPAUG to present a very informative and entertaining presentation on Corel Draw. In the limited time available to present a multi-faceted program such as Corel Draw, Rick managed to display a major portion of the application's bells and whistles ending up with a very impressive graphic "work of art".
Dates for the first Internet and WIN 95 SIG meetings were announced as Tuesday, July 8 and Monday July 14 respectively, at 7:30 PM at the home of Bob Mitchell. Future meetings have been scheduled to take place at the Elk's Club in Palo Alto.
A technical problem prevented a DOM presentation. There were a number of prizes that were raffled off including the big prize of a Corel Draw program donated by Rick Altman. Thank you Rick. Your presentation and your donation was sincerely appreciated.
The next meeting was announced for July 30, to be held at EPRI.
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. at the home of Beverly Altman. Present: Bob Mitchell, President; Arlan Kertz, Vice-President; Walter Varner, Accountant; Beverly Altman, Membership; Brian Christopher, Editor; Mildred Kohn, Secretary; Jim Dinkey, Publicity; Ted Murdoch, Member; LaVonne Murdoch, Guest.
After reviewing the attendance numbers at the last meeting and the sales of raffle tickets, we discussed means of increasing sales. Since our club is a non-profit institution, we could deduct our purchases of tickets as a charitable contribution IF WE DON'T WIN! Therefore, bring a check, buy 6 tickets for $5 or 12 tickets for $10, and if you lose, deduct the amount from your income tax. Single tickets are $1.00. Either way, you win! Everyone who attends, guests as well as members, will get a free ticket for a door prize. The other prizes will available only to purchasers of tickets.
Walter Varner reported that we seem to be holding our own financially. Brian Christopher gets out the PrintScreen very economically, and we have good luck in our situation at EPRI: we don't have to pay rent or buy insurance or equipment. The excess in the checking account will be put in an account which yields more interest.
Robert Mitchell, who prepares the Disk of the Month (DOM), doesn't get enough time to present his material, so he will be put on the program before the guest speaker. Random Access will take place after the break.
The July SIGs will take place at Bob Mitchell's house, Tuesday, July 8 and Monday, July 14. Jim Dinkey has arranged for the board room upstairs at the Elks Club in Palo Alto on the first two TUESDAYs in August at 7:30. We are encouraged to come at 6:30 to enjoy a fine dinner at about $10. There is a bar and there are acres of parking space!
Members of the San Carlos PC Users Group will be invited to meet with us.
Jim Dinkey has accepted the post of Publicity Chairman. He reviewed the publications he should reach. A big part of his job is to get the information about our meetings to the publication by its deadline.
A question came up about a SIG for NT, the next operating system, succeeding Windows 95. Jim Dinkey assured us that it is similar in appearance to Windows 3.x. It will run DOS and Windows 95. NT represents better architecture than Windows 95, is very much faster and doesn't crash. Jim will give some articles on NT to prepare us. In the near future he can discuss NT for about 30 minutes. In a year or so we will have an expert as guest speaker. Bob Mitchell wondered if Microsoft could send us a presentation kit.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mildred Kohn, Secretary
Shortly after Bill Gates was killed in a freak accident, he
found himself being sized up by Saint Peter.
"Bill, this is a tough call. You've made great technological advancement with Microsoft, but you've also given us Windows 95. I think I'm going to let you choose between heaven and hell."
"That sounds fair," Gates replied. "Can I have a look at hell first?"
Saint Peter showed his guest a wonderland of sunny beaches, beautiful women, sumptuous food and an ideal climate. "If this is hell," Gates exclaimed, "I want to see heaven."
Saint Peter led the way through billowy clouds filled with angels playing golden harps. "Hmm," Gates pondered. "This is nice, but I think I prefer hell."
Two weeks later, Saint Peter went to hell to check on the billionaire.
He found him shackled to a wall, surrounded by shooting flames and tormenting demons. "Saint Peter!" Gates cried. "This is awful! This is nothing like the hell I visited. What happened to that other place, the one with the beaches, the beautiful women and the delicious food?"
"Oh, that," Saint Peter replied. "That was just a demo."
Thanks to recommendations from a fellow SPAUG member who was highly satisfied with his Logitech ScanMan 800, I bought the newest version, ScanMan 2000. For me the hand-held scanner has the advantage of being able to scan text and pic