Volume 3, Number 9 3 March 1986
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| _ |
| / \ |
| - Fidonews - /|oo \ |
| (_| /_) |
| Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ |
| Users Group | | \ \\ |
| Newsletter | (*) | \ )) |
| ______ |__U__| / \// |
| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
| (________) (_/(_|(____/ |
| (jm) |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson
Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
Fidonews is published weekly by SEAdog Leader, node 1/1. You are
encouraged to submit articles for publication in Fidonews.
Article submission standards are contained in the file
FNEWSART.DOC, available from node 1/1.
Disclaimer or don't-blame-us:
The contents of the articles contained here are not our
responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them.
Everything here is subject to debate.
Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL
What's Going On Here?
2. ARTICLES
Software Support
Downloadable Software Demos on Fido
Demo Version of the Generic Adventure Game System
New NODELIST Distribution
3. COLUMNS
Notes from the UK
Two Utilities for reducing Disk Access Time
4. FOR SALE
Entertainment Software for your PC!
MACRO - A powerful front-end for any language
Public Domain Software Library Sale!!
5. NOTICES
The Interrupt Stack
DBase III For Sale
=================================================================
EDITORIAL
=================================================================
What's Going On Here?
It's probably about time I explained how I do this again, since
I've made some changes. Nothing sudden, just a slow evolution.
Some of you may have noticed (I wonder how many?) that we tucked
in an extra file last week, FNEWSART.DOC. It's an updated
description of the technical specs. If you're a sysop, please
post it on your board. If you plan to write an article (which I
hope you are), then please at least scan it briefly. You'll make
my job whole bunches easier.
The most noticeable change is that we widened the margins a bit,
and cut down the left margin. (The left margin has been
"creeping" for awhile, but you probably didn't notice.) After ten
months of reformatting articles, I decided that sixty columns
wasn't really a good number. It seemed just a tiny bit too
short, so I widened it to sixty five columns. I'd played around
with that awhile before actually doing it. It's amazing how
often those extra five columns make all the difference.
But the biggest change, and one that only authors of articles
have noticed, is that we've introduced a delay into how long it
takes for an article to appear. (To an extent, in fact, this
editorial is something of an apology to those of you who have
sent articles.) When I first started doing this, everything was
published practically the moment it was received.
In those days I was desperate for anything at all, and I
typically sent out a newsletter wondering where in the world I'd
find anything to put in the next one. That's not such a problem
anymore, but we still seem to get articles in "spurts". I'll get
two articles one week, and then a dozen the next. I somehow
doubt you'd like getting a five page newsletter this week,
followed by a fifty page newsletter next week. Hence the delay.
Everything here is still automated up the kazoo. I could drop
dead tomorrow, and the newsletter would continue to go out for as
long as my machine keeps running. But the built-in delay now
gives me a chance to even things out a bit. So if I get a ton of
stuff one week and nothing the next, I can push some things back
to even it out a bit.
I guess this is really just a long-winded way of telling you that
if I don't publish your article right away, it's not because I
canned it. I feel that if you took the trouble to write some-
thing, the least I owe you is an explanation if it doesn't go in
(very rare, we really DO publish almost anything).
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Fidonews Page 2 3 Mar 1986
=================================================================
ARTICLES
=================================================================
Neal Curtin
Fido 138/14
Software Support
or the lack of it
I had a very bitter experience with a software house the other
day that I want to relate to you. I went out on Saturday and
purchased DoubleDos from SoftLogic of New Hampshire. As I knew
of several other sysops who used it I, thought it should not be
any problem to install on my Tandy 1200. This it turned out not
to be the case. I had thought that I had found that .01 per cent
piece that would not run, so I decided to call up the help line
that SoftLogic had to see what I would need to do.
The person who answered the phone seemed to know exactly what I
needed to do to get up and running. He said I would need to
download a file from their BBS in the evening, copy it to the
root directory under a different name, and all would be fine.
This encouraged me as I am really beginning to enjoy cruising
when ever I get the chance. So that evening I call up the board,
log in and proceed to the files section. There it is, the
package that I am supposed to get. I ask for download and the
system comes back and asks for the password. As I had gotten it
that morning I confidently entered the password and hit enter.
What is this? "SYSOP must authorize"! Maybe this board needs
upper case. Type type enter. Once again that dratted message.
Back to the message file. Enter a complaint. Back to the files.
Try again. Oh oh, lockout and log off.
So I try the next night. This time the board will not answer
the phone. I try calling the next morning and get someone else.
He explains to me that the system crashed the night before but he
will give me the password for that night. I call back and find
out that this time I can't get in as my privilege level is 0. I
can't do anything. I log off, call back under my middle name and
find out all is well. I leave a message for the sysop, go to the
files, and try to download the needed file. Once again I find
out that the password I have is no good. At this point I am out
four phone calls to New Hampshire and gotten nothing but
frustration. I leave a long and pointed message on the board
hoping that someone there has enough sense to realize that
something is wrong. I very carefully leave some secret numbers
that if decode by means of a modem will call up my bulletin board
and let them call me.
As they have not bothered to call me, I figure that they do not
need the business. Then today in talking to one of the people
that I know in the software world, he said something that rang a
bell. I came home and did some modifications to my DOS and then
tried this errant product. This time it worked.
The purpose of all this is to alert some of these software
Fidonews Page 3 3 Mar 1986
houses that sysops are what might be called people of influence.
It is not a good idea to give a bad impression to them as they
may not give a recommendation to your product. As it is, there
is no way that I could give a recommendation to this product. It
works, but not because of the manufacturer, but because I had the
good fortune to know someone that had the same problem. Also it
is pass along the word to those who read this, ask questions
first, then make sure it will work on your machine, then try it
on your machine. If it doesn't work, walk away. If it was from
SoftLogic, don't expect any support. Their system is not capable
of providing it.
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Fidonews Page 4 3 Mar 1986
Since setting up our Fido board many months ago I have been on
the lookout for a way to create a community service. It first
started with a kids-world area for teenagers and youngsters to
have an area of their own. Then I created an island-guide area
for people to discuss various things about the community,
restaurant menus etc. Even a high tech area. I did not want the
computer station's Fido to be just a file dumping area. I
encouraged users to help each other with their computer problems.
I constantly kept looking for ideas .
In November of 1986 I had to leave Hawaii to go to COMDEX, always
a hectic task for me. At COMDEX I was deluged by vendors wanting
me to buy there software to try or demo. A few years ago I had
made a policy not to buy any new software until I either had a
demo of it to try first or had a working package to use for a
period of time. I became overwhelmed with software.
After COMDEX I decided I would ask the manufacturers for
permission to mount their self running or crippled demo software
on the computer station's Fido board. I explained to them that
this would allow a number of my users to play around with and try
the software. Not only does this allow a number of people access
to programs where they would not normally have even known that
the demos exist, it also hopefully would discourage piracy of the
software as most people do it just to try out the program.
So as of Dec 1, 1985 Fido 113/436, The Computer Station has a new
area called EVAL. I have received permission from such
manufacturers as Ashton Tate to mount their Framework II sampler,
Borland to mount their Sidekick demo, and more. I have also
talked some of my users into creating an evaluation form to
follow and encouraged them to "check out" different software with
the understanding that they cannot copy it, and to write
independent evaluations following the set guidelines that they
had drawn up.
It is interesting that a number of manufacturers have not thought
of this before and all the sudden they are becoming very
enthusiastic about the idea. If other Fido boards are interested
in offering this type of service in various areas I recommend
that they contact me and I will try to arrange to get the demo
files to you. You can contact me at Fido 113/436, MCI Mail
256-1444, The Source bkp893, or Compuserve 70406,1662.
Ron Skates, sysop 113/436, Hawaii
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Fidonews Page 5 3 Mar 1986
Date: 2-12-86
To: Fido Sysops
From: Mark Welch (Sysop of Fido 125/459)
Re: Demo Version of the Generic Adventure Game System
A lot of sysops weren't happy that I added two editors and
some extra documentation to the newest version of the Generic
Adventure Game System, since the new GAGS106A.ARC file now takes
up over 280K, which represents about one hour at 1200 bps. After
some careful thought, I decided to release a "demo version" of
GAGS to reduce some of the problem.
GAGSDEMO.ARC contains the same GAGS "engine" and sample game
as the full system in one 89K ARC file, but doesn't include the
two editors or the full documentation. All the rest of the files
are bundled into GAGS-ETC.ARC, which weighs in at just over 200K.
Please note that this new packaging does NOT change my
distribution policy: GAGS is still release as "Shareware" and can
be freely copied or downloaded in its entirety. The full set of
files are also available in the file GAGS106A.ARC from my BBS and
others.
It does maintain my insistance that GAGS only be distributed
the way I provide it, so that no one will be upset (at me)
because they downloaded the COM file without the overlays, or the
executable files without the documentation. In other words:
please don't repackage GAGS when you post it on your BBS, since
this will create support problems for me. (Remember, my voice
phone number is listed in every file!)
If you feel a 280K download is too large, please consider
posting GAGSDEMO.ARC on your board. Not only is it a complete
adventure game exercising most of the features available in GAGS,
but it allows users to spend less time downloading the file
before deciding if it's something they're interested in.
By the way, there are now five more sample games for GAGS,
written by Ev Cheney (sysop of Fido 125/3) and Stan Heller.
They're combined in a file SAMPLES.ARC on my board.
(For those who didn't see earlier FidoNews articles: the
Generic Adventure Game System is is a text adventure-game
development system for MS-DOS computers with 256K. It runs on
the IBM PC, DEC Rainbow, Sanyo 550/555, TI Professional, and, so
far, every 256K MS-DOS computer it's been tested on. It's
released as Shareware: if you like it, please register by sending
me $15. The Turbo Pascal source code is available to registered
users for $25 more.)
THREE OFFERS:
1) I will send a copy of GAGSDEMO.ARC via FidoMail to any
U.S. Fido sysop who requests it with a Fido message to
Fido 125/459. Please, only one such per net: I'll refer
subsequent nodes in the net to the first system.
2) BBS Sysops can get a copy of GAGS by sending me a disk
Fidonews Page 6 3 Mar 1986
and a self-addressed, post-paid disk mailer (specify if
you want the one 280K file or the DEMO and ETC files.
Include 2 disks and I'll put both versions in, or if you
want I can give you the sample game ARC file).
3) As always, the current version of GAGS is available to
anyone for $10, (includes disk, mailer, and postage).
The complete GAGS directory (from WelchNet):
GAGS.TXT 4493 Press release announcing GAGS
GAGS106A.ARC 281439 The complete system (w/1 sample game)
GAGSDEMO.ARC 88763 The minimal system
GAGS-ETC.ARC 200419 (GAGS106A - GAGSDEMO)
GAGS_106.DOC 2587 Changes from GAGS 1.05 to 1.06a
SAMPLES.ARC 90964 Five sample games for GAGS
INSTALL.BAT 5846 Unpacks GAGS106A.ARC onto 2 disks.
Mark J. Welch (P.O. Box 2409, San Francisco, CA 94126-2409)
(415) 564-1066 (voice) or WelchNet: (415) 664-2811 (modem)
Fido 125/459
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Fidonews Page 7 3 Mar 1986
New NODELIST Distribution Method
by Ben Baker, Fido 100/76
Maybe you haven't noticed, but the nodelist is becoming
quite large. If there is no satellite link, it takes about four
and a half minutes to transmit NODELIST.A59 at 2400 baud, and
nearly eight minutes at 1200 baud. It took OVER eight minutes at
2400 baud to send it via satellite to Hawaii!
We now have about eight hundred nodes in the nodelist. If
we assume an average of six minutes transmission time per node,
that's about eighty hours a week to distribute a new nodelist to
everybody! If only ten per cent is long distance, that's still a
non-trivial sum we're giving Ma Bell each week! In order to
reduce the overhead of nodelist distribution, we are making a
change to the distribution format.
NODELIST.A73 will be a particularly fat nodelist archive
file. It will contain some extra files which are very important
to you. The complete contents of the file are as follows:
COORD.073
NODELIST.073
NODEDIFF.073
EDITNL.ARC consisting of
EDITNL.COM
EDITNL.DOC
NODEDIFF.073 will be a file which represents the differences
between NODELIST.066 and NODELIST.073 in a rather simplistic edit
command format. EDITNL is the program which can construct
NODELIST.073 from NODELIST.066 and NODEDIFF.073. It will be
instructive to compare the sizes of the NODELIST and NODEDIFF
files.
DO NOT ALLOW YOUR BATCH FILE TO THROW AWAY NODELIST.066 ON
YOU! You will only have one week to familiarize yourself with
EDITNL and its use, and you will need NODELIST.066 to do that.
NODELIST.A80 will contain only COORD.080 and NODEDIFF.080, and
you will have to construct NODELIST.080 using EDITNL.
Since EDITNL will be an "essential" program, those of you
making the Fido system available for download are asked to offer
EDITNL.ARC in the same file area.
Oh yes, please don't come looking for EDITNL before the
release of NODELIST.073. There will be no pre-release
distribution.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 8 3 Mar 1986
=================================================================
COLUMNS
=================================================================
NOTES FROM THE UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frank Thornley - UK Fido Coordinator
After several months of circulating the net it appears that
several copies of the ill fated European FidoNews have
materialized on the crowded desktop of Thom Henderson. Most of
the articles have appeared without any reference to myself and
also contain references to issues and persona known only in the
UK. I apologize if this has caused any confusion but we didn't
really expect our newsletter to cross the pond.
You will note that I have referred to the 'Ex' nature of the
European FidoNews. Unfortunately there wasn't enough input to
make production worthwhile and therefore most of the editorial
came from me. I don't mind sounding off about this and that but
I disliked being the main contributor as my opinions may have
been construed as being somewhat dictatorial.
We have sorted out our distribution problems for the US FidoNews,
world nodelist, and Fido updates so Europe specific issues can be
put in the US FidoNews with reasonable certainty of reaching the
parts other newsletters cannot reach <Anglophile Humor>.
The time has come to unleash my manifold opinions on the
unsuspecting world - Robert Maxwell <UK counterpart of T.Boone
Pickens> watch out!
With reference to my earlier articles you can refer all comments
etc to Frank Thornley - Compulink, 503/1. The articles in
question concern - Exchange of public domain software, Compulink
in general, and fitting a hard disk to a Compaq Portable.
Since the aforementioned articles things have been a movin'.
Compulink is basically a user group for IBM-PC's and compatibles.
The user group is doing pretty well in the UK and Europe and
provides enough income to pay for a small office with a full time
staff of two (myself and Sylvia - my spouse), and a cluster of
PC's and AT's which form the basis of the Compulink Bulletin
Board System.
I started Compulink in late 1984 after living in Florida for a
few months I became involved with user groups and bulletin boards
while I was over there <here> and when I was finally forced to
leave through lack of funds I decided to start a similar user
group in the UK. Since then we have run several bulletin boards
and amassed a large collection of public domain software. In
user group fashion we distribute the software in the UK for a
token fee and also provide the services of our BBS.
We have lots of other activities, meetings, workshops etc, but
most of my time goes into running the BBS. We used to run the
board from the spare room, but subscribers used to complain that
they could never get online as the BBS was so busy. We were
Fidonews Page 9 3 Mar 1986
forced to turn our voice line over to the BBS as the phone
company (British Telecom) couldn't get any more lines down our
street. Thus we were forced to take office premises. Not
wishing to be constrained through lack of lines we installed six.
Now we had the lines and the office, but only one computer.....
Using the Multilink software we could run two Fido's but how do
we run more than two? The obvious answer was to buy more PC's,
this we did but then came across another problem - resource
sharing. The only way was to install a LAN. As we were already
using Multilink we decided to give Lanlink a try. After several
weeks of experimenting we came up with a workable system. Right
now the Compulink BBS is rum from a PC-AT which acts as a server,
and two PC's which are satellites. The resource sharing works OK
and I can recommend the Multilink/Lanlink combo very highly.
There are some problems but we are working on it.
If anyone is considering trying this out themselves I would be
glad to advise, call our office +44 483 65895. Prior to
installing the AT we tried to use a PC with the PC-ElevATor card
from Applied Reasoning. This combination didnt work with Lanlink
because Lanlink uses baud rates up to 256K baud, which the
ElevATor cant handle. We tried slowing Lanlink down to 9600
which the ElevATor can handle but it was too slow. Another
problem was the PC's limit of two com ports. Multilink can use
special cards which support up to eight com ports but these cards
were in my opinion unnecessarily expensive. I found a company
selling a similar card (made in Taiwan) and as this cost just
$130, (4 com ports).
I suggest if you are thinking of using this setup that you try to
find a supplier for this 'Eastern Alternative'. The multi-com
card is not strictly necessary for a Multilink only setup, but as
Lanlink uses one com port for the serial link to the satellite
computer more com ports are necessary. At the moment we have the
standard two com ports on the AT plus the multi-com card
providing an extra four com ports. We currently run three
multilink partitions - two for our first two Fido's, and one for
the Lanlink Server program. The AT appears perfectly capable of
handling three partitions with no noticeable delays to the
callers on Fido. The satellites run Multilink too - again using
the multi-com card but speed degradation is a problem at 1200
baud.
We maintain the BBS remotely through remote terminals and once
the hardware was running properly we didn't even have to take the
system off-line to do sysop maintenance or updating files areas.
All in all we are delighted with the setup and intend further
expansion when necessary. Its a good feeling to see more than
one caller online, but the callers can't contact each other
directly. The next thing I'd like to see in Fido is a multiple
input stream, and more support for multi-user systems - Not that
I'm complaining though. We have got scope for 'lateral
expansion' thanks to the new 'O' -outside command. We're
currently running the 'Common Ground' conferencing software
outside Fido and I'll write a report on this soon.
Fidonews Page 10 3 Mar 1986
Finally I'd like to offer an invitation to all Fido Fans that are
visiting the UK in the future. Let us know and we'll help in any
way we can. Every time I hear about a Fido sysop visiting the UK
I try to make contact. I located Andy Kanter from Beyond War on
his last day in the UK and know of several others I have missed.
You can crash out at our house for a while if you like, ask Tom
Jennings - he stayed for a few days in November, we'd love to see
you !!
Frank Thornley, Compulink 503/0, 503/1, 503/2.
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Fidonews Page 11 3 Mar 1986
Gee M Wong
Fido 107/312
Two Utilities for reducing Disk Access Time
No matter what type of PC, XT, AT, or clone you own, most of you
will have somehow managed by now to push your machine to its
limits, and are looking for something to make your programs run
faster. In today's market, there are a variety of products which
may be used to increase the throughput of your machine, either by
making it process instructions faster, or by reducing the amount
of time spent accessing data.
For this review, I will cover two software products which may be
used to provide greater throughput on your machine by reducing
the disk access time require to load data from your hard drive
(or floppy) into memory. The two products are Disk Optimizer
(version 1.2) by Soft Logic Solutions, and Lighting (version
3.06) by Personal Computer Support Group.
These two products attempt to reduce the disk access time
required to load data into memory using two completely different
approaches. Both products may be used on DOS 2.0 or higher, both
are successful in their goal to reduce disk access time, and both
are relatively inexpensive. However, the product that you may
want to use will depend upon the type of processing you use your
machine for, and the amount of memory you are willing to
sacrifice (or purchase) for reduced access time.
The first product, Disk Optimizer, is a directory and file sector
reorganizer. It reduces the access time required to process data
by reducing the amount of time required to physically access the
data. This utility (1) reorganizes all your directories by
removing all deleted file entries from them and releasing all
unused clusters, and (2) defragmentize all files so that all of
each file's data is localized in one contiguous area on the disk.
This utility is typically used to process your hard disk on a
periodic basis, such as once per week, or you may use their Disk
Analyzer program to determine when you want to reorganize your
hard drive with Disk Optimizer.
Typically, a 10 Meg XT hard drive will take anywhere from 5 to 30
minutes to process the first time with Disk Optimizer, since the
hard drive is expected to be badly fragmented the first time you
run Disk Optimizer against it. Subsequent processing with Disk
Optimizer will usually take about 5 minutes. This may be too
much time for some people to spend reorganizing their hard drives
when the applications which they are using may not be I/O
intensive enough to make the gains of reduced physical access
time significant.
The second product, Lighting, is a configurable disk caching
utility which is installed as a resident program; you have the
option of specifying what drives you want the disk caching
utility to process and the amount of memory you wish to use for a
disk cache. Lighting reduces the amount of time required to
process frequently accessed data by maintaining a copy of the
Fidonews Page 12 3 Mar 1986
data in a cache, so that physical disk access may be eliminated
or reduced. Lighting is also capable of using as much as 1.5 Meg
of Lotus/Intel/Microsoft expanded memory; so if you have expanded
memory or if you thinking about buying expanded memory, you can
dedicate as much as 1.5 Meg toward a disk cache.
Lighting can only be successful in reducing disk access time for
you if it can maintain your frequently accessed data in its
cache; otherwise it will have to constantly perform a disk access
to bring your data into the cache and to load it into memory.
The typical solution to this problem (cache swapping) is to
increase the size of the cache (if you have the memory), or to
use both a cache and a RAM disk and have your frequently
processed READ ONLY files on the RAM disk.
The following test results were obtained on an IBM XT with a 10
Meg hard drive, and a Fountain XT with a 30 Meg hard drive. Both
systems were using PC-DOS 3.1 with BUFFERS=20 and FILES=20
defined in CONFIG.SYS, and identical results were obtained from
both systems.
For the first test, the IBM Personal Editor II (88 K) and a large
file (107 K) were used to determine how Disk Optimizer and
Lighting (with 350 K cache) affect the initial load time of the
editor and its data. This test is designed to be representative
of a user running a typical application which requires the
loading of a fairly large program with overlays or tables and the
initial processing of user information, such as WordStar, Lotus
1-2-3, Symphony, or Framework.
A freshly formatted hard drive was used to create the data for
the first test. The editor and its files were copied onto the
hard drive with a scrambler program to create randomly fragmented
files, and Disk Optimizer was used to defragment the files. The
initial loading time of the fragmented files and the defragmented
files, accessed through DOS (normal access) and through Lighting,
are shown in Table A.
Table A
-------
Initial Load Time in seconds
--------------------------------------
Fragmented 34 | 35 28
Defragmented 31 | 32 27
--------------------------------------
normal | 1st time Nth time
DOS access | accessed using Lighting
with 350 K cache
The results in Table A show that Disk Optimizer does reduce the
access time required to load both the editor and its data into
memory, and this reduced access time is apparent regardless of
whether the editor and its data are accessed through BIOS (normal
DOS access) or through Lighting. Also shown in Table A, is that
Lighting has made a dramatically greater improvement in the
Fidonews Page 13 3 Mar 1986
editor test than Disk Optimizer has. This is shown in the third
column of Table A which represent the loading time for the editor
and its data after all the accessed information has been loaded
into a cache; the second column represents the initial loading
time which is slightly longer because the data has to be read
from the hard drive and loaded into the cache. Thus it seems
that Lighting is a clear choice if you have memory to spare for a
disk cache, and if you have a set of files which you intend to
access frequently. However, if you access too many files or if
your files are larger than the cache, then you may actually get
degraded results with Lighting. Using the same test as before
with a 175 K cache, the following results (Table B) were
obtained.
Table B
-------
Initial Load Time in seconds
--------------------------------------
Fragmented 34 | 35 35
Defragmented 31 | 32 32
--------------------------------------
normal | 1st time Nth time
DOS access | accessed using Lighting
with 175 K cache
As you can see, when the size of the cache is too small for the
data being processed, the cache will not be useful in reducing
the disk access time in the editor test.
And for the last test, System Enhancement Associates' ARC (33 K)
and a large ARC file (170 K) were used. The test was to
determine the effect of Disk Optimizer and Lighting on the
command: "ARC t arcfile", which is representative of processes
which perform both a large amount of I/O and CPU in tandem. The
following results (Table C) were obtained.
Table C
-------
Initial Load Time in seconds
--------------------------------------
Fragmented 137 | 137 137
Defragmented 137 | 137 137
--------------------------------------
normal | 1st time Nth time
DOS access | accessed using Lighting
with 350 K cache
Here is an obvious example of where neither Disk Optimizer or
Lighting will have any effect on the process involved, because
the bottle neck in this process is CPU and not I/O.
So here you have it, a comparison of both Disk Optimizer and
Fidonews Page 14 3 Mar 1986
Lighting, and how these two products may be used to decrease disk
access time, and examples of situations where these programs will
and will not be a benefit to you.
The two products covered in this review are:
Disk Optimizer
SoftLogic Solutions
530 Chestnut Street
Manchester, NH 03101
603-644-5555
Cost: $49.95 for copy protected version
Non-copy protected version available
Lighting
Personal Computer Support Group
11035 Harry Hines Blvd. #206
Dallas, TX 75229
214-351-0564
Cost: $49.95 for copy protected version
$89.95 for non-copy protected version
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Fidonews Page 15 3 Mar 1986
=================================================================
FOR SALE
=================================================================
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Compact Discs and accessories. By Modem (805) 522-4211 (24
hours a day, 7 days a week 2400-1200-300 baud). By Mail:
PO Box 1385, Simi Valley, Ca. 93062-1385; By Voice
phone: (805) 527-4918 (9:00am - 6:00pm Pacific Time).
We would like to hear from you! We have gone to the
very bottom line to get your business - THE PRICE. We have
made record store sale prices our everyday low prices.
Yet, we know that in order to totally satisfy a
customer, we must be responsive and friendly. We firmly
believe that if you are a satisfied customer, you will
become a repeat customer. We would be happy to answer any
questions that you might have - please NET a message or
call.
We look forward to serving all of your Compact Disc
and accessory needs in the years to come. Thank you for
your support.
-=>>$$PRICES$$<<=-
MOST: ROCK, POP, JAZZ, COUNTRY & OLDIES are just $11.99 ea.
CLASSICAL TITLES start at just $12.99 ea.
IMPORT CD's start at $14.99 ea.
-=> Prices subject to change without notice.
-=> Double (or more) CD's slightly higher.
For a list of the most current releases available on Compact
Disc from the D I S C o n n e c t i o n (tm.)
NET a message to COM-TRICKS (102/601) and we will be more
than happy to net you a FREE CATALOG AND INFO back.
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Fidonews Page 16 3 Mar 1986
ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE FOR YOUR PC!
SUPERDOTS! KALAH!
Professional quality games include PASCAL source! From the
author of KALAH Version 1.6, SuperDots, a variation of the
popular pencil/paper DOTS game, has MAGIC and HIDDEN DOT
options. KALAH 1.7 is an African strategy game requiring
skill to manipulate pegs around a playing board. Both games
use the ANSI Escape sequences provided with the ANSI.SYS
device driver for the IBM-PC, or built into the firmware on
the DEC Rainbow. Only $19.95 each or $39.95 for both
exciting games! Please specify version and disk format.
These games have been written in standard TURBO-PASCAL and
run on the IBM-PC, DEC Rainbow 100 (MSDOS and CPM), CPM/80,
CPM/86, and PDP-11. Other disk formats are available, but
minor customization may be required.
BSS Software
P.O. Box 3827
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034
For every order placed, a donation will be made to the Fido
coordinators! Also, if you have a previous version of KALAH
and send me a donation, a portion of that donation will also
be sent to the coordinators. When you place an order, BE
CERTAIN TO MENTION WHERE YOU SAW THE AD since it also
appears in PC Magazine and Digital Review.
Questions and comments can be sent to:
Brian Sietz at Fido 107/17
(609) 429-6630 300/1200/2400 baud
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Fidonews Page 17 3 Mar 1986
We have a confession to make. We've been holding out on you.
For several years now we've been using a program called MACRO to
boost our productivity. But we've been keeping it a closely
guarded secret. Even our most intimate clients have been unaware
of it's existence. Now, however, we've decided to release it to
the PC user community.
If you have ever used a macro assembler, then you already know
how useful macros can be. For the rest of you, well, a good
macro processor can do half of your work for you. MACRO works
with any normal text file, and hence can be used as a powerful
front-end to almost any language. Here's a sample of what MACRO
can do for you:
1. Put parameters in your programs, allowing you to easily change
table sizes, ranges of values, and so forth.
2. Put conditional code in your programs, allowing you to write
one program, and then "switch" parts on and off easily for
different customers and applications.
3. Perform integer arithmetic and string manipulation before your
program is compiled, saving run time.
4. Write programs that customize themselves when you compile
them, based on commands given and questions answered during
the macro scan.
MACRO is available for only $95 from
System Enhancement Associates
21 New Street, Wayne NJ 07470
Or call our convenient order line at (201) 473-5153 (VISA and
MasterCard accepted).
Mention that you saw this ad, and we'll donate $10 to the
national FidoNet coordinators when you order.
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Fidonews Page 18 3 Mar 1986
Now available from Micro Consulting Associates!!
Public Domain collection - 300+ "ARC" archives - 10 megs of
software and other goodies, and that's "archived" size! When
unpacked, you get approximately 17 megabytes worth of all kinds
of software, from text editors to games to unprotection schemes
to communications programs, compilers, interpreters, etc...
This collection is the result of more than 10 months of intensive
downloads from just about 100 or more BBS's and other sources,
all of which have been examined, indexed and archived for your
convenience. Starting a Bulletin Board System? Want to add on
to your software base without spending thousands of dollars? This
is the answer!!!
To order the library, send $100 (personal or company check,
postal money order or company purchase order) to:
Micro Consulting Associates, Fido 103/511
Post Office Box 4296
200-1/2 E. Balboa Boulevard
Balboa, Ca. 92661-4296
Please allow 3 weeks for delivery of your order.
Note: No profit is made from the sale of the Public Domain
software in this collection. The price is applied entirely to
the cost of downloading the software over the phone lines,
running a BBS to receive file submissions, and inspecting,
cataloguing, archiving and maintaining the files. Obtaining this
software yourself through the use of a computer with a modem
using commercial phone access would cost you much more than what
we charge for the service...
Please specify what type of format you would like the disks to be
prepared on. The following choices are available:
IBM PC-DOS Backup utility
Zenith MS-DOS 2.11 Backup Utility
DSBackup
Fastback
Plain ol' files (add $50, though, it's a lot of
work and takes more diskettes...)
Add $30 if you want the library on 1.2 meg AT disks (more
expensive disks). There are no shipping or handling charges.
California residents add 6% tax.
For each sale, $10 will go to the FidoNet Administrators.
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Fidonews Page 19 3 Mar 1986
=================================================================
NOTICES
=================================================================
The Interrupt Stack
11 Apr 1986
Halley's Comet reaches perigee.
19 May 1986
Steve Lemke's next birthday.
24 Aug 1989
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to Fido 1/1.
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David Dodell
Fido 114/15
--- Dbase III ---
Brand New! Never Used! copy of DBase III For Sale !
Cost $295.00
Contact David Dodell at Fido 114/15 by FidoNetMail
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Anyone running Fido on an Otrona, or who knows how to run Fido on
an Otrona, please contact 107/8 as soon as possible.
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Fidonews Page 20 3 Mar 1986
