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BTN: Birmingham Telecommunications News
COPYRIGHT 1989
August 1989 Volume 2, Issue 8
Table Of Contents
-----------------
Article Title Author
Policy Statement and Disclaimer................Idiot-In-Chief
Editorial Column...............................Randy Hilliard
About FidoNet..................................Howard Duck
Atlas Technology RAM Expansion Card............Mark Maisel
Insights.......................................Ron Albright
Space Travel, Via Modem........................Barry Bowden
Update: SAS 2.0................................Mark Maisel
Pathminder.....................................Doug Reinsch
Backup Those Files.............................Joe Kearley
ProFile........................................Chris Mohney
From The Kitchen...............................Chez Stephan
News Bits......................................Barry Bowden
Message Board..................................Barry Bowden
Our Local Bulletin Board Systems...............Mark Maisel
Known BBS Numbers..............................Mark Maisel
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer and Statement of Policy for BTN
We at BTN try our best to assure the accuracy of articles and
information in our publication. We assume no responsibility for
damage due to errors, omissions, etc. The liability,if any for BTN, its
editors and writers, for damages relating to any errors or omissions,
etc., shall be limited to the cost of a one year subscription to BTN,
even if BTN, its editors or writers have been advised of the likelihood
of such damages occurring.
With the conclusion of that nasty business, we can get on with our
policy for publication and reproduction of BTN articles. We publish
monthly with a deadline of the fifteenth of the month prior to
publication. If you wish to submit an article, you may do so at any
time but bear in mind the deadline if you wish for your work to appear
in a particular issue. It is not our purpose to slander or otherwise
harm a person or reputation and we accept no responsibility for the
content of the articles prepared by our writers. Our writers own their
work and it is protected by copyright. We allow reprinting of articles
from BTN with only a few restrictions. The author may object to a
reprint, in which case he will specify in the content of his article.
Otherwise, please feel free to reproduce any article from BTN as long as
the source, BTN, is specified, and as long as the author's name and the
article's original title are retained. If you use one of our articles,
please forward a copy of your publication to:
Mark Maisel
Editor, BTN
221 Chestnut St.
BHM, AL 35210-3219
We thank you for taking the time to read our offering and we hope that
you like it. We also reserve the right to have a good time while doing
all of this and not get too serious about it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W S F L A S H
AFTER SEVERAL DELAYS, THE LONG AWAITED INDEX FOR BTN IS NOW
AVAILABLE FOR YOUR CONSUMPTION AND USE! PLEASE TAKE TIME TO DOWNLOAD
THIS VALUABLE RESOURCE AND USE IT AS A REFERENCE FOR EXTRACTING
INFORMATION FROM BACK ISSUES OF BTN. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR PROVIDER
OF THIS INDEX SO:
T H A N K Y O U ! ! !
The filename for the first index of BTN is BTNNDX01.ZIP. It
contains five files, an introduction, and four text files which contain
the index sorted in four different ways. These are by author & title,
title & author, issue & author, and subject & author.
Please post your comments, thoughts, ideas, and criticisms of this
new by-product of BTN so that we may better know how to provide the kind
of publication and services that you want to read each month.
Thank you,
Mark Maisel, Idiot-In-Chief
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Editorial Column
by Randy Hilliard
For those of you who have second sight (I.E. have to look twice to
make sure) I'll take the time to point out the lack of 'Guest' in the
title of this little memo of mine. It seems that I have been doing this
little ditty long enough that Mark gave me a few powers of my own; the
power to find another sucker... I mean volunteer. Once I have done so
I can lapse back into my normally somnambulistic character whilst still
enjoying the 15% pay raise Mark gave me last month.
At any rate this issue of BTN rivals the last few issues. Its
still as attractive as a two-headed dog, it still crawls on its belly
like a reptile, its still FREE! It rivals the others in the fact that
this is the largest issue since #8 (and that depends on how wordy I get
right here!)
Our first guest article this month is an article on FIDONET written
by the Sysop of the Duck Pond - Mr. Howard T. Duck. For those of you
(us) who wanted to know just what FIDONET was and is, this is a good
primer.
Our second guest article is the third in a series by Ron Albright
on the benefits available on-line via the modem.
Our third guest article is by Barry Bowden and covers a slightly
different channel of information to those interested in Space; courtesy
of NASA via a local BBS.
Our forth guest article is by another local Sysop, Joe Kearley -
The Joker's Castle - on the benefits garnered by regularly backing up
your hard disk.
Our fifth (and final) guest article is by Barry Bowden on two new
(to us) users groups that are here in Birmingham.
Did I mention that this was also a product reviews issue? Why, fer
sure it is!
We have a review of the Atlas Technology RAM Expansion Card by Mark
Maisel, a update of the Swiss Army Shell, now version 2.0 by Mark
Maisel, and a review of the PathMinder DOS shell by Doug Reinsch.
And now a word from our sponsor: ...Rutabega!
What a wonderful word. Let's see... Chez Stephan is back with
some more kitchen wizardry; our ProFile this month is on Tyros; Barry
Bowden has the Message Board for August; the Local BBS Spotlight this
month is on LZ Birmingham; and all of this is followed by the Known BSS
number list.
If you think that you might be interested in writing either a
regular article or a guest article for BTN and garner all of the
accouterments and accolades that accompany such a position just leave
Mark Maisel or myself a message stating your wishes on EzNet, The
Crunchy Frog, or Channel 8250 (we hang out in some strange places) and
we will be more than happy to accommodate you.
Like I said; all I have to do is find ONE suc... err... volunteer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
About FidoNet
Copyright 1989
by Howard Duck
SysOp of The DUCK Pond [1:3602/42] @ (205) 822-0956
I want you to know it's not my fault. I squirmed and wriggled but
to no avail... still, Mark got me. About a month ago (See how well I've
procrastinated?), I got a request from Mark Maisel, illustrious editor
of this journal, asking me to contribute an article or two about
FidoNet. I really didn't think I had anything to say, but Mark thought
differently. He said he wasn't all that familiar with FidoNet and
believed that most of his readers probably weren't either.
So here it is: everything you always wanted to know about FidoNet
but couldn't find anyone to ask. I guess the place to begin is with the
answer to the question, what is FidoNet? Well, it's an association of
electronic mail systems running on personal computers. Now that is
probably not what most of you who have some familiarity with FidoNet
would have given as a definition. Most would have likely said it's an
association of BBSes, and that is primarily true. Most of FidoNet is
made up of public-access Bulletin Board Systems, but some FidoNet
members are simply individuals with their own private message-sending
systems. Being a public BBS system is not the purpose of FidoNet.
FidoNet's purpose is to distribute electronic messages. The primary and
almost the only requirement for joining FidoNet is to have a personal
computer capable of sending and receiving electronic mail in a manner
compatible with the FidoNet protocol, a protocol developed by Tom
Jennings in 1984, and placed soon afterward into the public domain. The
network gets its name from the original Fido BBS run by Tom in San
Francisco. Supposedly the BBS was named after Tom's dog. The logo one
saw when logging onto his Fido BBS was an ASCII sketch of a dog and a
fire hydrant (no, not in the position some of the more vulgar-minded of
you might be imagining). In most respects, Fido was like other BBSes
you see today (many are copies of Tom's work) but with Fido, Tom
introduced a means of connecting individual systems via ordinary
voice-grade telephone lines. Tom, in San Francisco, wanted to keep in
contact with another BBS operator in Baltimore and take advantage of
those great low rates that were only available at odd hours of the
morning. Thus he created a mail system that could link the two boards,
and from just two BBSes in two U.S. cities in 1984 grew FidoNet, a
network that now includes more than 5,000 systems in over 30 countries.
(A partial list covering only North America is available for viewing on
our BBS. It is called NODETEXT.BBS and takes up over 300K-bytes.) So,
now, how does FidoNet work? In most cases, users access FidoNet through
a local bulletin board. In most cases, although access to the BBS is
free and open, access to the message areas of a FidoNet board require
application and sometimes a fee. Actually, a fee is generally required
only for a type of electronic message called NetMail or EMail, the kind
of message service that started FidoNet. There is another kind of
message service that fees are not generally charged for and that is
called EchoMail. EchoMail areas are "shared message bases" while
NetMail areas are something like post office boxes. EchoMail on one
board appears on every other board willing to participate in that
conference group, but a NetMail message entered on one board travels
only to a particular destination board where the addressee is expected
to pick his message up. Although the rules governing these two services
vary from board to board, I'll try to explain the differences between
them in terms of how they are implemented on my own board. On The DUCK
Pond, Echo Mail is a free service open to all users of normal privilege
level or above, that is to all users who have completed a simple
questionnaire and agreed to abide by the rules of the BBS. A normal
user can enter any of several Echo areas and read or post messages.
Messages must be public in these areas and above all, must be on-topic.
On our board there are over a dozen Echo areas. These include a "help"
area for MS-DOS users, an area for computer game players, an area for
comic book fans, an area for C programmers, and several areas for Amiga
users. (We are primarily a board set up to support Amiga computer
users. In fact, in my 'humble and unbiased' opinion, we are the best
Amiga board in the state!) If you examine the messages in these areas
you'll see they come from many places. The 'origin line' at the bottom
of each message identifies the BBS on which the message was entered.
Some are from as far away as Australia. Most are from other BBSes in
the U.S. and Canada. The cost of sending and acquiring EchoMail is
borne by the SysOp (me!). Each night my BBS automatically calls other
BBSes and picks up these messages, adding them to those already on our
BBS. In my case, I pick up about 600 new messages each night, and of
course, I send out a few messages entered by some of our own users
during the previous day. Messages entered in our BBS's echo areas can
wind up on BBSes anywhere in the world, although it may take a few days
for the message to make its way to the more distant BBSes. In the case
of NetMail, the user requests permission to use the system's NetMail
area, normally hidden from view of the average user. The NetMail user
must front a fee of $20 to cover his or her usage of the BBS's message
service. It typically costs 35 cents to send a NetMail message to any
other BBS in the U.S. and each time the user enters a message, that
amount is deducted from the original payment. The advantage a NetMail
user has over an EchoMail user is that the message goes wherever the
sender wants it to go and only there, plus the message is " private"
rather than viewable by all the other users as in the Echo areas. Most
importantly, perhaps, is that the message usually gets to its
destination overnight. EchoMail can conceivably take a week to get to
the more distant BBSes. Most NetMail is transferred between 3 and 4
a.m. C.S.T., so any message entered here in the evening will likely
reach its targeted recipient by the time he or she wakes up the next
morning. All the recipient needs to do is log on to his or her local
FidoNet board and read the waiting mail. Not many use this feature of
FidoNet, but there are a number of loyal users who find it much more
efficient and enjoyable than the old fashioned methods of the U.S.
Postal Service.
Well, that's essentially it. (Mark, does that answer your
questions?)I guess the best way to find out about FidoNet, though, is
just to call your local FidoNet BBS and see for yourself. Our BBS, The
DUCKPond at 822-0956, is open 23 hours each day.
It is unavailable to human users during the 3-4 AM CST (4-5 AM
daylight) national mail hour when North American (Zone 1) FidoNet boards
exchange mail. First time users are asked to answer a questionnaire and
after I approve the application are allowed to use the EchoMail areas.
Additional application must be made to use the NetMail area. If you are
a SysOp in the Birmingham area, and think you may wish to join FidoNet,
just call me up and leave me a message in area one. I'll try to answer
any questions you may have. If you are not yet a SysOp but are
considering starting your own board, then you might be interested in
taking a look at OPUS. It's the BBS software we are using and it's
public domain like most of the Fido compatible software used in the net.
Again, feel free to leave me a message if you have any questions about
FidoNet or OPUS. I'll try to help.
(G'bye Mark)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Atlas Technology RAM Expansion Card
by Mark Maisel
Do you ever become aggravated over never having enough room in
memory to cram that network software, TSR, or other goodie that makes
life so much easier? Here is one possible solution that works very well.
It is not expanded, extended, or any other exotic form of memory
expansion. This memory is DOS usable in every way for most
applications. It is a card that gives you an extra 64K of memory for
DOS to use however it pleases, with one exception which we will get to
later.
This extra 64K of memory comes on a less than half-sized card that
is easily installed and requires no switching of any switches, flipping
of dips, or any other annoying setup. All you need to do is add the
driver that brings it to life in your CONFIG.SYS file. After that, get
used to the luxury of having an extra 64K available.
I have tried this card with all my text-oriented software and it
works beautifully. It is very nice to be able to shell out of one
application and still have a sizable chunk of RAM still available for
something else. I use Norton Commander as a DOS shell and now it is
very easy to keep it in RAM and run other applications without giving up
too much memory.
Before I started using this card in my system, I would have 560K
available from DOS before loading any shell or TSR utilities. After
installation, I have 640K free and this makes my work run much smoother.
The benefits of this card easily are shown if you use network software,
large data bases, documents, or spreadsheets.
The only drawback of this card is that it will not allow EGA or VGA
high resolution graphics software to work correctly. I tried to use
some of my paint programs with the driver software both in and out of
memory and it would not work. Removing the card is the only way to get
your high resolution graphics software to work. I spoke with the
designer of this card and he told me that this incompatibility is
inevitable because EGA and VGA systems compete with the card for the
first available memory above what DOS allocates for itself. The designer
told me that the primary market for the card is the users who needs more
room for network software and large data bases. For these users the
graphics problem is generally not important.
I heartily recommend this card to you if you are a network, data
base, or spreadsheet user and are tired of running out of RAM just as
you are building up steam. The space you gain really takes some stress
away from you when you would otherwise have to worry about running out
of room. The price, I just know you have been waiting for this, is only
$149.95 and it is well worth it if it fits your need.
The Atlas Technology Memory Enhancement System
$149.95 for 64K-bytes of DOS usable RAM above the 640K-bytes limit
Atlas Technology
3900 Montclair Road
Birmingham, AL 35213
(205) 871-9555
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Insights
by Ron Albright
Copyright (C) 1989 Ron Albright
As you have heard me say in previous installments, one of the most
useful characteristics of personal computers is their ability to
communicate with each other. It was one of the first functions developed
in the earliest days of computer design. From the primitive days of the
'dumb terminals' (little more than a cathode- ray tube and a keyboard
wired to a mainframe computer), the ability to exchange information from
a central storage unit to remote locations has always been a useful
function in varied applications. As the personal computers and their
software matured, word- processing, databases, spreadsheets, and
graphics supplanted inter-computer communications as the primary reason
for buying and using PC's. Most surveys show that only 10-15 per cent of
PC's are equipped with modems. Despite the plummeting prices of modems
(the hardware needed for communications) and despite the proliferation
of remote databases capable of providing information on virtually any
subject imaginable, the 'communicating computer' remains an exceptional
beast.
With access to so many varied computer databases, information
sources, and communication systems from your home computer, why have you
not started using the telecommunication capability it has within it? I
know why! The technology is just too complicated and vague. First, the
books available on the subject already expect you to be strongly
'computer literate.' Most are written for the "hacker" - that rare breed
who know everything about a computer down to every bit, byte and chip.
They are just plain hard to understand or too lengthy to be digested.
Secondly, the companies that provide information sources have done a
poor job defining what you can do 'online.' Buzzwords like 'electronic
mail,' and 'software downloading' are bantered about but no one has
taken the time or the effort to explain what they mean and how they can
be used to benefit your business or your personal lives.
Let's remedy the second problem first, and then I'll tell you how
to solve the first. To do the job of the information providers first,
here are just some examples of what can be accomplished by using your
computer to communicate:
1. Attend courses for college credit right from your home (TeleLearning
Systems, Inc., 505 Beach St., San Francisco, CA 94133)
2. Save money by booking your next airfare and lodging through
Easy-Sabre's Travel Service (Delphi).
3. Buy a VCR, a mink coat, or imported coffee (and more) on Compu-Store
(Delphi, GEnie) or CompuServe's own Electronic Mall.
4. Find business opportunities and obtain capital worldwide on the
Global Venture Network (Delphi) or the International Entrepreneurial
Network (CompuServe).
5. Locate hard to find medical information on rare illnesses in the
National Organization of Rare Diseases' database (CompuServe).
6. Send a Telex message to a business or friend around the world
(CompuServe, Delphi).
7. Read and search through over 300 high-priced newsletters from every
imaginable industry (NewsNet).
8. Read today's Wall Street Journal or search through any issues back
several years for any story or topic you choose (DJNS).
9. Check Japan's KYODO news service for the latest news or quotes from
the major Japanese markets and exchanges (DJNS, Delphi).
10. Hire a large research firm to search the world's electronic
databases for any topic or company you wish (IOD on The Source; TII
on Delphi).
11. Need to send a message to a foreign country that must be translated?
Transmit the English prose from your computer to Delphi and have it
translated to any of several languages and returned to you in less
than a week (TII on Delphi).
12. Concerned enough about AIDS to get the latest information and ask
questions of informed professionals? Then use the CAIN database
(Delphi).
13. Get abstracts of the published reviews of software and hardware
before your next purchase on MicroSearch (CompuServe).
14. Check book reviews from Salem Press, Inc., before you buy any
technical or professional books. (DJNS)
15. Decide which video to rent this weekend from reviews of thousands of
movies dating back to 1926 on CineMan (DJNS).
16. Help choose you or your child's college from comparative data
provided on more than 3000 2- or 4-year colleges and universities
from Peterson's Guides (DJNS).
17. Find about the intricacies of running a business from home from the
experts and those who are already doing it successfully (The
"Work-At-Home" Special Interest Group on CompuServe; HOSB SIG on
GEnie).
18. Enroll in a professionally-designed Stop Smoking program and be
coached and counselled online from home (CompuServe).
19. Set up a series of words or terms related to your business and have
the NewsGrid editors of COMTEX search 7 news services each day for
stories related to your specific interests (GEnie).
20. If you're looking for a stock with a dividend yield of 5 per cent or
more or a low p/e of 10 or less, let the Vestor stock database make
suggestions and offer detailed reports for your investments (GEnie).
21. Starting a new business or planning to relocate? Have the SuperSite
database provide concise demographics and forecasts for any area of
the country along with sales potential estimates (CompuServe).
22. If you don't want to miss a single press release from anyone
involved in your industry, check in regularly on the Business Wire.
The Wire provides the full-text of press releases announcing new
products, legal action, financial information, and personnel actions
(CompuServe or //RELEASE on DJNS).
23. Before you invest your money, check out the real financial health of
your planned stock buys. On Value Line you can find quarterly and
annual reports of 2700 major U.S. companies listed on the NYSE,
American Stock Exchange and the over-the-counter market.
Professional evaluations and forecasts are also available
(CompuServe).
24. For those who need to keep up with the business literature but
cannot afford to subscribe to all the magazines, check Management
Contents and search for just the areas that interest you - from
accounting to marketing to management. Over 100 business journals
and newsletters are abstracted and can be searched by keywords and
as far back as two years (The Source).
25. BIZDATE provides an electronic newsletter that is revised 55 times
every business day. Information is drawn from government
announcements, UPI, U.S. News Washington Letter, the Commodity News
Services, and other sources to produce reports on wide range of
financial and business topics (The Source).
26. Trying to find anything at all - and I mean anything? Check in on
Western Union's InfoMaster and have access to over 800 electronic
databases covering every subject imaginable. Searches are simple and
menu-driven so you don't need to be a "info-guru" to effectively
use the system (Western Union Infomaster, 1 Lake Street, Upper
Saddle River, NJ 07458; (800) 247-1373).
27. Maintain an electronic portfolio with Quick & Reilly (120 Wall
Street, NY, NY 10005) on CompuServe or Spear Securities (626
Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90017) on The Source and buy and sell
stocks on a 24-hour basis (execution, of course, during normal
business hours).
28. Read the full-text of the weekly newsletter "Futures Focus," dealing
with the futures market, industry news, and trading tips (Delphi).
29. Interested in incorporating your business? Check the "Incorporating
Guide" (Corporate Agents, 4305 Lancaster Pike, Wilmington, DE 19899;
(800) 441-9975) and find descriptions and analysis of 7 types of
corporations and the requirements for each of the 50 states (based
on government reports and state law) (CompuServe).
30. Did Bill Cosby really earn a Doctorate and, if so, what was his
thesis? Check Marquis' Who's Who (Knowledge Index). He did, by the
way and his thesis was on how the "Fat Albert" character can be
used to teach children social values.
When you consider that you can answer questions related to your
business and studies, can communicate and leave messages to associates
and friends across the country (not to mention the fact that you will
make new friends online!), and can gather new software programs across
the phone lines to be run right on your system - among dozens of other
applications - there is no reason to remain on the fringes of
computer-based communications! It time to wake up to these capabilities
and start applying them to productively to, virtually, every facet of
your daily lives.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Space Travel, via Modem
by Barry Bowden
While cruising thru the interstellar lines one morning I found an
interesting conference on Wells American BBS (known around these parsecs
as American BBS) titled NASA Conference. Being a curious fellow I docked
up and found an amazing amount of information. It seems NASA (National
Aeronautics and Space Administration) has set up a BBS to keep the
public abreast of current news on its space program and is run out of
the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The
system was put online in February 1988 and has 14 megabytes of main
memory, 708 megabytes of disk storage and can communicate with eight
callers simultaneously at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud.
The system was initially set up for teachers who wanted help if
arranging classroom activities that included information and/or
scientific principles relating to the space program.
The NASA Conference on American BBS allows users to view bulletins
on the past weeks daily news releases, shuttle status, a weekly status
on Magellan and even a Space Shuttle manifest. The conference has a
wealth of information and should satisfy any space nuts out there.
Randy started the conference because he had a hard time finding
news on what was going on and decided to do something about it. After
several months of talking with the public relations people Randy set up
the NASA Conference about the first of June and all of of his users love
it. Even the president of the Birmingham Astronomical Society calls
regularly to answer any questions and keeps everyone up to date with
upcoming events.
So, if you are interested in space, give the American BBS a call
and enjoy ...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: SAS 2.0
by Mark Maisel
Since our review of SAS, Swiss Army Shell, the author, Steve Lee,
has made many improvements and enhancements to his product. Many of the
changes are the results of suggestions offered here and by other users.
We felt it appropriate to let you know about the new release of this
fine DOS shell.
Among the features included in version 2.0 are mouse control in
lieu of the keyboard, support of both ZIP and ARC formats, and a much
more flexible installation procedure. There is also an option that has
SAS offer your favorite 10 pieces of software in a menu for execution
from within SAS.
There is a price to be exacted for these features. RAM
requirements have grown quite a bit. If you have 640K-bytes or more of
RAM, then this should not be too much of a problem. When you tell SAS
which applications it may call for you, you can tell SAS to remove
itself from RAM or remain depending upon your needs. PAKView, the ARC &
ZIP viewer program that works with SAS, does not support the mouse or
allow viewing of files within an ARC or ZIP. The author says that he
has some code that will handle the viewing directly and will support the
mouse in the next major release.
Good shareware, such as SAS, is hard to find. The author has
indicated an interest in re-writing an object oriented SAS using the new
Turbo Pascal 5.5 but has been dismayed at the lack of support thus
far. SAS is deserving of support by users who find it to fit their need
and such support certainly will inspire the author to work on his product.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pathminder - Westlake Data's OTHER Product
By Douglas A. Reinsch
Some people just won't take no for an answer. When I told Mark
that there was no way he could get me to write another BTN article, he
produced some rather interesting photographs the subject of which
doesn't look anything like me. However, on the outside chance that he
has more believable shots, I felt it expedient to write another piece.
If you're like me, then you don't exactly look forward to reading
reviews of software unless you are actually shopping for that particular
type of software. With that in mind I'm going to try to give you the
flavor of a package that I dearly love hopefully without boring you to
death (Well for some of you it might be a good thing if you get
"something-ed" to death, but we won't go into that here since it could
be argued that I am included in that number).
From the early days of my computer experience I searched in vain
for the perfect shell (For the sake of discussion we will define a shell
as any software which acts as a user interface, buffering the user from
working directly with DOS). Being a cheapskate, anything that hit the
public domain was a primary target, and for a long time the best user
configurable shell I could find was Automenu. While it didn't give a
very flexible shell, it did allow the user to set up fairly complex
menus to automate everyday functions (in COLOR too!). Automenu is still
a very good product and is quite useful in certain applications, but the
natural conclusion of this choice is that I still did many things from
DOS by hand. Automenu is very tedious without a hard drive (which at
the time I did not have), and just wasn't flexible enough as the
exclusive interface to DOS.
Upon entering my current job a couple of years ago I was
introduced to a product called Pathminder by Westlake Data Corporation.
Some of you may recognize Westlake Data as the manufacturer of PC
Fullback, a popular utility for backing up hard drives.
I have this theory about software user friendliness; if I can
pick up the software, without reading the documentation, load it into my
computer, run it and manage to explore most of its features without
getting bogged down, then the software is satisfactorily user friendly.
Pathminder passes this test with flying colors. In fact, probably the
best selling point that Pathminder ever had for me is the fact that you
don't HAVE to do anything in Pathminder. At any time you can hit "C"
(for Compose Command) and type in an old faithful DOS command. For the
most part, if you can run it from DOS then you can run it from within
Pathminder (even Microsoft Windows!).
In Pathminder the screen is broken into three sections. Across
the top is a command line. Filling the left side of the screen is a
window showing a file listing of the current drive, and the right side
of the screen has a window which can be configured to show: a help
screen, a status screen or a tree view of the current drive. Any of
these last three can be brought up with a single keystroke at any time,
but normally it is helpful to leave it in status screen mode.
The status screen displays a number of useful dynamic stats. At
the top it shows the current time and date for those of you who have
trouble with time- space relationships. Below that is a window which
shows the drive letter and the volume label along with the number of
bytes total, used and free on the current drive. Below this window is
another that shows the total, used and free bytes of main memory. One
drawback to this memory status is that it does not display extended or
expanded memory. Lastly, the bottom window shows who the current user
is, for use in a system usage log. This last is not useful at all
unless you have multiple people using the same machine, AND you actually
care how much each one of them uses it. If so, then the system log will
track who is using the computer and every program they run. Just in
passing, Westlake sells a version of Pathminder that can be password
protected and that provides some system management functions. My
personal opinion is that Pathminder does not make a good choice from a
security view however. Like Norton's Utilities, Pathminder can be very
useful and powerful, but if you mess up then God help you to recover
(and His consulting fee is usually pretty high).
The file listing to the left in Pathminder is deceivingly simple
and powerful. A highlight bar is positioned at the center of the screen.
The up and down arrows move the displayed directory so that you can
position any file or subdirectory name under the bar. From this point
you may execute a highlighted file by pressing Enter. EXE, COM and BAT
files execute directly, and believe it or not Pathminder will
automatically load Basic to execute a Basic program as well. Pressing
Enter with any other type of file will earn you a warning message that
only EXE, COM, BAT and BAS files are executable. If you are highlighting
a subdirectory name, then you can press Insert to "open" the directory.
That directory's files will then be shown under the directory name with
proper indentation to differentiate from the main directory files. To
"close" the directory back to just a name again, you can press Delete.
It is appropriate here to move on to the command line, because the
earlier program executions were not really that simple. As I said,
using the up and down arrows moves your position in the displayed
directory, but the left and right arrows move a highlighter from one
command to the next on the command line. The default position of this
command pointer is the "RUN" command. You could just as easily move the
command highlighter over to "EDIT" and hit return. At this point
Pathminder will attempt to open the current file in its internal editor.
The editor is nothing to write home about, but it is a decent, full
screen, quick-and-dirty editor (Come to think of it, if you change the
first two to indecent and full figured, that sounds a lot like the BTN
editor doesn't it). As an aside, you could also have hit the "E" key
while highlighting the desired file, and the editor would have kicked
in as well.
Two more of the command line entries are "FILE" and "DIRECTORY".
Selecting one of these commands will take you to a sub-menu which will
allow you to find, copy, type, rename, move, erase, kill, encrypt,
decrypt or change the attributes of a file and open, close, sort,
create, erase or rename a subdirectory. Explanation is in order for
some of these. First, Pathminder will move files from one directory to
another but only on the same drive. Move is also nondestructive, meaning
if you try to move a file on top of another file with the same name,
Pathminder will beep and refuse to move the file. Kill is different
from erase in that it completely overwrites the marked file(s) contents
so that even all of Norton's horses and men could not put it together
again.
This brings me to another point which has been unmentioned till
now. When you select any file command which you might logically want to
perform on multiple files (such as a move or erase), Pathminder will
prompt you to "Mark" each file by hitting the space bar. After marking
the desired files, Pathminder will prompt once more to make certain you
know what you're requesting, then it executes. At any time within
Pathminder you can hit Escape to back out of or halt the current
operation. Hitting Escape several times will get you out of anything,
back to the main command menu.
The ATTRIBUTES command will allow you to write protect or hide
files and visa versa. Hidden files do not display on the screen as
would be expected. Files can be TYPED to the screen or to a printer,
and all page formats can be preset through another menu option. The
SORT command under DIRECTORY will allow you to display directories
sorted by name, extension, Date/Time, Size or without any sort.
The next major entry on the command line is OPTION. This command
will allow you to modify virtually any parameter in Pathminder including
the default right window view, the screen colors, whether the editor is
full or half screen and whether Pathminder should treat you as a novice
user (prompting after every command for verification) or as an expert
(letting you do whatever you like no matter how ill-advised that is).
This is also where all printer options can be adjusted, since Pathminder
supports full page layout features. From under OPTION you may also
change the disk drive which you are currently viewing.
The last entry under OPTION allows you to create a user defined
menu. This menu is accessible from the main menu by the command
APPLICATION. You can make submenus several levels deep, but each menu
cannot be greater than ten entries long due to space constraints. To
execute a menu entry you may move the highlight bar as before or type
the first capital letter in the menu entry's name. For clarity then,
each menu entry should have a different leading capital letter, but the
capital letter need not be the first letter in the name. Hence,
"Procomm" and "pRintshop" are both valid menu entries that will not
conflict in execution. From the OPTIONs menu you must tell Pathminder a
name, a directory, a file specification and any parameters which must
follow on the command line. You may also enter a description line which
will display when the entry is highlighted. Parameters include
variables allowing you to place information that will only be known at
execution time into the command line. For instance, one variable
inserts the currently highlighted filename. Another will prompt you for
input with a customized prompt at execution. Within these constraints
just about any program can be added to your customized Pathminder menu
to be executed with two or three keystrokes.
If you do not have a particular program in your menus, then you
can use the COMPOSE command from the main menu. Pressing "C" will bring
up a blank line letting you type any valid DOS command sequence. Hitting
Enter will then execute the command in DOS. COMPOSE remembers the last
composed command entered and will allow you to edit without having to
retype a whole command line after a simple syntax error.
Overall, Pathminder is a very powerful and friendly user
interface. Its few failings are easily forgotten once you grow
accustomed to the user definable menus, since all of your favorite
programs are as accessible as you make them to be. This review has not
described all of the power to be found in Pathminder, but if you have
survived reading this far, then you have a very good idea of what
Pathminder can do. The most negative thing I can say is that since
Pathminder has become more popular over the past year, they raised the
price from $35 to $45. Pathminder is worth every penny though.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Backup Those Files
by Joe Kearley
How many times have you been working on a project or just writing
an article, when all of a sudden......ZAP!!!! There goes all or your
work into the land of WOBEGONE. It can be very frustrating to say the
least.
From personal experience with running a board, I know how important
making backups can be. If I had not had a "sorta" recent backup of the
board when I had a disk crash recently, I would have been in a very
sorry predicament. Remember when the BIG thunderstorm came through about
a month ago? I have a few very tall trees around my house and one of
them had the top of it torn off by the wind and tossed on my neighbors
power lines. Needless to say, the lines came down which caused a very
large short circuit that sent a huge power surge through my house. Guess
what?? The computer got zapped. When I got home from work and
discovered what had happened, I feared the worst. I discovered that the
power supply had bit the dust. Well I could not find out what else might
have happened until I replaced it. It took me about a week to get
another one installed and when I finally powered up I discovered the hard
drive had been corrupted. I had no choice but to reformat. If I had not
had the backups I would have had to start over from scratch with the
board. So from personal experience, I can say.....no matter how much of
a pain in the rear making backups are, if you don't do them, you are
risking MUCH HEARTACHE.
The method I am using is making a full backup once a week with
incremental backups of files that change once a day. This seems to be
the best all around solution for my use.
I hope this little article might open a few eyes to the importance
of making backups and will save someone from the land of WOEBEGONE.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ProFile
by Chris Mohney
ProFile is a short, half-serious biographical sketch given to
various computer telecommunications personalities around Birmingham.
Victims are selected randomly from a group of names put into the
notorious Hat. Anyone who thinks himself brave or witty enough may
petition for admittance to the Hat by leaving E-Mail to me (Chris
Mohney, most boards around town) to that effect. Anyone who wishes to
suggest more questions or sneakily nominate someone without their
knowledge may take the same route....
---------
Pro File on SCOTT HOLLIFIELD
---------
Age: 19
Birthplace: (officially on record as) Birmingham, AL
Occupation: Candidate, U.S. Senate
My hobbies include: Reading, listening, talking, gathering intelligence
Years Telecomputing: About 6
Sysop, Past/Present/Future of: Hopefully, future sysop of the Doppler
Effect, the world's first liquid-oxygen
powered BBS (coming in 1990)
My oddest habit: Calling people Kenneth and asking them what the
frequency is
My greatest unfulfilled ambition: Complete adjustment and assimilation
into this strange planet you call
Earth
The single accomplishment
of which I am most proud: The establishment of what is apparently a
well-known BBS presence
My favorite performers are: Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, the Smithereens,
Squeeze, U2
The last good movie I saw was: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The last good book I read was: VEIL: The Secret Wars of the CIA
1981-1987, by Bob Woodward
If they were making a movie of my
life, I'd like to see my part played by: Either David Byrne or Matt Frewer
My pet peeves are: Intolerance, narrow-mindedness, unwillingness to
face the future, and ear-scratching.
When nobody's looking, I like to: Radio headquarters with my latest
report.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From The Kitchen
by Chez Stephan
Hello again and how have you been? Summer is a time when we lose a
little of those extra pounds we have if for no other reason than the
fact that we are finally a little more active than those winter months.
So let's see what we can do to rectify that situation.
Were gonna start with scallops in a cream sauce:
Start by making a medium cream sauce. This is easy: to make 1 cup
of basic cream sauce (white sauce) melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a
saucepan over low heat. When melted add 2 tablespoons of all-purpose
flour. Blend together. Add to this mixture 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup
of half and half. When this starts to thicken add 1/4 teaspoon of salt,
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard, 1 tablespoon of tarragon, 3/4 tablespoon of
sweet basil and a couple of good dashes of red pepper as well as a dash
of white pepper. Saute 1 pound of scallops in 2 tablespoons of butter.
When they are done add, to sauce and mix well. Keep the sauce stirred
during preparation.
This mixture can be used many ways. You can serve it over rice or
spaghetti. You can place it in a small baking dish and cover the top
with a mild white cheese and bake until cheese is slightly browned. Or
you can get real fancy and place in individual baking dishes cover with
a thin pastry crust and bake until golden brown. One aside here is that
if you will brush the tops of the pastry with butter when it starts to
brown you will add a more even and richer color to the pastry. You can
also substitute a number of other seafoods in this recipe. Try lump crab
meat that has been well picked.
Try broiled tomatoes with the above dish:
Wash the number of desired tomatoes. Turn upside down an cut about
1/16 of the tomato off. Place tomato in a baking dish cut side up. Place
1 tablespoon of butter on top of tomato. sprinkle tomato with salt,
pepper, cumin, oregano, and top off with some Romano or Parmigiana
cheese. Place tomatoes about 4 to 5 inches from the broiler element and
broil until cheese browns. Remove from oven and serve hot.
Snow pudding for dessert:
3/4 cup of sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel (actually zest are better)
1/4 cup of lemon juice (use the store bought if you have to)
2 egg whites
In a saucepan, combine sugar, gelatin and salt; add 1/2 cup of
cold water. Stir over low heat till dissolved. Remove from heat; add 3/4
cup of cold water, lemon peel and juice. Chill until partially set. Turn
into a large bowl; add egg whites. Beat with electric mixer till mixture
begins to hold its shape. Chill in eight parfait glasses. Can be served
with either a custard sauce or sprinkled with coconut flakes.
I would really like to hear from you folks as to the recipes
themselves as well as any ideas you might have as to future articles. If
you have any questions or comments then leave Mark mail in the BTN
conference on the Crunchy Frog or The Bus. Thanks loads and I hope you
enjoy.
Ciao
Chez Stephan
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
News Bits
by Barry Bowden
I have stumbled across two 'new' user groups in Birmingham for
everyone to enjoy. They are the CAD Users of Birmingham (CADUB) and the
First Osborne (hope that's spelled right) Users Group (FAOUG).
The CAD Users of Birmingham has been meeting for about two and a
half years and has focused its attention on AutoCAD, its uses and
shortcuts. Bobby Benson, president of the group, said that there are
about 25 companies represented in their membership and they try to help
each other out since for them, time is money. Bobby also stated the
group has a newsletter and library for its members dealing strictly with
AutoCAD. If you are interested in attending one of their meetings call
Bobby Benson at 791-0426 (home) or 995-0190 (work). They meet on the
third Tuesday of the month between 6:30 and 8:30 P.M.
First Alabama Osborne Users Group is certainly no newcomer to the
user group scene. The group was established over six years ago in
response to the lack of information on Osborne CP\M machines by its
users AND dealers. Over the years, the FAOUG members have migrated over
to MS-DOS and some MAC computers, but the group itself is mostly Osborne
oriented. The library has over 300 disks available to its members as
well as a monthly newsletter. FAOUG meets on the first Saturday of the
month at 1:00 P.M. For more information please contact Ed Purquez at
669-5200 (home).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
MESSAGE BOARD
by Barry Bowden
AUGUST 1989
S M T W T F S
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 30
August 5 BIPUG
August 5 FAOUG
August 8 CCS (C64/C128)
August 13 BCCC
August 14 BACE
August 15 CADUB
August 18 BEPCUG
August 21 CCS (Amiga)
August 22 CCS (C64/C128)
August 27 BCCC
BEPCUG CCS
Birmingham East PC Users Group Commodore Club South
Jefferson Sate Jr. College Springville Road Library
Ruby Carson Hall, Rm 114 2nd & 4th Tuesday (C64/C128)
3rd Friday, 7-9 PM 3rd Monday (Amiga)
Paula Ballard 251-6058 (after 5PM) 7:30-10 PM
Maurice Lovelady 684-6843
BCCC BIPUG
Birmingham Commodore Computer Club Birmingham IBM-PC Users Group
POB 59564 UAB Nutrition Science Blg
Birmingham, Al 35259 RM 535/541
UAB School of Education, Rm 153 1st Sunday (delayed one week
2nd and 4th Sundays, 2 PM if meeting is a holiday)
Rusty Hargett 854-5172 Marty Schulman 967-5883
BACE FAOUG
Birmingham Atari Computer First Alabama Osborne Users
Enthusiast Group
Vestavia Library, downstairs Homewood Library
2nd Monday, 7 PM 1st Saturday, 1PM
Benny Brown 822-5059 Ed Purquez 669-5200
CADUB
CAD Users of Birmingham
Homewood Library
3rd Tuesday, 6:30PM-8:30PM
Bobby Benson 791-0426
If you belong to or know of a user group that is not listed, please let
me know by sending E-Mail to me thru EzNet or on The Bus System BBS.
Please leave the group name and a contact person/phone number.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Local Bulletin Board Systems
Number Six In A Series
by Mark Maisel
Name: LZ Birmingham
Sysop: Loren Levson
Software: PCBoard 14.0 /D
Been Around: 1.3 years
Baud Rates: 300-2400
Bulletins: Veteran Support, Veteran Locator Database, Agencies & Groups
That Support Veteran Affairs, Shareware Software Listing,
Reunions Of Different Veteran Organizations, Poem Of The
Month (Vietnam Related) Purpose Of The Board, PC Board
Short Cuts, Grizzard's Comments On Jane Fonda, System
Statistics, 12 Steps To Recovery From Substance Abuse
Conferences: Medical Marvels (ask questions), Supporters Conference
(folks who are interested in veterans issues), Vietnam
Vets Only (private), Garage Sale (classified ads),
Alcoholics Anonymous (coming in August)
Computers Supported: IBM & compatible computers
Files Available: IBM & compatibles and a large assortment of text files
Doors Available: Add-A-Vet (add veterans to the database), Find-A-Vet
(search the database), Top Gun Trivia, ProDoor
Special Information: Our goals are to provide Vietnam Vets a way to
find each other and a forum for them to express
themselves. We provide easier access to medical
information. We also want to keep people aware
of POWS and MIAS and that some are still alive
and in prison.
Q. Why did you start your BBS?
A. I enjoy helping people and I believe that the services provided by
the system work toward that goal.
Q. What has been your greatest reward from running your BBS?
A. There have been two. The first time that I put two buddies together,
one of them had been wounded and sent home, and the other never knew
if his buddy had lived or died. I was informed of all this by
letter. The second was when I had a Vietnam vet call from Texas and I
came in on chat. I typed "Welcome Home Brother" and he hesitated for
a long time while I continued to ask where he went. His carrier did
not drop and after a while, he came back and said, "I am sorry but I
am wiping tears from my eyes. In twenty years, no one has ever said
welcome home."
Q. What are your greatest regrets and annoyance associated with running a
BBS?
A. People stating a point, having it misread, and feelings being hurt is
a great regret. When people sign on and place junk into the database
is annoying. Fortunately this can easily be remedied as the last
line of the database file tells me who made the entry.
Q. What are your future plans for the BBS?
A. Increasing the number of names in the database and making the service
and database better known.
Q. What is the funniest thing that has happened on your BBS?
A. A user that I was conversing with mentioned that he worked in a
funeral home. Two months before we had the conversation, I had met
him while burying a Vietnam vet friend of mine. I was the escort of
the widow and arranged for the funeral and other arrangements. I was
tickled by the fact that this guy turned out to be one of my users.
Q. What is your favorite hobby/pastime outside of your BBS and computers
in general?
A. Flying radio controlled airplanes. I enjoy motorcycle riding and I
love more than anything else in the world to snow-ski.
Q. What do you think your system offers that might cause someone to
prefer your board over others?
A. Veteran issues, veteran attention, services. In general, I hope
that the users find a sysop that is open minded. I don't have the
answers for myself so how can I purport to have the answers for
others.
Q. Why?
A. I appeal mainly to a certain segment of the population and once they
have the opportunity to call and learn their way around, they tend to
come back again. The veterans and their supporters are made to feel
very much at home on the LZ.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Known BBS Numbers For The Birmingham Area
NAME NUMBER BAUD RATES SUPPORTED MODEM TYPE
America Online Nodes 1-4 323-2016 300, 1200, 2400
America Online Node 5 251-2344 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 HST
*American BBS 674-1851 300, 1200, 2400
*Byte Me 979-2983 1200, 2400
*Bus System BBS 595-1627 300, 1200, 2400
*Channel 8250 744-8546 300, 1200, 2400
Club Phoenix 942-0252 300, 1200, 2400
*Crunchy Frog 956-1755 300, 1200, 2400
D3 Systems BBS 663-2759 300, 1200, 2400
Duck Pond BBS 822-0956 300, 1200, 2400
Elite Fleet 853-1257 300, 1200
Gateway BBS 854-5131 300, 1200, 2400
Gizmo's Atari BBS 854-0698 300, 1200
I.S.A. BBS 995-6590 300, 1200, 2400
Jim's Place 787-5512 300, 1200, 2400
*Joker's Castle 744-6120 300, 1200, 2400
LZ Birmingham 870-7770 300, 1200, 2400
*Magnolia BBS 854-6407 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 HST
ProSoft Systems BBS 853-8718 300, 1200, 2400
Radio Free TROAD 592-2545 300, 1200, 2400
*Role Player's Paradise 631-7654 300, 1200, 2400
Smitty's BBS 849-7349 300, 1200
Sperry BBS 853-6144 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 Hayes
*ST BBS 836-9311 300, 1200, 2400
*The Connection Node 1 854-9074 1200, 2400
*The Connection Node 2 854-2308 1200, 2400
*The Outer Limits 969-3262 1200, 2400, 9600 HST
The Islands BBS 870-7776 300, 1200
*The Professional's Board 856-0679 300, 1200, 2400
Twilight Zone 856-3783 300, 1200
Ultra-Vision BBS 856-1593 300, 1200, 2400
Willie's DYM Node 1 979-1629 300, 1200, 2400
Willie's DYM Node 2 979-7739 300, 1200, 2400
Willie's RBBS 979-7743 300, 1200, 2400
Ziggy Unaxess 991-5696 300, 1200
Boards with a "*" before their name are members of our local network,
EzNet, and public messages left in the EzNet Conferences of any of these
boards will be echoed to all members.

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