271 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
271 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
Chaos Corner V03 N06 8 October 1993
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Copyright 1993 by Robert D. Cowles; Ithaca, NY 14850. Permission is
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hereby granted to republish complete issues in unaltered form.
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Republication of partial issues must reference the source and state
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that subscriptions to Chaos Corner are available (free) by sending
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electronic mail to chaos-request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Welcome to 175 New Subscribers
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For those who wonder if we have been completely idle here in the Corner,
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since it has been almost two months since the last issue ... if nothing
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else we have been victims of our own success with many requests for
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files and an unprecedented number of new subscriptions! Chaos Corner
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has doubled in size just this year to over 1000 subscribers.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Puffin is no longer an ftp site
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Some earlier issues of Chaos Corner referred people to files stored on
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puffin.cit.cornell.edu ... that site was maintained somewhat out of
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perversity to see if we could provide an anonymous FTP site running on a
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DOS/Windows machine. While it was a challenge for a while, after
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converting the machine to OS/2 and IBM's TCP/IP the system just runs and
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no longer provides a challenge. Since we are under some pressure to
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reduce the number of machines we maintain, puffin will soon disappear
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and you should look on pelican.cit.cornell.edu for back issues of Chaos
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Corner in the /pub directory.
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--------------------------------------------------
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All mail order is not the same -- beware
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We have had several mail order experiences in the past two months. In
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one case Dr. Chaos started worrying about the future availability of
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memory for our ThinkPad and thought we should call around and get the
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best deal before prices went too high. The second experience was that
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of ordering the new version IBM's TCP/IP (2.0).
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Ordering Memory from Nevada Computer (They run full page ads in the back
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of PC Week) ....
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Sequence of Events:
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August 18 (Wed) Ordered Memory for $259 + 8.25 shipping - was told it
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would ship the following day (Thu.). At this time, a charge for
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$297.25 was posted to my credit card.
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August 24 (Tue) Called to say memory had not arrived. Was told that the
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memory had shipped on Friday, August 20.
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August 25 (Wed) Called to say memory had not arrived. Was told that UPS
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shipping time was 5-7 days from Nevada to New York. I asked what I
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had been charged and was told $297.25. I pointed out that that was
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the wrong amount, the person I spoke to checked and agreed and said he
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would enter a note for me to be credited the $30 ... it would happen
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on Friday, Aug 27th and they would fax me a confirmation.
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August 31 (Tue) Called to say memory had not arrived. Carl told me it
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had been shipped on August 27th, 2nd day air, and that it should be
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there the following day. I asked if they normally got three day
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service for 2nd day air. (Some general mutterings about UPS service
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was the only response.) I asked about the credit and there was no
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record of it going through. I once again asked that it be put through
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since by now I had received the credit card statement.
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September 1 (Wed) Called to say the memory had not arrived. Was told by
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Carl that it had gone UPS ground, had been shipped on the 27th, and I
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could expect it in 5-7 business days. I asked that the whole amount
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for the memory be credited to my account and they re-bill me for the
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proper amount, $267.25. Was told it would be taken care of on Friday
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and that a notation would be made in the record. I also asked that I
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be faxed a confirmation that it was done. Also talked with the
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manager (Mark) so it was clear what needed to happen.
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September 8 (Wed) Called to say that memory had not arrived. After
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waiting on hold for 10 minutes to talk to the manager (Mark) I called
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back and spoke to Neil (Neal?). I explained that they could still
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recover if I had the memory by Friday (eg, send it to me by Federal
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Express) and if they straightened out the charge to my credit card.
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September 10 (Fri) Called Visa to see if any credit had been posted to
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my account. None had. It has now been over 3 weeks since I ordered,
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and they have been unable to get me the memory and have been unable to
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get the charged amount correct. As a point of reference, throughout
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this time, their ad in PC Week carried a price of $259+8.25.
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September 12 (Sun) A visitor pointed out there was a box from Nevada
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Computer on the front porch.
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September 13 (Mon) 10:15a Talked to Dave ... getting the credit
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shouldn't be a problem if I talked with Mark, the manager. I should
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call back at about 12:30. 1:15p Talked to Mark. He claimed that the
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credit had been issued on the 8th, and that it just took a while for
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it to show up at the credit card company. He also explained that the
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memory had shipped to me on August 30 (!) because it had been
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backordered (!). He never remembered having talked to me before so
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he didn't remember any of the other dates I had been told that the
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memory had shipped, or that I had never been told that the memory was
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backordered. We had a fairly unpleasant exchange about the credit
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for the overcharge and it ended when he said he would mail me
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confirmation that the credit had been sent in. 1:30p Verified that
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the credit had not been posted to the credit card company.
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September 20 (Mon) 2:20p Verified that the credit had been posted on
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September 15 (Wed) and processed by the credit card company on Friday,
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September 17.
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Sorry to have put you through all that ... but I promised them that I
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would let you all know how much pleasure I had in dealing with them.
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The other experience (ordering TCP/IP) was with Indelible Blue, a
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company in North Carolina that specializes in OS/2 software. While they
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didn't have the product right away, they told me that was the case, and
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they didn't charge my credit card until the day AFTER shipping the
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product. (Just a satisfied customer -- 800-776-8284, 919-834-7005).
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--------------------------------------------------
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Mailbag - Mail Delay Explained
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With respect to the mail delays going on across the Internet when we
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sent out the last issue of Chaos Corner, our sources tell us that a
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subscriber to the White House news summaries located in Japan requested
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all 1000+ articles and gave as an electronic address something that
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couldn't receive mail. My informant claims that the message bouncing
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was discovered and stopped in Washington DC at 9:20 AM, but the messages
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continued to flow throughout the day.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Frog on Glass?
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Joe Morris at Mitre Corporation points out that we should be seeing an
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exciting new book in the bookstores. Aimed at kindergartners, the book
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is called _Kermit Learns Windows_. What will happen next? Perhaps a
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book that explains that purple dinosaurs with three fingers find that
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MacOS with a one-button mouse is the easiest to use?
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--------------------------------------------------
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Mailbag - gzip is NOT zip or pkzip
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David Camp points out that gzip is not a clone of zip or pkzip; rather
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it uses its own, completely different compression algorithm (hence the
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file extension of '.gz' rather than '.zip').
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--------------------------------------------------
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Ever wonder if CallerID is active for you?
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In North America there is a facility that is becoming available that
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lets the called person know the telephone number of the calling person.
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People aren't always aware that they are no longer anonymous when they
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make calls, or they may have requested that CallerID be blocked for them
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and wonder if the block has really been put into effect. If you call
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(from North America) 1-800-852-9932, a digitized voice will tell you the
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number you are calling from (if CallerID is active for you).
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--------------------------------------------------
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Want to find out more about COSE?
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A number of Unix vendors have banded together (under the threat of
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Windows NT from Microsoft) and are attempting to end some of the
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incompatibilities that have plagued Unix over the years. One of the
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first specifications available from the consortium is the Common
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Interface Specification (COSE CIS). The Open Software Foundation is
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distributing the specification at no charge ... either call OSF Direct
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at 617-621-7300 or send an electronic mail request to direct@osf.org.
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They request that you include your surface mail address.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Interested in free faxing?
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A Internet Fax services are being set up and provide the capability to
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send free faxes to certain areas. People that want to sign up to
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provide the service can limit the area that they serve to just the local
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community. For a current list of the areas served, send electronic mail
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to tpc-coverage@town.hall.org and write to tpc-faq@town.hall.org for
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more information.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Information on the PowerPC
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A list of frequently asked questions about the Macintosh version of the
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PowerPC is being developed and is posted every two weeks to the
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newsgroup comp.sys.mac.hardware. Another source of information is the
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free magazine RS/Magazine ... write to RS/Magazine, PO Box 3272, Lowell
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MA 01853-9876 (fax number 508-256-9864). Last but not least, IBM is in
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the process of producing a second volume of its Technology Book about
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its POWER architecture. A draft of the book can be found on the server
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ibminet.awdpa.ibm.com in the /pub/rs6kpapers as techbook.ps (look for
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compressed versions there too).
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--------------------------------------------------
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Incomplete Guide to the Internet
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The July edition of "The Incomplete Guide to the Internet and Other
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Telecommunications Opportunities Especially for Teachers and Students,
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K-12" is available from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu. Look in the directory
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/Education/Education_Resources for copies of the Guide in a variety of
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formats: PostScript, RTF, WinWord, Mac Hqx compressed, and text.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Microsoft is on the Internet!
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Tired of listening to music while waiting in the Microsoft support
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queues? Tired of paying CompuServe for the pleasure of searching the
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Microsoft Knowledge Base? It is now available on the Internet! As of
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October 4th, the Microsoft Support files are accessible on the server
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ftp.microsoft.com including Knowledge Base articles AND both supported
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and unsupported drivers, patches, and files associated with various
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Microsoft products. Congratulations to Microsoft for providing this
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service!
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--------------------------------------------------
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Books Books Books
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Prentice-Hall has opened their online store. Look at ftp.prenhall.com
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for catalogs covering an increasing number of subject areas. They also
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accept orders electronically .... get the order form from the directory
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/pub/ptrph_cat/net.comm (get either ord-int.lst or ord-na.lst depending
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on whether or not you live in North America).
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--------------------------------------------------
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French News Available online?
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We have an unsubstantiated report that it is possible to subscribe to a
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online French news service by sending mail to:
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frog@guvax.georgetown.edu
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with the Subject: INSCRIPTION (and no message body). Can any kind
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reader verify this?
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--------------------------------------------------
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FTP archive sites on the move
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Since our last issue, the archive site for the X-Window consortium has
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moved from export.lcs.mit.edu to become the easier to remember ftp.x.org
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(198.112.44.100). The other change is a sad report that after a number
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of years of threatened cutbacks, the US Military has finally closed down
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the huge PC archive site, SIMTEL20. SIMTEL20 was mirrored at a number
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of other sites and the most official copy of the last state of the
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archive is at oak.oakland.edu. Arrangements are being made for a
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replacement site but nothing beyond that has been announced. Another
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recent loss is the site that distributed hourly GIF files giving US
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weather information. When Hurricane Emily was approaching the eastern
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coast of the US, so many people were retrieving files that the computer
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was unable to service the requests. As a result, the service was
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removed and the hourly weather maps are not available from that site.
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They are, however, available from wuarchive.wustl.edu in the directory
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multimedia/images/wx.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Files available from Dr. Chaos
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Need to know the sound frequencies associated with various musical
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notes? Dr. Chaos not only has the frequency list, but the C program that
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generates the list. For you mainframe or ex-mainframe programmers out
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there, Herb Hellerman at Amdahl has produced a chronology of the IBM
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System/370 market from its roots through 1990. A list of vendors for
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Object-Oriented DataBase Systems; a guide to games on the PC; a list of
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Frequently asked questions about Wolfenstein 3D; and Frequently Asked
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Questions about PS/2 computers.
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--------------------------------------------------
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Get you Free Subscription Here!
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Just send a message to Dr. Chaos - chaos-request@pelican.cit.cornell.edu
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and ask to be put on the subscription list. It's that easy. Don't
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delay ---- act now!
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Dr. Chaos (I have a Master's degree ....)
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