 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Pres Said John Beck |
At the March monthly meeting Bob Wallace gave a resume of how Shareware began, then outlined the development of PC-Write, PC-Browse and PC-Lite. PC-Browse is a hypertext file program and is on Melb 1499. PC-Lite is an abridged version of PC-Write which uses the same commands but requires less memory. It does not contain the lesser used functions. Question time ran for about 45 minutes, which reflects the interest in the programs. It is interesting that PC-Write is available in French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, and Icelandic from agencies in those countries. There were some other languages used but the agencies which did the conversion are not continuing support. A member on the staff at Quicksoft is looking at a Cyrillic version (needless to say he is Russian).
At the end of the presentation Bob gave away two software packages. The copy of PC-Write was won by a member who had travelled down from Ballarat, and he had it autographed by Bob Wallace. The registration card was not in it, so if he contacts the office it will be sent on. The PC-Browse package was won by Felix Hofmann. Both were happy with the door prize, which is the first offering this year. Maybe Felix will write a review, or possibly Steven Brown would like to compare it with the Black Magic hypertext package which should appear elsewhere in this issue. If Steven wishes to do so I will send him a copy. Leave a message at the office with David.
Continuing the thoughts on reviews brings to mind the suggestion last month that the Graphics SIG prepare material for the PC90 show. This was greeted with enthusiasm by the convenor, who suggested other SIGs should also make an effort to contribute to PC Update on the wonderful fruits of their endeavours. Some of them do not send anything about their activities, which they obviously have. It could swell their numbers. Maybe the Hardware SIG can tell of some gadget which will be interesting to our readers, or the language SIGs snippets of code which will be of use to others. Remember the large number of country members who cannot attend SIGs. Would one of your number be prepared to act as scribe and write a review of the evening's happenings. The monthly meetings at Ian Clunies-Ross House can be tape recorded, and if there is an interested member with a journalistic bent, the proceedings can be written up and published the following month. A request for a write up from speakers has not met with success, as most work from short outlines or no notes at all.
On the theme of meetings, Keith Bower who convenes the Retirees SIG is going overseas, so someone is required to take up the reins. This SIG is the largest, boasting up to 60 persons attending. It would be a pity for it to wind up due to lack of leadership. How about current members taking on the task. Remember if you get something out of an activity you should be prepared to put something back.
The procedure published in the Jan/Feb copy of PC Update for submission of articles is not working effectively. The main difficulty is the time taken for the material to pass from the author to the magazine SIG. One stumbling block is for David Sloan to put it onto the BBS. It is difficult to put files in the Opus file area directly on the BBS, and if it was, whoever was accessing the BBS at the time of these uploads would be logged off. Also David does not know the workload or commitments of the sub-editors. In the past he has used the mail to send off disks. It can take 6 days for a round trip to a sub-editor, but if it is sent to me also, that could take up to 12 days. In view of this and as there is a second line for the BBS which is not being used, but costing rental, it has been decided to set up a BBS for the exclusive use of the PC Update team. It will be available for uploads only, except for editorial personnel, who will be responsible for all file maintenance. They will be able to
organise sub-editing according to the time they have available. An advantage other than reducing travelling time of disks is that access to this BBS should be much easier than the main board. This board should be in operation when this
PC Update reaches you. The frustration of authors not being able to access the main BBS due to heavy traffic will be overcome.
A new version (7.30) of LIST.COM has been received and is on MELB 1490. If If anyone, who subscribed to Vernon Buerg, brings their copy to the monthly or PD SIG it will be updated at no charge. This version will look into archived files. At this stage I have not fired it up so cannot tell you what its new features are.
The feasibility of mechanical transfer of data in the library catalogue and disk file reading utilities has been completed. It is possible to read into archives and extract the .EXE and .COM files, then read across from the main catalogue the category and description. If there is more than one archive the additional ones have to be revised in these details manually. This exercise, and the deletion of the same programs of earlier level is quite a large task and will take quite a time to complete.
The subject for the monthly meeting in April is Hewlett-Packard's NewWave. There will also be a guest panel from H-P United States. In May there will be an evening on peripherals, namely printers. The speakers will cover the mysteries of laser printers, how the engine works and how it is refurbished, dot matrix, daisy wheel and inkjet printers.
Reprinted from the April 1990 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
