 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group CD-ROMs Are Here! Ash Nallawalla ash@melbpc.org.au |
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0ne day you will get a CD-ROM drive for your PC and it might be sooner than you think. Two years ago I bought the largest hard disk I could afford - a 150 MB device, and thought that it would be adequate for my planned UNIX machine and a modest selection of Usenet newsgroups. I gave up on that idea when I found out how much it would cost to buy all the necessary software and hardware. I stayed in the PC world and started many personal endeavours that took up over 95 percent of the hard disk space at any given time. Some of the review software came and went but most of it wanted to stay - if I had a 1 GB drive I would have filled it!
I bought a tape drive during an overseas trip but a sysop friend convinced me his need was greater than mine. I had intended to back up my installed software to tape and reinstall it as needed. Perhaps I'll do so one day, but I'll get on with the CD-ROM story.
CD-ROM
I assume you know what is a CD-ROM. If not, a brief description is in order. Its full name is Compact Disc Read-Only Memory. It looks like an audio compact disc (CD) but contains the type of data that could be found on a PC's hard disk. It can hold just over 600 MB, so it is a convenient storage medium As the name suggests, you cannot erase it or add to it.
CDs and CD-ROMs need to be treated with care. You must not place stickers on them because this tends to unbalance the disc and will make it unusable. You can use a permanent ink marker pen but don't use anything that requires pressure, such as an engraver or a ball point pen.
I've been an unabashed CorelDRAW! fan and when I saw the free CD-ROM in version 3.0 I knew I had to have a CD-ROM drive. Having access to a few attractive fonts and the thousands of clip art images was too strong a temptation to resist. I also had some old CD-ROMs I had picked up at Comdex - I wondered what lurked in those megabytes. Here is a brief look at some of those CD-ROMs and some current ones too. I have not seen all the listed items and have used vendor-supplied descriptions for some. My intention is to demonstrate the potential of this medium rather than dwell on the contents.
NetNews/CD
I have had access to the Internet through Deakin University and more recently courtesy of my employer. Long-term PC Update readers will recall my enthusiasm for the news available through the Internet 'Usenet'. It is a great international resource and is almost free provided you have an account with an educational institution, a commercial site, or the few public-access dial-up services. It is not a substitute for something like Compuserve but has many similarities. If you like reading about any topic under the sun, chances are that one of the 3000 or so newsgroups will meet your needs. The problem is that the volume of messages generated every day by millions of participants is too large to manage even for the university machines. They delete old messages regularly, so if you are away for a few days you will miss a few. I should point out that not all this information is text there are a few megabytes of public domain and shareware programs released every day. The NetNews/CD is a monthly compilation of newsgroups and it includes many categories not commonly found at Australian sites. This is an ISO 9660 formatted disc that does not have an inbuilt reader at present for PCs. A reader for Sun is provided although I was unable to test it. I browsed through some of the newsgroups using Norton Desktop although for regular use I would have installed some news reader such as the Waffle BBS package.
The copy I saw covered the period 12-23 May 1992. The thrill of having hundreds of megabytes of data within easy reach is one I hadn't felt for some time in the home computing context. I had heard about the US, European and Japanese news hierarchies and had wondered what they contained. Now I could see them. The shift-JIS Kanji didn't make any sense to me, nor did the messages in many European languages!
Another CD from the same company is NetGems but I did not get to see it. It is a compilation of 1991's software gems released on the Internet. It includes source code for many types of computer, X11R5, gnu, RFCs etc. It is available only for the Sun now but will soon be in ISO 9660 format.
Netnews/CD is a cheap way to have a permanent archive of UESNET. Even people with net access subscribe to it for archival purposes. One copy costs US$39.95 + US$9.00 air mail to Australia; an annual subscription (including NetGems) Is US$349.95 + US$180.00 air mail.
CorelDRAW 3.0
I have reviewed this product recently in this magazine so I will mention the features unique to the CD-ROM. The main attraction is that one can run the package from the CD-ROM, although it still wants about 750 kB from your hard disk. (You can still opt for a full installation on your hard disk.) This CD-ROM comes with the standard disk package at no extra cost. In fact. I have seen some aggressive pricing in the low $300 region. The disk version installs the TrueType fonts on your disk but the CD-ROM also has the ATM equivalents. The 14,000+ pieces of clip art and symbols also live on the CD-ROM. The latest CD-ROM version in mid-October was 3.0B-A with files dated 1 July 92.
Microsoft Knowledge Base
This is a customer version of Microsoft's knowledge base, that is, its accumulated knowledge about its own products. Microsoft has very kindly lent one to Melb PC for use by all members, although the committee will have to figure out how to make such material available within the terms of the agreement. I am reproducing below the licence agreement verbatim (that was drawn up for us in addition to the standard agreement) because it seems we have to do so (see item 6).
"1. The Microsoft Knowledge Base on CD-Rom, may be used by ALL financial members of Melbourne PC User Group.
2. No monetary gain can be made from the fact that the Melbourne PC User Group, nor any of its members, have access to the Microsoft Knowledge Base on CD-ROM. Therefore the information provided via the Microsoft Knowledge Base on CD-ROM is free to all members of the Melbourne PC User Group for their own use or for use with their own business.
3. The Microsoft Knowledge Base on CD-Rom is on loan to the Melbourne PC User Group. Therefore the license can not be sold, transferred or passed to any other person or company. (please also note conditions laid out in section 4. of the Agreement)
4. Copyright. You may not use any portion of the Microsoft Knowledge Base on CD-Rom for use in any Publication without the permission from the designated contact at Microsoft Australia. (please also note conditions laid out in section 4. of the Agreement)
5. Microsoft reserves the right to ask for a nominal fee for the upgrading of Microsoft Knowledge Base for CD-ROM.
6. The Melbourne PC User Group Board is to make sure that all their financial members are aware of this License Agreement and that they follow the Agreement at all times."
So there, members. You have been made aware. Really, Microsoft!
The US licence is actually quite generous, allowing a site to network the CD-ROM and to make unlimited copies for that organisation, so that its software support staff and end users can look up a given topic for internal use.
Topics cover all Microsoft products for MS-DOS, Macintosh, OS/2, XENIX, CP/M-80, Apple Dos, and Apple II Code from Microsoft Systems Journal is also provided.
The CD-ROM contains only about 100 MB of answers to questions not normally found in the manuals or those discovered after those manuals were printed. Microsoft support staff have access to a confidential version of this one but corporate support staff will find it extremely valuable. The disc also contained the French version and some other useful files. The supplied Windows-based Multimedia Viewer makes searches easy to perform, although it only displays the first 400 topics that it finds. Copying the entire CD-ROM to a hard disk is advisable if you wish to speed up a search. RRP not known.
New Releases from Microsoft
Recent press releases from Microsoft mention some novel CD-ROM titles but we were unable to see them:
- Cinemania. This contains some 19,000 reviews of movies between 1914 and 1991, biographies of actors, producers and directors, movie stills, dialogue from some movies, and a listing of Academy Awards. RRP $115.
- Publisher CD-ROM. This contains Microsoft Publisher 1.0, additional fonts, clip art and templates, the Design Pack, and online documentation. RRP $299.
- Bookshelf, 1992 Edition. This contains The Concise Columbia Encyclopaedia, Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations and The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, Hammond Atlas of the World, and The World Almanac and Book of Facts (1992). RRP $300.
I have seen a two-year old copy of this CD-ROM, which contains the text from several US computing magazines and, although it is expensive (even in the US), is still excellent value for the serious corporate researcher. Refer to PC Magazine for further information and pricing.
The local distributor of this Ziff-Davis product wanted me to sign a complicated evaluation agreement form that included being responsible for its replacement if damaged while in my possession; and having to return it within 10 days, at my expense. I declined. This might have been more generous than another distributor's offer of a seven day evaluation period (back in 1988) but I don't encourage our reviewers to give anyone this type of free publicity.
Lotus CD/PROMPT
I have the Aprll 1991 issue of this monthly, and it contains the following information:
- Lotus Technical Support Notes
- Lotus Product Documentation
- LOTUS Magazine • Lotus Product Demos
- Lotus Add-Ins
- Supplemental Print and Display Drivers
- Lotus Upgrade Information
- Multimedia Demonstrations
Walnut Creek CDROM
This US company is best known for its snapshots of Internet file archives. Its products include the following (as described in its literature):
- Simtel MSDOS CDROM. This contains 640 MB or 9000+ files, representing source code, programs and text files from the famous Simtel-20 US Anny machine at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Trust me, you'll curtail your BBS-raiding habits once you have access to this high-quality shareware and public-domain collection. US$24.95.
- Garbo MSDOS/MAC CDROM. Garbo is a machine in Finland that has some overlap with Simtel-20 in its coverage, but is sufficiently different to consider this CD-ROM. Also has Macintosh files. US$24.95.
- GIP's Galore CDROM. This contains over 6000 GIF format images for those who like to look at images on a computer screen. Viewers for many platforms are included. US$24.95.
- CICA Microsoft Windows CDROM. CICA is a machine at Indiana University that specialises in Windows programs. This disc has 140 MB of programs, fonts. source code and information to keep the Windows enthusiast busy for days. US$24.95.
- CDROM Caddy. CD-ROMs require a protective jacket called a caddy. Although you can get by with the one that comes with your CD-ROM drive, you will soon get tired of using it because the manoeuvre is almost the same as taking a CD-ROM out of its plastic case. Why don't they sell CD-ROMs with a caddy and charge a bit more for it? Anyway, you can get Sony caddies for US$4.95 each from Walnut Creek CDROM.
- Desktop Idbrary CDROM. This is a truly fascinating collection of some 2000 works in the form of straight Asclt text, all for a mere US$39.95: Ancient Greek comedies and tragedies, the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer, writings by Plato and Aristotle, and Aesop's Fables. The complete works of Shakespeare, Chaucer, Virgil, and Milton along with books by Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Stephen Crane, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allan Poe. Bullfinch's mythology, works by Tolstoy, Jules Verne. Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights. There are texts of historic treaties, international agreements, US Supreme Court decisions, 1991 CIA World Fact Book, dictionaries and word lists, and Internet RFCs and engineering notes. You cannot go wrong to get this onel Note: A legal challenge concerning the public domain status of J.M Barrie's Peter Pan has been made as we go to press, so check before placing an order for this one.
All the features of Borland C++ & Application Frameworks 3.1 and more are now featured on a CD-ROM. With the Borland KnowledgeBase CDs, technical information is at your fingertips. KnowledgeBase for Languages and KnowledgeBase for Applications will feature the technical support database of questions and answers concerning Borland products. The Languages CD will also carry a current bug list KnowledgeBase will be issued quarterly and will be available on a yearly subscription basis. Further details and pricing not available when we went to press.
Kodak's Photo-CD
Kodak offers a service where you can get your negatives and slides scanned onto a CD-ROM. This is one way of preserving ones photographs and slides for a long time. Will we see the end of photo albums? I doubt it, because a Photo-CD holds only about 100 images and it gets quite expensive to take this approach for most of us. Overseas one pays about US$10 for the blank and about US$1.50 per image. Making multiple copies of a Photo-CD is no cheaper (per copy) than making one because recording the CD-ROM takes more time than digitising the images.
Kodak is going to start (in the US, naturally) a service called the Kodak Picture Exchange, which will hold millions of low-resolution images taken by commercial photographers. You can access these 75 kB images using a modem and if you want the high-resolution versions you are told how to contact the suppliers of those images. A keyword-search method will enable one to search for specific images.
Types of CD-ROM Readers
Some CD-ROM readers require proprietary interface cards; others need SCSI cards. If you already have a suitable SCSI card in your PC you may wish to get a SCSI reader to save a card slot. Some readers are caddy-less; some require a caddy (cartridge). Some readers fit inside your PC, like your floppy drives - a 'backpack reader is now shipping in the US for US$575. You can plug it into a parallel port, so it is not likely to have a high transfer rate but is convenient for sharing a reader among several users or for demonstrating a CD-ROM on a clients PC.
The NEC range of readers is covered in another article in this issue. They are expensive but many people seem to prefer a bit more for them because the new models are among the fastest.
One of our advertisers, Epoch Systems, sells Procom Technology readers that are slightly slower than the NEC CDR-74/84. The average seek time is 375-380 ms (against 280 ms on the NEC). These have Philips mechanisms. They also have a 340 ms model that uses a Sony mechanism Epoch Systems has a very detailed catalogue of dozens of CD-ROM titles and other multimedia devices such as sound cards.
Make Your Own CD-ROMs
Data Comn, a Melbourne company, sells the ,JVC Personal RomMaker. This device makes CD-ROMs for PCs and Macs to the ISO 9660 standard or Apple HFS format. Such CD-ROMs can then be used or sent to a mastering plant to make multiple copies.
In the US, the Philips CDD 521 recorder lists for US$7995. Mastering a disk takes about 30 minutes on this machine, and blank disks cost US$40.
Buying CD-ROMs
You will find that the prices of CD-ROMs vary for a given title. You need to be sure why something appears to be a bargain, for example, the same title may be issued each year with improvements. The original, non-multimedia version of
Battle Chess is still available from some sources. Microsoft Bookshelf and Grolier's Encyclopaedia are examples of CD-ROMs that get updated. Sometimes the same title may be used for both DOS and Windows versions. Some low prices only apply when you are buying a reader or when a reseller is trying to move old stock. Some may not be upgradable. The
CIA Factbook seems to come with or without pictures, depending on the source. Compton's Encyclopaedia has three variations. with different names.
Conclusion
There is no doubt in my mind that you should consider buying a CD-ROM reader. Businesses will need them for quick access to large volumes of data; home users will want them for the multimedia entertainment value.
Reprinted from the December 1992 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
