 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Beginners' Bytes: Part 17 Ron Wilby |
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Hi there, readers, back again with all the news I've been able to scrape up for this month. First, let me introduce Mr W. Gates...
Go ahead Gates
Not only Chicago, now called Windows 95 (96?), lags lags and lags behind its release date. Now, much closer to the heart (?) of bountiful Bill, his book "The Road Ahead" has slipped behind schedule. Forbes magazine says "the book is being written by too many people. Gates is the smartest but he has the least time."
What's the news from IBM?
Well, you wouldn't believe it, but IBM has dropped the ball again. About fifteen months ago, they looked set for a real comeback in the PC world, with new products and more competitive pricing. All they needed was sharper marketing, and their new 50-year old marketing guru, G. Richard Thoman, was the man for the job. Today Thoman is in a mess. Although IBM Personal Computer had $10 billion in sales last year, their overall loss for the year was $1 billion. The problem? Supply! Products are good and IBM nowadays has a much more rational pricing policy, but what use are they if you can't buy the stuff? When Thoman took over, the shelves were loaded with unsold computers, now the shelves are empty. Many say that Thoman's recent restructuring of IBM's PC division is partly to blame and he has about six months before incurring the wrath of IBM's chairman, Louis Gerstner.
OS/2 Warp
A new (to me) publication crossing my desk is "OS/2 Zone." The cover says "Proudly Published in Melbourne Australia." Also, the first page states, OS/2 Zone is an independent publication not affiliated in any way with IBM or any other company. Having said that, they are sure pushing the IBM OS/2 barrow, and pushing it hard. In issue 7, last year, the following appeared.
Warp2, the powerful new version of OS/2 is here . . . The increases in performance and functionality. The ability to run on the sort of hardware most corporations are throwing out. The 50 MB of professional level software bundled with it are all causing a stir in the PC industry. This is part of a strategy to provide the user with more than just an operating system. Because of the full applications, the buyer is effectively getting an "Office" package similar to Lotus' SmartSuite or MS Office.
The above referred to the beta test version. In the final version IBM's Works Suite will be part of the package. Once you've loaded your operating system you can actually start working! Wow! No more tedious DOS upgrades! Lovely! Prices in the $130 region make it sound even more attractive.
Well all the above was written last September. What really happened? My favourite software supplier told me today (March) that I should wait "another fifteen days for Blue Box."
Internet
Big news today is the ability of Internet subscribers to chatter away endlessly for very little money. Last issue of PC Update offered an application form, a service fee of $90 per year being asked. But what 28 February's Computer Age is talking about is something more. It's Internet Phone, where you use your sound card and a microphone and talk directly. That's it, no typing, just talking. And how (some) people love to talk! And the cost of talking dramatically reduced, to 10 percent or less of the present rates. All you need, they say, is a 486/33 running Windows 3.1, sound card, microphone and a 14.4 modem. Of course, you need an Internet connection, which can be SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) or PPP (Point to Point). A typical Internet link is said to cost less than $100, with hourly charges from $6 to $8. For those with relatives/friends overseas, this sounds like the miracle for which you've all been waiting. But watch out for Murphy. Already my only phone line carries voice, fax, modem and answering service. The arrival of Internet would certainly mean the installation of another phone line, and guess who's going to pay for that.
Floppy biscuits
Some time back I told you of loss of data from my backups. At the time, those backups were floppy disks, housed "safely" in my brick garage. We think the data loss was due to the supply cable for a large air conditioner running close to the stored backup floppies. I now use tape backups, but they too are sensitive to electromagnetic fields as were the floppies. Where do these fields come from? Power cables feeding electric motors have very large fields for a short time when the motor starts up. Other sources of fields are telephones, the magnets in electric motors, loudspeakers in hi-fi or trannie form and TV sets. You can lose your data from any of these causes.
So now we have the answer. Get a biscuit tin with a well-fitting lid, big enough for whatever you want to store. Just put your disks or tapes inside and keep it somewhere off-site (i.e. away from your computer). In my case, the idea is that a fire could destroy my office but the brick wall between house and garage would preserve the Backup Biscuits. The same sort of argument applies to burglars. Currently I'm making do with a tin stolen from my Beagle and Corgi dogs who were using it to store their lunchtime Good-Os. I found a nice tin of lovely butter cookies in the Safeway, so when I've finished eating them the dogs will get their tin back.
Video variations
In last month's Beginners' Bytes I told you of my video adapter problems. I was using an old VGA adapter with 256 KB of RAM (in those early days VGA adapters and their RAM were damn expensive). This adapter came with my old 286 machine and its NEC Multisync 3D monitor bought in 1990. In fact, I recall paying well over $3000 for that setup, including a 40 MB hard disk. Wow! I'm still happily using the monitor, it's great, but all the rest is gone. Adapter and monitor were combining to give some very weird and unusable colour combinations at bootup time. This effect lasted for a period which was proportional to (T - 24) 2, where T = room temperature. Very confusing, so off to see my old mates Steve and Phil. They diagnosed video adapter card decay, and sold me a new card with 1 MB of RAM for $110.
The new card has greatly improved the mathematical relationship between room temperature and colour display, only the hottest days giving me any problems. What's exciting though, is the increased RAM on my new card. You see, with the old card having only 256 KB of RAM, I was limited to 16 colours and low 640 x 480 resolution. Now I have 256 colours and Super VGA or Extended VGA (up to 1024 x 768 pixels).
Video viewing
What's a pixel? The other side (inside) of the screen you looking at is coated with stuff (called phosphor) which lights up when electrons hit it. You can think of this phosphor as being divided up into a grid of small dots covering the screen. Each of these dots is a picture element, or pixel, and can have different colours or brightness values as directed by your CPU and video card. So more pixels gives sharper definition to the pictures on your screen. In my case, the result is a brighter, clearer display with much more exciting colours, well worth the $110 for the change. So, next time you boot up your computer, watch for messages showing the amount of RAM (or look at the documentation that came with the computer). If you're using an old VGA card with only 256 KB of RAM, like I was, borrow a 1 MB RAM card and look at the difference. If your monitor is good enough you'll be surprised. If not, maybe you need a new monitor too. The reliability of solid-state has brought us a long way since all our electronic gear used unreliable valves, but there's one great big valve still left. It's right in the middle of it all and that's the one you looking at, the picture tube of your monitor. If it's getting a little elderly there may be a new monitor in your future.
A kick from the side?
Rummaging through the rubbish in the office I found a disk labelled Free, Sidekick for Windows (it came stuck to a magazine cover, I think). Couldn't resist that, could I, but don't ignore the bit on the label which says 30 day Trial Version? After 30 days the thing becomes unusable, so it's decision time. The next line of the label says "To unlock call Borland" and a number. So having tried and decided Sidekick for Windows looked useful, I called. My credit card was instantly billed and I was given a number with which to unlock the program. So far so good, but where's the documentation? I called again, their reply "it's on the disk, you've already got it." Yes, there is a README file, about three or four (magazine) pages, but having paid my money I really expected a printed manual. Wouldn't you? Let's all be more careful of these "special offers" and make sure we fully understand what we're getting for how much.
Gates on safari
Bill Gates, so the story goes, was unhappy with the performance of his software salesmen in Darkest Africa. He set off on safari across the plains to investigate. One day they came across a group of lions (it's called a "pride" of lions), which included, of course, all classes from the boss lions on down. Just then the lions sighted a group of gnus (they're little antelopes, extra good lion food). The boss lions galloped off towards the gnus. A while later, as they returned, Gates remarked, "That's the end of the gnus, here again are the head lions."
That's all for this month.
Be with you again next month...
Reprinted from the April 1995 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
