A big THANK YOU to Dave Dickey from Cuesta Systems Corporation for our last presentation. Dave is the primary developer of the standby uninterruptable power supply (UPS) for micro computers. Cuesta Systems, founded in 1979, has since licensed many companies, both nationally and internationally, to manufacture their original designs. Dave discussed protection with TransZorbs, MOV's, fuses, and the difference between a UPS and a standby UPS. Diagramatically he showed the audience how all P.C. manufacturers protect their computers from power spikes with MOV's or the like; which in time breakdown and become completely ineffective. He also said that for about an extra $1.75 the P.C. manufacturers could replace the MOV's with TransZorbs which do not degrade over time. His presentation was very informative and presented in a manner that even those not familiar with electronics could understand. Cuesta Systems main product line includes the 90 watt DATASAVERtm for the PCjr, the 200 watt DATASAVERtm for the PC/XT, and the 400 watt DATASAVERtm for the PC AT. If your the type of person who loads all your work into RAM and forgets to constantly back up new data to disk, then you might think of purchasing an uninterruptable power supply. If your electricity goes off then all recent input not previously saved to disk will be lost! This coming month will be a double feature. Byron Smith will give us a review of Borland's very popular desktop utility -- SIDEKICKtm. This program includes a note pad, calendar, calculator and much more. You can even set up printer commands on you note pad and change your printer configuration at any time while in another program! Bob Ward will demonstrate how to more effectively use your Public Domain Software and your Directory Disk "A" which contains our first 100 disks. This month we have added a few batch files to the disk which should make it easier to use for the newcomers and many of us older hackers, too. Just type the word GO and the rest will be self explanatory. Be sure to bring your Directory Disk "A" for an update. Also bring a blank formatted disk for Directory "B". Eventually this disk will hold descriptions of files located on disks 101-200. MORE CORNEY DEFINITIONS !!!! DEBUG--What DE FIN in DE Soup. DISKJOCKEY--a very short man on a very short horse running around circles at 300 rpm This month's one liner (actually 3 lines). If your'e a BASIC programmer, you probably write all your programs in CAP's. Wouldn't it be nice to have the CAPLOCK key ON when you boot your system? Try this BASIC program and put it in your batch file as "BASIC CAPLOCKS" (Leave out the " "). Make sure you also have BASIC on the disk 10 DEF SEG=0 20 POKE 1047, PEEK (1047) OR 64 30 SYSTEM A little peeking and poking does wonders for your computer ! There are 49 computer related words in the Puzzle. If you find 44 of them and are the 1st to mail your circled answers to Bob Ward you win 5 DSDD diskettes. Words may be found in all directions; diagonally, backwards and in combinations of caps and lower case letters. Two words are written as one (i.e. FlOPPydiSk) and count as one word only! This contest ends October 1st, 1985. You can create your own headache by running WORDPUZL.BAS found on disk #88. CORRECTION Secretary gets his computers confused. Ron Haennelt does not have an AT&T computer. His interests are in IBM & Apple - I think? I hope? Maybe ! Welcome to Brian Burchell -- he has the AT&T computer. Our other new member this month is Kenneth Jones. We hope all of you find our meetings informative if not confusing. I find them both ! Everybody's Sleep'n Starting August 23rd, the secret message is now worth 9 disks (who's found it and holding out till the #'s get up there). We will add 3 disks per month to this contest thru the 6th month, or until the message is found. After 6 months the contest starts over again. What is the message? It is something quite obvious planted in a program on one of our public domain software disks between numbers 80 and 90. We hope it will encourage some of you to take a closer look at our public domain library. Don't sell the "cheap" or free programs short. Some of them will do the same thing as commercial programs costing several hundred dollars. As an example, try PC-WRITE on disk # 096. Both this newsletter and the Directory Disk are created with PC-WRITE every month. It contains most of the amenities found in other word processors costing over $200. Written specifically for the PC, it utilizes both function keys and arrow keys to make life easier. We will have a demonstration of all its capabilities in the near future. You will find full documentation (130+ pages) on the disk for downloading to your printer. September 26th Regular meeting October 24th Regular meeting November 3rd National Clean your Computer Day November 20th-24th Comdex Fall Computer Show - Las Vegas Noverber 28th Thanksgiving - Meeting cancelled December 12th Regular meeting (Nov-Dec combined) December 26th Meeting cancelled The following article was taken in part from PC MAGAZINE, Vol 4, Number 19, September 17th, 1985 Page 255 This is a brief description on how to make small batch files which will control your printer output from DOS (type styles, width, etc.). In writing this newsletter I compress the print on our Epson FX printer by typing the word COMPRESS which activates the batch file and sends the "compress code" to the printer. The printer will remain in this mode until a new code is sent to it or the printer is turned off and on again. I'll be using the notation {###}, where ### is the three- digit ASCII code. This notation means: press the ALT key, type the three numbers on the numeric key pad to the right of the keyboard (leaving out the { }), and then release the ALT key. It doesn't matter of the Num Lock key is on or off. You will see an "odd" letter or graphics display which is equal to the ASCII code of the number you just entered. Some control codes less than 32 can not be entered while in DOS. This can be circumvented by adding 128 to the ASCII code representing your alphanumeric. For example, ESC has an ASCII value of 27. (The ASCII values may be found in your IBM BASIC manual, page D-2 to D-5 in the back). Add 128 to 27 and you would enter the number 155 while depressing the ALT key to represent the control character ESC. An example on how to send the COMPRESS print control code to your Epson or IBM printer is shown below. Consult your printer manual for those codes you wish to incorportate into batch files specific for your printer. The "Escape Code" for compressed print on the Epson or IBM printer is ESC15 (ESC=128+27 or 155 & 15=128+15 or 143) To create a batch file called COMPRESS.BAT, type everything underlined while in DOS. COPY CON:COMPRESS.BAT ECHO {155}{143} >PRN (remember do not type the { }) ^Z (Hold the Ctrl Key down while pressing the letter Z) Now, with the printer turned on, type the word COMPRESS and everything sent to the printer after this will be printed in compressed mode. For the IBM printers there is no "reset" code to return the printer to its original startup mode. The easiest way to reset the IBM printer is to turn it off and back on again. The Epson printer has a "reset" code which will return the printer to its original "power-up" mode as though it had just been turned on. I call this the RESET batch file, and its creation is shown below. COPY CON:RESET.BAT ECHO {155}{64} >PRN ^Z Now just type the word RESET while in DOS and all special codes you may have sent to your Epson printer will be erased. Multiple codes can be sent to the printer either by entering separate batch files or programming a single batch file with several print codes. Try superscript + compressed as a combination, then get out a magnifying glass to read the results. New disks for the Month of September. #051 TPN CALC A program for our Pharmacists in the group. #101 PC-CHECK/PC-PRINT Printer controls and check book or- ganizer. #102 AUTO MENU/LABEL MAKER AUTO MENU remembers DOS commands. LABEL MAKER makes labels for your diskettes. #051 originally was the Directory Disk. It was renamed Directory Disk "A" (1-100) with the addition of Directory Disk "B" (101-200), both of which will now be found in the front of the blue Directory binders, not in the Public Domain diskette holders. Directory Disk "B" will be started this month and contain descriptions of all files found on disks #101 & #102. The SLO BYTES Newsletter is a monthly publication of SLO BYTES of the Central Coast of California, an IBM personal computer user's group. Information in this Newsletter comes from magazine articles, other PC user group newsletters, and our own members. The purpose of this publication is to inform our members of meetings, their program content, and other information related to the use of PC's and PC compatable computers. Dues to SLO BYTES is $18 per year. As a member you will receive an updated membership list, SLO BYTES monthly newsletter, and free use of our Public Domain Library. Contributors are asked to submit articles for the next issue 10 days before the meeting either in writing or on disk. Have a computer related item to sell? Tell the editor and we will put it in our newsletter. For further inforation call Bob Ward @ 528-0121 eves. Meetings are held the 4th thursday of every month at 6:15 pm. Location is Cal Poly University, Biology's Science North, Room 313. A list of current SLO BYTE members which is updated monthly has been placed on a disk located in the front of the Public Domain Library file case. You are welcome to copy this disk and have it handy for your own records. It includes names, addresses, telephone numbers and the date your membership expires. It was constructed using PC-FILE ver 3.0 and can only be listed or printed using this program. An abbreviated form of PC-FILE III has been placed on this disk for your convenience. The complete program is found in or PD Library, SLO #090. The print-out has been configured for the IBM/EPSON type printer. If you have a printer different that this, type PC-SETUP to reconfigure the output to your particular printer. This disk does not contain DOS. After your computer has been "booted" place it in drive B and type the word GO. You probably can run the program without going through the documentation. If you do run into problems, type DOC to print out the documentation.