SLO BYTES PC USER'S GROUP NEWSLETTER - FEBRUARY, 1988 CLUB INFORMATION The SLO BYTES Newsletter is a monthly publication of SLO BYTES of the Central Coast of California (San Luis Obispo) an IBM/compatible personal computer user's group. Information found in this Newsletter is derived from magazine articles, manuals, books, 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 IBM-PC's and compatible computers. Dues to SLO BYTES are $18 per year. As a member you will receive a membership card, an updated membership list, SLO BYTES monthly newsletter, and free use of our Public Domain Library. Contributors are asked to submit articles for the next issue by the 15th of each month either in writing or on disk (ASCII format preferred). Address all correspondence to SLO BYTES PC USER'S GROUP, % Bob Ward, 2100 Andre' Ave., Los Osos, Ca. 93402. Phone 8am-5pm 756-2164, after 5pm - (805)528-0121. Other user's groups have permission to publish any material found in this newsletter. Treasurer: John Rohde 1214 Vista Del Lego San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Have a computer related item to sell? Tell the editor and we will put it in our newsletter. For further information call Bob Ward @ (805)528-0121 eves. ****************************************************** Meetings are held the 1st Thursday of every month, unless noted otherwise in the newsletter calendar, at 7:15 pm. New users SIG 6:15 to 7:00 pm. Meeting place: Cal Poly University Biology Department, Fisher Hall, Room 286. ****************************************************** DI$COUNT$-DI$COUNT$-DI$COUNT$-DI$COUNT$-DI$COUNT$ Discounts usually apply only to regularly priced merchandise. Ask a salesman to make sure. You must present your membership card to receive a discount. Paradise Computers 5% - all computers, peripherals, 441 Marsh St. and software. San Luis Obispo 10% - Ribbons, paper, disks & 544-7127 other expendable items. Star Computers 5% - any software in stock. 655 Morro Bay Blvd. Morro Bay 10% - paper, ribbons, cable & 772-7827 other supplies. Computer Logic 10% - off list - all computers, 973 Foothill Blvd. software, computer periphe- Store #4 rals and products. Contact San Luis Obispo Bruce, Paul, or Dave for 544-8347 your discount. WITCO Computers 10% off complete systems. 3563 Sueldo, 5% off computers alone Building B 10% off already discounted San Luis Obispo peripherals, & supplies but 549-0811 not including software. FISBOSA Systems 10% - off packaged systems, soft- 3121 S. Higuera, F ware &/or peripherals when San Luis Obispo purchased with system. Con- 549-9027 tact Lynne Boisen. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ COMPUTER FAIRE COMES TO TOWN Our users group supported a mini-computer faire last year in October 1987. This was the first of its kind in the history of the Central Coast. It was held at the Park Suite Hotel in San Luis Obispo. The response was overwhelming. Both the attendees and the vendors were very delighted with the attendance and the array of displays. There were over 750 attendees with a variety of interests. Some of the vendors sold or had pledged sales of computers and supplies. All in all the faire was a very successful undertaking with many members from our group participating as hosts and hostesses. Now we have decided to carry on with last years success. We have opted to fully sponsor the "Second Annual Central Coast Computer Fair" on October 15, 1988 at the Veteran's Memorial Building in San Luis Obispo. One of the most important aspects of a successful fair is the full and complete cooperation by all the members and the local vendors. You, as members, are going to be asked to help in many ways to make this "Af Fair to Remember". We want this to be the start of a continual "Annual Central Coast Computer Fair". Each subsequent one will be bigger and better than the last one. We can accomplish this...all it takes is confidence and dedication. If and when you are called on to help please make the time and apply the effort. Your participation is most important. Let's have fun making this Computer Fair a Central Coast success story. Our committee consists of the following: Jules Lieber, Chairman 528-1566 Gus Thomaason 544-2319 Sam Powers 528-4355 John Read 481-0792 Lynne Boisen 549-9027 ====================================================== NEW MEMBERS Welcome to all the new members who joined us in February! Robert Baughman 461-0483 Ed Reiten 772-1814 Bob Schrempp 544-7346 Bob Hunt 466-3330 James Lasley 528-8488 Joan Carrington 461-1565 Valerie Bross 543-4627 Vernon Pierce Jr. 481-8092 Don Tomlinson 927-8555 David Clark 546-8144 Bertie Rettburg 541-6399 Dick Thorpe 543-4726 Donald Shealy 544-1026 Betty McKie 528-0631 Andy Graeser 546-4960 ====================================================== $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ TREASURER'S REPORT John Rohde, treasurer, reported the following income & expenses for the month of February, 1988: Beginning Balance: $ 3036.07 Income: $ 716.85 Interest: $ 23.15 Expenses: $ -602.43 ========= Ending Balance: $ 3173.64 Current Membership: 171 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ BITS 'N BYTES *** Starting next month, the treasurer will not be available during the speakers presentation at the general meeting. If you wish to purchase disks, check out ATI Training disks, or join the club, please do so between 6:15 & 7:30 and after the general meeting adjourns ~8:15. John will be available after the general meeting to serve all those wishing to purchase disks, etc. *** All individuals with Dollars & Sense who would like to meet some evening and discuss the program in detail, call John Rohde at 546-8381. *** We had a little problem with parking at the last meeting. I have been directing most people to the visitors parking lot next to the administration building. Guess what? I filled it up last meeting and the guest speaker didn't have a place to park. There is another large parking lot (H-4) located beyond the administration building and Fisher hall on the right side of the roadway. *** We will be giving away a copy of WordStar Professional at the May meeting. Remember to pick up a ticket at each meeting, write your name and phone number on the back and deposit it in the raffle box. You need not be present to win, BUT your dues must be paid-up and in force at the time of the drawing. *** Sam Powers will be monitoring the club library and copying session at the meetings. If you have any difficulties with the disks or machines see him. While he is giving the hands-on demo for new users (7pm-7:30pm), John Reed, Vice President will be sitting in his place. *** The public domain copying session seemed less congested last meeting. Thanks for spreading out your time and limiting yourself to 10 disks at one sitting. If you have suggestions for further improvements, please contact us. *** For those individuals who can't make the meeting when your membership expires, you may renew by mail. Make your check payable to SLO BYTES and send it to Bob Ward or John Rohde. See addresses in Newsletter Information. Your new membership card will be returned by mail. *** The club is looking for a volunteer to be program chairman. It would involve writing software and hardware manufacturers and distributors. We are large enough we should be able to draw speakers from the larger cities. Contact George or Bob if you have a weak moment and wish to say "YES". *** See new discounts offered by WITCO under the discount section of this newsletter. *** For all you members over the hill, Cuesta Grade that is, there is new PC computer store in Paso Robles. Taylor Business Machines is located behind the Safeway store. Owned by Ray Taylor, his phone number is 239-4750. ====================================================== $$-4SALE-$$-4SALE-$$-4SALE-$$-4SALE-$$-4SALE-$$ ******** Zenith PC 148 ******** Monochrome Monitor 1 ea 360k Floppy Drive 1 ea 20m Hard Disc 640K RAM CGA Color Emulation Card Standard PC Keyboard Serial and parallel Ports Dual Selectible 4.77/8 mhz Original Cost ................ $1,987.00 Asking ....................... $1,490.00 One year old. Used by a frail Senior Citizen who only took the computer to church once each week. Have original "pedigree" documents. Call Jules Lieber 528-1566. Ring softly...you might wake him up. (The editor takes no credit for composing this ad!) ----- Epson EX-1000 Printer (6 months old). Draft mode and NLQ. 9 pin, wide carriage, tractor feed (both push or pull) & friction feed. Parallel interface. Retails $475.00 (discounted) Take it away for $275.00. Call John Rohde @ 546-8381 ----- WANTED: Used portable PC, 8088, 2 - 5.25" floppy disk drives, 640K RAM, parallel & serial port, monochrome system with RGB port to outside of case. Hard disk optional. WANTED: Used PC-XT compatible, desk model, 8088, 1- 5.25" floppy disk, 640K RAM, parallel & serial ports, 30 MEG hard disk (optional), monochrome system. Call Bob Ward @ 528-0121 ----- $$-4SALE-$$-4SALE-$$-4SALE-$$-4SALE-$$-4SALE-$$ == VOTE == VOTE == VOTE == VOTE == VOTE == VOTE == This next meeting will be important to you. As a member you need to vote on two proposals: 1. the purchase of a portable computer with hard disk for club demonstrations, and 2: Purchase of a computer with hard disk for a club Bulletin Board. After reading the survey sheets, it was felt these two items would best serve the majority of members. We will be discussing these proposals plus any others you may have. (Trip to Hawaii for the officers only received 3 yes votes. Wonder why?) ITEM #1 The officers propose the purchase of a portable computer, new or used with the following enhancements: 2 floppy disk drives, 8088 processor, 640K memory, built-in monochrome monitor, 10 or 20 megabyte hard disk, parallel and serial ports and RGB color graphics external port to which we can hook up the overhead projection system. The Compaq computer we borrow from the Biology Department no longer has a hard disk which severely limits the demonstration of large programs. This computer will be used only at the meetings for demonstrations. Approximate cost: Used - $750.00 New - $950.00 ITEM #2 The officers propose the purchase of a table top computer, new or used with the following character- istics: 1 floppy disk drive, 8088 processor, 640K memory, clock calendar, minimum 30 megabyte hard disk, parallel and serial ports, internal or external 1200 baud modem, and a monochrome monitor. Approximate cost: Used - $800 New - $950 To this we would have a one time charge of $34.50 for a second phone line + $15.00 for phone hardware. This BBS would run 24 hours a day except for occasional hard disk backup's, etc. All members would have full access to this computer through their modems. George Campbell would be running the BBS. He resides in Los Osos and his phone prefix is 528-****. We would be obligated to pay the monthly phone bill of $8.50. If we decide to insure this machine there would be an extra yearly cost. With our current balance of over $3100 in savings both items could be purchased at this time. ====================================================== CALENDAR March 3rd Computer Magazines - The Best and Worst. An overview by George Campbell ---> FISHER HALL 286 April 7th GEM as demonstrated by Gus Thomasson. He has guaranteed a dazzling display! ---> FISHER HALL 286 May 5th ---> Meeting in Science North 213 June 2nd ---> Meeting in Science North 213 Please note the room change for the months of May and June. Disks will still be copied in Fisher Hall 292 during this time. ====================================================== COMINGS AND GOINGS At our February meeting we were fortunate to have Greg Clark, hardware developer for BOTTOM-LINE accounting program. Bottom-line is an effective accounting package for both small and large businesses. It is currently used by many of the larger corporations throughout the United States. The product is sold in modules so you buy only what pertains to your business. The main program is "General Ledger" and other modules such as "Accounts Receivable" and "Light Manufacturing" are built around the main program and may be purchased separately. Modules sell for about $800 each. Our many thanks to Greg and his Customer Service Representative for travelling the distance from Ventura. We will be receiving a disk, which is identical to the General Ledger program but with a limited number of entries. Look for it in our library in the near future. Next month our tireless leader, George Campbell, will review several computer magazines. We will learn the strong and weak points of those reviewed and perhaps see a few new magazines of which we were not aware. There are several hundred different computer magazines on the market today. Many are very specialized, others very general. George also came across a great little shareware program which is a must if you have a modem. Called MINIHOST, this simple program makes your computer into a mini bulletin board. Great if a friend wants to access your computer and download or upload a file. You don't even have to be present. The computer does all the work. It has security levels, password protection, several message bases, and many other features. Bob Ward will take 10 minutes to show you the highlights of this program. It has been added to our library this month. At the new user's meeting, George will be demonstrat- ing the DOS BACKUP program. Yes, if you have a hard disk you should back it up, even if all you have is the BACKUP program that comes with DOS. He will field any other questions you may have at this time. Don't forget the "real new" users demo by Sam Powers from 7- 7:30. Look in Computer Shopper and Compute's PC Magazine for columns written by George. Our Prez in a national celebrity. Well.... he's not running for president yet but give him a few years. A computer in every pot! Just think, millions of frustrated people. ====================================================== USEFUL UTILITIES UPDATE by Dick Trueman This month, I'll start off with suggestions about replacing some of the frequently-used DOS commands with handier and more powerful commands from the PC Magazine utilities discussed in the previous issue. COPY ... Use CO to copy one file, several files or all files to a diskette or subdirectory - no need to type out file names. Also, CO can be used to move a selected file or files to a diskette or a subdirectory -- it is not necessary to copy files that you really want to move (rather than copy) and then go back and delete the original files. CO does that for you. Note: To specify a subdirectory on the same drive, when prompted type only a back-slash (.) and the subdirectory name. DEL or ERASE ... Use CO or DR to delete a single file, CO to delete several files or all files. You will be prompted to respond Y or N before any deletions are made. REN ... Rename individual files using DR, which will prompt for the new name. TYPE ... For a single file, use BROWSE, which gives you complete control to scroll forwards or backwards a line or a page at a time. For one or more files, use DR, which gives you the same control while allowing you to view any file on the current directory by simply selecting it and pressing ENTER. It is worth noting that both DR and BROWSE will allow you to scan through non-ASCII files for any embedded ASCII characters. This can be helpful at times in getting some information before running an executable file, for example. ----- Now, how about a program which will let you select printer control codes from a menu which you can pop-up from within any program (except one which takes over the keyboard interrupts) and immediately transmit the desired code(s) to your printer! SETUP is a memory- resident program configured for the Epson RX/FX series, but it can be modified fairly easily for other printers. I've included on the PC Magazine Utilities disk two modified versions, SETUPIBM for the IBM Proprinter and SETUPMX for Epson MX printers. Read the SETUP.DOC file and give this program a try. ----- If you spot a file named SLOBYTES.LTR, say, and have trouble remembering what in the world it is, DIRNOTES can be most helpful. When DIRNOTES is called, it presents you with an alphabetically-sorted directory listing on the left side of the screen. For each file, you can enter descriptive comments up to 38 characters in length, such as program purpose, file contents, hot keys, etc. The directory is automatically updated as you add or delete files, and all information is saved in an ASCII file with the name DIRN-abc.DAT, where abc will be the first three letters of the directory name. ----- If you have a hard disk and don't like to have to hunt for the backslash key to type CD .NAME to switch to your NAME subdirectory, here's a little batch file which will not only switch to a new subdirectory but will also optionally execute a program with an optional argument. For convenience, suppose we call the batch file CD.BAT. It consists of two lines CD .%1 %2 %3 Call this program by typing: CD (subdir) [program] [parameter] Examples: CD S4 -- Change to subdirectory S4 CD S4 SC4 -- and call program SC4 (which happens to be SuperCalc 4) CD S4 SC4 EXAMPLES -- and load the file EXAMPLES.CAL into SC4 ready to go ----- Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Call me at 544-4267. ====================================================== NEWS FROM OUR LIBRARY For the month of February, the following disks have been added to our library: #242 MINIHOST - A simple means of communicating between 2 computers via modem. Upload, download, message base and more. #243 LOTTOMAN - Win the California Lottery - Written by George Campbell, VMUSIC; a music program, MEDICBBS; a list of national medical BBS's and more. Files ARC'd. #244 Miscellaneous programs including many music files, baseball statistics, SLO county scanner frequencies, and more. Files ARC'd. #245 Educational - Solve chemistry problems, math programs, quiz generator, astronomy, assembly language tutorial, etc. Files ARC'd. #246 Graphics - EGA demo's, graphics for Print Shop, Print Master editing tools, etc. Files ARC'd. Most require CGA, many EGA monitor and board. #247 Miscellaneous applications - Outline & planning program, video cataloging system, WORDPERFECT macros, lock your hard disk from outside intruders, DOS shell. Files ARC'd. #248 Application programs - AREACODE, find cities from areacode, EZFORM - form generating program, LQALL - 3 pass NLQ for Epson printers, WOOD - how best to cut large pieces fo wood, etc. Files ARC'd. #203 ImagePrint Update to Version 1.5 ====================================================== DOS TIPS (Bits & Bytes, August, 1987 - Author unknown) An undocumented DELETE command has been discovered which is useful when you want to erase all the files in a sub-directory. An example of each command is shown below, with the documented command first. both commands give the "Are you Sure" prompt to save you, hopefully, from accidents. DEL /WS/*.* or DEL WS Each command gives the same results, no files in sub- directory WS. [This story first appeared in the HAL- PC, Houston Texas, Newsletter in the October 1986 issue, Betty Dillingham, editor.] Further to the above (by Dave Schubert & Bruce Rosenberg) In the course of testing the above command we discovered a few more nifty commands related to DOS and sub-directories. The COPY and DIR commands have some shortcuts also. The command DIR WS (where WS is a sub-directory like above) will display a DIR command of all the files inside without having to do the old documented command of DIR \WS or DIR \WS*.* The COPY command can also be used to copy ALL files from one sub-directory to another. Say you want to have a backup copy of all files in sub-directory WS before you go through it. Try this command next time: COPY WS WSBACKUP and all files inside sub-directory WS would be copied to sub-directory WSBACKUP in that one step. ====================================================== FUNCTION KEYS CAN BE VERY USEFUL By Andy Driscoll LaCrosse Wisconsin PCUG (Reprinted from Harvest, December 1987) The five function keys marked F1 - F5 on the PC keyboard can be very useful for typing in long command strings and editing characters while typing in these commands. Here is a quick summary of the keys: F1 Repeats previous command character-by-character F2 Repeats previous command up to a specific character F3 Repeats last command entered F4 Skips over characters in previous command up to a specific character F5 Saves current line in editing buffer - waits for next DOS command Here is an example of how these keys are used. Enter the following command but do not hit the return key: A> COPY MYFILE.TXT B:MYFILE.TXT Suppose you wanted to copy the file named MYFILE.TXT but you misspelled the first filename. Just strike the F5 key. This gives you a new line for entering a new command, but your last command is still stored in the keyboard input buffer. To fix your mistake you could now strike the F2 key and then strike the PERIOD key (.). This combination of keystrokes repeated the last command up to the period key. Now strike the INS key and the letter then strike the F3 key. Striking the F3 key repeats the previous command from the pointer in the input buffer to the end of the previous command. If you had hit the F3 key right after you hit the F5 key, then the whole command entered originally would have appeared on your screen. Now hit ENTER, and your command has been fixed. Now suppose you want to enter: A>COPY B:MYFILE.TXT A:TEMP.TXT Strike the F1 key 5 times. This repeats the first 5 characters of the input buffer. Now hit F4 followed by B. This command has just deleted every character up to the first B it encountered. Now hit F3 and finish typing in your command. ====================================================== CONFESSIONS OF A COMPUTER USER By Tom Crain, Modesto PCUG I've got this computer and I've been using it awhile. I was just a simple beginner. But not any longer. Now I've used about two thirds of the DOS commands and I've even mastered a few of them. I'm using a word processor in my work. I've added some small improvements to a commercial program written in BASIC. I've replaced my 8088 with a V20. Now I've decided I need a hard disk, a modem and an accelerator board. So, not what am I? I used to be a simple beginner. Not any more. Now I use batch files as a matter of course. I frequently use RAM drives of varying sizes. I've actually used DEBUG successfully! And I find myself becoming obsessed. Recently, I couldn't decide whether or not to delete a small, unused utility from my utility disk (better to keep it, but I haven't used it even once...is it backed up?...what time is it anyway...3am Just a few more minutes... now where is that arc'd utility backup disk?... hmm... what's in this arc'd file...). I can get an enormous sense of satisfaction digging out and running an obscure little feature of a program for which I have absolutely no use whatsoever. What am I now? I was just a simple beginner. Not now. Now I buy four or five computer magazines, pour over the ads, read the reviews, dream about what to buy, all the while figuring how I can manipulate budget priorities which I know full well won't budge. I used to be a simple beginner. What am I now? Ok. I admit it. I'm a... a... user. There, I've said it. I'm hooked. I'm a computer junkie. An addict, craving an electronic fix. Sound familiar? If it does, if all this describes you as well, then you are a computer junkie, too. Good for you for admitting it! But if you insist that you're different, then you're lying through your CRT. That's called denial and you haven't accepted the truth of your habit. But there's hope. I heard about a local group that helps computer users. I joined. We meet on the first Thursday of the month. The purpose of the group is to help us with our habits. Some of these people are really heaver users. They've been dBASING for years. That's something I haven't tried yet. Must be terrific. They certainly use a lot of exclamation points while doing it. Other members have been assembling and disassembling their brains for years. You can spot them at once. They speak a language all of their own. You can even join smaller, special groups which cater to members with very selective needs. At a recent general meeting a big pusher (with international connections) gave away some hardware, free! Now you can even get software free: all you have to do is tell the local connections how good it was! When I first started using, I didn't know it was habit forming. After all, I was a simple beginner. And no one warned me that I would slowly develop a dependency with cravings. No one warned me that I would need more hardware to satisfy my urges, that I would need more and more software to satisfy my increasing need to... USE! How could I know that I was slipping into... COMPUTER MADNESS. Not one ever warned me. To bad. I could have begun using even sooner. If only I had known! ======================================================