peelings ii v4n6 1983

FOR YOUR APPLE®: Word Processors & Information Services VOL. 4 NO. 6 1983 $3.00 THE MAGAZINE OF APPLE SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE EVALUATION How To Choose YOUR Word Processor (page 36) © Perfect Writer © Pie Writer 2.2 ° Select Word Processor © Format Il © Magic Window II Comparison Charts © Megawriter (page 61) INFORMATION SERVICES For Your Information: Don’t Miss These Five Reviews! i STOCK MARKET ® Portfolio Master 3.1 | ! BEGINNER COLUMN “The Anything Machine’ ae CHAPTER SIX: “Assembly Language’ 0 74470 More Apple Il owners choose Hayes Micromodem II than any other modem in the world. Compare these features before you buy. You should. It's your money. Thousands of other Apple II owners have already com- pared, considered, and are now communicating — all over the U.S.A.— with Micromodem II. The best modem for the Apple Il. The most modem ‘ai for your money, Acomplete data communi- cation system. Micromodem II is not “base priced” plus necessary “options.” It's a complete, high-performance data com- munication system. The printed circuit board fits — quickly and easily — into your Apple IJ, eliminating the need for a serial interface card. And the Microcoupler™ (included) connects the Apple II directly toa standard modular telephone jack. Auto-dial and -answer features are built in. Operation can be full or half duplex, — Microcoupler witha transmission rate of 300 bps. And it's Bell 103 compatible and FCC approved. Now there's Hayes Terminal Pro- gram, too! Developed by Hayes speci- fically for Micromodem II, this new Terminal Program allows you to access all the great features of your modem in a matter of seconds. With it, youcan use your CP/M DOS { _ 3.30r Pascal for- / matted disks to create, send, re- ceive, list and delete files. Hayes Terminal Program is a complete, stand-alone disk. And because it’s menu driven, you can choose from a wide variety of options to set your communication param- eters — as well as change hard- ware configuration — directly from the keyboard. It even allows you to generate ASCII characters that are normally not available from Apple Your Apple II just isnt the samewithout Hayes Micromodem II’ keyboards, further extending your capabilities. Incoming data can be printed (on serial or parallel printers) as it’s displayed on your screen. Micromodem II is available with or without the Terminal Program. Buy your modem by itself, or optionally pack- aged with the Terminal Program disk and user manual at extra cost. The soft- ware is also sold separately, for those who already own a Micromodem II. If you're ready to communicate with other computers, to access infor- mation utilities, time-sharing systems, or use bulletin boards, then you're ready for Micromodem II. Come on. Compare. Consider. Then buy. Micromodem II is already the best-selling modem for the Apple II. And Hayes’ new Terminal Program makes it better than H ayes ever. Available at ! computer stores nationwide. Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. 5835 Peachtree Corners East Norcross, Georgia 30092 (404) 449-8791 NEW! Terminal Program from Hayes! ™Micromodem II and Microcoupler are trademarks of Hayes he rae Products; Ine Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Resear Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. Sold only in the U.S.A. System Saver” The most important peripheral for your Apple II and Ie. For Line Surge Suppression The SYSTEM SAVER provides es- sential protection to hardware and data from dangerous power surges and spikes. sysre saver —_/ APPLE / By connecting the Apple II power input through the SYSTEM SAVER, power is controlled in two ways: 1) Dangerous voltage spikes are clipped off at a safe 130 Volts RMS/175 Volts dc level. 2) High fre- quency noise is smoothed out be- fore reaching the Apple II. A PI type filter attenuates common mode noise signals by a minimum of 30 dB from 600 khz to 20 mhz, with a maximum attenuation of 50 dB Easy Installation Just clips on. No mounting or hardware required. Color matched to Apple II. f= PATENT PENOING For Cooling As soon as you add 80 columns or more memory to your Apple II you need SYSTEM SAVER. Today's advanced peripheral cards generate more heat. In addi- tion, the cards block any natural air flow through the Apple II creating high temperature conditions that substantially reduce the life of the cards and the computer itself. SYSTEM SAVER provides cor- rect cooling. An efficient, quiet fan draws fresh air across the mother board, over the power supply and out the side ventilation slots. Compatible with Apple Stand For Operating Efficiency SYSTEM SAVER contains two switched power outlets. As shown in the diagram, the SYSTEM SAVER efficiently organizes your system so that one convenient, front mounted power switch controls SYSTEM SAVER, Apple II, monitor and printer. POWER The heavy duty switch has a pilot light to alert when system is on You'll never use the Apple power switch again! $89.95 at your local dealer or order direct by phone or mail. For phone or mail orders include $2.50 for handling. New York State residents add sales tax. VISA and MASTERCARD accepted. Dealer inquiries invited. Kensington Microware Ltd. 919 Third Avenue, New York NY 10022 (212) 486-7707 Telex: 236200 KEN UR —) KENSINGTON Y MICROWARE PRINTER Peelings||| ‘THE MAGAZINE OF APPLE B) rere AND HARDWARE EVALUATION Volume 4, Number 6, 1983 BEGINNER COLUMN: 9 The Anything Machine Chapter 6: Assembly Language INFORMATION SERVICES 13. The Source 17 CompuServe 21 Delphi 24 Dialog 28 Official Airline Guide WORD PROCESSORS 36 Word Processor Introduction 38 Word Processor Glossary 39 Perfect Writer and Speller Published by Perfect Software, Inc. 44 Select Published by Select Information Services 48 50 51 54 57 61 Magic Window II Published by Artsci, Inc. Pie Writer 2.2 Published by Hayden Software Format II Published by Kensington Microware, Ltd. Megawriter Published by Megahaus Corporation Word Processor Wrap-Up Word Processor Comparison Charts BUSINESS AND FINANCE 70 Portfolio Master 3.1 Published by Investors Software DEPARTMENTS 3 4 5 Authors Peelings Ratings Letters ADVERTISER INDEX Advertiser Page APPLE ORCHARD.........-.0.e00eeeeeeee eens 72 APPLIED ENGINEERING .. 33 AVANT GARDE eat CIRCADIAN SOFTWARE .. .52 CRAWFORD DATA 18 DARK STAR SYSTEMS -60 DAVID DATA 42 EAST SIDE SOFTWARE... of EXEC-SOFTWARE .. ‘ GEE WHIZ SOFTWARE . HAYDEN SOFTWARE. « HAYES MICROCOMPUTER PRODUCTS INTERACTIVE MICROWARE . . KENSINGTON MICROWARE . LJK ENTERPRISES... MICRO ANALYST MICRO CO-OP MICRO-SPARC . . OHM ELECTRONICS SANSOFT PLUS ..... SENSIBLE SOFTWARE . SIERRA ON-LINE SOF-TECH ............ SOFTKEY PUBLISHING . TACKABERRY SOFTWARE . VIRTUAL COMBINATICS .. . . WILDCAT COMPUTING..........--+0000e ee eee * NOTICE x Peelings II is now utilizing a subscription service in order to better serve our readers. If you are hav- ing any problems with your subscription, call Lorie Browne at (505) 526-8364 or write to: Lorie Browne, Peelings II, P.O. Box 188, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88004. To assist you in deciphering your address label, use the following table. Label Issue Expiration Number May 83 V4N5 Jul 83. V4N6 Sep 83. V4N7 Nov 83 V4N8 Dec 83 V4N9 Jan 84 V5N1 Feb 88 =V5N2 Mar 84 V5N3 Apr 84. V5N4 THE AUTHORS Robert Arbeit is a physician in academic medicine with a full-time appointment at Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center and an academic appointment at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Arbeit’s primary com- puting interests are in the area of word processing, data analysis, and telecommunications. Edward Burlbaw is staff scientist and the regional manager for Science and Technology Corporation. His background is in physics, electronics, and mathematics. He has a B.S. in physics, an M.S. in mathematics, an M.S. and a Ph.D. in physics. His other interests include snow skiing and electronics. Robert Greenwald is a physician specializing in arthritis who divides his professional time between patient care, teaching, and laboratory research on Long Island. In addition to his interest in using his Apple, Dr. Greenwald is an avid stamp collector and is a regular columnist for STAMPS magazine. Montgomery Lee is a U.S. Air Force Captain currently assign- ed to the DoD Shuttle Program Office in Los Angeles as a Manager for Shuttle Payload Flight Readiness. He is also an F-4 pilot. He has a B.S. in mathematics and astronautical engineering and an M.B.A. His hobbies are science fiction and photography. Tom Little has a B.S. in physics and computer science. He is currently pursuing his studies in physics at Oxford Univer- sity. Tom’s hobbies are writing computer languages and writing science fiction. John Martellaro is an operations research analyst for TRASANA, White Sands Missle Range working in computer graphics and combat simulation models. He has a B.S. in astrophysics and a M.S. in physics. John enjoys computer chess, science fiction, astronomy and soaring. J. Kent Miller is an Attorney at Law in Denver, Colorado. In addition to his writings in the legal field, he has had reviews of Apple products previously published in other Apple publications. In his spare time, he follows the stock market with his Apple Il. John Mitchener is a Personnel Management Specialist at White Sands Missle Range. He is a former Electronics War- fare Analyst for the U.S. Army and has a B.S. in psychology. John’s hobbies are ballooning, cooking and ham radio. Alan Shalette is president of Shalette & Company, Inc., a Chicago-based management consulting firm. The firm pro- vides market, product, business and operational systems plan- ning assistance for clients mainly in the finance industry. He holds a B.S. (ChE) and an M.B.A. Alan’s outside interests in- clude astronomy, photography, camping and reading. Michael Weasner is a U.S. Air Force Captain and a fighter pilot/instructor with multiple FAA ratings. He is currently assigned to the Air Force’s Space Division in Los Angeles where he is manager of the Computer Resources Division in the Launch Vehicles Program Office. Mike holds a B.S. in astrophysics. Besides flying, his interests include space ex- ploration and computers. stints peetieetietion | FRUSTRATED ~ BY 0 HIGH >» PRICES?? FOR ALL APPLE, ATARI, IBM OWNERS TAKE NOTE OF OUR SPECIAL! SOF-TECH Will be offering the below WORD PROCESSORS for 25% off the list price until September 15, 1983. DONT'T BE ZN FRUSTRATED 00 ANY LONGER— Aj C/ LET SOF-TECH HELP YOU SMILE AGAIN! CALL SOF-TECH P.O. Box 366 Sycamore, Illinois 60178 (815) 895-9155 APPLE BANK STREET WRITER CORRESPONDENT EXC. SECRETARY FORMAT II LETTER PERFECT Macic WINDOW PIE WRITER SUPER-TEXT WORD HANDLER WORD STAR MAGIC MAILER MAGIC WORDS ATARI ATARI WRITER BANK STREET WRITER LETTER PERFECT TEXT WIZARD WORD PROCESSOR IBM EASY WRITER II WORDMATE WORD/PC WORDSTAR WORD PROCESSOR **SOF-TECH OFFERS A FULL LINE OF SOFTWARE FOR THE APPLE, ATARI, IBM, COMMODORE & TEXAS INST. Call or write for our FREE BROCHURE bce a) DC > 000 EP EE ED- 0D 0-SD-0ED0EED0EED ED ED 00D ED ED 0D E00 0-0-0 D0) 00D 0D 0D 0D 0D 0D 0D 0D 0D 0D 0-0-0 0-0-0 0D) a) | oe PEELINGS RATINGS The Peelings Rating is a letter grade designed to indicate an overall impres- sion of the product. It is a measure of how well the publisher did the job he intended to do taking into considera- tion comparison to other similar pro- ducts, price to performance, ease of use, documentation, and sophisti- cation. We stress that you should not skip a review or disparage a program be- cause it receives a low rating. The rating alone can never tell the whole story. Only reading the entire review will give you all the information you need. For this reason, the rating should never be quoted alone without reference to text of the review. The Peelings Il rating categories follow: some example criteria are given for the categories, but they are not meant to be all inclusive. AAA — Absolutely astounding soft- ware. We have seen two programs that fit this category. AA — Top notch, superb. These pro- grams generally use the most sophisticated programming techniques and have excellent documentation. A— Very good. Software in this class incorporates very good programming techniques and has clear and infor- mative documentation. B — Good. This software may have minor errors or be slightly flawed, it may be lacking in thorough doc- umentation, or it may just be unex- citing. C — Average. Software of a medi- ocre nature. There may be a lack of good programming concepts or poor error trapping. It may be a repeat of other work, or have a low perfor- mance/price ratio. D — Below Average. Software with a blatant disregard for the user in terms of programming design, unacceptable documentation or performance/price ratio. F — Unacceptable. Software of such poor quality or usability that it should not be marketed. Publisher Peelings II, Inc. Associate Editors Edward Burlbaw John Martellaro John Mitchener Contributing Editors William Daugherty Tom Little Alan Shalette Michael Weasner Administrative Assistant Pamela Carmody Director Marketing & Communications Rebecca Winecup Copy Editor Richard Bishop Editorial Assistants Jane Trego Jack Moran Ruth Moran Circulation Director Lorie Browne SUBSCRIPTION RATES 9 issues (1 year) $21.00 18 issues (2 years) $38.00 27 issues (3 years) $54.00 Sample Copy $ 4.00 Back Issues $ 4.00 Canada, Mexico, APO, FPO (First Class) 9 issues $36.00 Back issues $ 5.00 South America & Europe (Air Mail) 9 issues $48.00 Back issues $ 6.00 All Other Foreign (Air Mail) 9 issues $57.00 Back issues $ 6.00 All remittances must be in U.S. funds and drawn, on U.S. bank. CREDITS Printing: Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing Albuquerque, NM. Typesetting (via modem): CrazyQuilt Graphics® , Las Cruces, NM 88001 Apple and Applesoft are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Copyright 1983 by Peelings Il, Inc. All rights reserved Material in this publication may not be stored or reproduced in any form without permission. Requests for permission should be directed to Rights and Permissions Editor, Peelings II, P.O. Box 188, Las Cruces, NM 88004, ISSN:0744-2475, Peelings Il is published monthly except Feb., March, and July by Peelings Il, Inc., 2260 Oleander, Las Cruces, NM. Second class postage paid at Las Cruces, NM and additional mailing offices. Telephone: (505) 526-8364 The Source: TCT120 Postmaster: Send address changes to Peelings Il, P.O. Box 188, Las Cruces, NM 88004 Correspondence: Send all regular mail to Peelings Il, P.O. Box 188, Las Cruces, NM 88004. U.P.S. Address: 2260 Oleander, Las Cruces, NM 88001. New product information and other editorial correspondence should be sent to the at- tention of Pamela Carmody. Dealer inquiries should be sent to the attention of Lorie Browne. Change of address and all subscription correspondence should be addressed to Peel- ings Il, P.O. Box 625, Holmes, PA 19043. For address changes please include your old address as well as new and enclose, if possible, an address label from a recent issue. Volume 4, Number 6, 1983 ) LETTERS Cards Attached ton rave recently ac- 3 an Apple ///. | and editing for ac. Additionally, ve Intelligencer, iterary monthly, mn. 2 original Apple Diablo Hytype | zether, the only 2s as underlining itified text would 2 left-most words 2’ down the left TO SUBSCRIBE or RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION Please See Postage-Paid Subcri MasterCard & VISA Orders / Dealer Inquiries For Your Convenience Use This 24hr | Day Toll-Free Number 800-345-81 1 2 (In Pennsylvania: 800-662-2444) was given Script cros to produce e disks for each Sprint 5 printers ent to paste up isled, Script is a »ssor. The text is keyboard, com- 2 >, *UL means Le don screen, and aA i Script, and the % nd passed along ag Script II (and ‘esigned to work Qume Sprint 5. was already sell- DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED % %, : nt 5, microspace %, . ) 3, paces are added > right-most sides white.’ Script is r-quality printers ters are very interesting stories of two writers’ ex- ous word processing software and hardware. They : details on interfacing, and they are just the kind 1 like to see more of. Thanks, Tod and Richard. without special hardware in the printer to allow it to emulate the Sprint 5. This leads to the second complaint. The source code is held proprietary by Apple . . . (I) can understand that Ap- ple doesn’t want its source codes floating around, but at least Script can be updated to include a printer configura- tion module. Almost three years ago, | bought a Softcard and Micropro’s WordStar. | also bought an NEC 3510 Spinwriter printer. From the very moment | brought up Word- Star on my Apple, | was at once impressed and satisfied. Here was an author's dream come true. It had most of the features one could wish for. Granted the manual was a lit- tle thick, but it was extremely easy for us to bring up the program and install in on our Apple. Note: It has a com- plete configuration program which allows the selection of your 80-column card and printer type. Even though the 3510 wasn’t listed, | found that it works the same when configured for a 5510, It also gives you the choice of the hardware shift modification or the use of the software shift. Enough has been written about WordStar to fill several volumes, 99% of it positive. However, my favorite aspects are onscreen formatting, no switching between in- sert/delete and edit modes, the ease of switching between standard characters and extra characters which are available on the Spinwriter Super Courier thimble. Other niceties are sub and superscript roll, changing pitches through software, hyphen help, printer interrupts imbed- ded (to change print thimbles), and column moves. One of the major criticisms leveled at WordStar is its lack of macro capabilities. | have found that if one is clever, the Mailmerge option can neatly be used to create macros. Other things left out of WordStar are footnoting and in- dexing capabilities. Well, the worm just turned. There is currently available a footnoting option called, surprise! “FootNote.”’ It works quite well and gives the user a choice of footnote style options. Need an index and/or table of contents for your magnum opus? Take your choice of Documate or WordIndex. Both do a fine job. How do they Letters 5 | irtientietietbention | FRUSTRATED ~ BY ay") HIGH > PRICES?? FOR ALL APPLE, ATARI, IBM OWNERS TAKE NOTE OF OUR SPECIAL! D>) 0D 0D 0. SOF-TECH Will be offering the below WORD PROCESSORS for 25% off the list price until September 15, 1983. DONT'T BE A FRUSTRATED o ANY LONGER— (j LET C/’ SOF-TECH HELP YOU SMILE AGAIN! | i ( i | | i { i \ | ' ' | CALL { SOF-TECH ( P.O. Box 366 | { i { j i i ! Sycamore, Illinois 60178 (815) 895-9155 APPLE BANK STREET WRITER CORRESPONDENT EXC. SECRETARY FORMAT I! PLE WRITER SUPER-TEXT WORD HANDLER WORD STAR LETTER PERFECT Macic WINDOW MAGIC MAILER ‘MAGIC WORDS ATARI ATARI WRITER BANK STREET WRITER LETTER PERFECT TEXT WIZARD WORD PROCESSOR IBM EASY WRITER II WORDMATE WORD/PC WORDSTAR WORD PROCESSOR **SOF-TECH OFFERS A FULL LINE OF SOFTWARE FOR THE APPLE, ATARI, IBM, COMMODORE & TEXAS INST. Call or write for our FREE BROCHURE > POD 0D 1D: EOE 00D 0D 0D 0D 0D) 0-0-0 PEELINGS RATINGS The Peelings Rating is a letter grade designed to indicate an overall impres- sion of the product. It is a measure of how well the publisher did the job he intended to do taking into considera- tion comparison to other similar pro- ducts, price to performance, ease of use, documentation, and sophisti- cation. We stress that you should not skip a review or disparage a program be- cause it receives a low rating. The rating alone can never tell the whole story. Only reading the entire review will give you all the information you need. For this reason, the rating should never be quoted alone without reference to text of the review. The Peelings II rating categories follow: some example criteria are given for the categories, but they are not meant to be all inclusive. AAA — Absolutely astounding soft- ware. We have seen two programs that fit this category. AA — Top notch, superb. These pro- grams generally use the most sophisticated programming techniques and have excellent documentation. A— Very good. Software in this class incorporates very good programming techniques and has clear and infor- mative documentation. B — Good. This software may have minor errors or be slightly flawed, it may be lacking in thorough doc- umentation, or it may just be unex- citing. C — Average. Software of a medi- ocre nature. There may be a lack of good programming concepts or poor error trapping. It may be a repeat ot other work, or have a low perfor- mance/price ratio. D — Below Average. Software with a blatant disregard for the user in terms of programming design, unacceptable documentation or performance/price ratio. F — Unacceptable. Software of such poor quality or usability that it should not be marketed. (wvve-299-008 ‘emenKsued 4) TE TF O-GHE-OOS8 GALIANI SaIMINONI Jaquinyy 8914-/J01 AeQ | 1Upz SY] ASP BUaIUIAUO JNO, 104 | 48/29 / S19P10 VSIA @ P1eDJ0}seyy payse}jy Spsed uol}dl9qns pleg-e3e}s0q 3g asea|q NOILdIYISANS YNOA MANIU 40 IINISANS OL ( sauinbu LETTERS The following letters are very interesting stories of two writers’ ex- periences with various word processing software and hardware. They are full of excellent details on interfacing, and they are just the kind of letters we would like to see more of. Thanks, Tod and Richard. Dear Peelings, I have had an Apple II for four years, have recently ac- quired an Apple //e, and my wife owns an Apple ///. | have done freelance technical writing and editing for small firms and even Apple Computer, Inc. Additionally, | edited the local Mensa newsletter, the Intelligencer, and am currently in charge of printing a literary monthly, The Ecphorizer, also a Mensa publication. I started off several years ago with the original Apple Writer, which was paired with a used Diablo Hytype | printer. The two worked quite well together, the only problems being the lack of such amenities'as underlining and microspacing between words. The justified text would insert the needed extra spaces between the left-most words on each line, resulting in “rivers of white’ down the left side. When | started my first job for Apple, | was given Script II. Script was coupled with various macros to produce standard manual formats for Apple. The disks for each manual could now be printed on Qume Sprint 5 printers and given to their production department to paste up flats for the manual. Lest anyone be misled, Script is a text formatter rather than a word processor. The text is entered using the Pascal Editor from the keyboard, com- plete with formatting commands (i.e., *UL means underscore next line), edited and adjusted on screen, and saved to disk with Filer. Then one runs Script, and the formatting commands are interpreted and passed along to the printer. I have two major complaints regarding Script Il (and Script ///, too). The first is that it was designed to work primarily with an outdated printer: the Qume Sprint 5. When Script came on the market, Qume was already sell- ing the Sprint 9. If one is not using a Sprint 5, microspace justification won’t work. At least the spaces are added alternately on the left-most and then the right-most sides of each line, eliminating the “rivers of white.” Script is not configurable to any of the new letter-quality printers Peelings Il without special hardware in the printer to allow it to emulate the Sprint 5. This leads to the second complaint. The source code is held proprietary by Apple . . . (I) can understand that Ap- ple doesn’t want its source codes floating around, but at least Script can be updated to include a printer configura- tion module. Almost three years ago, | bought a Softcard and Micropro’s WordStar. | also bought an NEC 3510 Spinwriter printer. From the very moment | brought up Word- Star on my Apple, | was at once impressed and satisfied. Here was an author’s dream come true. It had most of the features one could wish for. Granted the manual was a lit- tle thick, but it was extremely easy for us to bring up the program and install in on our Apple. Note: It has a com- plete configuration program which allows the selection of your 80-column card and printer type. Even though the 3510 wasn’t listed, | found that it works the same when configured for a 5510. It also gives you the choice of the hardware shift modification or the use of the software shift. Enough has been written about WordStar to fill several volumes, 99% of it positive. However, my favorite aspects are onscreen formatting, no switching between in- sert/delete and edit modes, the ease of switching between standard characters and extra characters which are available on the Spinwriter Super Courier thimble. Other niceties are sub and superscript roll, changing pitches through software, hyphen help, printer interrupts imbed- ded (to change print thimbles), and column moves. One of the major criticisms leveled at WordStar is its lack of macro capabilities. | have found that if one is clever, the Mailmerge option can neatly be used to create macros. Other things left out of WordStar are footnoting and in- dexing capabilities. Well, the worm just turned. There is currently available a footnoting option called, surprise! “FootNote.”’ It works quite well and gives the user a choice of footnote style options. Need an index and/or table of contents for your magnum opus? Take your choice of Documate or WordIndex. Both do a fine job. How do they Letters 5 do it? Well, the makers of WordStar left a comment com- mand wide open. When a period begins a line of the screen, this signifies (to the formatter) that a formatting command follows. However, a double period means “‘ig- nore all that follows on this line.’ Therefore, the authors of these adjunct programs instruct us to insert a double period and then some letters which THEIR programs will recognize and act upon! | have just read about a new program designed to work with WordStar to format print in true proportional spac- ing, provided one used the correct print wheel on one’s printer. Since NEC offer a proportional spacing thimble, | intend to investigate this product further. In case you are interested, the article is about ‘““MagicPrint”’ in the June, 1983 issue of Creative Computing. If you have WordStar installed on an Apple I] + and you upgrade to an Apple //e, WordStar will work just fine on it. In fact, | have now available all printable ASCII characters on the Apple //e keyboard, including fully func- tional SHIFT, SHIFTLOCK, and TAB keys. My configura- tion is set for VIDEOTERM WITH SHIFT MOD, NEC 5510/20, no Communication Protocol, and CP/M List Out- put Driver (LST). The one thing you have to watch out for is to deactivate the software shift key by pressing ESC once; otherwise lower case comes out caps and vice-versa. The only major problem I’ve had with WordStar is transportation. That is, I'd like to install it on our Apple ///, but even with the help of an Apple Tech Note, we’ve been unable to do so. The program just crashes. I’d like it on the Apple /// to utilize storage space and the ProFile hard disk. While I’m on the subject of transportation, I'd like to point out that text or ASCII files created with AppleWriter /// or the Apple /// Pascal Editor can be eventually used on the //e with WordStar. A friend of mine created a Pascal program which will translate certain character combina- tions (i.e., %% and &&) into WordStar formatting com- mands (i.e., CTRI-P-CTRL-S). The resulting textfile can be downloaded via an AppleWriter /// utility to an Apple II formatted disk, and then converted to CP/M format using the APDOS program. Then a simple run through Word- Star to reformat the paragraphs will give you a WordStar textfile complete with the requisite formatting commands already imbedded. This capability greatly extends to non- CP/M equipped Apples the means of creating and down- loading files to WordStar. Sincerely, Tod Wicks Palo Alto, California Dear Peelings, First let me say that | enjoy receiving Peelings II and that I find the magazine to be quite useful. | am writing to you based on your request for reader feedback. After working part time on a Ph.D. thesis in mathematical statistics over the past 3 or 4 years, last September it came time to start typing a rough draft of my text. Despite the special math- ematical symbols and Greek letters which would be re- quired, | was determined to type it myself on my Apple Il if at all possible. Based on your review of Pie Writer and the fact that the disk is not copy protected, it did not take me long to decide which word processor to purchase. | bought Pie Writer, version 2.1, 80-column version for use with my card which is compatible with the Videx Videoterm. My choice of printer was only slightly more difficult to make. Since | needed to be able to define my own characters (Greek let- ters and math symbols) and also desired flexible HIRES dump capability, | purchased ‘an Epson-MxX-80 F/T type III printer and a Pkaso interface card. This card allows users to easily define their own character sets and also has other interesting features. The first problem | encountered was that the Pie Writer program and the special character feature on the Pkaso in- terface were not compatible since the Pkaso special character routine modifies two page zero locations used by Pie Writer. However, since Pie Writer is unprotected, | was able to patch the Format module to correct the problem. 6 Working with a Videx compatible 80-column card, the next problem that arose was that | could not get the Ep- son to print when working in 80-column mode. | traced the problem to the 80-column card itself. More specifical- ly, the 80-column card’s C8 ROM would not turn off when $CFFF was accessed. The C8 ROM on the Pkaso interface could thus never gain control when working in 80 columns. Again, since Pie Writer is not copy protected, | was able to modify the Format module so that it did not access the 80-column card and used only the 40-column screen mode. In this manner, | was able to print my text. If Pie Writer had been protected, neither of these two modifica- tions would have been possible, and | would not have been able to use the program to print my thesis. | proceeded to enter a large part of my text, skipping for a moment the imbedded format commands necessary to provide the subscripts, exponents, special characters, etc. I found Pie Writer relatively easy to use and certainly powerful enough to handle the formidable task to which it was being put. When it came time to enter the imbedd- ed printer format commands, | purchased a Videx Enhancer II so that the control codes could be defined as macros and entered with a single keystroke. This greatly simplified and speeded up the entry of imbedded printer format commands. However, when it came to printing out the formatted text, | had another unpleasant surprise. While the original text without the imbedded printer commands printed out as one would expect, passages of text which contained a Letters Volume 4 Number 6 high density of imbedded printer contro! codes would not print correctly, the Format module losing portions of the text to be printed. After verifying that | had not very nice indeed. made a mistake and that the problems were not due to the patches | had made, | wrote Hayden explaining that there was a bug in the Format pro- gram. After six weeks, | received a letter back from them indicating the correct way of entering imbedded printer control codes, something which | already knew. It has now been two months since | wrote back to Hayden (enclosing a diskette to illustrate the problem), and | have received no further reply from them. | am enclosing a copy of my correspondence for your informa- tion. In the meantime, | have been able, with a lot of trial and error, to get most but not all of my thesis to print correctly by staying in fill mode as much as possible, simpli- fying my equations, and formatting the text by hand (for example by in- denting the required number of spaces rather than using the com- mand for centering or the .tl com- mand for titles). | had fewer prob- lems getting exponents and sub- scripts to print in long passages by defining them as special characters rather than by using these modes built into the Epson. This is because fewer control characters are re- quired to activate and deactivate the special characters as opposed to the subscripts and exponents. | am still hoping to hear from Hayden fairly quickly so that | can finish printing my dissertation. Given a corrected version of Pie Writer, | would not hesitate using it again for similar applications. It isa very capable word processor and adding a macro capability with the Enhancer II makes it even more powerful, In retrospect, | must admit that my use of Pie Writer was a quite am- bitious one. However, Pie Writer worked very admirably, except of course for the annoying problem of Peelings Il losing text when a line contained many imbedded control characters. The result, when printed out correctly, were Sincerely, Richard Sylvester Mons, BelgiumO NEW! EXTENDED PROTECTION AGAINST SPIKES, SURGES AND LINE NOISE! SUG. RET. WARRANTY SCOOTER’s new XP-4 GUARD-IT™ CONTROL CENTER with state-of-the art fail-safe design. SCOOTER's new XP-4 GUARD-IT CONTROL CENTER features electronic components and design so advanced it eliminates the possibility of surge dam- age (both normal and common mode) to your equipment and programs. Plus it filters line noise and functions as a one- switch control center. Here's how it works: Combining a new surge protection with solid state devices, SCOOTER's XP-4 reduces spikes as high as 6000 amps and filters line noise. In the unlikely event of filter module failure due to repeated surge hits, the XP-4's fail-safe design goes to work blocking all unprotected power to your equipment. But the XP-4 filtering modules are so reliable, the unit has an extended three-year protection warranty against failure. Ask your local computer supply source for SCOOTER's new XP-4 GUARD-IT CONTROL CENTER. Get fail-safe extended protection for your expensive equipment and valuable programs now! High Grade Electronic Components H ohm/electronics 746 Vermont e Palatine, IL 60067 (312) 359-6040 | N, Letters SPECIFICATIONS: ¢ Rated at 15 amps, 125 volts Maximum spike current: 6000 amps (8x20 ms) Clamping spike voltage: 225 (Ipk = 100 amps; 8x20 ms) © Let-through voltage: 400 * Pulse life: 108 cycles Noise filtering: more than 20 db, 2-100 mhz © Power indicator light * Push-to-reset circuit breaker ° Heavy duty 6-ft. grounded cord 4 protected outlets © 3-year warranty Other SCOOTER products include: cable assemblies, connectors, flat cable, semiconductors, switches, surge pro- tected outlet strips, integrated circuits & sockets and electronic components & hardware, Visa & MasterCard accepted. 2 2 an FREE SCOOTER™ T-SHIRT! a SEND proof of purchase (sales receipt for Scooter merchandise OR SEND the name of your computer dealer if he does not carry the Scooter™ High Grade Electronic Component line WITH THIS COUPON and your name, address, T-shirt size and computer make to: | ohm/electronics Bae: 746 Vermont St., Palatine IL 60067 NEW FOR APPLE II ILDC MAKES BACK-UP COPIES OF PROTECTED SOFTWARE QUICKLY, EASILY, WITH JUST A PUSH OF A BUTTON. New software locking schemes have rendered even the latest generation of copy programs virtually unusable. Locksmith™, Nibbles Away™ and other “Nibble copiers” require complicated parameter settings, much patience and great effort to use. More often than not, the results are disappointing. WILD- CARD is different. Rather than copying disks track by track, WILDCARD ignores the disk and any copy protection encrypted on it. Instead, WILDCARD takes a snapshot of memory in your Apple® Il. Now you can make back-up copies of protected software with the push of a button. Features O Hardware copying device... ‘ é push button Gaetan 0 Copies become accessible 0 Copies 48K memory resident for alterations. software, most 64K software. 7 Simple, easy-to-use No programming experience software included. or parameters necessary. WILDCARD Utility Disk 1 also 0 Backs up DOS 3.2 and available, featuring: DOS 3.3 disks. 0 Automatic program compres- 0 Creates DOS 3.3 unpro- sion and BRUN file maker. tected and autobooting disks. o Multiple programs can be 0 WILDCARD lives in any slot. placed on the same disk. Undetectable by software. 0 Recreates basic files to load 0 Produces autobooting disk and save. in 2 minutes. 0 Files can beplaced ona hard 0 CopiesareDOS3.3 compatible. disk.....and more. Software is not copy protected. System requirements: Apple II Plus with 64K and DOS 3.3 or Apple Ile. Franklin Ace also supported. *Wildcard does not operate with CP/M® or other microprocessor based software. Order direct from East Side Software Co., 344 E. 63 St., Suite 14-A, New York City 10021, 212/355-2860. Please include $3.00 for WILDCARD $129.95 handling. Mail and phone orders may be charged to MasterCardand = wit pCARD Utility Disk1_ $30.00 VISA. N.Y. State residents add sales tax. Dealer inquiries welcome. c ality, Diskatm 20) IMPORTANT NOTICE: The WILDCARD is offered for the purpose of enabling you to make archival copies only. Under the Copyright Law you, as the owner of a copy of a computer program, are entitled to make a new copy for archival purposes only and the WILDCARD will enable you to do so. The WILDCARD is offered for no other purpose and you are not permitted to utilize it for any other use, other than that specified. Apple Il is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research, Inc. Locksmith—trademark of Omega Microware, Inc. Nibbles Away—trademark of Computer: applications. THE ANYTHING MACHINE Chapter Six: ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE by Tom Little Programming in assembly language is fundamentally dif- ferent in several ways from pro- gramming in any other language such as Applesoft or Pascal. There are also similarities—as always. In this month’s column we'll discuss these differences and similarities, and touch on some of the why’s and wherefore’s of Assembly lan- guage. As with previous columns, the intention is to stimulate in- terest (or bring apathy out into the open, as the case may be), rather than to give a thorough course on the how-to's. THE SOUL OF THE COMPUTER Deep down inside every com- puter, where fools rush in and users fear to tread, there lies the soul of the machine: the hardware. In a sense, all those fancy computer languages, data base systems, and word pro- cessors are a facade: the machine does not know about them, and the machine does not care that it just erased your 80-page report instead of filing it. The hardware responds to, and produces only, electronic signals. We humans are responsible for interpreting (or misinterpreting) them. The computer's processor is de- signed to fetch its instructions from memory, one at a time. It does this by changing the electrical states of Peelings I some connections within the ma- chine. After a short time (less than a millionth of a second), the memory chips have responded to the elec- trical signals and the states of some other connections have been altered. The processor responds to these new signals by performing some very specific, unsophisticated action. If we don’t want to talk about elec- trical signals (a programmer with a voltmeter is no longer a programmer, he’s an engineer!), we can say it a dif- ferent way. We can say that the pro- cessor has read a number from a memory location, and that this num- ber is an opcode which causes the processor to perform a certain ac- tion. When we think of the processor responding to numbers it reads from memory, we're thinking of it running machine language. There are a few hundred different numbers that act as instructions to the processor. They are instructions for very simple actions. They mostly instruct the processor to change the contents of registers or memory. Registers are just like memory loca- tions except that they are inside the processor itself. The processor doesn’t have to signal memory to use its registers. Because they are so much faster to access, the processor is designed to do arithmetic only on numbers in registers. For example, the number $E8 (the dollar sign means the number is hexadecimal, or base-16) causes the processor to add 1 to the contents of a register The Anything Machine known as the X-register. At this level, a computer works a lot like a pro- grammable calculator. Programming in machine language consists of familiarizing yourself with which numbers cause the processor to perform which actions, combining these opcodes into a machine lan- guage program (which is just a se- quence of numbers), and placing the program in memory where the ma- chine can use it. None of these steps is trivial. The task can be made easier by programming in assembly language. The only difference between this and machine language is that when writing in assembly language, descriptive words are used in place of the hard-to-remember numeric codes. Thus instead of the number $E8, the mnemonic INX (which stands for “‘increment X’’) would be used. This makes it much easier to design the program. After a program has been written in assembly lan- guage, it still must be translated back into the numeric machine language before it can be used. This can be done by hand (it is not difficult, just tedious and time-consuming), or a program called an assembler can co it quickly and with less pair.. Now, bear in mind that the com- puter is ALWAYS running a program in machine language. In a very real sense, there are no other computer languages. When we say that the computer is ‘‘running a BASIC pro- gram,” we're not being altogether human user Pascal Compiler Pascal p-code interpreter Language sophistication “Program Writers’ BASIC Interpreter* Assemblers - Applications Program Pascal BASIC Pascal p-code Assembly Language Machine Language ‘ hardware *and BASIC Compilers Zi Figure 1. honest. Actually the computer is run- ning a machine language program (which is sometimes called the BASIC interpreter), whose only purpose is to fool the users into believing the computer ‘‘understands’’ a BASIC program! Figure 1 gives an overview of where all the various interpreters, compilers, and assemblers stand in relation to machine language. At once, both the advantages and disadvantages of assembly language programming come to light. The “good news” is that you have com- plete control. There’s no way to more effectively dominate the ma- chine, other than getting out a solder- ing iron. The ‘‘bad news’ is that you have to think of your computer like a pocket calculator, paying attention to every trivial addition and'subtrac- tion required to get the job done. The Apple’s processor doesn’t even have a multiply instruction! To multiply 3 X 5 in assembly language, it is necessary to write a program to do repeated additions. At this point the sensible reader will have decided to leave assembly language to the guys with the volt- 10 Apple Languages and Translators. meters. With a knowing chuckle he will turn away to some less absurd portion of the magazine. Those remaining will read on about some of the incredible gim- micks that have been contrived to make it easier to program hardware so primitive it can’t multiply. A SAMPLE PROGRAM The beginning and the end of assembly language programming on the Apple is the Apple I! Reference Manual. This book is basically a description of how to make the Ap- ple do things from machine lan- guage. The input/output operations are described in gory detail, and there’s a lot of information about the Monitor ROM, a permanent memory chip in the Apple that has a lot of “canned programs” to make life more peaceful for the assembly language programmer. For example, we read that there is a subroutine located at memory ad- dress $FC58 which clears the screen of printing (like “HOME” in BASIC). The routine at $FBDD makes a beep, $FDB8E starts a new line of printing, The Anything Machine $FD6A reads an input line of text from the keyboard, and $FDED prints the letter or character whose numeric code is in the A-register (or accumulator). These codes are also listed in the Apple Il Reference Manual. You can tell already that things will get a bit tedious in assembly language—dealing with let- ters by numeric code is just one of its joys. With these pieces of information we can write an assembly language program. Not a profound one, mind you, but at least one that will work. JSR HOME JSR BELL1 LDA #”“@” STA $33 LOOP: JSR CROUT JSR GETLN LDA $200 JSR COUT CMP $33 BNE LOOP RTS The “JSR” instruction is like BASIC’s “‘GOSUB”’: it means go ex- ecute that routine, then return to do the next instruction. The manual says that subroutine GETLN will print as a prompt whatever character code is in location $33. So we LDA (load ac- cumulator) with an at-sign and STA (store accumulator) to location $33. This is the way to put a number in memory using machine language: via the accumulator. The manual also tells us that GETLN leaves the line of text the user has typed (GETLN is like “INPUT” in BASIC) in memory, start- ing at location $200. So LDA $200 will put the first character of the in- put line in the accumulator. JSR COUT prints this character on the screen. CMP (compare) $33 checks to see if this character is the same as the one in location $33, which we are using for a prompt. If they are not equal, the processor branches (BNE) to the beginning of the loop. If they are equal, the RTS (“return from subroutine’) instruction is executed, and the program ends. Notice that we have used names Volume 4 Number 6 rather than numbers in most cases. An assembler would resolve these names into numbers for us, and the names make the program easier to read. We can assemble this program by hand, knowing the addresses of the Monitor routines (HOME, COUT, etc.) and the opcodes that go with the various instructions: 20 58 FC JSR HOME 20 DD FS JSR BELL1 AQ co LDA #’@” 85 33 STA $33 20 8E FD LOOP: JSR CROUT 20 6A FD JSR GETLN AD 00 02 LDA $200 20 ED FD JSR COUT cs 33 CMP $33 DO FO BNE LOOP 60 RTS The machine language is written on the left, in hex- adecimal. The first column consists of opcodes, the second and third columns are the numbers corresponding to the addresses and numbers implied in the assembly language version. Careful scrutiny of this listing will bring up some points of confusion if you are new to assembly language, but this is the listing an assembly would produce and the one a human assembler would produce after some study of Apple machine language. This program as it stands will clear the screen, produce a beep, and prompt the user repeatedly with an at-sign. It will echo the first character tricky things like input and output, assembly language pro- gramming is not as awful as it might be. But it’s still pretty bad. ASSEMBLERS Although a good assembler makes it much easier to pro- gram in assembly language, nearly all assembly language programmers are comfortable using the method shown above to make minor changes (‘patches’) and debug their programs. This method also has the advantage of being more educational and emphasizes the direct contact with the machine which is the hallmark of assembly language programming. But, when a person’s had enough education, an assembler is the preferred tool for this type of program- ming. Not only does it translate and load the program for you, a good assembler will also provide a variety of other aids. An example is a macro facility, which allows the pro- grammer to give an oft-repeated sequence of instructions a single name, to save on typing. With extensive use of macros, an assembly language program can look almost like a BASIC program. In this way, one can have some of the advantages of both worlds. An assembler also opens up the world of large, com- plex programming projects. BASIC or some other high- level language is usually just not fast enough or flexible enough to use for something like an arcade game, word Peelings I Figure 2. Apple I+ Monitor ROM w/48K memory map. __ Fooo [| BASIC E000 Interpreter (ROM) D000 V/O addresses C000 Booo Dos A000 9000 | BASIC string variables osoo 8000 |..-.. | sages 0700 7000 0600 | Text Screen 6000 0500 5000 Hi-Res Screen 2 0400 4000 Hi-Res 0300 Unused 3000 Screen 1 0200 Input Buffer 2000 0100 System Stack 1000 | Basic program Special 800 0000 | Addresses 0000 SEE INSET processor, or custom operating system. And creating such a thing by programming in machine language by hand is nearly impossible. With an assembler, a programmer can reap the full potential of his computer. Nothing is impossi- ble. The price paid is the many hours (which run quickly into weeks, months, and years) spent learning all about such obscure items as I/O addresses, character codes, Monitor subroutines, and a host of hardware-related details. Assembly language is thus a different way of ap- proaching the computer. One cannot compare the “features’’ of assembly language and Applesoft, as was done for Pascal and Applesoft in the last issue. For cer- tain types of tasks, assembly language is indispensable, for others it is a laughably tedious alternative to the relatively straightforward style of BASIC. Next time, our itinerary takes a new turn. We leave behind the investigation of different systems and languages, and enter the world of genuine applications, turning our attention toward the ‘Anything’ and away from the “Machine”. Coming up: GRAPHICS!) The Anything Machine " REPLAY IT |Apple Program Copy And Development System ° Disk Formatting Irrelevant ° Does not interfere with other cards Vie © Card is transparent until copy is desired 7 a a f ° Copies all 64K with *no* compression they p, "Wore Ww fo © Menu driven The Replay Ublish @ Magazing wo 90 ° Gepy and restart in under 15 se: derstang 8d is rp las * Copies memory resident programs® ave py > Ve Sou the 0 at ° Analyze programs Powers) e Repy ards 7, SE ang * Development tool 47d avaingp to be ye ed, ° Transparent step & trace bl. the m, ost. ° Backwards & forward disassembly-scroll REPLAY Il is an interface card that is slot independent. Users can stop a program, examine and change memory, or copy the program, and restart. Control of the APPLE is obtained by pressing the remote switch which comes on an 18 inch cord outside the APPLE. REPLAY II does not copy the original disk, rather it copies the program executing in memory. If a copy is desired a blank disk is inserted in drive 1 and the options on the menu are contained in the eprom on the REPLAY Il card, no other disk reeds to be booted for copying, unlike other copy cards. The very act of booting another disk alters memory which is detectable by some protected software. Why ours is better! 1. Accurate copy of memory 2. Language card not needed to copy or run - when using Replay Card 3. Fast copy €9 restart - 15 seconds - 4. Analysis programs and 60 pages of documentation 5. Copy system in eprom - No need to boot other disks at copy time REPLAY Il does not change ANY memory. Extra memory is buffered to allow copying and analysis without altering the original memory contents. Other copy cards always change specific points in the original memory. REPLAY Il faithfully reproduces the lower 48K of memory in a fast load format. The upper 16K can also be copied for a 64K copy. Standard DOS 3.3 files are created automatically for storage on floppy or hard disks. A RAM card is needed for this. REPLAY Ils fully documented in a 6O page manual. Utility programs sup- plied with the REPLAY II card include Program Analysis, Comparisons, Packing and Compression. A language card is not needed to run packed program copies. To order or request info: Write or call Micro-Analyst, Inc. P.O. Box 15003 Austin, TX 78761 (512) 926-4527 Dealer Inquiries Welcome Cost: Replay Il or lle + mie amen oem Please specify when ordering. Machine language eprom Le Step and Trace ff both ordered subtract $5. Because most programs are written in Assembly language, the user should be familiar with Assembly in order to fully utilize the advanced Analysis and Packing programs. Users can now freeze a binary program and perform a transparent step or trace while continuous disassembly is shown. View text or hires during trace. $130 REPLAY Il can autornatically move protected APPLESOFT programs to a $20 standard DOS 3.3 disk for listing or modification. Outside U.S./Canada add $10 shipping. Texas Residents add 5% sales tax. VISA/MASTER CARD accepted! REPLAY Il is intended to be used as an analysis tool, for pro- gram development, and for making archival backup copies. *Apple is a registered trademark for Anple Computers Inc. Now game players can save a game at any level and QUICKLY restart with the REPLAY Il card. Users can freeze games, change variables to obtain unlimited ships or power, etc., then restart the program. Saving high scores is easy! Minimum requirements are an APPLE II and a single disk drive. THE SOURCE Source Telecomputing Corp. (A subsidiary of Reader's Digest Association, Inc.) 1616 Anderson Road McLean, VA 22102 703-734-7500 or 800-336-3366 Reviewed by Michael L. Weasner and Monty Lee INTRODUCTION The Source is the oldest, biggest, and most powerful of the Information Services available to the public. Cur- rently they claim a subscriber base of 36,000 and are adding 2,000-2,500 every month. Just about every service imaginable is available through The Source or its users. As with the other systems reviewed in this issue, all that is required to access it is a terminal (or home computer), a modem, and a phone. Terminal software may enhance your capabilities online but is not required. There are two other things that are required: an ID/password to log on the system and money to pay the connect charges that will begin adding up rapidly. Being the biggest does not mean that The Source is without faults; in fact, there are many areas of customer complaints. We shall ad- dress the good and the bad of The Source in this review. DOCUMENTATION Over the past nearly three years that one of the reviewers has been online with The Source, the quality of the documentation has been one of the most frequently heard com- Peelings II plaints from users. Since a system such as The Source continually evolves and procedures change, the documentation should be expected to lag somewhat behind the actual implementation of the changes. However, in this case, the documen- tation not only lags by an excessive time period, but the format of the manuals has not stabilized during this time. For example, we now have the third User’s Manual (1983 edition). It is in a different format than the earlier manuals. The first manual was just that, the first. The next manual was a well-formatted, user-oriented description of how to use most of the services of The Source. It was in a standard size three-ring binder and was sent to all subscribers free of charge. One update was sent to all users over a year ago and was the last update of the second manual. Dur- ing this same time frame, the publica- tion SourceWorld went through several changes in its publication fre- quency: monthly, irregularly, bi- monthly, and occasionally. The third manual is still 8 1/2 X 11 inches but it is bound and cannot be updated with change pages nor inserted into the binder. This new manual is the best from the standpoint of the infor- mation it provides, but it definitely lacks the capability of being updated. To counter this lack, The Source pro- vides free (the 1983 manual was not free to subscribers): a newsletter, a Command Guide, and small update sheets. All these extras are of dissimilar formats and sizes, which presents a problem for storage. They hardly look like a ‘‘system of documentation’ as the ad for the new manual states. The information The Source they contain is useful but can be easi- ly misplaced because of the different formats. When Reader's Digest took over, it was hoped by the user community that the documentation would improve. Surprisingly, it hasn’t. Now that Control Data Cor- poration has a large stake in The Source, maybe the documentation will improve in addition to just the online services. There are errors in the new manual that will cause the new user many problems: the Telenet IDs are incor- rect (a space is missing), and in one place it states the maximum char- acters on a line of text is 120—a cou- ple of pages later it says, 80. (The cor- rect answer is 80 characters per line.) There is some misleading informa- tion for the new user in that the extra- cost Source* Plus services are not in- dicated as such in the manual discus- sions of them. All of the instruc- tions are oriented toward ‘command strings’, and very little reference is made to the menu system which is the default operational mode. A new user will be able to follow the ex- amples but could get lost once he tries to use the menus. But as we said earlier, the 1983 manual is the most informative of the three to date. SERVICES There are so many services available on The Source that we will only touch on some of the more commonly used ones. When you log on each time to The Source, you are taken to the Main Menu from which you can either go to the command mode or follow the menu system to the service of your choice. Most users probably use the command strings once they are familiar with the proper ones to use. One of the nice features of the menu system is that you can also string the menu/sub- menu selections together such as PUBLIC 113 which takes you im- mediately through three menu levels, directly to your selection. Of course, this reduces the connect time nec- essary to get to your selection and hence is very useful. On the other hand, the menu system is ideally suited for exploring the system and looking for new features. One of the main services of any time sharing information system should be electronic mail, and The Source is no exception. It has what we would describe as the most ver- satile mail system available. Cou- pled with The Source’s file editing system, there is very little you can- not do with your mail (except send it to someone not on the system, but there is a way around this deficien- cy). Files can be loaded into any place in your letter; you can edit while writing, have the system check the spelling and correct mistakes, save the letter before sending, save, forward, reply to, have mailing lists, send carbon copies, and on and on . .. You can even send Western Union mailgrams. SourceMail is very flexible. There is a bulletin board system which is everything from a classified ad system to a useful way of asking for and receiving help on a multitude of subjects, computer and noncom- puter related. There are categories for just about every microcomputer, Hayes modems, VisiCalc, CP/M, Radio, Video, home and apartment listings/wanted, cars, aircraft, photography, and much more. The system is similar to the mail system and is easy to use. One complaint that has been expressed by users concerns the long delay (minutes) when purging an item that the user has previously posted. No explana- tion of the delay has ever been published by The Source. United Press International (UPI) news is available on the system. You 14 can read national or state news; general, business, or sports news; specify keywords to search for and a specific date or range of dates (up to one week). You can read the en- tire story or merely scan at the first two to four lines and then return to specific stories. This system is kept up to the minute and can provide the user with the most current news on almost any subject that is making news. One of the many ways that Source users communicate with each other is via the CHAT system. The com- mand ONLINE will tell a user what other IDs are currently using the system, and then an interactive live keyboard conversation can be held with some other user. A way to disable CHAT calls is available and can be very convenient when a user doesn’t wish to be disturbed while online. Occasionally a user can get kicked out of the CHAT mode and cannot reenter it with the same other user. It can take a few minutes before it becomes apparent that a user has been kicked out, and this time is non- productive. Another way of communicating on The Source is through the PARTIci- pate system. PARTI is a giant, hier- archical free-form communication service. At the top are approximate- ly 40 major topics. Each major topic has several branches on topics re- lated to the major one. For example, STOCKS is one of the major topics. Off STOCKS are several branches: NYSE, AMSE, OTC, and METALS. Each of the sub-major categories has branches; for example, off of MET- ALS you might find topics like SIL- VER, GOLD, and COPPER. This branching process continues as long as one likes. Each PARTI member can initiate a conference at any level. If a conference is started at the top, a major topic, then the user initiating the conference is responsible for all storage charges associated with the conference. At the lower levels, you are branching off topics and so are not charged anything beyond normal connect costs. As you elect to join The Source various conferences, your name is placed on the mailing list for these. The next time you log on to PARTI, all waiting mail will be available for you to scan or read. You can write or answer maik just like SourceMail, and can similarly post announce- ments like POST. There are some annoying pro- blems associated with PARTI. First, it takes some time getting used to, in that it is easy to get lost in the trees and have to break out. If you do not perform a normal exit, you may in- advertently cause files to remain open on your user code without your knowing. Thus it is advisable to check your files after every PARTI ex- ercise. Second, if you have joined several conferences, you may have a lot of notices waiting to be read the next time you log on. Unfortunate- ly, there is no easy way to skim all the notes, particularly if you are in- terested in a specific conference. As you go through each note, you are forced to at least scan every branch of the conference. This can take some time. After an absence from PARTI, there may be many notes to go through, even though some may not be wanted (e.g., conferences you had decided to leave). Overall, PAR- TI is an interesting way to discuss various topics. With the increased costs of The Source, it may not be all that economical. However, it is fun at times and is a way to fill late, late evenings. Some of the most useful features of The Source are the travel services of- fered. The Source enables you to become somewhat of your own travel agent. You can scan extensive flight information on all U.S. and most international routes. You can then make travel, motel/hotel, and rental car reservations through the Travel Club, a very helpful service. Since The Source flight information does not provide any air fares, you can contact the Travel Club via SourceMail or from the command prompt by typing LETSGO. You can then find out about air fares and make reservations. Additionally, in- Volume 4 Number 6 formation on various tour packages is available by typing TOURS. BOOKS is the command to enter the Professional Book Center. The Source offers electronic book order- ing for in-print books published or distributed in the United States. You enter the name of the book, pub- lisher, and date. If the book you have ordered is not available, you will receive a cancellation report. Books are priced at the publisher's sug- gested retail prices plus postage and handling fees. Consequently, it may be cheaper to order the book from your local bookstore, assuming you have one, particularly since there is no connect time associated with a bookstore. Records, video tapes, and old radio show recordings can be ordered through MusicSource and RadioSource. Source*Plus services are Source options that have an additional charge for use. Management Con- tents, Ltd. is a Source*Plus option in which abstracts of the nation’s leading business publications are available. The abstracts can be sear- ched by publication name, date, ar- ticle title, author, and keyword. In addition, the complete printed arti- cle that the abstracts have been drawn from can be ordered through The Source. Unfortunately, the Management Contents, Ltd. may not be worth the extra cost. The abstracts are usually old (often three to five months) and are often too short or abbreviated to get a clear picture of the article. The costs associated with ordering the article are too expensive compared to the costs of going to a local library and getting the article. Comp*U*Store is a shopping cen- ter accessed via computer. You can browse through and order from over 30,000 items. The program is struc- tured to compute price comparisons, including shipment costs, automat- ically. Products include major ap- pliances, furniture, clothing, elec- tronics equipment, hardware, and more. Comp*U*Store is not a Source*Plus service since The Source does not charge extra for it; Peelings II however, to use the shopping ser- vices, you must pay an annual $25.00 membership fee, and thus these shipping services are only available at extra cost. The system is easy to use, is menu driven, and lets you browse through specific pro- ducts or look at bargains. Help infor- mation is generally available at most main menus. Ordering is simple. The only problem we note is a recent ex- perience by a new member (one of the Peelings editors). A telephone was ordered, and his credit card was billed four days later. However, the equipment did not arrive until six weeks after the order was placed. And this required a phone call and some prodding. For those products we ordered, all were soundly packaged and shipped the best way available. All merchandise was new and not factory seconds, in fact, there was no difference between Comp*U*Store and a catalog order from a department store. They do need to work on delivery times. One of the major areas of The Source is business. The Source con- tains timely and comprehensive listings of daily and weekly activity on the nation’s financial markets. Search of specific stock information is through keywords. UNISTOX, the market summaries of UPI, contains 168 reports on stocks, bonds, com- modities, money markets, Treasury bills, etc. One of the biggest drawbacks to using UNISTOX is knowing what report you want. Source does not provide any documentation that details the various reports and how they differ. For example, to find the closing prices on the NYSE, Source documentation says to use reports 45, 89, and 100. Each gives a dif- - ferent report but without any ex- planation, and it is difficult to analyze the data presented. Even typing HELP REPORTS will not provide the infor- mation. Another problem area in UNISTOX is the keyword search. After entering the keyword, UNISTOX does a. string-by-string search of the entire UNISTOX report. The Source Thus if the keyword entered was ‘’a’’, then the UNISTOX report would print out every stock report that had the letter ‘’a’’ in it. Similarly if the keyword was “‘East’’, only those stock reports with ‘‘East’’ (up- per/lower case does not matter) in them, like Eastman Kodak, Air EAST, Eastern AirLines, etc., would be found. The search is extremely slow, especially during periods of heavy Source usage. It probably is fast con- sidering the number of reports it has to examine, but for the user it is pro- hibitively slow if several keywords are entered. At times there have been waits of up to 10 minutes to find a specific stock. This is a long time to be logged’ on and doing nothing but waiting. The Commodity News Service (CNS) tracks news and price activity in the nation’s major commodity markets. Again, you have to really understand commodities in order to interpret the data that CNS gives you. Like many of the business services, these (i.e., UNISTOX and CNS) are not for beginners unless they have a lot of patience. One of the more popular features of The Source is User Publishing. A significant number of users have established magazines and Special Interest Groups for all Source users to take advantage of. Some of the best services on The Source have been placed there by the users and many are Apple II related. For their efforts, many originators receive royalty payments that are based upon how much their files are read by other users. Currently, subscribers whose material appears in PUBLIC receive a quarterly royalty payment based on the total billable time log- ged on their programs, but are re- sponsible for their file-storage costs and the online time needed to com- pose, update, and promote their files. The rates are as shown in Table 1. Based on the storage costs discuss- ed in the next section, the following examples will give an indication of the wide range of possible payments. It is assumed that 100 users will read the file. This number may be much less or much greater. There are no Telenet or Tymnet charges, but there is a charge of $0.25/minute if you use SourceNet (an 800 number). Interestingly, this Table 1 additional charge of $15.00/hr for SourceNet is probably more than us- Billable Royalty ing your nearest Telenet or Tymnet Usage/Month Percentage Long Distance number would cost during reduced rate periods. There $1000.00 or more 17.5% are storage costs, including an $500.00 - $999.99 15.0% automatic monthly charge for the $250.00 - $499.99 12.5% storage (4K) required to maintain $249.99 - or less 10.0% your account. Cost for storage of text are indicated in Table 4. Table 2 File Size Monthly Cost (3x) __List Time (300 Baud) Usage Cost _—_Royalty 5K $3.75 7 minutes $0.90 $9.00 20K $15.00 30 minutes $4.00 $50.00 100K $30.00 150 minutes $19.00 $330.00 {all figures are approximate and are computed using evening rates) COST So how much does all this power at your fingertips cost? Besides the one-time sign-on fee of $100.00 (waived or reduced with the pur- chase of some modems and terminal software packages for the Apple II), there are the connect charges. These rates have changed considerably and frequently from their original 1980 values. The rate hikes are a source of many user complaints because many perceive them to be excessive and without accompanying improve- ments in The Source service. Cur- rently the rates are as follows: Table 3 THE SOURCE Daytime Evening (& weekends) 300 Baud = $20.75/hr $ 7.75/hr 1200 Baud $25.75/hr $10.75/hr SOURCE*PLUS Daytime Evening (& weekends) 300 Baud = $29.75/hr $14.75/hr 1200 Baud §$34.75/hr $19.75/hr 16 Table 4 # Of Blocks Charge/Block/Month 1-10 $0.50 11-99 $0.20 100-999 $0.15 1,000-9,999 $0.10 10,000-99,999 $0.05 (1 Block = 2K Characters) A monthly minimum of $9.00 is assessed if your usage is less than $9.00. This minimum usage fee plus a minimum storage cost of $1.00 result in a total minimum monthly bill of $10.00. Once you begin using The Source, it will be difficult to keep your usage under $9.00. During peak time periods the response of the system can be measured in tens of seconds, whereas during slack periods a response of about one to two seconds can be found. One in- teresting test was recently perform- ed by a user having access to two ac- counts. The first account was his nor- mal account, and the second was a new account for which he was given one hour of free connect time. The tests were performed as closely as possible to simultaneous so that there The Source should have been very little dif- ference in system response. All tim- ings were done from the initial log- on menu selection to the command prompt with the results shown in Table 5. Table 5 Free Account Paying Account data 1 30 sec 10 sec data 2 30 sec 9 sec data 3 30 sec 10 sec data 4 120 sec 30 sec Other tests were performed by the reviewers over the past several months that indicated the Prime computer clock was running fast and hence overcharging users by charg- ing for greater connect time than was actually used. When this was brought to the attention of The Source, they stated it must have on- ly been with the specific ID of the user complaining because no other complaints had been received. We are still trying to figure out how the system’s computers could run fast with only a couple of accounts and not with all users. Recently, The Source made an unannounced change which affects all users. Only by reading the new manual would a user be aware of it. In the past if you were inadvertently disconnected, your ID could still remain logged on, resulting in additional connect charges. If your usage remained in- active for three minutes, you were automatically logged off by the system. That time limit has been in- creased to 15 minutes, and without warning to the users. SUMMARY User complaints about The Source are very consistent: The documenta- tion system is bad (the online help is good; however, it costs you connect- time charges); the rates change too often and without justification; the response of the system is slow at times; and perhaps the most often heard complaint is the lack of re- Volume 4 Number 6 sponsiveness of The Source Customer Service. Many users prefer to use SourceMail in their dealings with the people at The Source, and for some reason, this mail is either never read or, at the very least, is responded to very slowly. The Bill- ing Dept. has earned a reputation of being notoriously slow to reply or to even credit a user for acknowledged overcharges. The reviewers individ- ually waited for over six months for credits to be made, and then it took several letters and phone calls before payments were made. The Source is powerful and big, but it may have become too big for the antiquated billing system used. It was OK when there were 3,000 users, but with more than 10 times that number now, things need improving at all levels within The Source. On the positive side, The Source offers more services, with more power, to the average user. Not all its features (games, programming, financial modeling, etc.) will be of use to each user, but these features are available for whomever needs them. More services will continue to be added, and it is expected that The Source will continue to be the leader in providing access to online infor- mation. They will remain, as they call themselves, ““America’s Information Utility.” CompuServe CompuServe 5000 Arlington Centre Boulevard Columbus, OH 43220 800-848-8990 $39.95 Reviewed by Monty Lee INTRODUCTION CompuServe is another database system similar to THE SOURCE and DELPHI (both reviewed in this issue). It allows you to access information from a multitude of different sources like news, weather, sports, financial information, entertainment, and per- sonal computing, to name a few. CompuServe is different from THE SOURCE in that all the levels in Com- puServe must be accessed via menus; you cannot go to a command level like you can with THE SOURCE. This means you have to get to know the menus well if you want to save time accessing a particular item. CompuServe has recently add- ed several new services and increas- ed its promotional effort to expand its user base. One of the promotional schemes is the inclusion of five hours Peelings Il of log-on time with the initial sign-up fee of $39.95. Since the basic usage charge for Compuserve is $5 per hour, the five free hours is equivalent to a $25 credit to your account. If you use these hours, then your net sign-up fee is only about $15. This $15 fee makes Compuserve much cheaper to get started on than THE SOURCE. This is a preliminary review based solely upon the initial sign-up and the five free hours. It will evaluate only the material sent as part of the $39.95 and not any additional documents which can be ordered separately at additional costs once the user has permanently signed up for CompuServe. DOCUMENTATION The worst problem of CompuServe is documentation. The Starter Kit documentation is a 65-page 8 1/2 X 11-inch printed document with a three-ring spiral notebook. The docu- ment itself is eye appealing and very easy to read. All major headings are in blue boldface type, making it easy to scan for a specific topic. The best part of the documentation is the Supplement II on EMAIL (Elec- CompuServe tronic MAIL). It comprises 42 pages of the 65-page document and details the entire operation of EMAIL: how to compose messages, edit them, store and delete them, etc. The material describes a very powerful text editor for EMAIL. Unfortunate- ly, you cannot use EMAIL (thus can- not receive or send electronic mail) until you have signed up permanent- ly on CompuServe. In other words, the primary intent of the free period is mainly just to get the feel of mov- ing around the various menus and seeing what topics are available. The EMAIL section and the easy- reading layout are essentially the on- ly good points for the entire set of documentation. There are several major problems with the rest. First, there is no index for finding a specific topic, so you will have to scan through the blue text to find what you are looking for. Second, the material presented is sketchy at best, and usually totally inadequate. For example, tne entire section in the documentation dealing with the Bus- iness and Financial menu is only nine lines of text. The documentation pro- vides just enough information to get you onto to the system. Once on, the 17 user is forced to accumulate connect charges in order to find out how to effectively use the system. Third, most references in the documenta- tion tell you that the “information can be displayed by selecting User Information from the main menu....”” In other words, you have to be log- ged on before you can get help. This is unacceptable. For example, one of the items not detailed at all in the documentation is the log-on rate. You cannot find this out until you log on, find the right menu, and then read the specific rate structure. Logging on is described in ade- quate detail to get you on the Com- puServe network. Unfortunately, no mention is made of the additional costs associated with using Tymnet or Telenet access numbers. In fact, only one page of telephone numbers is provided. To find a more detailed list, you first have to log on. About seven pages describe how to move about in the menu system of Compu- Serve. It is a fairly superficial descrip- tion, and you will have to use the menu system a while to understand it. One excellent page in the manual shows the hierarchical layout of the STOCK MARKET SOFTWARE Increase your profits with OPTIONX’™ the ultimate option analysis program for the Apple computer. Extremely easy to use. For experienced option writers and speculators. Includes the Cleeton model and Bookstaber's extension of the Black- Scholes model. Automatic calendar, stock data base manager, recursive calculation of volatility, and much more. 65 page manual completely describes the program and the equations used Requires DOS 3.3 and 48K Send $145.00 for the program and manual Return for full refund in 15 days if not satisfied Request free brochure describing OPTIONX™ and other sophisticated stock market software Crawford Data Systems P.0. Box 3000 - 561F Camarillo, CA 93011 (805) 484-4159 CA residents please add 6% tax. menu. It is a great reference for mov- ing about quickly in the menu items. To clearly illustrate the lack of documentation, only two pages are devoted to describing the four major areas of CompuServe: User Informa- tion, Personal Computing Services, Home Services, and Business and Financial Services. Only one line describes the various subheadings within each major area. According to the Starter Kit, docu- mentation is available for Compu- Serve Information Service customers once they have subscribed. You order this documentation from a menu item. However, if you go to the documentation order section, about 20 documents are listed and none indicate which is the follow-on set. A brief description is provided but is so inadequate as to fail to even imply the purpose of many of the documents. Overall, CompuServe has failed badly in aiding a new subscriber with their documentation. SERVICES CompuServe is a menu-driven system in which you proceed to dif- ferent sections via menu selection. When you first sign on, you are presented with the main menu from which you can move to all the other areas. You can also move to a menu by specifying the menu name at the command prompt (!). Thus to move from the main menu (Figure 1) to EMAIL, you could type HOM-30 at the command prompt. The main menu is called CIS-1 and is presented in Figure 1. CompuServe Page CIS-1 CompuServe Information Service 1 Home Services 2 Business & Financial 3. Personal Computing 4 Services for Professionals 5 User Information 6 Index Enter your selection number, or H for more information. Figure 1. CIS-1 Main Menu By pressing 2 from the main menu, you jump into the business and finan- CompuServe cial area, and are presented with the following menu: CompuServe Page FIN-1 BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES News/Reports Investments & Quotations Communications Brokerage Services Banking Services Discussion Forum Travel Services 8 Personal Finance NOUawna Last menu page. Key digit or M for previous menu. 12 CompuServe Page FIN-20 INVESTMENTS & QUOTATIONS 1 MicroQuote 2 Quick Quote 3 Standard and Poor's 4 Value Line Data Base 1 oe $ Indicates charges in addition to connect time may be incurred. Last menu page. Key digit or M for previous menu. Nl CompuServe Page FIN-9 MicroQuote 1 Order manual (Via FEEDBACK) 2 MicroQuote Demonstration $ 3 Run MicroQuote $ Indicates charges in addition to connect time may be incurred. Last menu page. Key digit or M for previous menu. As you can see from the above ex- ample, CompuServe continually prompts you for input as to what you want to do. Using the appropriate command, you can move forward or backward any number of menus within the system. A brief command summary is presented on the next page. Brief Command Summary T — TOP menu page M — previous MENU F — FORWARD a page B — BACK a page H — HELP R — RESEND a page S$ n — SCROLL from item ‘‘n’’ Volume 4 Number 6 G n— GO directly to page “‘n” N — display NEXT menu item P — display PREVIOUS menu item Once a menu item is selected that requires a program on CompuServe to be run, you are prompted to please wait a moment. This moment is about a minute at least in most cases. After a while, this gets to be annoying. Probably one of the big- gest problems with the menu struc- ture is the inability to break out if the incorrect selection is chosen. | in- advertently entered a wrong selec- tion and could not break out for over five minutes. Since there was no command prompt, the program nev- er gave me the chance to abort. | tried inadvertent selections at other menu levels and the same thing oc- curred. Once, when trying to break out with CTRL-P, | got logged off the system. Since many of the major areas of CompuServe are not too accessible to new subscribers, | was not able to test them out. | could look at the weather, sports, and other miscel- laneous output, but could not get in- to the bulletin board, EMAIL, pro- gramming area, or most of the finan- cial market area. COSTS CompuServe hides a lot of its costs. First of all, the basic connection fee is only if you use a CompuServe net- work phone. The documentation states that there are ‘many Com- puServe Network locations which are found in most major metro- politan areas . . .’” The catch is that you may still have some long- distance costs associated with using the CompuServe Network. For ex- ample, the city of Los Angeles has only one CompuServe Network number, located in East Los Angeles. Thus for many residents of the sur- rounding cities, an additional telephone charge is required to ac- cess the network. If you elect to use Tymnet or Telenet, you are billed an extra $2.00 per connect hour. This makes the Peelings II rate more comparable with THE SOURCE. Finally, many of the ser- vices available on THE SOURCE as standard have additional premiums associated with them on Com- puServe. (Again, you can’t find out what these premiums are from the documentation.) Most of the finan- cial information has this surcharge, including stock quotes. The rate structure for CompuServe is as follows: TYMNET/ PRIME * EVENING TELENET $22.50/hr $5.00/hr +$2.00/hr * Requires a separate contract; normal users cannot log on during PRIME time. There are additional charges for other services; e.g., stock quotes are $0.03 a stock. SUMMARY The initial look at CompuServe is not very favorable. | left feedback for the system operators concerning some of the difficulties | had ex- perienced. | found the feedback system very awkward to use and not responsive to the user, particularly if the specific comments don’t fit the menu items listed for feedback. Ad- ditionally, after calling CompuServe, | found out that my feedback items couldn’t be answered since | could not use EMAIL (I was not a perma- nent user). The documentation is extremely deficient. There is no indication of what the follow-on material will be like. If it’s like the EMAIL section, it should be excellent. If it’s like the rest, you're in trouble. The Starter Kit is for an initial look at CompuServe. Unfortunately for CompuServe, it casts a very unfavorable light on the system. The five hours goes quickly when you have to spend time on the system figuring out how to use the system. Overall, CompuServe has much to do to improve the Starter Kit for the beginner, both in the docu- mentation and in the service. CompuServe We Are Not PIRATES But We Can Show You How To UNLOCK LOCKED-UP SOFTWARE YOU CAN, TOO! IN-DEPTH COVERAGE of Special Interest Subjects ¢ GRAPHICS ¢ DATA BASES ° UTILITIES ¢ GAMES For Hobbyists and Advanced Computists Published Quarterly hardcgre HARD FACTS on APPLE SOFTWARE An Unprecedented and Contro versial disclosure of closely-held COMPUTER SECRETS How to: Back-Up Disks Customize commercial Programs Undo Copy-Protection & More! Published 8 times yearly putist |, WA 98444 $25.00 for 8 issues of HARDCORE Zip: Payment must accompany order. U.S. funds only. No credit cards. Overseas, foreign countries: $47.00. Canada: $34.00 Mexico: $37.00 ‘Make checks and money orders payable to. CORE/HARDCORE com P.O. Box 44549G Tacoma, Subscription COMPUTIST and 4 issues of CORE Annual FO FATS RUT GHG GIO Software and ‘lupperware: These days, most everyone stores their leftovers until they can think of something to do with them. Now, Micro Cookbook does the thinking for you. Tell Micro Cookbook whats in your refrigerator and it'll tell you what you can make. Micro Cookbook includes hundreds of delicious recipes using common leftovers and ingredients most every home always has on hand. Micro Cookbook stretches your food budget by helping you stretch your food. Micro Cookbook also lets you select a recipe by name (Veal Picatta), by ingredient (veal), by classification (Italian) or a combination of the above. Plus, Micro Cookbook allows you to enter your own recipes, create your own cookbook and prepare your shopping list. Add a glossary of cooking terms, calorie and nutrition guide, table of measurements, ingredient substitutions and food buying, storage and cooking guide, and you see why Micro Cook- book is an appetizing program for you. VIRTUAL COMBINATICS PO. Box 755, Rockport, MA 01966 (617) 546-6553 Look for Micro Barmate, the computer age bar guide and companion to Micro Cookbook. ‘Versions available for APPLE Il + , APPLE lle (80 column) and IBM PC (64K, PC DOS). The cost, $40. Available at your favorite dealer or by mail. VISA” Comin e, Wa Comparos and Den hacen he IMC or phone orders accepted. Please add $1.50 handling charge. respectively” " DELPHI General Videotex Corporation 377 Putnam Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 800-544-4005 or 617-491-3393 (Mass. only) Reviewed by Michael L. Weasner INTRODUCTION Delphi is the newest entry into the Home Information market. All the expected features of electronic mail, bulletin boards, electronic shopping, news, and travel services are available. In addition there are several services not available on other systems. Currently, Delphi has only about 600 users, but | expect that this will increase as users migrate from other systems. Delphi services are still growing and will be chang- ing over the next several months. For this reason, many of the comments that are true as | write this review may no longer be true as you are reading it. Peelings hopes to update our look at Delphi in about six months and will report our findings then. DOCUMENTATION The folks at General Videotex must have really been listening to the user comments from other systems. The Delphi manual organization is the best | have ever seen--for any pro- duct. It is a 1/2-inch thick, 8 1/2 X 5 1/2-inch looseleaf manual contained in a three-ring padded binder. The manual is easy to read and contains very little “computerese’’. This is in keeping with Delphi's thrust of aim- ing for ease of use by ‘‘noncomputer Peelings Il literate’ people. That is, Delphi has been ‘designed for Humans’’. As it turns out, reading the manual is not even required because there is an online guided tour which you take the first time you log on to Delphi. However, the manual will be useful for later reference when you need to look up something and do not wish to take advantage of the extensive online help. There is no index to the manual and none is required since the Table of Contents thoroughly covers all the topics. In fact, once you are familiar with the Delphi Main Menu, you will not even need the Table of Contents. Page numbering is by Selection; if you want to look up something about MAIL, you simp- ly look for the pages with numbers that begin with ‘‘m’’. Having the documentation laid out parallel to the Main Menu proved to be a real timesaver while online. | hope that other documentation writers will consider using this format; it is very convenient for the end user and works great. Several changes were noted in the operation of Delphi compared to the discussions in the manual. This is to be expected of a new system. Delphi has indicated that a completely new manual is currently being published and will be sent free to all users, as will all future updates. Errors in the current manual are minor and few; none will cause the new user problems. SERVICES The first time you log on to Delphi, you are automatically given a Guid- ed Tour of the system. This is a short overview of Delphi as well as a ter- Delphi minal configuration program. You are given some instructions about commands used with the system and are prompted to change your password from the original one assigned and to indicate your ter- minal display characteristics (width, and lines). The Guided Tour defaults to 40 columns per line, but when you select 80 columns per line, you will notice that the display immediately corrects. One of the nicest features of Delphi is the ability to format text for display in any width without split- ting words. This means that you will not have to be concerned about the width of text sent since the system will correct for any reader of your text. Once the Guided Tour is com- pleted, you are taken to the Main Menu: APPOINTMENT-CALENDAR BANKING BULLETIN-BOARDS CONFERENCE DELPHI-ORACLE EXIT GAMES GUIDED TOUR HELP INFOMANIA, LIBRARY MAIL NEWS ONLINE-MARKETS PROFILE TRAVEL WRITERS-CORNER MAIN> What do you want to do? All subsequent logons will take you to this menu first. At the prompt (at any prompt in fact) you enter the first one or two characters of a selection and press RETURN. If you have a 21 question about what your choices are, you merely enter a question mark without a RETURN, and the system will tell you your alternatives. There are a few options that require a RETURN after the “?’’, which in- dicates that not all the selections res- pond uniformly. This can cause some delays and frustrations. Once you are familiar with the menu options at most levels, you can change your Profile to disable display of these menus. This is a superb feature when coupled with the distinctive prompts. For example, at the Main Menu the prompt is “MAIN>”, at the Mail system prompts you will see “MAIL>", etc. You will always know where you are by the prompts, and if you forget what the menu items are, just enter ‘’?’”” Not all the services were opera- tional during the time period for this review. When selecting a service that is not up yet, you are taken to its menu where you can select a func- tion. Once you have made this sec- ond selection, only then are you in- formed that this service is not yet available. When all the submenu items are unavailable, it would seem to make more sense to indicate this when the item is selected from the Main Menu. People don’t like wast- ing money on nonproductive con- nect time. Of the services that were operational, all were similar to the same services offered by the other systems reviewed in this issue. However, some differences were noted, pro and con. The Bulletin Board system is broken down into types and then further broken down into specifics. For example, the Apple Board is con- tained within the Computer Board. The best feature of Delphi's Board system is that the system “‘remem- bers’ the last time you checked that Board, and so you are shown only unread items. You can change the date to allow rereading of items if necessary. Posting of items is similar to that of The Source, with the excep- tion that you cannot load an existing file into the item to be posted. Cur- 22 rently, there is no capability to load a file into the Mail system either, although a file can be mailed as the entire letter. Unfortunately the editor (Writer’s-Corner) was not available for this review. As with all text displayed by Delphi, a “fill mode’ is always functional to display text ac- cording to a user's Profiled column width. However, a problem was noted with this fill mode in that the text: Michael L. Weasner Contributing Editor, Peelings It was displayed as: Michael L. Weasner Contributing Editor, Peelings II Obviously this is not what was intended. The Mail system has all the ex- pected options of read, send, reply, forward, and delete. Unlike the other systems reviewed in this issue, Delphi Mail can be sent to subscrib- ers of The Source and Compuserve. This process involves sending your letter to a specific Delphi account whose user downloads your letter and then uploads it to the other systems as requested. Since this pro- cess has human intervention, there is no security for your letters. | tried some test letters to friends on The Source, and as of this writing, one week after placing on Delphi Mail, no one has received their letters. Even the US Post Office can do bet- ter than this. Once this service has the bugs worked out, it will be a useful tool for some Delphi users. The reverse process of having mail sent from Source or Compuserve users to Delphi users has yet to be developed. Both directions will be required if this feature is to be ex- ploited to its maximum potential. When forwarding mail, | was surpris- ed to discover that you cannot add comments to the forwarded letter so that the new addressee knows why the letter is being forwarded. The remainder of the Mail system works as advertised and works well. Delphi But there is a problem, and it is not just with the Mail service but with the entire Delphi system. When you are typing text as responses to the prompts or as general text for letters, bulletin boards, etc., there is a con- siderable delay in the echoing of the text back to your screen. This delay is very distracting and is one of the two complaints | received from Delphi users. At times the delay was more than one second for each char- acter typed. | ran a test of the upload speed on both The Source and Del- phi using the following text: This is a timing test letter for Delphi and The Source. It was uploaded to the respective MAIL systems using Data Capture 4.0/80 and the Hayes Micromodem II. The total character count to the last “.”” is 223. End of test. On The Source the test took 32 seconds at 300 Baud or 7.0 characters/sec. On Delphi the test took four minutes and 46 seconds at 300 Baud or 0.8 characters/sec. This slowness of response is unacceptable and needs immediate correction (Delphi has indicated they are work- ing on the problem). The News service provides conve- nient access to most of the news that a user could want. The following is the News Menu: 1 PROFILEd stories 2 URGENT stories 3 UPI NATIONAL Wire 4 UPI SPECIAL Washington Wire 5 UPI BUSINESS Wire 6 UPI NATL Radio, TV,Cable Wires 7 UPI REGIONAL Wires 8 UPI STATE Wires 9 UPI SPORTS Wire (US) 10 UPI SPORTS Wire (World) 12 DPA (North America) Wire 13 DPA (Latin America) Wire 14 OPEC News Agency Wire 50 IMTS—Health and Medical News 51 USDA—Agricultural News 90 Information on NEWS system 91 Create/Alter your Profile 98 Display this Menu 99 QUIT/Exit NEWS You can create a profile of what sub- jects you desire to have displayed, or you can select individual services Volume 4 Number 6 and then a keyword(s). One problem was pointed out by a user and verified: the Profiled story topic was changed by the system from a user's input. This could result in unwanted information being displayed. Other- wise, the News system is very power- ful and complete. The Travel service is another powerful service of Delphi. When you first select the Travel option, you configure your preference sheet for airlines, smoking/nonsmoking, type of rental cars, and more. This allows the travel people to better serve you when you request a service. You can make just about any travel arrange- ment needed, including ocean cruises. Airline schedules are available to each user. Simple and, once again, complete. The Banking service, once opera- tional, will provide a convenient method of home electronic banking. According to Delphi, the system will utilize your own bank account to pay all your bills via Electronic Fund Transfers (EFT). Other such systems through various banks require you to maintain your accounts with that bank. They may be limited in what bills you can pay without writing checks, but they can also provide more services such as transferring funds between savings and checking accounts, electronic mail with the bank, and much more. Delphi's method, if accepted by the banks, will still be very worthwhile. Delphi banking also has a statement recon- ciliation function. The Delphi bank- ing system may not be as powerful as some of the systems offered by the banks, but then, you won't have to change your bank to use it. The Delphi Oracle is a semi-official user-liaison to Delphi management. If a user has questions or continual problems, they can be passed on