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index of advertisers COMPANYNAME &I COMPUTERS ABLE RENTALS ACME COMPUlERS AE ELECTRONICSCORP. AGFA ALOUETTE lASER INC. ATECH QMPUTERS ATECH COMPUTERS BIS BYTE & SOUNDCOMPUTER CAMPUS COMPUTERS CARRALL BUILDING CC TECH CDS CEOUllET

PIKBE (804)323.9859 5 (804)5214904 (804)7363686 ( 804)2796887 ( 418)241-1110 ( 804)2914442 ( 604)BTI-1812 ( 604)87T-1863

PAGE

( Ms)BN6916 (604)5N4388 ( Ms)22$6080

83 12 70

67 83 13 49 45 31 31

( 604)N4-2249 4 4 ( 604)878-7N3 2 8 ( M4)29$.5400 4 0 ( M4)278.2833 2 0 ( M4)464.5515 8 7 ( 804)ish2333 1 6 ( 804)879-7778 4 3 ( M4)857%919 6 2 ( M4)4364329 2 7 (604)2734088 57

QCtrys CQMPU 2000 COMPUTERCLEARANCE ~ UNK ~ SWAP MEET COMTEX MCROSYSTEMS

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( 804)351-7236 3 4 (604)3164382 21 ( 604)739.1714 4 7 ( 604)2763584 1 9 ( Ms)32&QTN 3 4 ( 804)5434025 5 5 ( 604)821-1108 4 5 ( 604)BTNk63 4 ( 604)266-1124 6 7

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H OL L Y

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News

Reviere

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By scionZlmtsn

Safe/care reuietcs 18 Talking NookDDjiiftvtr ISh ByBovid Andeeeos

88 The Ultimate ltNiiiiiliwi'Cell By Bovid Anderson

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55 59

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Let Laptops Story(xtit+cte vg::..-Ar(jOere

Hands on 45 Desktop PuhNshlngTips: Coral Ventura 5.0 By Sivesheim?im

Feature

Internet

28 1885 In Review

48 Respenslhle internetUse

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By loin BlncR

52 frame Relay anti T1 Uncs By SeemBlrissfon

Communications

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24 PC Cards The Little Cards that Card By yl/ns Zismon

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SL Next year on the Internet By /rem CbnrRo snd Cory /Vovsb

Database 28 DatahaseDevelopments Visual Basic 4.0

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Thislisntg is pmvidsdas a client service. Computer Playercannel be ~ f or en w s or omissions.

- Talalinh hhqPcigt r a New a Free a One • One

INTEL PENTIDI 100llIX

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730MI HARD DRIVE..... $229.95:: SSDMI HARD DRIVE.....5255.95 1.0968 HARD DRIVK..... $299.95, 1.2 GS HARD DRIVE..... $339.95 :' .44ifB KOPPT DRIVE ..... $34.05 ' ! •

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4 MB 7 2 p i n R A M { M a x 1 2 8 M ) s upports L B A . G r e e n , D X 4 - 1 0 0 , P 2 4 T / D 1.44M B F u j i ts u f l o pp y d r ive 7 30m b E I D E 1 1 m s H a rd D r i v e 1 3" Tower w / Le d & 2 0 0 w P S . 3 2-bit V E S A c o n t r o l ler w / 2 s , 1 p . 1 g 3 2-bit V E S A S V G A 1 M B 1 01 k ey s E n h . k e y b o a r d M edia m o u s e w / p a d

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January1996


nataliuest LowersNn95 Forecast

r • •

D ataquest researchers have reduced their 1995 forecast for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows

95 by 3.6 million shipments, Irom 30million to 26.4 million,

CmaiiWNA

In a statement I'rom San Jose, California, Dataquest says that of the estimated 26.4 million shipments of Windows 95 from Microsoft this year, about 10 million will remain in the distribution channel at year-end. "Therefore," adds the statement, "Dataquest estimates that 16.4 million copies of Windows 95 will be in consumers' hands at the end of 1995. The original forecast placed 20 million copies of Microsoft's operating system in the hands of consumers."

PC GAMES,

CD RoMS, CD RENTALS & SAL

Director/principal analyst Paul Cubbage cited two factors for the lower forecast: + "It is an artifact of forecasting a product at a time when it was not yet in the market and when the final shipment date had not yet been set. e "And Dataquest is taking a more conservative view of the holiday season at this time."

Hundreds otsheep, used software onconsignment ~Phone for ouroserydey low yrice onnewand used games

Softhank toBoost China's Net Japan's Softbank Corp. is teaming with Ji Tong Communications Co. Ltd. in the Chinese computer-based telecommunications

~Phone shoutourNew

Interne t services sector.

SAILQIt NIQQNaccessories

4~ i®®Q®~+4 0+®®e 140-9020 Capstan Way Richmond, B.C.

N •

Jarluary1996

The French Agence France-Press InternationalNews Service reports fiom Tokyo that the Japanese software wholesaler is set to invest $10 million in equipment for the new servicesand also as payment to the Chinese

company.

Softbank says U.S.-based Unitech Telecom Inc. also will participate in the tieup. AFP notes Softbank recently said it will buy a 30 percent stake in Unitech.

Nintendo,Netseaile EyeVenture Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s U.S. unit is talking with Web browser publisher Netscape Communications Corp. about possibly developing Internet connections for the video game maker's Ultra 64 advanced gaming system. Chairman Howard Lincoln of Nintendo's U.S. unit is quoted by the ReuterNews Service as saying an Internet deal involving the two companies could be announced by early 1996. However, Lincoln called "unfounded" the rumors that such a deal already has been reached.

ilatsnsillta Offers Net-BonnliFax A new communication device that enables a firx~uipped telephone to work as terminal to the Internet has been developed by Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. Reporting from Tokyo, the Associated Press says, "By simply using push-buttons on a fax machine, ortelephone, a user can quickly reach sites on the World Wide Web." A Matsushita spokesman said the system is fasterthan using a PC to reach the Web. AP says Matsushita will market the system foruse by governments, for systems such as public information and disaster prevention information.


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System Memory

Use 72-n piSIMM modulesx4auto banking in multiple configuration up to 128MB, Supports EDOmode GRAMs.

(M 9. CLLILT )Kfl VO

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o Intel Pentium

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2 PCI IDE Interface on board suppoit ATA spec. up to mode 4 IDE interface- Busmaster support, Support two 18550 compatible enhanced serial port, Floppy disk interface and EPP/ECPhigh performance parallel port function

System BIOS

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Support Flash ROM,Plug snd Play. Green Feature, NCR 810 SCSI BIOS

5Ca PYRE Nee Soundx

486DX4-100 to Pentium 120 Touchpad, FDDIAdaptor/2nd Battery swapablel IR wireless portl16 bit Stereo wl 2 speakers

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January1996


M QL~ ~LEQ a Cray llnIIelling New SuperSystem

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Cray Research Inc. unveiled a new parallel-processing supercomputer with what observers says is unprecedented speed.

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The smallest models are likely to bc priced at well under $1 million and buyers will be able to increase power by adding just a few processors at a time in the future making the systems "highly scalable" in industry parlance. The T3E can be built with as few as 16 processors or as many as 2,048 processors.

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Besides Reuters and ZD, other investors are Softbank, Japan's largest computer distributor; the Capital Group Companies Inc., a money management firm, and Open Text Corp., a Canadian developer of search sofbvare for the Internet. Yahoo was formed last year by two graduate students at Stanford University. It derives revenue by selling advertising on its Web site, used by tens ofthousands of people each day.

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Yahoo officials told the Amxiated Press the Mountain View, California, firm will use the money and strategic partnerships to expand its products and services domestically and internationally. They opted not to disclose the amount of money raised though the equity sale.

C ray has been best-known for i t s multimillion-dollar vector supercomputers thatuse jusl fsw very powerful processors.

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provider of a popular search engine used on the Internet's World Wide Web.

Compa5blllty TouchStone Software Corp. has joined forces with Blockbuster Video to publish a program that lists all CD- ROMs available at Blockbuster outlets and automatically indicates which titles are compatible with a shopper's own PC,

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Nlgh4peeti Data Alliance Formetl ATtkT Network Systems, HewlettPackard Co., Hybrid Networks Inc. and Intel Corp. have agreed to develop interoperable products for delivering high-speed data services to PCs via broadband networks.

T he s oftware, B l o ckbuster P C MatchMaker, is designed to take the hassle out of renting or buying CD-ROMs by minimizing the likelihood that customers will bring home titles that won't run on their PCs. The program is a customized version of TouchStone's WINCheckIt utility.

v ent al of any PC CD - R O M , S ony PlaySt a t ion or S a g a S aturn t i tle with t his coup o n .

Accordingto the Reuter News Service, the companies plan to publish an open specification by the end of 1995, which they will then submit to the appropriate standards committees,cable companies and others for their review and recommendations.

YahooSells12 Percent to Investors

Initially intended to be used for data, the protocol will eventually be capable of

New investors, including Reuters Holding PLC and Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., have bought 12 percent of Yahoo Corp.,

delivering voice and video services.

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VLB Enhanced IDE withIIO UART 16550 .......,.... $3 8. 00 Cokxado DJ 25 Jumbo 700MB Backup Dmre ................. $2 9 3. 0 0 AdsPlec 1505 SCSI CDJNOM Ccnbollsr. ............. $7 0 . 0 0 Colorado DJ-50 Jumbo 1.36GB Backup Drive ............... $3 4 5. 0 0 Adsptsc 1542CP SCSI HD/FD Controyer PnP ...... $285.00 Connsr 420MB Tape Backup Drivs ................................ $175. 00 ATI Mach 64 pression VLB/PCI w/2MB DRAM. ...... $228.00 ATI Mach64 NnTurbo VLBSCI w/2MB VRAM. ........ $355. 00 AdaPtec 1542CP SCSI Clroller w/Kil PnP ........ $365. 00 Conner800MB Trsvsn Tape Backup Drive ........,.......... $2 29. 00 ATI Mach 84 Wln Turbo VLB/PCI w/4MB VRAM .......,... $590.00 Adsptec 2940 PCI SCSI Controller ........................ $359. 00 • • e • Diamond StesNh Sl Video PCI w/1MBDRAM ...... ....... $180. 00 Adaptec 2940W PQ SCSI ControNer ............,....... $490. 00 SC8 ~ ... . . $590. 00Triton Psnllum 75/100MHz PCI/ISA w/256KB Cache .... $495/635 Diamond SteaNh 64 Video PCI w/2MB DRAM. ............ $230.00 Adsplsc INO PCI Mu5Cherctcd Diamond Steabh 64 Video 3200 PCIw/2MB VRAM ..... $355. 00 Triton Pentlum 75/100MHz w/256KB Burst Cache ......... $530/870 • • r • a Oiairiond StsaNh 64 Video 3240XL PCI w/2MB VRAM . $486. OO Advanced/EV75M HzPCI/ISA w/256KB Burst Cache .... $6 8 0. 0 0 Diamond SteaNh 84 Video 3400XL PCI w/4MB VRAM . $875. 00 Fujitsu 4720 Enhanced 101 Keys ......................... $59, 0 0 Cyrix Nx86-100 PCI w/256KB Cache ............................... $3 8 0. 0 0 Diamond3D Edge 3240XL PCI w/tkle DRAM ..............$389. 00 Fujitsu 8720 Enhanced 101 Keys .....................,... $30. 00 GigaByte 486DX240/486OX4-too PCI w/256KB Cache $222/282 Diamond 3D Edge 3400XL PCI w/2MB VRAM .............. $579. 00 Mitsumi Windows 95 Keyboard .............................. $3 0. 0 0 486DX24to/DX4-100VLB w/258KB Cache ....................$178/238 t t <eye..............,................................ $2 3. 0 0 CinusLogic5429 VLB w/1MB exp.to 2MB ...................$9 0 .0 0 Enhanced o Cinus Logic 5434 PCI w/1MB exp. to 2MB .................... $1 20. 00 Microcoh Natural Ksybowd ................................... $9 9. 0 0 Trident9440PCI w/tuesxp. togue ......................... . $90. 00 Full Size Tower with 230W CSA Power Supply ..... $120. 00 Cresbve Labe 4X Perfonnance..........................,........... $535. 00 Mid Size Tower with 230W CSA Power Supply .... $8 0 . 0 0 Creasve Labs 4X Value Kit .......................................... .. $3 7 9 . 0 0 Mini Size Tower with 200W CSA Power Supply .. $6 0. 0 0 Creative Labs 4X Discovery PnP ....................... .......... $425. 00 Sceptre14 N/I,UR(1024X788..28mmDP) PnP ............ $300. 00 Desktop with 200WCSA Power Supply ......,......,... $65. 00 Creative Labs Sound Blsclsr 16 MCD (OEM) ................ $1 0 5. 00 Sceptre 15" N/I,UR(1280x1024,.28mmDP) PnP ........... $485. 00 Creative Labs Sound Blsster 16 SCSI (OEM) ............... $1 7 0. 00 • e CornpuPartnsr 15" l4I,UR(1280xt024,.28mmDP) ........ $480. 00 Creative Labs Sound Blecter AWE32 ........................... $3 2 5. 0 0 Compupsrtner 17" N/I,UR(1280x1024..28mmDP) ........ $82 5. 00 1.2MB 525" Floppy Drive............................ .......... 6Q. 00 Creakve Labs Sound Blaster 32 .................................., $2 2 0. 0 0 ADI 4GP 15" N/I,UR(128ox1024,.28mmDP) ................. $54 0. 0 0 1.44MB 3 5 Roppy Drive......,........... ' ....'..... $40 00 Diamond 8000 Nx Multimedia Kit ...... ......................... $7 6 0. Q 0 ADI 5EP 17" N/I,UR(1280x1024, 28mmDP) ................. $890. 00 Enhanced 540MB IDE Hard Drive ........................ $228 00 Panaconic 2X Double Speed CD-ROM Drive ................ $ 7 8 .0 0 Mag DX15F 15" N/l(1260X1024,.28mmDP) .................. $499. 0 0 Enhanced 850MB IDE Hard Drive ..................... $266 00 Panacomc 4X Ousd Speed IDE CD-ROM Dove .......... $1 7 0 0 0 Mag DX1 7F 17" N/l(1280x1 Q24,.26mmDP) ................... $93 5. 00 Enhanced 1.08GB IDE Hard Dnve . ..... $318 00 Tsac6XSpeedlDECDROMDnve .... $360 QQ Sony 15SX1 15" N/I,UR(1260X1024,25rnmDP) PnP ... $605. 00 Enhanced 1.2GB IDE Hard Dnve .. ...................... $359 00 Tosh|ca3601 4 4X Quad Speed SCSI CDROM Dnve $4 5 5. 0 0 Sony 17SF 17" N/I,UR(1280X1024,.25mmOP) ............. $1295.00 Enhanced 1.6GB IDE Hard Dnve. ................. $510.00 Pansccnic 4X SPeed SCSI CD ROM Dnve .. ................ $2 8 5 0 0 Sony 17SE NT 17" N/I,UR(1MOX1280,25mmDP) ....... $1570.00 Seagste1.0GB SCSI-2 Hard Drive .................. $490 00 Plsxtor 6X Six Speed SCSI CD-ROM Dnve . ..... $7 1 0 . 0 0 Seagate 2. 1GBSCSI2 Hard Dnve .................... $1 00000 Seagate 4.26GB SGSI-2 Hardonve................ $1425 00 ISA IDE HD/FD Controller with I/O ................................. 31 9 . 0 0 Seagate 9,0GB SCSI-2 Hard Dnve ........................ $3450.00 -pin Colorado DJ-35 Jumbo 350CIIB Backup Dnve..... $180. 00 8MB-70ns SIMM (72-pin) VLB Enhanced IOE with I/O .. . .$2 8 . 0 0 . $299.00

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NslWsrs v4,1 2$50User .......................... $1e80/1990 Netwsm v4.1 10$250 User ...................... $2 3 2 0/3 9 5 0 CNet CN200E BNCEthene ea/& .... . . .. Nsbvsre v4.1 50$1$e User..................... $13500/21500 CNel CN200E+ BNCEOslnet Jumpless ...... Netwsm v&1 ManudsOnly,...................................... $210 ' CNet CN10EST/PCI Ethanol Combo ...„„... .......... $22 7 SCOMSCSOS-187peaat ................... . A PC BaCkUPS280 UNIX Connectivity Eagle EP 2000plus 18 BN BNC ea/5+ ........... . $105/99 SCOM 3C5098 TPea5 LANWcrkoraev4.2$10User ...............$1525/2525 Intel E heExprses FlashBNCes/5+ . ........ $189/155 3COM 3C590TPPCI . lANNxltPhmlbr DOS 1/10 Ussr .......... $3 8 8/1 9 2 0 $148/tm CNet CNMOE 10 Base T ea/5+. Intel Ethw PRO BNC 8 RJ45 es/20+ ........... NeNbrs NFS Gateway v1.2 5 User .......................... 8'l520 $1 41 CNetCNSOOE+ 10 Base T JumPless. Ainerlcan Power 120 Volt NetWare NFSGalewayv1.2 10 User ........................ $2535 , $135/125 CNet CN970EBT 10 Base T PCI BackUPS 20$280 ...................................................... $1 3 2/1 4 9 SMQ Fthsraud Eae/a Mlaochannsi BNQ NeNhhrs NFS Starter Nl ............................................ $151S $285 Bays Anthem NE2000T+ ea/5 ...............................................$205/250 SMC Ulks18 Combo esi8+ Netware hP v1.1 $25 User ...................... $5 0 5 / 1 4 1 5 ~ U P S ~ . ...... ............... $150/1 38 Eagle Anlhen NE2007 PCMCIA .. B sckUPS 80$90$1250 ............................... $345/4 90/84 0 Hp Ethertwrst18108asaT ea5+ .....................-Enterprise Connectivity S martUP8250/40$MO ............................... $325/415/ 5 1 5 IBM Eeernsl 10 Base T AdsPkrr ss/IH .. Netwsm for SAA 1$84 session ............... $2005/8035 SmertUPS M$125$2$e ........................... $73S/888/ 1 e75 fl IBM PCMCIAEthernet 10 BsseT NatWbrs HostPrlnt1$258 sessions ......... $122 5/3035 Maktx 3000YAeeOYA (Moduktr Upe) ...................,. $3930/Se35 Ceusle LsnPrese 1RJ4$1 Par ...,.............. .......------. $45 5 Intel EtherExp/ess Pro 10BeseT .... Novell NsNhbm Connscl 8 pat .................................. $2180 SmartCELLfor Matrix ....................- . - -- - - - ---- - - $7 0 3 Csstslle Lan Press 1Par+ 3 Sar ................. $7 4 5 Micmdyne NE 2000T+ 10 BsseT................. Novae NetwareContact 32 peri................................ SSMO Lyre Corxgsonw LR60$LRtaM .................................... S17$25O Castslkt Lsnpress 2 Pe+ 2 Sw,. .............. $925 MiaodyneNE2000T+108sse T20Pk. Netwam for Mad/Noshv3.12 200 User ..................... $1000 P owerChule Pius tbr Novell ------------ - - - - - - - - -- - $ 9 Emulex Netaue 2 PortPrinl Sever $7 4 6Mlmxlyns NE3300 EISA Combo.... Netwire for Msdntosh vcUnlimited.......................... $1215 ~u ts f or Windows ......................................--".:-- $ 8 S Hp Jslalmct J2552A RJ4$8NC/LocalTalk .. $5 2 0 Miaodyne NE5500 PCI 10 Base T . NeNttrs ManagementSystemv2.0 ................,......... $2525 Inlwfacs for Lantsstic 8 LANManage' ........................--- $3 7 Hp JstDI/sct J2555ATokenRing DSO 8 RJ45...,............. $7 4 5 SMC Elhsrcsrd Elite 16T Ultra ea5+ .... LANalyxer for MSWindowsv2.1 ................................ $1615 Netwak SurgeArrest 3 Ouset/7 Ouse--- - - - - ---- - $2 /68 Intel Netport S108ase T .....,......$5 1 9 SMC Elite 10 T/A Mlcrochannsi . 'upgradefull-version Poweusnsger OOuse......,-- - .------------------- $ 9 3 Intel Nelport ll Thin/Thick ... ..... - ----- 8 5 3 5 Xircom pocketEtherlalk 10 BsseT PowerNel SNMPagentfor Moves...........................----- $1 5 7 Milan FsslPort 3110/3210 ........................... ,..... $57$870

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$423 $343 $294

3COM 3C18871 ~ FMS I I 24 Pod mgrnt ............ $1390 HP Netwaks 100YG 1S Port Hub ...................... 3QOM SC16180 TP/85 Port Hub ...................................... $289 SMC Ethepower 1$1008ase-T PCI ..... CNet CNOSTPC SPat Hub ................................., .........., .. $1 7 5 SMC TlgsrHub100 1spat.... CNet CNMTPC 12 Port Hub.................. „.......................... $4 0 5Thomas Coax100 MbpsAdapte' CNel CN8816TPC 16 Pat Hub, Small Footprint .............. $4 5 0Thomas CoaxSTP 100 MbpsAdapter .... '"''"'""" " '$2'50 QNstCNBOOOTPC12pohHub ...........................,....,.....$820 Thomas CoaxTC30504X S Pat Coax Hub .....

Assembly,RG5$AU TtcnCoax2$50 lt Assembly, RG5$AU ThinCoax100 lt .. Cable, RG56/AU Bulkper It .................. Caus, RG5$AU Bulkper 1000 lt ......... Connector,BNC'T'.

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$235/205 $145/128 . ...$1 8 5

$565 $310 HP7DOIr/'GISA Adapter Silicom PCMCIA Ethernet BNC............................,...... $240 Silican PCMCIAEthernet w.1MSRAM . $409 $225 Sacom PCMCIA Ethernet RJ45 .................. eacom PCMCIAEthernet BNC 8 RJ45 . $254 XlroomPCIOCIAEthernet RJ4S ...., .. $185 ............ $1(y1$25 XlmomPCMCIA Ethernet BNC 8 RJ&5........................ $250 ..................... 8 4 5 3COM 3C595-TX FsstEthemet PCI ea/& ....... ..... $220/196 .......-............ $0.36 Intel Pro 100IBSAFastathenet ................ . ........$35 0 ................,.... 8 2 20 inks Pro 100 PCI FsstEthene... . ........$30 0 ..................... 8 1.00 Intel Pro 100 SmartFsstEthamet ... ......... 8 1 0 3 0 3COM 3C16170 Unkbuildsr 12 Porl Hub .......................... $4 5 0HP Nstwaks 100YG ISA Adapter.... .......,. S 2 8 O 3COIN SC16870 Linkbuilder FMS 9 12 Port ...................... $7 9 9 HP Networks 100YG EISA ......... 8 3 4 5 Adpalw .......

Windows NTServer v3 51 CD ................................... $890 Wndcws NTServerv3.51 User Ucense ................... $5 0 Wndows NT ~ 3.51 CO...,.......................,. $405 Wkuhws NT Wcdatekm 3.51 upgrade..................... $1 2 5 Twisted Pair NaosoOSMS veslon1.0 ........................................ $870 Assembly, 10 BassT Colds $2550 h ..... Idiaosos SMSver 1.0 User License .......................... 8 8 8 Assembly, 10BaseT Cable 100 ft ........... Miaosolt SNA Seve v2.1 WindowsNT .................. $545 Cable, 108eseT Oc UTP, psr 8 ................ Caus, 108aseT ScUTP,per 1Oixi8.......

Conner Tapestor 4000 4 GB IDE Tape Drive

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Two Year Parts And Sert/ice Warranty (Sy Only) " All Systems Are Tested And Burned-In For 48 Hours Before Shipping ® bttpl/lvrvvvv.stsrcon.corn/mconcept ' GOVernment And COrpOrate PurChaee Ordere WelCOrne ' Fax Orders And Bids Are Accepted * All Prices Reflect 2% Cash Discount Leasing Available II s * Prices Subject To Change Without Prior Notice Y©ss ++

s

All product names, frademerke and reeletered esdernarke ars properces of their respective ovvne


Broadband networks are capable of delivering data to PCs at speeds up to 1,000 times faster than 28.8 Kbps telephone modems, thereby taking full advantage of the multimedia offerings of the Internet, online services and other data- rich applications.

version of a program that's designed to erase games from company PCs.

Anti-SameSoftwareShills

The company notes that UnGame can detectand remove games under Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT, OS/2, DOS and all major network operating systems.

D VD Software I nc . h a s released UnGarne 2.0 for Windows, the first Windows

DVD, based in Irvine, California, says the new release can eliminate up to 3,100 different games and can significantly improve the productivity of PC users at work.

UnGame 2.0 for Windows 2.0 is priced at $59.99per file server,A shareware version of the software is available in CompuServe's Novell User Library Forum {GO NOVUSER) in the file UNGAME20.ZIP.

Nintendo {Nero 64-Bit Unit A US$250 next-generation 64-bit home video garne equipment will go on sale in Japan next spring from video game maker Nintendo

Co. Ltd., along with three new software titles designed specifically for the new unit. Reporting from Tokyo, the French Agence France-Press International News Service quotes Nintendo as saying the product has "the top-level power of expression which is impossible for conventional ones" and is able to display "glisteningtranslucent water" and "metallic objects and characters." Its 64-bit central processor unit is made by California-based Silicon Graphics lnc. As noted earlier, Nintendo said last May it was delaying launch of the new game in o verseas markets, blaming th e y e n ' s continued strength against the dollar.

2OOOD

Computer - Multimedia - Karaoke - Cellular

e '~w'~

Satellite T2150 series

2000D Color Notebook

of high-performancenotebooks Toshiba's Satellite T2150 series or note books gives mobile users the power and speed of an SL Enhanced Intel 486 DX4 processor. The 8-MB standard memory is expandable to 82 MBusing Toshiba's user-installable memory module. Users can also expand the Satellite T2190 series to meet their articular needs by using industrywtandard C Cards, such as fax modern communicatiou cards

Versa 486/SS

Color Notebook

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„-k:QPfN':.~'.'„:. i, "401llitg-% kit rild a

' Pentiurn100 CPU2/256K Cache BMB RAM 1MBPCI Video Card * 1.0GB Hard Drive ' QUAD-SpeedCD-ROMDrive ' 28.8 kbps Internal Oatn/Fax Modem ' Microsoft VVindows95, preloaded

' QUAD-SpeedCD-ROMDrive *KOSS HD5 Non-AmplT iied Speakers

(SoundBIaster-corn pntIble)

" SoftKey Entertainment CDPak {6): FIghter Winy, BodyWorks, Maelstrom, Golf, 1995 TImeAlmanac andAirPower! ' Serial Mouse & 101-Key Keyboard 3 1/2'1.44MB Roppy Drive

'16-bit SoundBlastereompatible SoundCard ' SofIKey Entertainment 6-CDPekfeaturing Fighter Wing, BodyWorks, Golf andmorel * 2-Year Umiled Parts end labour Warranty CSA, EnergyStarnndNovell approved

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I

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sz,asp™ I

CanonBJC-210Color BubbleJel (New) CanonLBP-460 LaserPrinter 600dpI

•••

12

I' I

January1996

I

Western Digital,1.2GBEIOEHerdDrive WesternDigital, 1.6GBEIDEHardDrIve NEC 730MBSCSI-2 HardDrIve NEC1.08GB SCSI-2 HerdDrive NEC 2.1GBSCSI-2 Hard Drive

$399

ConnerTapeSlor 800MB ConnerTapeSior TMS4000IDE/SCSI

$569 $489

1.44MB3.5" FloppyDrive

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CompmterPlayer

WesternDigital, 850MBEIDEHardDrive 8288

Pricesare subject to change cuit/tout not&'e. VISA ocr uicecharge m 2.8'ra nI • I•

A new factory in northern Japan to produce microprocessorsand memory chips has been announced by Toshiba Corp.

According to the Associated Press, monthly production capacity will reach 30,000 wafers.

FedslaunchWindowsSSProbe Word on the street is US f ederal investigators are asking whether Microsoft Corp. intentionally set up digital ro'adblocks in its Windows 95 operating system to disable rival companies' Internet access programs. According to the Wall Street Journal, the

US Justice D epartmen t has issued subpoenas

to CompuServe, Netscape Communications CotIi., and Netcom On-line Communications Services Inc. The paper says federal investigators are focusing on whether Windows 95 and its related Internet sofhvare improperly disable rival programs that let users access the Internet's World Wide Web. As noted, a number of online companies, including CompuServeand Netscape, complained about the Windows 95 program when it made its debut in August, saying the sofhvare and an accompanying product called Plus!, which

provides Internet access, essentially wiped out

HP 5L LaserPrinler 600dpi $699 HP 5PLaserPrinler 600dpI $1260 HP4 PfusLaserPrinter 600dpi 12ppm $2060 HP 4M-PlusLaserPrinter 600dpI12ppm $2710 CanonBJ-30Portable BubbleJel $315 CanonBJC-70 PortableColor BubbleJel 8479 CanonBJC-4000Color BubbleJel 8395 Canon LBP-430W Laser Printer 300dpI

I

Tddenl9440PCIvideo cordw/1MB exp,lo2MB $99.00 Trident89000Videocardw/1MB ISABus 888.00 E14000PCIVIdeoCeidi/IMB exp. Io 2MS NI.I DiamondStealth841MB/2MBPCI 8175/235 Diamond Steellh 842MB/4MBVRAMVLB/PCI 8399/599 ATI Mach642/4MBVRAMVUI/PCI Q%/595

82,250I

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$118.00 8185.00 $185.00 $189.00

Panasonic4x IDECD-ROMInternal Milsumi 4xIDECD-ROMInternal ToshibaSCSI4xIDECD-RQMInternal $399.00 NEC6xSCSICD-ROMInternal 8599.00

' 16-bit Sound Card

28.8kbpsInternalData/FaxModem

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Sound BlasIer 16SoundCard SONY 77EIDE4xCD-ROM Iniemal

' KOSSHD5Non-Amplified Speakers

Teshlba toBuild NewPlant

In Tokyo, the Japanese electronics giant said it invest about $1.27 billion over the next threeyears and begin production at the new factory by March 1998.

Hayes 14,400bpsFax& Modem Internal 8135 U,S.Robotics14,400bpsFex&Modemlnlemel 8110 U.S.RobnIIcs28,800bpsFax &ModemInI. 8 Exl. 824%278 U.S. Robotics28800bpeFax& Modem lntw VoIce 8299 Cardinal14,400bpsFax &Modemw.VoiceInt. 8138 Cardi nal28,800bpeFax8Modem w.VoiceInt 8259 Cardi nal28,800bpsFax& Modem Ext. 8220

$ Nfl~.-5+

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$2750

" Intel Pentium 75CPUw/256K Cache ' BMB RAM,1MBPCI VideoCard 1.0GB HardDrive '3 1/2'1.44MB Floppy Drive ' Serial Mouse &101-Key Keyboard ' Microsoft Wlndonts95, preloaded

4'2888

540MB Hard Drive

,

The wire service observes that when Nintendo's 16-bit Super Family C made its debut in 1990, it created a boom in video game machines. A total of 36.53 million units had been sold worldwide by the end of March, of which 22.06 million were sold outside Japan.

omputer

vos~isa Color T2180

486DX4 8MB Ref 540MB HardDrive

The Kyoto-based company said it planned to release the "Ultra-64" garne in the United States and Europe around April next year.

II

8395 8545 $260 8368 8930 $280 3595 $49

rivalaccess softw are. Microsoft executives contend the problem wascaused by weakness in the other companies' software, saying it has helped rivals six any snags affecting their products and that any problems created by its programs were unintentional. Michael Conte, Microsoft's group manager for personal systems, told the paper his employer would not deliberately inake Windows 95 incompatible with rival products because such glitches would detractf romthe popularity of its product.


0

SurveySeesMulti-PC Homes

sooner than other countries," the wire service

says. "It also indicates more people update

A new survey says that for PC makers to achieve sales growth they increasingly must rely on consumers who are buying a second or third machine.

theirmachines every few years."

The research also finds: • There is more than one computer in 30 percent of PC-owning households in the United States.

The research by Link Resources Inc. of New York also found PC sales growth is moving faster in Europe and the Pacific Rim than in the United States.

About 35 to 40 percent of all U.S. householdsafe expected to have a PC by the end of this year, with around 11 percent owning at least two. o Worldwide PC salesto consumers thisyear should reach 21.2 million units, including

According to the Associated Press, Link's survey suggests the U.S. market is almost saturated, "partly because America adopted computers forhome use much

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PC sales also are in nearly one-third of all households. In Europe, PCs are now in about one-fourth of all households.

Link analyst Andy Bose, who led the research, told the w ire service, "PC manufacturers are going to have to depend on current PC households for much of future

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Holiday SPecials (scc our instore disp)ay models)

HEWLETT

$429.00 AE Family Multimedia Kit Toshiba 4X CD-Rom, SB 16, Speakers MS Family Suite Bundle (includes Encarta '95)

$329.00 AE Multimedia Hardware Kit Toshiba 4X CD-Rom, SB 16, Speakers

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Authorized De for

$

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P anasonic 2X CD-Rom w/interfacc

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AP says the survey found similar behavior in 12 other countries, particularly Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, where

o Consumers account for about 45 percent of all PC sales, followed by businesses, government and educational institutions.

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growth. When you get to 55 to 60 percent penetration range, it's going to be difficult to get any new first-time buyers."

9.45 million in the United States, up from 16.3 million, 7.5 million in the United States, last year. o In 1996, 26.g million PCs are forecast in sales to consumers, with 11.1 million in the United States.

G

$440.00

Diamond Edge 3D 2200XL Multimedia Accelerator Photo realistic 3D graphics Wavetable Audio 16-bit Sound Card comes with: Virtua Fighter, Nascar Racing

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Multimedia Communicator 28.8 Fax/Modem, Professional Voicemail Systc Full-Duplex Speakerphone CD Quality Multimedia Sound

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Windowing system

$12$255 395 895

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Bhanet Hsrdwae Kk (2cads,2 ~ ,28 c oax) Lantsssc Alv6.0 staler lot (compkriesetupfor 2 node) LeriasbcAIvS,OAdd-Onidt (comparesetupfar1 node)

$175 285 155

GVC NE2000ttWit BhemetAdapbrr(BNC/IOBT)

$85

795 1045 1045 1 450/2425/3275

General Ledger Accounts Receivable Accounts Payable Lanpak users 5/10/20 Order Entry Inventory Control Job Costing

145 175 255 295 470

Intel E e/Expess P/a/10 Etxrrnet card(108T) 3Cam 3C5NEtherlinkIllb Ethernet Cad (108T/1082) GVC Unmenegsd aport Hub 3Com UnkbubdaTP/8 UnmsnsgedSpat Hub

2000 $285

Acc ac ~

Network Software 8 Kits

scam ~ TP/ 1 2 nnmsnagca 12-pat lkdr cab farcustomlengthcatse Ixshcoax (RG58)& twistedpair (RJ45)

Demo & Used E ui ment

Plus $145

AST Ascenbs910N DuslScen CczourNotebaok

615 615 615 4 u ser 375

8MBor Ran

340MB Hard Drive ToshkaSststleT2100Mono Notebook 466DX2-50Mhz CPU

615

USR Spaitaa Sl144 Ink/ma Fai/Madan

NE2000 toba Etanuri Cads (sane wbhmanuas) Gateway 18tiit Bhemet Card Oats RaceRecscad PCMCIA Bhemet Card (Coax) VNnUnkFle Trans/erSoftwsmwipsralel Cable Intel Pentium 66MhzCPU

615 615

Western Digbst635MB EIDE HD, 10ms,64kcache Wsstem DIgilal850MB EIDE HD,10ms,84kcache Westem Digba1.NGB EIDEHD,10ms,84k(mode 4) Western D@lsl1.2GB SIDEHD,10ms,64k cache 690 Western Digital 1.6GB EIDEHD, 10ms,84k(mode 4)

$335 345 535 560

Asus SP3 AMD466DX4-100Mhz PCIA/LB MB, 256k, IDEIO Asus SP3 466DX4.100Mhz PCI/VLBMB,256k, IDEIO

Asus SP4 Penlium-75MhzPCIMB,256kcsche, IDEIO Asus TP4XEPerdum-75MhzPCIMB,256k cache, IDEIO Asus TP4XEPentumNMhz PCI MB, 256kcache, IDEIO Asus TP4XE Penbum-100MhzPCI MB,256k, IOEIO Asus TP4XE Pentium-120Mhz PCIMB,2$}k, IDEIO

765 850 HP Sure Steel,2GB SCSI-2HD,10ms 1100 HP SureStore 2,2GB SCSI-2 HD,10ms

Asus TP4XE Penliurn-133Mhz PCI MB, 256k, IDEIO 256k Pipstned Burst Cache add$75 AMD 466DX4-1 00MHz CPU 3V

466 CPU Heatsink/ PentiumHeatsink 1MB/4MB SIMM-70ns (30pin) 4MS/6MB/16MBSIMM60ns (72pin) w/o Paity 4MB/8MB/16MB SIMM P2pn) EDO Memory Please cell on eil Remprices

cell for pricing on other drives

$130 12I20 55/195 175/ 340/ 875 19$355/775

Cinus Lagic 5429 VLBAccelerator w/1MB Cirrus Logic 5434 PCIAcceleratar w/1MB ATI Msch32 Cceesnar w/1MB 0SAI VLS/PCI) ATI WNBoosl Acceleiatar w/2MB Dram(VLB/PCI) ATI WinTurba Acderslarw/2MB/4MBVrsm(VLBI PCI) Dianond Staah64Vdeo2000 w/2MB Dian(PCI) Diamond Stesbh 84 Video 3200 w/2MBViam( PCI) Diamond Stesbh 81 Vidso 3400XLw/4MB Vran (PCI) Diamond Digital Edge 3D Acoelersta w/2MB (PCI)

AdsPlec AH 1542CF ISA SCSI 2 Conballer Kb Adsptec AH-2842 VLB SCSI-2 Controller Kil Adoptee AH-2940 PCI SCSI-2 Cont/aller Kit

HP Su/astern 4/SGB Intanal 4MMDal Drive

445 1040 3M DC2120 tape astridge120MB capscty 3M DC2120XLTapes, (350MB Msx.) 3MMC3000XL Tepee, (1.4GBMax.) 3M DG90M 4MM OATTapes

$320 470 940 540 925 725 1325 1650 $115 140 145 255 365/625

265 375 895 440

$185 265 335 325 1155 1475

HP DeskJet600irate!Printer, 300dpi 4ppm

JetRem cad wbh1MB for IIP/Ill/IIID/IIIP 25 HP LeserJet 4/4+/4M+ toner cartridge 45 20 Raven RP-2405 Printer, 24pin, 192cps

$95 115 165 245

375

USR Sportster 14.4 v.32bis Fex/Modem (Int/Bd) $139/1 59 USR Spoitster 28.6 v.34 Fsx/Modem ( I nt/Ext) 265/290 USR Sportster Vl 28.6 v.34 Voice/Fex/Modem(lnVBri)290/320 399 USR SPoitster 28.8 v.34 PCINCIAFax/Modem 625 USR Caurier 28 8 vEverything External Fax/Madam 20 MS Compatible 34utton Serial Mouse 75/ 95 (Serial/Bus) Lagbech Mouseman 115 Logitech Trackbell seria mouse 85/115 Miaosolt Mause v2.0 (Ser i al/Bus) 155 Logitech Scanmsn 256 w/Dmnipege OCR 245 LogitechScanman Essylouch 295 Logitech Scenman Calour w/Omnipags OCR call HP Scaakri 4s PasonalGrey-Scale Scanner call HP ScsnJet 4c Full Page Colour Scanner 550 Bar cade laser scanner gun,autotrigger 195 Magneto card reader(serial orkeyboard intafsce) 1650 Magnate card ead/wnlar

$335 429 575 HP DeskJet 660c Cakxir Initet Printer, 600dpi,4p pm(blk) 899 HP Lsseget 5L 1MB4PPnL600dP/ 1275/1495 HP Laserjet 5P 2MB/5MPPS, 3MB, tppm, t codrS 2125/2875 HP lsserjet4+2MB/4M+ PS, 6MB, 12ppm, 600dpi

Canon ILF30 Pateble Mono Inkjet Printer

$20

Mini-size 13' tower or Desktop w/200W Jsbs PS Mid-size 1(r tower case w/200W Jobs PS $375 Full-size 25" tawsr case w/250W Jabs PS 365 Full-size 27" tower case w/300W PS 2 fans, wheels

Modem Mice Scanner

Monitor Video Card Dsytsk14 SVGAMonitor,.2&nmdp Nl Dsylek 15 SVGA Monitar,.28mm dP,Nl, Esbtr Dstiek17 SVGA Monitor, .26mmdp, Nl, Ester ADI 4V 15" SVGA Monitor, .28mm dp, Nl, ESlsr ADI 5Ep/LR 17" SVGAMonitor, .26mmdp, Nl, ESar ster Sony15sl15" SVGA Ma/acr,.25mm dp, Nl, E Sony 17sf 1T SVGA Monitor, .25mm dp, Nl, EStsr Sony 17se 1T SVGA Monitor, .25mmdp, Nl, EStsr

IDE1:1 HO/FDAdapter w/2S, 1P, 1G Enhanced IDEHD/FDVLSAdapter w/2S, 1P, 1G Pramise 2300+VLB Enhanced IDE Cardw/Bias

$255 ColoradoDJ45 Tape Backup Drive (350MB Max.) 285 Colorado Travsn T1000Tape Beck/sr Drive (800MBMsx.) 335 Caiorsdo OJ4igTape BackupDrive (1.4GBMax,) 395 Coiorado Trakker 350 Parallel Ssckup (350MBMsx) Internal 4MMDot Drive 525 HP SureStaa 2/4GB

Tesc120MB 5,25 Roppy Drive Tesc1.44MB 3 5'Roppy D/Newith I franc Fultsu XBEI720Ksyboad, 101 KeySalt-Tacae Fujitsu KS4720 Keybaad, 101 Key Ctck Tacble MS Nstumr Keyboad, 104 KeyErganonvc Facus2001/2 Keybaad, 101 iceyEnhaxxa APC Personal SurgeAnast Strip w/Tel APC Professional SurgeAnsst Strip APC Bsck4PS 260/40(V45$600VA APC Smsri JJPS 250/4(0600/9(OVA

Gr e et in g s

from

195/445 125 50 135 555

$70 60/65 35 65 125 55 45

145/21$250/350 32$415/495/71 5

A E Ele c t r o n

ComputerPlayer

$235

Com uter S stems $95

USR Spatster VI madams,phonefor svatsbitty

S eas o n ' s

$115 155

Raven RP-2407 Printer. 24pin, 192cps, Colour Upgradsble 295 Raven RP-2420Pri nter,24pin,256cps, Colour Upgrsdsble 390 595 Raven RP-2467Wide CenisgePri nter,24pin,240cps 75 Raven Color kit for RP-91IS/2406/2420 printer 65 SerialIet far Raven printer RP2406/2420 30/50 Printer Auto/Rotay Switchbax 2:1/4:1

CD-ROM & Others Panssonic DoubleSpin CD. Romw/intaface Toshiba QuadSpin CORom 5302b IDB3601 SCSI-2 SoundBIsster 16 Vibrs Sound Cad (OEM) MuNimaas StereoSpeakers,25 Wsas Sony CSSJIIOOSpesksr Set Crea/vs Labs Multimedia HomeOtsce 4XKit

$79 25 50 125 25 125

Printer & Accessories

Ta e Case Power

Hard Drive Controller

$1795

4MBof Ram 260MB HardDrive

price msychange wilhout notes. All prices FDBRichmond. Insurarm exks. Advenised pricesare cash, add 2% for crecstcard orders.

Motherboard 8 RAM

$2950

466DX2-50Mhz CPU

466DX4-100Mhz(AMD) PCINLB CamputaSys. w/Monitor Pentium-75MHz PCI/ISA Computer System w/Monitor Pentium-90MHz PCI/ISA Computer System w/Manitar Pentium-100Mhz PCI/ISA Computer Systein w/Monitor Pentium-120MhzPCI/ISAComputerSystemw/Monitor Pentium-133Mhz PCI/ISA Compuler System w/Monitor

$1395 1785 1920 1995 2085 2325

Systems came vnth Ihs follovnng 486: 4MB af Rsm, Pentium: 8MB; 635MB EIDE HD; 1.44MB Floppy; Dsytek14 SVGA Monitor, 026mm dp. Nl; CL 5434 PCI w/1MB; Mid Size Ity Tower Case w/200W PS, Fujitsu KSR720 Keyboard 24br bum in, 2 yearspsrtsend labour waran8 Sokl vwth systems only: MS Mouse$45, DOS 6226WFWG 3 11 $135, Win 95 $155

We do senrice too. Call for rates on both depot & on-site servics-

I CS

January1996

13


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samputer networks and the Internet, was mveiled by Netscape Communications :orp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. The language is to be distributed free m the Internet, a move the Reuter News lervicesays could enable Netscape and tun "to set the next generation of sofhvare standards for the Internet, where rival Microsoft Corp. is also investing heavily." The wire notesin a report from Mountain View, Calif., that Microsoft this week is expected to outline its plans for future Internet products. However, Netscape and Sun say 28 ompanies have agreed to adopt avaScript as a standard and provide it in eir products.

Merc Andreessen,vice president of echnology at Netscape, told the wire rvice, "This broad industry support for JavaScript will fuel rapid development of Iin entire new class of l i v e o n l i ne pplications." A nalyst L a ur a C o n iglario o f rudential Securities said the support of JavaScript "is definitely an effort to take a position counter to Microsoft," adding, "From an offensivepoint of view, many companies are fhding their strategies and business models cut off by what Microsoft

routine transactions, such as pay bills, check .; accountbalances and transfer funds. Official with Menlo Park, Californiabased Intuit Corp. told the Associated Press the service will be available by the second: half ofnext year.

I

Hard Drives nile@ W

The wire service reports Intuit is developing a general Internet connection and a customized connection that will work with Netscape Navigator. "To ensure that . banking transactions are safe from online .' thieves," AP adds, 'Intuit is employing security software designed to hide bank account information."

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fifth t hat o f o t h e r e x perimental or commercial systems. "Toshiba plans to introduce the new server system to the market in the second half of 1996."

The publisher of the popular Quicken ancial program is setting up to provide anking over the Internet, developing a connection to enable customers to do

Printer5

Pentium-100 PCI-ISA P entium-120 PCI-ISA

$ 785 $ 119 9

Computer Courses MS-DOS 6.22(Basic) WINDOWS95 (Basic) MS-WORDS95(Basic)

$ 90 $ 90 $ 90

Epson Stylus II Inkjet $659 Epson Action 1100 $650 -: HP 600 Inkjet (Mono)$479 HP 660C Inkjet $ 590 HP 5L Laser Printer $729 Multimedia Kit HP 5P Laser Printer $1299, - Mitsumi 4XCD-ROM Raven LS3 LaserPrester $639 - Sound Blaster 16Bit Sound Card:: -—, Ruaua L&6Laser Printer $755 .:- 5 Microsoft CD Title

*

(Encarta 95, Works, Money, Golf, Dangerous Creature)

=

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HARDWARE ASSEMBLE $90

INTERNET (Basic)

$ 90

IE . ur . %8NINSM(lt

Monitored

:,-: A51 Q4~ g ag' ~ E m a NEC

workstations, so its price will be about one-

lehlt te Prevltie Net Basking

Motherboard w/(. PU Intel 486 DX2-66 PCI $402 I ntel 486 DX4-100 PCI $46 0 A MD 486 DX2-66 PCI $ 3 2 7 A MD 486 DX4-100 PCI $ 3 &2 Pentium-75 PCI-ISA $ 595 Pentium-90 PCI-ISA $ 720

Canon BJC4000 Inkjea $510 upson Siyins ttS tnkiea $490 '-:

0 @x9+>V.ed~ ~e'o

Tosblba Offers low-Cost Server

A Toshiba spokesman told the Reuter News Service the new system, called SmartStreamer, does not use expensive parallel processor. computers or

Conner IDE 850 $ 3 2 5 : -Conner IDE 1.2GM $399 Samsung IDE 1.08G $380-W .D. IDE 630M $ 29 0 W .D. IDE 1.2&G $ 4 3 0-

g~5~

Right now Intuit provides online . banking through Quicken, but the new b anking service apparently w i l l b e independent of the financial software, allowing customers to communicate with banks over an open, global network.

From Tokyo comes word Toshiba Corp. has developed a low-cost multimedia server system that can distribute motion pictures and data to 240 subscribers at the same time on«n on-demand basis.

*

Proview 14", Green $335 Proview 15", Green $490 Proview 17", Green $835 Daytek 14", Green $349 Daytek 15", Green $480 , Daytek 17",'Green $885 Nec 15", 0.2&, VX15 $699

I

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Tel: (604) 276-9986 Fax: (604) 276-9983 bCEPTRE Coiner Notetloou

Pentium P5-75 Pentium P5-90 Pentium P5-120 Intel PenfiumP5-75CPU PCI Motherboard

Intel PentiumP5-90 CPU Triton - PCIMotherboard 256K Cache 8MB Rem 72pin Meireiy 1.44MB FhppyDrive

256K Cache

8MB Ram72pin Memory 1.44MB FhppyDrive 850MB IDE Hard Drive PCI Video Caid 1MB 14' Sceplie NI/LR SVGAMonitor

1.08GB IDE Hetd Drive PCI Video Card 1MB

14' Scepbe NIILRSVGAMonitor 101 Keyboard Windows 95endMouse Peneaonic 4x CD Rom

101 Keyboard Windows 95endMouse 3-yts Parts 8 LabourWarranty

Sound Bluster Sound Card

Stereo SpeakersVolumeControl Mhrosolt CD Tilles 3-yta Parts 8 labour Warranty

$1,729.00

$2,299.00

Intel Pentium P5-120 CPU Triton - PCI Mothetboatd 256K Pipeline Cache

8MB Rem72pin Meireiy 1.44MB FhppyQtive 1,089B IDEHard Drive PCI VideoCard 1MB 15' Sceptic NllLR SVGA Monllor 101 KeyboenlWindows 95endMousePenetonic 4x CDRom Sound BIester Sound Card Stereo Speakers Volume Control Microsoft CD Tilles

3-yrs Parts &LabourWarranty

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83,599

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• Prices subject to change without notice.

We alsoojI'er a wide range of pouter supplies including green features:

4

P,.

ComputerPlanar

JanLtary1996

15


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CD40M Celehrates ThoWho's Tommy The Who's Tommy, the rock opera that has experienced incarnations in album, movie, concert and stage versions, is now h eaded to CD-ROM i n t h e f or m o f a multimedia documentary. Interplay Productions Inc., an Irvine, California-based multimedia s o ftware

publisher, says it will release Pete Townshend Presents Tommy: The Interactive Celebration in Windows and Macintosh versions this spring. No price was announced. According to a statement issued by the company, the CD-ROM will take users on a non-linear journey through all of Tommy's various versions. The CD-ROM will offer

music, photo images and video clips. The disc also will feature original handwritten notes by Townshend, a variety of "surprise guest celebrity" performances and interviews with The Who's John Entwistle and Roger Daltrey.

way, there will be seven "dirty" words you can't say on the Internet.

Working out differences between House and Senate telecommunications proposals negotiate a reform bill, the legislators took stepsto ban seven words and other "indecent" material from the Net.

D.C. TargetsNet's 'Dirty' Words If some federal lawmakers have their

The Learning Company has scuttled its merger agreement with Broderbund Software Inc. in favor of a deal with SoftKey International Inc. Under t h e d e a l' s t e r ms SoftKey's wholly owned subsidiary, Kidsco Inc., will p urchase The L earning Comp a n y for approximately $606 million in cash and common stock.

Thn linn up will rio lortgntbnfor fhn bathroom. Rapid Resume

Answering machine,phoneandfax

When you power onAptiva, this exclusive IBM feature zoomsyou back to the exact placeyou left off.

Aptiva's Communication Center gives you everything you need to stay in touch. It is a fax, a phonewith full duplex speakerphone, call screening, hold with music, and it's also an answer machine.

Rolotionv for o amall plant

Two Processors

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A Pentium processor & IBM's powerful media processor share the work normally tackled by single processor for faster performance.

Online Housecall

Total Image Video

It's just like going to the movies. With Aptiva, you get sharp full-motion video that's full-screen and true-to-life usingMPEG technology.

A single phone line connects you to skilled IBM technicians who, will 'look' inside your Aptiva and repair most problems while talking to you, ag with a single line.

i

3 Year Warranty with Express Maintenacne3 year warranty with ExpressMaintenance (replacement parts are delivered to your door at no charge.) In-home delivery 8 Setup' plus a 4 hour 'QulckStart' lesson'

Theatre Sound You can havedynamic CDquality concert hall sound in your homefor the latest videos, music and computer games - agwith powerful minitower speakers using built-in amplifiers.

not exootlg ov shown

Aptiva M71i PS/IQQMHz/16MB RAM/1.6GB HDD Aptive MSQi PS/IOOMHzfWB RAM/1.6CB HDD Aptlva M41i PS/75MhztlrMB/I.OCB HDD ' Apttva M90 i PS/lSMhzNMB/I.OCB HDD

Fast28.8K hpsVoicelDatalfaxModem

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This exclusive IBMfeature can automatically trun your Aptiva on, receive a fax or aphonemessage and then truns off again - all by itm:If.

A 28.8K modemcarries you across the Internet at unbelievable speed. Plus 180days or 180 hours free on the Internet.

gpleornpto the futulp. Over 40 software titles.

HP 600 8389.99"

Aptiva comeswith a rich array of preloadedawardwinning software. Total ImageVideo BounsPakwith full screen MPEGclarity includes: Silent Steel - interact with actors. The Adventures of Hyperman - learnabout the environment with this newcartoon. TheFaceof Liferevisit 36 years of Life magazinecovers. Flight of the DreamTeam- fall through the sky with a team of skydivers. Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia. Quicken for Windows SE ... and much, muchmore!

Rolallor

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all Ajitiva lncltttlea: IIAritlows 95, 4- sjiaetl CD-ROM, .2V,tjji QVCA monitor, anti 90Ã ajiaakera', (axeejit tl90) AIpricos ondvpocilicoiions subject io dvinao wiSeut noacos,Werosevo the rinhl to imaqvaoii5os. Plsonal shoppingonly. Noroloilois.

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January1996

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Computer Pllyar

I

Silage

Dataquest is f orecasting a shortage of polysilicon — the basic material of computer chips — by the middle or end of I996.

The market researcher, based in San Jose, California, expects the polysilicon shortage to last nine to IO months. The shortage should come to an end with the addition of new polysilicon market capacity in 1997, it notes.

Dataquest attributes the pending shortage to the increasing use of 200mm primeand testwafersand the continued growing demand for semiconductors.

Microsoft's I-Net Strategy Analyzed

Market researcher IDC says Microsoft's new Internet strategy amounts to the firm becoming a par of the Internet community rather than trying to take over the global network and its major technology

I DC notes that t h e m o s significant example of Microsott's attitude is its announced intention to license Sun Microsystems' Java anil support a runtime version of Netscop Communication's JavaScript Worl< Wide Web programming tools.

"MicrosoA is approaching thi Internet with a 'let's join 'em' rathe than 'beat 'em' attitude," sayi' Michael Sullivan-Trainor, director o IDC's e-messaging and Interne commerce research programs. "Th( company is planning to incorporati best ofbieed Internet capabilities an( then extend them with variou. features, none of which are bl themselves powerful enough to givi Microsoft a dominant position."

IDC believes that while the pta makes good short-term busines sense for Microsott, the strategy i underwhelming given the resource the company can deploy to addres multiple Internet opportunities.


IPC Multimedia System S tandard hard w a r e

)h pentium Oeslgned for

IEO NHsAINlm 1.01 CNaASlfTE HARD DRWE etplltmy AVAMEIE

Microsoft'

Windows95

ININNET

RERIIY

viiCLFILNTl

CD

IPC CDlFX

Multimedia hardware • QUAD speed CD ROM • 164it sound card • Amplified external speakers

YoiIR C.NorC.EoF

SoF-f+ARE 5Vi htPLES! • Microsoft Encarta 9$ - CD • Mieosoft ayorks 99 -CD basest 92-DN application) • Mraesoft Denyereus Creatures - CD • Microsoft Entertainment Pack" • Miaesoft Golf - CD • Microsoft Money - CD • Miaesoft Scenes

Niaosoft

I PC N X ® 1 •

a

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Sothaare included t

Software included'

Miaosoft Money

• Intel Pentium processor • SNB RAN • Iaaeyeel Trleyraaa cIaIIa set • S3ONB hard dnv e a 1A 4 fl o p py s Onboard PCI IDE controller with high speed serial Ik parallel ports • 1NB PCI SVGA video • 14A Voiceifaxldata modem • 101 keyboard • tafindows 9S pre-Ioadecf (manuals includect) • Collection of software titles a Mouse 4 mouse pad • 3 year parts af labour wan anty • First year on-site service • Monitor extra

• C~ t o n 's Rome Remedies - CD • Compton's Interecthre Encydopedia '96- CD • rka man~ Mann» rrke neeectlva Game - CD •rkelet' sLeam Seriesgyes 9.1!i-CD • Slam City hll motionkasffetkall yama - CD • intuit Quicken. Special Editronw • Novell Perfectyfrorka" Eoeail PerfectWorks Intuit Quidren • Novell Grammatik o Erararaatk

~crea s

Compton's Encydopedia '96

I' e-I 5

Miaosoft Encartn'95

Miaosoft Works 95

C D/F X i 57 5

let'slearn Series, Nre Mari lyn Vmsion 2 Monroe Fr'les

Miaosoft Entertainment Pack

C D/ F X

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M X +5 7 5

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• Pentium 7SNHE processor • S30MB hard dltve

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M X i 510 0 • Pentium INNHE processor

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9OMHz and 12OMHz systems also available

s

IPC PeaonalCompuhmambus h Canadaby 3Oalencwtpchw, 150 Mock Crieh INakhwk Onhw 13PIW3 Pacndeta5533 The Inhdhside tepo andPen5umae hedsmiuls d hal Cmpcmdw TheIPCheois a badsnsk d 3O ~ 35madhhnn, ast andhatpaymenls h mhancsnih a 5%taybak apron wnhns ad so wadena 55loboas bademals d Irikmwit cap. Syshnn nalnscamuly wsheen.Reseedprice auhec nmyapply. pricesand~ o e h i ari to chsnre nrihoul nohs. 'OAG. bwed on •

c

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Nelson.. ..........NicolsonComputerSupply..........604.354.4666 Port Hardy ...•....Joyful Sound ... ••...•... • .•.... • .604.949.7771 Revel stoke ........TheComputerRoom ...............604.837.5888 SaltspringIsland ...HNWDesign Computers.......•....604.537.1101 WilliamsLake......Information Ngt. Service,..........604.392A675


0

OO I 5

Il l

5 OF 8y David Anderson ere are two very interesting and very differ ent programs f'rom the Philips Media group. Both programs are lush and lively with sounds and good animations. The artwork is beautifully craAed in both cases.

Lamb Chop Loves Music (For ages3-7)

There arebetter ways of getting "rid "of your used computers

Bring it to PC AUCTION the consignment computer store

7930 Williams Rd. Richmond BC V7A 163

Ph: 1-604-241-8555 Fax 1-604-241-8589

Lamb Chop Loves Music is a series of games and learning activities designed to enrich a child' s knowledge of musical Instruments, their names and their sounds. There is a talking-book type story based onThe Musicians of Bremen. The screens are alive with hot spots for clicking and watching creatures wiggle and bounce. There is also an musical instrumentstore,where the user can browse amongst percussion, wind, brass, and stringed instruments. The interface is somewhat like Microsoft's Musical Instruments CD-ROM, You click on the violin, and you hear it play, as well as listen to Shari Lewis talk about some interesting features of the violin. There is also a game room, where there is a variety of activities based on recognition of instrument

sounds. The skill level is well within the abilities of most earlycomputer users.The program covers more than 50 instruments, and is sprinkled with dozens of classic children's songs. It must be pointed out that Shari Lewis and her talking puppet Lamb Chop have a particularly cloy-

I

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' '4F44' JtiiNOW'8l,'ffariii N rIfir, S.C."

"

Dunbar 8 26th Ave. ••r

;nei.), tati

pentium

• • • • • • • •

I

Intel. PENTIUM CPU Intel TRITON CHIPSET 101 Enh. Keyboard BMB RAM 850 MS EIDE HD 1.44 MB FDD PLUG & PLAY BIOS PCI Enhanced IDE Controller

• gr

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PCI SVGA CARD W/1MS DRAM • Mid Tower Case • 256 KS Cache • 14.4 fax Modem • 200W Power Supply • Mouse & Pad • Monitor Exlra • 2 Years parts & labor warranty

X'masS pecial.......&mmL! That's a Good Idea( THE FASTESTHARD DRIVE WITH REINOYAIILE CARTRIDGES CREATNRlASS CD lomeya ggP 100 Dr@re $3g9 SyQuest EZ135 Drive $345 cartridges: $30 MCI'AGESVAlVE CD 437$ gelr

ONCOl%RF PIP 44SO, PI'EFORNICE 4S1S Canoe IJC 4000 $4$S

External SCSlfor PC/MAC or Parallel for PC

rufnsutxcktxK nt~pTrsc' January1996

Cempw ter Player


I

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Authorized deoler of Golden Dictionary

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INain board w/256K cache, 4PCI Slots Built-in 8DE/IO, (2 Fest Serials, IPmraRel) BNS "EDO"INN 60nsec. 72pin Panasonic 1.44MS Floppy Drive 1.O SGS Fast 8DE Hnrd Drive Isuppert Nlode 4) Acer PCI d40it Video Card w/INS DRAM 'l4 (Nl) 0.20dp SVGA Monaor (2MB upgradable) Designed fmWindmss9S 0 Sceptre 15 (Nl) Digital, Hot, SVGA 0.20dp Mini Tower w/200W CSA Atiproved Case (Award lllgnner) Monitor, NPRHlR 101 EnhancedKeyboord M id lower w/230W CSA Approved Cuss Serial Mousew/Pnd 101 EnhancedKeyboard, Ssriol Mousew/Pad 2 Yours Ports S, labour Ygsrronty 2 Years Pmts 0 labour Wmranty Spedal upgrade options with the abave purchased systems: Creative Inb Value CD 4X w/I 1 11tlss and speakers ................ 5359 Supra Express 20.0 Intsrnnl 5/R/Fdm Plugand Play Nmlem........ 5199 NEW CnnonBJC-2)0 Color Bubbleletw/ms Softwore...............5370

PCI/ISAMain boord w/256K cache Built-in EIDE/lo, (2 Fast Serials, 1Parallsl) SNSRAN70nssc. 72uin (Exp. to 120NS) Poaosonic I 446IS Floppy Drive 1.08GB Fast 8DE Hard Drive (Support Node 4) PG-SusSVGACard w/1 MS DRAM

No~aeooa tre Sounshc 51000 DX -100 Color 11otehosdc 486DX4-100/4NS /340NB / DSIN Color Sceptre Sowndx S2000 $3,le 0X4-100 Color notehooh 486DX4-100/4NS /540MB / DSTN Csku (Touchpad/FBD,Adapter,2ndbagery swayable Id bit stereosouml, I0.4 colorscreenIRwtrehns) Sceptre ldotebaah 406/33 / 4MB /340MB

CanonRIC4000 ColorgobbleJet......................... 5390 "Nsw"CanonRIC-210 ColorBubbleJst .. ..,....... 53gg Brother Hl-660 600dpi ,6ppm,w/2MB RAM -----5699

Supra Express28.8 5/R/Fox INC..... ....-.-. 5210 Plug & Play,Ilsslgnsdfor Windows95 USR28.8 Int5/R/Fm V34............-.-----— - 52SS USR 28.8 Ext.5/R/Fsx V-34- —— — ----- S205 USR28.8ViiolS~M c ....... .......----. 5200 Raven RuickFax2................-.-..............----- S475 Pu/ answermachineandpaper cut

We alsocarry other Brand Names pleese eall der prices

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............................ Csg Diamnnd Packages .... — -— ------- Call ACES 4X CDRON Drive (SonyEngine). .......... . 5189 Tmhibo530284XCDROM(IDE)..... — ——— ——- - - S215 Panmonic 4X CD-ROMDrive CR-581 ......-..-.— -—... 5189 58-16 w/Panasonic Interface ......... .......... Si05 Crsagvs Iobs Packogss.

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P anmonic 2X CD-RON =.......= — --- - - - - - S7 8 5ound Bluster 16Sit OEN(witli IOE Interface) ..—.-., 599 Crssttss Iob 6X1st. CORONwiSs00sdBluster AWEIR OEM... 5440 .— — ———-- - CoB 4X4 CdROMCbsngw .

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into the actions of the creatures and animals on the screen. The plot is to unlock the basement door, to go down and find the golden key, which will let you out of the house. Along the way, there are several rooms to explore with games to play in each room. The frivolity is fairly light-hearted, in spite of the somber surroundings. While I still maintain that Broderbund Talking Books are unsurpassed in artistic quality, The Haunted House is a noble effort, on behalf of the Philips software writers, to break into this market. And with the number of high-quality children's books to adapt to CD-ROM format, there should be a steady stream of software coming our way for the future, and beyond. Both games feature the ease of use

we can now expect from multimedia programs. In the case of Windows 95, you simply put the disk in the cd-rom drive, and wait one minute. Without touching

yourkeyboard,the game loads,configures itself to your sound setup, and offers you the opening screen on the desk-

top. Press the space bar, and the game begins, opening up full-screen and boiling with stereo digital sound. Life as it

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Please call for every day lowestprices ForothersgrandNmnser SCSI Ngs, phmrsmk

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animation mixed in. The music is adventurous and dramatic, including clips from Beethoven, Handel, Gilbert and

The Haunted House is based on Jan Pienkowski's pop-up book of the same name. Jan Pienkowski is well-known for his children's books, which have been enjoyed by young readers since the Seventies. This CD-ROM incorporates his off-the-wall illustrations into a beautifully drawn virtual world of bats, cats, rats, and fire-belching furnaces. It is a clever blend of Disney and the hilarious line-drawing cartoons of the New Yorker magazine, with the magic of CD-ROM

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ing sweetness to their routine. It is really a matter of personal taste. Overall, the program does what it sets out to do, and young children will respond to all the colour and animation.

(For ages3-7)

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Both of these programs would be well-received in the holiday season. While they generate more interest when new, these programs will be of value for many yearsamong the favorite books

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The year began by waiting for Windows 95. Whether you were a Microsoft fan or

on hold, waiting for what had initially been promised for late '94. Sofbvare product releases were delayed, sofhvare and hardware purchases were postponed, all in anticipa-

MicrosoA-basher, a lot of the year was spent

tion of the Win-95 debut. At New Years, this

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Power Supply- Coolingfan - Parts Cables- powerCord ir - sei of IDEIRoppy cables - IOE Cable - Dual Floppy Cable Cleaning Klts- 35" or 5.2P Head Cleaning IGt - Mouse Pad - MFM Cable (set) Hardware- Screws,Studs, Edge Connectors. Cables, Rails, Etc..

- 30 pin slmm socket(Modify sipp socket.)

- Aii aboveprices are for cash & carry only - No visa or cheque wilt be accepted • Ail brand new items have ! rear warranty - Ail used pans ' components have 30 days vrarronttr - Ail obsolete6 damage irems have no warranty

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+ FREE ESTIMATES BEFORE ANY WORK REQUEST.

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+ NEW AND USED COMPUTER PARTS 8 COMPONENTS. + WE ALSO PROVIDE SERVICE, MAINTENANCE, REPAIR AND UPGRADE OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS. + WE PROVIDE SERVICE FOR CHANGING POWER SUPPLY COOLING FAN AND MONITOR REPAIR TOO !

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The multi-million dollar publicity campaign, along with the several delays, made this debut almost an anti-climax, and the over 10 million copies sold (including pre-installation on new computers) seemed like a disappointment in light of overly-hyped promises made by some selfproclaimed experts (predictions of 20 million to 70 million copies sold by years end were seen).

P -75 $ 181 0 P - 120 $2 0 7 0 I ntel A I I D P - 90 $192 0 P - 1 3 3 $ 2 3 30 486DX4-1 20 $1290 P-100 $1980 486DX4-100 $1275 $1265 Intel Triton Chipset motherboard 486DX246 $ 1 2 50 w/256K Cache & Fan * 8MB RAM (72PIN) GIGABYTE PCI/ISA Motherboard ' 850MB Enhanced IDE HDD '4MB RAM (72PIN) ' 1.44MB (3 1/2") Flopp * 850MB Enhanced IDE HDD * PCI 1MB Video Card exp. 2MB) * Enhanced IDE I/O wit 2 FAST 16550 '1.44MB (3 1/2") Floppy PCI 1MB Video Card (exp. 2MB) Serial, 1 Parallel Port * 15" N/I L/R SVGA .28dp, Monitor * Enhanced IDE with 2 FAST 16550 * 13" Mini Tower Case Serial, 1 Paralledl Port *14" N/I SVGA.28dp, Monitor ' 101 Enhanced Keyboard * Mouse & Pad ' 13" Mini Tower Case Upgrade to 16INB RAIN + $345 ' 101 Enhanced Keyboard * Mouse & Pad UPGRADES' - 2X co RQM package - With 8MB RAM + $175 s2s0 - 4X CD ROMPackage sass - Virith 15" N/t L.R. Monitor + $160 with - SB 16 SoundCard, Speakers -Int ernal,FaxModem

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was promised by April — then postponed again until August, finally sprung with full ceremony on August 24th, along with a recycled, early-'80s Rolling Stones jingle"Start Me Up".

in review TheYearof Windows95- or WasIt?

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Windows 95 is a good product, a big improvement over DOS + Windows 3.1... but it isn't the total Plug and Play productivity solution that some think Microsoft promised, Some of its features are still too complex or non-intuitive (such as the Exchange e-mail center). And after all is said and done, it's just an operating systemnot a religion, not a way of life. Windows 95 (or -96 or -97) will probably become the primary desktop operating system over the next few years... but these years will be one of a slow transition. Tens of millions of computers will continue to run older versions of the operating systems, just as an estimated 70 million computers just run DOS even today. For the next couple of years, smart software (and hardware) developers, will continue to make their products compatible with DOS and Win 3.1, while perhaps including features that will require Windows 95 for full use (as is the case with the new Adobe Pagemaker 6.0). One of the emerging software tiends that Windows 95 demonstrated was the extent to which CD-ROMs had penetrated the market.Microsoftwas surprised by how many Win 95 purchasers chose CD over floppy versions; in some places, there was a shortage of CD versions, while the floppy packages cluttered the shelves. It's been pointed out that the early-adopters of Win 95 were likely to be the same people who'd added CD-ROMs onto their computers, but CDs have clearly become vitally important, for games and educational solbvare, but also increasingly for large operating systems and business applications. Even though it will be several years before Windows 95 fully reaches its potential, Microsoft's operating system competitors will have few opportunities. IBM is withdrawing from the desktop operating system field — choosing instead to focus OS/2 on the corporate market. Apple seems to have missed its chance to broaden the Mac's base through licensed clones... while their customer base remains loyal, their percentage of the growing market is slowly shrinking, outside of the education and graphics/publishing strongholds. At the high end, Microsoft's NT continued to slowly creep up on both Uiux and Novell Netware; while both of these competitors continue to hold the largest share of their respective markets, neither seems able to demonstrate any faith in their own futures. Even Unix's new-found advantage as the natural way to launch an Internet server may prove short-lived. There was little new and exciting in applications this past year — software developers seemed cautious — waiting for Windows 95, and unwilling to commit themselves to projects that might have to be changed dependingon late-breaking news. (Developers, perhaps, were remembering what happened in the late '80s, when many developed for OS/2, only to


be caught unprepared for the popularity of Windows 3.0). Even the first generation of Win 95 products seemed cautiouseven from MicrosoA, products like Office95 offered evolutionary improvements over the previous generation, but no 'musthave' applications have yet been unveiled. Instead of innovation, most of the software news in 1995 was in the area of high finance. Merger-mania continued, highlighted by IBM's purchase of Lotus, but also with California's Symantec buying Canada's Delrina. And the opposite happened at year's end, with Novell backing out of its purchase of Word Perfect (and UnixWare), to concentrate on its key networking business.

Gizmos alld Gadgets- at a Price PC hardwaredevelopments offered a bit more. 1995 first saw rapidly plummeting hard drive prices, making 800 meg- I gig hard drives the norm in new business systems. By summer, Pentium CPUs outsold 486s, with the later promising to virtually disappear, at least from new desktop systems by early 1996. Intel's next generation Pentium-Pro (formerly the P6) will be a harder sell, however. Designed for a true 32-bit operating system, it produces minimal performance improvements on hybrid 16-bit/32-bit sofbvare including both Windows 3.1 and Win 95. As a result, competitors to Intel, such as AMD and Cyrixhave a chance to increase their

3hare

of the CPU market in the next ear. A big disappointment this year, however,has been the Apple-Motorola-IBM Power PC alliance. Aside (rom the successful Power Mac line, the alliance has been unable to bring a credible version of their CPU to market. If they cannot make inroads into the Windows/Intel market in 1996, the alliance may have missed their chance for broad acceptance. RAM prices remained relatively high, however, and combined with users' need for moreram, drove up the average price of computer systems. Where in 1993 and

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SPECIAL GIFT SCEPTRE MOO With CD-ROIN Drive I - Intel Pentium 90MHz - SMB RAM - 540MB Hard Drive - 16 mm Treckball I TrackpDini

Authorized Dealer I I

1994, users could buy an average home

system for under $2000, systems now cost $2500-3000. These provide more — a faster, more powerful CPU, a larger hard drive, more ram, and more often, CD-ROM and sound built-in, but it does make it harder for some potential buyers to get into the market. With continued ram-hungry operating systems and applications, don' t expect prices to drop any time soon. Severalhardware trends allfeatured increasedperformance and ease of useparticularly for PC owners. Modems running at the now standardized 28.8 kbs V.34 became increasingly affordable... and will likely remain the standard for the next several years, as they represent the limit to what canbe sent over copper telephone lines. Higher speed ISDN and cable alternatives will showup, but will take several years to become standardized and inexpensive.

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DX2-66 ................ $1950 DX4-100 .............. $2026 DX4-120 .............. $2052

P-75 Triton ........... $1717 P-90 Triton ........... $184S P-100 Triton ......... $1857 P-120 Triton ......... $2010 P-133 Triton ...,..... $2222

P-75 Triton .......,... $2293 P-90 Triton ........... $2425 P-100 Triton ......... $2433 P-120 Triton ......... $2535 P-133 Triton ......... $2833

8MB 70ns RAM 850 MB EIDE hard drive 3.5' 1.44 MB floppy disk drive PCI EIDE 2X 16550 UART Trident PCI 9440 graphics card wilh 1 MB DARM 14' 1024x768 N.L. LR. 028dp 13' Mini-lower case with 200W Logitech 2B mouse 101 Enhanced keyboard Op50n: Multimedia System 260 only 4X EIDE CD-ROM drive Sound blaeter 16 bit

8MB 70ns RAM 840 MB EIDE hard drive 3.5' 1A4 MB floppy disk drive PCI EIDE 2X 16550 UART Diamond Stealth 64 Video 64 bit with 1 MB DARM 15' 1024x768 N.L. LR. 0.28dp 15e Mini-tower case with 200W Microsoft V2.0 2B mouse

101 Enhanced keyboard 4X EIDE CD ROM drive Soundblaster 16 bit

Stereo speakers 6 Microphone

* Two Year Parts and Service Warranty (Systems Only) ' Prices Subject 7o Change Without Prior Notice All brand names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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AIVID488DX2~100 PCI board wl 258kb cache .... $190/288 AMO488DX2~100 VL board w/258kb cache ......$180/258 Pentium 100/120 TIIIon PCI board ........................... $884/829 4MB/BMB/18MB 72 pltt SIMM ................................ call

45DX Processor-based Systems

Intel Pentlum Processor@seed System Intel Pentlrrm Processor based System

Stereo Speakers

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1A4 3.5 Roppy Drive ......................... $42 Seegeie540MS/850MB .. ...................$225/275 Conner850MB/1.2GB ........................$285/345 Q uantum540MB/1.0GB .....................$230/320 WD 830MB/850MB ............................ $250/285 WO 1.2MB/1.8GB .....................---... $395/550 Colorado Tape Dr 800MS/1.4G INT ... $238/355 I

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ADI 15 e4GP/1T 5EP N.i. LR....... $529/878

CompuPEIIher 14'/15' 28 NI LR ... $325/445 Deyiek 15' Supper Fine .25 ........... $445/488 SONY 15' Supper Rne .28 ........... $885 SONY 17' SF/1T SE .................... $1280/1 540

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SoundSaster 18 Besic/ASP ............... $98/128 SoundBlaeter 18 SCSI-2/ASP ............ $189288 ATIVLS/PCIMech84D1/2MS ...„,,....$179235 Creative Mulsmedie Home 4X ............ $848 ATI VLB/PCI Mech 84V 2I4MB ............ $355/595 PeratNISC CR582B 2X/4X BII ........,.. $79/179 Cirrus Logic PCI 5434 1MB/S3 1MB ... $135/115 NEC Bxl Mullispin CDR-501/502 Irii .. $588/859 Diamond PCI STL840 Video I/2MS ... $175/235 SONY 77E 4X EIDE/78E4XSCSI ..... $189288 Trident PCI 9440 1MB ......................... $95 Toshibe 53028 4x EIDE Int ................. $195

Piexcel/SSIIIR/Mitstiml 10 1 ,. . ......,... $28 GVC 14,4 Fter/Voice inl/Ext ............ $130/180 Fuiltsu 4870/4700 ........................... $48/59 GVC 28.8 Fax V.34 Ini/Ext .............. $239/289 Focus 2001/7000 Ttackbeii .........,... $48ti77 USR '14.4V Si V4.2bis Fax Iril/Exl ... $79/99 Logitech2B Mouse/MouseMen .. .........$35/48 USR 28.8V.34Fax Int/Ext...............$250/278 14"/19'24' Mini-tower case 200W ... $75/99/125 ZDIIrix 14.4 FAX MODEM I voice .............. $79

Store Hours:

Mon.- Fri. 09:30am - 6:30pm Sat. 10:00am - 5:00pm S un. Clos e d

ComputerPlayer

January1996

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The awkward PCMCIA acronym disappeared, being replaced with the easier Q: (604) 139-0438 to retnember PC Cards, which this year, Fax: [604) 7394)436 finallybecame a reasonably standardized and easy to use way to work with portable Businessitousr. Mon.-Fn. 10:00-18:00 5at. 12:00-17:00 computers. And portable computers themselves became almost a commodity itemmaking up over25% of all computers sold in 1995, they became almost as powerful 75MHz 9 6MHz 1 00MHz 120MHz 133MHz as the average desktop unit, though stiH at $ 1 9$0 $ 2 0 $0 $21 00 $2200 $24$0 a price pretnium of 40% or more. . Intel®Triton Chipset, Plug and Play Ready -ATI Mach 64, 64 bit SVGAPCICard w/2MB RAM . 256K external cache - 1 5' SVGANon-lnt. Color Monitor (1024x768NI @72MHz) L.R. New devices using PC parallel or serial .BMB RAM 72 Pin) -13' Mini Tower Casewi200W CSAApproved Pwr Supply . 1.44MB t3.(") Floppy Disk Drive ports made it tnore possible to add hardware - 101 Key EnhancedKeyboard . 1.08GB Enhanced lDE Hard Drive to a PC without having to open the case or . On Board PCI EIDE HDDController (contrail up to 4 IDE devices) - Microsoft 2 Button Serial Mouse , On Board 2 UART 16550 Serial, 1 Parallel (EPP/ECP) Ports fuss with mysterious IRQ and DMA settings. 7 Logitech3 Button PS/2 Mouse Combined with Plug and Play features in Windows 95 (and new computer BIOSs), these finally made it possible to imagine a AND 4$6DX4 - 1DO ANID DX4 - 120 INTEL 486DX4 - 100 PC being as easy to configure as a Mac. tII'14$0 4'1 470 S1 480 New hardware product categories included low-cost page scanners, complete . 256K Cache - 2 UART16550 Serial, 1 Parellel Port . BMB RAM, (72ptn) - Cirrus Logic 5434, PCI64bg GUI SVGACard w/t MB with OCR software promising an end to . 1.44MB (3.5') Floppy Disk Drive -14' SVGA Non-int. Color Monitor (tKx766,.28inrn) LR. office paper tness, and multifunction units, . 850MB Enhanced IDEHard Drive - 13' Mini TowerCasew/200W CSAApproved Pwr Supply cotnbining printer, scanner, and plain-pa. PCIEnhancedIDEHDDCentrolier -101 Key Enhanced Keyboard (up to 4 EIDE drives) - 2 Button Serial Mouse per fax into an affordable solution for many 101-1 926 WestBract)esty, Vensouver, B.C.V6j 1Z2

Penti m'PCI B s

486PCl Bus

ttpgsnstea: RAM BMB > t6MB SMB > 8!l4B EDORQI HDD 850=> i.OBGB 1.08GB => 1.2GB 850MB > i.2GB

small offices. Low cost tape drives, featuring S00meg Travan tapes,offerback-up hopes even with today's larger hard disks. And high capacity removable disks, especially Iomega's 100 rneg ZIP drive, continually out-sold supply. The same promises to be true with next year's model-

0330 SVGA Monitor 14" > 15" $135 $40 S VGAMonitor 15 > 17' 6400 => 19' 060 T ower Case 13' 025 870 1 4 .4K internal Fax Modem w/ Voice Mail 090 0110 28.8K V3.4 internal Fax Modem $195

aceMulti Bfedia UpgradeKit Add osslyBB00 ~ ~ (Qttad speed CD RO)N, Sound Card 16, B Speakers) ~

lomega's I gig Jaz drive.

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Sales Set vice 8 Support • •

• Intel Pentium Processor • • • • e e •

BMB RAM, 14" SVGA Monitor 0.28 dp 850MB HD, 1.44MB floppy Drive Enhattasd IDE/lO Controller Trident 9440 32 bit, 1MB C CD-ROM, SoundSaster 16 GrOlier ERCydOpediB, U.S. AtlaS INbtfd Atlas, Chess Master 4000

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• intel Penfium Processor • Triton Chipset, Plug & PlaBIOS y • M' Nl LowRBd SYGA,.28dp • 850MB Hard Drive • Trident 9440 PCI Weo Card • 1,44MB Roppy Orive, 256K Cache • Deluxe Mittitower Case 200 Nhtf PS • Fast 16550 Serial Com182 • Keyboard & 2 Button Mouse

• Animals, Speakers,Mouse

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2 year parts and l~ ytrarranty

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OFFICE AUTOMATION DISTRIBUTION INC. 4317 Fraaer Street, Vancouver, I.C. V5V 41B4 Tel: ($04) 8?2-73$7 Faxt (604) $72-2524 I

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And of course, CD-ROMs and multimedia extendedtheir reach— now about half of all computers sold for the home m arket include these features,asdo an increasing (though still minority) of the computers sold to the business market. Increasingly, the home market is being driven by the needs of game players, and that includes a fast CPU, tots of RAM, and a fast CD-ROM and good sound. Look to next year for the new wave of CD-ROMs... at year's end, a new format was agreed upon, promising multigigabytes of data per disk (compared to about 600 megs right now), along with more easily writable disks. Of course, these new disks will be incompatible with the current generation of hardware, making for a combination of problems, and a new upgrade opportunity.

The bigneW Sil l995 WaS thelIlterllet... More andmore users,m ore andmore Web pages. Internet Service Providers advertising on billboards along streets in Vancouver. What's happening this week on the Web appearing alongside TV listings in the newspaper. The newspaper itself appearing on the Web. At the same time, concerns about whether financial transactions on the Web would be secure. And concerns about bandwidth — whether the Internet would collapse under the weight of increased use and increased expectations. My predictions? The days of munetered Internet access are limited — right now, I can read

Time Magazineforfree every Monday on the Web, where the complete text appears sooner than copies reach subscribers. Clearly, as soon as Time can find a way to bill be for the service, they will. Similarly, it is only a matter of time before users get billed for e-mail... right now, it costs virtually the saine to send one e-mail message as tosend 5000 copies...and the same to send amessage to a useron the same system as in Australia. enjoy it- it won't last. The hot technology currently being touted is Hot Java, a programming language fiom Sun, Cunently, Web sites are passiveusers read information, look at graphics, maybe fill in a form. Java enables Web sites to become interactive; Web servers can house Java applications that can run on any

cotnputer that's logged in, regardless ofplatform. The speculation is that could make operatmg systems and platforms irtelevant, as anyone could log into a Web site, and tun the same applications. Sun, Oracle, and other big companies are currently discussing the prospect of a $500 Internet connection computer — a minimal machine, that will run Java applications &om Web sewers. But the big problem is bandwidth again, and transmission speed. None of this is practical as long as you and Ihave to rely on modems and phone lines to access the Net. Cable modems? Fibre optics? Wide Area Networking? Not yet, I'm afraid. Despite this, Internet browser company Netscape is being hyped as the next big thing — the Microsoft of the next ten years, if you will.„Maybe, but not right away. Despite their wildly successful stock offering this past Fall, they remain a company with miniscule sales, and according to founder James Clark, ifthey turn a profit next year, it will be by accident. Personally, I consider the Internet wildly over-hyped, and suspect that we' ll see the beginnings of a reaction in the next year, as users (as with Win 95) find a gap between the hype and the reality. Another shakedown is looming as the big cable and phonecompanies make amove on thecurrently lucrative, but primarily local Internet ServiceProvidermarket. Despite all this uncertainty, the Internet reinains an itnportant emerging frontier for computing. It is quite possible that we won' t see much in the way of innovation for standalone personal computers... there's only so much that can be done with word processing or spreadsheets, after all. The Internet is where the action is going to be for the next while — but don' t expect that problems with security and bandwidth will be solved any time soon. 0

mmrCONmmelsnes! AbOut the authOr: Alu7t ZiSma7t iSa teacher and art associate editor of Computer Player,he can beneadted by e-mail alan zisman@computer-player.corn


V-COMOlers "The Vision WalL"

I Great WaY ToCompare Monitors If ou reall want to see the difference between monitors ou can' t o wron with V-COM's Vision Wall The ultimate showdown. Buyingyour dream computer with a poor monitor is like bu)dng the ultimate stereo and connecting it to your kitchen radio's speakers. Before buying, we usually cover the bases. 1st Base: A fast enough processor 2nd Base: Enough memory. 3rd Base A good solid video card. But to truly hit a home run, consider the monitor. Let's face it. you will be staring at this item for the rest of your natural computing life and it's your only window into your systemperformance.

to know if I can SEE IT, and if I CAN' T, I'm not paying more. And if I can...Show Me. V-COM Computers, on the corner of Marine Drive and Kerr in Vancouver is a great place to do the comparison. The l arge computer retailer, ha s a m agnificent VISION WALL O n e computer is driving 8 different monitors of varying sizes,makes and models. T o do a true comparison, this is the only way to go. Here are some of Terms a brief Explanation, and the " Cun I SeeIt" 5 Star Rating

Seeing Is Believing Vse a great monitor once....and you' ll never wantto return to average page layouts, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics. With the right monitor we can expect crystalline text, vibrant reach-out-andtouch graphics, and razor sharp color contrast. V-COM Computers has provided this short guide to the terms used in monitor descriptions. We' ll brielly touch on the techno-babble regarding Resolution, Dot Pitch, Non Interlace and more wonderful terms such as Pixels. But ifyou are like me... I want

14" NI ,

. 2 89P, 1024x768

14" This refers to the tube size, just like your television. I was astounded at the difference between a 14", 15" and 17". Can I See It Rafing ~~**a .2$DP ( Dot Pitch) A picture display is made up of thousands of dots of lights ( pixels ). The distance the pixels are apart from each other will determine how clear the image is. The shorter the distance the better. (.2$DP is better than.39 or .42.) Can I SeeItR ating ****

V -C O M

e As one of t he leading manufacturers of H igh Resolution Monitors, M A G I nn o v i sion has won numerous industry awards for it's innovative design, state of the art engineering and uncompromising quality.

P R O D U C T

e x

NI (Non Interlaced) . Non Interlaced is Good I Interlaced is Bad. All monitors have a flicker rate. (like a light going on and otf very fast). When you increase the resolution (the picture detail) the Ilicker becomes more visible. Non Interlaced mans that the &equency of the flicker is very difficul to see. Interlaced is easy to see and annoying. The better the monitor, the higher the resolution that

minute demo you' ll leave V-COM educated, informed, and confident in your purchase. Buying a monitor is like buying a TV. When all the models are up on a display wall you can see, clearly, which brand is sharpest, brighter, and has the right color mix for your taste. Considering a new system is going to cost you a couple of thousand dollars, the

can be used in Nou Interlaced Mode.

e xtra $100.00 o r

Can I SeeIfR ating ***

outstanding display is one of the best invesunents tlat you can make. When going out in the wild ivorld of computer buying... V-COM Computers should be at the top of your list VENOM's retail layout is ideal for the consultant based approach required to put together the perfect PC comparison. A large spacious showroom area, a sound and site room to compare speakers and monitors, sit down - hands on display models of the PCs and comfortable consultant stations. The consultant based, solution sales approach is hard to find

1024 x768 T h is refers to the Resolution. This is the maximum picture detail that the monitor can support. When you are at V-COM ask the consultant to change the resolutions for you soyou can see the diff erence. The higher the resolution the smaller the image and, therefore,the m ore can fiton the screen viewing area. Make sure that the maximum resolution that is quoted to you is in Non Interlaced Mode. Can I SeeItR ating a****

M O N T H

e

i n~

nxlsF

15"Multi-Freque ncyColor Monitor

15' darktinted,non-glareetched,anti-static, FSTwith lnvar ShadowMask;upto 1280x1024 non-interlacedresolution with 28mmdot pitch; digital controls; overscan capability; ergonomicrefreshupto 100Hz;110volt power supply; ~ ~ ~~

4-way tilt &sw ivel base ; MPRII andEnergyStar compliant

gggg,

nxlrF

17" Multi-Freque ncyColor Monitor

MQ v • v ' - U

I

T he F Series f eat ur e s microprocessor-based digital controls for superior compatibility a nd f le x i b i l i ty . Ev e r y M AG Innovision Monitor must also meet the Green Energy Standard, which i ncludes EPA Energ y Star Compliant Po w e r Man a g ement,

T H E

e r i e n c e

SWEDAC M P R I I L o w E m i s sion Standards, N o CF Cs us e d in manufacturing, a nd recy c l able packaging materials. '4'::.'.-

It's no wonder t h a t t h e MAG I nnovision 15 " a n d 1 7 " F Se r i e s M onitors ha v e ti ed f or this month's V - C O M P r o duct o f t h e mont h. • I

Get ready for an explosive visual e xperience. Th e F Se r i e s offers brilliance, col o r a n d c o n t rast, f rom c o r ne r t o cor n e r , other monitors just can't match.

out there, yet when you find it...lt can' t bebeat. Make the trip to V-COhL and just tell one of the consultants that you' re there to see" THE WALL *'

V-COM's consultants are a great help in showing the customer each of the differences in easy tounderstand, real life language. (no techno-babble ). Alter a 20

O F

$ 2 00.00 fo r a n

17" dark tinted,non-glareetched,anti-static, FSTwith InvarShadowMask; upto 1280x1024non-interlacedresolution with.26mmdot pitch; digital controls;overscan capability;ergonomicrefreshupto100Hz; universalauto-switching power suppply; 4-waytilt k swivel base; MPRl andEnergyStar compliant

To ensure that if you choose an F Series Mug Monitor you' ll enjoy it f or y e a r s t o com e , V - CO M Computers offers a manufacturer backed 3 Year Limited Warranty. With W i ndows 9 5 C o mpatibility, The F Series offers you advanced technology w i t h un c o mpromised performance standards.

gll y gog C OMPUTERS /III

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D V I 8 I D N

V- C O N I C O M P UTERS

F-Nrui4uegefetNotehnae %Sf Naif':.fiSe,.Niucamer, S844P481He:SN4fZ-AN : -fggggefgNgge-&rm; j eNK4,:


Rm PC PLACE

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New & Used Computers, Parts & Accessories Custom Built Computer Systems to your specifications...

S aaa

The Little Cants That Could

We rnii biiil<I yoii 1 ile>v systell>, upL»ode yo<lr exisiii>i sys<cm.

or i<a<le-i» yn»r sysiein Mii'» h1;>Irb i>r>«<I. »sr<i fi>r s»prisi»giy lou paces Coi»in><>eni level repnirs donein-I«>«se Cnu>e on<i see usni Ihe pnrifir Rim ('ompuier Sh<»v.

Alan Zisman

Bootht 3553

hat's 8.64 mm by 56 mm and lets you do almost anything you want? If you answered "an American

Iii s/oc/c: .I<'I 's, 286's, 386 's, 48 6 's, /' e ntiu nis, Pi'iiiteis, /.asei s,

Express Card" you' re probably watching too

/lard </ii pes, <Ilo/T/t ors, / oily, Power ST//~plies, /'oiiei, Ribhoiis, / «sei.s, Pii i i t/scads, /Ifenroi 1:, 1.(c.

much TV... but if you answered a PC Card in a portable computer, you' re right on the

Take modems, for example. A modem can be a very useful tool to anyone traveling as from the office to home and back. Portable

Buy, Sell, & TradeNew & Used Computers, Parts & Accessories

money. Portable computers are great — but up until recently, they had a big disadvantage

Bsss',Sell, 8 Trnrfe /1/ewdcUseif Campsrters, Parts 4 Aceesories

Desktop PCs are expandable, you see. You

I:<. onoinica/ repairs and I<pgra<tcs In<i >< «I>confi<I<'nce, <'>'ci3yi<ing /ias a ><'arr<o>i> <!!

want to add a sound card? A network con-

compared to their desk-bound counterparts.

nection? A modem? A CD-ROM? No problem. At worst, you' ll have to open the case, and popan interfacecard intoan unused slot. (Well, actually, at worst, you' ve got a whole mess of incompatibilities involving techie top-

e%

~V

ics like IRQ and DMA settings, but we *ll

tt 1 -8145 - 130il i Ave. Surrey, TIC (601) 572-8324

leave those for some other article). Portables, you see, have no slots. And that has meant something between limited and no expandability. If you couldn't plug it into

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SYSTEMS

' 486 PCI Ma<ho>board

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16 kit sound card 4 4x CIMOM Digital ScisoolHous>e 4X Kit Muitimedia Home 4X kit Soundblasler 32 SoundCardw/ 2 speakers

+ 24>iix mouso + 2 Year Foils4<labour Wo><onty

P.75PCI S1700 P-00Pa $1820 P 100PQ $1920 P.120PO $2020

P-1BPCI $2270 L EASE TO

eemisIS ~

$230 $430 $540 $225 70

16 bii SoundCard w/ 2 speakers 88 2x speedCD 4om 80 Panasonc/S ony 4xKSI CD .Rom $295 Toshileexior 4xKSICD -Rom $395 Tashiba/ ana Psonic 4xSpeed IDECD4Iom $178/$168 Sanyo2xSpeed KSI $170 AdaptecSCSICD4om Cnirli w/ Soih<KKB $85

' Intel PeneunP'F<ocesso< ' BMB RAM, 256KBCache

' 1.44 Mb Floppy D<lvw ' 650Mb EIDE Had Dmss ' PCI Enhanced HD/FDCon><one<

' 2 sense. I Pc<ox<> l, I Game port

' PCI Video Card w/ IMb

' 14" SI/GA Non-Inie<k<ced Moniio<

O W N * 101 Key Enhanced Keyboard

' 19' Mid Tower Case + Iaaeech PS/2 po<t M0Use ' 2 Year Part 6< labour Waxaniy

MONITORSIIVIDEO GNDS

$310 Dayiek/ASI 14" Nl SVGA .28 Dayiek/ASI 14" Nl LR SVGA.28 S32o Dayiek/Co<npartne<15" Ni LR Flai SVGA .28$470 Dayiek 17' LR Flat Screen Ni SVGA $8 70 ADI 4Gp LR 15' Flat Screen Ni SVGA S540 ADI 5Ep LR 17" S920 SONY 15sf 15" S670 NEC XV 15" $670 NECXyl7 / Xel 717' S1150/$1460 SVGACard256KEip. 512K $5o SVGACard IMS $95 Trident/53 SV GACard Vij/PCI IMS $100/ $ 1 00 $460 Matrox I/kllennium2mbVRam PCI

Diamond SIealth 64DRAI/I I,'2MSVI/PO $245/$31 5

Diamond Sieaiih64 VideoVRAM2/4MS $490/665 All Mach32 IMBDRam5A / VLS/Po $169 ATI Mach64 IMS/2M8DRamISANLR/PCI $205$265 ATI Mach32 2MBVRamISA/VLB/PCI $350 ATI Mach& 2MS/4MB VRamISA%SKI $365/595

January1996

We are a member of Better Business Bureau DRIVES 8c CONTROLLER S

$260/ 299 630MBEIDE /850MBSCSI 850MBEIDE 280 I,aaga/ I,2GS EIDE $340/ 368 1,08GBSCSI 460 1,4GB/2,1GBSCSI $1050/$1200 2.IGB WideKSI $1350 2.5" 348MB IDEfor notebook $390 2,5' 548MB IDEio< noiebook $580 1.2MB5.25" Floppy Deve $65 1.44MB3.5" FfoppyDsve 843 Fujiisu 230MS opiicai drive w/ I disk $620 Conner 420/800MS iapebackup $179/250 Calonxlo 250/350 parallel port backup $385/410 Conner 4,0G Ini./exi,iape backup $1 2<7 5/$1465 VLB BDE Controller W/ Mulli-I/O 845 VLB EIDE Cni<i< w/ Enhanced I/O $50 Adapiec 1522/1515 SCSICi<i< $125/S'168 Adapiec 2842A VLB SCSI Cont<olle< kii $350 Adapiec 2<740/2< 740W PCI SCSI Cni<il< $295/350 Future Domain PCI KSI Controller $170

Computer Player

with a portable computer — even just as far manufacturers used to be very happy to sell built-in modems for their models — overpriced 2400 bps modems, sold to a captive market, that is — with each computer model needing a different model modem. But what were the alternatives? Carsy a bulky external modem'? Buy an equally overpriced minimodem'? Lacking any sort of standards for portable computers, users often simply did without.

PCMCIA To The Rescue Starting in 19&9, thePersonal Computer Memory Card International Association tried

NIOTH ERBOARDS (Lltest Design)

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s 4MB BAM. 256KB Cachs>

486DX2.66 $1210 486DX4100 $12sI Tal key Enhonc<>dKeyboard 486DX4120 $1$10 '' 13" Beni Tower Co<<>

24

the parallel or serial ports in the back, forget it. Maybe your portable has a long skinny plug for a docking station or a port rcplicator, but does anyone actually use one of those? And even if you did — what is good is that when your portable goes out of the office... and that' s the whole idea of portables!

486DXM6 w/fh CPU,fan $160 486DXMO25N w/ CPU,fan $220 /486DX4-100256k w/ CPU,fan $280 486DX4-120256k w/ CPU,fan $305 P-75256k w/ cpli, fan $5oo P-90 / 100 256kw/cpu, fan $62p/$68p P-120 / 133256k w/cpu, fan $760/$1000

MATH CHIPS 387SX 16 - 33MHz 387SX 40MHz 387DX 20 - 33MHz 387DX 40MHz

$55 $80 $60 75

Printers Fu/itsu DL-7DD 24pin Raven 2407 24-Pin colo< upgradable Raven Ls-3 1MB 6DDdpi laser Raven LP-47DPS laser

S210 $280 $630 $830 Brother-650 2MB BDDdpi 78O Okidaia OL-40Do LED 599 Okidaia OL-410o LED 600 dpi 799 HP 340 portable 600x300 dpi 430 HP 6DDC Colour Desk/ei 6DDx300 dpi 430 HP 660C Colour De>sklei 6DOdpi 580 HP Lose<Jet 5L 60Ddpi 699 HP lase<Jei 5P 60odpi $1260 HP Lose<Jet SMP 600dpi $1450 HP lose<Jot 4+/4M+ boodpi $2050/$2720 HP Lose<Jet 4V/4MV $2800/$3990 Canon BJ-30 $330

NETW O R K ING

MS-Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Lonlastic 6.0 starter kif

We repair: -Monitors -Systems -Printers We upgrade laser printers

$85

$295 Novell 3.12 upgrade (10 user) $1450 Novell 3.12/4.1 5 user) $830/880 Novell 3.12/4.1 10 user) $1499/1520 Novell 3.12/4,125 user) $26 2 0/2680 Eagle 2000+ 1 Ethernet Card $100

G7>CElheriiet Card $58 cable, connector, terminator it crimping tool

see I Is<

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1 GIGbard drive Epson 1.44, 3.5 Floppy Ilrive Premium 'l4" Towercase CypressNMB191keys enhancedkeyboard l}aytek 'l4" SVGANl, .28MM Color monitor

• Plu S tnnn • Pn'0 S2090

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Windows 95 included 1 Modem(3 m o n t hs )

Internet

1 S y s te m (6 months)= 9 months free internet.access

om uta,rs telephone:SQ4- 4 8 2 - 1

234

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SQMHZ — $1080 100MHZ — 11QQ

ADD PENTIUM TRITON

for PC cards. And once support is turned on, Win 95 supports hot swapping — adding or removing cards while the computer is up and running. Add a card for the first time, and the computer will take a few seconds to identify it. If it's new, it will inform you that it is loading drivers (you may be asked to insert one of your Win 95 floppies)... then a PC card icon pops up on the TaskBar, and you' re in

business. Plug and Play like it's supposed to be. And sheer magic if you' ve wrestled with

II and a Type I card, or up to three Type I

installing cards in standard, desktop PCs,

cards. Finally, Toshiba has created an even

under DOS or Windows. While Warp doesn't call it Plug and Play, it also has solid working built-in card services.

let your computer know about the existence of your PC cards. Under DOS and Windows 3.x, these drivers require RAM — 60 kb or so for each card loaded. While these drivers can be

loaded high, this can cause problems running some programs —especially if you need to load multiple drivers. Advanced Operating Systems To The Rescue!

You should be aware, however, that while using Warp or Win 95 really makes the

use of PC Cards much more convenient, either really requires at least 8 megs of RAM to run well — and most portables are still be-

ing sold with only 4 megs. And just as they can't use standard expansion cards, most portables require special, and pricier RAM... I

wouldn't recommend fourmegs on any new computer purchase — portable or desktop.

MONITORS TKL : 604-8767983 FAX: 604-876798414" MEGA/SCEPTRE — $295 / 310

BU SINESS HOURS: 10AM TO 6PM MON-SAT 15" MEGAIMAGE FLAT — S 395 SCEPTRE N/I,L/R — 5 460 PENTIUM TRITON PENTIUM TRITON PEN T IUM TRITON 15" 1 5" COMPUPANNKR — $ 4 4 0 GIGABITE MOTHER BOARD GlGA B ITE MOTHER BOARD 15" MAG DXISF (0.28) — $490 GIGABITE MOTHER BOARD 256 KB plpEI.INED CACHE pNp 256 KBPIPELINED CACHE„PNP 15" SONY SF 2 (0.25)— 256 KB CACHE,PNP S 6 70 8MB EDORAM 16MB EDO RAM 8MB RAM / 15" SONY SX2(0.25)— — $590 1.08 GB EIDE HDD I.2 GB EIDE HDD 635 MB EIDE HDD ~ 17" MAG DX17F (0.26) — S 910 2v16550S, I v PARALLEL PORTS 2 o 16550S, I o PARALLELPORTS 17" SCEPTRE (0.26) 2e16550S, lv PARALLEL PORTS S900 ATI MACH64D 2MB DRAM D I A MOND STEALTH 2MB DARM I MB PCI SVGA CARD DRIVES 15" MAG DXI5F MONITOR 1 5 "MAC DXI5F MONITOR 14" SCEPTRE MONITOR 635MB WESTERN DIGITAL HDD — $240 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE 850 MB WESTERN DIGITAL HDD — $270 101 ENHANCED KEYBOARD 101ENHANCED KEYBOARD 101 ENHANCED KEYBOARD I GB WESTERN DIGITAL HDD — S 310 TOWER CASE (230WA1TS) TO WE R CASE (230 WATTS) TOWER CASE (230WATTS) 1.2 GB WESTERN DIGITAL HDD — $360 MS OR LOGITECH MOUSE MS ORLOGITECH MOUSE MS OR LOGITECH MOUSE 1.6 GB WESTERN DIGITAL HDD — $430 75 / 100MHZ-$1490/159075/100MHZ-$1890/1990 75/100MRE-$2190/2290 1.2 GB QUANTUM FIREBALL HDD — $350

1 2 0/133MHZ $1790/19901? 0/133MHZ-$2190/2390 120/133MHZ42490/2690 + + A + PENTIUM TRITON PENTIUM TRITON PENTIUM TRITON

INTEL ENDEAVOR BOARD ASUS MOTHER BOARD ASUS MOTHER BOARD 256KUCe e sLE KocAcHE,PHP 256KB gllPQ~) C A CHE PNP256 KU JIFELINED CACHE, PNP

8 MB EDO RAM 1.08 GB EIDEHDD 2e16550S, I s PARALLEL PORTS ATI MACH64D 2MB DRAM 15" NAG DXI5F MONITOR 1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE 101 ENHANCED KEYBOARD TOWER CASE (230WA1TS) MS OR LOGITECH MOUSE 4 SPEED CDROM SOliND BLASTER16 & SPEAKER

BUILT IN SOUND BLASTER 16 16 MB RAM KDO RAlg 8 MB ED@ RAM 1.2 GB EIDE HDD 1.08 GB EIDE HDD 2e16550S, I e PARALLEL PORTS 2e16550$, Ie PARALLEL PORTS DIAMOND STEALTH 2MB DRAM ATI MACH64D 2MB DRAM IS" SONY SXI(0.25)MONITOR 15" MAG DXISF MONITOR 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE 101 ENHANCED KEYBOARD 101 ENHANCED KEYBOARD TOWER CASE (230WATF S) 4 SPEED CD ROM ASE SPEAKER MS OR LOGITECH MOUSE MS OR LOGITECH MOUSE 4 SPEED CD ROM TOWER CASE (230 WATTS) SOUND BLASTKR16 & SPEAKER

75/100MHIZ-$2290/2390 120/133MHZ-$2590/2790

75/100hBKZ-$2690/2790 75/100MHX-$2290/2390 120/133MHZ-$2990/3190 120/133MHZ $2590/2790

26

Panel. It's a simple matter to turn on support

M PUTE R

A L L SYSTEM WITH TWO YEARS PARTS & LABO UR WARRANTY

486 PCI SYSTEM

PC card slot, an icon will appear in Control

widely-supported standard. SOAware drivers — so-called Card and Socket Services (CgrSS) need to be loaded, to

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AUTOEXEC.BAT — if installation notices a

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thicker Type IV socket — but this is not yet a

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as early models were plagued with incom-

hard drives. A Type I I socket I can hold a Type

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first, they represented a standard that wasn' t,

support for PC cards built in. Windows 95, for example, does away with needing drivers for these cards in CONFIG.SYS or

format. 10.5 mm Type III cards are mostly

Monitor & Mouse. Stereo Speakers.

'%e ProvideSaleswith erviceaa4«aiaiag"

COIlgpgymRS L0$

PCMCIA cards were limited to memory cards (as the association's name suggests), and at

cards, even sound cards can be found in this

96 COMPTON

- ENCYCLOPEDIA $69.95

OS/2 Warp and Windows 95 don't have these problems. Both operating systems have

Renamed simply PC cards, there are now three standard sizes. Type I cards are the thinnest — up to 3.3 mm thick. Most of these remain memory cards. Type II sockets can hold two Type I cards or a single 5.5 mm Type II card. These are the most common — modems, Ethernet network adapters, SCSI

Warranty-2yr.

... PENTIUN 75

to create a standard, and also, at the same time, a hard-to-remember acronym. At first, the

January1996

Computer Player

MULTIMEDIA

2 SKPPD PANASONIC CD ROM — $ 75 4 SPEED PANASONIC CD ROM — S 160 4 SPEED TOSHIBA CD ROM — $ 170 4 SPEED PHILIPS CD ROM — — $ 1 60 6/8 SPEED CD ROM $ CALL INTEL ENDEAVOR BOARD 16 BIT SOUND CARD $75 256 KB1UIPELI~ED CACHE, PNP BUILT IN SOUND BLASTER 16 SOUND BLASTER AWE 32 $ CALL 16 MBEDO RAM SPEAKERS ... FROM $10.00 1.2GB EIDEHDD VIDEO CARDS 2e16550S, Ie PARALLEL PORTS ATI MACH64D IM/2M DRAM — $170/230 DIAMOND STEALTH 2MB DRAM ATI MACH64V 2M/4M VRAM — $340/560 15" SONY SF2(0.25)MONITOR DIAMOND STEALTH IM/3M DRAM — $180/240 DIAMOND STEALTH 64 3300 3M VRAM 3 340 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE DIAMOND rrfEALYH 44 3340XL 2M VRAM - 3 440 101 ENHANCED KEYBOARD 4 SPEED CD ROM ac SPEAKER TSENG LAB IMB PCI SVGA CARD — $99 MS OR LOGITECH MOUSE MODEMS TOWER CASE (230 WATTS) 14.4 INTERNAL VIOCE FAX/MODEM - $80 75/100MHZ-$2790/2890 14.4 USR INTERNAL FAX/MODEM — $125 120/133MHZ 3090/3290 14.4 USR INT VIOCE FAX/MODEM — $160 28.8INT ERNAL FAX/MODEM — S 180 28.8 I NT VIOCE FAX/MODEM — $ 2 1 5


What Can Fit on a Cards Considering the small size of a PC card (literally about the same size as that American Express card, but a bit thicker), it's amazing what can be squeezed into the thin metal case. I don't recommend cutting one open to

peek inside, but if you did, you might see RAM chips, digital signal processors, and other standard chip~ all neatly soldered onto two sides of a thin board. In fact, everything you need for a standard adapter card... just forced into a smaller case. This miniaturization inevitably results in

somewhat higher prices than for their larger equivalents, but as the portable market expands (it's currently 1/4 of the entire market

for personal computers, and rising), the prices of PC Cards is also dropping. A 14.4 kbs PC Card modem maycost$200-250,compared to about half that for a standard modem, while a faster28.8 modem may cost$400-500 on a

PC Card, compared to $250-400 for its larger consul.

PC Card modems seem the most common of the mini add-ons, with a range of models at both the 14.4 kbs and 28.8 kbs speeds. All have fax capabilities, and all seem

to offer fairly similar capabilities — performing virtually identically to larger models weal the same rated speeds. The biggest difference lies in how to attach the phone jack. Some m odels, such asM egahertz'sX-Jackmodels , sport an actual phone jack — inset in the PC

Card's metal shell. Press on the end, and the

nies market adapters letting mm add PC Cards

X-Jack pops out, ready to accept a standard phone cord. This is a convenient arrangement, allowing users to use any phone cord. It can' t

to any desktop computer. With this, you could use a single, shirt-pocket sized modem on all the machines that you work with. Currently, the PC Card standard is a 16-

be lost, but it can break off. Several other

models prefer to include special phone cords, which plug into the end of the PC Card... these

may be more sturdy, but if you forget or lose the cord, the modem is unusable.

iaturized onto a PC Card. Currently, you can

and powerful PC Cards, as well as more and more devices crammed onto a single card-

of external SCSI devices, from hard drives to

scanners to tape backup to CD-ROM. Or maybe you'd prefer a sound card. Ethernet networking cards come with your choice of 10-base-T or 10-base-2 connectors. Hard

drives, up to 170 megs have been squeezed into a fat Type III card. There's even a v'ideo

capture board on a card. Increasingly popular are multifunction cards. These integrate several cards in one.

Combining an Ethernetadapterand am odem into a single card is an example of this.

Coming Right Up PC Cards are handy. So handy, in fact, that they may migrate f'rom portables to desk-

top computers. IBM's PC 300 desktop models already include Card slots, and several compa-

Saturday February 3rd, 1996 . 11:00 am — 5:00 pm Capitol Hill Community Centre

evolving, however. Called CardBus, it will allow 32-bit operation, at speeds ranging from 20 to 33 MHz. Sort of the local-bus standard for the next generation of PC Cards.

ers. This allows you to connect a wide range

Swap Meet

bit, 6 MHz adapter — sort of like a slow, ISA slot on a desktop PC, A new standard is

Modems aren't the only use for these versatile cards — almost anything that can be plugged into a standard ISA jack can be minbuy SCSI adaptersfrom severalmanufactur-

Computer

So we cansoon expect increasingly fast

361 South Howard, Burnaby (off East Hastings)

look for the all-in-one modem, network adapter, SCSI card, combined with sound card featur-

S To YHS

ing microphone input and speaker outputs. Wonder where all those plugs are going to go'? PC Cards have outgrown a somewhat

Cumputssr Solutious

~H o w>M

T o Somot

DOOR PRIZE One Encarta 96

awkward adolescence. They now greatly extent the usefulness of our portable computers, making it much more possible for these

to be given away at 2:00 pm! I Buy, Sell or Trade all your computer needs. Get all your new 6sused monitors, printers, hardware, software, ports Multimedia Kits and loads more! All at great prices!

tiny machines to almost entirely replace the big, lumbering desktop models. Expect to see them popping up wherever people take their computers — from the office to home„on the road, even on vacation. 0

About the author: Alan Zisntan is a teacher and an associate editor of Computer Player, he can be reached at e-mail at alan zisman®computer-player corn

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ComputerPlayer

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27


~D QA QT g QB' QA; QS QE:l Database Developments

l SUN Generot Introduction

Visual Basic is not specifically designed as a database application development tool, it is a general purposeWindows programming language, but data connectivity is a built-in feature. Visual Basic's built-in database functions are provided by Microsoft's Jet database engine. This is the same databaseengine used by Microsoft Access. The Jet database engine is supplied

N SIC e

By John Hantnt

Microsoft has finally released the long-awaited upgrade to Visual Basic

3.0, its hugely successful programming system that revolutionized the way Windows computer programs are written.

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ThreeEditions Visual Basic 4.0 comes in three editions, Standard, Professional and Enterprise. The Standard Edition is a fine platform for beginning programmers but we cannot recomnend it for database application development work. It lacks the documentation and programming features necessaryfor serious database work. The Professional Edition will cost

$$50

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$300-$400 more than the Standard Edition. We highly recommend this product forboth beginning and advanced database application developers. The documentation is some of the best we' ve seen and early reports confirm that this upgrade has finally added robustness and speed - ttlements missing from version 3.0. The Professional Edition is required for programmable access to the database functions. For an additional $500, the Enterprise Edition has all the features of the Professional Edition and includes supplementary databasefeatures specifically designed to allow developers to create clientfserver applications. It also i ncludes M i crosoft V i s ual SourceSafe, agroup project-oriented version control system.

Documentotion The Standard Edition ships with the excellent 850 page Programtner'0 Guide. The Language Reference and the Professional Features books are only available with the Professional or Enterprise Editions. Since we are not reconunending the Standard Edition for databasedevelopment there isno need to comment on the lack of documentation for this edition. The documentation supplied with the Professional Edition is superb. The Language Reference is over l000pages long and provides excellent programming examples for every function, method and property. The online help system duplicates this book and therefore all these may be cut and pasted into your own forms and modules. The Professional Features book is another massive effort combining three books under a single cover. These are Creating OLE Servers, the Guide to Data Access Objects, and the Custom ControlReference. The Guide to Data Access Objects is well presented and particularly i to the database application developer.

exam ples

m portant


of data and objects. Each copy of the database is called a replica, and each contains an identical set of tables, que-

Visual BasicAppticatians Edition

The underlying programming language in this version has changed to Viries, forms, reports, macros, and modsual Basic Applications Edition, version ules. Replicas that belong to the same 2.0. This is the same language that is replica set can exchange updates of data built-in to the latest versions of the apor replicated objects. This exchange is p1ications of the Microsoff Office suite called synchronization." including Excel, Project and, yes, Access What's Missing) 95. This has resulted in many This prodSass Ssss ea Seta minor changes ni ress nsa tees,na. e • uct, particularly tn,seassass to the language. the Professional t h T his coul d Edition, is a very cause some irri~s nearly a comaaseeaaa~ aeeaeeea Ssea~ tation to users plete package. cs ~ of earlier verThe only thing Ocee4seae S sees SsiaeaeS saSsiaa sions but overeeNeolasaa as Rgb': ereseese missing is a true ceasss01sse eesasss0aeeae all the change is caansssss asoas compiler. The lasssaaenNssssasnssstsssnsslssrss sanss.ss for the better, lt blinding speed had to be done that users love sooner or later but rarely see m —seatses sea ~aaeeaases. Iesas' as. and the changes ~ cesar ~ s s aa~S s sa Windows appliare really quite cations is only few. attainable in code. Borland's e

I

I

e

compiled

DataAccessObiect The Data Access Object programming interface has been simplified and greatly improved over earlier versions. For example, the Table, Dynaset, and Snapshot objects have been replaced by the single Recordset object which includes the Table, Dynaset, and Snapshot as types. The new object hierarchy is a more logical structure and generally easier to use. Rushmore optimization, purchased several years ago along with Fox Software, has finally been added to many types of queries to speed up results.

Delphi is still the ortly product which can deliver in this respect.

Visual BasicversusDelphi While Visual Basic 4.0 doesn't have a true compiler, it is here now and Delphi for Windows 95 is not. Visual Basic has leap-frogged Delphiin many respects such as OCX technology, database replication, and now with the improvements to therobustness,speed, and ease of use of the Jet database engine it makes a good candidatefor the database frontend of choice.

VisualBasicondAccessfor Windows95

The Visual Basic .mdb data file format is so extremely convenient. Onefile This feature is fairly new to deskcontains the all the data tables and intop databases. lt allows remote users to dexes as well as all the query definitions keep their data in synch with a master and many other types of objects. copy. RepliT his i s c ation c a n ~ a~ a t he sa m e h ave m a n y .rndb file for~ne ~ta u aeS Orl e mn.--r. at that A h might be sirncess u ses. ply to k e ep Access and SeeesaSSS asees sS aeaeehassh etaaen the home and i' ttatsateessaaSa a Visual Basic the laptop vers make a near sions of a daunbeatable teehnh t abase in pair. Access s ynch w i t h can help the Oaeses s~ tasse the offic e verd evelo p e r s ion. Thi s w ith da t a

Database Replication

'

w ould

in -

ing the office version, where necessary, with cha ges made atone of the other computers. Here is database replication a fined by Microsoft: "Database replication is the process of copying a database so that two or more copies stay synchronized in terms

*

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Tel/Fax 325-9258 Open M-F 10:30-6 Sat, 11-5, Closed Holiday

+pe

MS Encarta, Works, Money, Coif Dangerous Creatures or Basehall +P

'

v erifi cati o n

and is handy f or suc h things as quickly generatmg the sy tax for complicated SQL queries and performing quick and dirty data table restructuring and field definition.

2'

Monitor Repair • Free estimates in shop • Drive-in service - full time technician on stafF

• Pick-up ik delivery available • Repair most major brands • Loaneravailableat low rates

Hard Drive Special

So you want the internet? • We offer in-house installation and training • Free internet software • Talk to a friend overseas on the internet!

• 5$0MB $300 installed • 850MB saaO installed • Simpled data transfer induded

All for just

$40

Medical Manager

Billing Package Complete Hardware &SofNssare Rental for

- $69

( Continrred ort page39)

Comyuter Player

January1996

29


3771 Jacombs Road ¹530

Richmond, B.C. V6V2L9

TeI: (604) 276-2860 F N X : (604) 276-2862

Your systems partner today and tomorrow.

we promote on quality not name.

• 9002',

Chaintech

R

E

G

I

S

7

E

R

E

0

Chainteeh 586IDM (Triton Chipset) • •

Inte l 75-180MHz Processor, ZIP socket 7 72-pin SIMM socket X4

• •

Support EDO type DRAM Pipe-lined Burst SRAM on board PCI PkP BIOS

• • • •

Michael Whitfield

Intel triton chipset

4 ISA Bus slot, 4 PCI Bus slot (ajl support Master Mode) Support two Enhanced IDE interface On board Super VO controller

OEM dealers are welcome

BTC 5539k Windows 95 keyboard

otebooks - some people don' t know what a 'notebook' is or what it can do. A notebook is what most people cail a 'laptop', the term 'notebook' carne about as it was about the same size as an $.5" x 11" notebook.

Bondwell Pentium Notebook

Designed for

3D Microcomputers introduces 2 Bondweil Pro notebooks. The systems are priced from $3188.00 for the Bondweii Pro 575 to $3588,00 for the Bondwell Pro 590.

8y

•1

Microsoft Windows 95

The Bondweli Pro notebooks are available with 530 megabytes to 1.3 gigabytes of storage space. Processor options available include Intel Pentium 75 Mhz 8'c 90 MHz processors. All units are shipped standard with an Intel Pentium processor, 8 MB RAM, 16 bit sound card, PCMCIA Type II & III slots, Track ball pointing device, 1MB local bus video, Rechargeable NiMH battery, carrying bag 4 car cigarette adapter.

Otherproducts also available,cases,sound cards,CD-ROM, VGA cards. Exclusive distributor in Western Canada.

Dealers Inquiry only (604) 276-2$60

PCConnections"' 6600 NO.3 Road, Richmond Tej: 270-4883 Fax: 270-3812 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10am to 6pm

For moreinformation, contact: (905) 472-08822.

Accpac Plus G/L, A/R, A/P $549 Order Entry, Ihventcryl PO, Retail Invoicing Job costing $5 89 Canadian Payroll $699 l Lanpak (4u nits) $ 3 5 9

Philips PCM100

e+ fggp

Other modules available, please call for details.

Intel

8MB 72pin non-parity 16MB 72pin non-parity

e.

75Mhz Pentium processor $1,299 90Mhz PeiNlum processor 1,429 100Mhz Pentium processor 1,499 120Mhz Pentium processor 1,599 133Mhz Pshtlum processol' 1,899 Add 2% for boxed Intel processor, Monitors sold sepetstely. 2 yrs parts & labour warranty on system.

30

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sed Department

Intel 486 SXM OverDrive upgradesble 4MB (max. 36MB) 540MB hard drive CD-ROM drive 16-bit sound card 14" integrated monitor Software bundle

Warrant y direct from IntelWant improved productivity'7 Come in . Certificate of Authenticity and try our full working demo on the most 0/fly $1,199 p Ball bearing integrated versatile accounting and network Memory modules high quality heatsink fan software. 4MB 72plh non-parity Intel Pentlum' processor based system Gigabyte GAM6ATboard w/Intel Triton chipset 256K Cache, PNP BIOS, ohboatd EIDE snd fast I/O 8MB RAM, Msx. 128MB RAM PCI SVGA card w/1 MB DRAM 730MB EIDE hard drive 1.44MB Ifcppy drive, 15" Mini-tower case 104 keys Windows enhanced keyboard and rhcuse 1 month free unlimited internet access

Today, a notebook can replace desktops in virtually ail applications. Personally, I use a notebook for everything including photographic manipulation, 3D animation, and wouldn't trade it for any desktop. When you' re looking to buy a notebook, there are a few things you should know besides the price and brand name.

Hard Drives NEC 730MB, 'I 1 ms, 256K WD 850MB, 10ms, 64K WD 1.09GB, 11ms, Mode 4

MB 30 pins SIMM 12MB hard drive htel DX246 OverDrive mplete 386 system omplete 486 system her parts available

do trade-in and consignment of your old ystem. Please call for details. $179 359 679 249 279 329

Video Accelerators Trident 9440 32-bit 1MB 99 Cirrus Logic 5434 64bit 1MB 129 ATI Mach64 'IMB/2M OEM 179/ 2 49 Stealth 64VIdeo 1MB/2MB OEM 189/269 Stealth 64 Video 2MB VRAM 389 Prices reflected s 2% cash discount snd are subject to change without notice.

'Coeyste'Raper

$38 109 99 start at 449 start at 649

Multimedia Creative Value 4X Creative Performance 4X Creative SB 32 wave table Creative Vibra 16 (SB 16 OEM) Panasonic 4X EIDE CD-ROM drive Toshiba 4X EIDE CD-ROM drive

389 549 229 99 169 179

Fax/modem U SR Spottsler 28.8 iht Jext USR Sportster 28.8 with DSVD USR Spoitsler SI 14.4 internal

249/ 2 79 399 69 Supra/Cardinal 28.8 internal 199 Megahertz PC Card XJ14.4/28.8 2&/499 All names and trademarks are properties cf their respective owners.


. ... .

%S O R R Y • E O • 8

PROCESSOR Most notebooks today (with the exception of most brand name products) are capable of using CPU's found in desktops. Most entry level notebooks use custom CPU socket mounts or surface mounted technology. Proprietary CPU's require special daughter boards t hat have l i m i ted av ailabil it y an d a

MEMORY A s notebook manufacturers strive for smaller and lighter solutions, space is limited. Standard RAM modules are bulky and require a lot of room; as a result manufacturers have to develop special memory boards that use less space. There area sinall number of manufacturers of SIMM modules found in 386

or 486 desktop systeins. Standardizing memory has inany advantages to both the user and reseller; some are turning to PCMCIA memory cards, but they lack speed,cost effectiveness and memory accessibility (since most are virtual memory and not true DRAM). There is hope though, Hitachi has developed a standard 64-bit DIMM memory module for notebooks. The DIMM module, al-

though new to the market, will have a significant impact on sales of notebooks as pricing drops and capacities increase.

HARD DISKDRIVE Hard drive technology is moving towards more portable solutions, major manufacturers have moved production to the 2.5" form factor, closing the price gap

higher cost. A surface mounted CPU cannot be upgraded to comply with newer L im i ted

technology,

expandability and expensive propri-

etary modules have marred the perception of notebooks, An upgradeable CPU (PGA type socket) and removable CPU lets the user upgrade as newer processors are developed. CPU prices are constantly fluctuating up and down, long term CPU prices always (unless in shortage) drop significantly.

L: WESTERN DIGITAL Megalmage introduces

the MegaBook 770 and

Pentium PCI/ISA Bus

the new Pentium

MegaBook 880

The MegaBook 770 multimedia notebook was designed to run today' s most detnanding multimedia applications. Available in 10.4" TFT active or STN passive LCD colour screens, the MegaBook utilizes 1MB of local bus video and provides simultaneous video display on both the LCD and any external device. This notebook offers optional processing power with the Intel DX4/100 microprocessor, storage (featuring 540MB, 81DMB or 1.3GB removable hard drives} and expandability (froin 4MB to 36MB). Additional features include 2 PCMCIA Type II slots or 1 PCMCIA Type II and I PCMCIA Ty3ie II slot, a

CableMaster II port, external monitor hook-up, an external Keyboard or PS/2 tttousefport and when fully loaded weighs only 6.4 lbs. Megalmage has just announced the Pentium MegaBook 880. Offering all of thesame greatfeatures asthe MegaBook 770, the 880 model has been enhanced with th e l a test t echnology. The MegaBook 880 features an Intel Pentium 75, 90 or 100mhz microprocessor, 8MB of RAM (expandable to 40MB), an infrared port, Microsoft Windows 95, an 810MB removable bard drive (expandable ta 1.3GB) and is available in a 10.4" TFI' or DSTN LCD display. For more information, contact EMPAC in Toronto at 905940-3600, in Montreal at 5l4345-9OOO or tn I'an couver a t 604-82 l-0l 77.

P 75

$2296 P 1PP w/256K.......... $2496 $2396 P-120 w/256K --- - $2696

w / 2 5 6K

P 9P w / 2 56K •

I

Intel Pentium CPU 5 Award BIOS

4

* 2DOW CSA Power Supply

' GIGA BYTEPCI Main Board * 101 Enhanced Keyboard " 15" SVGA Monitor L/R, .28mm ' BMB RAM (Up to 128MB) 72Pins ' 85OMB (Western Digital) Hard Drive * Microsoft Home Bundle CD Titles: * 3.5" (Epson) Floppy Drive 1.44MB * Trident PCI 32 Bit Video Card 1MB

(2MB Max.)

HARD DISK 1.20GB $409 1.08GB $3$9 850MB $289

* MSEncarta95'Encyclopedia * MS Works 3.0 * MS Money

HKWLK77

PAeKARO

$689.oo HP 660C $559.oo HP SL

* Enhanced IDE PCI (On Hoard)

' MS Golf

* CD-ROM DriveQuad Speed 4x " Sound Blaster (Vibra)36 Sit 8t Speakers * 19" Tower Case

* MS Dangerous Creature * MS Best of Entertainment Pack

Ci%116ll

" MS Scenes

BJC - 4OOO Color Printer $399.oo

* Mouse 8 Pad

PCI/ISA Bus (Basic)

PCI/ISA Bus (Multimedia)

P-75/90 w/256K.$1596/$1696 P-100 w / 2 56K..............$1796 P-120 w / 256K.............$1996

P-75/90 w/256K..$1896/$1996 P-100 w / 256K.............$2096 P-120 w / 2 56K..............$2296

" Intel Pentiurn CPU 8 Award BIOS * PCI Green Monther Board * 8MB RAM (Up to 128MB) 72Pins * 850MBHard Drive

* Intel Pentium CPU g Award BIOS ' PCI Green Mother Board " 8MB RAM (Up to 128MB) 72Pins * 85OMB Hard Drive

* 3.5" Floppy Drive (1.44MB) * PCI Video Card 1MB (2MB Max.) ' Enhanced PCI IDE(On Board)

* PCI Video Card 1MB (2MB Max.)

*19" Tower 8, CSA

Power Supply 200W

* 14" Mon-Int. L/R

SVGA Monitor .28mrn * 101 Enhanced Keyboard * MouseIt Pad

' 3.5' Floppy Drive (1.44MB) ' Enhanced PCIIDE(OnBoard) * CD-ROM Drive (Quad Speed) 4X ' Sound Blaster 16 Bits Ift Speakers * 19" Tower 8 CSA Power/200W ' 14" Non-lnt. UR SVGAMonitor.28mm ' 101 Enhanced Keyboard * Mouse 8 Pad

Two Years Parts k Labour Warranty For Basic Systems

Computer Player

Panasonic. 4X CD ROMDrive $189.oo

Fax/Modem 14.4 KB V.32 Internal

$89 2S.S KB V.34 Internal

$189

Price Subject To Change Without Notice.

Januaryl996


6 110-4940 Na 3 Road Richmond, B.C. V6X 3A5 Alderbridge Place Tel: (604) 273-9233 Fax: (604) 273-9203

MICR OSEA

%'@A.%44+ B""'-"'"~ ".6c%P~ =-'

Stencfarct Pentium Ngmyuter Sylfgtem:

®~

• Intel-Triton chipset 75-133 Mhz PCI/ISA Mainboard Intel P5 CPU with Cooling fan Built-in PCI/IDE & Fast i/0 Controller 256K Cache on Board • BINB72pin SiMM (Option; EDD RAM) • Panasonic 1.44 (3.5") Floppy Drive • QuantumB5DIIIBEiDE Hard Drive

CD-Pad14-1aTitles gna Iua DOS 6.22 d aandos(a3.11 gaa ex ca DDM 31an Die(nona DT-64aloes2M Dnam 621a Epaenmyles lia Color Jet Prince( 33aa

• PCI VGA Display w/1 M Accelerator

• Mid Tower Case w/CSA Power Supply • Enhanced 101 Keyboard (Chinese/US) • Reer View 14'.28mm Sit VGA Monitor • Microsoft Serial Mouse w/Mouse Pad

Umi ted ta(entrtyr i ptesse don't miss re

Windows 95 [Diskette/CD) Full Version

' Panaaenlc2X/Aaer 4XCD-npm

(Choose Pipeline Burst hche addSl OO)

' Sound Biasler 16 +AmpiinedSpeakers ' CD sandie: MSEncariaa5, MS Works &Money HannaBarbaraSoundBii, 6 CD Sample

P5-75 . . . . $1,788 P5-90 •• • • $1,888 tvifnlde P5-100 . • .. $1,988 PS-120 .... $2,088 pentlum P5-133 • . • . $2,288

2XBt®ne

4X steals .

(' ontmctService:SystemMnintenance, NehmthService, Programm ing, PO S

' Governm ent ACerpemtePurchaseOrdelsAreWelcome ' Mail Order &EaxOrder AreAnapted ru((eeoc a oadcocrr(rrcrcrcs(err(cd uartcocr(c of norrrceccroo co(o(oooo(rico(co(r(cc( e c(roo se ooloe ooo ~

• •

Quantuln 650IIIB EIDE $269 Quantum1.OGB EIDE $399 Quantum1.2GB EIDE $359 W D 1.6GB EIDE $ 4 99

Sales • Service • Repairs • Upgrade • Nehvorki pgge Software I

'

I

o wer u to32PI

32 bit

otebook

)

There are additional solutions, such as external or PCMCIA hard drives that are available in many capacities. Many

GYC tries its hand w i th

3D Microcomputersannounces the introduction of 6 IPC NB/OS notebooks. The systems are priced ranging from the IPC 575 at $2999.00 to the IPC 5IOOt at $3900.00. All units are shipped standard with an Intel Pentium CPU, SMB RAM, 16bil sound cards, PCMCIA Type II rtc Ill slots, Track Stick pointing device, IMB local bus video, External SCSI P ort, R echargeable NiMH battery, carrying bng, car cigarette adapter.

G VC, l h e well known mod em n aker, i s n ow o ff e r i ng notebooks with the GVC Green 740 Notebook series. There are 3 models and offer the following features, approx. 6 lbs, CPU and LCD upgradability, removable HD and floppy. Options include l6-bit stereo sound system or battery, trackball or stick pointer, PC Card slots - 2 Type II or I Type III, exchangeable keyboard for other languages,Advanced Power Management for long battery life. RAM is 4MB expandable to 20MB. Power Management features includenormal, doze, sleep and suspend.

Contact 3D Microcomputers at (905) 472-8822.

notebooks

Gentek Marketing905-738-9300

Patibjt(tya d

can Passiv . ve Color a Res~oons fro nd Active C olor s creen s UP to St G; H xm 64D 480 to l p (8 ard dr('v 24 x768 8 Slocs and 4 d ExternalsyGArive ba Po tandKe I, l tCe eyEnhanced k y boa r dpo~ Puonalnua . yboa rds 'tin Glide va(table w b Point CDtt tt4ard d. < nd t4uttlm d' is recordin r (ngco nfl Pt(ons murauons a

i

56 on

it 3 Dual 5 + Video teoduie + ' 5 Gig Optional t4PEG DD s upto i -3 H R n oveabte'ck ISuitt in loY o Port Cp Calner Duet.,n In injrared n Tuner and C OPt (onai TV "" ' 5 lut}ons stackenount Si~ CofnPtete F a I ength Exp nsion u . 1 ec (n f n ore o slots P on Chassis o

uon avaitabt

Powerptou p

';,.sue

tunately, most reputable manufacturers allow for upgradeability, but many require a ptcsprietaty casing that increases the cost by as much as 300%.

IPC Notebook Launched in the Canadian Market

H gh sPee ~Pi t2ap x ip>4" 7PttS Video R ip 4" TPT

OreebrteSl 486 586 available Pentiumand Penttum p ro Ptd odels Opuon naI s„ Pertormance ~+u(t(on Com

e

HDDs which may void the warranty. For-

Bunt inSoPPY efl Soun i6 Gr depoint

nlon(tor

oundcard

Wettrt(c O

users who must pay premiutn prices to third party ccunpanies for installing larger

, ...r.P.B..B c.B.N.. .B,.O,.T.,E,.B,SoB , S

+Ha tsentiun „House l33i33trtH ,~ d;e povde 5 t I(tutti e OTslronl pentiurnprocesso Otrt Drive R Built In CD

ookd (NP75op

(to24x 768, " tdeo 256colors o >2-bi tt ocat,'Bus t4D emovable HD PCtvtCtA Sl (u p to8l pt48)

with the 3.5". Applications today not only require more memory, but large amounts of storage space as well. Three years ago a 40MB HDD was sufficient for most users, today it is a 520MB HDD (or larger). Disk space is a growing concern for lnany experienced users, and the need for upgradeability is high. Many notebooks ship with a 26QMB HDD, which store fewer oftoday's programs and frustrate

o m' a e

lOO tvlt42 pd

486DX4-l pp

RW

pass(ve ~ Soards C pU Add on ~ . t o r shelves and o» mountrdv(are tt.eyboard a lCpU Rackm ~i teton(tot ~are and Ha uisition o d Hardvear iDi trcusic So~. S y stenls k Recording *r,

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SAYION TEC H N O L O G IES IBTD. ¹ I30 - 3 0 I I I l k i n e Way, Richmongi, I.C. VII IWI • Phone: 104-273-7301 Fax: 273-73II 32

January1996

Compttter Player


external media devices connect via the parallel port. To get the fastest transfer rate, the notebook should have an ECP compatible parallel port; B standard port only transfers 150kb/s and an EPP (enhanced parallel port) transfers 300kb/s. ECP is designed for external devices Rnd may transfer at 1,000kb/IL

DISPLAY Currently there are three basic s creen types fo r n o t e books: M o n o -

chrome Cathode Cadmium Florescent Tube (CCFT), Dual Scan Passive Triple

twist Pneumatic (DSTN), and a Thin Film Transistor (TFT) active matrix screens. LCD screens don't generate dangerous magnetic fields found with all CRT monitors. Even low radiation models produce radiation )evels that are unhealthy with prolonged use. Most users are familiar with lnono-

chrorne CCFT backlit screens which have 16 to 64 grayscales. Although the display itself is only capable of show-

FAESII I O T K SOOl(S

Cyrix based notebooks from CTX at 486 prices C TX, a supplier of color mlott r s and notebooks introduces Cyrix processor based notebooks, There are two models: the EZ500T, using the Cyrix SR86100 MHz processor and the Ez520T using the Cyrix Sx86-120MHz processor. The new EZBook Sx86 series notebook computers offerhigher performance thanthe 486 DX4/1 00 based models but are comparably priced. Estimated street prices beginning at $2,699. The new notebooks provide writeback cachesupport to perform higher CPU benchmsrks, along with 8 MB RAM expandable to 32MB and an 810MB HD plus many other highly advanced features.

Display upas: TNLCD(Twisted Nernatic Liquid Crystal Display)

are made up ofPolanzing Filters and Liquid Crys-

tals, that twist 90 degrees. Twisling the crystals lets the light pass through the Alters, untwisting the crystals allows the polarizers to block light. This is a lowcost solution and is easy to manu-

facture, the probk.*mls it does notwelk with pas-

sively driven screens with highmultiplexing rates (lots of rows), low contrast, and the colors may bleed. To overcome the problem with high multiplexing rates, the STN solution was inspired by Dwight Berremen (AT&T) ScheNer 8 Nehling of Blown Boveri.

good for static images or slow moving video (8

frames per second).

Nits: ale the measurement of light from the display. The higher the nits the brighter the screen (average 85-100 Nits), need 21 0 Nits to work in direct sun light, The problem is the higher the nits the greater the power drain drastically reducing battery life and increasing cost, The trade is a paradox since users who need touse the displays oulside also need better battery life.

The lighting mechanism may also difl'er bshed displays, single tube and dual tube displays. A dual tube is a higher cost but will provide better

curve, resulting in a much greater contrast on high multiplex displays.

TFT activeor Thin Film Trutslstor displays (active matrix) are the best display on the market currently, providing the highest contrast ratio and faster refresh 80ms. Which is gleet for most video (16 frames per second).

Single Scan1/480 duty cycle (scans 480 rows per cyde), poor contrast and slow response. 300ms refresh rate. Dualscan 1/240 duty cycle (scans 1-240 and 241 ~ silnuianeously per cyde), fast response and good contrast. 150ms refresh rate which is

ing graysca)es,the notebooks can display color on external monitors. Most manufacturersare no longer producing notebooks with monochrome displays. Color passive screens have had many improvements since the Single Scan Passive Matrix came out and now approach the brilliance of active matrix screens. Dual Scan screens redraw in two different directions simultaneously, producing R laster re&esh and clearer picture. A faint horizontal line in the middle of the screen, caused by the dual scan process, will be apparent until the display warms up. The Triple twist Pneumatic is a better Dual Scan screen. DSTN screens have large viewing areas and greater contrast, which is better than other Dual Scan screens. DSTN screens are approaching

brightness at0 reduce battery life.

A new active display is being developed called ASM, this display will oNer a true high speed video or 32 frames per second and higher nits forbetter brightness.

t)Ie clarity of active matrix displays and it

is sometimes difficult to distinguish screen type when viewing a static image directly, but DSTN still does not have a fast enough refresh to display a smooth moving image. The best display screen is the TFT active matrix screen. !t has a perfect edge-to-edgepicture and no focus variations give a clear and sharp image that is better than most VGA monitors. A fast refresh allows for easy cursor tracking and for viewing kinetic images such as video. TFT screens are made up of 307,200 transistors, each with its own RGB and light source. Active matrix have superior display quality, but also have higher power drain as the colnputer must drive each of the transistors sepaCALlaa SEND rOR FREECAIALOGUS

ga

Your One-Stop Shopfor Customized PC • Specialized in Repairs St Upgrades • On-Site Troubleshooting Et Services • Networking Consultation

Dual scan is avaiiabie in mono and color displays, Dual Scan is not just color screens. AIthough DSTN color is accepted as a color display the correct terminology is CSTN or Color Super Twisted Nematic.

STN LCD(Super Twisted Nematic Liquid Crystal Display) are made up of crystals that twist 180-270 degrees that use twisted ctystals as a light frequency retarder". The STN LCD has a

much steeper slope to thetransmission/voltage

PRIMEX COMPUTERS A DiViSiON OF PRiMEX /viARKETING LTD.

486DX4-100 System • 4 0 6 DR4-100 CPIJ 266K Cache, ZIF,On-board EIDE VO

• 4MB 70ns 72pin RAM • 730MB EIDE Hard Drive • • • •

1 .44 Floppy Drive Lease Available 14" N.I. LR.,28mm dp SVGA Monitor 1MB Trident 9440 PCI Video Card 101 Enhanced Keyboard 13" CSA approved Mini-Tower Case • 2-Button Mouse and Mouse Pad

Pentium Power (P-75) • I n tel Pentlum 75 88Ha CPU • T r iton Chipset, 256K Cache

J

• ZIF Zochet '7, On-Board EIDE LeaseAvaasble • 2 high-speedSIO (16550) and PIO • SMB RAM 72 Pin 70ns 730MB EIDE Hard Drive 14.4 Floppy Drive 14" N.L LR..28mm dp SVGA Monitor 13"CSA Approved Mini-Tower ease Trident PCI 9440 Video Card 1MB • 101 Enhanced Keyboard s 2-Button Mouse andMouse Pad

P-90 S I567

P - 120 $1719

P-100 51631 P-133 $1949 (NtomiSel t0:

8MB EDO RAM .....,...,........................,....,.......... +648 e MME EGO RAM ... ..............,.................................. +SM S

16MB RAM ................................................,....... t8289 888MB Hard drive ..... ...........,................,............ t880 LSGB Hard drive ..........,.....,..........,.................. t880 LSGS Hard drive,...............,..............,............, +6128 LSGB Harddrive,.............,.. .,...,...,....,...,.... t6286 Prpsliaed Burst Cache 286K.............„„„...,...„..„ tslS

Acer A-Open Multimedia Pentium •

• • •

I n t el Pentiutn 75 CPU W/256K Cache SMB RAM, IMB PCI Video Card 1.0GB Hard Drive 1 . 4 4 MB Floppy Drive

t

• S . Mouse a 101 Keyboard

• M S Windows 96 Preloaded Lease Avallablo

• S u per Mini Tower Case • 4X CD-BOM Drive • 1 0 Bit Sound Blaster Compitable Sound Card • K o ss HD6 Non-AmpufiedS peahers • 20.SK bps Internal Data/Fas Modem • H o m e/Family bundle 6 CD Pelt • add just 870 for either Novell Perfect office or Lotus Smart Suite

3YSsrsLsbour8 2YSals PartsWsrrsntyForAII Systems •

The EZBook 5x86 notebooks have 10.4" diagonal TFT active matrix color displays that support 640 x 480 resolutions, and can display 262,000 colors. When attached to an external monitor, EZBooks can display 1024 x 768 resolution at 256 colors. A slide out allows users to swap drives easi)y. II also features built-in Sound Blaster Pro-comp atible l6-bit stereo sound card along with a built-in speaker and mic, 3.5" 1.44MB internal floppy drive, 2 PCMCIA slots (one Type Il and one Type III), EZGlide touchpad pointing device. EZBooks come withWindows 95 and a carrying case.Options include PCMCIA 2x CD-ROM drive ($299 SRP), PCMCIA fax/modemand Ethernet card. Contact Cornrex Micro Sysrera in Canada ar 604-273-S088 for more inforBtafion.

• I •

yqq"

«owt«t~' •

Store Hours.

Tbn.-Sot.: IO;OOom -gcdOprn Sua: Il:OOorn - 6:OOpm

Aron.Closed

Free PorMng nl /tear

asiZO

.

To order: Phone, Fcn. E-moll or Send 0 wN'nccnect ocnvnent to:

« c a+

gF

n~O.Sox elean. VSSOYon e annot

ntt j j s gtn44tlgasrtns am v nonu Ha Ontono lknce

r +~/

4546 Kingsway,Burnaby, B.C. V5H 281 Tel: (604) 438-8900 Fax: (604) 438-8266

E-mail:png@direct.ca

All prtcss arenrsh prtces. Pricessub eci lo change uiuhout notice

Computer Player

January1996

33


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I MTEL Triton P C I m other b o a r d $ 1 6 0 4 86 / 5 8 6 P C I m o • her boar d $95

BestpricesonMemory, CPURHardDriveupgrades

r

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BATTERY

rately. TFT technology is expensive as there is a high defect rate in production. Many entry level, even brand named, notebooks use TFT screen seconds that may be comparable to a good quality DSTN screen. The TFT seconds usually have a few dead pixels which show up when you display a full white page. The defect will appear as a few black spots.

Most notebookshave moved away from using the old industry standard NiCad (Nickel Cadmium) batter, pack towards the more efficient NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydrate) battery. NiMH batteries not only provide more power, but don' t have memory problems that plagued the

':;;-'::5N"'.C)gR-':::iQih,:VE

I

120-12871 Clarke place, Systems Richmond, B.C. VSV 2H7

ph. 244 3$26 fax 244 8176 FRESH NOTEBOOKS

Ultinet PVT/M Pentium Notebook Specs: 75 or 90MHz Pentium processor, VESA local bus video and 32-bit removable HD. multimedia notebook, 8MB RAM expandable to 40MB, builtin fl oppy, 640 x 480 DSTN color 9.4" or 10.3" 256 colors, TFT color 9.4" 256 colors, built-in speaker and mic, 16-bit

sound, Sound Blaster compatible, PC Cards - 2 Type II or I Type I I I slots, 200 pin VESA bus dockingstation connector, 19mm trackball pointing device. weight under 6.5 lbs.

Texas Instruments' smart notebook batteries Battery system includes two lithium ion with intelligent power system that won award from PC Magazine's Editor Choice Award. Has best battery life for Pentium notebooks. Street price $5,399 comes with Windows 95. For more information, contact Tl at 905-770-2323.

Tel: 323-0768

• » ••I

Impaq Technology is shipping Eurocom's newest notebook, Model 5400, a fast Pentium 133 with PCI bus architecture. The Eurocom 5400 offers features including built-in CD-ROM, 2MB video RAM. 256KB of external L2 "Write-back" memory cache (expandable to I MB), cost saving memory expansion via standard DIMM modules and removable hard drive based on enhanced PCIIDE technology ata capacity of up to 1.3GB. The Eurocom 5400 even includes a game/MIDI port.

'

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Fax : 3 23-0788

DX4-100 '1139 DX4-120 '1169 Cyrix 5x86 $1236 34

January1996

MotherBoard w/256K Cache, (Triton Chip) 8MB Ram(72Pln) S3 PCI SVGA Card w/1 MB OnBoard EIDE Controller Fast I/O w/1P, 2S, 1G 1.44 MB Floppy Drive 850 MB Hard Drive 14r N.I..28dpi SVGA Monitor 15r Tower Case 101 Enhanced Keyboard Free mouse w/mouse pad

Pentium P-7S '1589 Pentium P-90 '1689 Pentium P-100 '1749

Pentium P-120 '1869 Pentium P-1 33 '2069

CompiterPlaysr

List price for a Eurocom 5400. 10.4" TFT Active Colour with Pentium 75 CPU, CD-ROM. 8MB RAM, 540MB Hard Drive $5295. For move information contact /mpar/ at /-800-663-9272.

Business Hours: Mon-Fri: 10:30 - 6 Sat: 10:30-5 Sun: Closed

System UpgradeTo 486DX2%6/4-100

• •

r •

s150/225 Pries lndudss; Metheraosrd. CPU, Coolln9 Fan 5 Hest Sink

e'ntiIIInSyeli ' PCI MotherBoard 4ISA, 3PCI 4MB Ram(72Pin) S3 PCI SVGA w/1MB OnBoard EIDE Controller, Fast I/O 1.44 MB Floppy Drive I5(LMB Hard Drive 14r N.l. L.R..28dpi SVGA Monitor 13r Tower Case 101 Enhanced Keyboard Free Mouse w/Mouse Pad

incorporating internal CD-ROM and 16bit stereo sound system with FM synthesizer, 2 built-in speakers. a microphone, external mike jack and audio output jack.

The Cirrus logic CL-GD7543 VGA controller provides the following features: BitBLT GUI acceleration, truecolor capability, support for 600x800 LCD's, mixed voltage operation for low power consumption and support for MotionVideo Acceleration (MVA) for playback of Video for Windows AVI. The unit's 24-bit true-colour RAMDAC v ideo controller s upports u p t o 1280x1024x256 colours on an interlaced monitor and 1024x768x256 colours on a non-interlaced monitor (or up to 16 million colours at 640x480). Eurocom 5400 is CDROM, voice and sound ready,

For more information, contact: (4/6) 862-2064.

TravelMate 5100/P90 feature set: 90MHz Pentium processor with PCI bus, 256KB Level 2 cache, 1.2 gig HD and 1.44MB floppy, 10.4" active color display with 65k colors and 2MB VRAM, 8MB RAM expandable to 32MB, PCMCIA slot can take 2 Type II or I Type III cards, built-in 16-bit sound, internal speaker, dual mode mic, interfaces for audio in/ out and real-time video with Intel Indeo video software, infrared port.

Impaq shipping Pentium 133 Notebook/CD-ROM

' •

MotherBoard w/256K Pipelined Cache, 8 MB Ram(72Pin) S3 BIT PCI SVGA Card w/1MB OnBoard EIDE Controller, High Speed I/O OnBoard SoundBlaster 16 1.44 MB Floppy Drive 1.2 GB Hard Drive, 4x CD-Rom Drive 14r N.I. .28dpi SVGA Monitor 15r Tower Case 101 Enhanced Keyboard Free mouse, Speakers, 3 CD Titles

Pentium P-75 '2Q89 Pentium P-90 '2189 Pentium P-1 00 '2249 Pentium P-12D '2369 Pentium P-133 .'2569

-

DiamondSpeadstotpro,1MB $155 D iamond STL64, 2MB $27 9 Diamond Vber. 2MBVRsm $479 14" NI LR 72 MHa $295

Assr15"/17" NI, LR .28DPI $480i860 NEC XV1$XV17 $650/1055 M AG DX15FIDX17F $52I 9 2 0

Canon Lic~

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$369

Mubhdedh PaekaSe: $280 PanasonhSrr CORom +Soundblsstsr 16 CD Titles:95' Escorts,MsVtkuka,MsMonay

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$369

Brother HL441ML460 $49$$699 HP Doublet 540 $37 9 H P Desk)et 560C $ 680 HP 4L urrtMB (300DPI) $885 HP SP vd2MS(600DPO $1270 Raven 2405 $229 Raven 2407 $335

Psnasonh zuCO4tom Drhs $85 Panasonle4X CO-RomDrive $175 SB Vbtue CD 4X-18

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Trkhmt 69O0CL 1MB $85 Ckrus Le9»5428VLB, 1MB $90 S3 PCI 1MB 3384 Bit $99 / 119 ATI Maeh64 2MB DRam $239

II

540 MB IDE $220 838 MB IOF $249 850 MB IOE $270 1.2 GB IDE $346 1.6 GB IDE $495

Conaaunahn SMBRsm,42I348 HD, tMB Video,PCMCIAbiasitalt shts,

14A hUVbhe 8 89 But k4n Sound emd,suCDRom Dram U.S. Robode 14A Inttsnk $12$155 Bah& Tmek4sdet U.S. Itobo5e 28.8 htlest. $248t288


TANGENTCOMPUTERS t=l Q N Q Q) Q g M30-Pentium75 Please call for latest pnce

I

1. 8/tBMB RAM Expandabletot28MB 2. 1.0/1.6 GB HQ

3. 28.8K Voice Fax Modem 4. Communications Centre 5. MPEGVideo Card 6. 4X CQ-ROM 7. 1 4r 1 5'lt T IBM Monitor

8. Lots of Software •

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+ Features Depends onModels +1 Year Wairenty on Monitor, Keyboard, Illlouse, Speakers

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Free Delivery in Vancouver, BurnabyandRichmondArea! RIIIN@SNIIR,~Pa IBM Aptiva-, 58IIR 4/~imps.

AS US Pentium Triton Main Board 8M B RAM Qu antum 1.0 GB HD

1M B PCI 64 Bit SVGA Card

2 Years Parts and Labour Warranty

Authorized dealer

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recharge ability of N iCad batteries. Lithium ion batteries are another solution. Lithium ion batteries, volume to volume generate about the same amount of power as NiMH batteries, but at half the weight. Lithium ion batteries are charged in series, one cell at a time. On average, with a twelve cell battery, the first cells are damaged by the thne the last cells are charged. To over come this, manufacturers limit the number of cells (usually to two 7.5 volt cells) causing a dramatic 300% cost increase over NiMH batteries.

,e : r a ~ ~ +, . ; M .:o~e

PCMCIA SLOTS

T I: {604) 737-9918 F : {604} 737-9928

,

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PCMCIA ( P ersonal C o mputer Memory Card Interface Association) standard is available in three types: I, II k, III; the type IV PCMCIA, developed by Toshiba, is not yet a recognized standard. PCMCIA v2.01 interfaces with Type I and Type II cards, the most common format is Type II. Only hard drives are available in Type III at this point. Customers with only one PCMCIA Type II slot should not worry - there are

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With up to 90MHz of Pentium power, the NEC Versa 4000 combined with a 10.4" High-Resolution &00 x 600 TFT display and CD-ROM access. The interchangeable CD-ROM Pak (standard on two models) slides easily into the frontmounted VersaBay788 II slot. Sound, at 16 bits, pours through the two top-mounted speakers while full-motion video is displayed across a brilliant screen. An internal microphone is right below the screen. Memory starts at SMB (upgradeable up to 40MB). Hard drives available in 540MB and 810MB (upgradeable to 1GB). Two PC Card slots for incorporating more expansion.

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For more information, contact NEC Technologies Canada at (905) 795-3600.

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Au t h orized dealer

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IBdd endAptive ere regishued bndemartsn of the Intemebonet Business Machine Corpnretian (Pnce subject to change without notice!)

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O' Features: Intel Peniiurn 75-133 MHz

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$IIIPPIIO bpnessessile Oaieris: $aN fesl elGlesde$7.N CN add$3se OPER NIelIPl Peleleler Inll ief assi (dPPres $ONII $I2N) ikmretdsr lm ~

January1996

35


Epson's ActionNote

notebook

adapters to convert a Type II into a Type III, since the only difference is the thickness of the slot and not the connector.

SUMAAARY

f u n ctions on one card, as well as havi n ghot swap capability which allows the u ser to change cards in the middle of an application. Not all PCMCIA cards are the same; compatibility, memory re-

Notebooks are a viable and in many ways a better solution for users at home and in business. Since most resellers q u i r ements, and installation are consid- know less about the industry, they tend to neglect notebooks or give them little erably different from desktop systems. Contact your reseller for specifications. Continued on page 38

PCMCIA technplpgy allows many add-on devices avaiIab]e for desktops, tp be used m nptebppks As technology advances, PCMCIA cards in the near future will be able. to incorporate many

e Epson ActionNote 890 series of notebooks is based on the 3.3 volt, clock tripled with 8KB integrated writeback cache Cyrix DX4-class 100 MHz processor and they are the 890C, $95C, 890CX and $95CD. The 890C feature dual scan displays,the 890CX and 895CX feature an active matrix TFT display. All have removable 540MB HDs. l ie A ct i o nNote 8 9 5 C a n d ActionNote 895CX are multimedia capable with a built-in 16-bit SoundBlaster compatible stereo audio card, internal mic and speaker. There is an integrated 14.4 fax/data/voice modem. The audiocard and fax-modem are options on the other models. All ActionNote 890 series notebooks have ActionPoint touchpad pointing devices, Windows 95 compliance, 8MB RAM expandable to 24MB and stacked PC Card slots. Soltware bundles include a choice of MS-DOS, MS-Windows or Windows 95. Also included are Lotus SmartSuite, trial subscriptions to the Official Airline Guide FlightDisk for W i ndows, Prodigy, CompuServe, America Online, NetCom NetCruiser, ARK Workspace, PC card services and utilities and on-line documentation, Systems with built-in fax/ modems include WinFax Lite and WinComm Lite.

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Options i n c l ude: e n h anced ActionPort Replicator, a Kensington Security Cable and an expandable $10MB HD. One year Road Service warranty which isa rapid response program for overnightreplacement of the notebook should there be an unresolvable problem. Prices for the $90 series start at $3,369. Contact: Epson 800-289-3776

Jetbook CD5(F1 j

» et

Pacific Royal is introducing the Jetbook CD5, a 586PCI multimedia notebook that has built-in CD ROM, 16bit sound and an Optional MPEG module for CD movies. The Jetbook CD5 is designed to allow the user to use the CD ROM, floppy and battery simultaneously, with no swapping. It is utilizing the new DIMM'standard memory modules and will support the Pentium 133mhz processor. Available in a three year limited warranty and proven express service by Pacific Royal. For more information, contact Pacific Royal at (800) 538-82/2.

36

January1996

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Toshiba sets new performance standard in multi-media notebook Toshiba claims their Tecra 700CT is the most powerful multimedia ready notebook. It features a 120 MHz Pentium processor which

consumes2.9 volts, 113" dhgonal 800 x 600 TFT active matrix display with 64k simultaneouscolors runbyaChip s', Technology 65548 PCI-based giaphics controller, internal PCI bus, external PCI expansion bus architecture for support of 32-bit PCI Cards through the new Desk Station V docking station.

The Tecra 700CT has 16MB of highspeed synchronous DRAM (expandable to 48MB), weighs 7.5 Ibs, removable 1.13 gig HD, Accupoint pointing device, hvo stacked 16-bit PC Card slots that accept 2 Type II or I Type III cards and a long life lithium ion battery with an estimated 5 hours of operational

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naa' s arrest usiness irectog From

time. Options aie 4x CD-ROM reader which can beswapped out for floppy drive, 2 stereo speakers and integrated 16-bit audio that supports .WAV, MIDI and Sound Blaster Pro sound flles. Windows 95 compatible. Uses advanced RAM that is faster than EDO DRAM and eliminates the need for expensive and power-hungry Level 2 caches. The optional Desk Station V's external PCI expansion bus supports 32bit PCI and 16-bit ISA as well as Plug and Play and simplified card configuration. A built in SCSI-2 port, 5.25" halfheight bay and 2 Type III PC Card slots. SRP is $9,359. Desk S tation V SRP i s $999. 3 year parts and labor warranty. For moteinformation, c o ntact Toshiba at (800) 387-$64$.

Toshiba midline

notebook offerings

Annual The advantagesfor your businessare endless • Provide information about your products andservices • Publish your catalogues o Take customer orders and researchyour market online oAt $99 ayear,there are sim ply no excuses

Canadahenlgg

Toshiba's line of Pentium 90 notebooks fills out its mid line offerings. The Satellite Pro 410 Series of multimediaready notebooks running Pentium 90MHz processors feature 11.3" diagonal 800 x 600 color displays with advanced video controller, modular 4x CD-ROM, internal 164it audio, 722MB HD, 8MB of EDO RAM and lithium ion battery. The Satellite Pro is available in two models with different displays and CD-ROM configurations. The Satellite Pro 410CS has a 11.3" diagonal dual-scan color STN-LCD display and an internal floppy drive module, while the Satellite Pro 410CDT features an 11.3" diagonal %Fr active matrix color displayand both the quad-speed CD-ROM and floppy drive module with an external case. The 410CS can display 256 colors internally, the 410CDT at 65,536 colors. Audio capabilities includes 16-bit sound with.WAV, MIDI and Sound Biaster compatiMity, built-in mic and speaker, headphonelspeaker jack, microphone and linein jacks and pn installed sound soflwam. An in~ AC ad apter and CDROM (optional on the 410CS) cut travel weight and bulkiness, meaning the Satelflite Pie 410CDT weighs 7.5 lbs with CDROM module and battery and 410CS is 7.0 lbs with floppy and battery. %he notebooks have Accupoint pointing devices and 2 stacked PC Card slots (accepting 2 Type II or I Type I PC Cards). Built-in infrared communications. An optional E nhanced Port Replicator allows docking to other peripherals,

1Neb all • developer

http:I/web.express.cal Tel:1-IN-VN-4555

The 410CS with standard memory, built-in floppy is $5$59 SRP. Optional CDROM is $519 SRP. The 410CDT including interchangeable floppy and CD-ROM drivesis priced at$7,299 SRP. %luce year wananty on parts and labor. Toshiba cuts prices on eight of its notebooks including the Portege 610CT, Satellite Pro series and satellite series. Cuts range from $300 to $1000. For more information, contact Toshiba at (800) 387-$64$.

ComputerPlayer

January1996


6

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ContinuedPom page 36

thought. Service is the most important issue,fast turn-a-round and knowledge are paramount; do not be fooled into thinking that only brand names are the best solution; most brand names don' t do theirown service and any promises are usually empty ones. Before making any decisions, find a company who spe-

cializes in notebook solutions. Unfortunately most companies tend to do everything and the age old saying, "a jackof-all-trades and a master of none" is more true than ever. 0

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Sceptre High speed N o tebook The new SoundX Series 4000 modularized, high-speed notebook uses the Pentium P54CSLM 120/133MHz processor and 11.3" active matrix screen with 800 x 600 resolution, built-in removable

About the author: Michael Whitfteld works with Paci fic Royal, a n o t ebook distributor.He can be reached by phone:

604-279-8731 or 800-538-8212.

FINAIIIIOA L ASS(Sypl~~

AVAIIA8Lp

+GIS HOIIllg AS+ 7 pQ ALL TOOAy

4x CD-ROM which can be swapped with floppy or battery. HD is swapable with expansion to I g i g . 7 2 -pin DIMMs expand from 8MB to 40MB. Keyboard has Windows 95 keys and a touchpad with palm rest. Sound Blaster compatible 16-bit sound, lithium ion battery with 4.5 hours of run time. Docking station can be hot docked and has PCI slots, 3 audio ports, MIDI and PS/2 connector. SRP is US$4,995 with 3 year warranty. For more information, contact Sceptre at(8/8) 369-3698 or in Canada at (604) 244-7798.

aaa~

4

Part-time classes commence January 29

•' • Introduction to A(ias/Wavefront Power Animator v.6.0 Level 1 • Introduction to CD-ROM Authoring • introduction to 2D and 3D Computer Animation • introduction to MIDI • Computer Paint/Fractal Painter plus

• Classical Animation: Art 8i Technique • Foundation Drawing Skills • Life Drawing Skills

Photoshop

• Using Movie Magic: A Workshop • AVID Workshop: Introduction to Media

Composer • AVID Workshop: Media Composer Tips 8i

Techniques

' POIIit8F'",ArIIIN41t©f::COQnl8.::: ';:-:;,.

INTERNET TRAINING • Internet Training for General and

I'

Smartbook Compact

Suite pro

Specific Users • Overview of HTML Publishing for Mac Lit PC Users • HTML Publishing Level II for Mac & PC

VANCOUVER HUIIl-SOi00l.

AhiAVavefrOnt,:ttte 1serid"sleading special effects softvsari cornpanIt his:.desf9:-, :-:: ;itatedVaNILoutIerRIIn $dIOOL jnqffkIal AIIssl INavefiollttrglnhIQcir@eto:,Ineetth'i'

Users • Graphics OnTheInternet: One-day Workshop • Searching TheInternet: One-day Workshop

es5olisÃtthNI the: partltershiltI.hig&ttd:cNIIptlter: srIIIIIIterl:::progelri:has':.:heN

'e~' that'~:: lnore": accessta561platfo rms:QIsO tlotlrsl' thi.'best possfbt@ vrorltstgtIonIsttI Itent,r8tio.fk I), in 8'stuIInIng productttN I envIrtIINIent, at i::a@t: III itIIIIIItrntel":II$$$,60jer:lew). ' "I:::,::. :,:,':::HAROla:::IIS:,"KVP CAlL COIIPARK. IIIIOTHIfI6 90tS.

For moreinformation, contact Pacific Royal at (800) 538-82/2.

flIlFO.RMATlOH::$F%flNA'll ., • •

VFS Offers Intensive, 1 Year Immersion Programs VFS offers one-year intensive production programs that are equivalent or superior to the best post-graduate programs in North Amedca. The difference is our programs take less time...a lot less. Full-time Direct Education programs in:

AIIas,,Classical AtitnIatIon;,or;.

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Visit Vancouver Film School's Award Winning Web S ite:

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January1996

I

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38

ComputerPlayer

Pacific Royal has introduced the Smartbook Compact computer. Featuring a 10.3" color DSTN color, easy upgrades using standard DIMM memory modules, a removable hard drive and local bus video in a 4.8 pound package. The DIMM module was developed in 1994 by Hitachi, designed specifically for notebook computer. The 4.8 pound Smaribook Compact is 486VL-bus system that includes a PCMCIA type 2.0 or 3.0 slot, integrated floppy, front-centered 19mm trackball and NiMH battery. An ergonomic design includes wrist-rest and regularsized Igmm keys.

0

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( Continued Pom page29)

OG Controls OCX 32 bit controls and OLE automation take plug and play programming to a new level of simplicity and functionality. It is very easy to place a small Excel spreadsheet on a Visual Basic form thus providing a little spreadsheet in your application. By using a tabbed dialog box OCX you couldsetthe spreadsheet on one of the tabbed forms a user could select. F reeware Calendar OCX's ar e among the first wave of third-party ei i

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OCX's but when the soon-to-be-released Delphi for Windows 95 hits the shelves new and improved OCX's will be everywhere providing grids, spinners, charts, internet access, communications tools, sound manipulation, as well as the unimaginable.

If youhave a modem and a connection to the internet there is a wealth of help and information available. . There a r e a Se.

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Mailing lists are another source of online information and a good place to ask ques t i ons. V ISBAS-L and

CP.EATE I/OURofttg CLA55teALAgfHATfog Q~ OP, r(fgfTAL FffH 4' .ItroE.O eogFEI.EgeE ItttTHTt/E(„REAT o rtfsgEI/AgtHATtog HA5TER SW N OUI.L .Ag(HATfog ptt'Or(Uerfog 5Ef'.IlfCE5 gFgyig yOMRSektPT,5TORK 5TORYEOIN, ORAT SE(Eet Pr0JE(r(F(N/IN0(NC /IV/I((t(E(E

I/AlileOAER ANIHATfON

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Intellectual Property

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groups in t he comp. lang. basic. visual hierarchy. c.l b.v.misc and c.i,b.v database are two of the most popular.

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Online Resources

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These plug and p lay m odules should work equally well used in Visual Basic, Delphi, Access, Visual FoxPro or Lotus Approach.

gary@dutin.COm F.:.0 5g,

cially helpful. You can subscribe to these lists by sending e mail w i t hout a s u b j ect l i n e t o listserv®peach. ease. Isoft.corn. In the body of your email type "subscribe VISBAS-L YourF irstName YourLastName" or a similar line to VBDATA-L. Once mail starts arriving you may decideto receive your messages packaged as a single file. To do this, send a message to the listserv above with the message "set VBDATA-L digest". On the Worldwide Web there are dozens of interesting sites with Visual Basic help, tips and tricks, VBX's, O CX's, example source code, fulllength articles etc. Some of our favourites are: Carl & Gary's VB Home Pageat http:/ /www.apexsc.corn/vb/vbnews.html Gary Beene's Visual Basic World at h ttp: // w w w . iad f w . n e t / g b e e n e / visual. html Visual B a sic O n l ine at ht t p : // www.vbonline.corn/vb mag Visual Basic Programmer's Journal at http: //www.windx.corn/ Microsoft at http: //198.105.232. 6:80/ vbasic/

Hardware/SoftwareRequirements Visual Basic4.0 requires a com-

computer asid Technology Lavt(

puter system capable of running Windows 95.Specifically you need a 486/

610 • 1665 V(tek'taiadvra(t J(rrenue, Vancouver, BritishCotutnhia„Canada V6J 1XI

25 or higher processor with at least of

PH:(EO(() Qt-((02(( F/I(t: N1 ((((2612 MB of memory. You must be running the Windows 95 or the Windows NT operating system and have 20 MB to 80 MB of f r ee disk space. Installation requires a CD-ROM drive.

Next Month Unless there is a late-breaking development b e t w een now and next issue we will take a look at the database companion to Visual Basic 4.0 the newly-released Access for Windows 95. 0

Invereerry 584-5424

0

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Surrey Continuing Education offers you Computer Training Opportunities.p)ays and Evenings)

Queen Elizabeth 581-14'I3 Academic-you may part icipate Cloverdale 574-3615 Gulldford 589-2221 Newton 594-2OOO Scott Town 588-2221

About the author: John Hamm is a consultant and database application developer at Eastside DataGraphics, 1458 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. V5L 3X9 Tel: 255-9559, email: John Hamm

0

White Rock 531-1515

®MindLink bc. ca

ComputerPlayer

in Computer training/business Education Options at Invergarry and QueenEli zabeth and gain employment skills while you earn secondary school credit, OR Enroll in any one of a variety of computer courses for your interest, or employment. Beginners to advanced. IBM and Mac Internet included. To receive a complimentary course catalogue, or to register, call the center nearest you. Winter/Spring Registration beginsJanuary 8, f 996

Surrey Continuing

Education January1996


8

II ' I"

Customsotware deveoPment - A marriage o convenience?

+Digital Publishing

AT

+Interactive Multimedia +World Wide Web +Virtual Reality

'

By Gary Dilnn

+Music Production +Digital Audio Post +Midi Composition +Audio for Video +Music Management •

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"Any intelligent vtJoman re/ho reads the marriage contract and then goes into it, deserves all the consequences. " Isadora Duncan (1878- 192 7), U.S. dancer. JMy Li fe, ch. 19 (1927). ewillneverknow ifMs. Duncan was referring to the institution of marriage, or just the terms of it. Your relationship with the developer of

+Alias Power Animator +Softimage Extreme +3D Studio

your custom software application may not

last for life either. But there are things you can do to make sure the relationship is a happy and productive one for both parties - and not just a marriage of convenience. Business people often look at a contract as a necessary evil - an insurance policy to be relied on in the event of a +Digital Video dispute. The increasing, and often pain+Motion Picture Production ful, length of modern contracts has not helped to change this view. +Film Editing A carefully thought out contract can +Video Production 8 Editing provide the structure for the entire process - and contribute to improving the quality NEW MULTI-NIILLION DOLLAR of the finished product. How? By addressTRAINING CENTER ing in one place the business, design, and +Training Excellence Since 1979 legal issues of the project. In other words, by clearly recording (l) the desired out+Semesters Commence come, (2) the promises made to get there, Oct/Feb/June (3) how completion of the promises will +Student Financing be measured, and (4) how the inevitable +Full or Part-Time breakdowns will be fixed. Starting with mutual responsibility. Client and developer alike want a product that has been e6'ectively created with regard to quality, time and cost, It never hurts to do a little investigation about the developer and his reputation and experience. If you are hiring the developerbecause of specif(c representations made to you, or assumptions that you

+Lightwave 3D +Form Z +Strata 3D +Photoshop •

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have made, you might consider whether any of these representations belong in the agreement. When hiring a developer, it is all too tempting to let them, as the "expert", take

the responsibility for def(ning both the needs and the solution. Like the bride at her second marriage who doesn't wear a veil in order to see what she is getting, the client also has a major responsibility in this part of the process.The more clearly you have thought out and articulated your needs, the more likely they are to be satisfied.

Assuming that the developer has checked out, the foundation of the contract

should be the developer's proposal to youand how the proposal is translated into detailed specifications during the project. This can be one of your best opportunities to ensure that your needs are met. All of this begs the question of whether you should build a custom solution or just modify an existing application. Experts differ on the answer to this, but it is a question well worth asking before committing. "And how can I evaluate if I am getting a well thought out and designed product?" you might ask. In the absence of industry standards, you might want to have an independent software engineer review the developer'sdevelopment plan and design. There are also tools available to the developer such as ProDoc, developed by the Software Productivity Centre, a non-

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profit industry driven organization located in Vancouver, B.C. ProDoc is a documentation tool designed to help manage the pre-developmentphases of the development process. ProDoc can also be very helpful in situations where it is important that the quality of the software meets such international standards as ISO 9001. You will want to provide for an evaluation andapproval process, not just for the finished pmduct bufor each part of the planning process. A well thought out agreement will also provide for quality assurance through testing to agreed standards. It is becoming more common to tie progress payments to quality assurance instead of simply the production of work product. Good documentation can also be critical to proving a claim for Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credits. Currently, software development in general continues to qualify for this tax incentive, with certain exceptions. Advice from an experienced tax professional at the beginning of the project can increase the chances that your project will qualify. Ownership of property rights is more ofien left to chance than to discussion and agreement. For example, did you know that your independent contractor will own the copyright in your work product in the absence of an agreement to the contrary. Some rules are obscure and can resultin unintended results, and you are well advised to get professional advice to ensure that you get what you bargained for. Additionally, you will want to ensure that the developer is able to document your rights, and assure you that no one else has a competing claim. Thisis an opportunity to check the developer's internal procedures, and whether the appropriate legal agreements are in place with employees of and contractors to the developer. Ownership issues can also be important if your product includes content that belongs to others - pictures, images, sound, and other copyrighted material. Obtaining the required clearances can be time consuining and expensive. %hile this concern most commonly arises when creating multi-media products, it deserves a place on your checklist. To understand the developer's perspective, he will normally prefer to license rather than transfer copyright to the client. This is often because the custom sofbvare is build on portions of software previously built for others - routines which the developer considers part of his library and intends to use in future projects. Ownership goals might be better understoodand expressedasa desireto create barriers to competition. The outright ownership of the software is just one way to express this desire. Your goals may vary depending on whether the project is to develop sofhvare for internal use or for resalethe former being much more common.

A common ways of resolving this is to negotiate an agreement with the developer restricting him from developing a competitive product during an agreed pe-

riod of time. These negotiations can often be difficult, because the developer cornmonly does not include a Price in the quotion on his ability to conduct business. You may enduP Payingmore foryour Product, or at a minimum having to make some hard decisions about the extentyou will go to tiy and restrict competition. Oiten overlooked is the need for ongoing maintenance and upgrading of the software. You willlikelyneedsomeformof

access to the developer's documentation and the source code in order to do this. And one last hint. During the course of development, you will most certainly disclose details about your business which are confiidential. Some of this information will be important enough to you that your competitive position could be substantially effected if the in f o rmation is disclosed. Apr operly cr a f ted non-disclosure agreement will co m p lete your project documentation.

All of which will increase the likelihood that your software will be created on time, within budget and in accordance with your specifications. 0 About theauthor. Gary Dunn practises information law in Vancouver, B.C., specializing in intellectual property, securities and licensing. He can be reached at

604-739-7011 or at garyÂŽdunn.corn

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At the same time, you have to deal with the limited size and weight restrictions of portable computing, where every extra centimeter and grain counts. An a dded p r o blem i s t he limi t e d expandability of portables. These three PC Cards (formerly known as PCMCIA Cards) provide an answer to the dilemma, usable by any portable user with an empty Type 2 PC Card slot.

Concord, Ontario's Gentek markets a full range of affordable moderns, including a 14.4'PC Card faxmodem. (They also market a separate PC C a rd E the r n e t t hose

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w o r k i n g needs), It works well and is available at an attractive price, but is somewhat hindered by the spartan documentation... a 13 page mini-manual. The F- 1 1 14PV I m o d e I ships with a proprietary, plug-in phone cable, and a copy of Delrina's 4-in-I telecommunications software, comprising 'lite' versions of ComIt telecommunications software for DOS and Windows, and WinFax and DOSFax. Of course, it can also be used with the telecolnrnunications and fax software of your choice, after some fiddling with configuration settings. In addition. a PCMCIA driver disk is included, although the modem requires that Socket>Card Services are already installed on your portable. Win-

Concord, Ontario L4K 4L4

Megahertz XJack14.4 Ethernet Modem List price: $395 (US)

Megah ertz

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Jack ofOiamonds Trsimp Card List price: $827 $425 special limited time evaluation price Osltech Communlctttions, inc. 679 Southgate Drive

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dows 95 correctly autorecognizes this card as a "Cirrus Logic" modem, and will automatically install drivers for it. As with other cards in t his r e v iew, t h e GVC model features hot insertion — meaning it can be inserted or removed without having to power the computer down. Because PC Cards can really drain portable batteries, it features a low power sleep mode, when inserted but not in active use. The modem performs well, supporting all the standard 14.4-level modem specifications — V32bis, V42bis, and so forth, and operates as a Group III fax, for sending and receiving. It can be configured to work on any of the four standard COM ports, and supports the stan-

dard Hayes AT commands. It includes a five yearvarranty, which can be extended to a lifetime warranty, with the

purchase of GVC's DataGuard communication line protector.


It represents good value in a modest package.

$215 (US) Ethernet adapter comes with

a similar XJack for 10BaseT plug ins)

Neiahertz 14.4 X Jack ftheriiet No<lcm This offeringfrom Megahertz is a step up in features, packaging, and price from GVC's card. It's just one of a series of PC Card modems and netw orking a d apters f r o m Megahertz, now owned by US Robotics. Unlike GVC's c ard, which r equires a proprietary phone cable (lose it at your own risk), the current line Megahertz models feature a trademarked XJack adapter — a thin phone jack that fits into the body of the PC Card when not in use. Simply press on the end, and the XJack pops out. That means you can plug any standard phone jack into this card. Some fear that it may be easy to break off, however, a charge that Megahertz denies. At thesame ti me, use ofan X Jack and phone cord may make it impossible to use some second PC Cards at the same time. While the unit includes the XJack for its phone connections, a proprietary adapter is used for the networking side of the card — depending on the adapter, either 10BaseT or 10Base2 cables can be used with this card. (Megahertz's

W ESTER N

Faxworks 3.0 for Windows sofbvare is included, along with CompuServe and America-On-Line connection software, but no generalpurpose telecom software is included in the package. DOS users get a token nod of the head — a card to return for tree DOS communications and fax software. Running the DOS-based install program adds appropriate drivers for both the

modem and networking f unct i o n s ; Windows 95 recognizes the card and installs drivers for all its functions.

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This combo card permits simultaneous access of a network, along with 14.4 fax modeming. It also features a built-in Digital Line Guard, an attempt to protect the modem from being plugged into office digital PBX highvoltage phone lines... if you do, you' ll be notified of potential problems„and the modem will be switched off-linehopefullybefore any damage tothe mo-

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utilization by setting up the card, and then removing itself from memory. The down side of this is that doing so limits the ability to remove and reinsert the card, or to switch in and out of power-saving sleep mode. Windows 95 users avoid t h e se problems, g e t t i ng drivers that load into much more available extended memory. This u n i t i ncludes a full-featured,

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cdlnplete with all the modeming jargon that makes this area of computing so much fun. Like the GVC card, it includes a 5 year warranty.

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The Install program will set up your machine with its own version of Card

XJack connector — including special cables for both the telephone and net-

and Socket Servicedrivers ifyou do not

working jacks. A 10BaseT cable is in-

have any specifically installed. This well-designed program will set up your machine to, by default, connect to a Novell network, and for simultaneous network and modem operation. An Uninstall program can be run to undo the installation.

cluded... an Media Access Module, allowing both 10BaseT and 10Base2 network connections, can be ordered (upping the price by another $69). The included software allows connection to several popular cell-phone models at speeds up to 14.4 (which is pretty go o d , con s i dering t he unreliability of cell connections in general), and includes a nice feature — it notices whether or not the network adapter is in use... if not, it powers down that side of the card, providing dramatic savings on notebook batteries. The company claims compatibility with DOS, the entire Windows family (including 3.11, 95, and NT), OS/2, and several varieties of UNIX (though not the popular Linux). As with the other cards in this review, I used it with Windows 95,which again, successfully recognized both the network and modem functions, and automatically installed the appropriate software.

T he documentation aids in t h e sometimes complicated configuration of the modem for your telecom softwareespecially necessary since no telecom software is included with this package. It lists a number of different modems that can be chosen if your software lists modems by model, and also includes sample initialization strings for a wide

range of popular software. In addition, it gives detailed instructions for working with the modem and the (Type 2) fax, and for setting up the network driver with a range of popular networking packages. Additional information on manually configuring the networking and modem functions will appeal to the computer do-it-yourselfer.

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Flash ROM means the card's builtin soltware can be updated as newer versions become available. Megahertz uses the well-regarded ATEcT chip set in its modem.

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Megahertz is one of the most widely distributed brands of PC Card modemsusers who do not need this model's cornbination of net wo r k in g and telecommuni-cations should have no trouble finding their 14.4 and 28.8 kbs modem-only cards at their favorite retailers.

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Like the Megahertz card, the oddlynamed Jack of Diamonds TrumpCard, from Guelph, Ontario's Ositech, is also a combo card, cramming Ethernet networking and a fax modem into a single, Type II PC Card. Unlike the Megahertz product, this card boasts 28.8 v34 ultrahigh speed modeming. It also features cellular support, making it particularly attractive for mobile users. On the other h and, with a $827 (CDN$) list, i t ' s also the most expensive card of the trio, (There is a special $425 CDN$ evaluation price ineffect, for one unit per customer site, until the end of next

Comyltsr Player

:

,

Like the Megahertz card, it permits simultaneous network and modem connection. Unlike that card, it does not use (Megahertz's patented)

U nlike th e M e g ahertz card, t h e

TrumpCard does not include its own genericPC Card and Socket Services software — it claims, instead, to be compatible with the CSkS software installed with virtually all PC Card systems. Like Megahertz's software, an optional point enabler allows users to save about 60k of DOS memory, at the expense of losing hot swapping. QuickLink II Windows fax and telecom software is included. There are separate manuals for installation, and for the modem and networking sides of the card. While Windows 95 happily recognized the card's modem function, and set it up to work transparently with that environment's native t elecom and Internet software, it was more difficult to find appropriate initialization string information to work with my older (DOS and Windows) software... eventually I located a Readme file with sample initialization strings — buried several directories deep in the driver disk. Even with this information, I never quite got my software set up to my satisfaction, and found modem performanceslower than Iwould have hoped from a 28.8 kbs .modem... perhaps my own fault, but I would have hoped that this vital information would be more clearly communicated. It's the priciest of the cards reviewed, but Ositech's offering is clearly the feature-leader of the bunch. 0 About the author: Alan Zunian is a teacher and an associate editor of Computer Player, he can be reached by e-mail alan zisman®computer-player. corn


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his month we' ll look at the dif Draw a frame and load a decorative ferent ways you can create deco l etter fr om t he cl i p ar t f i l es rative caps in Corel Ventura. Cclipart)letters on the CorelDraw CD). Use the Pick tool to select the frame. The first method uses Ventura's auClick Format, General. Click in the tomatic drop cap feature. Start Corel Frame Anchor box. Enter a name for Ventura. With the Tagged Text tool, click this frame. Click OK. in a paragraph you want to format with a drop cap and add a Type the rest of new tag for this style. the paragraph. Drag drd 6'keittrrr Nsr ik iltrfkhrf the frame to the start With the cursor ektr rrff rkrdtrtfk ikd kurd of the paragraph and in the paragraph, dl tt drteettd ettr stlrtttf adjust the size. Use c lick t h e rig h t the Text tool to pomouse button and sition the cursor beselect F or ma t , fore the first letter. Character. Select a Click right. font (Vivaldi) and

tk rlefk hford (7'krittetttr size (14 points) for Click I nse r t trkdrt riff tkiS4Jk lkd kdtrld the paragraph. Special Item and select Frame Anchor. Click the Apply l tr tlllsiCttt tttrrslrrtrr/ The frame anchor Effect drop-down rrdt drrtl a erdsstt name should disl ist a n d sel e c t play. For Frame Position, click At AnDropCap. Choose the drop cap Font chor foran in-line graphic. The frame (Vivaldi) and enter 48 points for the will be inserted at the baseline of the line Size. Ventura creates an initial letter in of text and will act as a text character. the specified size and indents the approClick OK. priate nuinber of lines for that size. Click OK to view your drop cap. In theexample, each paragraph was tagged differently and indented to arTo create a raised cap, use the range one below the other.Q Tagged Text tool to click in the paragraph. Click right and select Format, Character. Click Drop Cap Character About the author: Swee-Sim Tunis a in the dialog box. Click Custom Spac- freelance graphic artist and desktop pubing. Enter I line.Enter -l4 points for the lisher who provides training and consulShift Vp amount. Click OK. tation in CorelDRAffr, Corel PHOTOWith the text cursor in the paraPAINT, Corel VENTURA, Harvard Graphgraph, click right and select Format, ics, PageMaker, and WordPerfect. Ifyou Spacing. Enter a Paragraph Left Indent are using CorelDRAW, Corel PHOTOof I pica and a first Line Indent of -3 PAINT, Corel TRACE, or Corel VEV7VRA, picas. This creates an outdented paracall for information about purchasing How-To booklets and a collection of deskgraph for the drop cap. top publishing tips. Telephone:254-5II40. The next method uses an in-line

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Taiwan Firm to Sell M ac Cion es To become the first Taiwanese company to sell clones of the Apple Macintosh, Umax Data SystemsInc.has signed an agreement with Apple Computer Inc. to license the Mac operating system and PCs. Umax plans to sell Apple clones from other manufacturers in the Asian market until next year's third quarter, when it will start selling its own Apple clones worldwide. Saying he has been in negotiations for several months with Apple, Umax Chairman Frank Huang told the wire service his firm "has expandeditsbusiness from computer peripherals and multimedia hardware to hardwarecomponents," adding, "We believe it is time for us to enter into the computer market and build the Umax-Elite group as a broad-based high-tech company." Meanwhile, Lamar Potts, licensing vice president for Apple, said, "Among all of the Taiwanesecompanies who were candidates for the licenses, Umax understands the Mac market the best and they already have sales and marketing resources for this market." UPI quotes Umax officials as saying the firm also will improve the Chinese language Macintosh operating system and plans to d evelop Chinese applications for t h e M acintosh because such programs arein short

supply. Analyst Darwin Singson of Dataquest observed, "Apple needs the partnership to win its market share in Taiwan and China, where Apple holds around 3 percent of the market share." UPI says Apple holds approximately 20 percentofthe marketshare in Japan,Hong Kong and Singapore. UPI commented, "Apple's decision to not license its software until last year is widely regardedasone of the key blunders in the PC business over the past decade, which saw Microsoft Corp. become the dominant player."

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But of more - net~tart 50 hrs 5 34.95 involves the importance of parental I • It • t l s ignificance i s t h e f a c t t h a t t h e - net Iue 5N h i s f 4 RM 5 . 'involvement and responsibilities as these conclusion of my childhood and my technologies overrun our homes. Sased onAnnualSenbersblp OubscHp5on, Tea sc4Ineh4el nameless peers marks the end of an era This is not a new concern. Sure, that has lasted over thirty five years, there were quite a variety of violent and sexual options a short 15-20 years ago You see, me are the last to be raised (Bruce Willis hasnothing on Dirty Harry solely on television. or Charles Bronson). 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library and yellow pages. One can search for information on any topic, and bring that information right into your home,

oftenaccompanied by spectacular visuals and/or a soundtrack. The bad news

for parents: The WWW also provides a simple way of publishing erotic material and photographs that any amateur can put together. Beyond sex, topics encountered include drug use promotion, militant militia groups, and amateur explosives creation. Getting access to one "adult site" often has a map (or a direct link) to dozens of other sites, also. Further,your sofbvare used for looking at other Web sites requires no alterations to look at any of the erotic pictures, either, as they follow the same graphics standards as Web sites advertising churches. Newsgroups: Notorious for making the string of characters "alt.sex" famous, Newsgroups allow written opinions, essays, discussions and file sharing (or "posting") on an ongoing basis with people from all over the world who share similar interests. There are currently over 13,000 Newsgroups out there - and growing, organized by categories and sub-categories. The bad news f or parents:A very small percentage of these Newsgroups involve blunt and explicit discussions on sex... of all types and variations (ex: alt.sex.pictures .children, alt.sex. beastiality). Some of these more controversial Newsgroups contain encoded (though easily decoded) photographs that are often borderline illegal (under local laws around the world) for the authors to post as an alreadydecoded and formatted photo on the WWW (above). Let it be known: Free speech reigneths here, indeed. Chat Rooms: Though it might sound like a step backwards for communication, this involves a group of Internet users taking part in "live" conversations, sort of like the party telephone line except one doesn't speak for all to hear; one types for all to see. They can be quite good fun for all ages. The bad news for parents: Like any conversation where you aren't present, kids will say the darndest things... and quite a few that would get your eyebrows raised, too! There have been one or two incidents of pedophile activity in the US where participants (recall the anonymity of the party telephone line concept) were asked information about obtaining

addresses, getting together, etc., but this should not be blown out of proportion (recall Internet users total in the tens of millions).

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possibility of lobbying local government officials to legislate the control of world

wide data and information flow, there is vocal opposition to such a move. The attitude of the Internet is, "If you don' t

like it, don't look". So I wouldn't suggest waiting for such a thing to happen. Assuming one has the money for a home PC, simply condemning the Internet and refusing to let it into your home is not the answer. This would deprive your household of the most exciting and intriguing playgrounds and education tools in the world - for you as well as your children! There are steps you can take, however. 1. Clearly, being aware of the facts (as they evolve - this article may well be outdated within a year!) is essential. Understand which Internet resources also contain elements which threaten the value system you would like impressed upon your children. This is the most important responsibility we have as adults. Period. The rest follow in order of importance: 2. Get decentPC software.There are several PC based software packages that help filter the types of information that c ome in from (and go out to) t h e Internet. My personal choice is Cyber Patrol. It screens Newsgroups based on titles and WWW s ites based on a database continuously updated by users worldwide, and forbids certain text streams from coming from or going to your PC in Chat Rooms. It has some other clever features such as hours of access allowed, and different levels of passwordcontrol,butit's ease ofuse and intuitive layout is what first caught my attention. 3. Value shop for Internet services. If you are frustrated by your Internet experience, you will hardly be in a position to want to wrestle with the parental responsibilities, too. Note that the Internet falsely gets hyped and sold as a cheap form of entertainment - I view this as unfair to the consumer. Doing so is like selling a nice looking car, only it has no brakes, no glass in the windows, and .bald tires. Pay for decent access (avoid the all-you-can-eat specials), and be prepared to buy software. The purchased software is almost always easier to use, bettersupported and has more features/ functions. Also, if you are not paying a lot for a ccess, don't expect great telephone support. Many ISP's are

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beginning to charge for their support; this is good for you as it entitles you to 4. If you are not using PC software that screens the WWW, and you come across a Web site that is likely beyond what most people would consider acceptable, don't be afraid to fire off a note to your ISP systems administrator. Your ISP cannot necessarily control what Web sitesare accessed from your ISP's equipment, but they can send a note to the questionable Web site owner asking that any requests coming kom your ISP

to expect certain things - like communication. Though it is still in many ways a seller's market, there are hungry ISP's out there. As the connection prices can' t likely drop much further, product differentiation will likely occur along the lines of two way dialogue and additional s ervice. If a l l y o u a r e g etting i s impersonaltelephone access,consider switching. 8. Where possible, conduct business with ISP's who reflect similar values as you do. If you can manage the "parental awarenessand involvement" biton your

to view it are denied. No guarantees of

own, terrific - continue to shop based on

success here, though. 5. If you are not using PC software that screens the Newsgroups, determine the Newsgroups to which your ISP subscribes. Some ISP's screen out the questionable ones at their source, or give adult users a separate News password. Either way, it's better to know what you' re dealing with. 6. Monitor the time kids (Big kids, too!) spend on the Internet, especially if it' s only for entertainment. There is no substitute for fresh air and exercise. If you are using an on-line service like CompuServe,or an Internet ServiceProvider (ISP) which charges by the hour, this is another reason to stay on top of over-usage.

other criteria. In summary, note that while the vehicles of involvement are different, much of this guidance is parallel to the steps many parents take regarding the presence of television in their homes. The implication is that creating a Cyber Space which issafe for children can definitely be done, but it will be an ongoing task. The first step, awareness, is the most important, and it clearly belongs to the parent.Q

get what you pay for.

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About the author: lain Black is the General Manager of E-Z Net Internet Services Ltd., a Vancouver-basedInternetService Provider with a focus on the Family and the "technically challenged". Cyber Patrol software is downloadable through the E-Z Net Homepage at http://www.eznet.ca

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Frame Relay and T1 Lines By Sean Eirington verthelastfew years,Frame Relay technology has become the transmission medium of choice for companies replacing expensive dedicated leased lines. Unlike leased lines, which are private, point-to-point connections,Frame Relay sends your data through a public data network. Data sent through the network is packagedin 'Frames' and 'Relayed' Rom

The idea of public networks devoted solely to data is not new - in the 1970s the telephone companies introduced the X.25 standard as a way of sharing public data networks. The trunk lines in those days were nowhere near as reliable as they are today, so the X.25 standard included a lot of overhead for error checkingand correction. This was done at each switch as the data packet

switch to switch within the network. Just

t raveled t h r o ugh t h e n e t w o rk . T h e

as ordinary telephone calls are routed through a public switched phone system, if you use a Frame Relay network your data packets share the switches and trunk lines with other people's data.

protocol required a lot of extra information sent with each packet to ensure that it arrived at the destination intact. Frame Relay takes advantage of modern telephone lines' low error rates

and leaves error detection to the computers at either end of the link which actually receive the data. If a packet is corrupted in transit, the applications running on your computer will detect it and request that the sending computer re-send the packet. This means that Frame Relay does not need the elaborateerror checking mechanisms of the old X.25 networks and is able to handle much more data more quickly. The public Frame Relay network is often referred to as 'the cloud' and is usually shown as a cloud-like shape in network diagrams. In order to access the cloud Irom your office you will need to buy a dedicated connection to the nearestpaint-of presence (POP) provided by your phone company. (Unlike ISDN, which is a local loop service provided only by BC Tel, the market for Frame Relay services is hotly c ompetitive with Fonorola, Sprint Canada, Unitel, Westel and BC Tel all providing service), This dedicated line is usually a 56,000 bps line, although you can get faster access lines ifyou need them.

Frame Relay is very scaleable and thereforevery cost effective. You buy a Committed Information Rate (CIR) Irom the telephone company which is the amount of data that your carrier guarantees will always be able to get through the network. Eventhough you might have a 56 Kbps line into the cloud, you might only need an average throughput of 16 Kbps through the cloud so you pay only for the amount of bandwidth you actually use. The Frame Relay cloud is not terribly busy in Canada so you can 'burst' up to 56 Kbps and still take a chance that your data will get through. When a Franc Relay packet enters the network there is a bit called the 'discard eligible'(DE) bit which is switched on or off. If the cloud is temporarily busy, any packets you send in excess of your CIR aremarked DE and arediscardedby thenetwork, This doesn't happen very often (although it might as the cloud becomes busier over the next few years) but if it does then you will have to retransmit your data. If you want to connect your LAN to a Frame Relay network you will need a

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Computer Player


g i PapM ~R router. Virtually every router on the market provides integrated Frame Relay softwaresupport,however, there are some important differences among them. You might want to look for a router which supports Forward Explicit Congestion Notification (FECN) and Backward Explicit Congestion Notification (BECN). FECN and BECN are packets sent by the cloud to your router telling it that the cloud is congested. Yourrouter should slow down the rate at which it is pumping data into the cloud, and if it doesn' t, then it will continue to pour out data which may be earmarked to be discarded. A router can also prioritize your traffic by allowing some packets to have precedence over others. This can be very handy when you have many users competing for bandwidth. Database lookups which directly affect customer service, for example, can be given a higher priority than file transfers or email. When choosing a Frame Relay router you should also look for an easy to configure interface, a fairly fast processor and a migration path to ATM (asynchronous transfer mode). Frames used in Frame Relay vary in size depending on the protocol beingused, ATM frames arethesame size regardless of the protocol. Just as standardized containers make shipping more efficient, standardized data packets can move through the network more quickly. ATM holds a lot of promise and you will want to have a migration path from Frame Relay to ATM as it becomes available. If you just need to connect terminals or PCs to a Frame Relay network you can use a Frame Relay Access Device (FRAD) rather than a router. These units cost about $1000 and up depending on how many ports you require. FRADs are very useful when dealing with unroutable protocols likeSNA because ifyou usearouter,these protocols must be encapsulated in another routable protocol like TCP/IP which significantly increases the size of the packet. Recently, severalvendors have come to market with 'voice over frame' units which allow you to use your data network to also carry voice traffic. A company with an under-used Frame Relay network can save a lot of money if the spare bandwidth isused to send packets ofvoice data.The savings can be huge for companies with international networks and lots of overseas telephone lines, Because voice traffic is time sensitive (ie, we can't have large gaps in the middle of a sentence) a voice over fiame unit must have a fairly large bufferand fast processor to avoid delays or latency in the transmission. Look for more of these type of products to hit the market soon.

transmitting data at 1.544 Million bits per second (Mbps). The Tl connection to the Internet means that your ISP gets his Internet feed at 1.544 Mbps. Your ISP may also be bringing in user's calls via a Tl l ine rather than having several individual phone lines. By the way, a T2 line is 96 lines combined into one physical phone line capable of transmitting data at 6,312 Mbps.

A T3 line is 672 lines combined into one physical phone line capable of transmitting data at 44.736 Mbps. Tl lines are quite inexpensive and common in the United States. In BC it costs more to get a Tl line than it does to get 24 ordinary phone lines so there is no t m uch incentive to do so. Note: Colin MacGillivray of C.T.&S. emailed me that the GTD5 switches I

A Tl line is 24 lines combined into one p hysical p h one l i n e c a pable o f

About the author: Sean Elrington is M arketing M a n a ge r o f Z E D D a t a Systems, he can be reached by seane

ÂŽzed.ca or voice (604) 473-9331.

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wrote about last week will support ISDN in 1997 and the existing switches in place throughout BC will be upgradable. This is good news because it may allow BC Tel to roll out ISDN more quickly around the province. 0

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January1996

53


Ki s playing in traffi c on t e In ormation uper i g way? — LetNet Nanny keepan eyeonthem By Alun Zismun

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he child's eyes were wide open, with a combination of horror and excitement, watching the glowing screen.... you may have seen that cover of Time Magazine, early in the summer, a part of the media bouncing back from its uncritical exaggerated hype of the Internet, with an equally one-dimensional attack on so-called

cyberporn. Time, forexample, based its June 26th cover story on what it described as "an exhaustive" study on the pervasiveness of online pornography, by Martin Rimm, originally published in the Georgetown Law Review, Among other claims, Time quoted that in "Usenet groups where digitized images are stored, 83.5 percent of the pictures are pornographic.*' Response to the cover stoiy was immediate, and critical of its methodology and results. Take the statistic about Usenet groups,for example. Usenet groups, on the Internet, are online public discussion groups...covering over 4,000 different topics from highly technical, to pop culture, to business, to

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Rimm checked 17 of the 4,000 groups over a seven day period — 17 groups that all had a sexual focus, and not surprisingly, found the majority of content in those groups was sexually oriented... .and even here, while Usenet groups caninclude graphics, they are sent inas encoded text,and can't even be viewed without tedious decoding and special software — not typically among the computer skills of even the precocious subteen pictured on Time's cover. Buried in the fine print of both Rimm's study and the Time article was another statistic, suggesting that only 0.5% of Internet traffic could be considered pornographic. The harm, however, has been done — the public impression of the Internet as a den of pornographers will be hard to shake. (Readers with Internet access interested in a detailed critique of Rhnm's study and the Time article can check http: //www2000.ogsm.vanderbilt.

edu/) And like many paranoid fantasies, there is a core of reality — if you look

54

January1996

Cnmlliiler Player


for cyberporn on the Internet, you' re going to find it. Playboy's World Wide Web site is among the most popular single destinations on the Web. Or go to a general interest site like 'Downtown Anywhere', which aims to be sort of like an online mall. You' ll find a wide range of businesses located there, such as the Icelandic National Tourist Agency. But check the list of the ten most visited locations there — the week I checked, seven of the ten were sexually oriented. It's not surprising. Sex has sold other new technologies — the first generation of video rental stores, for example, were

almost all specialists in x-rated movies. And even with the broadening of the Internet's user-population, a large percentage remains University undergraduates (predominantly male), with free access through their academic institution. Parents, businesses, and schools have a legitimate desire to limit access to sex on the Net. And so there has been increasing interest in a technological fix to the problem created by the uncontrolled technology of the Net. One of the most well thought-out has been created by Vancouver's Net Nanny, Ltd. (formerly Trove Investment Corporation). They have produced the $49.95 Net Nanny, which gives parents (or teach-

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ers or even employers) the power to limit access to any content deemed inappropriate. When this software is installed onto a computer (currently DOS or Windows only), it continually monitors the computer for content that has been added to its dictionary — this could be sexual or drug or even racial or violence-oriented. If, for example, the word "bomb" had been listed in the administrative dictionary, any documents accessed,or any requests for access that include this word will be recorded. At that point, the computer can be set to sim-

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ply record the access,to lock the key-

board, or even to shut down. If desired, the shut down computer cannot be rebooted without using a password entered by adult controlling the Net Nanny installation. This can be very powerfuland can do more than simply prevent a child from accessing certain sites. Many parents, for example, are uneasy about their children giving out their phone number or address while on-line. Adding these to Net Nanny's dictionary will make it impossible for your child to share this information with cyberstrangers. The Net Nanny folks are including sample dictionaries with their software, and are promising to make updated lists available for downloading. This is important, because adults can include the Web addresses or UseNet group names that they want their kids to avoid, simply by adding them to the dictionary... getting a ready-made list from Trove saves hours on the Net looking for the places where you don't want your kids 'to go. There are lots of benefits from letting children explore the on-line community — but like any community, physical or virtual, cyberspace has its bad neighborhoods. Net Nanny allows a parent to set some limits, while allowing their child the freedom to wander where they choose within those limits.O About the author: Alon Zisnaon is a teacher and an associate editor of ComputerPlayer,he can bereached at e-mail at alan zisman®computer-player. corn

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JanuarV16-18,1996 • VancouverTrade 8Convention Centre • Vancouver, British Columbia Cii 995 SQFI BANK CGMEIEK Inc. 300 -nei Avenue. Needham. IAA 02i 9v02222 5 l r<33.1500

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yearly charges Over the next year companies will be looking for ways to keep your subscription. They will be doing this through low cost yearly memberships. Another shift will be in the service they will provide. It will be more reflective of the

Next year on the Internet 8y Ken Charko and Cory Novak The first question everyone who knows me

asks me these days, is how many people are on the Internet and how fast is it growing. The only semi-accurate measurement tned to determine the size of the Intetnet is the number of "host" or computer connected to the Internet. Although this is not a measurement of the number of people who use the Internet, it does give a good representation of the number and growth of Inter net users.

general public. Next year will see the onset of large companies into the Internet. This last month we saw Rogers Cable and Bell Canada Over the course of next year every communications company wIII be joining the race. This will be at the expense of

change. The speed at which one can transmit data over telecommunications networks, as well as the cost to the consumer. As the market matures you will see a dnunatic decrease in costs. The trend is away from high monthly charges to lower

the smaller Internet provider.

The Internet is just suuting its growth cycle and will only grow faster in the coming new year. It will be harder if not impossible for smaller Internet providers to set up shop. Next year, every large communications company in the country will be fighting for its share of the cyberworld. Only those companies with both knowledge, capital and patience will succeed in tomorrow's market. 0 About the authors:Een Charko and Cary Nottak work with Digital Rain Online, a Internetlnovider, they can be reached at (604) 543-3025.

A computer connected to the Internet is teferred to as an "host" This system of organization was apparent in the early 1980s but as the number grew. It became apparent that with thousands of hosts, the net would need some sort of distributed name database.Allowing any user anywhere on the net to locate any other computer even one added quite recently. Thus was born the Domain Name System, or DNS. To this day, the DNS is the part of the Internet that allows users to refer to hosts by names such as www.digital-rain.corn insteadof referring to IP addresses such as 205.206.107.2...

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ers, government, military, commetcial and educational. By far the largest groups in

the early days of Internet usage were military and educational. As of Jan 1995 the "top leveldomains" were .corn conunercial representing 34% of domain names and .edu education having 29/tt of domain names. By January 1997 the percentage of domains held by commercial will grow to over 5(y/L This is a good reflection of the new direction that the Internet has been taking and will be taking in the years to come. The focus of the growth in the Internet over the next few years will be almost exclusively commercial. The good news for all Canadians is that Canada is well represented on the

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Intern et.Canada is behind only America

and is expected to have over 2,000% this year. The information superhighway, (an over used term) is going to revolutionize the way we do everything. From business relationships to entertainment, evetythmg is going to change. As the computer changed everything in the early 80's soshall the Internet. There are many factors that will determine the rate and quantity of

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The growth of the host site has been dramatic over the last 10 years from 600,000 in 1981 to over 6,000,000 in the early part of 1991. The estimates for the start of 1995 were twenty to forty million. The next ten years will see even greater growth. By early 1997 some estimates have the number of Internet users at over 400 million people. Some people believe that just after the turn of the centuty computers will replace the TV in the home.

on a per capita basis for Internet usage. Canada is the fourth largest holder of host names, Ahead of Japan that ranks fifth among countries. Only the United States, United Kingdom and Germany have more hosts. Canada is having relatively good growth at 48% per year. Where the United States only has 38% growth. Japan, which was slow to join the Internet, has 69% gmwth. And even that is slow growth compared to the Ukraine that has 900% growth and Argentinahad over 8,000% lastyear

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You' ll see things on the pac e I' CCfIT V42b's/ i MMNP N P'5 Data Com om ompiession to increase throu put up to four tim times or my favorite, "Data ata modem m compatible with Bell 103/212A and CCITT V.21/V.22bis V.32bis/ V,FC/ V34". What What a load of garb e! They are all compliant to these spec's and wh or technician. Better do o you want to know anyw anywa. .I It's ' not like you r comPuter' consultant to o send them a little somethin e ing forX-Mass r and you re going to run out an d take a course on on ei r side... . .. ate Iast for one more c ommunications just so o ' m add r ess.: — }} un erstand what all this means. The words MNP y . wish I could give you my 5 or higher and 28.8 are all you reall need A s for the war that israging i n between the lf th -PCI and the Pentium, it seems e 486DX is still winning winn' the race. From the Although' if y o u re a doctor and want a in oimation I have, the 486DX-120MHz is still modem for hooking into the Medi e ical Se r v ices popular because it can offerj 'ust about as much Plan MSP P), then you might want the e sslowest, speed as the Pentium 90MHz at h most underpowered owere modem on the market. do ll 1ess, Th e o n l y advantage with th e P, a government organization, still h entium is it's ab'ility to run multi-media appliup IBM's rear-end because they cations a little faster. I p erso onally don't see are using OS/2 as an operating system. s m. Abo u t o a i e r ence. If you really want to e percent of users are able to

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By Rick McLmghlin

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t s th that time of the year again - families getting to gether er, sharing cheer and exchanging gifts. There undoubtedly will wl be a few choice w

e English version, but don't think you' ll full y understand them, Best to take a deep breath and slowly try to deci

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then an accelerator video card wi with 2MB of

Not all instructions are hard to under'! Now there'ss Plu stand... b wait! ... but ug-N--Play which is comm ommonly referred to as Plu -N-Pra . (Plug itin and pray like ' e hell that itwill work). ough Bill Gates and his team of "Insani Builders" have made an half-assed attem

Along with all the other stocking 'ngsstufTe u ers, there will be no shorta rives. Many wonder if it is worth the money to buy a Quad speed as o o dual speed CD-ROM M drive.. You should be e as ing - is it better to buy the quad-s eed o ver the six-speed Plexor. ? T h e yd on't even make dual speeds anymore. ore. As for w h i ch is best? est. yIfoou u are a CD-ROM game e th then the Plexor is what you want, but if it' s primarily function is for installing programs from a CD asopposed to disks,then a uad-

ware, it is by no means fool-proof. This is a two-way street. First th ftw able torecognize the hardware art ' g i. ithout the 'coion o oth parties, you are going to find ' gsurethat yourself setting up drivers and makin the confiig.sys .s s and autoexec.bat have the necessary lines added to them. I g h hying to say is that it's not the time to fire

Modems ems, modems, modem!!! Wh bu? y. There must be hundreds of modems on the shelves and they all boast o o f be'ing the best.

the lau augh to read about what the have do lf I do n't teach you an hin new technology. If you' re a technician and you want to review old material thi r ight up yo ll (Kinda I'k i e e p eople we vote for). Lets get ac to the real world. For thoseof you who have been callin me about the 30 to 72 pin SIMM Conv there is a retail ' out I et. They are avai'Iab e Street in New Westminster. If youhave bought new equ'p ui p s o r your computer and can' t get them to function properly then call your er orhelp. Ifthey don't offe ou su for what you purchased then cal a ot of good ones out there and you' ll be happier spending a few more dollars ars onthem rather than driving yourself cr figure out what has taken us o o. e r e is no shame or embarrassment in not knowing new technolo an government employees) OS/2, let alone et it ak h a l l important ' jump to newer things... reserve a few bucks for techn' ec ic al h e lp. You' ll o eing a hundred percent compatible e ga you did. Computers can bef Un alldd with Microsoft's MS-DOS th e industry stanshould ee seen as an instrument. D dard and what most med' ic alo ff i ces use. The o you. There are plenty of qualified biiggest est I laugh comes when you you d' iscover the people to help you, so don't try to to go o ' it alone if appl iication they are using. Called Sim c it you' re not sure of what you are doing, Make d wn™tten b can'trun modems pro erl 1996 a good year and most oof all - a year to i i s an half-witted 10 year-old - 0 wh o grow and learn. hasn't learned th more complex command . e the See you next year, have a Merry ChristIt blew me away when I learned that you can' t mas, a Happy New Year and oh yeah... Happy use fiow control or MNP b ecause their Computing. 0 s oftware doesn't su o r it. In modem support

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comm communications, the idea is is o to tran s mit data as as possible using standar dized protocols, our BC Government uses non-standard ard sofbvare and sends s data a aatt the s l o west setting.. Itt goes farther than this but I' ll save that for another article. It will be well worth '

Rick NcLattghhn is a leading comput sultant r rom Aeu 8'estminsterand can be reached at (604) 52/-683 rickmc@i vimsey.corn (or) E-Mail; r i c k mclaughli n~~aindlink bc.ca

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Last Chance to Reduce 1995 Income Taxes By Richard K. Acron t's December and 1995 is drawing to a close. If you wish to reduce your 1995 taxes you must take the appropriate actions before December 31st. Although I believe that tax planning should take place early in the year, a final review before yearend often results in additional savings.

t

Self-Employed I have written at length in prior columns about the new rules for professionals and unincorporated businesses. Normally, business owners are trying to do w hat theycan prior to year-end to defer their revenue and accelerate expenditures to minimize taxes. Those affected by the new rules and moving to a December yearend and need to be making their pre yearend decisions now. For many this year there will be a twist. That will be to increase revenues and reduce expenditures in order to average their stub period income over the next ten years. Initially your response may be why would I want to increase this year's taxes? We must be cognisant of the fact that any increase to income in the stub period &om the business's former year-end to December 31st will qualify for the reserve and the income will be brought in over the next ten years. Consequently, you may pay slightly more tax in the current year but less in 1996 and bringing that income in spreading and over ten years allows for deferral of tax.

Revenue Canada is undoubtedly aware that those affected will be trying to do this. It is likely they will be looking for deferrals created by artificial transactions. Hence you should be trying to enter into bonafide transactions before December 31st that will withstand scrutiny.

This may include such steps as billing out work in process prior to December 31st or deferring expenditures that you might have normallymade in December. To be sure you are on-side, you should sit down and review these possibilities with your CharteredAccountant before the end of December.

Province of Residence on

December 31st

Your provinceofresidence atDecember 31st is the one in which you will be taxed for the entire year's income. If you are in the process of a move to a lower tax province, (for example, Alberta) and that move is going to take place in January, you may wish to see what you can do to officially take up residence for tax purposes there by December 31st.

Donations Last month's column was about donations and this is a reminder that to be deductible in 1995, the donations must be m ade onor before December 31stand the receipt should so indicate.

Forward Averaging

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amounts to take advantage of the lower tax bracket. Also look at what you can do to

structure your affairs in 1996 to use up the remainder of this account.

Capital Losses For the majority of investors capital losseshave not been an issue for several years as the goal for most people was to use up their capital gains exemption. However, this year capital gains are fully taxable. If you have capital gains you should be reviewing your portfolio for any stocks you may wish to unload and take the loss, thus reducing your taxable gain for the year. To effect these capital losses, the transaction must take place on or before December 22nd as that will be the last transaction date for 1995. If you did actually pay capital gains tax in a prior year, you may wish to claim a loss carryback which can be claimed for up tothreeyears.However, before doing this you should consult with your Chartered Accountant to ensure you aren't eating into a prior capital gains exemption. Be conscious of the identical property rules. If you, your spouse, or a corporation you control purchases an identical property within 30 days, the loss will be disallowed for tax purposes.

The ability to forward aver-

age hasbeengone for someyears. However, there are taxpayers who have forward averaged with amounts still sitting in their forward averagingaccounts. With 1997, the ability to bring in the forward averaged amount at a

RRSP's In 1995, the contribution limit will be the lesser of $14,500 or the amount arrived at according to the formula applied to 1995 earned income. The over contribution limit has dropped from $8,000to $2,000. Ifyou are

in excess of that based on contributions made prior to the February budget date you will not be penalized. However, any contributions after that date which bring you in excess of the $2,000 over contribution limit will create a problem. If you turned age 71 during 1995, you must convert your RRSP to an annuity and/or a RRIF by December 31st. If you do not deal with this by December 31st the contents of your RRSP taxed in your

hands in 1995.

Tax Shelters My first word on tax shelters is always CAUTION. Review the shelter for actual investment value and consider any tax savings to be a bonus. Tax shelters exist because the government is attempting to make a high risk investment more attractive in pursuit of some government economic or social policy. If you invest in something that is going to provide a tax saving of fray cents for every dollar invested, remember that if you never see any of your money again, you would have been better ofF to have foregone the tax saving and retain the half that was available to you after tax. In assessing a tax shelter you should also look at your total tax position to see what the effect of the Alternative Minimum Tax will be. You can over-shelter yourself and wind up paying AMT. If you are looking at shelters consult your Chartered Accountant. I would like to wish you a Meny Christmas and a happy and prosperous 1996J3 About the author: Richard K Acton, FC.A. is with Acron Grrnderson chartered

Accountants. He can be reached at(604) 734-487/ or fm (604) 734-9211.

Barter Cascadia By John Madsen

ast Spring the Portland-based

years developing a global trading system

ITEX Corporation completed an agreement with British Columbia's ITEX/Bartercard to integrate the Ca-

based on the Internet. ITEX Corp is publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock market

L

nadian company into the larger ITEX Corp system within one year. In spite of the similarity of names, ITEX Corp

(U.S.A.) and I T E X/Bartercard (Canada) never had a business relationship. ITEX Corp is North America' s largest and fastest growing retail barter network. Established 14 years ago, ITEX Corp now has over 130 office in the United States and affiliated

operations in Quebec, South Africa, Australia and Switzerland. It has in-

vested millions over the past few

January1996

lower tax rate will be gone. Consequently, forward averaging must be completed in 1995 or 1996. If you are not in the top tax bracket for 1995, look at your forward averaging account and bring in sufficient

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under the symbol "ITEX". Founded in 1980, ITEX/Bartercard is Canada'soldest trade exchange. Com-

pany founder and President, Jo hn Madsen, realized it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to update ITEX/ Bartercard's accounting and trading software to the same technological sophistication of ITEX Corp. Yet while ITEX Corp amortizes its development costs over more than 30,000 members, Madsen's much smaller operation would have to amortize costs over a

membership of less than 500. ITEX/ Bartercard owners John and Fran

Madsen felt the time had arrived to accept ITEX Corp's ofFer! In addition to achieving economies of scale, the integration provides ITEX/ Bartercard members with access to global electronic trading and a vastly ex-

panded market. After much consideration, ITEX VP Marketing & Sales MichaeINeal,recommended Vancouver and Victoria link up with the very successful Seattle ITEX office ... creating the first barter operation to truly service

what is commonly termed Cascadia. Heading up the Cascadia region is Seattle's Brian Argersinger. He is committed to building as strong and vibrant an office in Vancouver as he built in Se(Conrinued on page65)


(Conti nuedPom page64)

attle. Since opening in 1991, the Seattle office has grown to 375 members with gross monthly trades of Cdn$580,000. The Seattle office has received over 15 recog-

nition awards from ITEX Corp ... includ-

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ing ¹2 out of 130 offices in total trading

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ofIices in trade volume within 4 years. Each ITEX trader is assigned a Personal Trade Director who is in touch at least once a month to ensure the trader is finding ways to effectively use their trade dollars.

A camp ahahaive reference sourcecovering Internet Oicbonary, Ral'aranca, FAQ, Interne t How-io,Web pages of Internet reaoutcaa, lets youaccessInternet,getfree hours to by.

By March 1st, Argetsinger plans to open ~~ office to service the Greater Vancouver area Seasoned stan ~~om the ITEX Seattle

ofHce will start familiarizing the new Canadian management team on marketing and trading procedures immediately. An information package detailing benefits gained from participation in the ITEX global trading system is currently being mailed to all ITEX/Bartercard members. A new Client Directory, incorporating the w h ole Cascadiaarea (Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle), will be ready for March 1st. Client mixers are planned in the Vancouver area early in the new year so ITEX/Bartercard members can meet with the people from the Seattle ITEX office. A Welcome kit and Trade Organizer, with all the reference material needed to become a successful ITEX trader, will be sent to all ITEX/Bartercard members in January. Orientation sessions on these materials are scheduled for January and February. Argetsinger fhmly believes trading is a "high tech, high touch" business requiring

personal attention to the trader's needs. This is how Seattle became ¹2 of the 130 ITEX

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ITEX/Bartercard owners, John and

Fran Madsen, feel integration of their company into the much larger ITEX global trading network represents a "win-win" development foreveryone concerned. Over the past 16 years, ITEX/Bartercard gained a reputation as one of the best organized and innovative trade exchanges in North America. Its President and CEO, John Madsen, is a frequently published author on barter in periodicals and journals in both

the U.S. and Canada. Few exchanges have use solid trading background of the ITEX/Bartercard membership (many hailing back to 1980). In fact, the oldest of its competitors only arrived on the local scene less than two years ago. Combining the seasoned membership of ITEX/Bartercard with the very successful ITEX Seattle office creates the largest and most technologically advanced trade exchange in the six million Cascadia market. With its connections to Japan, China and India and the emerging economic Tigers (Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia and Viet Nam), many consider the Cascadia region as the most promising in North America.O About the author: John /Ifadsen,a Charters/ A cc o u n tan t by p r of e s sion, is President o f I TEX/Bartercard and ntay be r e a c h ed a t 60 4 521 - 7 9 1 / fax 604 5ZJ-7944 or by E-maii at john madsen® mind/ink.bc.ca.

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The Ultimute Windows Shell Kiddesk, thefamily edition for Windows By David Anderson ere is a terrific piece of software for Windows computers in the home. Ittakes an ordinary 386 and turns it into the ultimate family machine, complete with central communications network, with e-mail and voice mail built-in. It is a simple and effective replacement for Windows's Program Manager, with perfectly seamless, oneclick launching of windows or DOS programs, with no fussing over .pif files or boot disks. I am de-

scribing the procalled gram Kiddesk, The Family Edition for Windows, by Edmark C orporation, t h e people who prod uce Thi n k i n g T hings, a m ong other c h i l dren' s educational programs. Kiddesk creates individual "desks" for theusers of a particular machine. Each desk can be customized by the user, and provides one-click access to the programs enabled for that particular

user. A supervising adult has a special key combination and password that permits her or him to regulate the programs available to each user, Each user has a password,required to gain access to a desk. Desks also have a variety of appearances,selected by the user,and the user also chooses an identifying icon for the main desk. The main desk contains all the icons for all the users of that machine. While this system of individual d esks is really d esigned for a family, I observe Kiddesk in daily operation at my children's afterschool daycare, where there are up to 50 users of the centre's t r usty multi-media 486. Each child and staff member has a desk, a password, and accessto the games and programs available in each desk. Staff members use theirdesks to access the word processor,or financial spreadsheets. These programs are easily disabled on the children's desks.

There are two exceptional features in Kiddesk. One is the rock-solid simplicity of this program as a Windows shell. Not only are the program icons conveniently one-touch, but Kiddesk moves effortlessly through DOS or Windows programs with virtually no discernible difference. When a program is set up for a desk, a simple check box is provided to indicate if the program is to load as a DOS pro-

Some technical notes. Kiddesk can be loaded as an icon in a Program Manager group. It will also load itself on to the Run= line in Win.ini, if asked to do so. Or it will write itself in on the Shell= line in System.ini, and become the actual startup shell. Each has its advantages. If direct access to Windows without Kiddesk running is desirable, then

gram. As an often-frustrated Windows

ond case, Program Manager is loaded first, then Kiddesk loads. To get back to Windows, just quit Kiddesk. The downside to this is the upside to the third option. When returning to Windows after a DOS program, you have to wait for Program Manager to reload, then the desk reappears. If Kiddesk replaces Program Manager, then movement between DOS and Windows is quick and smooth, with no waiting. The price paid here is the fact that if you want to use Windows utilities like Control Panel or File Manager, you have Kiddesk running in the background, which can cause some unexpected delays. However, with Kiddesk as the shell, you can put the Control Panel or File Manager icon right on your desk, so that you can go directly to those programs with one click. In some ways, hh 8 a better Windows than Windows!

tinkerer,Ihave enormous respect for the programmers of Kiddesk. They have hidden from view all the struggling over sound cards and resources that can occur under Windows 3.1. The other fascinating aspect of Kiddesk is the community of communicators it creates, with e-mail and voice mail interfaces simple enough for children to operate. Each desk comes equipped with a variety of communications tools. There is a mini sign-maker, with fonts size selection and fancy borders. There is an e-mail mailbox for sending and receiving massages, with a very friendlyword processor.There is also a f eature p ermitting d i s -

t ributed m a i l , I taco Sppassanns u sing the Fi l e M anager trick of 00 jfj clicking on the f irst name , 00 sa IHI Q: 0t N NIRNI Nn n ssl a NOP IN N Pln s s l plNIu se snsolss S wis s pressing SHIFT, I am currently and clicking on using the 3.x verN l qj f h i d the last name. sion of Kiddesk on u slunpn ce l so l Nin e s Junk mail at a the family 386 SX keystroke! 25, with only 4 mb Psnnanoo IpNpoSIP o f RAM. I t r u n s When a very well, with no desk is entered, complaints. I have not seen the 32-bit the mailbox indicates the presence of Windows 95 version in the flesh, but I messages waiting for reading, printing, can certainly applaud the craftsmanship or deleting. Each desk also contains a that went into the 3.x version. The setup telephone and an answering machine. If is dead easy, and simple to modify over there are incoming voice messages waittime, As a shell, Kiddesk takes very little ing, the light on the answering machine resources, giving your computer all of is blinking.Voice messages are made itsenergy to run the programs on the with a microphone plugged into the desks. For a family machine of any prosound card. My favorite is a distributed voice messagewhenever I clean the cat portion, this is a must-have, and less than 50 dollars. Santa, are you listening? Q box, making sure everyone knows I did my bit. My daughter sends me mysteriAbout the author: David Andersonis ous songs and chants, and I send her Vancouver elementaryteacher,parent of Count Dracula imitations. My son coltwo chi1dren. He can be reached by email: lects all his messages, and refuses to computer~layerÂŽmindlinlf. bc, ca delete any of them. Just like a real live electronic bulletin board, mail is placed Product Information on a hard drive, and is available to the user at sign-in. And just like a bbs, you Edmark Corporation store your mail for later reference. It is PO Box 3218 simple, it is elegant, and it works! Hats Redmond, Washington off to these people at Edmark. 9&073-3218

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Januaryl996

Computer Player

Publisher/Editor Liqin Chen AssociateEditor Alan Zisman Mae Editor Chow Yen Chong MarketingDirector Jane L. Ding Contributing Writers Jim Chow Swee-Sim Tan Rick McLaughlin Michael Whitfield David Aderson John Hamm Ken Charko Coty Novak Sean Elrington Gary Dunn lain Black John Madsen Richard K. Acton Advertising Sales Jamie Leighton Li Ding Randy Chaster Production Manager Kent Chen Production Staff Sherly Ho Kitty Kit Ying Chovv Rick Wang Cover Photo Sonja Scharf Administration Farida Aini Distribution MediaNet Distribution

The content of Computer Player is subject to copyright. Material and advertising designed byComputer Player in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. ComputerPlayerwe lcomes yoursuggestions, comments and ideas. Share it with us by phone, mail, e-mail to fax at the numbers or address below: Our Computer Player Ltd. 900-/788 IVest Broadway Vancouver B.C. CanadaV6J l Yl Phone:(604) 739-S266 Fax: (604) 739-35S9 Web Site: http: //mvw.computer-player.corn/cp Internet:cornputer~layer@mindlink.bc.ca CompuServe: 76640,1756 BBS:MindLink! (604) 528-3500 (Log on with the name "Computer Player Guest" )

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