10 NEW SUPER LAPTOPS PUT TO THE TEST!

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VOLUME 13, NO. 9, ISSUE

33

DDnnpuTE

SEPTEMBER 1991

6

EDITORIAL LICENSE

By Peter Scisco

Magazines, like

sharks, must move forward.

8

NEWS & NOTES

By Alan R. Bechtold

Court jesters,

sandbagged silicon, and

more news.

14

FEEDBACK

Bad sectors,

disappearing menus, and

more.

18

BRAIN WAVES

By Sherry Roberts If you're too busy

to attend traditional schiool, tap into techinology

and give your brain a boost.

26

SHAREPAK

By Ricfiard C. Leinecker

This montfi's disk brings

two puzzles for gamers

and a writing coach.

28

BREAKING COMMUNICATIONS BARRIERS

By Gail Dutton

Software and

hardware combine to help

aphasic patients use and process language.

By Denny Atkin

Get help

for almost anything almost

anytime

through your modem.

66

TIPS & TOOLS

Really wild

cards, power pointers,

redirecting DOS,

batch files in graphic mode,

and more

strategies for computing.

TO

PROGRAMMING POWER

By Tom Campbell

Global variables

are tempting, but they can

backfire on you.

ArlisI Terry Rosen created Post-Modern Still Life using Lighispeed

Design software on a Sun Micro workstation. Recollections of a

Cezanne tabtetop — but is the table indoors or out? Even the

postcard suggests the historically eclectic vocabulary of

postmodernism. And what better way to express it than through that

most postmodern of appliances, the computer?

33

TEST UB: LAPTOPS

This month

we take ten top

portables on

the road for a series of

grueling tests.

56

DOS 5.0— A PERFECT 10

By Mark Minasi

Here's the best of

what's new

and how to get the most

from DOS 5.0.

POINT & CLICK

By Clifton Karnes

Work out a cold

hard cache for your GUI to

pick up speed.

74

INTRODOS

By Tony Roberts

Add some life

to your command line.

76

HARDWARE CLINIC

By Mark Minasi

Which computer

bus should you take?

COMPUTE (ISSN 0194.357X) rs published manlhly in ihe United Siaies and Canada Dy COMPUTE Publications Irternalional Lid.. 1965 Broadway. New Yoik. NY 10023 5965. Vblumo 13. Number 9, Issue 133. Copyright © 1991 by COMPUTE Publioations Inisrnalional Lid, All fights reserved- Tel (212) 496^100. COMPUTE is a registered iraderrark ot COWPUTE Publications International Lid. Primed in the USA and distnbuted ^voridwide by Curtis Circulation Company, P.O Box 9102. (^nnsaLken. NJ 08103 Second-class postage paid at New York. Hf. and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to COMPUTE Magazine, PO. Sox 3246. Harian, lA 51537-3041, Tel. (KM) 727-6937 Entire conlenis copyrighted. All righis reserved. Nothing may be reproduced in whole cr in part without written permission from Ihe publisher. Subscriptions: US, AFO - S19.94 one year; Canada and elsewhere -S25,94 one year Single copies $2.95 in US. The publisher disclaims all responsibility to return unsolicited matter, and all righis in portions published thereof remain Ihe sde property o1 COMPUTE Pubiicalcns International Ltd Letters sent to COMPUTE or its editors becotrie Ihe property of the magazine. Editorial offices are located at 324 W, Wendover Ave., Sle, 200. Greensboro, NC 27408. Tel. (919) 275-9809.

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Tclecnmmunicarion surchai^gcs may apply. Guarantee limited to one per customer and applies only lo first month nf tse.

Circle fleader Service Number 20S

connpuTE

80

DISK UPDATE

By Richard C. Leinecker.

The latest on

COMPUTE'S PC Disk.

82

STACKER

By Clifton Karnes

Double your

hard disk space with this

combo.

84

WORKPLACE

By Daniel Janal

Use your PC to automate

thank-you notes.

86

STREET LEGAL

By Rosalind Resnick and

Susie Archer

Keep your home office

running on the straight and narrow.

90

ARTS & LHTERS

By Robert Bixby CorelDRAW! outshines the competition with an

array of impressive features and an elegant.

easy-to-use design.

92

TRANSPARENT LANGUAGE

By Anthony Moses Everyone wants to know a

foreign language, but

nobody wants to learn one.

Here's a way.

113

REVIEWS

Sneak Peeks of Reader

Rabbit II and T/ie Treehouse.

Also, more

than two dozen reviews of

leading productivity,

entertainment, and education

packages.

94

PATHWAYS

By Steven Anzovin Carpal tunnel syndrome.

Typist's neck. Computer ailments with

a single culprit: your keyboard.

96

GREAT HEAVENS ABOVE

By Lament Wood Reach for the stars

with your personal computer,

100

FAST FORWARD

By David English

Your laptop's parallel port is

the secret for

avoiding obsolescence.

106

CHUCK YEAGER'S AIR COMBAT

By Denny Atkin

One of the best combat

flight simulations ever.

108

GAMEPLAY

By Orson Scott Card

In war games, abstraction

doesn't equal distraction.

110

MARTIAN MEMORANDUM: THE MAKING OF A COMPUTER MOVIE

By Richard 0. f\/lann Access Software's disk- based video breakthrough is the first computer "talkie."

144

CONVERSATIONS

By Peter Scisco

Trip Hawkins gets

interactive on

multimedia, entertainment,

and education.

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EDITORIAL LICENSE

Peter Scisco

Our new

presentation Is

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COMPUTE

Uie magazine It Is.

If you're familiar with Woody Allen, you might remember a scene from Annie Hall in which our intrepid but angstridden protagonist com- pares his current love relation- ship to a shark. "It has to keep moving forward," he says, "or else it dies." The joke comes when Alvie Singer closes his metaphor: "I think we have a dead shark on our hands."

It's a very funny line, first be- cause of the incongruity of comparing love to a meat-eat- ing fish (who can hear that line and not think of Jaws?) and second because of its small glimmer of truth.

Magazines, like sharks and love, also must move forward. (1 think only network television reinvents itself faster.)

This issue of COMPUTE marks another stage in our ev- olution toward becoming a computer magazine of the nineties, which promise to be a decade in which value re- places vanity and activism replaces avarice. The person- al computer can play an impor- tant role in all of this as the

tool for people who've chosen to be active participants in the Information Age.

Employers, coworkers, and neighbors look to COMPUTE readers for advice in choos- ing, evaluating, and buying computers, software, printers, and all the rest of the devices that complement today's so- phisticated PCs. Industry an- alysts and researchers point to the consumer market as the fastest growing segment of the computer market. Just visit your neighborhood elec- tronics store or the office su- perstore down the highway, and you're likely to see stacks of computer products laid out like so many stereos and typewhters.

The reasons behind this shift range from falling prices to changing social attitudes. Fully equipped 386SX PCs sell for under $1,900; 286- based PCs, low-end Macs, and hard-drive equipped Ami- gas sell for less than $1,000. Professionals looking for qual- ity family time are choosing to bring work home or telecom- mute. Other workers, victims of a tight economy, are strik- ing out on their own, using the PC as a support staff for a variety of home-based servic- es and other businesses.

You might be an old hand at blazing trails through the of- ten confusing and contradicto- ry world of computer technol- ogy, or you might be new to the silicon jungle. But no mat- ter where you fall in that range, one thing is certain — once you bring that PC home, your world unfolds into an expanding universe of pos- sibilities.

In looking through this is- sue of COMPUTE, you'll see a lot of new images. But you'll al- so find some old favorites. For example, we've brought our COMPUTE Choice reviews back to the departments where they belong, where we

can showcase these worthy products and give them the in- depth treatment they de- serve. Our Test Lab section boasts a new design and lay- out. Inside, you'll still find the information and benchmark testing to guide you toward making the best buying deci- sions based on your needs, not on manufacturers' spec sheets.

Our Home Office depart- ment will continue to examine strategies to make you more productive with your PC, whether you're a home- based entrepreneur or run- ning an extended office and telecommuting to company headquarters. In Discovery, you'll read of creative uses for the computer and learn how to use all this new technology to give your kids an edge in the classroom. In Entertain- ment, you'll get a close look at the latest in electronic games, from executive play toys to virtual reality.

Along the way, COMPUTE will showcase artists who are using computers to create the images, music, and writing that will define for the history books a generation of techno- savvy electronic eclectics.

The way people use com- puters and the possibilities of computer technology deter- mine the shape of COM- PUTE

If you don't own the fastest, most powerful computer in the world, if you've used your computer only for word proc- essing and number crunch- ing, we'll help you upgrade your system and discover new uses like video, multime- dia, and desktop publishing. If you use your computer in iso- lation, as a vessel of technol- ogy, we'll help you set sail in- to the world of telecommunica- tions where you can join an ar- mada of PC users who are exploring a new world of elec- tronic communities. D

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NEWS & NOTES

Alan R. Bechtold

Leading Edge

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N3/SX and

N3/SX20 notebooks.

A Difference of Opinion

The federal judge who at first ruled Ashton-Tate's dBASE copyright claim invalid in 1990 has reversed his own de- cision. According to the Wall Street Journal, software pub- lishers and industry iegal ea- gles did a double take be- cause such rapid reversals are a rarity in the U.S. judicial system. The reversal doesn't spell instant relief for Ashton- Tate, however, who must still defend its dBASE copyright in a lawsuit filed by Fox Soft- ware, publisher of the popular Foxbase dBASE ///-compati- ble software packages and util- ities. The decision should give Ashton-Tate a bit more le- gal ground when the suit reaches court. Judge Terry J. Hatter gave no reason for his sudden reversal.

Into the Notebook Fray

Until now. Leading Edge Prod- ucts resisted the urge to enter the notebook PC market — but it couldn't resist forever. The company just unveiled the

N3/SX and N3/SX20, its first two entries in the notebook market.

The new Leading Edge notebook PCs weigh just 6.9 pounds each. Both feature 9- inch diagonal sidelit triple su- pertwist LCD displays with 640 X 480 VGA resolution ca- pable of generating 32 shades of gray. Each comes equipped with an 84-key key- board with an embedded nu- meric keypad, 12 function keys, and inverted-T cursor keys with key spacing de- signed for ease of use.

The N3/SX features a 3B6SX processor running at 16 fvlHz and support for an 80387 coprocessor. It comes standard with 1MB of memo- ry, expandable to 5MB, a 1.44MB floppy drive, and a 20MB hard drive. A proprie- tary slot is dedicated for an op- tional 9600-bps fax and data modem. The unit is powered by either an AG power adapt- er or ni-cad batteries. The unit retails for $2,595.

The N3/SX20 has the same features as the N3/SX with the exception of a 20-MHz proces- sor and either a 30MB or 60MB hard drive. The 30MB version retails for $2,895; the 60MB version retails for $3,195. For more information, contact Leading Edge Prod- ucts, 117 Flanders Road, West- borough, Massachusetts 01581; (508)836-4800.

Apple Suit Broadened

According to Microsoft corpo- rate spokespersons, Apple Computer wants to broaden the scope of its lawsuit against Microsoft and Hewlett-Pack- ard to include Mi- crosoft Windows 3.0. The original law- suit, filed by Apple in March 1988, alleges that Windows 2.03, which was the Windows version on the market at that

time, infringed on Apple's copyrights. Windows 3.0 was released in May 1990.

Microsoft claims the intent to amend the complaint was disclosed in a phone call from Apple's general counsel. Since the original filing of the lawsuit, Microsoft maintains that it hasn't infringed on any Apple copyrights and that it will continue to fight these al- legations vigorously.

More Troubles for Microsoft?

Lawsuits from Apple aren't the only things Microsoft has to worry about lately. Accord- ing to Microsoft officials, the staff of the Federal Trade Com- mission has decided to ex- pand the scope of its nonpub- lic investigation of the compa- ny. The FTC plans to examine third-party allegations that Mi- crosoft "has monopolized or has attempted to monopolize the market for operating sys- tems, operating environ- ments, computer software, and computer peripherals for personal computers,"

Until April 10 of this year, the focus was on an alleged horizontal agreement be- tween Microsoft and IBM. The agreement was purportedly re- flected in a joint press release issued at Comdex in Novem- ber 1989. That press release discussed future directions of OS/2 and Windows.

Reconcilable Differences

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What You Learn

■ Hov\- to get sraned

■ How to luiiki complete, ea.sy-to-read- .spreatl.>heets

■ How to use Lotus a.s a databa.se management program

■ 1 low to save time with macros

■ How to enhance spread.sheet apciearance

■ How to use Lotus graphics capabilitte.s

■•^«!i^>

Learn Lotus 1-2-3 Relets*' ^ ')

F) GtionihcFASTm^CK nOU with MlCROTl.TOR ...

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Your Five Bottom-Line Benefits

1. You learn Lotus 1-2-3 in -i hours- guaranteed.

2. You have hel[;> at your ilngenijjs any time you need it.

3- You can share MicroTtitor with your employees or co-workers.

I. Your spreadsheets look better becaii.se you know all the formatting dps and shortcuts.

5. YoLi earn back the low cost many times over-— becau.se MicroTutor is faster and easier than any seminar or manual.

p..

I%1

fiS Lve gone to

.seminars to learn computer

applications, but after they were o\er I

had forgotten some of the instRitlion. With

MicroTuior, ever\Thing is there for you to refer

to if you forget something or need heli5.9§

' — Marcia Scott, Massachu.setts

Your Satisfaction is Triple Guaranteed

1. If you don't learn Lotus 1-2-3 within 4 hours, return the tutorial and receive a full refund.

2. If in the first 30 days you don't save hours using Lotus 1-2-3, return MicroTutor and receive a full refund.

3. If you aren't satisfied with MicroTutor within 30 days, return your purchase for a full refund.

Put it to the test. Send it back if yoti're not completely satisfied. No que.stions asked.

How To Order

1. Call 1-800-828-2917 and use your Master- Card, .\m'X. VISA or Discover Card.

2. Fax the coupon below to 717-343-8041.

3- Mail the coupon below to National Learn- ing Systems, Dept. 000000, 92t Oak St., Scranton. I'A 18Sli.

National Learning Systems, Dept. ABXB91

925 Oak Street, Scranton, PA 18515

Ypfif ' ^^''"' "" '''''^'■' ''"^^" ^'''"*'"f^ "" "'y ^'t:- •''L'nd .MicroTutor to me for the lv9i product(s) checked. 1 under.siand I ha\e 30 days to return MicroTutor for a full refund if I'm not completely satisfied.

Name

Title

Call Now: 1-800-828-2917, Dept abxb9i

All orders shipped within iS hours.

1 need this disk size: D 5 'A" D 3 '.^' 1 1 Do you have a hard drive? D Yes D No

Company, Address

_2ip_

City 'Slate

i^hone ( )

D Check or .Money Order Enclo,sed D I'u rtlia.se Order Enclosed Charge to:

D Ma-steiCard D A.MKX D VI.SA D Di.scover Cant Hxpire.s_ Card 3

Signature .

All iirtkfs muvt Ih- ^i^nc^.l

Plea.se mark your selection(s)' ami calculate yourioial l>clou.

D Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3.1 S'iy.95

D Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.2 S49.95

D Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.0 S49.95

D Lotus MacrcK .'. S49.95

(For all Lotus Relea,ses)

n WordPerfect' 5.1 $49.95

□ WbjciPerfect* 5.0 ..S49.95

DMS-DOSM.Ol S49,95

D MS-DOS' 3.3 S49,95

n Leam to Use a PC S49.95

Total » of Seleaions at S49.95 each= S

Shipping and Handling s -■9>

(AK. HI, PR, PO. Box, $5.20; Foreign, S15.95)

Add Sales Tax (PA 6%) ..,„. s

Software names are registered trademarks of (heir respective

companies. Copyright © National teaming Systems Circle Reader Service Number 201

TOTAL S

NEWS & NOTES

with a cable included with the Sharp Organizer Link II pack- age for connecting palmtop or- ganizers to desktop PCs. Spe- cial software, which is loaded on the desktop PC, manages the transfer of schedules di- rectly into Sidekick's Time Plan- ner feature. Sidekick's Recon- ciliation feature then com- pares the two schedules and reconciles any discrepancies, consolidating them into a com- mon file.

The Time Planner, which in- cludes an appointment book, calendar, and to-do list, can automatically track and exe- cute actions such as sending MCI Mail messages or activat- ing a pager. In addition to the Time Planner, Sidekick has an address book, notepad, and calculator. The Wizard in- cludes an address book, tele- phone directory, world clock, notepad, and calculator.

A Home Computer That Means Business

Radio Shack's newest person- al computer, the Tandy 1000 RLX, is a home computer de- signed to meet the demands of many small businesses. This IBM-compatible PC car- ries the extra power of a 10- MHz 80286 microprocessor and one 3'/2-inch 1 .44MB flop- py drive. A second SVa-inch drive bay accepts either a flop- py drive or a 20-40MB hard drive. The system also has one PC-compatible expan- sion slot.

The 1000 RLX includes Tan- dy's DeskMate and DeskMate Home Organizer's 24 easy-to- use home management appli- cations. Pull-down menus and pop-up dialog boxes, along with the point-and-click convenience of Tandy's mouse, permit quick and easy performance of most tasks. Both the hard and flop- py disk configurations include high-resolution VGA graphics, a voice message option in

10 COMPUTE

DeskMate's Information Cen- ter, a two-button mouse, two joystick connectors, micro- phone and stereo headphone jacks, and a realtime clock with battery backup. All inter- nal components are designed to function without an internal fan, meaning the 1000 RLX runs cooler and quieter than most computers on the mar- ket today.

Suggested retail prices are $799.95 for the 1000 RLX and $1,199.95 for the 1000 RLX hard drive model. Monitors are additional.

900 Woys fo Fix It

Epson America has found a convenient way to charge cus- tomers for help with the instal- lation, configuration, and oper- ation of their computers. A new 900 telephone line (900- 988-4949) supplements the end-user assistance regularly provided by Epson author- ized resellers. The 900 line is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. -7 p.m. Callers are con- nected with an Epson support representative after a pre- recorded message, which states that after an initial min- ute of free time, the caller will be billed at a rate of $2 per minute.

End users who need assis- tance locating the nearest Ep- son Customer Care Center should call (800) 289-3776.

IBM Goes to Hollywood

The latest Hollywood pre- miere isn't an action-packed star-studded motion picture. It's IBM's new presentation graphics software. Dubbed Hoilywood. the package al- lows business professionals to create high-quality hardcopy, transparencies, slides, and onscreen presen- tations.

Hollywood runs in Windows 3.0. Text- and graphics- based presentations are easi- ly created using the pro-

gram's integrated outliner, tem- plates, color schemes, fully scalable fonts, and charting, drawing, and painting tools. The program also features a sophisticated screen-show ca- pability. A spreadsheetlike in- terface makes entering data for presentations easier, and the runtime screen-show mod- ule lets users create presenta- tions that include sophisticat- ed transition effects, which can be distributed and dis- played without Hollywood but still within licensed use.

Hollywood requires an IBM PC, PS/2, or IBM-tested com- patible with at least an 80286- based processor (386 or high- er is recommended), a hard drive, and 1,6MB of RAM (2MB or more is recommend- ed); DOS version 3.3 or high- er; Microsoft Windows 3.0; an IBM or Microsoft mouse or compatible; and any Win- dows 3,0-supported color vid- eo adapter. Suggested retail price is $495.

For product information and a demonstration disk, call (800) IBM-7699.

Too Much Silicon?

What could be more perfect for the beach than a comput- er made entirely of sand? World-famous sand sculptor Todd Vander Pluym created the sand computer as a stage for an international awards presentation honoring technical computer solutions. The idea was a natural. "The raw material of the silicon chip — the foundation of the modern computer — is sand," said Vander Pluym. Unfortu- nately the computer isn't ex- actly portable, weighing about 25 tons. The all-sand work of art was also doomed to break down quickly but for- tunately it held up long enough to stage the awards ceremony.

Recipients of the 1991 CSC Technical Excellence

Another Eastern block falls.

There's a new'TRIS on the block, its name is WORDTRIS. And if you love TETRIS, this latest fast-action, falling block, Soviet game will boggle your mind.

This time the falling pieces are letter blocks. Form them into words and score points. As each block falls, it pushes down the blocks below, producing an ever-changing kaleidoscope of letters where scoring oppor- tunities appear- and vanish - at the Wink of an eye.

Create words horizontally or vertically, but don't put all your E's in one BASKET Because every time a word lines up, poof! those letters disappear, and the blocks below pop up to fill the spaces. So when- ever you earn points you stir up the alphabet soup. And suddenly that falling M has no HOME to go to.

Avallablein retail storesor for Visa/MasterCard orderscall lollfree,

24 hours a day.7 days a weefc 1 -800-695-G A M E (Orders Only)

FortKhnicalquestlonsandavailabilitycall: 1-415-522-1164 (M-F: 9am - 5pm PST)

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GoforXVLOPHOMEifyoudare.

WORDTRIS keeps raining vowels and consonants until you've collected enough words to move to the next level, or the well fills up. Of course, each successive roundups the ante as the blocks fall ever faster. But you can choose your difficulty level to match your skills, and select from single player, cooperative, competitive, head-to-head or tournament modes. The built-in 30,000 word diction- ary verifies even the most obscure word.

Set the difficulty level at 10 and you'll find WORDTRIS harder to keep up with than the changes in Eastern Europe,

WORDTRIS. Another great game from the TETRIS people.

SSilQIEaiEll

SIpectntmHoioByte

Available (or IBM and Mac/Macll.

Spectrum HdoB^^

A Division of Spiiere, Inc. 2061 Challenger Drive, Alameda, CA 94501

So™ SmwiiBMVC A. WOEJTlffi Copyright ewWAmenka.litAIJRi^BResen'td.WOBTtB led 5(1^^ TniUSCt5iyrighl eiW V/0 ElKimjgglediiUa lEtegl TFIlBis a tratoirk of Eloti. TFTliB

Circle Rndsr Service Number 1S2

NEWS & NOTES

Credit-card- size memory cards store data in Hewiett-Pacliard's new palmtop.

Awards were Robert Heppe of Washington, D.C., who helps the United States keep tabs on satellites — where they are and where they're go- ing; Paul Gustafson of Chica- go, Illinois, who helps indus- tries cut costs by increasing workloads on their existing mainframe computers: Luc Mercier of Brussels, Belgium, who helps governments and in- ternational industries track down bugs, viruses, and oth- er problems in computer net- works; Eric Booth of Lanham, fvlaryland, who has discov- ered ways to stretch the life of satellite software through reuse; and Paul Chapman of Belmont, Massachusetts, who employed higher mathemat- ics to reduce the amount of steel used in manufacturing processes.

Travel Agent on a Disk

tf you've had it with red-eyes or 500-mile flights that should only take an hour but require four connections and three lay- overs, don't despair. Now you can figure out your own flight itinerary and then have your travel agent book the flights and make all the other neces- sary arrangements.

Now you can view more than 250,000 direct and sin- gle-connection flights to and from 1200 destination cities right on your own PC, without a modem. Flight Disk, from Of- ficial Airline Guides (GAG), is a collection of floppy disks featuring information on direct and connecting flights for the most frequently traveled city pairs in the United States, Can- ada, Mexico, and the Caribbe- an.

The computer makes all the information — over 700 pag- es' worth — contained in the OAG Desktop Flight Guide for North America available elec- tronically at a glance. Previ- ous editions of Flight Disk con- tained schedules for about

110,000 flights and 600 desti- nations.

Flight Disk is offered on a subscription basis for a yearly fee of S199 plus $15 for postage and handling, or $99 plus postage and han- dling for subscribers to the OAG Desktop Flight Guide, North Ameri- can edition. New is- sues are published monthly.

Anyone interested in a free 30-day trial of Flight Disk can call (800) 323- 3537.

One Million Served

Borland In- ternation- al's Quattro Pro spread- sheet soft- ware is selling like hot cakes. Since its introduction nearly two years ago, over 1 million copies of the program have been sold.

The growing worldwide spreadsheet market might ac- count for some of Borland's success with Quattro Pro. Win- ning an unprecedented 37 in- ternational industry awards doesn't hurt, either. Since 1989, Borland's share of the worldwide spreadsheet mar- ket has grown from 8 percent to 20 percent. In the U.S., its share has doubled, growing from 12 percent to 24 percent in the same time period.

Check Out This Palmtop

Just when you thought com- puters couldn't get any small- er, Hewlett-Packard unveils a new palmtop PC that's about the size of a standard check- book. Weighing just 11 ounc- es, the 95LX comes with DOS 3.22, Lotus 1-2-3, and an ar- ray of organizer tools, all load- ed in ROM and ready to use. Other very useful features in- clude an advanced financial

calculator and communica- tions capabilities.

The 95LX has a QWERTY keyboard and uses credit- card-size memory cards to store data. A modem port and printer port are also includ- ed. It retails for $699.

For more information, con- tact Inquiries Manager, Hew- lett-Packard Company, 1000 NE Circle Boulevard, Corval- lis, Oregon 97330; (503) 752- 7736,

TV for Computer Lovers

Serious computer users are of- ten too busy watching their monitors to spend much time watching television. When the subject is computers, howev- er, it's a different matter. The PBS series "Computer Chroni- cles" is apparently one of the best television programs around with a focus on com- puters. The program was re- cently named Best Computer Television Program of 1990 at the Sixth Annual Computer Press Association Awards. The show won out over some tough competition, including ABC's "Business World" and CNN's "Future Bytes."

Alan R, Bechtold is editor of In- fo-Ma( Magazine, an electron- ic news weekly published by BBS Press Service. O

12 COMPUTE

My Citizen Makes Working At HOME LOOK VERY Attractive.

SIMPBOirS -_

PROPOSED TREES FOR MAIN STREET UBRARY PROJECT

From advertising copy to business letters to product descriptions and designs, the Citizen GSX-130 is the practical 24-wire printer for the smaJl business or office at home. It's one of the fastest printers in its class. And it gives you just about everything you might need.

Even color. It's easy to print attention-getting documents that express your ideas, facts and figures with impact. Simply snap in the optional Color On Command™ kit and start printing in color with the software you probably already own.

With Command- Vue 11'" you're in control of color, pitch, popular typefaces, page layout and more. All in plain English, all with the touch of a switch.

The GSX-130 handles paper easily and effortlessly, too, with continuous paper tear-off that instantly advances the next page to

the tear-off bar. Paper parking allows you to switch between continuous paper and single sheets, so you're always ready for anything.

You'll have all the power you need, all al^ a great value. And to assure you of that, we include the Citizen Pledge of Quality - a two-year warranty. ■

The Citizen GSX-130. The practical way to professional printing. For more information call 1-800-556-1234 ext. 34.

CI 991 Clizan America Corporation

Gliafi, Cobr On Corrnoftd, Caftmnnd-Vu* U end ^

GdzOT lo^Q on Irodtmartu ai M CJtwi Wath Co. Ud.

^CITIZEN"

Circle RoBdsr Service Number 1ES

FEEDBACK

Amiga and 8-bit

Commodore

coverage, removing

bad sectors,

using GETS and PUTs,

contacting

GeoWorks, and more.

Representative Sample

1 could see it coming a few months ago: COMPUTE has gone IBM on us, rendering it- self useless to those of us who had subscribed for the very reason that it featured oth- er computers. I think that the subtitle of your magazine should be changed to The Complete IBM-Compatible Computer Resource. You can't possibly be giving a fair representation of the negative mail you're receiving.

LEUND JONES DALLAS, TX

COMPUTE still covers the Ami- ga and 8-bit Commodore com- puters. Issues of COMPUTE are created for these comput- ers in a very complex binding process and sent to readers who subscribe to Amiga Re- source or Gazette. If you're not getting the issues you want to read, write to us, and we'll notify the subscription sen/Ice that you want your sub- scription changed. Or for more rapid response, call (800) 727-6937 and request that your subscription be changed to the multiple-sub- scriber edition. We try to pub- lish a representative sample of mail in "Feedbacl<," as well as letters that will be help- ful to other readers. It's true that we receive some letters from Amiga and 8-bit Commo- dore owners confused by the changes in COMPUTE. Thanl<s for giving us the oppor- tunity to explain how we han- dle the special sections.

Hard Disk Headache

When I run CHKDSK on my 20MB hard disk, it shows 98,304 bytes in bad sectors. Will a reformat of the hard drive remove the bad sec- tors? Also, when I first pur- chased my computer, it would automatically boot from the C drive. Now it re- quires a system disk in drive

A to boot up. What did I do wrong?

ALFRED M, BELL ARLINGTON, VA

Reformatting your hard disk won't eliminate the bad sec- tors, and you wouldn't want to eliminate them because using those marginal sectors could endanger your data. Hard disk manufacturers thorough- ly test their products for de- fects and areas that may not reliably hold data. If defects are found, a bad track map is created and affixed to the top of the drive. During low-level formatting, those marginal ar- eas are roped off so no data can be stored there.

Bad tracks usually com- prise less than 1 percent of a disk's total surface — in your case, it's about half that much. In the normal course of operations on a hard disk, a few bad sectors are nothing to worry about.

Your inability to boot from drive C indicates that, for some reason, your system has lost the information that tells it drive C is a boot disk. This is a fairly common prob- lem. The easiest solution is to use a commercial disk-utility program to identify and repair the problem. No hard disk owner should be without such software.

It also may be possible to repair the damage on your own. but first make a backup of the hard disk for safety. Next, boot from a floppy disk and use the command SYS C: to place new copies of the system files on the hard disk. If this fails to get your hard disk back to normal, you'll have to reformat the disk to make it bootable again. Be- fore going ahead, make sure you have backups so you can restore your data.

Up a Tree

We at the Aldridge Company

appreciate your review of Tree86 in the article on DOS shells [COMPUTE, November 1990). I believe you found one of the major strengths of Tree86 — its small size. All of Tree86 fits on one 5y4-inch disk, and it can be run from a floppy, making it extremely portable.

We'd like your readers to know that the multiple screens Mr. Bechtold found lacking will be available in the next release of the pro- gram.

Another of TreeSS's strong points is its intuitiveness and ease of use. This is accom- plished through its pull-down menus accessed v/ith hot keys. The fact box included in the article indicated that Tree86 used function keys and no menus, which is an er- ror. We'd iike to let your read- ers know.

VALERIE BURSON. VICE PRESIDENT THE ALDRIDGE COMPANY HOUSTON, TX

In Search of Works

I need the phone number and address for GeoWorks.

E. WILLIAMS HUNTINGTON BEACH. CA

The address is GeoWorks, 2150 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley California 94707. The telephone numbers are (800) 772-0001 for orders and (4 15) 644-0883 for the company's offices.

You Put What You Get

I can't figure out how to use GET and PUT in GW-BASIC. Also, I'd like to create a menu that will pop up and then dis- appear. How can I do that?

SETH FULMER PALM, PA

This little program will grab whatever is in the upper left corner of the screen and smear it In various ways across the screen (note that you have to type or draw

14 COMPUTE

UiiSfWZliHj

• All new graphics - the latest advances in 3-D technology!

• DynomJe/nte/Zigence"- the better you fly, the better your foes fly!

• Toto(/y new challenges - including bombers, taiiguns and morel f" ms-dos w/540k (^ems ucmixY raquijod *« immnt rapiayand J;giKi«i

. Instant replay - get an audience-eye view of the action!' -„^ ^:^^::t;fJ^^,''l'':;;t^^.';^:^:t^^. ^."^JS^d d^^l*^"'''

. Diglihed speech - unique voices for every character!' «®^ ^:it^C\To^6'c::;-ZT>^dif'"r::^^^^^

• Cinematic storytelling - you re the star in a whole new story! (fodemorv of origin systtm., ■«. 1991 origin s^jh™., im.

Available in retail stores or call: 1-800-999-4939 for Visa/Mastercard orders.

Circle Reader Service Number 18t

FEEDBACK

something In the upper left cor- ner for this program to work). The PSEl XOR. and OR op- tions were used with PUT. You could also use the AND and PRESET options. Note that you have to dim an array variable to use it with GET, but when you use GET and PUT, you leave off the sub- script.

The second half of the pro- gram creates a menu and sen/- Ices it. Of course, a menu pro- gram like this only works while BASIC Is running. If you want to create a simitar pro- gram that would work in DOS, you should create it in C or a compiled BASIC.

10 DIM A%(1000)

20 SCREEN 2

30 GET(0,OH123,123),A%

40 FOR I = 0 TO 75

50 PUT(I,I),A%,PSET

60 NEXT

70 FOR I = 0 TO 75

80 PUT (75+l,75-l),A%,0R

90 NEXT

1D0FORI = 0TO75

110 PUT (150+I,I),A%,XOR

120 NEXT

130 CLS

140PRiNTCHRS(201);;FOR 1 = 0

TO 11:PRINT CHR$(205);:

NEXT:PRINT CHR$(187) 150 PRINT CHR$(186)+"1. Goto

D0S"+CHRS(186) 160 PRINT CHRS(186)+"2. Exit

menu"-f-CHR$(1S6) 170 PRINT CHRS(200);:FOR I = 0

TO llrPRlNT CHRS(2D5);:

NEXT:PRINT CHR$(188) 180 GET(D,0H144,32),A% 190 CLS 200 PRINT"press any key to show

menu" 210 AS = INKEYS 220 IF AS=" "THEN 210 230 CLS

240 PUT(D,0),A%,PSET 250 A$=INKEY$ 260 IF AS=" "THEN 240 270 IFA$="1"THEN

CLS:SHELL:CLS 280 IF AS="2"THEN CLS:END 290 GOTO 250

PC or Not PC

In the January 1991 issue of COMPUTE, in the "Feed- back" column, you stated that TSR-management pro- grams called Mark and Re- lease were published in the January 1990 issue of some- thing called COMPUTEI's PC Magazine. Is that something different from COMPUTE? I'm interested in the disk you men- tioned. Please get me more in- formation.

THOMAS C. SK1DMORE SALT LAKE CITY. UT

Up until May 1990, COMPUTE published four separate maga- zines: COMPUTE!, COM- PUTEl's PC Magazine, COM- PUTEI's Gazette, and Amiga Resource. COMPUTEI's PC Magazine, along with the oth- ers, was "folded Into" COM- PUTE when COMPUTE Publi- cations was purchased by Gen- eral Media. COMPUTEI's PC was a bimonthly magazine- disk combination.

For any past issue of COM- PUTEI's PC (including disk), send an $8 check or money or- der payable to COMPUTE. The address is COMPUTE Sin- gle Copy Sates, 324 West Wendover Avenue, Suite 200, Greensboro, North Carolina 27408. Specify that you want the January 1990 COM- PUTEI's PC and disk.

Readers whose tetters appear in "Feedback" will receive a free COMPUTES PC clock ra- dio while supplies last. Do you have a question about hardware or software? Or have you discovered some- thing that could help other PC users? If so, we want to hear from you. Write to COM- PUTE'S Feedback, 324 West Wendover Avenue, Suite 200, Greensboro, North Carolina 27408. We regret that we can- not provide personal replies to technical questions. O

16 COMPUTE

EDITORtAL

Editor In Chief Pelei Scisco

Art OlreclDr Robin C Case

Executive Editor Clifton Karnas

Senior Editor Emeritus Keitti Fefrell

Managing Editor David tiensley Jr.

FesttJres Editor F^bert Bixby

Associate Editor David Engiisti

Editor, Gazette Tom Nelsel

Associate Editor, Denny Atkin

Amiga Resource

Reviews Editor

Assistant Editors

Copy Editors

Editorial Assistant Interna

Mtks Hudnall M Cnampion David Sears Karen Huffman Susan Thompson Kandi Sykes Ciiantefle OligschlaegGr Efin Rtchler

ART Assistant Art Director Kcnnclh A. hlardy Designer Jo 6oykjn Typesetter Terry Cash PRODUCTION Production Manager De Potter

Tratfic Manager Barbara A. Wiiliains PROGRAMMING Programming Manager Riciiard C Leineclter Programnwrs Bruce Bcwdsn Steve Draper Troy Tucker ADMINISTRATION President Kaliiy KeetOfl Executive Vice President, William Tynan Operations OHIce Manager Sybil Agee Sr, Administrative Assistant, Julia Fleming Customer Service Administrative Assistant Receptionist

Elireda Chavis Cynthia Giles ADVERTISING Vice President, l^ter T Jotinsmeyor (212MW-B100 James B. Martise

Associate Publisher

Vice President,

Sales Development

Marlcetlng Manager

Caroline Hanfon (919) 275.ge09 ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES

East Coasi: FulH^ge and Standard Display Ads— Peter T Jolins- meyer. Chris Coelho. COMPUTE Publications International Ud,. 1965 Broadway. New Vork. NY 10023; (212) 49fr«10Q- l>tew Eng- land— Jack Garlend. Garland Associates. Inc . ID Industrial Park Rd.. Hingham, MA 02043. (617) 749-5852. East Coast and Midvrfest: Fractional an<l ProOuct Mart Ads — Caro ine Hanion. Product Mart Manager; COMPUTE Publications International Ltd.. 324 W. Wendover Ave , Suile 20O. Gieensboro, HC ZTAOS: 1919) 275-9609 Soolheaslern Accis Mgr: Fu!l-F^ge. Standard Display, and Mail-Ofdar Ads— Harriet f^igers, 1726 K St NW. Suile 903. Wasnington, DC. 20006. (202) 728-0320. Florlda- J. M Remer Associates, 3300 NE 192nd St.. Suite 192. Aven- lura. FL 331E0; (305) 933-1467. (305) 933-B302 (FAX). MidwesI:

Full-Page and Standard Display Ads— Siatr Lane, t4altonal Ac- counts Manager; 1025 Crescent Blvd , tSlen Ellyn. IL 60137; (708) 790-0171. Northwest— Jerry Thompson. Jules E. Th- ompson Co.. 1290 Howard Ave , Suite 303, Burlingame, CA 94010; (415) 348-8222 John Taggarl, (415) 547-4102. Lucille Dennis, (707) 451-8209 Souihwest— Ian Lingwood. 6728 Eton Ave, Canoga Park. CA 31303; (818) 992-4777 West Coast: Erac- tjonal Matl-Order. Sharewate, and Produci Mart ASs— Lucille Den- nis. Jules E. Thompson Co , 1290 Howard Ave.. Suite 303, Burlingame. CA 34010; (707) 461-6209. UK & Europe— Bever- ly Watdale. 14 Lisgar Terr.. London W14. England: 01 1-441-602- 329a. Japan — Intergroup Communications, Ltd.; Jiro Semba. President; 3F T[ger Bldg 5-22 Shiba-Koan. 3-Choine. Minato- ku. Tokyo 105, Japan. 03-434-2607, Classilied Ads— Sharon Sleinkemper, COMPUTE Publlcolions Internalionai Ltd.. 1966 Broadway. New York, NV 10023. (212) 724-0911. THE CORPORATION Bob Gucclone (chairman) Kathy Keeton (vice-chairman) David J. Myerson [chief operaling ofiicer) Anthony J. Gucckine (secretary-treasurer) William F. Marlieb (presideni, markeling & advertsing sales) John Evans (presideni, loreign editions) Patrick J Gavin (vice president, chief financial office:) ADVERTISING AND MARKETING Sr. VP/Corp Dir . New Business Development; Beverly Wardale. VP/Dir , Group Advertising Sales: Nancy Kesienbaum; Sr, VP/Soulhern and f^idvvest Advertising Dir ; Peter Goldsmith OlHoes: New York: 1965 Broadway, New York NY 10023- 5965. Te'. (212)496-6100, Telex 2371 26, MidweSI: 333 N, Michi- gan Ave, Suite 1810. Chicago. IL 60601, Tel. (312) 346-9393. South: 1725 K St. NW. Suite 903. Washington. DC 20006, Tel. (202) 728-0320. West Coast 6726 Elon Ave., Cancga Park, CA 91303, Tel. (B18) 932-4777 UK and Europe: 14 Lisgar Terrace. London W14. England. Tel. 01-828-3336 Japan Intergroup Jiro Serrba. Telex J25469IGLTYO, Fax 434-5970. Korea: Kaya Advtsng.. Inc. Rm, 402 Kunshin Anneir B/D 251-1. Oohwa Dong. Mapo-Ku. Seoul. Korea (121). Tel. 719-6906. Telex K32144Kayaad

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8RAIN

WAVES

BY SHERRY ROBERTS

p e've tieard thiat the computer 1 |f is an educational tool for so ^* many years that it's almost a

clictie. But thie next generation of education programs — called online education or computer-based distance learning — is anything but dull and hack- neyed. This is education on the brink — technology tapped and tiarnessed to bring learning to people who are too busy to attend traditional school or who don't have access to convention- al campus environments.

For example, an American soldier enrolled in an online college course at NOVA University in Florida continued to file assignments and attend elec- tronic classrooms via his computer while stationed in the Persian Gulf.

"The whole goal is to reach as many people as possible with quality instruction," says Margaret Morabito, founder of the Computer-Assisted Learning Center (CALC), which offers continuing education, self-enrichment, and college-level courses for long- distance students of all ages on the online service GEnie. "There are so many barriers to learning in the offline world. Online is an excellent medium for overcoming those barriers."

In the offline world, there are busi- nesses with inflexible hours, jobs with strenuous travel demands, and chil- dren that require babysitters. For the handicapped, the offline campus may be a chore to navigate. For students living in out-of-the-way locales — a ranch in the Australian outback or a small burg in Alaska — the offline cam- pus may be hundreds of miles away

Although online education appeals to a broad spectrum of people, from elementary students to senior adults,

19

the greatest growth in this area has been undergraduate and graduate conn- puter-based degree programs for wori<- ing men and women.

Now a Fortune 500 executive can fin- ish her doctoral degree without ever set- ting foot in a classroom; she can do her homework between business meet- ings or on a flight to Japan; she can at- tend class from a hotel room half a world away — as long as she packed her computer and modem.

Online education can be as unstruc- tured as someone putting out a call for help with homework on CompuServe's Student Forum or as rigid as one of the curriculum-based degree programs of- fered by schools such as the Universi- ty of Phoenix, NOVA University, or the New York Institute of Technology.

The whole concept of computer- based distance learning is so new that everyone involved is a pioneer. No two educational institutions have organ- ized their programs the same way. The only common denominator is the use of computer and modem.

CALC, for example, requires stu- dents to attend something called real- time classrooms. Unless a student has a medical or technical excuse, the stu- dent is expected to meet with the In- structor and other students online at an assigned time. The University of Phoe- nix, on the other hand, does not re- quire online students to log on for a spe- cific class; students log on and off at their convenience to retrieve assign- ments, turn in homework, and confer with the teacher or other students.

NOVA University teams teleconfer- encing in the electronic classroom with videotapes of live classrooms and attendance at on-campus institutes.

The cost of CALC courses ranges from free to $40, pius connect time at $6 an hour. Tuition for online courses of- fered by accredited universities ranges from $100 to S250 per credit hour. Some programs charge an additional communications fee, which covers course and access setup and online hours; others allow students to pur- chase blocks of online hours.

School supplies are high-tech but ba- sic: a computer (any kind), a modem, and telecommunications software, usu- ally provided by the school. Online courses also require textbooks just like their campus counterparts.

On Your Schedule

Flexibility — the ability to attend class wherever and whenever they wish — is the main reason students enroll in on- line degree programs.

Lorraine Wright, an internal auditor for AT & T in Atlanta, Georgia, says the online program of the University of

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Phoenix was the only way to get her master's degree in business administra- tion. "My job requires 50 to 80 percent travel, but now that I have a laptop, I can go to school. There's no way I could make the ti'aditional classroom setting."

When Wright first heard about com- puter-based learning from a coworker, she had her doubts about the quality and the serious intention of such pro- grams. She quickly learned, though, that online learning is no easy cruise.

She estimates she spends 15-20 hours a week studying offline — five hours of reading each weekend and 12-13 hours of work on two papers due each week. The first six weeks of class, she downloaded 500 pages of class material and student comments. "Because of the communication mode, I think you spend more hours

per week on classwork [than in the tra- ditional classroom course]," Wright says. "But that Is the price you pay for flexibility."

Students also choose online courses because of the diversity of their class- mates. The computer has facilitated the creation of truly global classrooms where students from Singapore study with students from Seattle and the stu- dent in the electronic desk next to you could be an airplane pilot, a CEO, or a retired schoolteacher.

"I like the networking with class- mates," Wright says. "I've met people in my class from all over the United States from different companies and backgrounds. If I were in any of their towns, I'd feel comfortable enough to call them up and visit with them."

Students and teachers alike say there is a noticeable lack of shyness in electronic classrooms. "It is a very lib- erating and democratic environment," explains Tom Bishop, director of mar- keting for the University of Phoenix On- line program. The university, which has 13 campuses throughout the South- west, began offering computer-based degree programs in 1989.

"It is the content of the student's con- tributions that is important," Bishop says, "not the student's physical char- acteristics."

CALC's Morabito agrees, "When you're online, you don't have the phys- ical presence, the facade that you must put on. No one knows that you didn't dress up to come to class or that you're handicapped and in a wheel- chair or what kind of car you drive. Everyone is treated on the same basis, and it opens people up."

As computer-based education has developed, participants have noticed in- direct benefits; students report a dra- matic increase in communications and analytical thinking skills. The logistics of attending class via computer discour- ages rambling monologues (on the part of either student or teacher) and eliminates the potential for off-the-cuff answers.

Dr, Edward A. Becker, director of Graduate Accounting Programs at NO- VA University, describes four commu- nication skills: reading, writing, speak- ing, and listening. He theorizes that to- day's highly technological and com- plex work environment requires a fifth communication skill: computer literacy.

Students taking computer-based courses, by necessity, learn how to use a computer. Few of them are hack- ers. Often they turn to their teacher or fellow students for help when technol- ogy is about to get the better of them. Schools provide students with support while they learn the basics of comput-

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TAUTOLOGY [Tj <3> conscious awareness

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er use — from how to log on to the school's system to how to get a tran- script of last week's session from the school's library.

The Price for Flexibility

The most commonly heard complaint about online education is the lack of the "warm fuzzy factor" and face-to- face interaction. Participants miss the human touch and sometimes dislike dealing with an inanimate object.

Schools say they make a special ef- fort to maintain contact with students in online programs so that they feel nei- ther stranded nor isolated. When stu- dents yearn for the sound of the hu- man voice, they frequently pick up the telephone and call classmates and teachers. Several members of a Univer- sity of Phoenix study group that live in New England drove to a mutually con- venient location for a get-together.

"It is much warmer and more human than most people would expect," Bish- op says. "Humor comes through even in the typewritten word."

NOVA University solves the problem by integrating into its programs chanc- es for students to meet their online classmates and mentors in person' NO- VA requires master's and doctoral stu- dents to attend either week-long insti- tutes or weekend seminars in Fort Lau- derdale, Florida. NOVA students and teachers also rub elbows at symposia held every three months at regional sites, such as Phoenix, Cincinnati, At- lantic City and Jacksonville.

Degrees of Value

The New York Institute of Technology started the American Open University, its computer-based distance learning program, eight years ago. Dr. Ward Deutschman, director of the American Open University, says today the pro- gram is "clearly a success."

He says his online programs have on- ly a 10-15 percent attrition rate as com- pared to the 50-80 percent attrition rate ordinarily found in traditional dis- tance learning programs or correspon- dence courses.

Interaction is the element that makes online learning more than a mod- ern day correspondence course. "We have found that connectivity between student and faculty the fact that a stu- dent can get a response to his ques- tion in a day or two and that he is ex- pected to interact online, makes a dif- ference," Deutschman says.

Even if the computer does help keep some students in school, so to speak, is it all for naught? Are degrees earned via computer considered as val- uable as those earned on campus?

Deutschman admits that the tradition-

22 COMPUTE

al world of academia has yet to wel- come computer-based education with open arms.

"Some institutions that haven't been involved with distance education look at anything different with a jaundiced eye," Deutschman says. "The plus side of this is that institutions offering distance learning are really attending to the quality of instruction they are giv- ing. Tfiey are investing enormous amounts of time and effort into ensur-

ing that their quality of education is scru- pulously maintained."

Frequently schools defend the qual- ity of instruction in their online pro- grams by using the same faculty to teach both campus and online cours- es. Or schools hire experts in their fields to teach particular online cours- es. NOVA University has the invest- ment director for Travelers Insurance and an expert from the Internal Reve- nue Service on its accounting faculty.

ONLINE WITH THREE UNIVERSITIES

Working adults make up the majority of online students for a simple reason: They're always working.

The purpose of online education is to improve access to learning for people who can't attend traditional classrooms because of their jobs or other circum- stances. Here are three academic insti- tutions whose online programs are all di- rected to adults.

University of Phoenix

The University of Phoenix Online pro- gram not only requires all students to be "working adults" but insists that all mem- bers of the faculty be working profession- als in their fields of expertise.

Incorporated in 1976 in Arizona, the university has 13 campuses and learning centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, New fvlexico, Utah, and Puerto Rico. It is accredited by the North Central Associ- ation of Colleges and Schools,

The university started its Online pro- gram in 1989 and has 340 students. De- grees that can be earned through Online include a bachelor's degree in business administration, a master's in organization- al management, and a master's in busi- ness administration.

Oniine's electronic classroom is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, allow- ing students to control the time and place of their individual participation. Stu- dents go online at their convenience to retrieve assignments, turn in or upload homework, and participate in class dis- cussions.

Programs are built upon the experi- ences of the working professional so stu- dents can apply what they learn as they learn it. Frequently, papers and projects must relate to the student's own workplace.

"We find that adults demand that the education they are consuming have im- mediate relevancy," says Tom Bishop, the university's director of marketing. "It's not just a hobby."

American Open University

American Open University is the dis- tance learning arm of the New York In- stitute of Technology In Central Islip, New York. Six hundred students from throughout the United States, Singapore, fvlalaysia, and Europe are pursuing de- grees at AOU through their computers.

AOU, which is accredited by the fvlid- dle States Association of Colleges and Schools, offers Bachelor of Science de- grees in general studies, business ad- ministration, and behavioral sciences. It also offers a Bachelor of Professional Studies degree in general studies.

Students receive a course learning package which includes a textbook, a de- tailed syllabus, and assignments. Home- work assignments and special projects are sent in by the student through the com- puter. In computer conferences, a men- tor directs the learning activities just as an instructor in a conventional classroom does. Students can read, review, and write messages to the instructor and oth- er students through the computer.

NOVA University

NOVA University liegan offering online ed- ucation in 1983. It is a muttifaceted pro- gram that integrates computer confer- encing, videotapes, and the traditional component: the face-to-face classroom environment.

Accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, NOVA has 300 on- line students. The university offers doc- toral degrees in information systems, in- formation science, computer education, and training and learning. It also offers a master's in computer-based learning.

Students also may lake some account- ing courses online. By the end of 1992, NOVA expects to be able to offer online an entire master's degree in accounting.

NOVA has perhaps the greatest va- riety in its delivery system. NOVA stu- dents not only are expected to spend a great deal of their time on computer, ei- ther in realtime electronic class or send- ing in homework electronically, but they also use videotapes of actual classroom sessions filmed on NOVA's campus In Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Concerned that students might miss the human contact ol classroom-based education, NOVA requires attendance at two week-long institutes or weekend sem- inars held on campus. The university al- so offers symposia at four sites through- out the country to share in person the lat- est research on that term's topic, to en- courage students to share their own re- search, and to provide face-to-face an- swers to students' questions.

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Circle Reader Service Number 140

FROM HOME SCHOOLING TO HELP WITH HOMEWORK

Every Monday night at 8:00 12-year-old Danny Brumleve switches on his comput- er and goes to school. This session he is taking a course on C programming fronn the Computer-Assisted Learning Center (CALC) on GEnie. Last session he aced English 203, also from CALC,

Danny's mother, Dorothy, describes her son as "very bright, severely gifted," Last year she decided to remove Danny from private school and try a year of home schooling while he awaits accep- tance into a special high school. She or- ganized tutors, arranged a Latin course for Danny, and browsed through GEnie.

Dorothy Brumleve, a computer pro- grammer, considers the CALC courses a valid part of Danny's curriculum, "I think it's a unique opportunity. He's too young to enter junior college, yet he's tak- ing comparable courses on CALC." CALC offers courses that can earn col- lege credit from Edison State College.

Danny says the courses are fun. And the Urbana, Illinois, ninth grader says, "I learn a lot more this way"

Dorothy Brumleve is quite satisfied with online education and proud of her son, "It attracts a different audience, a stu- dent that really wants to learn, a student that's not there for the party. Because there isn't a party. The student has to be nnotivated to keep up when he doesn't have the daily contact with a teacher."

Home schooling information also is found in one of CompuServe's 240 fo- rums: the Education F^orum.

Although CompuServe does not offer curriculum-based online classrooms, it is a source for online students to get help with their homework. The CompuServe Information Service, which was intro- duced in 1979, offers members access to 1400 databases, including Peterson's

College Guide to accredited or ap- proved U.S, and Canadian colleges, as well as Grolier's Academic American Encyclopedia, a reference source updat- ed four times a year.

CompuServe's Science/fvfath Educa- tion Forum has a data library with prac- tice problems to help students study for college board examinations. The Stu- dents' Forum is where it's happening for middle schoolers: junior high students ex- change ideas with teachers and other stu- dents and receive homework assistance.

With 800,000 CompuServe members worldwide, the potential for help is limit- less. As Debra Pedersen Young of Com- puServe says, "Who knows who is going to answer your question? It could be someone in the tJ.K. or someone next door."

Homiework help is also available, and independent study is encouraged on the. Prodigy network. Although it, like Com- puServe, doesn't offer curriculum- based programs. Prodigy features online learning situations. Besides gathering in- formation through Prodigy's reference da- tabases and posting calls for help on its bulletin boards, students could supple- ment their studies with features from old favorites such as National Geographic and Weekly Reader.

America Online also boasts a number of homework options, including regular- ly scheduled homework sessions each weeknight, private tutoring, boards on developing study skills, an Exam Prep Center with tips for taking exams, and an exam exchange where students and teachers can upload and download ex- ams to use or practice with. There are many other options currently online or in development intended to assist students and make learning fun.

Thie University of Pinoenix requires thiat its instructors not only tnave tine appro- priate academic accreditation but be currently practicing professionals in their fields.

Tlie other attack on legitimacy comes from critics who question (now tfiose who administer online programs know who's doing the homework and, ultimately, earning the degree, fvlany schools require online students to take midterm and final examinations in the presence of a proctor who has been approved by the school. Or, as in the case of NOVA, they actually re- quire the student to show up on cam- pus for brief but important seminars and institutes.

There is a feeling among those in- volved with online education that spe- cial recognition ought to be given to those who earn a degree via comput- er. Take a look at the online student, says Deutschman: The person has to

24 COMPUTE

be self-disciplined, motivated, and able to work without a support group. "If [people] can be successful in dis- tance learning, then you know they've got something," Deutschman says. In fact. Bishop predicts online de-

grees will become increasingly valua- ble as employers gain experience with online graduates. "The development of analytical skills, as a result of the me- dium, changes the way people can con- duct themselves in the workplace, Em- ployers are going to be very pleased in the kind of results they get with people in this program."

The Quality Goes In

Educators running online programs know that such programs will never re- place traditional classroom learning. Online education is seen as an alterna- tive service for a special group.

They predict, however, that technol- ogy-based education will have an Im- pact on classroom-based education. They expect it. in some ways, to en- hance campus learning.

Campus students, Deutschman says, may pressure schools to provide the same technological access to teach- ers that online students have. Online stu- dents typically can ask their professors a question via modem and get an an- swer in a day or two, while the campus student with a question is at the whim of his schedule and his professor's of- fice hours.

But perhaps the greatest success of these groundbreaking education pro- grams is that some educators have stopped talking about computers and begun using them. At last, in the case of online education, the computer has become an educational tool as essen- tial as pencil, paper, and textbooks.

As Becker says, "We've been using lecture techniques to teach from tie be- ginning. Then, when Gutenberg invent- ed the pnnting press, we began using textbooks and lecture. All the studies tell us that there are more ways to teach effectively — one is videotapes, and one is computer.

"Everybody is looking at [online learn- ing], and everybody is talking about it. The future is wide open; we're only lim- ited by our imaginations." □

SOURCES

America Online

8619 Westwood Center Dr., Ste. 200

Vienna, VA 22182

(703) 448-8700

American Open University (New York Instflute of Technology) Colton Ave., Bidg. 66, Rm. 227 Centra! Istip, NY 11722 (800) 222-6948

CompuServe

5000 Arlington Centre Blvd. Columbus, OH 43220 (614) 457-8600

NOVA University 3301 College Ave. Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314 (800) 541-6682

Prodigy

445 Hamilton Ave. White Plains, NY 10601 (800) 776-3449

University of Phoenix Online 101 Caiiiornia St., Ste. 505 San Francisco, CA 94111 (415) 956-2121

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Into Select is easy to use yet offers; the [:<iiveryou need with infobases up lo ! I) megabytes; text searche.s up to 700kh/sec: up to .12,IX)0 characters per window; and up to 64, OCX) windows per infobase. Even bctlcr. Info Select can swap down to as little as 7K memory!

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SHAREPAK

Richard C. Leinecker

Four

programs to

entertain

you and your

family

for hours

SEPTEMBER PAKS IT TO THE MAX

Go ahead; spend more than a hundred dollars for four pro- grams. But if you want real val- ue, order this month's Share- Pak. it's packed with four pro- grams that will entertain you and your family for hours.

Here at COfvlPUTE, we search the online services for high-quality shareware, which means you get the very best without having to take the time to hunt for good online pro- grams yourself.

If you're paying connect time or long-distance charges for being online, those costs can add up quickly — another reason why COMPUTE's Share- Pak disk is such a bargain.

As a subscriber, you'll get great programs every month, selected from lists of hun- dreds. And our disks come with a money-back guarantee: If you don't like the programs for any reason, just return the disk for a refund,

ARGH Version 3.0

ARGH. the first SharePak pro- gram for September, is a col- lection of sliding block puz- zles. How hard can that be?

Well, playing is actually easy: You just run the game from DOS and type the letter of the block you want to move. When you finish, the program sounds a beep, alert- ing you that you've success- fully completed the puzzle.

Sounds easy, huh? Sure, it's easy to play, but it's not so easy to master. Simple as it sounds, the idea translates in- to hours of fun.

To play ARGH version 3.0, you'll need 256K of RAM, DOS 2.1 or higher, and any type of monitor.

Gapper

Talk about a game that will both captivate and addict its

audience, try Gapper.

There's nothing fancy about this game — arrow keys move you around while you avoid the blob.

Once you've captured all the rectangles on the screen by traversing their perimeters, you're done with the screen. But count on this: The next screen will be harder, more challenging, and more fun.

Gapper's CGA graphics are simple. The pieces move smoothly, and control is grace- ful. A high-score feature lets you face the ultimate chal- lenge: Can I beat yesterday's score?

To play, you'll need 256K of RAM, DOS 2.1 or higher, and a color monitor.

PRO football Picks

Don't you hate losing? Well, it's time to improve your odds. The next time you want to pick the winning team, use this fantastic program.

PRO Football P/cte' author claims a 60-percent win re- cord— not bad considering that all you have to do is run the program, enter the week- ly statistics, and let the pro- gram make the picks.

The program is well- planned and easy to use, Sim- ple keypresses control the menus, and mouse support is offered for all menus and di- alog boxes, And you don't have to be a propeller-head or spend hours reading a man- ual to use it.

Without knowing anything about it, I made my selections in five minutes. Did I win? With magazine lead times the way they are, it's now early June, but you can be sure I'll find out in September.

For this game you'll need 512K of RAM, DOS 2, lor high- er, and any monitor.

PRO-KRlBi

Do you write well? Could your prose be improved? Some-

times it's just plain fun to have your writing style ana- lyzed. Whatever the case, don't consider your writing complete until you've run it through this full-featured gram- mar-analysis program.

PRO-SCRIBE begins by re- viewing your text for complex- ity. Your writing is assigned a grade level, and you're shown a chart that graphical- ly illustrates its complexity. Your writing pattern is also an- alyzed, and you're shown how closely it corresponds to PRO-SCRIBE'S "idea!" pat- tern. For the ultimate in refine- ment, you can do a line-by- line analysis and track down lines that need rewriting.

PRO-SCRIBE also lists the complex words you've used, including a count of how many times you've used each word. Synonyms can be listed so you can easily find a replacement for any word you're not satisfied with. You can even add jargon to PRO- SCRIBE'S vocabulary to keep it from pointing out words and expressions it doesn't recog- nize that are specific to your audience.

A graphical chart with your writing statistics lets you see the big picture. It includes an overall summary, a grade lev- el and Flesch index, personal sesquipedalian words (those with many syllables), and sta- tistics on writing style ele- ments. That's plenty of informa- tion for you to assess your text and make changes if you desire.

PRO-SCRIBE should be wel- come, too, for any profession- al writer. It's smaller than many similar commercial programs and doesn't require an exces- sive amount of disk space, yet it's packed with all the features of commercial writing-analysis programs and more.

To run PROSCRIBE, you'll need 256K of RAM and any type of monitor. □

26 COMPUTE

With CX>MPUTE's SharePak, You'll

Share in the Saviivis!

SAVE TIME — we carefully select and test all programs for you

SAVE MONEY — each disk includes two to five programs for one low price

SAVE KEYSTROKES— our free DOS shell lets you

bypass the DOS command line

ARGH Version 3.0

PRO Football Picks

PROSCRIBE

Gapper

COMPUTE'S SharePak disk contains tine best of shareware— handpicked and tested by our staff— to comple- ment this month's In Focus topic. You'll sample entertainment, learning, or home office software at a great savings. Each SharePak disk includes two to five programs plus complete documentation for one low price:

$5.95 for 5V4-inch disk

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For a limited time, you can subscribe to COMPUTE'S Share- Pak and save more than 37% off the regular cost of the disks— plus get COMPUTE'S SuperShell FREE. With a one- year paid subscription, you'll get

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COMPUTES SuperShell requires DOS 3.0 or higliar.

Disks available only foi' IBM PC and compatibles. Olfer good while supplies last.

For Single Disks

YES! I want to stiare In the savings. Send me the September 1991 issue of COMPUTE'S SharePak disk. I pay $5.95 for each S'/i-inch disk and $6,95 for each aVi-lnch disk plus S2.00 shipping and handling per disk.

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S'Annch at $5.95 each 3W-inch at S6.95 each

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For delivery outside the U.S. or Canada, add $10.00 for postage and handling.

Name.

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COMPUTING FOR THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED

BREAKING

COMMUNICATIONS

BARRIERS

BY GAIL DU^ON

R

emember writing term papers? It I seemed like a major chore in high school and college. Just imagine writ- king one blindfolded or without touch- ing your PC, and you'll have an idea of what it's like for blind and quadriplegic students and professionals. Imagine writing it in, say, Chinese, a language foreign to you, and you'll understand the challenge aphasic pa- tients— those who've lost the ability to use and process language — face when trying to communicate even simple requests.

Fortunately software and hardware solu- tions are available, although they aren't wide- ly known. Often the solution is simply a mat- ter of locating the right pieces and integrat- ing them into a computer.

Scanning and Voice Synthesis for

the Visually Impoired

One system pieced together by two Yale Uni- versity students relies upon a voice synthe- sizer and a scanner to let visually impaired stu- dents and staff have full access to the infor- mation stored in Yale's Sterling Library {where the system is housed) and any other written resources available. Built by Matthew Weed, a blind political science and history ma- jor, and Victor Grigorieff, a computer science and psychology major, the system is based on a Macintosh llfx, although it can run on ear- lier models, since each Mac program has a similar interface. It uses only commercially available software and hardware.

Because the Macintosh interface has re- mained consistent, visually impaired users on- ly have to learn one set of concepts to run sev- eral different programs. The Mac also has

the flexibility Weed and Grigorieff require. With It, they can convert from Mac to IBM text files as needed so users can copy files for use on their own computers.

In addition to the Macintosh llfx, the sys- tem uses the Hewlett-Packard ScanJet Plus, OmniPage and ou/SPOKEW software for scan- ning and voice synthesis. inLARGEior mag- nifying text, a word processing package, and a 19-inch monochrome monitor With outSPO- KEN, the visually impaired can use graphical interfaces 95 percent as effectively as sight- ed users. And system glitches are minor; for example, the ScanJet Plus sees the number 2 as a tilde and the letter / as an n, but it's about 99.5-percent accurate.

The ScanJet Plus is used to scan books, research reports, journal articles, and other printed documents into the Macintosh at a rate of two side-by-side pages per 40 sec- onds. The text is then converted to sound us- ing OmniPage and outSPOKEN. To listen to the file, the user opens the menu with a mouse or keystrokes and selects the options from the choices spoken by the voice synthe- sizer.

When the file appears, the voice synthesiz- er reads it aloud either one line at a time or one word at a time as the user cursors from line to line or word to word. Either method can become tiresome, so Weed often in- structs the computer to speak faster — up to twice as fast as the average human reads aloud. With outSPOKEN, the user can also control type fonts, vocal pitch, and volume, and it offers a word dictionary for user-de- fined pronunciation, a graphics dictionary for identifying common signs and symbols, and

28

COMPUTE

29

a Find command for locating informa- tion on the screen.

By using this system, Weed's need for hundreds of audiotapes and the hours it tal<;es to search them for spe- cific quotes are eliminated. He's cut the time required to write a term paper from four or five hours per page to about 35 minutes per page.

The system is as advantageous for dyslexics as it is for blind users. Grigo- rieff says. With inLARGE software, in- dividual letters, words, and lines can be enlarged up to three inches in height on the system's 19-inch monitor. Words can still be spelled and words or sentences spoken, making it easier to read new words. To help users keep their places, the system speaks the word the cursor is on and presents text with a ragged right edge and a ser- if typeface. InLARGE a\so offers a full- screen crosshairs cursor to make it eas- ier to locate. Grigorieff says the sys- tem's potential is limitless.

Visually impaired users can access networks such as ARPAnet, Internet, and Bitnet — invaluable aids in techni- cal work, Eventually, Weed and Grigo- rieff hope an interuniversity electronic library will be established so scanned versions of references can be loaned just like printed versions of documents. Right now, though, Weed says copy-

right laws are a problem. At Yale, there are only about a dozen potential users, and the possibility that any one book that's scanned will be used again is slim, he says. So to save computer memory, he's spending part of his sum- mer erasing the books that have al- ready been scanned into the system. Yale's system was built last fall with a $15,000 grant from Yale University. Because costs are dropping. Weed esti- mates the same system could be built today for a little more than $10,000,

Design by Voice and Movement

All the way across the country, Jeff Burnett, an architecture professor at Washington State University, and Tech- nical Applications Group colleagues have built a system that allows quadri- plegics to work on electronic CAD pro- jects with the same levels of expertise as their able-bodied colleagues. This system, Burnett says, also works with anything graphically oriented, includ- ing spreadsheets.

The project, as yet unnamed, trans- parently links a DOS machine to the powerful UNIX systems that are need- ed for CAD and to a telephone. That configuration can then be booted auto- matically and controlled by speech rec- ognition technology and an infrared headpointer. The system is "glued" to-

gether with custom software.

Users can boot up the machine by triggering a sensor — either a pressure pad or a special reflector — that can on- ly be triggered by their wheelchairs when they roll up to the PC. Once the machine is booted, the menu comes up and can be used either by issuing voice commands or by using a head- pointer as a mouse.

The software was written specifical- ly for a headpointer made by Millenni- um Stride Computers, although others can be used. Because the headpointer uses infrared sensors, users don't have to be tethered to their computers with electronic cables,

The pointer is actually a reflective tape mounted on eyeglasses or even on a pencil tucked behind one ear. It's tracked with an infrared device mount- ed atop the computer — just the oppo- site of a TV remote control.

To select a menu function, users move their heads so the tape's reflec- tion hits the desired icon; then a word is spoken that's the equivalent of click- ing a mouse button. The adaptive inter- face allows users to move the window around rather than moving their heads in awkward positions.

The system has a small vocabulary, oriented toward CAD work, that isn't context sensitive. Individual users can load a personal vocabulary or label doc- uments by spelling the needed words with the phonetic alphabet. To load the word angle, for example, the user would say, "Alpha, November, golf, Li- ma, echo." Burnett's system uses a Votan voice recognition board, one of the most functional available.

When the phone rings, an answer- ing machine or the computer picks up the call, stopping the CAD program in its place. The user can converse using either a microphone and speaker combi- nation or, for more privacy, a headset. To hang up the phone, the computer's voice recognition system listens for the words hang up and a confirming utter- ance. Upon hang-up, the user can re- sume CAD work instantly.

"If users are familiar with CAD, they can be functional on this system with- in one day, and in only a few weeks, af- ter creating macros and editing the vocabulary, can compete in the same arena and at the same level as their able-bodied colleagues," Burnett says. In practice, success can depend very much upon the user's personal mo- tivation.

Users are now being trained on this system at the University of Washington Center for the Handicapped in Seattle. After the training, they leave with hard- ware and software tailored specifically to their own work environment.

30 COMPUTE

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Turn on the power in your child today! To start up the fun, return the coupon and receive your youngster's first program loaded with activities, games and learning for just S9.95, plus shipping and handling. Then, about every four weeks you'll receive our informative Parents Newsletter where you'll get the chance to select another award-winning program on a special trial basis for 15 full days. Do nothing — and you'll receive the featured .selection. Or return the card to send for one of the dozens of alternates — or to receive nothing at all. You order and keep only the ones you want. Your only commitment is to purchase three additional selections sometime during the year at the special, regular club price. You have nothing to lose — and a powerful lot for your child to gain.

LOAD UP FOR LEARNING AND FUN! RETURN THE MEMBERSHIP COUPON TODAY!

Circle Reader Service Number 204

Save up to $50!

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Watch your child's imagination, skills and learning soar when c'.'iplDring the far-out worlds of this specially-selected software. Just send for any one of the programs shown and let your youngster dive right in — for a full 15 days — at no obligation. Then, when you discover how much learning and enthusiasm this software inspires, just pay $9.95 — that's up to S50 off regular retail prices — plus shipping and handling, or, return it and owe notiiing.

FREEI Special Expert-to- Parent Newsletter!

Increase your child's lo\'e of learning and discover the latest, specially- selected .soft- ware witli our valuatile free monthly news- letter for parents | and children.

TURN ON THE LEARNING POWER!

The Learning Adventure" Computer Club

925 Oak Street, Scranton, PA 18515 Dept. TARB91

YES! Please send me ttie program 1 li;ivc indicated l)elo\v uj preview for f) days at no risk (ir obligation. I m;iy return tlic program Lrf'ler 1> days and liave no furtliero!)ligation. Ifl am pleased with the program, I'll pay )iisl S9.95 plus shipping and handling and enroll as a new menilxT. I need buy iu.st 3 more selections at regular club prices in ihe ne.\l year and may cancel anyiime thereafter.

Kame

Ackire.«

Zip

Jo preview.

City/State

Telephone ( )

Please send me Ttem No.

Age ofchild (check one): D 3-7 Dl-lO D 10-13+ Computer you own and size of disk required (check one); D IHM/Tandy & Compatibles with S 'A" disk drive n IBM/Tandy & Compatibles wiili i '/2" di.sk drive D Apple 11 Family & Compatibles wiih 5 Vr" di.sk drive

Child's Name

Child's Birth Date

Please check if you have a: n Printer D Modem D Color Monitor

Parent's Signature

We resen'e the right to request additional information or reject any application or cancel any memt>ership. Limited to new members in the continental L'SA only excluding AK. Sales rax will be added in PA. Well senci you details of the club's operation wiih your enrollment shipment and you have a 15-day, no-obligation privilege to decide if you wish to continue as a memlx-r.

Images Instead of Alphabet

Researchers at Tufts University School of fvledicine in Boston are using com- puters to tackle a different problem: how to fielp patients wfio have lost the ability to use language — usually as the result of a stroke. The type of brain dam- age called aphasia affects the portion of the brain where words and speech are processed, leaving patients with the ability to comprehend much of what others say but unable to reply. They can't formulate thoughts into co- herent phrases or sentences. Roughly one-fourth of the half-million people who suffer strokes each year also de- velop aphasia, according to Cheryl Goodenough-Trepagnier, associate pro- fessor of rehabilitation medicine at Tufts.

Aphasic patients can, however, learn to organize symbols into a coher- ent order to form thoughts and sentenc- es. In the 1970s, patients learned to use cards with symbols to express their thoughts. Now those symbols have been expanded and loaded onto an Apple computer, simplifying their use.

Trepagnier's system, called NewVic, features hundreds of sym- bols— still called cards and decks — arranged in categories of people, ac- tions, objects, modifiers, and preposi- tions. Eight symbols are displayed per computer screen. Patients use a mouse to select cards, scroll through the screens, and move from screen to screen. Decks are flexible enough that they can be designed to allow speed and vocabulary size to match a patient's abilities.

Some people pick up the system al- most immediately, while others take a few weeks and still do very well with it. Although they don't know what the lim- its are, Trepagnier says the patients most likely to benefit are those who take to the system immediately and who are functionally impaired. "We're just beginning to be able to develop an appropriate communication medium for people with severe aphasia. The big problem is slowness," she says, "be- cause people are trying to lay out mes- sages through very impaired motor abil- ities. I haven't clocked it, but it's faster than three words per minute [for pa- tients who are fluent with NewVic]. One of our major concerns is finding a way to communicate at a rate other people can tolerate, so users actually get to en- gage in conversation."

Another difficulty is in designing sym- bols to match verbs since aphasics of- ten have more trouble conceptualizing verbs than nouns, Trepagnier current- ly uses pictures to suggest verbs but wants to develop an approach where

32 COMPUTE

patients can animate a figure through- out an action, actually setting the imag- es in motion. For example, eating an ap- ple could be shown by choosing a hand, apple, and head; putting the hand and apple together; dragging them to the head; and clicking a mouse key. To say, "The girl is run- ning," a user could choose a picture of a girl, click the mouse at her feet, and move the mouse rapidly across the pad. The computer would show it as a girl running across the screen.

Of course, aphasics can only use NewVic if they have it with them. Hope- fully someday a true portable machine with a touchscreen will be available, sim- ilar to some of the lightweight portables that have surfaced in recent months.

Trepagnier plans to make her sys- tem and basic documentation availa- ble to the public this year. It uses the NewVic software she developed and runs on a Macintosh SE or SE30, or any other Macintosh machine with at least 512K of RAf^.

What About Tomorrow?

Great strides have been made in re- cent years to bring the challenges of

the physically impaired to the forefront of the American consciousness. In fact, many other products geared to- ward the disabled, in addition to the ones mentioned in this article, are ac- tually on the market now, but most are known only within small circles.

Computer technology promises to make life easier for the disabled. Per- sonal fulfillment and overcoming stum- bling blocks have always been the key goals of the personal computer, Now the technology that has leveraged our productivity and filled our leisure hours is helping the silent to speak, the blind to see, and the paralyzed to ma- nipulate their worlds, and it's enabling technicians and research laboratories to perform computer-aided miracles.

Perhaps tomorrow, finding special hardware and software for the physi- cally challenged will be as simple as checking out a disk at the local library or heading to the nearest electronics store for the latest equipment. □

Gail Button is an independent writer specializing in science and technology. Her articles have ap- peared in Science. Sea Frontiers, The World & I. IEEE Software, and other publications. She is based in southern Calilornia.

	PRODUa LISTING
For more information on	the products discussed in this article, contact the
manufacturers and publishers at the addresses listed below.
Software		Nod Headpo Inter $495 Millennium Stride Computer
inLARGE
$95		1275 Kleppe Ln., Sle. 5
outSPOKEN		Sparks, tMV 89431
$395		(702) 331-6000
Berkeley Systems
1700 SiiattuGk Ave.		ScanJet Plus
Berkeley, CA 94709		$1,595
(415)540-5536		Interface Kit S595 Hewlett-Packard Customef Information
NewVic
$500		19310 Prune Ridge Ave.
Department of Rehabititation Medicine	Cupertino, CA 95014
Tufts University Sctiool of Medicine	(800) 752-0900
Cheryl Goodenough-Trepagnier, Ph.D.
75 Kneeland St., 5th Floor		VPC 2100 Voice Recognition Board
Boston, IVIA 02111		$1,800
(617)956-5036		Votan 210 Hammond St,
OmniPage 2.12 for the Macintosh	Fremont, CA 94539
$695		(415) 490-7600
Caere
too Cooper Ct,
Los Gatos, CA 95030		Additional Resources
(408) 395-7000		IBM National Support Center for Persons with Disabilities
Hardware		P.O. Box 2150 Atlanta, GA 30301-2150
Keyboard Switches S60-$150		(800) 426-2133
Zygo Industries		Resource Center for the Handicapped
P.O. Box 1008		20150 45lh Ave, NE
Portland, OR 97207		Seattle, WA 93155
(503) 684-6006		(206) 362-2273

TEST LAB

AST PREMIUM EXEC 3a6SX/20

Have you ever loved something so much that you were willing to overlook its flaws? That's how I feel about the AST Premium Ex- ec 386SX/20. Despite the prob- lems with early production mod- els, this is the best overall note- book computer I've seen.

For one thing, it speeds along at a full 20 MHz. which is fast enough to run most Windows pro- grams at a comfortable clip. In ad- dition, you can order the Premi-

um Exec with a 20MB, 40MB. or 60MB hard drive that's rated an impressive 23 milliseconds (20MB drive) or even faster 19 mil- liseconds (40MB and 60MB drives). I'm using the 60MB ver- sion, and it's a real joy to have so many of my favorite programs with me — no matter where I go. AST Research has made up- gradability a major feature of its desktop computers and has car- ried that philosophy to its new line of notebook computers. You can buy the 12-MHz 286 version of the Premium Exec notebook and upgrade the microprocessor later to a 20-MHz 386SX— for not much more than the price differ- ence between the two machines ($400 as opposed to S499).

While the 386SX comes with 2MB of RAM and the 286 comes with 1MB, you can expand the memory of either machine to a to- tal of SMB. Even though the Pre- mium Exec is relatively new, you can already buy memory up- grades from discount mail-order houses at a substantial discount. (AST charges $995 for 4MB, while one maii-order company charges $388 for the same amount of memory. As for the note- book itself, you can buy the vari- ous models by mail order at a dis- count of about 20-25 percent.)

The Premium Exec's LCD screen is the sharpest I've seen, and its VGA controller, from Cir-

AST RESEARCH

16215 Alton Pkwy.

P.O. BOX196S8

Irvine, CA 92713-9658

(800) 876-4278

(714! 727-9292

List Price: $2,995 for 20MB; $3,395

for 40MB; $3,795 for 60MB Street Price: $2,337*

rus Logic, does a great job of translating colors into 32 shades of gray. For those times when you absolutely must have color, you can hook up a color VGA monitor through the external VGA port.

In addition to the VGA port and the usual parallel and serial ports, the Premium Exec includes a PS/2 port that lets you add an external keyboard, mouse, or nu- meric keypad, You can also add an internal 2400-baud data mo- dem ($249) or an internal 2400- baud fax modem ($349). The fax modem is send-only (9600 baud) and uses the Sierra chip — so it works fine with WinFax. Even though you can hook up an exter- nal keyboard, you'll probably use the built-in keyboard most of the time. The AST's keyboard stands out as one of the best I've seen on a notebook computer. It has a good feel and a slight audio click when you press a key. Un-

like some other notebook comput- ers, this one doesn't make you press a special option key to ac- cess the Home, End, PageUp, and PageDown keys. My only crit- icism is that the right Shift and Backspace keys are too small.

As for the case itself, it's solid- ly built and looks great. The small battery is relatively light- weight and easy to remove. The screen feels firm when you move it into place and locks tight when you close it for travel.

Many notebook computers of- fer power-saving features to ex- tend the life of the battery. The Pre- mium Exec tops them all with three ways to save power; pro- grammable timeouts that can shut down the hard drive and LCD screen when they're not be- ing used, a suspend/resume mode that can shut down the en- tire system while preserving your data (unfortunately, this feature doesn't work with protected- mode programs, such as Win- dows 3.0), and a BlOS-ievel clock-speed control feature that can automatically slow down the processor when it isn't process- ing data or redrawing the screen. With the power-saving fea- tures switched on, you can ex- pect over three hours of battery life with each charge. Until note- book computers are available with Intel's new power-saving 386SL chip, the Premium Exec is the state of the art in power man- agement.

So what were the problems with the early production models? The screen flickered slightly when the Premium Exec was run- ning on the battery, and Windows programs wouldn't recognize the modem, I also couldn t get one of the units to recognize the PS/2 port. All three problems were fixed with BIOS updates, so be sure to get a BIOS with a version number of 1 .06.04 or higher.

Notebook technology moves so fast that a recommendation

'Test Lab street prices are an average ot prices aavertised in computer magazines and national newspapers during June.

33

	Y	!
	\	)	^
	1 i „	L	f
	1	1

"It expanded my horizons, without exceeding my budget "

"With PRODIGY,® there's a panorama of information, services, advice, and entertainment at my command.

Hundreds of exciting features, and all for just $12.95 a month, •with no online time charges. That means I can use PRODIGY without worrying that the meter is ruiming.

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"There's so much to tell you about PRODIGY, I hardly know where to start.

"We talk to other members.

We all love the PRODIGY clubs where we exchange information about things we eryoy. The computer club is great because it keeps me up on the latest PC technology My vrife's favorite is the food club where she shares recipes and tips.

^l do more shopping and banking in a lot less time.

I go window-shopping for ideas on PRODIGY and make purchases by keyboard instead- of by car. And when the bills arrive, no problem. With PRODIGY I can pay them right from my PC. It would take all day to tell you about all the exciting things I do on PRODIGY.

"You gotta get this thing."

The PRODIGY service, connected to your home ____,^,^ computer and phone :^^ttKBA line, has games, sports pj^iry .' information, an encyclo- pedia, and much, much more. And, it's just $12.95 amonth,includmg 30 personal messages.*

PRODIGY is available for IBM* or compatible, and Macintosh* computers. Call 1-800-776-3693, ext: 212, to find out where you can purchase a PRODIGY Service Start-up Kit now. Or look for PRODIGY already included " with many popular computers

Circle Reader Service NumbefJjSi

TEST LAB

can be outdated by the time you read a review. Withi thiat disclaim- er out of the way, I can safely say Ihiat the AST Premium Exec offers \he best speed, expandability, arid power-management features of any notebook computer. And all for a very attractive price,

DAVID ENGLISH

DELL 320N

Given a notebook computer's de- sign constraints, Dell has done a superb job with the 320N. As with any laptop, this machine cer- tainly makes compromises, but eacfi one is well thought out and carefully engineered. In almost every area, Dell has done a little more and gone a little farther to make this machine smaller, fast- er, and easier to use than the com- petition.

If you look at the dimensions and weight of this computer, for example, you'll notice that it's just a bit smaller and a bit lighter than most of the other laptops re- viewed here, And if you place the 320N beside almost any other notebook, this machine's sleek black body and carefully sculpt- ed features will make the other ma- chine look clunky. But the 320N is much more than just small size and high style.

The standard VGA screen (640 X 480) is exceptionally

bright. When you're looking at LCD VGA displays, one of the most important features to consid- er is the finesse with which the vid- eo controller maps colors to gray levels. In this respect the Dell is exceptional. In Windows' Soli- taire, for example, you can tell the red cards from the black ones by their shading.

As far as video speed goes, this ma- chine's scrolling and re-

DELL COMPUTER 9505 Arboretum BEvd. Austin, TX 78759 (8001 426-S150 List Price: $3,399 lor

40MB; $3,699 lor SOMB Street Price: n/a

400 pixels of vertical resolution in- stead of the VGA's possible 480. a common compromise in note- books. Laptop UltraVision from Personics fixed this problem and allowed DOS to use the full 480 pix- els for a much improved display, but I'd prefer that the machine's vid- eo controller do this itself.

fresh rate are quite

fast. One of the

best ways to

judge video

speed is to

use a

mouse in

graphics

mode. Most

LCD displays simply can't keep up

with the mouse cursor, but the

320N does a very good job.

My onty complaint with the screen is that it's compressed when DOS programs run. This happens because the video's ver- tical resolution in DOS is actually

The 320N's keyboard is certain- ly a compromise compared with most desktop keyboards, but its 85-key layout is very well thought out and offers a 3-mm key travel (most notebooks have a shorter 2-mm key travel). The cursor

COMPUTE APPLICATION INDEXES

Since the Test Lab section is designed to give you the best information about how sys- tems will perform when you take them home or to your of- fice, we performed a set of tests involving commonly used applications.

The timings indicate how long it took a particular com- puter to sort a database, per- form a search and replace in a word processor, and recal- culate a spreadsheet.

—RICHARD C- LEINECKER

35

TEST LAB

keys assume an inverted T forma- tion and the Home, PgUp, PgDn, and End keys line up along tlie right side of the keyboard. None require you to press a special Fn key to access them.

There are also 12 function keys, which are smaller than the other keys. But you don't have to press the dreaded Fn key to use them.

The Dell sports a 2O-MH2 386SX CPU that provided more than enough power for everything I wanted to do on the road, includ- ing running Microsoft Windows in 386-enhanced mode.

As for memory, the 320N comes with 1fvlB, expandable to SMB. The unit I reviev/ed was maxed out with the full StvlB, which 1 certainly recommend, if you can afford it.

The machine comes with either a 30- or 60MB 19-ms IDE hard disk. The unit 1 reviewed was equipped with a 60, and it siz- zled. 1 never felt I was waiting for the hard disk, even when using virtual memory {using the disk as if it were RAf\/l) in Windows.

The 320N's ni-cad battery gave me a bit of a scare. It's sup- posed to last for three hours, but the low battery light came on af- ter about ten minutes of use. The machine continued to chug along happily, however, for nearly three hours. The warning light kept me worried, however.

To help consen/e the battery, you can employ several power- saving features built into the 32QN. You can set timeout values for the hard disk, the display, and the system. In addition, there's a convenient standby button that places the machine in a special battery-saving mode.

When it comes to talking to the outside world, the Dell 320N has a full complement of ports. There is one serial and one parallel port, an external VGA port, and PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports. An in- ternal modem is available as an op- tion,

You've probably gathered that I'm enthusiastic about this ma-

36 COMPUTE

chine. It's beautifully designed and exceptionally fast and pow- erful. But is it worth the price'' At S3,399 for the standard configu- ration, it's not cheap, but if you look at similarly equipped compe- tition, it's almost a bargain.

If you're thinking about buying a notebook, the next question to ask about the 32GN is whether you need this much power. If you're primarily doing word proc- essing, for example, then a note- book in the 320N's class is over- kill. But you need a powerhouse like the 320N if it's your primary machine. And for running Win- dows, a computer in the 320N's league is a must. For state-of-the- art computing in a very small pack- age, the 320N is a world-class per- former that goes the extra mile.

CLIFTON KARNES

at 16 MHz, and my review unit was packed with 3MB of memo- ry. Only the 20MB hard disk left me feeling a bit cramped for space.

The two most important parts of any laptop, arguably, are the screen and the keyboard. These are the parts that you have to in- teract directly with, and the Grid has the best-feeling keyboard and the nicest screen I've ever used, laptop or desktop. Key- board springs are used in the Grid to provide excellent tactile feedbac[< without annoying click- ing sounds. The keyboard spac- ing is the same as you'd find on a stand-alone PC l<eyboard, so your fingers aren't cramped as you type. The 12 function keys are arrayed across the top of the

GRID SYSTEMS

47211 Lakeview Blvd.

Fremont, CA 94537-

5003

(8001 222-GRlD

(415) 6S6-4700

List Price: $3,495 lor

20MB; $3,995

for 80MS

Street Price: n/a

GRID 1720

Laptops are great, but it's rare that you would choose one over a comparably equipped desk- top computer. That's exactly, how- ever, what the Grid 1720 con- vinced me to do. Ever since I've had my review unit, I've only turned on my 386SX desktop to play Lexi-Cross. This sleek, black, 6.9-pound Grid packs enough power to run all but the most demanding applications. Its 80C2B6 microprocessor runs

keyboard, and the cursor keys are in a standard inverted-T lay- out. You can reverse the posi- tions of the Ctrl and CapsLock keys by simply switching the key caps and flipping a switch on the bottom of the computer. Only the lack of a separate numeric key- pad would ever tempt you to take advantage of an externa! key- board.

You owe it to your eyes to check out the Grid's LCD VGA screen. Easier to look at for long periods of time than even the sharpest Super VGA monitors, the Grid's screen produces

crisp, solid black characters on a gray background. Best of all, you won't notice any of the ghost- ing common to VGA-resolution LCD screens. (The monitor was noticeably sharper than that of Tandy's similar 2810 notebook PC.) I felt the desire to use an ex- ternal VGA color monitor only when I played games,

The Grid 1720 has most of the amenities you'd expect on a mod- ern laptop. Along with VGA and keyboard ports, it comes with se- rial and parallel ports, a 1.44MB

drain and decreases battery life. With 3MB I was able to use the 1720 for about 3 hours. Remov- ing the 2MB of expansion memo- ry increased that duration to a lit- tie over 3Vi hours. Unless you absolutely require 5MB of memo- ry, the 3MB-configuration com- promise between battery life' and performance will serve you well. Adding memory or an 80287 math coprocessor won't cause you much trouble — just remove a panel from the bottom of the com- puter and plug in the SIMMs or

floppy drive, and an internal Hayes-compatible modem, Grid chose a 20MB hard disk to save space and weight — it's one of the new 2'/2-inch models. Despite the limited capacity, it's quiet and uses very little power compared to larger drives.

Normally I find Windows too sluggish on a 286 system, but the extra zip provided by the Grid's 16-MHz clock speed makes all the difference. The 3MB of memo- ry in the system I tested allowed me to set up a large disk cache, speeding operations even more. Add one of the new clip-on track- balls, and you've got a nice, porta- ble, no-compromise M//nc/ows sys- tem for the road.

While the 1720 can handle up to 5MB of memory, each addition- al megabyte increases power

math chip.

The Grid has above-average power-managennent capabilities. The hard drive and screen will au- tomatically power down after a us- er-selectable period. You can al- so selectively disable the speak- er, serial port, LCD display, and hard drive in order to save pow- er. For non-speed-sensitive soft- ware applications, such as word processing, toggling the system down to 8 MHz will extend battery life even further. A key combina- tion will put the computer in stand- by mode, turning off the hard disk, LCD, backlight, and floppy disk controller. The program in memory resumes upon the first keypress,

The concise 97-page owner's manual covers all the computer's features and provides a brief in-

troduction to MS-DOS. While oth- er computer packages may in- clude larger, more detailed man- uals, average users will probably find all the information that they need here. And this manual is small enough to slip into your lap- top carry case.

The Grid 1720 is speedy, well- constructed, and an ergonomic marvel. And it's certainly one of the most attractive MS-DOS com- puters I've ever used, desktop or laptop. Now I understand why NA- SA has flown Grid laptops on the space shuttle.

DENNY AiKIN

HYUNDAI SUPER-LT5

The Hyundai Super-LT5 makes the machines I once toted under my arm se(@m terribly limited — and wonderfully light, At 11-plus pounds, it's a load at the end of your arm or on your lap, with a bulky AC adapter when you're not running it on battery power — but then, that's true of any laptop in this class. The Super-LT5 is al- so a fast, efficient laptop with a roomy hard drive, a sharp screen, and a nice-size keyboard.

Weight aside, it's a well-made machine with the advantages of a desktop model compressed in- to a box smaller than a briefcase. With a built-in handle and a screen that folds down and locks readily Into place, the Super-LT5 is its own case.

The keyboard, though understandably cramped, fea- tures full-size, fully responsive keys. It's laid out in a familiar man- ner, with the function keys ar- rayed horizontally along the top. The number keyboard overlaps some of the letters, meaning that it's separated from the familiar overlay with the cursor-movement keys. Given that the Hyundai Su- per-LT5 is a laptop, it's a perfect- ly suitable layout, although the f^lumLock key's proximity to the right Shift, Ctrl, and Alt keys caused me to activate it inadver- tently more than once.

37

COMPATIBILITY GUARANTEE

BLOWOUT SPECIALS

MICRON TECHNOLOGY

2-8MB

EXPANSION BOARD

PS/2 MODEL 50/50Z/55SX/60

W/2A1B$28S W/4MB$39S

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fOR COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/16

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PROCOM PS/2

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2ms m 4.0 ATS

m i\ 19 2MB 5227 4m $137 SMB S537

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urn 4MB WiSBt^m PORT ™ 5157 2A1B S2i7 4m $377 BOCARAH XT & BOCARAM 30

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4420 & 44501

1MB $109 2MS $119 im $249

445D

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PACE LASER i im $129 2AiB $169 4A1B $2(9

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1MB $129 2A1S $149 4A1S $249

IBM 4019 &40I9E

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4450404 imnmseissiKio $129

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4450375 immaBmi $135

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34F2933 « PS/2 SIMM $3J9

87F9977 4mPSIlSlMM $339

mim 2mmio-2Si $139

4451040 4MBMODSD-A2fMI $49$

4450118 4mmD90&95 $399

PS/2 EXPANSION BOARDS

4450409 2-SM6 MOD 50,502. 40 $440

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34F3077 2-H/HBM00 70&80W/2MB $485

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I/O BOARDS

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IO/AT4liS£R!iiPAft$4i

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IO/AT44 2S£R4 2M $53

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FOR PS/2 MICROCHANNEL

MCA2S£J18i;PAR SII4

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COMPUTER M CE

MICROSOFT rai«n s«

MICROSOFT BUS VERSION $104

MICROSOFT BALLPOINT $129

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LOGITECH C9SER-PSn $49

LOGITECH MOUSEMAN $79

LOGITECH TRACKMAN SER $J5

DEXXA MOUSE BT LOGITECH $11!

LOGITECH CORDLESS JIM

CANON

LBP4 JMS $1(9 2MB $219 4MB $319

LBP8 1MB $119 2MS$IS9 4MB $259

OKILASER4D0,800.820 2MS $189 4m $289

POSTSCRIPT

PACIHC PAGE FOR HP^ ADOBE FOR HP II

IMAGESCRIPT FOR HP'S

LAPTOP UPGRADES

$349 $289 $281

EXECUTIVE NOTEBOOK im $91 4m $499

MEGAHERTZ MODEMS

FOR MOST LAPTOPS

240CeD INTERNAL $149

FOR TOSHIBA LAPTOPS

24O0BD IMTERNAL $149 W,'MN?5 $210

2400/9400 FAX/MODEM $347

ETHERNET ADAPTER $295

LAPLAN TWISTED PAIR ETHERNET ADAPTER $199

REMOTE 5250 EMULATION $499 REMOTE 3270 EMULATION $499

PROCOM PS/2 DRIVES

IIOMBHDL 50I50I 200MB HDL JO/50Z lOOMB SCSI EXT 200MB SCSI EXT 120MB SCSI EXT 1.2MB EXT FDD MC SCSI ADAPTER

$849 $1375

$«S5 $1457

COMPAQ DESKPRO

TOSHIBA

TIlOOXEffiE, TliOO, T3I00E,T3I00SX,

T1100SX,TSI00, T5200 2Mfl $159

T3200SXC 2M6 $199

T3100SXC 4MB $399

TIOOOSEnCEAJ & nOOOSX /MB $189

Tl OOOSEOCEM & nOOOSX 2Mfl $249

TIOOOLEiT2000SX 4Mfl $495

T3I00SX.T3200SX 4Mfl $447

T320O 3MB S279

DESKPRO 384/20/15n0E/2SE & }t4S

IWBMODUlf $109 4M8MODU1E $299

IMS EXP BOARD $195 4MB£XPB0AJ!D $345

DESKPRO 384/11/484/25 SYSTEMPRO

2MBM0DUt£ $149

1/3 HEIGHT FLOPPY DISK DRIVES

1.44MB $129 (JMB $119

COMPAQ LAPTOPS

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PORTABLE LTE 3BtS/20

1MB $275 4M8 5485

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4MB EXPANSION BOARD $710

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SLTm

1MB $154 4MB $549

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BOCA RESEARCH

BOCA SUPER VGA SI2K $119 IMS $179

BOCA VGA ^XSCO $119

MONITORS

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S595

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PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS

INT 2400 BAUD MODEM WfMNPS $169

V.42 BIS $199

POCKET24C0 $109

US ROBOTICS

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COURIER 2400 FOR PS/2 $295

COURIER V.32BIS 1 4,40OBPS... ii&

MOTHERBOARDS

MADE IN THE USA EXCELLENT QUALITY

4S6-J] EISA ENTERPRISE MK6 CACHE $2990

486-2S EISA ENTERPRISE im OICHE $2519

436-J3 VOYAGER J28»aaOVE $2519

486-2S VOYAGER J28K8 CAM $1955

386-13 HARK IV MKB CACHE $1092

386-15 MARK III 6m (XH£ $920

386SX-10 32KflaCH£ $W0

MICRONICS

MADE IN THE USA EXCELLENT QUALITY

436-33 EISA 64raaCHE $3214

434-15 EISA 6«8aO^E $2849

484-33 ISA 64K&CACHE $1179

484-15 ISA tmaCHi $1725 384-33 AT CACHE IDE/2S/IP 64KB CACHE $ 1 092

384-15 BCP 4-JKSCHCHE $9«

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FLOPPY DISK DRIVES

GOLDSTAR

1423 VGA 14" .51 DP $290

1425 VGA 14" .39 DP $349

1430 VGA M" .11 DP $395

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MEMORY CHIPS MODULES REASONS TO BUY FROM

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$5.70 $5.50 $S.1S $5.50 $5.25 $5.00 $105 $1.85

156XI-IJONS 156XI-ISONS 44X4- eONS i4X4-IOONS 44X4-I20NS t4XI-IOONS 44XI-I20NS 44X1- 1 SONS

$1.40 $1.40 $3.00 $175 $2.50 $1.75 $1.60 $1.15

SIHM^IPP MODULES

$74

$77 $73

$159

$507

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$39

S3BS

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$215 $115

$599

$259

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4X9-70NS $147.00 256X9-70NS $11.00

4X9-eONS $230.00 156X9-80NS $19.00

IX9-7DNS $59.00 256X9-I00NS $17.00

IX9-80NS $53.00 256X9-I20NS $15.00 IX9-I00NS $51.00

SIPPS ADD $3.00 EACH

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US83C87-I4 $199 US33C87-13 $199

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B3D87-I4	$109	83087-31
83D87-20	$109	83S87-I6
83087-15	$109	83SB7-20
80187-14	$249	80387-1 6SX
80187-20	$149	B0ie7-20SX
80187-25	$149	80287-10
80187-11	$149	B0287XL

3C87-I6 3C87-20 3C87-25 1C87-33 1C87-16SX

$109 $209 $209 $209 $159

3C87-10SX

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I, Max out your motherboard first Consult your computer owner's manual to find out which kind of chips your computer takes. If your manual IS not available, count the chip or simm sockets and get the part number of the existing chips. Then call us.

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Circle Reader Service Number 195

TEST LAB

The machine's floppy drive and expansion ports are readily accessible, as is the mother- board. I had no trouble hooking up my VGA monitor to get full col- or, though the Super-LT5's screen proved marvelously well lighted, well defined, and easy to adjust — just right for my v/riting. Brightness and contrast were ad- justable via two smoothly sliding controls adjacent to the screen, a more convenient location than I'm accustomed to seeing even on full-size desktop monitors.

bleshooting tips; however, it should have an index.

There are no cables to install and no screws to screw, and get- ting the machine up and running takes no more or less time or ef- fort than with a comparable desk- top model. Included with the Hyun- dai Super-LT5 are DOS disks and a reference disk that includes Win- dows and OS/2 drivers.

The Hyundai Super-LT5 has a built-in MS-DOS shell program, which is a nice feature. It's too bad this particular shell program

HYUNDAI ELECTRONICS

AMERICA 166 Baypolnte Phwy. M San Jose, CA 95134 ISOO] 727-6972 List Price: $3,995 Street Price: $2,329

n

You'll find expansion jacks around the lap- top's sides. Besides the port for the external monitor, there are ports for a keyboard, a 5%-inch floppy disk drive to supplement the built-in 3'/s-inch drive, and a printer. I tried hooking up my desk- top IBfvl-compatible's keyboard to the Hyundai Super-LT5, but its recessed external keyboard jack proved too deep for my angled plug. You can, however, plug in an internal modem,

The laptop operates very qui- etly, emitting just enough squawks to let you know when it's reading a disk. I found the inter- nal speaker to be adequate, per- haps just a little too quiet.

The user's guide provides clear, basic guidance, with a par- ticularly helpful chapter of trou-

40 COMPUTE

is unnecessarily complicated, re- quiring unnatural key combina- tions when a simpler menu prob- ably would've done the trick. Again, it's a nice feature to have; it just doesn't make getting around in DOS as easy as it could.

Though not astoundingly fast, the Hyundai Super-LT5 generally works quickly and efficiently In- stalling software onto the hard drive takes relatively little time.

The battery for the Hyundai Su- per-LT5 takes four to six hours to charge and lasts for one to three hours. Given the machine's pow- er, that seems reasonable, even though it would be nice if it could hold out longer on a charge. One problem I encountered using the laptop on both electrical and bat- tery power was that after a while it got uncomfortably hot under-

neath, especially when I was us- ing it while wearing shorts.

Fortunately, I never subjected the Hyundai Super-LT5 to the toughest test I ever gave a laptop during my days as a newspaper reporter: skidding it across a con- crete parking lot after accidental- ly tripping in the dark during a late-night run for police news. Even so, it appears to be a solid- ly built, durable tool, capable of performing almost as well as a pricey desktop computer but with- out the usual constraints; it's pow- erful and portable.

EDDIE HUFFMArNJ

LEADING EDGE D/LT3a6SX PLUS

Nothing makes the time go by on a long plane ride like a good lap- top, and whether you use yours for spreadsheets or Star Control, the Leading Edge D/LT386SX Plus certainly beats a talkative stranger when it comes to air- borne companionship. Whatever your reason for carrying a laptop, you'll v/ant to balance weight, dis- play readability, and price against its usefulness. A close look at this laptop reveals a per- plexing mix of fine and somewhat below-average features.

On the plus side, the D/LT does run a 16-f\/IHz 386 proces- sor, providing the necessary mi- cro horsepower to make Win- dows run at a usable speed, and the 40MB hard drive provides more than ample storage space for on-the-road applications and their data files. The 3y2-inch 1.44MB floppy drive port faces you, so you can keep an eye on disk activity. All the standard ports — serial, parallel, and PS/2 mouse — further enhance the D/ LT's versatility. For you avid tele- communicators, the roomy mo- dem bay looks as if it should eas- ily accommodate the Leading Edge S199 proprietary modem. Should you have the chance to plug the D/LT into a color moni- tor, you won't be disappointed by

the graphics; this laptop's crisp- VGA 640 X 480 pixel output does justice to your games as well as your chart generators.

A winner all around, the D/LT's keyboard doesn't complicate typ- ing by shrinking its keys; they're the same size as those of larger, stay-at-home machines. While the keyboard won't detach from the D/LT entirely, it does have the surprising ability to sled forward away from the rest of the ma- chine, putting just enough dis- tance between you and the LCD

There's more to testing the life of a laptop battery than turning it on and letting the unit run until the power gives out. To truly test a manufacturer's claim of bat- tery-powered operating time, you have to lest the battery as if it were in normal use.

Almost all laptops use re- chargeable ni-cad {nickel-cadmi- um) batteries, with a flat voltage discharge. That simply means that voltage discharges constant- ly until the battery runs dry. For example, a six-volt ni-cad bat- tery will give a constant six-volt discharge up until the moment it dies, unlike, say, flashlight bat- teries that gradually lose power. Ni-cad batteries also operate well in low temperatures, unlike their acid-based automobile counterparts that tend to be slug- gish on very cold mornings.

Our test lab charges the ni- cad battery according to the man- ufacturer's exact instructions. Once the battery is fully charged, the laptop is put to use, and its between-charge lifespan is tested using COM- PUTE'S battery-testing program. The program monitors the lap- top constantly until it completely gives out, so the exact power- up and power-down times can be recorded.

But there's more to it than that. To realistically simulate lap-

screen for a comfortable working relationship at your hotel room desk. Well, maybe not quite far enough for some; the glare from this laptop's 8x6 inch backlit dis- play can quickly tire your eyes. Compared to many other laptop displays, this one's downright fa- tiguing. And despite a purported antiglare feature, text on the D/ LT display, like text on many lap- top displays I've looked at, is best read in indirect light. The brightness and contrast sliders do little to improve the situation.

Also problematic is the screen's tendency to fall forward at the slightest disturbance and to resist proper positioning. Setting the dis- play in place often requires mul- tipie attempts. Practice patience here; the manufacturer warns against bending the screen back too far. though it remains a con- stant temptation. A more effective locking and tilting mechanism is definitely in order.

Those traveling computer- philes who remember the heyday of the KayPro luggable won't

HOW THE POWER GOES

top use, our testing program runs the laptop disk drive in a se- lected duty cycle. For instance, in a 40-percent duty cycle, the drive runs for four minutes of continuous disk access and then rests for six minutes. The cy- cle is repeated constantly until the battery dies. The test pro- gram's timer constantiy saves to disk, so when the system is boot- ed up again after recharging or plugging in, the time has been recorded for reference. A stop- watch serves as backup.

If a laptop has an automatic rest mode or screen blanker, someone physically monitors the computer, tapping it every

screen cycle to return the screen to normal mode.

Once the battery dies, the lab repeats the test two more times in its entirety, beginning with a battery recharge. After testing each laptop three times, the lab uses a spreadsheet to calculate mean times for each battery.

Most batteries are going to yield about the same amount of running time because they're es- sentially the same product — re- chargeable ni-cad cells. The re- al difference is in how you use your laptop, what type of micro- chip runs it, and the machine's built-in power-saving features.

—JILL CHAMPION

Battery Depletion Test
4 3 s - X 1 o	1	1 ! I	m	■ J 1		\
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2MB SIMM PS,2 50Z-70 10800

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DESCRIPTION	NSJ		150 130	in	ao 70	to	ISO	12D iQD an	70 n
4MBMem.BDPSa80-A2IA31	293.00	2Sei8	15.00 17.00	19.00	22.00		64x1 .90	S20 ISO
J-eMB Xpand Mm. PS12 70iS0	348.00	2S&<9	t7.C0 19.00	21.00	24.00		E4x4	200 2.15 2M
IV/2MB		IMBxS		5050	51.00 60.00	65.00	K6)(1 I2S	).40 1.60 1£5	210
2-UMBXpand BO, PSffi 70480	388.00	IMSxQ		53.50	54.95 65,00	68.00	2S6rf	5.35 5.70 6.00	675 7J0
«/2MB		iMm			259.00279.00	309.00	1MBx1	5.45 5.65	6i0 7iO
2-14MBXpandaD.PSffi50-65SX W/2MB	388.00	4M9I9			279.00 2G9.00	299.00

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107654401 4MBMmn.XlansonPortablo386 630.00

lOeoeMCI tMBXpaidM«nofyDP3a6-16 288.00

106070001 4UBXpaidM«iiayDPi56-16 630.00

108071-001 1WBMomMyUp9iadoDP386-1G (08.00

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111131-001 1MB Module DP3effifl6E. 386 2ft25E 96.00

111132-001 4MBModul8DP26c6£,3S620-25£ 228.00

111831-001 1MBXpwdM«ii.DP386S-ie 148.00

111634«)t 4MBXpandM«n.DP386S.16 358.00

CATt

113644^1

11364WM1

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115144-001

116561-001

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116689001

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118700001

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148.01 4MBXpandM«ii. DP3e6 20e.25E 358.00 1MB Module DP386S-16 ItO.CO

1MB Module DP136-33,48G-25. SysprolSO.OO SMB ModJs 456-25, Syjpio 899.00

32ME tAjdUo ClP4e6-25, Sraxo 4.990.00 5l2KBMiim. BDPwtaHoLTE 1MB Man. BO Putable LTE266 2MB Manory BO PcrUfcl« LTE 286 1MB Module tec SLTn86 2MB Module (a SI.Tn86 4MB Module (a SIT/1S6 1MB Module 0P288N,368N 2MB Module DP388N. 3363-20 4MB Modie DP2e8N. K6N. 3865-20 396.00 0-4MB Eip-BD DP286N, 3e6N 1 08.00

1l9.m 99.00 156.00 174.00 270.00 830.00 90.00 166.00

Ctll

m34748 IMB

H33475e 2MB

H33477B 4MB

K33443B IMB

H33444B 2MB

H3344Se 4M6

EP1000 1MB

EP2000 2MB

EP4000 4WB

T11000 1MB

TB1000 1MB

TB2000 2MB

TB3000 3MB

TB4000 4MB

WORKS WITH

HPUMfJ«IlP,lll,IIID HPLaswJstllP.IIUIID HPUs«Je(llP,lll,IIID HPUserJetlltllD HaawJelllillB HfT.»«rJelll4)ID Epson EPL-6<X)0 Epson EPI.-60QD Epson EPL-axX) Texas kis^unent l^oUserPS Tofihiba Page Ustf 8 TceHa Page User 6 Tofihte Page U^er 6 Tosliiba Page Laser G

»Sf 99-SS 13955 214.95

m.m

13995 214.ft5 129.00 169.00 249.00 129.CO

118.00 164.00 208.00 248.00

Ctll

1039136 1MB

1039137 2MB 1038675 3.5MB M600S 1MB MeOOe 4MB SS3-1300 1MB SS3.1SeO 2MB N/A 4MB PA1000 IMB

PA2000 2MB

PA3000 3MB

PA4000 4MB

WORKS wrm nsi

IBMLa!a4019:4019E 129.00 IBM Laser 4019:14O19E 169.00 IBM Laser 401 %4019E 229.00 Apple LaserWriter llfrnx 85.00 Apple LaserWriter IWD(319.O0 Ca™LBP.Efl 119.00

Ca»nLBP-6ll 189.00

Canon LBP-6II 269.00

PanasorW:iO(P4420; 118.00 K)(P445a

Paiusorio KXP4420; 164,00 KXP44S0i

PanasorkKXP«20; IO<P44SOi

PaiBsoric KXP4420; KXP4450i

208.00 248.00

TOSHIRA MEMORY

NEC MEMORY

CAT.I

PC6-PA7I371I PC7-PA8301U PC8-PA8302tJ PC9-PAS340U PC9-PA8341U PC10-PAe304U

PC12-PA8307U

DESCRIPTION NSI

3MB Mem Card Potable T3200 228.00

2MB Mem Card Potable T51 00 188.00

2MB MemCard Pot^e Tl SX) )62.00

512K Man Card PortibleT3100E 120.00

2MB Hera Card Potable TllOOe 168,00

2MB Mem Card Pot^kile 168.00 TS200 Toshba Osstto T8500

2MB Mam Card PorUUeT3200SX 168.W

CAT. I DESCRIPTION NSI

PC12-PA8309U 4Ma Man. Card Portable TSJOOSX 389.00

PC14PA8306U2Ha Hem Card Portable T1200XE 168.00

PC14-PAe311U1HBHaTiCardPortabto 218.00

T1000SE:TlOOOXE

PC14PA8312U2HB Mem Card Portable 276.00

TlOOOSEiTIDOOXE

PC15^A8306U 2MB Mem Card Portable 162.00

T3100SX

Call

APCH655X APCH656X

APCH657X

APCH850E

APCHe52E

DESCRIPTION NSI

2MBMo<fPowomate388^ 458.00

SMB Eipanson Board 1,1 90.00

Powermale 386)25

1MB Bffi» Board 1,250.00

Powermale 38&2S

IMBExpoisonSoafd 24000

Powermale SX Plus

4MB Eipaiskm Board 690,00

Powermale SX Bus

Call DESCRIPTIDN KSI

PC21.21 1 MB CD ProSoeed 286^868X245,00

PC2t-22 4MB CD ProSpeed 286386SX 569.00

PC21-26 2MB CD ProSpeed 2S6;386SX 309.00

PC31-21 2MB CD ProSpeed 386 319.00

PC31-22 8MBCDProS{»ed386 1,190.00

KrN2000 2MB Expulsion Board 440.00

/SX powermale SX Plus

KTtBOOO SMS Btpxiam Board 1,190.00

/SX PowermateSXRus

AST MEMORY

HP MEMORY

CAT. I

5«S10001 500SIOO02

600510003 500510004

500610007 500510008

500510010

DESCRIPTION NS)

512KUp^dKjlPiem286FASTRAM 39.00

2MB Upjrd Kil Prom WS 386SX; 1 18,00

WS 268; Bravo 286 j 366SX; Rampage

flus 286; Admlj Piem S/2; Ram Admlg;

Advantage

1 MB Upgrd Kit Premiura 186 98,00

4MB UpgtdKlPrwn 386. Rampage 31O00

Hu3/MC:Advntg 288 1386

1 MB Up7d Kit Pran 386C: 3S6n 6 85,00

4MB upgrd Kit Piem 3860; 366/1 6 23000

Advanced FASTRAM; FAStboard 386

51 2K Upgrd Kit Pr6mWS38eSXi 39,M

WS 286: Btavo 2S6, Rampage « 286

CATt SCW10011 500709«I1 500709001 50071 8O01 50071 M02

500718004 500760001 S00818OO4

ASrSX20

DESCRIPTION

128K Upgrd Kit Bravo 288

512K Upgrd Kit Advn 12; Rampage PC

512K Upgrd Kit RmpageRirsflUC

1 MB Mod, Pran 38625 8 3e6SX/16

1 MB Mod, Prem 388(33 -25; SX/1 6;

486/33;25T; 2SrE; 25, 25£;

Adapter Board 500722-004

2MB Upgid Kit Prem 488 Series

tMBKt Prem 486 Series

1-16MB Exp Bd Prem 1S&25J1;

Pie!n486's

lMBMalPremll386SX/20

NSI 40.00 40.00 40.00 65,00 75.00

186.00 870.x 450.00

84.00

CaL I DESCRIPTION NSI

D13S4A 2MBUp-KilVec»aO£'16S 114.00

4ES12PC 01640A IMBUp-KitVECTRA 62.00

OSiZOPC; RS25PC S 20C D1642A IMBUp-KilVECTRA 234.00

Q3i20PC;RS25PC*20C

Call DESCRIPTION NSI

D154aA IMBUp-KJlVECTTUkOS/ieS 6200 DI540A iMBUp-KKVECTRAQSneS 62.M D2150A1MBModVECTRA<S6PC 78.00

D2l51A4MBModVECTflA486PC 26^00 Det52A SMB Hod VECTRA386®;486PC 900.00 D2381A2M8 Hod VECTTU 388/25 PC 144.00

IAIJ,',lil:yi:lil:l;likl;I.MirTTMmi

ZENITH MEMORY
CAT.I	DESCfllPnON NSI	CAT.I DESCRIPTION	NSI
ZA160*l	2MB CardSuper Sport SX;2B6E 240.00	ZA3034ME2 4MB Card Turbo Sporl 3a6E	590.00
ZAieM6	1 MB Cad Super Spot 286: 288£ 160,00	ZA3eO0ME lMBMod,Z-386/20-25-33-33E	79.00
ZA1B0-B6	2MB Card Super SporlSX (ALPHA) 240.00	ZA36Q0MG 2MGMod,Z-38&!0-25-33	13000
ZAieO-87	2MB Csd Super SpoitSX (BETA) 240.00	ZA3e00ME 1 MB Mod, Z-38S20-25-13-33E	79.00
ZA1034ME	IMB Card Turbo Sport 386E 199.00	ZA3800MK 4MB Mod. Z-38t20-2S-33-33E	288.00
2A1C34ME2	4HB Card Tirto Sport 386E 590.00

BOCAR A M/XT-Provides up to 2MB o( aparxied rT«moy to 8 bit bus. Operates up b 1 2 MHz. U5e5 2S6Kb-fiAM-wili OK „.,,... St20.CC

wi1h512)( 139.00

«n1h2HB 219.00

BOCARAMfAT PLUS-Prov,desupio 6MB ot aidenied. exparKted or badrfil memoy. Opaates up to 33MK2 and is sset Uyu soltware.

Uses 256K D.RAM-i«ilt OK $1 19.00

*ith2Ma 219.00

BOCARAWAT-l/0 PLUS-Pio«d9sup

Id 4M8 o( XlBided, Xpanded o baddil itemay.

For 16 bit bus. Opaaiss up b 33 MH: arid is set

tiru software, has saiai and parelEe/ port Uses

IMBD-RAM-

witiOK t149.IM

»rlh2MB 249.00

BOCARAM 30-Provides up lo 2Me of a^unded memory lor IBM PS/2 model £5, 30 and 8l]|bu$ uliiaig 3.5* lloppy dislis. Uses 2S6K D-

RAM- wiDi OK (1 59.00

witti 2MB 249.00

BOCARAM S0/60-Provid«suptii4UB

BMpaiKled, extended o baddfll monorv fo f^S2

model 50, 60. Uses 1 MB D-RAH-

wil!i OK $149.00

wilh 2MB 249.00

*ilh4Mfl 349.00

BOCARAM SOZ-Protides up lo 2M6, 0 waKsbte, aqwided or extended mnnory fo ISM, PS/2 modd 50, SOZ, 60. Uses 1 1 H8 D- RAM-

srithOK $129.00

with 2MB 229.00

Calaloa/manufycturer's part numbers are for your convenience. Alt products are 3rd party manufactured. 100% Compatible. ALL MEMORY PRODUCTS COME WITH 5 YEAR UNCONDITIONAL WARRANTY. CALL FOR QUANTITY PRICES.

WE ACCEPT...

L CHAflGE

We buy and sell excess inventories..call or fax list

20308 Gramercy Place, Torrance, CA 90501

(213) 328-3344 • FAX: (213) 328-2907 • (800) 345-5568

WE ACCEPT: NSI CHARGE, VISA, MC. AMEX, COD, PO's from qualified firms. 20% restocking fee on all rm- defective relums. W! refums^Sustments must be made wfthin 15 days. CA residents Add 7% Sales Tax ■ PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE ■ $8,50 Minimum SSiipping.

AMERICAN EXPRESS

Cirde Reader Service Number 147

TEST LAB

much mind carrying the hefty D/ LT for short distances. After all, this computer's 13 pounds doesn't compare to the weight and bulk of most earlier porta- bles. More contemporary users, though, might not want the bur- den of this much weight, espe- cially in this age of 386 note- books. The D/LT thankfully bal- ances on its edge quite well. Even if the D/LT should fall over, I wouldn't worry much about dam- age— this machine's case could stop bullets.

This laptop doesn't spare you the cold reality of mysterious bat- tery charges. You should expect about two hours of use per full re- charge of the ni-cad battery Ex- pect less if you access your hard drive and floppy frequently Lead- ing Edge has built in some fea- tures to help you conserve pow- er and keep track of the D/LT's bat- tery life, Left unattended, the D/ LT dims its screen to conserve power. A battery check light flash- es when power's low, and if you don't soon save and shut down, you might damage your hard drive and will certainly lose your work.

Alarm software, such as Bat- tery Watch, warns you when bat- tery failure will occur, but you'll need to buy such software sepa-

44 COMPUTE

LEADING EDGE PRODUCTS 117 Flanders Rd. Westborough, MA 01581 1800) 874-3340 List Price: $2,198.00 tor 40MB;

$2,599.00 for lOOMfl Street Price: $1,846.33

rately The D/LT comes bundled with DOS 4.01, Windows3.0,

and Microsoft Works.

You might think that

a laptop with a VGA

- — — port makes the perfect

go-between for home

computing and comput- ing in your hotel room, but think again. Most laptops just don't of- fer the expandability that full-size PCs do, and even the larger-than- average D/LT won't adequately serve as a substitute. With a 2MB RAM limit and no card slots, the D/LT won't replace your versatile desktop PC. And for true portabil- ity, you'll want to try the Leading Edge NB 300S notebook comput- er. The standard unit packs less RAM and hard drive space than the D/LT, but its reduced weight and increased operating time per battery charge probably bring it closer to your idea of what con- stitutes a laptop these days. At on- ly about $400 more than its larg- er cousin, the notebook warrants a frequent traveler's attention.

So, who needs the D/LT? Well, for shoppers who appreciate a bargain, the D/LT could turn out to be a surprise hit. To compete with other manufacturers in this market of increasingly smaller and lighter portable computers. Leading Edge lowered the sug- gested retail price of the D/LT lap- top by about $1,000. Any further price cuts could carve out quite a niche for this machine, especial- ly with computer users who travel only from time to time but want to make sure they can work out of town if they need to.

DAVID SEARS

PANASONIC CF-270 BUSINESS PARTNER

Can a seven-pound notebook computer measure up to the needs of someone accustomed to using a well-equipped desktop machine? Panasonic's CF-270 Business Partner comes mighty close and offers many of the im- portant features that we've now come to expect in notebook com- puters.

At a mere seven pounds, the CF-270 is a lightweight whose ap- proximate dimensions are 12 inch- es by 10 inches by 2 inches- small enough to fit into most at- tache cases. The CF-270 com- pares well with other notebooks currently available, offering a 16- MHz 80C286 CPU, 20MB hard drive, 1.44MB SVg-inch floppy drive, 640 x 480 backlit black- and-white LCD display with 16- leve! gray-scale VGA, and 1MB standard memory (expandable to 5MB),

The CF-270 comes with two 3V2-inch floppies, which include everything you would expect, in- cluding MS-DOS 4.01 and GW- BASIC. The floppies also include some programs that add impor- tant features; a setup program, a power-management program, FDISK to set up the hard drive, and a diagnostic program that tests each component of the sys- tem.

How long the battery holds a charge and how long it takes to recharge can often be the deter- mining factors when you're decid- ing which notebook to purchase. The CF-270 comes equipped with a quick-charge battery that will fully recharge in about two hours when the computer is turned off and in four hours if you use the computer while charging. The battery charge lasts about two hours but will vary depending on how often the drives are ac- cessed and which power-conser- vation options you've selected.

The CF-270 software (called Power Management Setup Utility) allows you to select power-reduc- ing options including slowing or shutting off tfie CPU when the computer is not busy, turning off the hard drive motor when it's not in use, placing the floppy drive on standby, and automatically turn- ing off the screen or the entire unit if there's no keyboard input after a certain time interval. Each of the power-saving features op- erates only when the CF-270 is run- ning on battery power.

Using the Power Management Setup Utility is simple enough. The manual briefly explains each of the options, and the utility in- cludes online help screens — a handy convenience, especially if you want to change an option at 31,000 feet and haven't brought the manual.

I set the system to maximum power savings and found that the system functioned satisfactorily. The only time I could detect a slow- down in performance was when I accessed the hard drive after the motor had shut off. Usually the delay was only a few seconds while the drive got up to speed again, a small price to pay to ex- tend the life of a battery charge.

I especially liked the keyboard and its layout; a touch typist would have little trouble adjust- ing. If you're a heavy spread- sheet user, you'll enjoy being able to convert the keyboard to a numeric keypad. Although not as convenient as a separate key- pad, this compromise proves quite workable.

The CF-270 comes with sever- al external ports and jacks. With the serial and parallel ports, you can connect to your favorite print- er, external modem, or serial mouse. And with its VGA port and keyboard jack, you can use your CF-270 as if it were a desktop com- puter.

The CF-270 comes with sever- al manuals. Less than 100 pages long, the basic User's Guide cov- ers all the basics clearly and concisely. Also included are a

PANASONIC COMMUNICATIONS & SYSTEMS otiice Automation

Group TWO Panasonic Way Secaucus, NJ 07094 (800) 742-8086 List Price: $2,299.00

(or 20MB,

$2,799.00 (or

60MB Street Price:

$1,995.33

very short Getting Started Guide, a User's Reference Guide, an MS- DOS Shell User's Guide, and a Quick Reference Guide to MS- DOS and GW-BASIC. Anyone with any experience with MS- DOS computers should find this documentation satisfactory, albe- it a bit skimpy. If you've never set up a new system before, you might find the process a bit intim- idating, as you would with most computers. And if you have lim- ited experience with DOS, you'll not learn much from these guides.

Panasonic has designed a re- spectable notebook computer that includes most of the features we've come to expect. If you're in the market for a small, lightweight

computer that will fit easily into your carry-on luggage and on an airplane's table tray, you would do well to consider the Panason- ic CF-270 Business Partner.

STEPHEN LEVY

SHARP PC-6220

Sharp's PC-6220 is a compact and, on the whole, well-designed computer for its small size {11 x 8x 1 .5 inches). This 80C2e6 note- book computer runs at 12MHz and comes equipped with a full megabyte of memory. Its durable exterior and light weight (4.4 pounds without the optional flop- py drive) should make this ma- chine an attractive option in the world of portable computing.

THE POWER-SAVING SL CHIP

Intel has introduced a new 20- MHz SL chip, exclusively for lap- tops, that's supposed to add sig- nificant power-saving features. Zenith claims its MastersPort 386SL (currently the only laptop with an SL chip) will preserve an application for two weeks and then resume at the push of a but- ton.

Since most of the recent lap- tops carry the SX chip — and will for some time to come — your best bet for extended lap- top battery use is to buy a lap-

top with an array of power-sav- ing features. An automatic screen timeout blanks the screen after a period of time passes without mouse or key- board input, a sleep or rest mode will actually slow down the computer's processing time while the machine is still running but not in use, and standby mode is designed to conserve power while allowing instant ac- cess to what you were working on with the press of a key.

— j;ll champion

45

TEST LAB

Frequent travelers will appre- ciate riot having to carry around any more pounds than neces- sary, Once you've loaded your hard drive with the software you use, you don't really need to lug the optional 3'/2-inch plug-in flop- py drive. If you don't care to in- vest in the external drive, a ROM version of Traveling Software's LapLink software and the sup- plied cables will let you make transfers between this notebook and your desktop computer. Lap- L/n/f works fine, though, and in no time f was transferring my favor- ite word processor, graphics, en- tertainment, and other software to the 6220's hard drive.

The system's port covers must be detached and stand a good chance of getting lost (a storage hatch for these little guys would be a nice feature). And the screen/cover is stiff and difficult to place at just the right angle, It would've helped if a demonstra- tion program or at least some mod- est utilities had been included ei- ther in ROU or on the 20MB hard drive. When you consider the pow- er that has been packed into such a small package, however, a lot can be forgiven.

Though the 6220 is as power- ful as a desktop AT, it shares with many other notebooks the lim- itations of a 20MB hard drive. There are limitations on the num- ber of powerful applications you can use. For instance, Microsoft C6.0 with all the associated utili- ties takes up at least 3MB of stor- age, as does GeoWorks Ensem- ble, while WordPerfect 5A and Windows 3,0 take at least 6MB each.

An informal test of processing speed, using a few of my own cal- culation-intensive routines and comparing completion time with the completion time on other AT- compatibles, showed that the 6220 compared remarkably well. If you add a coprocessor in the notebook's 80C287 socket, you can expect even better perform- ance. You have the option of in- creasing the system menriory,

46 COMPUTE

which will also boost perform- ance. Memory can be increased to two or three megabytes through the purchase of optional 1MB RAM cards.

You can set the liquid crystal display for CGA, EGA, and MDA emulation, as well as the default VGA. And a Hercules option ex- ists for an external monitor. The 6220 does a pretty good job of dis- playing graphic images in 16 shades of gray. 1 tested several compatible images with the

SHARP ELECTROHICS Sharp Plaza

Mahwah, NJ 07430-2135 (800) 237-4277 List Price; $3,199.00 Street Price: $1,987.32

same resolution and found reasonable faithful- ness. The next test in- volved running a few graphic-intensive games. Games, as programmers and game play- ers were early ^^^ to discover, ^^r challenge comput- ''" er abilities like no oth- er software. In fact, the games I tried worked surprising- ly well. The persistent problem with any LCD screen continues to be the slow liquid crystal re- sponse times — if the image on the screen is changing rapidly, there's a blurred, shadowy effect because liquid crystals, rather than being strictly on or off, show an obvious range of activation. An optional adapter for CRT out- put, to either a multisync or VGA monitor, makes the 6220 more convenient for desktop use. The same is true of the separately sold numeric keypad and expan- sion unit. The expansion box will provide power and peripheral con- nectivity while furnishing two ex- pansion slots.

The nickel-cadmium battery

supplied with the 6220, after its initial two-hour charge and with on- ly limited hard drive access, goes for about an hour and a half before a warning beeper informs you that there's only about ten min- utes of power remaining. If you don't save what must be saved within that ten minutes, it will be lost. The AC adapter, included, ei- ther doesn't recharge the battery when the computer is being used or does so very slowly Ei- ther way, if you need to get the 6220 back on the

road again soon you must switch it off and wait for the battery to recharge. An option- al battery pack, which plugs into the back of the unit, is available, and according to the manufactur- er, It will extend battery-usage time an additional three hours.

I also experienced difficulty in- stalling the battery pack, a prob- lem which I attribute to the ma- chine's overall compact design — sometimes a little extra space is welcome. Because the battery slot is barely larger than the bat- tery, the connector wires can eas- ily get in the way during battery insertion. I worked and worked to

get the battery pack neatly seat- ed without deforming the case or mashing the wires; every possi- ble permutation was (gingerly) tried. At last I had the battery and the wires in place, but the battery cover remained misshapen on the underside of the unit through- out the review process.

Except for its hefty price tag, I would not hesitate to recom- mend Sharp's PC-6220 note- book computer. In two weeks of heavy use, it performed flawless- ly. And what liberty when your AT is no more difficult to lug about than a common book!

BRUCE M, BOWDEN

VGA COLOR FOR LAPTOPS

What's next for the laptop comput- er? Just a few years ago, color dis- plays for portables seemed wish- ful thinking, but with the Sharp Col- orstar, wishes can come true. No washed-out gray-scale images here; this machine delivers a stun- ning 256 vivid VGA colors, cho- sen from a palette of 262,144 pos- sible hues, Combine brilliant col- or generation with the inherent sharpness that comes with small- er screens, and you have a re- markable picture, whatever you choose to display

Using Sharp's innovative thin- film transistor (TFT) active-matrix LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) tech- nology, the Colorstar stands head and shoulders above the competition in terms of visual im- pact. Each pixel has its own sili- con thin-film transistor to allov/ pre- cise color control. Not surprising- ly, color LCDs aren't easy to pro- duce; even a single pixel error stands out, so production stan- dards call for perfection, not ap- proxinaation. In part because of this difficulty, the Colorstar will in- itially sell for $10,000 to $15,000, but you can expect prices to fall as burgeoning consumer de- mand for color LCD microtel- e visions encourages the improve-

ment of factory methods.

The Colorstar comes with a 20- iVlHz 386DX processor, 2MB RAM (expandable to 10MB), a 1.44MB floppy drive, and a 100MB hard drive. Want expandability? The Col- orstar has a half-size expansion slot (AT-bus, for networking, among other things), the standard parallel port, two RS-232C ports, a keypad port, and a CRT output. And best of all, the Colorstar

coutd have been a set piece for an episode of "The Jetsons." Sleek, ergonomic, and the very picture of high-tech, the Colorstar should turn heads on the basis of its style alone. And while this high-end ma- chine may not wind up in your stocking this Christmas, move it up your wish list anyway

-^AVID SEARS

TANDY 2810 HD

Versatile and packed with fea- tures, the Tandy 2810 HD laptop computer offers enough features to meet most of your computing needs, even if you're accus- tomed to working with a desktop. You get 1MB of RAM (expanda- ble to 5MB), a 20MB hard drive, and a 3y2-inch 1.44MB floppy drive. The computer operates at 16 MHz and has a socket for an optional math coprocessor,

The 2810's 84-key keyboard has full 101 -key emulation and al- lows for some customization. If you don't like where the Ctrl and CapsLock keys are located, you have the option of physically re- versing their positions. Smartly laid out, the keys have a good sol- id feel to them.

Other keys on the 2810 initiate battery power conservation. These place the computer in standby mode, toggle the speed between 16 MHz and 8 MHz, dis- able the speaker, switch from the internal screen to an external mon- itor, turn off the serial ports, and more.

In most working environments, I never noticed the small amount of noise generated by the 2810's disk drive. On the rare occasions I was able to use the laptop at home in my library-quiet den, I found the noise distracting. No

47

TEST LAB

TANDY

1800 One Tanity Center FL Worth, TX 76102 (817) 390-3300 List Price: $2,499 Street Price: n/a

problem; press a key, and the drive shuts off until needed. You can also configure the computer to shut off the drive and/or dis- play after a certain period of in- activity. This saves battery pow- er, too.

The 2810 warns you when the batteries need recharging, giving you ample time to save any work in progress. If they should fail while you're working, however, the Resume feature remembers what's in memory when the ma-

NORTON INDEXES

The Norton computing, disk, and overall indexes show you how well a computer performs when compared to a 4.77- MHz XT (the original IBM PC). In the Norton index, such an XT has a value of 1 .0. If a com- puter is twice as fast, it will have a value of 2.0. The great- er the index value, the faster the computer — and the faster your applications will run.

The CPU (Central Process- ing Unit) speed test rates the computer's microprocessor performance. The disk index rates the performance of a sys- tem's hard drive. The overall performance index factors in the CPU and disk indexes among other things.

-RICHAflD C. LEINECKER

48 COMPUTE

chine runs out of power. When you turn the power on again, the program reappears, and you con- tinue where you left off.

To add a printer and a mouse to the 2810, just plug the appro- priate cables into the computer's parallel and sehal ports. You can just as easily connect a VGA mon- itor and a full-size external key- board via the built-in monitor and keyboard ports. This makes the 2810 a convenient backup for your desktop computer

The 2810's VGA LCD screen with fluorescent backlighting has a three-position brightness switch and a sliding contrast con- trol bar allowing for readability in a wide range of lighting condi- tions. A key combination lets you further vary the contrast of char- acters and background; you can even reverse the display entirely.

As with all Tandy computers, the 2810 comes equipped with the DeskMate graphics-oriented interface and application soft- ware. These applications include a word processor, drawing pro- gram, spreadsheet, calendar, ad- dress book, filer, and telecommu- nications program,

Other manuals should emulate Tandy's User's Guide. Written for the 2810. it isn't meant to cover 57 other models or configura- tions. The introduction guides you through the basics, explains the different keys and setup op- tions, and explains many useful MS-DOS commands. A separate manual guides you through Desk- Mate and its applications.

Setting up a new computer is always challenging, but Tandy's manual removes much of the con- fusion that comes from working with a new system. The manual ex- plains the different parameters and what they do; then it explains your options. For example, the time and date functions are fairly simple to understand, but do you know if you want to enable or dis- able the serial ports, FDC Stand- by, Standby Timeout, or VRAM Timeout? After a quick glance through the slim but thorough man- ual, you'll have no doubt about what these functions do and how you want them configured.

Adding extra memory cards and allocating memory are also

carefully explained. The 2810 has 1MB installed with 640K of con- ventional memory and 384K of ex- tended or shadow RAM. Availa- ble slots leave room for an addi- tional 4MB of RAM. Depending on the requirements of the oper- ating system and the software you run, you can configure addi-

2000 notebook just may be your ticket.

It's an amazingly small 286 note- book computer, measuring only 11 inches wide x 8.5 inches deep X 1.4 inches thick and weighing in at a meager 4.4 pounds. It comes standard with 1MB of RAM, a 20MB hard disk.

tional memory either as expand- ed or extended. Some configura- tions require minimum allocations for shadow RAM and a software driver installed in a CONFIG.SYS file. Once again, you1l find this in- formation clearly spelled out in the manual.

A solid performer, the Tandy 2810 HD will keep pace with ad- vanced users but, thanks to clear documentation, won't over- whelm a beginner. With 1MB of RAM, a high-density disk drive, a 20MB hard drive, a VGA display, bundled software, and solid work- manship in an attractive pack- age, this laptop is ready to go to work for you in a big way.

TOM NETSEL

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS TRAVELMATE 2000

If you're ready to take your com- puting on the road, then the Tex- as Instruments (Tl) TravelMate

"Unadle to run lest.

and a backlit LCD VGA display. The TravelMate has an attractive- ly Styled case and a comfortable, solid-feeling keyboard,

The unit I reviewed came with the optional external SVa-inch disk drive and 2400-baud mo- dem/fax card. All of the optional accessories can be quickly in- stalled or detached, which means you don't have to lug

them around when you don't need them. The drive plugs direct- ly into an expansion port located on the back of the computer. To install it, simply pop off the rear cover and plug in the drive. Two thumbscrews hold the drive in place, so you don't have to fuss with cables. It's pretty slick.

The modem/fax card plugs in- to a small compartment located just above the keyboard. The card is held in place by a single screw and the plug. I assumed that this screw would be a thumb- screw like those on the disk drive, but it's not. However, if you have a small screwdriver, you can swap cards in a matter of min- utes.

I was impressed with the soft- ware that came with the system: BatteryPro and LapUnk, a file transfer program that serves as your gateway to the outside world if you don't purchase the optional 3'/?-inch disk drive. Connected by the LapUnk ca- ble and running the LapUnk soft- ware, two computers have com- plete access to each other's disk files. BatteryPro is perhaps the more valuable piece of soft- ware. It's a utility package that functions as a power-conserva- tion system for the computer. The BatteryWatch feature of the package monitors battery con- sumption, and BatteryPro pro- vides only the power necessary

TEST LAB

to do your work. This combina- tion saves valuable battery pow- er that's usually wasted by other portables.

The battery test results for the TravelMate were acceptable. With the BalteryPro utilities in- stalled, it's possible to get about an hour and a half of use from each charge, with moderate disk activity. The battery pack con-

sists of a candy bar-shaped ni- cad battery that's about 1 1 '/?. inch- es long. It fits into a very tight com- partment on the back of the com- puter. The process of removing and replacing this piece of hard- ware is, at best, difficult. Howev- er, that's an extremely small price to pay when you consider the small, lightweight design of the TravelMate.

Included with the modem is a well-rounded set of communica- tions programs, BitCom and Bit- Fax. BitCom is a full-featured ter- minal program, and BitFax takes advantage of the card's fax ca-

50 COMPUTE

pabilities. Both are extremely easy to use; in fact, I successful- ly used both without reading a sin- gle page from the manuals. I'd never sent a fax before doing this review, but 6/?Fax walked me right through the whole process of sending files to a fax machine here in the office.

I thoroughly enjoyed using the TravelMate 2000. I thought the computer was well designed and attractive. In addition, it seems to be very sturdy

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS Intormatlon Technology

Group P.O. Box 202230 Austin, TX 78714-2230 (800) 527-3500 List Price: S2,309.00 for

2(iMB; $2,790.00

lor 40NfB Street Price: $1,028.70

and solid, which is a big plus in a portable computer.

The only thing I didn't like about the computer was the small plastic covers that protect the external ports. They just didn't want to stay in place for me. I simply removed them and placed them in the box for safe- keeping. {Most partables don't even have protective covers, so it's not really a problem.)

Ifyou're thinking about purchas- ing a high-quality notebook com- puter, then you owe it to your- self to check out the TravelMate 2000. It's a very powerful tool that comes with good software, has room for expansion, and of- fers you a wide range of op- tional equipment.

TROY TUCKER

COPROCESSOR SPEED

COMPUTE'S benchmark statis- tics allow you to compare how our Test Lab computers han- dle COMPUTE'S proprietary benchmark tests. But there's another kind of comparison you should consider — the speed of a computer with a math coprocessor versus the speed of a computer without one.

When one of our review com- puters arrived at the lab with a coprocessor, we decided to run our benchmarks first with the coprocessor and then with- out it. The differences in per- formance were quite dramatic in some tests.

In the computer-aided de- sign (CAD) tests, for example, the coprocessor enabled the computer to load a drawing in just under 14 seconds rather than the minute and 8 sec- onds the computer required without the coprocessor. Re- scaling a drawing required a minute and 12 seconds with- out the coprocessor, 16 sec- onds with it. In the floating point math calculation compar- isons, the differences are sim- ilarly dramatic. With the coprocessor, floating-point ad- dition required 35 microsec- onds, 306 microseconds with- out it.

However, when our lab ran speed comparisons in applica- tions—including a database sort, a database reindex, a text search and replace, and a spreadsheet recalculation — the differences were decided- ly less significant.