(Sysop Tony) Hi Ho.... Open topics today. Send Q or C to get us started. .... (Jeff S) What does Node mean when I type /USERS? (Sysop Tony) "Node" is the connection point.... where you get into the CompuServe Network. (Jeff S) Can you usually tell what places they stand for? ga (Sysop Tony) Often..... for example, REN is Reno, Nevada.... OKC is Oklahoma City, etc. There is a complete list you can get by typing GO PHONES, and follow the menus. ga (Jeff S) Interesting. That's what I thought. ga (J.D.) Anyone receive promised December issue of Portable 100/etc.? (Sysop Tony) JD.... Folks have just started to report... receiving the AUGUST issue. .... The "December" issue has been changed to a "January" issue. Any more on that, JD? ga (J.D.) Sure, but after Cs. (Sysop Tony) OK... ga Larry ga (Larry L) ok... I, too, just got August issue. I have called the pubs. twice and have been assured that they are still publishing. I notice that the ads for subscribers are huge. (Sysop Tony) Well.... to me, "publishing" means coming out with something! .... Since they haven't "come out" with something in several months.... I wouldn't call that "publishing. But that's only a personal opinion! (GENE NESTRO) Also rec'd Aug issue this week. (J.D.) Wife and I are starting LAPTOP USER: The Model 100 Resource with first issue in March 87. We'll have 50,000 readers, with free subscriptions for M100/102/200 users on CompuServe. (Sysop Tony) Hey! .... Now THERE'S an announcement!!!! (Mel S.) Congrats! Fantastique! (GENE NESTRO) GREAT!! (Sysop Tony) Terriffic idea. Congratulations! (Larry L) hooray (Sysop Tony) Where do we send our names and addresses??? (J.D.) Send names and addresses WITH a list of the equipment you use to: Shoestring Publications P.O. Box 712 Salem, MA 01970 Alternately, leave info for me here or on Eplex....but I'd prefer POPS (= plain ol' postal service). (Sysop Tony) OK.... but... why do all the magazine publishers seem to.... live in the far North East??? (J.D.) Coincidence. Moved here to work on P100. Actual home is on sunny west coast. All started with Wayne Green, actually. Anyways, Boston is not SO far northeast. (Sysop Tony) Gee, I always thought... anything North of New York was far North East.... (Mel S.) Give this guy a hand! Anyone who's worked for Wayne Green... is assured of a place in heaven...because he's already been through... hell. At any rate, tell us more-- what kind of editorial? That, in my humble opinion, is what killed P100...the issues after the first year... were devoid of much new material, with the SIG skimming most of that. (J.D.) Well. LAPTOP USER is more than the title. It's the orientation. Is my opinion that previous portable/laptop magazines forgot about the readers, or as much as forgot them. We're looking for a basic package of four core components: (1) programming tutorials; (2) product reviews; (3) segments of USEFUL program code to plug in & use; (4) stories about how users apply their laptops to real problems--application stories with a "real world" focus. Plus, of course, the departments that every magazine is bound to carry: mail, technical q&a, new product announcements, etc. We're now looking to sign up some "brand name" guest columnists, too, to keep the mix interesting. (Sysop Tony) PLEASE .... include hardware articles as possible. Some of us are starved! (Larry L) Yes. I can't agree more about the tech side. One of my favorite journals I get each month is an Apple tech journal... 8 pages on onionskin with no adverts, but is all tech stuff on hardware and software... something that is usually missing in 100 journals... People are generally receptive to tech oriented articles. (J.D.) P100 letters to the editor & other feedback was easily 10-to-1 of the "slow down, you're too technical for me" type. Agree that we need to provide (a mix). user base as a whole is less technically oriented than you. ga (Mel S.) I agree 100%. The problem with M100-directed pubs to date is they forget WHERE and WHO buys these boxes. In a very high % of cases, they're bought by writers, who walk in to a local RS... (J.D.) [remember Lincoln's warning to those who tried to please all people at all times] (Mel S.) and buy something whose ROM they do NOT care to disassemble!... so I think that practical problem-solving of writing with different combos of software, hardware, etc...external modems... stuff as simple as how to put together a case for carrying... an M100/200 and cameras...you name it. (Sysop Tony) But Mel.... That would lead to articles like... "This month, we discuss, Write ROM, working with Multiplan... Next Month, Write ROM working with Supera and SPREAD.... The Following month, Write ROM, working with XYZ and Companies products... After that.... and so on. .... (Mel S.) Not necessarily... (Sysop Tony) There are always gonna be products that don't necessarily work together. ... (GENE NESTRO) I'd like to poll this group now... as to vocation & avocation. (Sysop Tony) Anyone who cares to answer Gene's poll, do so now. (RICH L) 'puter programer here. (J.D.) vocation & avocation match for me; I'm lucky. I'm a writer/editor and former programmer, and combine the two in my work. (Mel S.) President, medical ad agency. (Leonard E) Job: Microcomputer specialist, hobby: computers.. (Jeff S) CS student (Larry L) Biomedical Technician (GENE NESTRO) teacher/writer thankx guys done ga (J.D.) Comments: most common "tech" questions at P100 were printer interfacing and file transfer to desktops. Second c: There's nothing wrong with articles promoting expert use of popular applications software. (Leonard E) yes, I'm a glutton for punishment! (J.D.) If we can help folks use Write ROM, Ultimate ROM, & Multiplan better, more often, or more confidently, we've done a good job I think. Yes, no?? (Mel S.) I think that the MAJORITY of people who buy laptops are not tech-ies... which is why tech-y approaches to the m100 fail -- they ignore the masses... and produce mags of little interest to the masses...which is why the Tandy products peter off into the fog... and support dies. (Sysop Tony) Mel, and JD.... I'm not necessarily advocating a highly technical journal.... for a small group of "techies".... but there ARE many out there who would appreciate... a few articles on how to make minor modifications.... how the modem might be changed to tone dialing or 1200 baud.... etc. Remember, the Chipmunk, the Expansion RAM's.... and many other "products" are the result of the techies interest.... in the portables. Without them, you have no new products that make your computer more useful/interesting. .... I'm just saying, let's have as much as possible; which will probably.... be damn little, anyway. .... As for the .... "combinatorial uses of various programs, RAM expansions, MENU programs, etc", I think we can get TOO far into which works with what.... as in: "Select one from column A, one from column B, .... and pick a program from column C." .... Not that they aren't USEFUL, one just gets tired of hearing about.... Why won't "Wizard" work with "Zippy-ding"??? (J.D.) Agree absolutely, if I understand you correctly. Point is, Lucid/Multiplan is now part of the M100 environment, and expert use of same is as important as expert use of BASIC or machine language. Also of disks, no? So might as well concentrate on what users need and want to do. I'd enjoy some hardware projects, but admit I lack the expertise to write'em myself. Will include as many as possible, however. (You're now getting a taste of what it's like to be an editor and have the pressure to be all things to all readers. Think it can be done in this market, perhaps. Trying.) (Larry L) By all means J.D., give the people what they want. What I had in mind is a basic hardware/firmware tutorial so people can best use a machine that is unlike most other computers. Also, at least one techie article an issue would be ok with me. (J.D.) [thanks Larry - noted] (Mel S.) Here's an example of what I mean... I know that there's a way to use spreadsheet programs to do big layouts of text...that would be difficult to do with a regular word processing program. How do I do that? I don't know! But someone could unlock that sipmple point. I have discussed with many writers who own SuperRom how I use it to do footnotes...and they say, Jeez, can it do that? Those are simple points, perhaps...but for the thousands, they are more interesting than ROM addresses. And if someone had told the truth about Floppy.co and multiplan, a lot of us would have saved... a lot of grief! (J.D.) [I'm with you, Mel.] (Leonard E) Well, I hope that we can avoid a couple of the most annoying traits of some mags that try to go for the non-techie. P100 (and 80 Micro) seem to forget solutions that they themselves have published! Most prominent example is xferring files over RS-232. P100 was where I originally learned that you could do a SAVE"MDM:..." during a phone conversation and not lose the connection. Ditto, for SAVE"COM: to an IBM or.. other computer. But after the first year or so, they 'forgot' this and gave answers that involved many $$$ of software. And I frequently shudder at what the 'help' columns give as answers to problems!... Please, JD, make sure that your people give simple *correct* answers! (Sysop Tony) JD... I remember well, a magazine called Popular Computing.... that was Very popular indeed! it started out with harware articles, and lots and lots of RUNNABLE programs... (Jeff S) [used to be called Popular Electronics] (Sysop Tony) every month. Then they took a slight editorial shift.... (Not the same one, Jeff) to start writing about how WONDERFUL computers are, and all the great things you can do with them, and nary a program.... or techie article, and just PAP! Now they are dead! (J.D.) Three comments. First, re Popular Computing. They made a carefully thought out "expert" publishing decision. As more and more first-time, nontechnical folk bought computers, they positioned themselves as an introductory kind of magazine. Well, that just didn't work. People who buy computers just to run one program don't usually buy a magazine. Magazine readers are enthusiasts who look to expand their own expertise. So they blew it. Second, re P100's amnesia. Remember that the magazine lost John Mello, its remarkably good editor, and that he was followed by four editors in a single year, none of [data loss here - ed.] launches of other magazines. So those editors really didn't have the background to maintain the publication's quality. Finally, every applications program offered for sale solves a problem that a BASIC programmer, with sufficient time and ingenuity, could solve himself. So the editor has to decide: Do you give the readers BASIC programs and instructions for building a null modem, or just refer them to Disk Plus? For some readers, Disk Plus is a better solution, particularly if it's affordable. Is a puzzlement. (Sysop Tony) Why not do both? (J.D.) [right answer] (Jeff S) What is the subscription address for P100? (Sysop Tony) Jeff.... See the file MAG.100 in DL 13 for that info. (LOU JANDER) Is it possible to use the old gray disk drive from the first color computer for the 102? (Sysop Tony) No. Any more on that, Lou? (LOU JANDER) No way to make adjustments? (Sysop Tony) No Software to drive it. (LOU JANDER) Well, I guess I will leave it stored. Thanks. (Leonard E) JD, I can understand (a little) about the decision of quick & dirty vs commercial. But even with the editorial turnover, they should have been able to have someone go thru the back issues to see if the questions had been answered before! (Sheldon R.) I just tried to use a machine language word count program... It worked fine, but now I can't use TS-DOS.CO. It just beeps and returns to the menu. ... how can I clear the memory? (Sysop Tony) Sheldon.... TS-DOS is a machine language program too.... When you ran the word counter, you most likely destroyed the copy of TS-DOS in memory and will have to load it again. (Sheldon R.) Oh, I see. There's no CLEAR command that will restore it? (Sysop Tony) No.... once it has been corrupted, it's useless. (Sheldon R.) Well, so much for m/l word counters. Thanks, Tony. (Leonard E) ok lou, all you have with that CoCo disk drive.. is a disk drive & power supply. to use it you need: 1. controller hardware 2. software to interface the computer to the controller. The 100 has neither. And if you're going that route you might as well buy the DVI. (RICH L) Sheldon, I got lost there...do a CLEAR256,57400....THEN GO TO TS-DOS. (Sysop Tony) Oh boy.... two of my favorite guys are here.... Gary Davis and Jon Olson! Hi guys! (Gary D.) Howdy all! (Jon O) HI Tony having a great day??? (Sysop Tony) (Sure) (J.D.) Anyone currently reading PCM or Pico? Any comments? (Sysop Tony) I get both.... PCM averages one useful article a month for the Model 100 family.... PICO averages two. ..... Neither supports the Model 100 family very well. .... PCM the least! .... We understand Terry Kepner is going to try to make PICO more Model 100.... oriented, since there are more of them in the market than anything else.... but we'll see. (J.D.) I have no inside information, but my best guess is that PCM will acquire the P100 list, and may maintain it as a separate publication. (Sysop Tony) Well.... that'll probably kill it for many subscribers. .... PCM just hasn't been able to provide much in the way of USEFUL support. .... Portable 100 was the GREATEST! Unfortunately, the emphasis is on "WAS". (Gary D.) Thanx....need some help on pictures!... Have been downloading pix from the picture forum in RLE..... and Jim Irwin's PICTUR.BA works great to display on the M100 screen, but can't get 'em to print right on my Oki 192...any help? (Sysop Tony) Gee... it's been a while since I've played with the picture stuff.... but as I recall, the screen dump portions of the picture programs was VERY machine specific! Did you EVER have that printer making pictures for you? (Gary D.) Yes......and that's why I'm confused.... I've even talked to Jim and he can't figure out what's wrong. (Sysop Tony) Have you made any changes either in the printer's dip switches, or the linefeed utility from the computer? Have you downloaded a fresh, new copy of the program? (Gary D.) Yes, which makes it even MORE surprising!..... However, my REAL question is..... is there any way to "dump" the RLE.DO file directly to a printer via a program instead of first displaying it on the screen and using a "dump" program? (Sysop Tony) Yes.... one of the RLE programs does that... but I forget whic one. Better do a BRO/KEY RLE command to see which is which down there. But in the meantime.... did you add any machine language software lately? For example, a new DOS? or a ROM? (Gary D.) Nope...and here's the even MORE confusing part.... The pictures come out fine, but any lettering that is.... included in the graphics is "broken", i.e.,..... the letters are staggared across a few spaces instead of being lined up. (Sysop Tony) Aha! .... Sounds like the RLE file may be corrupted. Is it true on ALL RLE files or just a few? (Gary D.) Just a few, but I've downloaded them more than once.... Do you think they are messed up in the SIG? However, Jim downloaded the same ones and Emailed that they worked fine on his Star printer! (Sysop Tony) I don't know. They could be. Best have the forum.... sysop check each one you are having trouble with to make sure.... database files occassionally get trashed. OK? Any more on this? (Gary D.) O.K.....real quick.... what DL do I BRO/KEY RLE per your suggestion? (Sysop Tony) Oh, let's see..... the RLE stuff is in either DL3 or DL6, now. Good luck on that. OK, Jon... what's on your mind??? (Jon O) IS there any info here or in the dls on PCSG's Bus Rom..... (Sysop Tony) Business Analyst? (Jon O) yes tony... I've done a BRO /KEY BUSROM but no luck (Sysop Tony) No... there have been several complaints on the message board about folks not getting their's.... EVER.... but no supporting programs, files, commentary or reviews that I know of. .... Sorry. Any more on this or anything else? (Jon O) I ordered one thur....we'll see... (J.D.) I see occasional messages in the SIG about other laptops, especially the Toshiba 1100 (and should be about NEC Multispeed). What is the interest level? Do M100 owners look to trade up? Are you interested in hearing about new laptops? Even Mello took a look at promising new systems and technologies in the P100 glory days. (Sysop Tony) Good question.... as it underlies the editorial need to review and support, in depth, new.... (J.D.) [not in depth. that was pico's problem.... lacked focus] (Sysop Tony) equipment. Personally, I like to see more info on what I have, then on new stuff just coming out. .... Mainly because I'm not too interested in trading "up" until what I've got... doesn't work anymore. (J.D.) I'm thinking more of a one or two page news report on laptops with large installed base, big sales like the IRS contract, or new technologies like backlit LCDs, plasma screens, battery-powered 2400 bps modems, and so on. (Sysop Tony) Well, that stuff is interesting.... but it leads many folks into the trap of buying the latest, greatest, newest, shinyest, new toy on the market, without regard to what it can, or will do for them. ... I've seen cases of folks spending so much time learning how to use the... (Leonard E) [tandy 600!] (Sysop Tony) latest toy, they never get any productive work done! Sure, I'd like to KNOW about new stuff, but not exclusively! (Like PICO) .... I feel the product should be announced, reviewed, then slip into the mainstream of support, without all the hullaballoo about how it's so much better than anything else on the market. That approach makes us poor folks feel that our "best" is trash, and we'd better hock the kid to come up with some more cash to get the "latest... etc.!" (J.D.) Gotcha. I think it's interesting too, but can't dilute the M100 focus. (Gary D.) I totally agree with Tony...... I have a M100 with 256 PG and believe we still haven't explored more than 50% of the machines potential..... Let's have a "hobbyist" SIG to explore all the new toys and use this one to continue to develop what we already own and are happy with! (Sysop Tony) Oh, Gary.... you came in late! JD is about to launch a new publication for us! You'll have to read the transcript later this evening. (Gary D.) [Sign me up!] (J.D.) (1st issue March 87) Gary, it's more like 10%! Like: How about an M100 with a battery-powered CD ROM with maps, restaurant listings, play schedules, and tourist attractions. Sell it through the... (Jeff S) [wow!] (J.D.) chamber of commerce, AAA, or other travel & tourism associations. (Gary D.) [I'm already drooling!] (J.D.) When you step off the plane, you know all about where to go, what you'll have to spend, all the points of interest in a particular locale. Exchangeable CD ROMs for frequent travellers. Anybody got any venture capital for me??? (Sysop Tony) That's a clever idea! The guys in GO FLORIDA are gonna LOVE it! (Gary D.) [Sounds magical!] (Sysop Tony) How about a ROM database that's searchable by key, to list the restaurants.... (J.D.) [with menus!] (Sysop Tony) hotels, attractions, etc.... in each location. Maybe sell the ROM, or even a disk, at the airport news stands!!! (heh heh) Who has an idea??? Gee.... (J.D.) [devoid of creativity, all of us] (Sysop Tony) well, we're running close to the end of this CO.... anyone have anything pressing we need to hash out before we close? ... (J.D.) One last plug. LAPTOP USER: The Model 100 Resource Shoestring Publications P.O. Box 712 Salem, MA 01970 Subscriptions are FREE! Please send name, address, and equipment/software you use. (Sysop Tony) OK! (Gary D.) Thanx.....nuthin' special.... just another Thank You to Tony and all the rest of you for helpin' dumb amateurs like me in getting more use out of this wonderful and magical machine! (Sysop Tony) You bet! ... (J.D.) [hear hear] (Sysop Tony) Anyone else? Well.... Thanks JD , for making this one of the best CO's we've had recently! .... (J.D.) Thanks for input, everyone! (Sysop Tony) your new announcement is a Christmas present for us all. Good luck on the venture, and I'm sure you will be hearing from many of us. Don't forget to put a general notice on the message board about your plans. (J.D.) Hope so. Giving up a lucrative "real" job. (Sysop Tony) OK.... if nothing more, we'll call a halt to this one.... Stick around and yak, if'n you want. Bye all. (J.D.) Thanks, Tony. (Sysop Tony) AMAZING! Nobody asked "Where's Dave?" (Gary D.) Where's Dave? (Sysop Tony) There's one, now! .... (Jeff S) Well, where is he? (J.D.) Hey....where's Dave! (Sysop Tony) Well, last I heard, he took a fall, and banged up his arm.... pretty good. Or is that, pretty bad???? .... and was gonna spend the weekend with a sick friend. Probably his arm! (Gary D.) No excuse! He should type with his toes! (Sysop Tony) Anyone for "Get Well" messages??? (J.D.) Count me in. (Gary D.) And me! (Jeff S) Why not? (Sysop Tony) OK. Bye all. (Sysop Tony) (*** END ***) List of Participants: 70136,1007 Mel S. 70366,1316 steve n 70465,203 Leonard E 71226,202 Mike C. 71460,1723 Howard 72207,457 LESTER 72216,512 GENE NESTRO 72226,2675 DAVE DIKMAN 72256,2551 Gary D. 72646,2107 KENNETH M PRICE 72667,14 Joe Stodgel 73007,3441 Mark Laffoon 73176,1625 RossR 73717,2674 J.D. 73765,605 Larry L 75046,2325 Jon O 75715,100 RICH L 75755,1312 Jeff S 76067,3671 LOU JANDER 76120,1317 MARTY 76703,4062 Sysop Tony