================================================================= The $ R / O R E A D O N L Y -=( January 1987 Issue )=- The monthly news magazine of the Tampa Bay Kaypro User's Group and the DataCOM Super Systems(tm) ================================================================= News and reviews of programs, hardware, and peripherals for users of microcomputers with CP/M, MP/M, MS-DOS, PC-DOS, or TurboDOS multi-user operating systems. ================================================================= Steven L. Sanders - Editor (Sysop) ================================================================= The DataCOM Super Systems(tm) is a "state of the art" multi-user remote database system with a total of 115mb of online files. An annual fee of $35.00 is required for access, an application may be downloaded while online, CP/M users call (813) 791-1454 300/1200/2400 baud, IBM users call (813) 796-5627 1200/2400 baud, or contact us by mail at: The DataCOM Super Systems(tm) 2643 Cedarview Court Clearwater, Florida 33519 -==( DISCLAIMER )==- Articles and reviews of microcomputers, hardware, software, and other peripherals reflect currently advertised prices as released by the distributors and are included here for YOUR INFORMATION ONLY. The TBKUG/DataCOM Super Systems(tm) is NOT being paid to advertise these products and we cannot be held accountable for the actual retail price and/or performance of said products. -={ Distribution/Copyright Notice }=- This magazine and its articles may be freely distributed on other remote systems as long as this title page and all copyright notices remain intact. We readily accept material submitted from outside sources for inclusion in future issues (subject to editorial review of course.) -={ CP/M - It's Alive & Well in England! }=- (The following text was taken from a letter to Steve Sanders) Dear Steve, Hello from England! I am a regular reader of your Read Only magazine, which one of my fellow BB users regularly uploads and transfers to a local RCP/M system. I have been reading your magazine since October 1985 and, as one who earns his living by writing for computer magazines, may I compliment you on a very readable product! What prompts me to put pen to paper, however, is the article headed 'The CPM Connection' in your Sept. '86 issue. To those of us on this side of the pond, it appears rather whimsical, since, over here, CPM is anything but dead and is in the the throes of a full-scale revival! The responsibility for this activity is entirely due to one British computer manufacturer - AMSTRAD. From launching their first machine in October 1984, they have now sold over 1 million machines worldwide. Amstrad is the biggest supplier in the U.K., France, and Germany (in France, their market penetration is a whopping 44%!) and their machines are to be found in most countries, including Australia. The range extends from a 64k games unit up to a 512k business machine and all have one thing in common - they all come bundled with CPM. My own machine is called the PCW 8256 and Amstrad have sold over 350,000 of this model in the last eight months! It comprises a Z80-based system with 256k RAM, expandable to 512k on board. Included in the 399 pound (all prices are pounds sterling) price tag is a monochrome monitor, an Epson-compatible printer and a single disk drive (there is space to add a second one.) The disk drive is a 3" type (which is probably as unusual over there as it is over here, but the units are cheap), using a flip-over disk with a formatted capacity of 173k per side. The second drive option is a double-sided type with a formatted capacity of 706k. The monitor has a 14" screen and displays text in a 90 x 32 format and graphics with a resolution of 720 x 256 pixels. The 256k RAM includes a 112k RAM drive - adding the extra 256k expands this RAM disk (drive M:) to 368k. The printer has automatic paper loading, a removable tractor feed and a paper guide. Printer control is done entirely by software, the usual switches being replaced by a special key (PTR), which brings up a menu of the printer switches on-screen. An unusual feature is the ability to do screen dumps at any time, just by pressing two keys. The keyboard is of reasonable quality, with 83 keys including 8 function keys, a numeric keypad and some special keys. It is totally 'soft' and attaches to the main unit via a long coiled cable. The bundled software can be split into two sections. (1) Word-processing with a program called LocoScript, this is a very comprehensive WP with drop-down menus and dedicated keys. (2) CPM-Plus which provides for a 61k TPA (transient program area) and auto-boots on power-up. As well as the OS, you also get Digital Research's LOGO and their GSX graphics system, along with a host of other utilities such as MAC, RMAC, DUMP, and other programming aids. Third party suppliers have also been quick to provide hardware expansions and you can now get serial and parallel ports, battery-backed clocks, hard disk units, networks, mice, joysticks (there is a growing games market for this 'business' machine!) and ADC interfaces. My own machine sports a 5-1/4" second drive (706k) along with software to read/write some 60 different disk formats. On the PD (public domain) side, there is a lot of activity. NSWEEP attracts fans daily, MEX is far and away the most popular communication program, and DAZLSTAR is the most popular disassembler. A new program that you won't yet have seen over there is SCRIVENER, which is such a different concept that the author couldn't find anyone willing to market it, so he placed it into the public domain! You will not have seen anything like it. It's sort of a spreadsheet, sort of a text processor and has some database commands and some programming structure and ... well, I guess that it's as radical a concept as VisiCalc was when it first appeared! This isn't all academic, by the way, because the AMSTRAD computer is on sale in America, through the Sears-Roebuck chain. The reason that you might not have heard about it is because, over there, it's called the Amstrad Typewriter. In England, the machine took the market by storm, because it was sold as a replacement for the office typewriter. Its bundled WP capability was stressed and the computing aspect played down. However, users were quick to realize that there was also a powerful computer with their WP and the marketing has taken this into account. Not so in America, where it cannot compete as a computer, since its US $799 price tag makes it a lot more expensive than the domestic competition. So, Sears sells it just as a dedicated WP system and the computing side is not even mentioned. Next time you pass a Sears store, take a look at this strange beast! Incidentally, the Commodore C128 fares badly over here for much the same reason that Amstrad can't compete over there - price. A basic C128 cost 500 pounds here - that's without monitor or printer. For that price, you can get the Amstrad PCW 8512 (512k RAM) and twin disk drives! Yours truly, Barry Pickles, 13 Norman St., Manchester M12 5PR, England -={ Review: RUN/CPM(tm) Z80 Co-Processor }=- Copyright 1986 - Steve Sanders If you have moved from a CP/M machine such as a Kaypro, Osborne, Morrow, Xerox, or the like to a MS-DOS machine, I'm sure you have acquired quite a few programs that are now useless. And there's always that one "special" CP/M program you wish you could find in a DOS version but just can't seem to locate. The answer just might be to put a CP/M-engine inside of your DOS machine! This is very easily done with an IBM-PC or compatible clone, all you need is a plug-in co-processor board like Micro Interface's RUN/CPM(tm) Z80 board. The RUN/CPM Z80 board requires a full-size slot even though it falls somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3-size, it's just a bit to long for most 1/2 slots located behind the drives. It contains a Z80B CPU running at 6mhz and has the necessary chips to interface into the PC bus. Installation is simple, just plug the board in! The RUN/CPM system may be purchased in one of three different configurations depending on your current hardware and software and also whether or not you want Z80-opcode compatibility: 1. RUN/CPM software by itself for users with IBM-PCs or clones with a standard 8088 CPU chip installed. This combination will only allow you to run 8080-coded programs, any program with Z80 opcodes will "jam" up the system causing you to re-boot. 2. RUN/CPM software and a NEC V20 CPU chip. 3. RUN/CPM software and the Z80 co-processor board for any PC, XT, AT, or compat clone. The Z80 board also allows you to run ANY CP/M program, whether it has Z80 opcodes or just 8080 opcodes. This review deals with the #3 package as installed in my AT 6/8mhz clone. As mentioned above, the installation is simple, just remove your PC's cover, locate an empty full-size slot, remove the blank plate, install the board, and replace your cover. Took me all of about 10 minutes and requires only a phillips screwdriver. Then just copy the software from the diskette supplied to your hard disk (or working disk if you have a floppy-only system.) You need to add one line to your CONFIG.SYS file as follows: DEVICE=READCPM.BIN This will load a special DOS device driver that allows your PC's disk drives to READ, WRITE, and FORMAT over 180 different CP/M disk formats when used with the RUN/CPM software. I don't know if it is my particular hardware or software set-up but, the actual use of my floppy drives as CP/M drives is very slow under the RUN/CPM (v7.4) software. I prefer to use UNIFORM to transfer programs from CP/M diskettes to my hard drive as it operates as fast as vanilla DOS to DOS file transfers. The RUN/CPM software allows you to set either one or BOTH of your DOS floppies to emulate the selected CP/M format. RUN/CPM also lets you run CP/M programs from the CP/M disks directly or you can move them to any DOS drive (floppy or hard) and run them from there. RUN/CPM will let you specify any DOS drive/sub-dir as a logical CP/M drive for the running programs, this is handy when a program expects to find its data files on a pre-specified drive. When running CP/M programs from DOS drives, you do need to rename the *.COM files to *.CPM before they can be executed however. This is a minor inconvenience but it keeps you from accidentally trying to load and run a CP/M program when the RUN/CPM software is not resident. CP/M programs will execute much faster from DOS drives and it is a simple task to create a special sub-directory on your hard disk especially for your CP/M files. Now for the real benefit of the Z80 co-processor card, full on- screen terminal emulation of any one of over 96 different popular CP/M computers. You can even specify the colors to use for foreground, background, and inverse video if your PC is equipped with a CGA card and color monitor. While RUN/CPM is active, the regular DOS prompt "A>" will be displayed in inverse video to remind you that it is still resident and ready. You can have any DOS memory-resident program like SIDEKICK loaded before calling RUN/CPM into action and it will be available even while your CP/M program is running! A status line is printed on the bottom of your screen indicating the current format selected for the A or B floppy drives. The floppy-drive status line display may be toggled ON/OFF at any time and RUN/CPM has a pull-down menu plus a help system that is always available. I took one of my Kaypro CP/M disks that contained Wordstar 3.30 configured for the Kaypro 10, copied it onto my DOS hard disk, fired up RUN/CPM, told it to emulate a Kaypro 10, and ran Wordstar! Just that easy... Then I tried SuperCalc 2, dBaseII, and many other CP/M programs, they all worked 100%. Needless to say, I am satisfied with my purchase and look forward to many hours of running CP/M programs on my DOS machine. RUN/CPM(tm) is available from: Micro Interfaces 6824 NW 169th Street Miami, FL 33015 (305) 823-8088 RUN/CPM software for NEC V20 or V30 ..................... $ 99.95 RUN/CPM software & NEC V20 CPU .......................... $124.95 RUN/CPM software & Z80 co-processor board ............... $199.95 (All products sold are backed by a 30-day money back guarantee) FREE LOCAL ACCESS TO PACKET SWITCHING NETWORKS MAY BE ELIMINATED Copyright (C) 1986, by BBS PRESS SERVICE, INC. by Tim Elmer (BPS) -- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on a proposal to reregulate packet switching networks that, if approved, would eliminate free local telephone access to those networks. "If this occurs, it might eventually double or triple the costs to those using packet switching networks to access commercial on- line databases and information services and triple or quadruple the costs to those using Telenet's PC Pursuit," said Philip M. Walker, vice president and regulatory counsel for Telenet Communications Corp. Predictably, the initiative to reregulate packet switching net- works comes primarily from the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) and secondarily from AT&T. These companies provide local tele- phone service to vast majority of telephone customers throughout the U.S. and will benefit the most from FCC reregulation of the packet switching networks. Under current FCC rules formulated in 1980 in the FCC's Second Computer Inquiry, called Computer II, a distinction is made between "basic services" and "enhanced services." "Basic services" are those that don't offer protocol conversion such as local and long-distance voice telephone services. "Enhanced services" are defined in an open-ended fashion as computer-based services that are more than a "basic service," in other words, services such as packet switching networks, database and on-line type services, and remote computing services that offer protocol conversion, according to Walker. Under the 1980 Computer II Inquiry, the FCC ruled that "basic services" would continue to be regulated as they had always been. However, the FCC also ruled that "enhanced services" would be deregulated, which opened up the industry to competition. This resulted in numerous companies entering the packet switching business, including BOCs, AT&T and at least a dozen others. The competition resulted in significant price reductions for packet switching services. To prevent monopolization of the packet switching industry by the Big Boys (the BOCs and AT&T), the FCC ruled that they had to keep separate accounting figures for their "basic services" and for their "enhanced services," and that they could not use revenues from their lucrative "basic services" to cross-subsidize their "enhanced service" packet switching networks. The FCC also ruled that if the BOCs and AT&T used their "basic service" telephone lines for packet switching services, then they must let their competitors have access to those lines on the same basis, which would preserve true competition in the industry. "Now, under the FCC's Computer Inquiry III, the FCC is asking, should we redefine protocol conversion services as 'basic services' rather than enhanced services? Should we redefine all those companies as common carriers? This would, in effect, subject them not only to federal regulations but, even worse, to state regulations," Walker said. The result would eliminate comparable interconnection require- ments currently imposed on BOCs and AT&T, allowing them to charge their packet switching competitors local dial-in fees to access packet switching long-distance line networks. It would also allow BOCs and AT&T to offer their own packet switching services on a non-compensatory basis and, finally, allow them to cross-subsidize those services with revenues from their much more lucrative voice telephone service revenues. In short, it would allow BOCs and AT&T to monopolize the packet switching industry and probably drive out most competitors. "In terms of cost impact," Walker said, "if we had to pay local access charges, it would cost us about $3.60 an hour at the originating end, for calls made by users to on-line databases and information services like CompuServe and The Source." "And with PC Pursuit, for which we have out-dial modems, we would have to pay not only 3.60 per hour access fees at the originating end but also $4.80 at the terminating end, a total of about $8 or $9. Obviously, to survive, we would have to add those additional charges to our current fees and pass them on to our consumers," Walker said. That would almost certainly spell the end of PC Pursuit, and it would likely put out of business not only many independent packet switching networks but also many on-line databases and information services. Walker said that is was not clear exactly when the FCC would vote on the proposal, but that it would probably be the latter part of January or early part of February, 1987. "They are moving very fast on this," he said. Low-Cost packet switching Service Threatened by Alan R. Bechtold As described in our lead news story this issue, the FCC is now considering a major change in the way packet switched phone services are defined. This change is likely to lead to the demise of many of these services, and to much higher prices for the use of the few that will eventually remain in business. At the risk of over-simplification, I think I should first describe just what a packet switched networking service is. These are the services you use to access online databases and commercial online services, such as CompuServe and The Source, with just a local telephone call. Once you call the local Telenet or Tymnet number, for example, and a connection is made, you are then connected with a computer that puts you in communi- cation with the online services with which you wish to communicate. This computer is handling a number of calls into the main system computer at the same time. It takes information you send and delivers it in "packets" to the proper destination, picks up information from the online service computer you called, and sends it, also in "packets," back to you. All of this communi- cating is done in these so-called "packets" because this allows the network's computers to offer protocol conversion and handle several ongoing communications sessions at the same time. FCC regulations allow AT&T and Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) to engage in packet switching network operations, but they must also maintain completely separate accounting of their voice and packet switching operations. They must also offer free local- calling access to their lines to any competitors engaged in the packet switching service industry. The above regulations have allowed Telenet and Tymnet, among others, to operate at a reasonable cost in a competitive atmosphere. This is a case of regulation of a business actually RESULTING in increased competition and lower prices to consumers. As things stand now, you can call any local Telenet or Tymnet access number and use these services to inexpensively access such online services as CompuServe, The Source, Delphi, and countless others. In addition, GTE's new PC PURSUIT service now offers you access, through their Telenet packet switching service, to literally hundreds of local bulletin boards in cities all across the country--for a flat charge of $25 per month. But, the FCC is now being asked to REREGULATE this segment of the communications industry, eliminating the FCC requirements that AT&T and BOCs keep separate accounting records of their voice and packet switching services, and eliminating the stipula- tion that the BOCs and AT&T must offer their competitors in the packet switching business free access to their local telephone connection lines. Mark Fowler, Chairman of the FCC, has been hailed by the press as a "fair-market zealot." The chances are very good that he views this proposed reregulation as the magic road to increased competition and fairer pricing for consumers. Unofficially, the word is out that the FCC advisory committee now considering this matter is indeed leaning in favor of the proposed reregulation of the packet switching industry. If the committee recommends these changes, it's likely that a majority of the five voting members on the Federal Communications Commission will vote in favor of the changes. I have talked to sources within the industry who say it is the BOCs who are pushing VERY HARD for this reregulation, because they want to get into the packet switching service business in a big way, and they would like to rid themselves of needless competition on their way to success. Here we have an industry that is currently populated with plenty of competition. Prices are already reasonable. Reregulation of the packet switching service industry will IMMEDIATELY give giant corporations the upper hand, and will allow them to cut off free access to their local access phone lines to their competitors, namely Telenet and Tymnet and other similar services that now offer you high-quality service, in a competitive marketplace, at reasonable prices. The proposed reregulation, however, would force all packet switching services to compete with the BOCs and AT&T, companies that would be able to use the enormous profits they earn with their voice telephone services to cross-subsidize their packet switching services and offer them on a non-compensatory basis, at least until their competitors are eliminated. When that happens, they are then sure to jack up their fees to any level they want. It would also force their packet switching competitors to pay access fees for connection to local phone lines. The access fees alone could add as much as $4.00 per hour to the fees packet switching companies would be forced to pass on to their customers. This will be added to your hourly connect-time charges for accessing ALL online databases through these services. So--this is ONE TIME you MUST use your word processor to produce some letters opposing this proposed reregulation! Write to: Honorable Mark Fowler Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Washington D.C. 20554 Refer to Computer Inquiry III in your letters. State clearly, in your own words, that competitive packet switching services should not be reregulated or subjected to carrier access charges, and then explain why not. Tell Mr. Fowler that reregulation of packet switching services will completely destroy the existing fair market for these services, and eventually increase costs, not DECREASE them. I have heard this matter will be going before the FCC for a vote in January or the early part of February. -={ WHATSNEW in Public Domain }=- [CP/M] LT17.LBR LT (library TYPE) displays the contents of ASCII files from inside of .LBR type files. LT17 will work with regular, squeezed, or crunched file formats. DOS+25.LBR A complete replacement for CP/M 2.2, includes file timestamping, paths, DU: addressing, archive control, public files, wheel support, and more. Ready to install on Kaypro 2/4 '83 machines and easily relocated for other CP/M 2.2 systems. SCRIVNER.LBR This is a unique program that is actually several in one, a word processor, and a spreadsheet-like environment. This program is very popular with the AMSTRAD users in the UK. AF5.LBR Address Filer v5.0, a name and address database, rolodex, and phone filer. Compiled Turbo Pascal. FCRUNCH.LBR Yet another CP/M file cruncher/uncruncher system using the LZW compression techniques. Compresses files smaller than the standard squeeze/unsqueeze programs. B29V304.LBR B29 is a NewSweep-type file maintenance program, now has a built-in library sweep mode as well as all standard NSWEEP features like mass COPY, ERA, REN, etc. Uses circular buffer to "step" through the files in any drive/user area on your disks. DZ-MAY86.LBR The May '86 update to DazzleStar, the CP/M disassembler that works like Wordstar on your CRT screen. Simply the easiest to use and most fun disassembler ever, has on-screen help and user-configurable display windows for hex and ASCII. KPLD515.LBR Kaypro video-oriented line display utility. Displays ASCII files line by line with/without line numbers, go- to line ability and built-in DIR display. For video Kaypros. LD400.LBR Generic CP/M line display utility, converted from the Kaypro-only version. See KPLD515 description above. SPY-8611.LBR Investigates the use of disk calls by a program. SPY relocates itself to high memory, loads and runs another program, reports all calls to the BDOS and BIOS. Requires a Z80 processor. KPGRFCL1.LBR Graphic clock display for Kaypros with internal clocks. Kaypro 2-84, 4-84, 10-84, 2X, new 1, etc... CHECK25.LBR This is a compare & copy utility for hard disk users. Compares a source du: against a destination du: & produces a sorted display of names each marked with a "flag" character indicating: match found, no match, files equal, or files not equal. Allows you to step through the source du: circularly like NSWEEP and test for equivalence, copy, or delete. [IBM-DOS] CHKPRO.ARC Check Processor (Chkpro) is especially designed for use on the IBM PC and compatibles and the Heath/Zenith Z-100 series computers. Chkpro can be used for balancing your savings passbook, checkbook, or credit card accounts. STYLED.ARC STYLED charts patterns in texts. The program can help a writer spot patterns to preserve and patterns to expunge, as well as places to pattern. The program can freshen the air for those who know little to do with a text except to check for "mistakes." TT097.ARC Turbo-Term,v0.97 a small, fast, Qmodem-like clone modem program. The major advantage of Turbo-Term is size and speed. By no means as capable as recent versions of Qmodem, this subset may be all you need. For some reason, this one remains perpetually in beta state and shows up without any documentation, but if you know Qmodem, you know TurboTerm. EXPUNGE.ARC Menu-driven del/copy routine Small/Fast. A subset of more sophisticated sweep utilities (like Qfiler), this allows you to tag multiple files for copy or erasure. Limited in functions, it's also limited in size, which makes it fast! FORM.ARC FORM-GEN is designed to quickly and easily produce forms for home and office use. Many advanced features aid in the creation and printing of forms, price lists, maps and other useful items. LW.ARC LetterWriter version 2.0, an electronic address book and a whole lot more. Use LetterWriter to perform all of your mailings to all of your addresses. The designers of LetterWriter made every effort to make envelope and letter printing and address maintenance as easy as possible. QMODEM24.ARC Latest version of QMODEM, support added for 9600 bps users with 2 new protocols: YMODEM-G and IMODEM An absolu- tely great modem program with every feature you'd ever want including some that you've never even dreamed of. POPEDIT2.ARC Allows you to design your own mem-res COM files that will pop-up a screen. Both a small and a large screen are supported, taking roughly 3.5 and 7K respectively of memory. You can load more than one of these COM files at a time, and they'll be presented in the order you loaded them. MDIR.ARC MDIR is a small, memory resident dir program. MDIR gives both an "automatic" mode, where the current directory is shown sorted alphabetically, and a "command line" mode, where MDIR will "screen" files (like the DOS DIR command does), and display the file list with your choice of sort mechanism (by date/time, name, extension, unsorted). This routine takes about 14k of memory when installed. This routine uses the "alternate" screen if two monitors are available. ASM source included. {eof}