From the Editor's Desk

Dear Member,

We are back on track with the publishing of our newsletters. Those members who have been with us from the beginning should by now have a nice collection of newsletters (and software). In fact, this newsletter would have been with you two weeks earlier were it not for the Comrades (I managed only a 9:56 but ran up all of Pollies and finished the last 6 K's in less than 25 minutes!). Thank you, Natalians, for the incredible support and hospitality - you're an incredible bunch!

I also finished my MIS honours TR (survey of SA expert systems) so that takes some pressure off my back and should hopefully leave some more time for the JSE! Look forward to a new catalogue and more software in the coming months.

Quite a number of members (membership numbers smaller than 6300) are due to renew their membership - only R 32 if you do it within the next two weeks. Do it NOW before you forget - we cannot send out reminders (too expensive); so you may loose out on the next newsletters and catalogues! Refer to page 42 for our full fee structure.

Enjoy reading and thanks again for your continued support.

Jean-Paul, Eva, Anneke & Jonathan; Farah-Deebah & Albertina.

Contents

How Not to Break It

A guide to PC maintenance 2

An Open Letter to Shareware Authors

How to write good and profitable shareware 6

Programming Corner: Soundex Algorithms

Principles and dBase & C examples 9

Gems from the Computer Literature

Humorous extracts from PC magazines 15

The Library Pages

Additions to the JSE software library 22

HOW NOT TO BREAK IT

A Guide to Maintaining Your PC

By Arthur E.Barker, Jr.

AAA Computer Repair.

Preventing expensive repairs is not difficult, but it does require constant attention to problems, and resolving them as quickly as possible. The main sources of problems with electronic equipment are heat, vibration, surges, dust, and operator malfunction.

Heat is a real enemy of electronic equipment. The life of silicon components is inversely proportional to their operating temperature. By keeping it cool, you save money. Look over your equipment; notice the cooling vents. It is wise to keep them free from anything that will block airflow. A good three or four inches is necessary for good circulation. Don't place papers or books on top of a monitor, as most have vents on top.

A fan is often used to force air into or out of an enclosure to reduce heat build-up. This aids in reducing package size by allowing less room for airflow, but heat build-up will drastically increase if the fan were to malfunction. It is a very bad idea to use equipment if this happens, as some other component will overheat and fail very rapidly. Fans also cause increased dust buildup, which blocks the airflow, and causes mechanical problems. One way to eliminate the dust problem is to install a fan filter. This will eliminate almost all of the dust, but if not cleaned very often the filter will clog up with dust and shut off airflow. Cleaning the filter daily would be a good idea. Fans also make noise, and their vibrations can cause mechanical problems.

Dust is usually an easy problem to overcome. A plastic sheet available at any hardware store for a dollar makes an excellent dust cover. One size fits all. A little overhang is acceptable, although possibly not appealing. For a higher price dust covers are available for most brands of computers. Dust covers also prevent liquid spills.

Surges can be devastating to electronic equipment. They can originate on the power line, the phone line, or from local electrostatic sources. Surge suppressors are available for the power lines and are well worth the money. Surges can originate on the ground line as well; so unplugging equipment is the only sure way to prevent damage. The ground line is connected even with power off. Controlling static electricity can be a problem. The best solution is not to use equipment on a carpet. If this is not possible static mats are available, though expensive. Static sprays are inexpensive and effective if used regularly. Wrist straps, heel clips and other devices are nice to have, but get the spray first. The pump style is more cost effective than the aerosol can.

Vibration is a very easy problem to cure if your system is not portable. Just put it somewhere and leave it there. Moving a computer around is a sure way to cause a cable or board to loosen.

Hard disk drives are very sensitive to vibration, especially sudden shocks. Always "ship" the heads of a hard disk before shutting it off. You may destroy your hard disk if you do not. Never move the drive with power applied. Not even an inch. If you must move a hard disk system, ship the head first on the drive, shut it off, then wait for the drive to stop spinning (30 seconds or so). When you move it use two people, be careful, and set it down gently. Opening the sealed cover on a hard disk outside of a class 100 clean room will destroy the drive.

Operator malfunction is usually caused by communications breakdown between the operator and the manuals. (Remember the manuals? Those dusty books on the shelf!?) Reading your manual will tell you all kinds of neat things about your equipment. Some of them were written by programmers so they are bound to be confusing. Figure out what you can and see if the rest is important. Don't forget to check for the errata sheet and make corrections in your manual. Other sources of operator malfunction are take-apart-itis, cola-in-a-keyboard, and the canine-cable-chew syndrome.

Printers tend to be a maintenance headache. The problem is dust caused by paper lint, and vibration caused by its mechanics. Cleaning out the dust is not difficult and aerosol cans of compressed air are quite useful for this purpose. The old ink can be removed with denatured alcohol obtainable at most pharmacies.

Most dot matrix printers require lubricating ink to prevent printhead failure. Use of standard typewriter ribbons should be avoided in matrix printers for this reason.

Daisy wheel printers do not require lubricating ribbons, although care should be used while installing the ribbon to prevent it from being fed between the daisy wheel petals. Check your manual for proper ribbon installation. Some of the ribbon installation procedures are pretty obscure, and many printers can be broken by improper ribbon installation.

Daisywheels and thimbles are a very nice way to print, but they too have their quirks. A broken petal on a printwheel will cause a single character to leave a ink blob rather than a formed character. Daisywheels should be tested for flatness before installing in a printer. To do this, simply lay the printwheel on a table characters up, and turn it by hand, checking for wobble. When you place the printwheel in the printer, be sure to seat it fully against the motor shaft.

Another thing to watch out for around printers is your fingers. Make sure the printer is offline (preferably off all together) before lifting the cover. Most printers will perform a self test, which is useful when you have problems. The usual procedure is install paper, disconnect interface cable, then press and hold the line feed button while turning the power on. Some printers are different, so check your manual. This self test will often be enough to determine if the printer or the computer is failing.

If you are having problems with your printer, check the following things: ribbon installed properly and not empty, paper installed, cover closed, cable connected, and printer online. If the printout is in italics, double size, compressed, and it shouldn't be, try shutting your printer off and back on. Printers normally contain small computers, which can remember a command you gave it three programs ago. Shutting the printer off will clear all of those old commands.

Last and most important is the problem of a label stuck under the platen. If you can, feed labels from the bottom of the printer, or use a printer with a removable platen. If you can't, see if you can borrow a printer. All else failing, check your service contract, and pray. Never try to feed a labels backwards out of the printer. Cut the labels as close as you can, and line feed the rest out. Many printers have mechanisms that will snag a label going backwards and cause a jam. Don't use a metal object to try to remove a jammed label, try something plastic or wood, or else you may destroy the platen. If you can't get it out, take it to your favourite service centre. (That's us.)

The next biggest mechanical device, and therefore headache, is the floppy disk drive. It suffers from the same vibration headache as the printer. Dust in a floppy drive is not nearly the problem as with printers. The heads on a floppy disk drive stay remarkably clean, as the floppy disk drive jacket contains a cleaning pad. If your system contains a fan which draws air into the drive, you may need to clean your heads annually, but do not do it more frequently.

Improper use of a cleaning disk can destroy the head load pad in a single sided drive. Read the directions carefully.

The read/write head in a floppy disk drive must be in the proper place on the diskette, or else improper operation will result. This adjustment, the radial head alignment, should be checked by a qualified technician if you are experiencing disk problems.

Using quality media cannot be over emphasized, regardless of the form. Cheap media is like a cheap parachute. Turning a single sided disk over and cutting out the notches is bad practice, and can cause problems. You must make a valiant effort to protect your media from magnetic fields caused by monitors, transformers, telephones, motors, etc. Don't forget to make backups.

Proper care of your disks is very important. Keep them in the jacket in the box, or in the drive. Anywhere else, and you are playing russian roulette with your data. Keep them from temperature extremes, do not fold, bend, staple, paper clip or touch the shiny part. Insert the disk carefully into the drive, and close the door gently. The label (almost always) goes away from the red light.

Never write on a floppy disk, you will ruin it. Write on a label, and then put the label on the disk. Be sure to peel the old one off first. Too many labels will keep a disk from turning.

Cassette drives need to have their heads cleaned often. Every ten to twenty hours of use is a good figure. See your local stereo shop for everything you need. Don't forget to rewind your tapes and remove from the drive as soon as possible. Keep your cassette drives as far away from your monitor as possible. Those of you with Commodore cassettes and a VIC-20 or a 64 should tape the ground lead to the cable to prevent it from wandering into your computer and shorting something out.

Monitors are usually very nice machines. Don't twiddle with all those little knobs inside, or you could cause problems. Clean the front of the tube once in a while with glass cleaner sprayed on a paper towel. Pull the plug first.

Modems are usually cooperative, except when the phone lines aren't. Some are better than others. See if your modem has a loopback test. It can tell you if a majority of the modem is working without calling anyone. Surges are just as much a problem on the phone lines as on the power lines. Some surge suppressors are available with phone jacks, but they are rather expensive. Unplugging the phone line is certain to prevent a surge.

It is good practice to mark the location and orientation of your cables to prevent them from being plugged in wrong. Watch out for frayed wires, and loose strain relief clamps. Route your cables neatly around your system, wrapping up the extra length by making a loop and securing it with tape. "Flat" cable requires extra care to prevent damage, as it has no outer sheath.

Cartridges and circuit boards should be handled carefully to prevent damage to the edge connector. If the edge connector becomes damaged, do not attempt to insert it into the machine as you may damage the socket as well. Do not clean the edge connector with an eraser, as you will remove the gold plating. Store in a static safe container. Make sure power is turned off before you insert or remove any board or cartridge. If it is possible to insert a cartridge upside down, put a warning sticker on the bottom. Always be careful when inserting or removing cartridges or cables.

Electrical noise is occasionally a problem. Most common is a computer messing up someone else's TV set. If this happens, a noise filter attached to the computer power line will usually cure it.

An open letter to Shareware Authors

by Dan Moore

User-supported software is, unfortunately, often thought of as belonging to the public domain. After all, shareware authors are assuming a risk when making their products available through public distribution channels, since it co-exists with true public-domain software. And, unfortunately, there is some devious enjoyment about getting something for nothing.

Interestingly, legitimate businesses that produce and/or market personal computer software have learned a lot from shareware: good products need not cost a lot. As a result, a number of excellent commercially-distributed software packages are competing with available shareware as far as price is concerned. Of course, the reverse is also true: shareware authors realized that professional marketing, advertising, and distribution often yields better financial results than any honour system--they went commercial. PC-File, PC-Write, and PC-Outline, Automenu, and ARC, just to name a few, are such products.

What makes the difference between a product that sells and one that does not? What does the potential buyer expect of shareware? What specific attributes of a software package will compel him to send in his contribution, and which others will cause him not to? Here are a few observations.

Functionality obviously ranks high on the list. After all, I download a program because it supposedly performs a function which I have a need for. Does it do what it is supposed to, and does it do it well? Has it been thoroughly tested against most hardware and software configurations and can it be configured to run in various environments? Has it been circulated among users' groups and has their input been taken into consideration? What would you think if the documentation read "Use caution....some programs will trash you royally when attempting to....". Would anyone in their right mind use anything that could "trash you royally"?

Does the program have an intuitive human interface, or does the user have to read the documentation each time he wants to perform a trivial function? Some shareware which is otherwise outstanding requires incredible convolutions to perform the simplest tasks. Again, the product should be tested by a large number of people other than its author. Anyone who has ever written a program knows that your personal opinion is always biased in favour of your brainchild. In fact, you may have to make significant changes to a program--even going as far as completely re-writing it-- before it can gain acceptance.

Bugs are deadly, especially in shareware. Since the user didn't have to pay for it until satisfied, not only will they not use the product, but they will quickly share their feelings about it--ie, on bulletin boards, one of the quickest and most effective implementations of electronic grapevine--. This again reinforces the need for testing the product as much as possible prior to formal release. Don't get greedy until you are reasonably sure that it works.

Do not partially implement features or even give a hint that new ones will become available in future releases of the product unless you already have an unblemished reputation and a loyal following. People won't pay for what they have; they will just wait for the next set of goodies. Some shareware products out there have literally gone through dozens of releases in a few months, each one bringing forth new features or correcting errors. There is no way you can build user trust unless the product you are peddling is reasonably stable. I have personally given up on half a dozen shareware products that went through monthly updates --regardless of their usefulness--. As with the boy who cried wolf, this will quickly damage your credibility and could permanently affect your reputation.

Do not cripple your product or its documentation in any way. Doing so goes directly against the spirit of shareware since all you have released is a purposely limited demonstration copy of your product. People will no more pay for that than for demo copies of bona fide commercial software.

Although this is somewhat controversial, there is some question as to the usefulness and purpose of a logo screen which asks for a monetary contribution, especially when this is a permanent fixture of your program. A much better method is to have a copyright notice and an optional display of the shareware motto (ie, option "P" for program information). Be assured that hackers will go to work immediately to remove that display from your program and replace it with a public domain notice. Since we're on the subject of logos, remember that your "Welcome Screen" is the first thing the user sees; use wisdom in designing it. Jumping right into the program may be an indication that it was put together quickly without concern for cosmetic detail. WHAT you display on your logo screen can also detract from the overall value of the program. A skull and crossbones, for example, may not be well suited for an otherwise serious program and is revealing of the author's playful nature. Some people may never get past your opening screen....

Online help is a very nice feature which has been adopted by most commercial software and is slowly finding its way into Shareware. Even better is context-sensitive help which takes into account what you were doing at the time you invoked the help function.

Cosmetic appearance may or may not be a concern depending on what the program does. Use of color, graphics, even as rudimentary as box-drawing characters, can add to the attractiveness of a program. It also increases the user's confidence in the program's author. Spending the extra time to make it look good--besides working good--indicates care and craftsmanship.

Documentation and other textual information which are part of the product are extremely important and often overlooked. Some absolutely outstanding products never made it because of lousy documentation, while others with fewer features made it because its documentation was well above par. An awful lot of people who are true programming geniuses just cannot express themselves very well in writing, and vice-versa, although there are exceptions. A good recommendation would be to seek qualified help in developing good, complete, and readable documentation. Don't forget to run it through a spelling checker and submit it to beta testing also. Of course, this also applies to the help screen or any textual information within the product itself. Street talk in software documentation is not desirable and unfortunately lends an amateurish flavour to the product. An interesting fact is that successful shareware authors have spent a significant portion of their time developing good, understandable, and readable documentation.

Last, but certainly not least, are the administrative and support responsibilities which go right along with selling a product. From a legal standpoint, accepting remuneration for any type of product or service makes you a business. If a big corporation decides to buy your product, you may be faced with far more demands for non-productive time than you can handle. If you state that you will provide support once a contribution is received, you must be prepared to do so. This means maintaining mailing lists of registered users and making good on all the promises stated on your shareware notice, such as "Registered users will be notified of all new releases when they become available" or "Telephone support will be provided at no charge for 90 days following the purchase". These seemingly innocent statements which are included in a lot of shareware products become legal, binding agreements once you accept payment. Remember, nasty users can easily sue the shirt off your back if they can prove that you have not performed as stated.

If your shareware sales grow, seriously consider incorporating into a legitimate business; many shareware authors have. This will pretty much eliminate your personal liability in the event you encounter legal problems.

Who am I and what business do I have giving this unrequested advice, you may ask. Well, my name should appear at the end of this document, unless someone else hacked it. I've been in commercial data processing for 18 years and responsible for PCs in a fairly large company for about 5 years. I have spent quite a bit of the company's money on shareware products--but only good ones--. One thing for sure, Shareware can't be beat as far as cost and convenience. Try it all you want, and pay only if you use it. I have seen a lot of outstanding products, and a lot of junk. Some shareware products are hastily thrown together, uploaded to a few bulletin boards, and it's obvious that the author's only motivation is to take the money and run. Some others are absolute jewels that could easily fetch 3 to 10 times their shareware price in the commercial market. From personal experience, though, it looks like the junk to jewel ratio is about 300 to 1. Maybe this document can help reduce this sad state of affairs.

(c) Dan Moore, 1531 13th St., Columbus, IN 47201, USA, (812)379-3426.

Programming Corner: Soundex Algorithms

INTRODUCTION (BY JEAN-PAUL VAN BELLE).

Ever wondered why you receive ten identical pieces of junk mail in your letter box? If I look closely at the address labels I find myself variously being addressed as Vanbelle, Van Beller, Von Bella, Vanderbellen, Vanbeelen, and occasionally as Van Belle. Reflecting on how much this is costing the marketing organization, I realised that the Joint Software Exchange is also guilty of this practice.

So when we decided to computerize our operations a bit, I put some thought in how we could sort out "look-alike" name duplications (residing at the same address). Fairly quickly (through PC-File, initially) I stumbled on the "SOUNDEX" algorithm which will recognize sound-alike names that are not necessarily spelt identically.

The basic idea is that S, C and Z can all sound alike, so they should therefore all be represented internally by the same symbol. In all (according to the theory) there are 7 major categories or groups of equivalent letters:

Group 0: A,E,H,I,O,U,W,Y are always ignored (vowels, silent letters), as are spaces and other non-characters (punctuation, digits, hyphen etc.)

Group 1: B, F, P, V.

Group 2: C, G, J, K, Q, S, X, Z.

Group 3: D, T.

Group 4: L.

Group 5: M, N.

Group 6: R.

The following look-up table (string) could be used:

"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'-, "

"012301200224550126230102020000"

Obviously, no distinction is made between lower and upper case characters. In addition to group 0 letters, repetitions of characters of the same group are ignored as well. Lastly, initials or first names would also be excluded as people tend to change these quite fast...

As a practical example, take the following hypothetical name:

Van Belle Jean-Paul translates into:

105010440 which compacts to:

1514

It seems to be a general consensus that four SOUNDEX values are sufficient. Algorithms that implement the soundex algorithm are included lower down (both a "C" source code and a "dBase" subroutine).

Where does that leave me? I customized the routine further in the following ways:

1) Vander, Van Den, Von, etc. are common South African surname prefixes and these I compacted specifically into a "V" only.

2) Since there are only 6 soundex codes (1 to 6) and 6^3 < 256, one can fit 3 codes into one byte and thus 6 codes into a two-byte integer. I thus actually used 6 soundex values (although most surnames reduce to 3 or 4).

3) This algorithm will generate a lot of soundex-equivalent names which are completely different persons. Hence an address identifier needs to be found as well. I used the two first digits (INTEGER DIVIDE BY 100) of the postal code, as well as the lowest two digits (MODULO 100) of the street number or post box.

This way, two records can receive a match value of 4 [soundex AND street number AND code match], 3 [soundex AND (street number OR code)], 2 [street number AND code] or 1 [soundex only]. Initial testing of this system seems satisfactory and hardly any false matches are made at levels 3 or 4 - with very good matches at level 2.

The beauty of the entire scheme is that everyone is "uniquely" identified by only four bytes, even in a relatively large database. So a large number of records can easily be held in RAM memory without having to access the hard disk e.g. 25 000 people take up 100K of RAM. There are even a few bits left over for each person for miscellaneous flag usage. Or am I showing severe signs of old-fashionedness when I am still worrying about a few bytes of RAM...?

SOUNDEX ALGORITHM IMPLEMENTATION FOR DBASE III

* Purpose of this program:

* 1. Store the soundex code for every entry in a database file with a

* character field containing the last name.

* 2. Enter a last name. This program generates a soundex code for it,

* and retrieves all records matching the code.

* (The codes are case insensitive)

*

* Original program from the Data Based Advisor, Aug., 1984 page 46

* By John Gillen, Lexicon Publishing, 725 J Street,

* Sacramento, CA 95814

*

* Adapted to dBASE III and modified June 14, 1985 by

* Michael Shunfenthal,

* 2602 West 235 Street, Torrance CA 90505

*

* Modified to run faster on September 10, 1985 by

* Kenneth E. Madl

* 9995 E. Harvard, #M-186, Denver CO 80231

*

*

* To use this program:

* 1. Modify the structure of your database to add a 4-character field

* to hold the soundex code for each last name. Then enter:

* set procedure to soundex

*

* 2. Set the code into this field for the entire database:

* (the program requires approx. 3 seconds for each record)

* do sreplace with '<dbfname>', '<lastname field>', '<soundex field>'

*

* 3. Retrieve records having the same code for the entered last name:

* do sdisplay with '<dbfname>', '<last name>', '<soundex field>'

*

* Notes on above commands:

* 1. The apostrophes (or double quotes, or brackets) are required

* per the dBASE III manual, to delimit character values.

* 2. Omit the angle brackets: <>.

* 3. The last name field or entry may have an embedded apostrophe

* ("O'Brian"), space, or hyphen.

*

*************************************************************************

* Program operation: (procedure sndxcalc)

* Create a Soundex code for the last name parameter

* (either a field or variable) and save in public variable sndxcode

* 1. Assign the first letter of the last name to the first digit of

* the code

* 2. Check for and remove double consonants

* 3. Assign a value to the remaining letters

* 4. Adjust the code length to four characters

* 5. Store this value in the soundex field

*

* Modifications to the original article listing:

* 1. Added multiple functions:

* a. Store the soundex code for a given last name field (input)

* and a given soundex-code field (output) in a given database

* b. Retrieve names given a last name, last-name field,

* and soundex field

* 2. Made more generalized: replaced the hard coded database file name

* and field names with user-entered parameters

* 3. Fix bugs: ignore apostrophe, hyphen, or space within the last name.

* 4. Fix bugs: ignore second key letter or equivalent when consecutive

*

procedure sreplace

parameter dbfname, lastnmfld, sndxfld

public sndxcode

set talk off

use &dbfname

clear

? ' Rec #' + space(8) + 'NAME' + space(13) + 'SOUNDEX'

?

do while .not. eof()

mlastnm = &lastnmfld

do sndxcalc with "&mlastnm"

? space(2)+str(recno(),4)+space(7)+&lastnmfld+space(7)+sndxcode

replace &sndxfld with sndxcode

skip

enddo

?

wait

set talk on

clear

return

procedure sdisplay

parameter dbfname, lastnam, sndxfld

public sndxcode

set talk off

use &dbfname

do sndxcalc with "&lastnam"

?

?

? ' The soundex code for ' + '&lastnam' + ' is ' + sndxcode

?

display all off for &sndxfld='&sndxcode'

?

set talk on

return

procedure sndxcalc

parameter charname

name = upper(trim("&charname"))

if name = ' '

return

endif

length = len(name)

lettr = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'-, "

numbr = "012301200224550126230102020000"

sndxcode = ' '

* assign the first letter of the name to the first digit of the code

sndxcode = substr(name,1,1)

pos = 2

cnt = 2

prior = '0'

* ignore double consanants at beginning of name

if sndxcode = substr(name,2,1)

pos = 3

endif

do while pos <= length

* substitute code number for letter of name

cnum = substr(numbr,at(substr(name,pos,1),lettr),1)

* ignore vowels and non-letter characters

if cnum <> '0'

* ignore second letter of double letters

if cnum <> prior

* code only the first 4 letters of the name

if cnt <= 4

sndxcode = sndxcode + cnum

prior = cnum

cnt = cnt + 1

endif pos <= 4

endif cnum <> prior

else

prior = '0'

endif cnum <> 0

pos = pos + 1

enddo

* check for soundex code length less than 4

do while len(sndxcode) < 4

sndxcode = sndxcode + '0'

enddo

return

SOUNDEX ALGORITHM IMPLEMENTATION FOR "C"

/****************************************************************

* SOUNDEX ALGORITHM in C

*

* The basic Algorithm source is taken from

* EDN Nov. 14, 1985 pg. 36.

*

* As a test Those in Illinois will find that the

* first group of numbers in their drivers license

* number is the soundex number for their last name.

*

* RHW PC-IBBS ID. #1230

*

****************************************************************/

char (*soundex(out_pntr, in_pntr))

char *in_pntr;

char *out_pntr;

{

extern char get_scode();

char ch,last_ch;

int count = 0;

strcpy(out_pntr,"0000"); /* Pre-fill output string for */

/* error and trailing zeros. */

*out_pntr = toupper(*in_pntr); /* Copy first letter */

last_ch = get_scode(*in_pntr); /* code of the first letter */

/* for the first 'double-letter */

/* check. */

/* Loop on input letters until */

/* end of input (null) or output */

/* letter code count = 3 */

while( (ch = get_scode(*(++in_pntr)) ) && (count < 3) )

{

if( (ch != '0') && (ch != last_ch) ) /* if not skipped or double */

*(out_pntr+(++count)) = ch; /* letter, copy to output */

last_ch = ch; /* save code of last input letter for */

/* next double-letter check */

}

return(out_pntr); /* pointer to input string */

}

char get_scode(ch)

char ch;

{

/* ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ */

/* :::::::::::::::::::::::::: */

static char soundex_map[] = "01230120022455012623010202";

/* If alpha, map input letter to soundex code. If not, return 0 */

if( !isalpha(ch) ) /*error if not alpha */

return(0);

else

return(soundex_map[(toupper(ch) - 'A')] );

}

#include <ctype.h>

main(argc, argv)

int argc;

char *argv[];

{

char *code[10];

int i;

if(argc == 1) /* No arguments, give usage */

{

printf("\nUsage: soundex (name) (...)\n");

exit(1);

}

for(i = 1; i < argc; i++)

{

soundex(code, argv[i]) ;

printf("The Soundex Code for \"%s\" is: %s\n", argv[i],code);

}

exit(0);

}

Final Note from the Editor (who always has the last word):

My FNMakeSoundex implementation in dirty (Turbo-)BASIC is obviously only about 10 lines of code, which worked (almost) first time around. I'll leave that one for you to figure out, but try to do it in less than 4 lines of 80 characters - Okay?

GEMS FROM THE COMPUTER LITERATURE

WHEN A WINDOWS PROGRAMMER DIES

A Windows programmer died and went to the place where they figure out n you go to Heaven or Hell. The guy was asked if he'd like to see Heaven and Hell before he made his choice. Sure," he said.

So an angel guided him to a place with a beach, volleyball, lots of women, liquor, rock'n roll, and everyone was having a generally great time. "Wow!" he exclaimed. That was great! Was that Heaven?"

"Nope," said the angel.'That was Hell. Want to see Heaven?'

Sure!' So the angel took him to another place. This time there were a bunch of senior citizens sitting in a park playing bingo and feeding pigeons.

This is Heaven,' said the angel.

'I'll take Hell,' he said without hesitation. instantly he found himself immersed in seething lava, his clothes and hair being burnt from his body.

"Where's the beach? The women? The liquor?" he screamed frantically as the heat began to overcome him.

"That was the demo,' replied the angel.

[Multimedia Computing & Presentations July 16 1990 v2 n9 p12(1)]

COMPUTER JUNKIE QUOTIENT: TEST YOURSELF

This week, I decided to give you a formula that calculates your "computer junkie quotient." It's of absolutely no scientific value but it's a bit of fun to work out.

While I was designing the formula I realised that demographers and sociologists and advertisers already have a method of classifying us according to education, income, social position and so on. Perhaps we should take the ball and design a real designation system for people involved in computers. What a boon to the advertisers -- I can hear them saying "... and this campaign is aimed squarely at the 0011,0111,1000 group, with a bit of scatter onto the 0111,0111,1000s."

I might throw this one over to you for a bit of feedback. Do we need a classification system like this? What would we look for and how would we denote it? Who would be the final arbiter? Where do I complain about my grading?

To get you thinking, how about these factors:

Position: (User, high-level users, supporter, manager)

Purchasing: (User, user with some purchasing, purchaser on instructions, purchaser and decider, decider but not purchaser)

Type of system used: (Mainframe, mini, terminal, workstation, PC, Mac)

Budget: (0 to $5k, to $20k, to $100k, to $500k, above $500k)

Stubborn-ness: (Only using present system until it gets stolen, doesn't care what system, likes current system, will only swap for big bribe, already works for IBM so is highly unlikely to buy Epsons)

Attitude to salespeople: (Likes to party, will give 3 minutes, what do I get?, go away, have that man shot)

Attitude to advertising: (likes lots of mail, likes cartoons, likes free gifts that you mail away for, ignores ads, hates ads, never buys a product unless he's never seen an ad for it)

Got the idea? Of course, I only expect you A2BC44s to be interested! So back to the Computer junkie quotient - The formula is:

Computer Junkie Quotient = (20A+B+10C+5D+5E+6F+7G+20H)

where:

A is the number of computer screens you can see as you sit at your desk.

B is the number of computer books and computer software packages you can see from your desk.

C is the number of computer journals that you get on your desk each month.

D is the number of telephone numbers you can remember without any mechanical aids, and write on paper within 1 minute from NOW!

E is the number of disks and tapes on your desk at this moment.

F is the number of discrete pieces of electronic equipment within two metres (six feet) of your desk.

G is the number of computer packages you use within a week.

H is the number of domestic applications you have committed to computer (such as a database of you LPs, a list of birthdays and so on).

Eg. 20*4+80+10*30+5*20+5*6+6*6+7*8+20*0 = 80+80+30+100+30+36+56+0 = 412

[Newsbytes June 19 1990, by P. Zucker]

BUT A BETA'S BETTER

One of the best things about being a top PC journalist is being allowed to play with very early test versions of software. Sometimes I get to see it too. A well-known computer gossip columnist by accident left his copy of OS/3 in my office the other day, and I was amazed to see that it has an artificial intelligence interface.

Unfortunately, OS/3 bombs out a lot (good to see they haven't taken away all the features we've grown to love in operating systems.) Here are a few of the error codes. By decompiling the files with Norton SafeCracker, we've worked out what the machine was really thinking.

83 Date formula too complicated = "Let's see. -- 2592000 seconds hath September ...."

16 Out of memory = "Sorry. What did you say?"

76 Disk full = "I didn't think you'd mind. I'm looking after some files for a friend.

98 Advanced features unavailable = " I don't know how you found out about that command, but don't use it again!"

145 Too many files open = "How many fingers do you think I've got?"

154 Permission denied = "I've got a headache!!!"

345 Warning, save file now = "I think I just deleted your file!"

47 Incorrect Password = "I've forgotten your password, but I'll make you think you've got it wrong!"

615 Variable does not exist = "I thought I put it next to the red light on the disk drive but I can't find it now!"

288 Unexpected end of routine = "Sorry, did I drop off for a while there?"

999 Internal error = "Jim at R&D said no one would ever try something as silly as that, but you had to, didn't you!"

218 Indent too wide = "Listen dummy. If I put that on the screen I'd probably punch a hole in the side of the monitor."

344 Keyboard buffer overload = "How did you manage to hold down eleven keys at once?"

[Newsbytes May 29 1990, Zucker, Paul]

IS IT GERMANE? IT DEPENDS ON WHO YOU ASK.

Like Morley Safer, I've had a bit of extra time lately to go through the mail bag and respond to some of your letters. Not all of it is fan mail, but there sure are lots of questions. And I'm certainly never loath to offer free advice.

However, I should warn you that I didn't exactly pass the Q&A column course from the correspondence school of journalism I attended. Then again, I didn't really flunk; it was just that the teacher returned my check with a little note about his sense of personal integrity. (It was a nice note, but not particularly germane.)

So here goes nothing!

Q: My new database program's manual mentions Boolean fields. Do I need to understand what they are?

A: Yes and no. It depends. Boolea is a region in Eastern Europe, somewhere around Dalmatia and Pomerania. It is principally fields -- there's just not a whole lot there. Even the capital, Boolea, is mostly fields. I believe Roosevelt, Stalin and Disraeli met there during World War II to carve up something or other, but that's beyond the scope of this column and not especially germane.

In any case, Boolean fields have little to do with databases, and I suspect you've been infected with a virus. Try using Suitcase II, Full Impact or one of the other good virus-removal utilities around today.

Q: I've got an Apple 40-Mbyte internal hard disk in my SE/30, and I have to perform multiple restarts to get it to mount. What's wrong?

A: If you are performing multiple restarts in rapid succession, you're probably just flooding the carburettor. Turn the Mac off, open the case and let it stand for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then restart it, but try to avoid pressing the power switch "to the metal."

If that doesn't help, your drives are probably infected with a virus, most likely one introduced by virulent floppies. For protection, you should always keep the thin, transparent plastic covers on floppy disks when you insert them into the Mac. I believe they also make some sort of aerosol foam that you can use for the same purpose.

Q: I'd like to add more memory to my Mac II. What do I need to buy?

A: You need a product called SIM, which is put out by Symantec. It's part of their SAM/SIM/SUM line. (I heard that the company gets an excellent deal from the printer so long as the different packaging requires only changing one vowel.)

Be warned, however, that there is such a thing as too much memory and, quite often, subjects you'd sooner not have your Mac remember. Also, adding memory increases the risk of infection by viruses because they have a bigger target to attack.

Q: I'm trying to use a statistics program but I'm having some difficulty interpreting the multiple-regression summary table, particularly in testing the null hypothesis with the F-ratio. Any suggestions?

A: I could answer your question, but I won't. Instead, you should learn to direct this kind of inquiry to the people best equipped to handle them -- the experts at your local Apple dealership.

But, first ask yourself this question: "Could my difficulty possibly be caused by a virus?" That's a germane point to consider -- statistics programs are likely targets because no one really understands what they do, so you don't notice when the results get all skewed up.

Q: I keep hearing about "Trojan horses" and "worms." Are they similar to viruses?

A: A Trojan horse is like a virus in sheep's clothing, with the horse stuff thrown in to cause extra confusion. And don't let anyone try to con you with this cutesy "worm" business. A virus is a virus is a virus. The only good virus is a dead virus!

Q: Kudos to you for your sage, germane column. How can I thank you enough?

A: The pleasure's all mine, so no thanks are necessary. And I've never really understood what a kudo is, but I've got my suspicions, so don't even try it! n

[MacWEEK April 10 1990 v4 n14 p134(1), Klatzin, Dennis]

ON THE NEW CCILPV STANDARDS

Over the past year, the newly formed CCILPV (Comit Consultatif International de Logiciel et Progiciel avec Vins), dedicated to the careful consideration of worldwide standards in a relaxed bistro setting, has begun codifying the standards that have so far slipped through the cracks. In secret sessions at Versailles, convened beneath the classic French coat of arms (whose motto translates to something about eating cake), members of the organization's various subcommittees have been working diligently to create a body of new standards that conform to recognized industry practices. The goal is to unite America, Europe, and the rest of the globe in time for the opening of the European Common Market in 1992--with the help to of protocols such as these:

BAR (Binder Assembly Required) 2.2. Propounds an ironclad rule that no three-ring bound manual may come preassembled with dividers in place; offers additional recommendations to make the otherwise boring binder-assembly process more challenging and fun for users.

SBF (Spiral Binding Formula) 15. Prescribes that all spiral-bound manuals must appear absolutely identical when shelved spine out.

IO (Index Omission) CP7-7. Bipartite standard recommends unindexed manuals and also suggests means of rendering indexes useless where inadvertently supplied.

CP (Chapter Pagination) 4-56-7.7. Demands that manuals be paginated within individual chapters rather than throughout the book to maintain ease of production and updating rather than ease of use.

NQS (No Quick Start) X.0. Mandates that setup instructions be included in a weighty reference volume rather than a slim, pithy quick-start manual.

MIS (Mandatory Installation System) 0.1. Stipulates that program installation must always take place from drive A:.

SOFA (Standardized Off-standard Format Availability) 1. A multipart protocol requiring vendors to offer products in formats other than the ones users are actually like to own. SOFA 1.1, for example, ensures diskette/drive mismatch; SOFA 1.2 works similarly for jacks and connectors. Other standards are reportedly in the works.

UPS (Upgrade Path Stymie) 6.7. Prescribes numerous means of making software and hardware upgrades inaccessible to the vast majority of current users by requiring additional memory, additional hardware devices, costly special adapters, and so on.

UNDOC (Uniform Need for Documentation) 0.2. Ensures that no salient operational information (such as jumper settings, basic help, and so on) or identification (such as function of cable) will appear anywhere on a product, thus requiring consultation of a manual that is certain to be unavailable when necessary.

NCI (Non-Conforming Interface) F13. Demands that at least one function in any new software or hardware product work in a substantially different way from all predecessors.

MDL (Minimum Difficulty Level) 99.9. Originally developed for recreational software, this generic software standard ensures that mastery of even the lowest level will require more time than any fully employed adult has available.

FFC (File Format Change) Level 6. Requires that each new software upgrade employ a new file format utterly incompatible with all previous releases, as well as with all third-party add-on programs.

2BIG (Excessive Memory Utilization)4U. Requires that device drivers and RAM-resident programs (including network software, described in Subpart Z) occupy sufficient memory that popular stand-alone programs won't quite run--or, optionally, will run, but without room for data.

VAR (Value Addition Required) 7/70. Ensures that network systems require consultants for successful operation.

OS2U (OS/2 Upgrade) 1.3. Guarantees that IBM versions of OS/2 will not work in their entirely on other computers. Further guarantees that non-IBM versions will arrive a minimum of six months after the originals.

GAS (Graphics Adapter Standard).PC. Ensures that no VGA card (including IBM's) will adhere properly to IBM VGA documentation or run the entire suite of PC Labs benchmark tests.

CDXA (CD-ROM Extension Anomalies). Prescribes that CD-ROM programs conflict with certain other software and fail to operate under such "advanced" operating systems as OS/2.

EEMS (Extended-Expanded Memory Stupefaction) 5.0. Guarantees utter confusion in all attempts to describe extended and expanded memory functions.

NLS (Nationwide Local Support)6.7. Offers vendor guidelines for maintaining total independence from user complaints via a policy of offering support only through dealers who have no idea how to diagnose or fix problems.

SCP (Support Call Protocol) 15.6. Sets standards for the minimum number of rings, minutes kept on hold, and unavailability of trained help, as well as consistency and lameness of excuses.

UR (Unnecessary Registration) 7.9. Strictly limits the use of registration-card information to promotional purposes only; prohibits its use for bug fixes or free upgrade notifications.

PDR (Printer Driver Responsibility) 0.0. Fixes responsibility for the development of any necessary printer drivers for any purpose whatsoever squarely on the user.

NDP (Network Downtime Procedure) 3.1. Offers recommendations for determining how users of a given network installation should pretend to perform their duties during system outages.

U (Standards Development Nomenclature) 3.77bis Level 5.3. Stipulates that future CCILPV nomenclature is to follow the traditional international-standards policy of incomprehensibility and arbitrariness (as in V.22bis, X.400, and U2), thereby requiring most new CCILPV standards to be renamed next year.

[PC-MAGAZINE, Stephen Manes]

ADDITIONS TO THE J.S.E. LIBRARY

2930 CUSTOMER ORDER MANAGEMENT 1.1

COMS v1.1: Comprehensive Customer Order Management System. Handles multiple orders for customers and multiple line item orders. Does delivery schedules, shipment info, tracking, backlog, forecasts and more! (HD)

2931 & 2932 TIMETRAK 1.1A

TimeTrak provides a proportional display of time dependent events. It is a Real-Time replacement for whiteboard/booking sheets. Up to four schedules (up to 999 resources/schedules) may be viewed at one time.

2933 & 2934 SELL MORE SOFTWARE

Designed to facilitate the marketing, sales, and administrative activities of selling software. It helps to plan projects, track contact with prospects and clients, track support, and print custom letters and forms. (AT & HD required)

2935 & 2936 YOUR COLLECTOR 4.1

Don't turn to a Collection Agency for bill collection. Try Your Collector to help collect payments due. It keeps track of all services rendered, payments received, and the difference between the two. (HD)

2937 DIMANAGE 2.1

Property management system to manage as many properties, with as many units as your hard drive or patience will tolerate. Design to make it simple and fast.

2938 & 2939 REGIT 4.2

Regit transforms a PC into a powerful point-of-sale cash register for retail an/or service businesses. It controls as many as 12,000 products. It will also work with or without bar code equipment. A customer data file maintains names and addresses for up to 10,000 customers. Generates many reports, password protection, price quotes, menu driven, on screen help and more!

2940 SITTER 1.05

Full-featured placement service for baby sitters and respite care. Features: weekly scheduling, unlimited job orders per patron, match job to sitter, full accounts receivable, general ledger, statements, and more (HD).

2941 THE MOONLIGHTING ADVISOR 1.0

Helps you find a business which suits your skills and personality by analyzing your interests, abilities and temperament. Shows you ways that people with similar skills and temperaments are earning money at home. (HD)

2942 UNIVERSAL CONVERTER

Over 600 standard and not so standard calculations at your fingertips. From a menu of 85 categories. Converts just about anything you can possible think of.

2943 PEOPLE PICTURES & SOUNDS 1.1

Easy to use rolodex type program with simple pull-down menus. Up to 3 events can be associated with each name. Events are pictures (PCX,256, GIF, FLI), Songs (BASIC, ROL), text files, EXE and COM files. (HD)

2944 SOFTWARE SUSIE II 1.05

A computer software library program. It is not a diskette catalog program. It will keep track of all the software one accumulates. Tracks version, cost, where & when acquired, publisher, vendor, description and more. (color monitor)

2945 COLLECT! 1.01

Do you have a collection? It doesn't matter what it is. Collect! is a program that you can easily set up to intelligently manage ANY type of collection. Many features make this an excellent program. Disk 2945 requires AT, VGA & mouse, a version for all PCs (text) is available on disk 2946.

2947 BOOK LIBRARIAN 1.0S

An easy-to-use menu driven program designed to quickly organize your personal, church, club or corporate library. Unlimited number of database, unlimited number of entries. Full featured reports to printer or disk.

2948 VIDEO LIBRARIAN 3.0

Easy-to-use program that quickly organizes and maintains any size Video Library. It can maintain over 2 billion titles. Full-features reports to screen, printer or disk. Prints labels for cassettes.

2949 DBS-KAT

For cataloguing floppy disks and managing hard drive files. With pop-up instruction manual. Up to 9,999 diskettes and 16 million filenames. Requires high density floppy drive (1.2 or 1.4meg) or hard drive.

2950 SAPPHIRE 3.10A

An efficient BBS designed to run with a minimum amount of effort. All aspects of maintenance are automated. Popular with consultants, churches, type-setters, customer support, etc. (Requires hard drive).

2951 FREE SPEECH BBS

A completely new kind of BBS that will challenge everything you ever believed about BBS communications. It uses artificial intelligence routines to guarantee free speech! Supports foreign character translation. (Requires hard drive).

2952 TRANSFER TIME 2.0

A program designed to estimate file transfer times for the popular XMODEM, YMODEM, ZMODEM and CompuServe B+ file transfer protocols, at modem speeds of 1200, 2400, and 9600 bps. Also cost estimating.

2953 RECON 2.10A

CompuServe/TAPCIS Message file manager, with message/reply editor & script generator, pull down menus & command line mode. many features make this a very usable program. (Requires hard drive).

2954, 2955 & 2956 SPORT 1.41

Sport is a full service telecommunication software program designed to make it easy to access and share information, regardless of distance, in business, personal and professional situations using PC's interconnected via modems and phone lines. Sport will automatically sen and receive messages and files as well as provide protected remote access to your system. Ideal software for establishing private networks for collaborative effort.

2957 FAR VIEW /S

Hypertext browsing and editing with over 100 commands. Uses mouse, button border, menus, etc. Editor includes wordwrap, macros, cut & paste. Three linking methods. Also, links to ascii text files. (HD)

2958 DISK CONSULTANT 1.0

A software package that includes valuable information about computer cleaning & maintenance, speeding up your machine, hardware & software buyer's guide, 800 and fax number directories, business opportunities and more!

2959 POPDBF

Terminate and stay resident program can pop up within text and graphics programs to view, search and edit any dBASE (.DBF) file records. Give you access to dBASE files within and application! Extremely handy program!

2960 AQUARIUM 1.031

This program allows to select different fish, jellyfish, bubbles, snails, anchors, treasure chest, coral, and more! (EGA/VGA)

2961 CLOCKS

6 different full screen clocks. Rolex, Tweety Bird, Pink Panther, Japanese Girl, Casio, Gator and Snoopy. EGA/VGA

2962 GENET - A BIOLOGY TUTOR

Contains; history of genetics, the use of Punnett squares, genetics terms, an experiment involving dominant and recessive traits, and a quiz. The program is menu-driven. Good introductory exercise for students beginning a study of genetics. CGA

2963 THE INTEGRAL SCIENTIST 1.0

Periodic Table and element information database. Over 50 items of information on each of the elements. Flash card learning mode, Units conversion calculator, chemical solutions calculator, and more!

2964 TYPE TREK 1.0

Here is a typing tutorial program in a game format. It provides exercises by having the player type letters and words to fire phasers, photon torpedoes, etc. 15 levels, words per minute, online help, and more.

2965 COMPUTER TRIVIA QUIZ 1.0

Computer Trivia Quiz is a trivia game that will test the players knowledge of computer history, terms, events, etc., while increasing the players computer literacy.

2966 CHILDREN'S GRAPHIC PROGRAM 2.0

Designed for children. Easy-to-use graphics program to draw lines, boxes, circles, arcs, text, and macros. These can be drawn in one of four colours. Once a drawing is made it can be edited, stored, painted, and even animated. CGA (mouse option).

2967 DAD'S CHOICE V 2.0

An educational tool for children of all ages. Its main options are Register, Laser Blast, Bug Numbers, Applespider, Addition and Subtraction, Multiplication and Division, Prealgebra Math, and Graphics. CGA (mouse optional).

2968 MOM'S MATH VERSION 1.01

MOM'S MATH is an educational tool for children of all ages. Its main options are Register Program, Laser Blast, Bug Numbers, Applespider, Addition and Subtraction, Multiplication and Division, and Pre-algebra Math. CGA

2969 ULTIMATE SPANISH

Quiz yourself on the Nouns, Verbs, and Miscellaneous Words first, then move on to Verb conjugation and Phrases. Great for students who wants extra drilling or for those preparing to visit a Spanish speaking country.

2970 ULTIMATE FRENCH

For those interested in the French language. It has the same user friendly interface as the Ultimate Spanish program.

2971 MORAFF'S MATHER 1.0

Mather is a game of speed and arithmetic skill. The object of the game is to accumulate money, to "buy things". Great fun while learning skills. A learning game for all ages.

2972 123-TALK

123-Talk is a fabulous talking teacher with real human speech that helps children age 1-7 learn how to say numbers, counting, addition, subtraction, remember phone numbers, and more!

2973 & 2974 PCSTAT 2.3

PCstat provides stats and histograms ideal for many business and industry situations. Also accepts Lotus 123, dBase, ASCII and DIF files. (HD)

2975 COLLEGE TRACKER 1.0U

Designed for high-school counsellors who want to keep track of what schools their seniors attend. Lots of features make this a nice program. (HD)

2976 COLLEGE PROBE 3.0U

Allows the user to review statistics and information about colleges and universities in the U.S. More than 1,500 listed. Criteria include SAT/ACT scores, tuition costs, size of enrolment, handicap status and more. (HD)

2977 SURVEY POWER 1.0

Designed to create, analyze, and print out complete demographic and correlation results to your surveys, opinion polls, and tests. Useful for both business and schools.

2978 AIR-CONDITIONING REPAIR

Diagnoses and tutors every aspect of air conditioner repair. Nice CGA graphics display all the various sub-systems & circuits allowing you to test each. The program asks question then provides a diagnosis! Top quality, comprehensive software.

2979 ABC-TALK

ABC-Talk is a program with a real human voice that teaches children how to talk, learn the alphabet, read, spell and work with computers. For children ages 1 - 7.

2980 to 2987 THE 'FONETIC SPELING' MENU

'Fonetic Speling' is a system of word lists and programs that enables users to explore a corpus of 44,000 English words. Each word in the corpus is accompanied by a proposed simplified spelling that uses the 26 letters of the alphabet to consistently describe the 42 sounds we use when speaking English. The word pairs are held in 128 files which are indexed for use with the accompanying programs. The words are in common text form and can be viewed with common word processors. Each word pair is also accompanied with its frequency of use. The programs provide the ability to translate common word processing documents from normal spelling standards to a phonetic spelling standard. It also assist researchers who wish to study the words of the English language. (8 disks, HD)

2988 WORDQWIK 1.11

Puts a college English teacher at your shoulder. WordQwik pops up from DOS or any application program to give help on correct usage of words.

2989 GRADE BOOK POWER 3.0

A full featured grade book for teachers that creates comprehensive progress reports for parents, teacher, and students. Features options for: elementary and secondary teachers, pull down menus, 20 different reports and more.

2990 FINANCIAL ANALYZER 1.0

Enables the user to quickly calculate various Financial situations that may occur many times in the average life time.

2991 to 2994 FRED'S RECIPES

There are over 6 mb's of recipes for Edna's Cookbook in this collection. You can use just one database or all. Disk 2991 contains Appetizers, Beverage, Canning, Eggs, Gravies, Pizza, Seafood, and Soups. Disk 2992 contains Cake, Salad, Sandwich, and, Vegetables. Disk 2993 contains Breads, Breakfast, Meats, and, Pasta. Disk 2994 contains Desserts and Poultry.

(Requires HD & Edna's Cookbook - Disk 3174)

2995 & 2996 HEALTHAIDE

Disks Profiles food consumption towards target weight to knowledgeably limit/control fats, cholesterol, sodium and increase/control vitamins, fibre, electrolytes, protein, etc. Based on Am Heart Assn, Am Cancer Soc, USDA and The Human Nutrition Inf Svc reports.

2997 FAIRY GODMOM 2.1

A game of magical mayhem. The object is to finish all fifty levels to free your fellow fairy godmothers. It has fully animated graphics, on- line help, save/restore, boss key and more. Supports CGA to VGA monitors.

2998 SUPER ZZT

Sequel to the popular ZZT series. Journey through the giant seven-level Monster Zoo, shooting and solving puzzles every step of the way! Supports mouse. Works on Monochrome monitors and better.

2999 THE MANIAC 1.0

A Speed and strategy game. Zap the Maniac before he leaves the Blue Zone. The authors are offering a $10,000.00 Give-A-Way to the top players of the game. (Requires mouse).

3000 CROSSWORD POWER 4.0

Crossword puzzles can be created and printed out from your own words and clues. Auto search can quickly create over 200 different word arrangements to find the puzzle with the most words. Many features make this a great program!

3001 WORDSEARCH/BINGO POWER 1.0

Word searches, vocabulary bingo cards and flash cards can be created from your words and definitions. The word lists are 100% compatible with Crossword Power.

3002, 3003 & 3004 WIZARD GAMES

Games from Wizard Games of Scotland. 3002: Greyhound - dog racing and kennel management. Soccer - league football team management game. Goal - international soccer management game. 3003: Insanity - a highly original maze based adventure/action game with many puzzles. RockStar - the crazy world of sex, drugs and rock & roll. 3004: Capitalist - business management and gambling game. Grandprix - formula 1 race team management game. Compendium - 5 game sampler from Wizard Games. (Requires CGA)

3005 CHINESE CHECKERS 1.1

In Chinese Checkers, 2 to 6 players race each other to see who can be the first one to get all his/hers marbles to the opposite side of the board. All beautiful looking program! Supports a mouse. (Requires EGA/VGA monitor).

3006 COMMANDER KEEN 4

The further adventures of Commander Keen. An excellent 3D Graphics adventure game! It rivals some of the best commercial games anywhere. This game will only fit on a 720k disk or larger. EGA/VGA

3007 PAGANITZU

Another great program offered from the people at Apogee. Here you find yourself in a pyramid where you traverse the upper levels in search of the Magical Crystal Rose. Challenging game with great graphics. (Requires hard drive, EGA/VGA).

3008 CRYSTAL CAVES

From Apogee Software comes Crystal Caves "Trouble with Twibbles". Enter an underground world of treasures and traps. This colourful EGA game rivals any commercial game with its arcade quality, puzzles and graphics! (Requires hard drive, EGA/VGA monitor).

3009 SHERLOCK 1.1

Sherlock is a game of deduction. It is your task, based upon the information available in provided clues, to determine the locations of 36 blocks. Very Nice! (Requires mouse, EGA/VGA monitor).

3010 3 BALL JUGGLER

3 Ball Juggler uses fast animation with high resolution EGA/VGA graphics to teach juggling. It also includes a challenging multi-level non-violent arcade game that simulates juggling. EGA/VGA

3011 BRAINDEAD2

Two distinct games in a single program - a hidden tile match game that tests memory skills and a visible tile match game that pits the player against a clock. Kids do well with this game. (EGA/VGA, mouse).

3012 ROBOMAZE III: THE DOME

This game includes 56 graphics screens of adventure, 17 different enemies, and its own story line. You are a freedom fighter of the resistance against your country's tyrannical dictator and his henchman the Mad Scientist. EGA/VGA

3013 STOCK MARKET TECHNICIAN

Based on over 10 years of stock market research and trading. Designed to be both entertaining and educational. Game board includes three, animated, full color, screens. 1 to 4 players. No special skills required.

3014 JUMPJET 1.06

For those who want to blow things up after a hard day. Shoot down planes and blow up tanks. Test your shooting skills and rake up a high score. Easy to play and addicting. Supports Mono up to EGA

3015 FIELD GENERAL 5.0

Field General brings the exciting game of professional football to your PC! The plays, and statistics, mirror those of an actual game. Many options make this an exciting game. (Requires HD & CGA or better).

3016 MORAFF' STONES 2.1

Stones is a barter-gambling game played in the finer taverns of Moraff's World. Many Species congregate to play, and they are a pretty formidable bunch! This game supports Monochrome up to Super VGA!

3017 MORAFF'S WORLD

Moraff's World, the Beginner's Version, contains 16 level deep dungeons. It also contains about 20 classes of monsters. Great fun! Supports Graphics Monochrome to Super VGA!

3018 MORAFF'S ENTRAP

Mind bending logic game. Picture yourself on a 3D maze-like playing field with enemy robots and garbage cans closing in on all sides! Get tougher as you get deeper! Supports Graphics Monochrome up to Super VGA!

3019 SCORCHED EARTH

Scorched Earth is a simple, yet exciting artillery combat Game. Most of the options are very intuitive, and you can begin playing with only a little bit of information. (VGA).

3020 THE ONE ARM BANDIT 1.0

The One Arm Bandit is a program that will provide the User with one of the best Slot Machine simulators available anywhere. Bandit offers all the fun and excitement of the real thing! (VGA)

3021 CASTLES OF MEW

You will be exploring Two MEW Castles and Caves of the MEW World. You will be looking for Treasure, and attempting to slay the Fearsome Dragons who live in the Caves. VGA

3022 CUMBERLAND TREE 3.1

An application program for doing genealogy work. Allows entry of names, birth, christening, marriage, death, and burial dates. Friendly pop-up menus, LDS ordinance fields and many different print reports. (HD)

3023 & 3024 SHOW PARTNER LITE 3.7

Simple & easy program to develop sophisticated screen shows and demonstration disks. Features window screen capturing, fast, smooth effects, mouse menus, PCX conversion, animation, and more. (HD)

3025 FINGER VGA 1.10

A color image processing, painting and animation program. Only VGA (320x200x256 colours) graphics mode is supported. Files are loaded and saved in the .PCX format. Prints to Laserjet printer. (Requires VGA, Mouse, LaserJet).

3026 ANOTHER PROGRAM 1.0

Easy-to-use drawing, text, sound, animation & presentation program to bring your ideas to life. Put lesson on disk for students, create colourful catalogues, send fancy disk-based messages to your friends. VGA

3027 256-DRAW

Designed to draw or edit images in 256 color VGA mode. The images created are simple bitmap images. This product encompasses many diverse drawing and graphics related routines. (Requires 256-VGA & mouse).

3028 IMAGE CONVERSION

IMGCON is a program for converting images between different image formats. It also allows you to display the images on your screen. IMGCON has a windowed interface to make it user friendly.

3029 THE CODE MACHINE 3.0

This program provides for Morse Code practice sessions. It transmits perfect code at any speed from 1 to 100 words per minute. Features: type ahead, modifiable transmission signals, menu driven and more!

3030 BREW BEER

2 programs for helping you brew your own beer and keeping track of your recipes. Plus some favourite recipes for making brew.

3031 COCKTAIL MIXER

A database of different cocktail drinks. Very easy to use menu system that also allows you to add in your own drink recipes.

3032 TURBO CHECK 1.0

A very user friendly checking account program made for the novice. Prints checks and all types of reports. Very smooth graphics look. (Requires, CGA or better, hard drive).

3033 THE HOME INSPECTOR

Designed by professional home inspectors to aid a prospective home buyer in objectively evaluating a homes condition. Covered areas are: electrical, plumbing, heating/AC, basement, roof/attic, garage, interior, and much more!

3034 SHOW-TALK

It will draw fancy collages and about every 30 seconds it will say catch phrases (in real human speech) to try and catch someone's attention like, Get Me Out Of Here! Great for retail stores or jokes on your friends.

3035 NON-MEDICAL PAIN RELIEF

Learn how to help yourself and your relive pain with acupressure, massage and other techniques, Pictures & text tutorial. (Requires CGA or better).

3036 PIANO TUNING

Modern Professional Piano Tuning Course. Taught by a professional tuner/technician with over 30 years experience. Everything you need to know to tune your own piano or tune for profit. Musical knowledge not required. Start your own business.

3037 SOUNDFX 4

A collection of executable sound effects. (.COM & .EXE files) FHONETONE, CHIRP, PHASORS, BIRDSONG, SLIDOWN, SPACE and more! (24 different effects.) Includes utilities for creating your own effects.

3038 to 3044 BIBLE STUDENT 1.1

Bible Student is the entire King James Version of the Bible on 7 disks. One of its most appealing aspects is that it can be run directly from FLOPPY DISKS! It is menu driven and its features include overlapping resizeable windows, mouse support, online context-sensitive help, fast reference and search facilities and the ability to extract text to a printer or an ASCII file.

3045 SW-TALK

SW-Talk is a new speech product for Shareware Authors and Programmers. The library contains over 100 words that can be used to help increase registrations. Excellent speech quality through the PC speaker. (Requires 512k, EGA/VGA for PCX file display).

3046 PC-TALK

The Voice Library for business and personal applications. Contains over 100 words that can be used in all sorts of possibilities. It all works through the PC speaker. (Requires, 512k, EGA/VGA for PCX file display).

3047 FITNESS LOG 2.3

Exercise log for use in homes, business, schools and hospitals. Features 34 types of exercise and calories burned, exercise history, 999 users per log, printed reports, monthly basis yearly and more.

3048 PERSONAL GOLF TRACKER 2.1

Keeps track of your golf scores and more. Displays personal best for each course, average scores, calculates handicaps, tracks statistics, and more! Handles up to 32 golfers, 25 courses and 99 rounds. Also useful for leagues.

3049 AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION PROGRAM

Prepares flight log with check points. Keep perf info on multiple aircraft. Airport, navaid, rnav, climb-decent profiles, great circle planning, US VOR database and more. Course, compass & ground speed corrections. ETE, ETA & Fuel estimates and more !

3050 SAILBOAT RACE SCORING SYS

Easy to use menus to update fleet and race data. Scores by Olympic, Hi & Low Point Methods. Edit & Print Fleet Data, Race results, Regatta results and seasonal standings. Up to 200 boats and 100 races. Includes sample database of 10 boats & 5 races.

3051 WEATHER FORECASTER

From the Temperature and Barometric Pressures changes predicts the weather for the next 24-48 hours. Includes Wind Chill, Heat Index and Temp-Humidity Index Comfort Calculators. Compare results with popular TV weather forecasters.

3052 RAVITZ EDITOR 1.10

A small but powerful ASCII text editor with integrated outlining and over viewing. Some features are: hide lines, outline, sort lines, view two files or parts of the same file, undelete, and more.

3053 TEXT EDITOR

Full screen text editor. Small 30K size. Commands similar to Wordstar and Sidekick. Edit files as large as memory. Insert, delete, block, copy, move, find, replace, set margins, set page length, word wrap, shell to DOS and more. Public Domain program!

3054 & 3055 MEN ON WOMEN/WOMEN ON MEN 1.0

New electronic book tells naked truths about the opposite sex. This program contains over 800 quotes, quips and witticisms from 470 different authors on Men, Women, Sexes, Husbands, Wives and Love. (HD)

3056 QUOTABLES 1.0U

A quotation/message program that works with any screen. Activate from the autoexec.bat file, it randomly selects a quote for the day. You can add your own quotes and messages.

3057 & 3058 OFFLOAD 1.1

Disks Designed to perform data archiving and retrieval for PCs in a manner similar to the main frame world. Allows the user to archive files from the hard drive to floppies for permanent storage. A catalog of archived files is maintained on the users hard drive to facilitate management and retrieval. Compresses while archiving. (HD)

3059 STOWAWAY 1.5

Stowaway moves inactive hard disk files to offline disk storage giving you room on your hard disk while still maintaining instant access to all your data. Lots of features with a very user friendly menu.

3060 & 3061 JBT TOOLS V1.10

A collection of 7 DOS utility programs. Includes a DOS Shell with ZIP Management, a full-featured ASCII Text Editor, an ASCII file viewer, a fast File Finder, a Duplicate File Find/Delete Program (really useful for cleaning up a hard drive), a Multiple File Extension Deletion Program, and an Editor Designed for Batch Files. Unique, extremely handy collection of utilities! Nice programs!

3062 & 3063 FASTMENU GOLD 4.1

FastMenu Gold is a complete graphics user interface (GUI) system. It operates in VGA Mode (640x480x16 color) only. Up to 40 user title pages * Up to 20 applications per page, password protect, screen blanker, time/date display, mouse support, format floppies, directory and file utility, file & text locator, 11 digit calculator, system information screen, text file viewer, timed application execution, and more! (VGA).

3064 XTREE 2.00

XTree is an early version of the commercial product XTree Gold that the company put into the shareware market. Feature: EGA/VGA support, Mouse support, Split windows, point & shoot execution of programs, disk formatter, text editor and more.

3065 JETPILOT 1.2

Use pull-down menus to control virtually every feature of you LaserJetII, IID,IIP, III, IIID, IIISi, IIIP or compatible printer. Run TSR or stand-alone.

3066 SCALABLE LASERJET III FONTS

A collection of 8 scalable soft fonts for the LaserJet III printers. Fonts include Baha medium & bold, Cooper black & italic, Penior medium & bold, Rounded medium & bold. (Requires LaserJet III type printer).

3067 LJLAND 3.0

Prints documentation, listings, spreadsheets, duplexed with 1 through 5 columns in landscape on any LaserJet. Multiple files, word wrap, net jobs, headers, titles, redirection, page ranges, and more. (Requires LaserJet printer).

3068 PRINT FOR POSTSCRIPT 2.00

Automatic Booklet Generation! Save money and print anywhere from 1 to 64 virtual pages per side of paper on a PostScript Printer. Landscape or Portrait; ASCII or PostScript input files/copies; 1 or 2 pass; and more. (Requires PostScript Printer).

3069 BOOKLET FOR LASER PRINTERS

Prints documents on a Laser Printer, or Deskjet for folding into a booklet (4 pages per sheet of paper.) Lots of features make this a nice program.

3070 DMPLAS 1.1

TSR (6k) program that makes your HP LaserJet IBM/Epson compatible. It will also translate graphics. This disk also includes optional fonts and download program for DMPLAS and GRIDFORM to create graph paper on HP LaserJets.

3071 GHOST SCRIPT

Ghostscript resembles the PostScript(TM) language: in fact, unless otherwise noted, it conforms exactly to version 25.0 of the PostScript language description, as presented in the April 1986 printing of the PostScript Manual by Adobe and Addison Wesley.

3072 TEXT TO POSTSCRIPT COLLECTION

Five programs that convert ascii text files to postscript for printing on postscript printers. Three include their source code (in C). It is possible to use any point size and available font with some of these. Also, one that prints text in PS circles.

3073 MEMKIT & C&T-EMM

3 programs for loading TSR's into expanded or extended memory. Helps you free up lower memory to run your programs.

3074 XTRATANK 1.14

Forget all the commercial stuff on the market! This program is designed to double your hard drive space and does not suffer speed decreases and software incompatibilities as other programs do. This is Public Domain software.

3075 DISPLAY FONT EDITOR

A graphics based editor and utilities for creating & modifying custom EGA/VGA screen display fonts.

3076 INTEGRITY MASTER 1.02A

Easy to use, anti-virus and PC integrity program that also provides security, change control and disk diagnostics. Does not require periodic updates as other programs do, yet it detects ALL viral activity.

3077 to 3080 PC-WRITE STANDARD LEVEL 2.01

PC-Write Standard Level 2.01. An adaptable word processor with context-sensitive help, pull-down menus, mouse support, and auto re-page make it easy to use. Features include Roget's Thesaurus, up to 10 windows, and import/export from Word Perfect, DCA-RFT, and ASCII. The Adapt feature lets you add or remove features sets depending on your needs. Supports over 900 printers; tops for Laserjets.

3081 KWIKWRITE 4.03

An affordable word processor that takes up little space and has a lot of features including mail merge from dBASE files and edit files of any length. Includes tutorial.

3082 TP-EP ELECTRIC TYPEWRITER

Turn your computer and printer into an Electric Typewriter. When a full blown word processing program is not necessary. Includes many nice features.

3083 JEPRS! 2.5

A bibliographic database management system for writers & scientists. You can add, edit, list, search, format, import, and export reference citations. Each reference has room fora title, author, journal, page, and more.

3084 BIBBASE

Bibliography/notes management software add-on macros for WordPerfect 5.0/5.1. It formats, stores, searches, and exports book and article references and notes.

3085 FAME

A database for writers and poets that keeps track of the poems/stories that you write, the publishers that you send them to, and the status of the submission. It even writes submission, withdrawal, and query letters.

3086 YEAR PLANNER 2.92

An organizing tool which mimics the familiar "write-on, wipe-off" wall planner calendar system. On screen summary or printouts to printer. All major holidays already built in.

3087 & 3088 KWIKSTAT 3

Menu-driven Statistical Data Analysis. Contains most commonly used analysis procedures such as descriptive statistics, t-test(independent & paired), ANOVA(independent & repeated measures), simple & multiple linear regression, crosstabulations, Chi-Square, non-parametric statistics & survival analysis. Pixel graphics include histogram, box-plots, scattergrams, 3-D bar charts, time series plot, pie chart, pictograms & more.

3089 CASH CONTROL V1.24S

Manage Checking, Savings or Charge Accounts fast & easy! Recall frequently used transactions. Search & split transactions. Transfer funds. Generate reports & graphs, print checks, reminds when payments due, online help & more!

3090 INVOICE-IT 3.01

For the small to medium sized business to help keep track of invoices, merchandise, vendors, and customers at the point of sale. A perpetual inventory system. (Requires 640k, hard drive, printer).

3091 FAST INVOICE WRITER 4.94

Invoice writer which may also be used as a writer for any document that is calculated similar to an invoice, such as a Purchase Order, Requisition, Sales Order, etc. There are 18 selectable names for the printout,or you can type your own name. Plus more!

3092 TICKLEX 5.9

An advanced tickler, scheduler, calendar, and to-do list that can also be used to track hours worked, expenses, and income. It can handle up to 12000 Appointments, Deadlines, Trips, Vacations, Exercises, Misc events, etc. (HD)

3093, 3094 & 3095 TELEMATE V3.01

Outstanding, multitasking communication program! So many great features it's hard to begin. For starters, full mouse support even online! Click on BBS choices on screen! Multitasking capabilities, has built in editor & file viewing features you can use while up/down loading each ran clearly in it's own window! It has context sensitive online help, editable backscroll, clipboard, all the most popular protocols, complete script language, full EGA/VGA support, full EMS support, music support (including dozens of warning tunes instead of beeps), Z-MODEM recovery, COMPLETELY automated up/down loads, option to connect 2 PC's, extensive control of features & parameters & much, much more!

3096 INFORMATION PLEASE 2.08

Free form database program allows you to store various length records (ie paragraphs) and search, display and print them according to keyword matches. Can also include PCX pictures. (HD)

3097 MEMO MASTER 2.0

A free-form data manager that lets you enter information in your own words totally unstructured and retrieve in the same way! Quickly! Organize all your random information. Easy to use and fast.

3098 & 3099 DEEP SPACE 3.0

Disks Deep Space 3-D is a full featured tool for producing professional- quality star charts in a wide range of formats. It plots the positions of the sun, moon, planets, and comets, up to 250,000 stars and approx. 10,000 galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, etc. Supports Epson and compatible 9 pin and 24 pin and HP Laserjet II printers. A 2 disk set. (Requires 512k).

3100 CHEMPAC 3 & NEURONET 1.0

Chempac is convenient Periodic Chart program. Elements 1-107 are display in chart form. Neuronet is a simple neural network program with the ability to recognize and learn patterns.(Requires CGA).

3101 FUNNY FACE II

This one is really a lot of fun to play with! Designed to provide kids a creative form of entertainment Funny Face allows children to create animated faces. Thousands of different cartoon faces can be generated. Fun!

3102 & 3103 SUPER PRO WORD SEARCH 2.10

A game to create, edit, print, and play the hidden word game. It follows the rules laid down by the word search puzzle Magazine.

3104 KRYPTO 1.0 & ACROSTIX 1.0

Krypto is a program the lets you solve and create Kryptograms. Acrostix is similar but uses a crossword style and the player has to fill in the blanks to reconstruct the quotation.

3105 FORMULA1

The first part of a 2 part program which covers High School or first semester College Algebra. Contains Introduction to Numbers, Fractions & Quadratic Equations also pre & post test for 8 algebra subjects. Thorough, nicely done software.

3106 XYSEE 3.0 EGA

Graphics oriented program for mathematic functions and forms within the Cartesian (rectangular) coordinate system. For high school and college level studies in Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry. EGA

3107 TOUCH TYPE TUTOR 4.0

Teach mode has 8 graduated lessons, adapts automatically to users skill level. Speed mode is used for testing speed. Game mode adapts to typists skill, forcing user to type faster and faster through out 5 skill levels. Nice program.

3108 TutorialWriter v2.1

Authoring system for Computer Aided Instruction. Requires no programming skills yet produces tutorials featuring Hypertext, menus, help system, pop-up windows, tests, quizzes, colours, sounds graphics & more! Comprehensive! (HD)

3109 PC-FASTYPE V4.3

Super typing tutor! Designed specifically for PC style keyboards. Multiple drills and exercises, can be tailored to drill for any or all keys or styles. Calculates WPM stats after each drill. Much more! Commercial quality software! (3109 for CGA; order disk 3110 for monochrome or Hercules)

3111 BLACKBOARD 2.0

If you can teach cooking, volleyball, lawn mower repair, trombone lessons, or what ever comes to mind. You can create a disk that will be seen by hundreds of thousands of shareware users. Sound effects, music, pictures and text. (Requires CGA & mouse).

3112 SPELLBOUND V2.10

Super spelling tutor! Using animated CGA graphics this program makes spelling fun! Can be configured for multiple users with passwords. Has multiple word list & ability to create your own, online help.

3113 MOONLIGHTER NEWSLETTER V1/N1

Disk-based publication for the INFORMATION ENTREPRENEUR. This publication is designed to help the subscriber to create and build a home-based business with Information as the major product.

3114 & 3115 CAPITAL GAINZ 2.2

A financial management package oriented toward small investors, especially those using a 'dollar-cost averaging' strategy with stocks and mutual funds. (HD)

3116 VINO:FILE VER 2.15A

Permits keeping an inventory, list wines and print reports in many ways. Maintains a database of tasting notes & allows detailed analysis of the collections contents. Has cross reference & sample database.

3117 FACING THE EMPIRE 2.05

A one-player interstellar conflict simulation. The object of the game is to drive the Morte Star Empire out of the stellar periphery of the Lyran Federation. At the same time the 8 Lyran Star Bases must be protected from attack by Morte ship groups.

3118 BINGO MANIA2!

Electronic Bingo game. Use monitor to display large number Bingo games and recall numbers called to verify winners. Can generate and print random Bingo cards & reports for each game. Also generates stats for each game.

3119 VIDEO BLACKJACK v2.0

More than a fun game VB teaches Blackjack card counting systems, betting judgements & how to adjust to rule changes. At any point you can view card stats, recommended plays & counting stats. Run auto-play to see strategy results. Interesting!

3120 CAPTAIN COMIC 5.0

Commercial quality graphic adventure game. The adventures of Captain Comic. Recover treasure stolen from the planet Omsoc that are now hidden on the remote planet of Tambi. (joystick support, EGA required)

3121 DARN IT! V11.1

Very entertaining solitaire card game. Has excellent EGA graphics, online help, mouse support (recommended), various rule levels, & more! Different from most solitaire games, fast paced, fun & frustrating! Good game!

3122 HUGO'S HOUSE OF HORRORS V1.7

Commercial quality game! Excellent 3D EGA graphics. Control Hugo's destiny as he tries to rescue his sweetheart, Penelope, imprisoned in the haunted house. Absolutely Excellent! (EGA & HD)

3123 FORZEE V3.0

A one player card game based on both Yahtzee & Poker. This unusual & intriguing game sports excellent EGA graphics, a mouse driven interface & online help. Once you get the hang of it, it's hard to stop!

3124 EGA GAMES: FLEES, SNARF, PALMEGA, BREAKOUT

FLEES: arcade game where you shoot the Flees, SNARF 2.03 : go through the maze before the Snarfs get you ALDO: donkey kong style game, PALMEGA: read the lines of your palm, BREAKOUT - breakout for the EGA.

3125 EGA PAPER DOLL DRESSING

DressMeUp: An imaginative paper doll game with a cute collection of animals to dress up. Complete outfits for the girl and boy animals and eight more outfits can be added to their wardrobes. EGA/VGA

3126 EGA PALLANDA

Pallanda: This is a game for the "little people", styled somewhat like Candy Land with surprise drawings along the way. You must get to the centre by moving to the closest matching color. EGA/VGA

3127 & 3128 THE LAST HALF OF DARKNESS II

Disks Travel through a ghostly mansion in search of the missing ingredients to an un-finished potion. Along the way you must solve mysterious puzzles while encountering eerie ghouls. Features horrifying VGA ghoulish graphics and terrifying sounds of horror. Supports: keyboard, mouse, Covox Speech Thing, Sound Blaster II, PC speaker. (HD & VGA).

3129 & 3130 CADET VER 3.0B: AutoCAD table editor

The CADET professional software system allows users to create tables and edit both text and attributes in AutoCAD drawings. Full-screen text editing * 99 lines x 255 characters * Pull-down menu * Shortcut commands * Help screen * Status lines * Search and replace * Find text * Cut & paste * Change style, height and case * EGA/VGA support * Import/Export text * Works within AutoCAD. (requires AutoCAD)

3131, 3132 & 3233 INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERS TOOL BOX 3.0

A modular collection of 18 programs which can be used as a personal consultant for the business manager, who wants an efficient operation. It looks at the side of business too often ignored, where countless unnecessary dollars go down the drain. It looks at facility management (including overhead cost), work measurement, investment strategies, probabilities, and value engineering of products or services. PC Key Draw has been customized to allow CAD presentation of the data developed this toolbox. (HD, PC-Key-Draw required for full installation)

3234 LAYOUT 3.0

Drafting software. Can be used for: Office design and equipment inventory, Home inventory of valuables for insurance purposes, Any small design task. (Requires, CGA or better).

3235 FINGER MAPS 1.01

An object-oriented drawing package supplemented with a comprehensive database of world geographical coordinates. This shareware version is limited to printing out on a HP compatible laserjet printer.

3236 VPIC 4.6

EGA/VGA, GIF viewing program. Slide show, adjust color, brightness & resolution, very fast, improved EGA renditions, view/convert to/from GIF, PCX, RIX, PIC, CUT & TGA formats. View MAC & IFF files, show file specs, path support, easy interface, more!

3237 PRINT HPGL VER 1.20

Prints HP-GL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language, HP 7475 subset) plotfile on a dot matrix printer. HP-GL is supported by such programs as: AutoCAD, Generic CADD, MathCAD, SAS, Schema, and more. Will also convert to bitmap and .IMG files.

3238 GRAPHIC WORKSHOP 6.1

For working with computer graphic files. It will handle most of the popular formats: Mac, PCX, GEM/IMG,GIF, TIFF, EPS, WPG, MSP, IFF/LBM/CE. You can: View, Convert, Print, Dither, Reverse, Rotate and Flip. Nice!

3239 GIFDESK 4.0 & GDS

Two programs for viewing, cataloguing, printing, size change, slideshow, and more with GIF, PCX, etc. A couple of great ones! (Requires VGA).

3240 CURSES ! V2.01

A humorous and creative "insult generator" with a different twist. A single keystroke switches from insults to compliments. You can control the contents. (Requires 360k). From R.K. West Consulting.

3241, 3242 & 3243 HOME LEGAL GUIDE V7.00

Outstanding home & small business legal guide! Will custom generate & print 120 forms from 70 categories using on-screen interviews. Covers wills, divorce, child support, loans, buyer/seller agreements, real estate, copyrights, business propositions & much more! Has full text of government regulations & laws-fully annotated, dozens of legal tutorials, online legal dictionary, notepad, law explanations, mouse support & context sensitive help. Top quality! Note: based on USA law! (HD)

3244 THOROUGHBRED 4

This handicapping program allows you to analyze Races and pick likely winners quickly and easily, even if you have never handicapped before. (Note: USA program; may not apply entirely to RSA horse racing)

3245 QuickBasic 4 TOOL LIBRARY VER 1.2

Programming tools for Microsoft QuickBASCIC 4.xx. Routines for mouse functions, windowing, screen save/restore, screen print, screen string centring, program delays, and access to system interrupts.

3246 & 3247 BOSS WINDOWS 6.13 for C

BOSS is one of the most complete C windowing packages available. The author first examined all the commercial packages like "Panel", "Windows for C", "Halo" and others and took the best features from each and incorporated them into this fine package. The package is supported with good documentation and is designed to be used with MicroSoft C (3.0 and 4.0), Lattice C (all versions) and DataLight C Borland's Turbo C. For a small fee you can register with the author and get full source code.

3248 TEGAS 3.0 & TVGAS 2.1 for PASCAL

Create and save EGA or VGA images for use with the PutImage procedure. EGA requires 256k, EGA, Microsoft compatible mouse). VGA requires VGA card with full memory, 256-color .BGI file for Turbo Pascal, Microsoft compatible mouse). From BSX.

3249 SIGN FRIENDS & LEARN TO SIGN

2 programs. Well done program uses animated graphics to display and teach signing, the sign language used by many deaf people. Cover phrases, letters & words. 1 Requires BASIC.

3250 AS EASY AS 5.0

Excellent 123 clone. 8,192 rows by 256 columns, popup or panel menus, graphics (bar, line, xy, pie, 4 more.) print to screen or printer (epson), macros, over 43 math functions, no installation, online help, 123 comp, find/replace, auditing, much more!

3251 & 3252 EXPRESS CALC 4.10

Express Calc is an easy-to-use "Visible Spreadsheet" program. If you work with numbers, at home, on the job or at school, Calc is for you.

3253 BOXER V3.11

Outstanding text editor! Many features, 512 level undo, full mouse/EGA/VGA support, multiple files/windows, block functions: sort, total, average, auto save, context sensitive help, search & replace across files & much more! Rqs. 384k 500k disk space.

3254 QEDIT 2.15

Fast, easy to use text editor! Customizable keyboard, colours, screen options. Supports character, line & column blocks. Execute compilers, line draw, macros, unlimited files, EGA-40/VGA-50 support, undo buffer, auto-indent,pop-down menus & much more!

3255 QHELP FOR QEDIT

Incredible help system for the very popular editor QEDIT. Two versions. QHELPQ uses the standard (default) command key assignments and QHELPC allows custom command key assignments. Word Perfect should have as powerful a help system !

3256 PEDIT PLUS 1.0

Full featured split-screen editor now handles up to 6 files at one time. Supports all the usual editing functions plus block indent. Features include margins, paragraph indent, word wrap, case change. PEDIT uniquely treats everything as text.

3257 ALMANAC 1992

Collection of fascinating facts, inside stories, and unbelievable yet true events. A fun research tool for the whole family. Comes with a super-easy-to-use menu system and search facility. Lots of fun!

3258 LHARC V2.13L

Archiving utility using the .LZH format. Claims to achieve the tightest compression rate of any archiving program in the Public Domain. Our tests confirm, under most conditions this is true, but not all. Compresses well but is not as fast as some others.

3259 PKLITE 1.12 & LZEXE .91

Compression utility that compresses COM & EXE files on disk then automatically uncompresses them to RAM when the programs are ran. Averages 30% compression on most files. No execution speed loss is noticeable on 8mhz+. No lose compression scheme!

3260 ARJ ARCHIVER 2.21A

A new compression program that competes and in some cases beats the rest. Many options make this a very useful compression program.

3261 INFOPLUS 1.41 (SYSTEM ID)

Unusual program that generates 16 screens of information about the computer system it is run on. CPU, video, copyrights, interrupts, environment, ports, TSRs, keyboard, all drives, and more!

3262 HARD DISK MENU V4.0

A DOS shell that hides the operating system, yet does not get in the way of the experienced user. Up to 100 menu files with 10 pages each, online help, mouse support, macros, phone setup, run files, user configurable titles and much more. Nice!

3263 & 3264 4DOS 4.0

Superb COMMAND.COM replacement! Enhancement for almost all of the DOS commands as well as more than 40 new commands! Once installed it comes with online-help. After you has used this program for awhile you'll wonder how you ever got along without it.

3265 ON-SIDE 1.03

Use On-Side to print reports down the page instead of across, and in a variety of character font styles. (Requires Epson/IBM Graphics compatible printer).

3266 4PRINT 4.10

4Print is a multiple ASCII file printing utility for Hewlett-Packard LaserJet or compatible printers. Saves paper by printing title lines plus four 66-line 80-column pages on a single sheet of paper front and back.

3267 VMIX 386 2.67

VMiX 386 is a multiuser and multitasker package for PC's (8088 through 80386) with access to extended memory in 80286's and protected virtual 8086 mode in 80386's.

3268 NEWKEY 5.4

Keyboard enhancer simplifies the entry of common keystroke sequences by allowing these sequences to assigned to any one key desired. Whenever that key is struck the predefined sequence of keystrokes will be substituted for the struck key.

3269 COLORADO UTILITIES

6 programs: Disk manager, Duplicate File Manager, Fast Find, File Set, Virtual Sort, Volume Labeler.

3270 THE GUARDIAN 1.90

Security to protect an entire disk (either a hard disk or a floppy disk) against unauthorized use. Individual files on a disk may or may not be protected by a password mechanism or an encryption routine.

3271 BLANK-IT 4.1A & EXPLOSIVE 1.30

Blank-It features include: Discard of reactivating keystroke, use only 528 bytes, user-selective time-out, works on all screens, and more. Also a screen blanker with Fireworks called Explosiv.

3272 AUTOCON 2.0E

Database manager for your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. It enables you to keep up to fifty different configurations, and to change easily between those configurations. Incorporates a full-screen editor.

3273 PC INDEX V4.01

Stand alone index maker will read ASCII text files of any size and create an index much like those found in the back of text books or reference manuals. Can index on every word or you can control the words to be included. Very fast, well documented.

3274 EDNA'S COOKBOOK

Stores and organizes all your recipes with many print-out options. Has a separate ingredients and directions section. Many classifications options. See also disks 2991 to 2994 for a very large collection of recipes.

3175 CALCULATION SOLITAIRE 1.1

Skill is rewarded in this challenging game, which allows you to pick from 3 different difficulty levels. On-Screen Hints make learning the game fun. Inspired by the solitaire game that comes with Windows. (Requires AT, EGA/VGA & mouse).

ADDITIONS TO THE WINDOWS LIBRARY

NOTE: All the following programmes require Windows 3 in order to run!

W146 WINWHEEL 1.20

A shareware "Wheel of Fortune"/hangman type word game for Windows 3.0. 1-3 players, 5 rounds, sound, colourful wheel program. (VGA &mouse).

W147 BIGWIZ 1.0

BigWiz is a financial calculator for Windows 3.0. Fully compatible with the famous Hewlett-Packard HP-12C handheld calculator and includes a number of features not found in the HP-12C.

W148 BLACK JACK & LIMERICKS

Beautiful and enjoyable game of Black Jack to play under Windows 3.0. Also a Limericks program for Windows 3.0 with more than 900 limericks!

W149 ATLUS 1.00

An Atlas program which also enables you to add information to your own maps. Atlus already contains lots of information, but allows you to modify or add to this really nice program. VGA

W150 & W151 PAINLESS ACCOUNTING for WINDOWS

A full featured accounting system designed to run under Windows 3.0. Includes: Ledger, Billing, Checks, Reports, Budget, Files, Utilities,, and Closing. dBase compatible files.

W152 & W153 STABLE INVESTMENT 1.0

Stable - Technical Graphs has been written for the technical trader who has existing, or access to, historical financial data stored in ASCII or MegaStack format. Analyze any stock, bond, commodity, mutual fund, index or option. A unique chart "slider" allows easy comparison in chart form. (VGA)

W154, W155 & W156 CLIPBOOK 3.0

Clipbook clip art organizer for Windows. Print, index, cut/paste. Launch programs. Seamless clipboard interface.

W155 ZIPAPER 1.3C

ZiPaper is a program that chooses one of your .BMP files for uses as Windows Wallpaper. It also lets you place your .BMP Wallpaper files in a .ZIP or .LZH file to reduce the disk space required for them.

W159 CANFIELD 1.0 FOR WINDOWS

A solitaire card game for Windows 3.0. Lots of bells and whistles (plus some surprises), such as: Cheating(!), Card - Dragging, Skill Levels, Animated Card Backs, and more. (VGA & mouse)

W160 SOUND RECORDER V2.2

A .VOC file player/recorder for the SoundBlaster card running under Windows 3.0. Can read/write both .VOC & .SDN files. Can PLAY, STOP, PAUSE or RECORD, display graphics representation of sounds & change sampling rates.

W161 WINCHECK 3.0G

WinCheck the full featured Checkbook program for Windows 3.0 users. Checking and savings account keeper with check writing capability. Many features. From Wilson WindowWare.

JOINT SOFTWARE EXCHANGE FEE STRUCTURE:

R 10,- per disk (volume); non-members pay R 14,- per disk.

Pay for 8 disks and receive a further 2 free.

Add R 4,- per order for handling, packaging & postage.

Private membership renewal: R 32,- if received within 2 weeks, else R 38,-.

Corporate membership renewal: R 100,- and R 120,- respectively.