February 1989 MCU Magazine

General Information

MCUC

This magazine is published monthly for distribution to members of the Memphis Commodore Users Club. It is in no way connected with the Commodore Business Machine Ltd. or Commodore Inc. and Commodore products (CBM, PET, C64, C128, VIC20, Amiga) are registered trademarks of Commodore Inc. The MCUC is a non-profit organization whose purpose is the free exchange of information and knowledge about the use of Commodore computer systems. Memberships are open to anyone; ownership of a computer is not required. Monthly meetings are open to the public and visitors are welcome.

Dues are broken down into three categories. Membership dues may be paid quarterly (3 months) at $6 or annually at $20.00. An associate membership is offered for those living outside a 45 mile radius of Memphis at $10 per year. All memberships are family memberships and dues are not refundable.

Contribution to the MCUC magazine may be in any wordprocessor, preferably saved as a sequential file. You may submit articles on disk, or hardcopy, or upload to the MCUC BBS. Other User Groups are welcome to reprint material from this magazine; we ask only that you give credit to the author and source.

The editor reserves the right to reject material submitted relating to illegal services, products or unethical practices. All material submitted becomes the property of MCUC. The 15th of each month is th DEADLINE FOR ARTICLES.

MEETINGS

General Membership Meeting - First Tuesday of each month, 7:00 PM in Fulton Auditorium, State Technical Institute.

Beginner's Class - First Saturday after the first Tuesday. 1:00 PM at the Main Library, Peabody and McClain.

Board of Director's Meeting - Second Thursday after the General Meeting. 7:30 PM State Tech, in the cafeteria.

128, CP/M, MS-DOS SIG - Now meeting the the Memphis FOG group. 4th Tuesday of each month at the Whitestation Library. Copy session at 6 PM, Meeting starts at 7:00 PM.

OFFICERS

ADVERTISING RATES

All rates monthly.

Classified to Members - Free
All ads must be in by the 15th.
CIRCULATION: 300 copies.

Treasurer's Report

TREASURER'S REPORT 1-15-89

GARY THURMAN
TREASURER

Tips

Margaret Flake offers the following handy tip.

Mark your children's disks with a cute sticker or a happy Face on the label. They will know these are their disks and if there is no sticker, to leave Mom and Dad's alone.

Vice Presidents Page

This is the first issue since our elections. I look forward to working with all the officers in the coming new year.

The board has discussed a lot of new projects for the coming year that I find very exciting. It looks like this could be a year of growth and a widening of horizons for MCUC and all involved with the club. We anticipate more member participation and a higher public profile for the club through shows, fairs, and interaction with other user groups.

Bob Nunn has proposed several innovative projects for the coming year that will provide new services and a variety of interesting activities for all club members. I think the membership will find some of these changes will make membership in MCUC an even better investment of both time and money.

As always, we solicit your suggestions for making MCUC better for all members. We're looking forward to an exciting year. Thank you for the vote of confidence you gave by electing us as your officers.

Ron Montgomery

President's Ponderings

Exceptional Things

I hope you were able to make the last general meeting. We had some exceptional things occur. We elected new officers in record time. 69 people showed up. Two exceptional demo's, one by Cheryn on the tax disk (we sold out and had to make more on the spot) and one by Charles Wirth on his Eagle's Nest BBS. Nearly every Commodore Sysop in Memphis was there, Shikepoke, Jumper, Cajon, Silver Shark, Checkerboard Phox, Dr. Dox, Mickey D, and the old Operator Headgap (me). We signed up 28 new and existing members. We released the 24 page 2 disk set NEW MEMBERS PACKET! (We ran out and had to mail mail part of them). The disks of the month were excellent and the library sold out. We sold out of blank disks, all the disk boxes, all the notchers and almost all the 3 1/2 inch disks. We had a special guest show up, Anna Davis, who, writes for the Commercial Appeal. She's the one who is responsible for that 1/2 page color picture and article and her and her family are now members!

I hope you were able to attend our beginners class taught by John Blackmer; had record attendance at the Main Library (see his piece for more info).

I hope you were one who attended our board meeting. We covered a two full page preliminary plan and started the ball rolling on many new and exciting things for MCUC.

I hope that you are able to attend our 128/CPM/MSDOS Sig Meeting.

I hope that you were able to log onto the MCUC BBS and see the new library files or the latest release of our library's software that perhaps you missed or maybe some of the exciting new programs that were uploaded. You may have noticed the improvements or perhaps voted.

I hope that you read your January Magazine and perhaps noticed the pictures of the Christmas Party or the online screen dumps and the visit to Eagle's Nest, or perhaps found a tip or two that was useful to you.

Boy old Bob sure hopes a lot don't he? If you are not participating in some of the above then you are missing out. What makes a club fun and exciting is the participation. It's you that counts and adds to each activity that the club sponsors. We have a good group! The plans we are in the process of putting together promise an exciting year ahead, and it's important that you be a part of it.

Your New President
Bob Nunn

Secretaries Notes

Secretary's Minutes - General Meeting, January 3, 1989

The General Meeting began at 7:05 PM. Ron Montgomery, Vice President, welcomed visitors and new members.

Announcements were made. Bob Nunn presented a proposal for a change in the bylaws regarding memberships. The proposal was that an associate membership be offered to anyone outside a 45 mile radius of Memphis for $10 yearly. The membership approved the change unanimously.

Ron Montgomery opened the elections for new officers. Bob Nunn was elected President for 1989. Ron turned the rest of the meeting over to Bob, who proceeded through the rest of the officer positions. All were elected unanimously.

Cheryn Nunn gave a demo on the Tax Survival Kit, a tax preparation program. 40 copies were sold at the meeting. After a short break, Charlie Wirth demo'd his BBS, The Eagle's Nest.

14 new members signed up along with 14 renewals. 40 copies of the New Members packet were distributed.

The meeting broke up about 9:05.

Respectfully submitted,
Richard Coffman, Secretary

Secretary's Minutes - Board Meeting, January 15, 1989

The board meeting was called to order by Bob Nunn at 1:15 PM. Those attending were:

Also present were John Blackmer, Charlie Wirth and Gary Prudhomme.

Distribution of the New Members Packets was discussed. New members and renewing members would receive their packet with their year's membership. The motion was made to charge $5 for anyone wishing to purchase one ahead of their renewal. Motion made by John Blackmer, seconded by Bob Earnheart. Motion carried.

Goals for 1989 were discussed. Increasing membership was at the top of the list.

Motion made to subscribe to Mystic Jim BBS (GEOS support). Motion by Ron Montgomery, seconded by Bob Earnheart. Motion passed.

Motion made to purchase new NX1000 printer and Xetec Graphic Interface for the Editor. Motion made by Ron Montgomery, seconded by Gary Thurman, motion passed.

Motion made to sell old library disks once a quarter for $1 a piece, 10 pk blanks 5 1/4" For $4. Seconded and carried. To be announced.

Motion made to select Charlie Wirth as MACC representative for 1989. Seconded and carried. The board formally acknowledged appreciation for Charlie's efforts in 1988.

Other plans for the coming year were discussed. Some ideas tabled until more investigation could be carried out.

An audit of the Treasurer's records was done by Ron Montgomery, Bob Nunn and John Blackmer. Audit approved.

Meeting adjourned at 3:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Richard Coffman

What Really Happened at the Board Meeting

We ate gooey butter cake, brownies, chip and dip, and some sausage and cheese on rye thingeys and all got a little fatter.

WE AGREED TO IMPROUE OUR LIBRARY AND DISKS OF THE MONTH BY:

We approved signing up for Mystic Jims GEOS BBS, which gives us access to not only his board, but his monthly newsletter, public domain software and all the hints and tips you can buffer. Frank Robertson agreed to help us out there by doing some reviews etc. (See his dynamite article in this issue all produced using GEOS programs!!!!)

We are looking into other online services for more sources of quality public domain software.

We are ordering a selection of graphic software from QS Alliance that will add 5 new releases of dynamite ps graphics.

We are corresponding with more user groups and encouraging disk swaps! (Their disks of the month for ours)

Library Assistant Program - other club members who share partial responsibility for gathering programs. (Frank R. - GEOS, Roy J. CPM, Ron M. - MSDOS, John Blackmer - anything he can copy!) More help is needed, contact Jim West. SPECIAL NOTE - Jim West will be out for about 2 1/2 months. Ben Hudgens will be filling in. See Jim's article for more info.

Discount Disks - cut the price of blanks once a quarter or so to encourage attendance. Watch for the announcements!!!

Discount 3 Month old Disks of the Month. We presently were copying over and peeling off that label etc. We now will offer a special selection for $1 each.

WE AGREED TO INCREASE THE QUALITY AND CONTENT OF OUR MAGAZINE!

Secure new printer and interface. The new printer will have higher resolution and more fonts.

Use online services to secure more articles and information. Librarian's Assistants program and Mystic Jim will insure more material.

Increase magazine swap with other clubs. We are soliciting exchange copy for copy with an extended list starting this month.

Publish a magazine subject schedule to encourage participation. Plans are to release a full year's schedule in March of each month's theme so that more people may participate. Many of our demos this year will be tied in! We count on you For information and participation! in not only the magazine but demo's also.

Increase ad revenues by offering special ad rates (qtr and yr.)

Review local computer related business and encourage support from our membership. (This should help the above)

WE AGREED TO INCREASE MEETING ATTENDANCE

Tight Agendas - start promptly, break and finish on time. This is a commitment from this board. Please assist us in using your time more efficiently.

Club Posters - this month has a tear out poster. Please post this on the community bulletin board in your area, and perhaps make a copy or two and post at work. Copies will be available at the Feb. Meeting.

National Advertising - current club information is now sent to Gazzette, Run, Ahoy, Info, and Computer Shopper.

Cable free community bulletin board will have club information.

Local Libraries - make club info available.

Computer Fair Participation - MACC (Memphis Area Computer Council) participation has been renewed for 1989. Charles Wirth is again our board appointed representative. Charlie did a great job for us last year.

Phone Committee - to wheel call the membership and announce events when needed. (We need volunteers here, why not help your club by calling a few folks when needed?)

MORE EXCITING DEMO'S - each meeting will have planned demonstrations of the most current software, hardware and computer related subjects. These will be supported with accompanying articles when possible in the magazine. More participation from the community outside the club in demos. If you know of someone talented in using computers or any appropriate subject please let us know.

WE HAVE AGREED TO IMPROVE THE CLUBS VIDEO AND BOOK LIBRARY

Continued search for good titles. Encourage donations from the membership. If you have unused computers, modems, programs, books, videos, why not put them to good use by donating them to the club library for checkout by the membership.

WE HAVE AGREED TO STUDY THE CLUBS NEEDS AND IMPROVE THE BBS

Well that's a good hunk of it. There were many things tabled for discussion.

DOES THIS EXCITE YOU?

How can we do all this and more?

Where will the funds come from?

These proposals will spend very little money. What they are long on is time and sweat equity. To do this it will take participation from you. What can you give back to the club? We need your help to make this ambitious list happen. I think that it will make the club a more exciting place to be. I know everyone will benefit from most of these things. Contact any club officer if you can help.

Thanks to the regular board members, plus Ben Hudgens, Gary Prudhomme, John Blackmer, and Charlie Wirth who sat in with us on this first board meeting. Remember all club members are welcome to participate, and it's not all work you know.

Bob Nunn

THE EDUCATIONAL CORNER

Thanks John Blackmer, for teaching the "New Beginners Class"!! I want you all to understand all the time that goes into preparing for a class like this. People like John are the reason a user group survives. So thanks John for all the help. And thanks to all the people who do demo's, who do newsletter's, who run BBS's, who just plain enjoy being a part of a users group. All these people, no matter how much talent or how little, makeup a group of people dedicated to furthering computer fun. Our next "New User Group" meeting will be on the first Saturday following the Main Meeting at the McClean Library. The meeting will start at 1:00. Our last meeting we had 16 people, which boarders our largest turn out. So keep showing up and John tells me we have alot more that's going to happen at the meetings. More- than-likely we will be having our first "Basic" class at the McClean library also. The first class will be (hopefully) the first Saturday following the main meeting. That means the first class will be running at the same time as the "New Beginners Class". Then the class will run for the next 3 Saturdays. We will be announcing at the main meeting if any of the information above has changed. So come to the Main Meeting and Find out!!!!!!

BOB EARNHEART

Club BBS Notes

Well it finally happened! After almost a year I lost a system disk. If you have been on the system lately you are fully aware as I posted notices. The latest backup that I had was only about 10 days old but still lost a few messages etc.

I think that this goes to show the importance of doing backups. The one key error I made when working with the system gave me an unrecoverable problem. If I hadn't had a backup I would be spending a few days trying to restore a substantial amount of work. What about you, do you keep backups of your important programs and files?

I'd like to welcome all new members and invite them personally to log on the BBS. No modem you say, well we have several to be checked out. All you do is contact Bob Earnheart at the next meeting and place a small deposit.

There is a new voting booth up on the MCUC BBS. This one is a 5 question survey to find out how many members have or plan to buy a 2400 baud modem. This will help us decide some of the possible improvements in the system. Make sure you vote on your next visit.

Next month is time for the board to select the new sysop. I have one volunteer so far. If you are interested please contact me and or attend the March board meeting. If all goes well we will have the board relocated before the end of March.

President-Sysop
Bob Nunn

BEGINNER'S CLASS

By John Blackmer

Well Folks! It looks like the move to the main branch of the library paid off. The class we had on the 7th was the biggest I've had yet! Some of the subjects we covered were DOS (disk operating system) in both operation and access. Also accessing the printer, getting online, and disk and file backups, as well as many topics just to numerous to discuss here. Besides all this discussion we had the best activity of all! F U N!!!! Come down and join us for the next one. I KNOW you'll learn something.

<< DR. DOX >>

LIBRARIAN'S SHELF

We had a large attendance at the meeting which is great, but we did have some problems filling all the requests for disks. There should be plenty of the disks this month. I plan on having the Tax Survival disk again in addition to some very good new releases. I'll be leaving to go to "summer" camp the 5th of February so I won't be at the meeting in February, March or April. Ben Hudgens has agreed to help while I'm gone. If you have any problems with your disks he will be the person to see until I get back.

Jim West

THE DISKS THIS MONTH ARE:

C-64 Disk #1

HISTORY 64: This is a geneology program that was requested by some of the members. Keeps up with your family tree. MEDICAIDE: This is a fasinating program. It starts by asking your symptoms it will then tell you what illness you have. It runs very slow because of the large database but diagnosis is reasonably accurate.

Disk #2

TOUCHTERM 7.2: This is the latest update of an old favorite terminal program for many people. OMEGA-Q: This program handles all the current methods of crunching data, (ie: ARC,LYNX,LBR) it will dissolve all of them from one menu very easy to use and a super program.

128 LYNX

This is the 128 version of ultimate lynx. 80 col. display. BOWLING PAD: This program will keep track of bowling scores for an entire league. 80 col. FINDREU: A short utility program for finding a string in a ram expansion unit. THINGSTODO: A computer version of the "honey do" lists. Now you can be caught where you have fun. 80 col. CHARED: This is a character editor program for designing your own set of characters. ARCHIREC: An 8O col. recipe program. Very nice. BOOT128D: This program allows you to change the internal drive of a 128D to any number you want.

DISK OF THE MONTH ORDER FORM

Fill out the order blank below and mail to MCUC, PO Box 34095, Memphis, TN 38134-0095. You may send cash, money order or check made payable to Memphis Commodore Users Club. Add $1 postage and handling, 1-3 disks, and an additional $.25 per disk for quantity over 3.

Prices are:
Members: $2/disk, $5/3 disks
Non-Members: $3/disk, $6/3 disks
Clubs may obtain disks on a 1 to 1 exchange basis by sending copies of their Disk(s) of the Month.

SPECIAL PRICING ON TAX SURVIVAL KIT The Tax Survival Kit is $3. This includes the documentation and the 64 and 128 versions on one disk. This is a real nice program for the money. Sorry, this program available to members only by the author's request.

QTY

( ) Tax Survival Kit
( ) 64 Games 29
( ) Games 30
( ) 128 01/89 #1
( ) 128 01/89 #2
( ) 128 Physics 4

See January's newsletter, page 18, for details about these disks.

Total ( ) quantity

Total ($ ) sent

HAYES COMMAND SET

By Bob Nunn

If you own a 1670 or Hayes compatible modem you may know a couple of commands used with your modem. I think more often than not, many people never learn any if they have a good terminal program that keeps them from it. That describes me accurately. I really never had much of a reason to learn more than a couple. ATDT then the phone number will dial your modem. ATZ will clear the modem. Enough to get you by, right? I recently got interested in doing more with my modem than just what somebody decided I needed to do. I hope that the way I have presented this will make it easier for you to understand.

NOTE THAT ALL COMMANDS MUST BE SENT IN UPPERCASE LETTERS.

Well, there you have it. Why not try some direct commands next time in terminal mode? I hope you learned something useful, I know I did.

COMPUTER SHOW

The PC Fest Computer Show was held January 21st at the Cook Convention Center. MCUC had a table there. We signed up six new members, had one renewal and distributed information to a lot of people. We met the faces behind some of the names we had met on the BBS, which is always interesting.

Our table drew a fairly good crowd. A TU and VCR was set up with tapes running showing many of the programs available for the Commodore. There was also a computer to show off the starter disk. Some people had brought their own software with questions, hoping to find answers there. Hopefully, they did from our group.

The show was attended by about a 1000 people, according to the admissions table. This was the First time this particular show has been held in Memphis. Hopefully, they will come back and will draw an even better response next time.

Bob and I would like to thank John Blackmer and Jerry Ryan, who were there early to help set up and worked the table with us. Guy King came about noon, bringing lunch and helped, along with Margaret Flake, to staff the table, giving Bob and I and John a break For lunch. Wayne Moore came in about 2 to help wind up the day. We were able to pack up quickly with Guy, John and Wayne's help. Matt Buford stopped by for a while to see what was happening and help with the table. Again, thanks to all these guys, as Bob and I would never have made it without them.

Bob & Cheryn Nunn

1541 BAM AND VALIDATION TIPS

Have you ever lost a file from the directory, or for that matter the entire directory???

Well, before you get mad and throw that disk in the trash, listen to this!

All is not lost. Unless you have formatted the disk, all your programs are still there!!! All you have to do is get the directory back...

If you use disk doctor V4.0 (available in the club library) you can track down that program and find out exactly where it was.

First you need to view the bam, track 18 sector 0, and find out what tracks and sectors are free. Next validate the disk and look at the disk. All the programs are still there!! Uiew the bam again. Now you will notice there are more tracks and sectors free. This is where your program was or rather still is. All you have to do is let the directory know. Now comes the tricky part.

Remembering that the 1541 writes files from track 17 out to 1 and track 19 out to 35, start at the first track/sector from 18 and trace the links through until you come to the last block of data. This can be done with disk doctor by starting at the first track and then hitting 'N' to link to the next block. If it does not work the first time, just try another sector of the track. (The more you try the better your success rate) Be sure to keep track of the number of blocks! Once you have this then go back to the First available entry on the directory (Track 18 Sector 1,4,7,10,etc).

Disk doctor will tell you where to put the name, link and block size. (The link is the first two bytes of data before the program name). Simply hit '@' and type in the track number, then do the same to the next byte which is the sector number. Then move over to the name space, hit 'T' For text, and type in the program name. Be sure to hit return when finished. The next thing to do is move over to the file size block, (about 10 spaces after the name). This is a 2 byte field and if the program is over 256 blocks long (which I doubt) you will have to use the second byte. Again, use the '@' key to enter the number of blocks. You're almost done now, all that's left to do is rewrite the block on the disk. This is done by hitting 'R' and 'Y'.

Good luck, and let me know if you need any help with this.

Malcolm Cole

[Ed. Note: Malcolm is a brand new member of MCUC. Thank you Malcolm for this excellent contribution to the newsletter.]

GEOS V2.0

By Matt Buford

I'm sure most all of you have heard of Geos. Yes, it's that program that makes your 64 look like a Macintosh. Versions 1.3 and lower were, in my opinion, slow, colorless, cumbersome, and took hours of just plain fooling around before even the simplest of tasks could be performed. Version 2.0 is a totally different story. You can make your desktop more colorful by assigning each file type a color for its icon to be. The printer drivers are much faster and have more features such as near letter quality and draft modes. I'm sure everyone who has ever tried to print a file by dragging its icon over to the printer has at one time or another accidentally put the File in the trash. 2.0 solves this problem by putting the printer on the opposite side of the screen. If you still manage to accidentally trash a file you want you can always untrash the last file trashed by clicking on trashcan. Desktop now also has multi-file options for most file operations. You simply hold down the shift key while you select files and you can select as many files as are on that disk. This can cause a problem if you multi- trash some files then you want the first file trashed back. You can only untrash the last one that the multi-trash trashed. The current file that may be untrashed is always displayed under the trash can. Desk top has many small features added such as a clock that can be set by clicking on it, a note under the printer telling you if the current printer driver is in the selected drive. Geos now supports 3 drives connected to the system (Only two can be used without going to desktop and switching drives. The ram expansion does count as one of those drives!), and also Geos supports the 1581! (I don't have one but I can wish, can't I???)

Geos 2.0 includes Desktop 1.5, a 38% faster GeoSpell, GeoPaint 2.0, and GeoWrite 2.1.

GeoPaint 2.0 is the same old GeoPaint with the addition of some features used when pasting a photo scrap. These features include stretching, smoothing, shrinking, drawing the scrap with a pattern, and transparent. (Superimposes the picture onto the document.)

GeoWrite 2.1's new features include near letter quality, draft mode, decimal tabbing, full justification, will print the full 8.2 inches of the paper, and you may select up to one whole page at a time.

All things considered I believe Geos 2.0 is a wonderful deal if you are upgrading for $25 or just getting Geos for $60.

[Ed. note: MATT (SPACEMAN) BUFORD is one of our younger members in the club. From what I see he not only has a great future in computing, he may be writing reviews for some of the big Computer Mags there. Thanks very much Matt!! Super Article!! Editor]

GEOS NEWS

FRANK ROBERTSON

Geos, What Will Run on What?

I have been asked to give a brief rundown of which programs will run on which computer. One of the club members states that his wife backed out of getting him a program he wanted because the mail order company told her that it would not run on a 128. So to stop all misunderstanding (I hope) the following will help to straighten it all out.

The following programs will run on the Commodore 64 ONLY (or 128 in 64 with Geos64)

1. Geos 64
2. Geocalc 64
3. Geofile 64

The following programs will run on the Commodore 128 ONLY

1. Geos 128
2. Geocalc 128
3. Geofile 128
4. Geowrite 128

To my knowledge these are the only programs that are machine specific. The following can be used on either machine in 40 or 80 column.

1. Deskpack Plus
2. Fontpack1 or 2

The following programs will run on Geos 128 but must be used in 40 column only.

1. Geopublish
2. Geowrite Workshop 64
3. Geospell
4. Geoprogramer

I hope this helps out with the confusion some. There are too many public domain programs to list here. I'll try to get a list of them together next time.

Geos Sampler (or what the heck does it do!)

The following will give a brief description of what each Geos program does.

Geos

Geos itself acts as a interface etween the user and computer. Instead of having to learn commands such as , Load "*",8,1 all that has to be done is point to the file icon and click twice. All disk commands are done the same way. To copy a file, click. To scratch a file, click, and dump it in the trash. To print a file, click and drop it on the printer.

Geos comes with Geowrite 1.3 ( a very limited word processor ) and Geopaint a drawing program.

Geowrite Workshop

This program is a fairly complete word processor that does have search, and search and replace. In 128 it does support 80 column. It also comes with a Text Grabber program that allows you to import files from other word processors that you have used. It includes a Mail Merge program for all those "personalized" form letters we all hate so much. "You Mr. F. Robertsan have just won..."

Deskpack Plus

This program includes several programs that run on either 40 or 80 column. There is the Graphic grabber that will allow you to pull graphics from "Print Shop", "Newsroom", "PrintMaster". Geodex which is a simple to use address book that looks like a Rolodex. Another copy of Geomerge. Icon Editor to make your own. Calendar program. And a pertty good Blackjack program. If you own a 128 try Blackjack in both and you'll get to see how much faster the 128 is.

Fontpack plus

This program allows you to use different fonts such as Roma, Barrows, etc. However some of the best fonts are Public Domain. The one I use the most is Ronswriter 2.2. Anyway there are 53 different fonts on the disk; so I'm sure will find one you like.

Geopublish

This program allows you to do a newsletter with features that many desktop programs for the IBM or Mac can't touch. This is one of the best programs out. Bar none. This was done on Geopublish. You type in your story on the wordprocessor then pour them on to the page. Cut in graphics rearrange again and again. Change fonts; most anything you want.

Geofile

This is a database that is very simply to use. Design your form. Pick a sort field and you're ready to go.

Geocalc

This program is a versatile graphics base spreadsheet. You can have up to 256 rows and 112 columns. It handles trig.,logarithmic, exponential, etc

Geospell

This program comes with a spelling checker and a geofont program for designing your own fonts or modifing someone elses. The checker has 28,000 words and the ability to create your own personal dictionary to use.

Geoprogramer

This one is beyond my scope but basicly (pun intended) it allows you to make geos programs by linking preformed commands together. It comes with geoAssembler, geoLinker, geoDebugger. The manual is over 400 pages; so be ready.

As more third parties start to support Geos, there is no limit as to what it can do...

Online Visit to The Temple

(or how to get lost in a C-Net)

Hugh Garner was kind enough to give us access to tie his board up for an extended period to buffer and dump the necesssary information. We hope you find this information helpful in using a C-Net system. I plan to keep a copy of this article around with the menu so I don't have to hit ? quite so often.

Remember that control s or clr/home pauses text and space bar aborts.

[Graphic: This is the Main Menu Screen]

Subsystems available From main level:

Commands available at all levels:

To get Help, enter H at command line

TEMPLE Main: H

C-Net 128 Version 3.0 system HELP utilitiy version 1.0

This utility has been designed to provide detailed descriptions of many of C-Net's subsystems and features, as well as the concepts one needs to have an understanding of to most efficiently and effectively use a C-Net system.

If you only desire a list of commands and their meanings in short that are available at your current command level, enter a question mark ("?") at that command level prompt.

Press RETURN to return to the command level prompt from which you came, or enter a topic from the following list of topics now:

This is the Upload/Download Help File

topic? UD

The Upload/Download section ("U/D section") is C-Net's file transfer area. Here, games, utilities, information files, etcetera may be "uploaded" (given to the system) or "downloaded" (a copy made to your computer). To enter the U/D section, enter "UD" from the Main prompt. The U/D section may be divided into several "subboards." Each subboard may be for a particular category of File. To obtain a list in the U/D section of all subboards available, use the "L" command. To go directly to a particular subboard from the Main prompt, follow the "UD" command by that subboard number.

The concept of "protocol" is very important to properly use the system's file transfer capabilities. Protocol, as used here, refers to an agreed upon method of transferring a file from one system to another. Based on your computer type, you will be assigned a "default" protocol as you enter the U/D section. To change this selection, use the "P" command from the UD prompt.

This is the BBS Help File

TEMPLE Main: BBS

The BBS ("Bulletin Board System") is C-Net's public message base or forum. It is a place where messages may be left for all users to read and respond to. To enter the C-Net's BBS, enter the command "B" from the Main command level prompt. The BBS may be divided into many "subboards." Each individual subboard may be for discussion of a particular subject. To obtain a list of subboards once you are in the BBS, enter the "L" command. To go directly to a particular subboard from the Main prompt, follow the "B" command by that particular subboard number.

To move to another subboard once in the BBS, simply enter the new subboard number at the "Sub" prompt. To move relatively up or down one subboard number, use the > and < commands respectively. The > and < commands will skip "unjoined" subboards. To join or unjoin a particular subboard, use the "J" command Followed by the subboard number. "J" alone joins or unjoins the current subboard. You will find that other commands which reference multiple subboards skip unjoined subboards.

If the BBS, "scanning" refers to displaying a list of the subjects of messages which have been posted on the current subboard. Use the "S" command to scan. Follow the "S" command by a number to begin scanning at a particular message.

To actually read a posted message and its responses, use the "R" command followed by the number of the message to read. To read the "next" message (the one following the last message read) just use press RETURN at the Sub prompt. To skip messages, use the space bar. To stop reading completely, use the / key. When you are the the end of a bulletin, you will be asked for an "end of bulletin command." To "respond" to the message you just read, enter "R." For a complete list of end of bulletin commands, enter a question mark at that prompt. To automatically read all new posts and responses on a subboard, use the "RN" command.

To post a message on a new subject, use the "P" command.

In the BBS, "suboperators" refers to an individual or individuals who have complete maintenance power at a particular subboard. To view the suboperators of the current subboard, use the "U" command. To send a private message to one of the suboperators, use the "M" command. Generally, all questions and concerns about a particular subboard should not be sent to the system operator using "F" but to the suboperators using "M."

This is the General Text Files Help

topic? GFILES

General text files or "G-Files" are sequential text files that contain readable information, such as stories, articles, program documentations, BBS number listings, or whatever the sysop chooses to have them contain. To enter the GFILES section of a C-Net BBS, use the "G" command From the Main prompt.

If the system has G-Files to be read, you will be given a list of those available. To re-display this list, enter the "L" command From the Gfiles prompt. This listing may contain "subdirectories." Subdirectories are marked "(DIR)" and contain within themselves yet another complete listing. To read a file that appears on the list, or to view the contents of a subdirectory, enter its number from the current list at the Gfiles prompt. Once you have viewed a current subdirectory, and wish to return to the listing that you were originally viewing, enter the "<" command. The sequence of subdirectories (the "path") that you took appears at the beginning of every listing--each separated by a "/".

When you are finished with the G-Files system, you may return to the Main command level by entering "Q".

This is the P-Files Help section

topic? PFILES

Program files or "P-Files" are external program "modules" that may be loaded into memory and executed by the C-Net BBS. P-Files may consist of on- line games, system maintenance utilities and the like. To enter the PFILES section of a C-Net BBS, use the "P" command from the Main prompt.

If the system has P-T+Mavailable, you will be given a list of those you can access. To re-display this list, enter the "L" command from the Pfiles prompt. This listing may contain "subdirectories." Subdirectories are marked "(DIR)" and contain within themselves yet another complete listing. To execute a file that appears on the list, or to view the contents of a subdirectory, enter its number from the current list at the Pfiles prompt. Once you have viewed a current subdirectory, and wish to return to the listing that you were originally viewing, enter the "<" command. The sequence of subdirectories (the "path") that you took appears at the beginning of every listing--each separated by a "/".

When you are finished with the P-Files system, you may return to the Main command level by entering "Q".

This is the Mail help file

topic? MAIL

The Electronic Mail Subsystem is C-Net's user-to-user private message center. Whenever a message is sent from any one of a number of places in the system "privately" to a specific user, the EMS is its final destination. If you have mail left by others, C-Net will display "++ Mail Waiting" as you log on. To enter the EMS, use the "M" command from the Main prompt.

To send a message to another user, use the "S" command. To "verify" a message that you have sent, that is, edit its contents or check to see if the recipient has deleted it, use the "V" command.

To display a list of your own messages, use the "L" command. Messages are listing in the oppisite order in which they were received, that is, the last message that was sent to you will be first on the list. To read any particular message, enter its number at the Email prompt. To read all of your messages sequentially, use the "A" command. To read only those messages new since your last call, use the "N" command. To read the message the follows the one that you have just read, simply press RETURN at the Email prompt. After reading any message you wish to reply to its sender, enter "R" at the Email prompt (You may also enter "R" Followed by a number to respond to a specific message).

To delete your messages, use the "D" command. To delete any specific message, enter "D" followed by the message number. You will also be given the option to delete your messages as quitting back to the Main prompt using the "Q" command.

Instead of deleting one of your messages, you may "forward" it to another user. Use the "M" command followed by the message number to forward a message. When a message is forwarded, it is simultaneously deleted from your account.

When you send a message through e-mail, you are asked two questions. The first is "return your original with a reply?" If you answer Yes to this question, and the user you write to replies to your message using the "R" command, the reply that you receive back will have your original message attatched to the beginning of it. This can be very useful in avoiding the receiving of replies that make no sense to you because you forgot what you wrote to a person about to begin with. The other question is "notify you is your message is read but not replied to?" This question is fairly self explanatory--if a user you write a message to reads then deletes your message, without replying, you will still receive a reply from the system stating just that. If you requested that your original be returned as well, it will be.

This is the User List Help File

topic? ULIST

C-Net's User List subsystem provides an easy way of either browsing through user account information, or searching for specific accounts which contain certain information. User List provides many options which may be used to enhance the efficiency of a listing or search.

The first option is whether to traverse ("move through") the user data file in a sequential manor--account 1, then account 2, etc., or to access accounts in alphabetic order by users' handles. Alphabetic listing is more time consuming than sequential listing, and is not recommended for searches when few matches are expected.

The next option is whether to move forward or to move in reverse order through the file. In reverse order, ID numbers will be searched, for example, from account 4, then account 3, etc., and handles will be searched in descending alphabetic order.

Next, the format of the output can be specified. You may choose to only display the ID number and handles of all matches, or to display all information.

Finally, multiple sets of "restrictions" may be set. For example, you may wish to search for and display only accounts who live within the 313 area code. By selecting a restriction on a variable more than once, an "OR" condition is created. In this way, you may search for accounts within either "313" or "517" area codes. If restrictions on set on more than one variable, an "AND" condition is created. An account must satisfy at least one of each of the restrictions set on each variable. This entire process may be repeated as a different "set," where at least one of the sets must be satisfied in order to match an account and display it.

To enter the User List subsystem, enter "UL" from the Main prompt. To immediately list only ID numbers and handles beginning at account number 1 in sequential ascending account number order, you may enter "UL!" instead.

This is the News Help File

topic? NEWS

When the system operator has a priority message for all users (or specific groups of users) to see, he may place it in the hands of the News Subsystem. News files that are new since your last call are automatically displayed after you have successfully logged on to the system. The system operator has the ability to control whether these files will appear to you only one call, or whether they will keep recurring each time you call. If for any reason you wish to review the complete list of news files, you may enter "N" from the Main prompt to enter the System News Subsystem.

At the News prompt, you may use "L" to receive a list of all news files. To display a particular file, enter its number from the list at the News prompt.

This is the System Help File

topic? SYSTEM

C-Net incorporates several features which have been designed to make your interaction with this system easier and more efficient. These include:

XON/XOFF. Many times text will scroll by so quickly that you will not have a chance to read all of it. To pause the output of text, you may send the XOFF code. XOFF is sent by holding down CONTROL and then pressing the S key on many computers. To restart the output of text, any key may be pressed.

TEXT ABORTION. Many times a message or list of items is being displayed that you do not want to finish. Unless the system operator has purposely suppressed this feature for a particular message, you may press the space bar to immediately abort the message. If the message that you aborted was part of a series of messages, pressing the space bar will cause the system to skip to the next message. In order to abort ALL messages, the slash key ("/") may be used in place of the space bar at any time.

INPUT CONTROLS. Whenever you are entering text, there are several "control codes" that may be used to speed up the editing process. To abort the entire line you have just typed and to start over, hold down CONTROL and press X. A "£" will be printed, then you will be taken to the next line to start over. To re-print what you have entered so far, and then to continue, hold down CONTROL and press V. This is useful for long-distance callers to check the accuracy of their input when there are line noise errors occuring. To delete the last entire word that was typed without pressing backspace several times, hold down CONTROL and press W ("Word delete"). When you are using the Edit (.E) command in the editor subsystem, you may hold down CONTROL and press U to recopy character by character the text that you are editing.

COMMAND STACKING. Whenever you are at an input prompt, and can anticipate input prompts that will follow, you may answer several at once. The concept is simple, substitute the up arrow ("↑") wherever you would normally press the RETURN key. For one-key inputs that do not require the RETURN key, do not use the up arrow. When you enter this line, the system will use what you have entered for future input prompts ignoring your keyboard input. For example, entering "M↑S↑BIG BROTHER" from the Main prompt, will take you to the Mail subsystem, enter the Send command, then enter BIG BROTHER when asked for a handle to send a message to. Another example, O↑YN will select the Logoff command, then answer Y when asked to verify the logoff, then N when asked if you would like to leave feedback first. Notice there is no up arrow between the Y and N because the verification prompt is a one-key input, not requiring the RETURN key.

IMMEDIATE PROCESSING. In various places throughout the system, you will be asked to "verify" your command selection (eg, after using the 0 command, "Do you want to logoff the system?"). To avoid such prompts, you may append an exclamation point ("!") to the end of the command that would normally otherwise ask for verification. For example, 0! will log you off of the system immediately, F! will immediately enter the editor to enter feedback, RN! or RA! in the subs will continuously print new messages without asking you to for an "End of bulletin option?", etc.

COMMAND BUFFERING. The system will usually "remember" your key strokes while it is processing, loading, or whatever--you do not have to wait until the input prompt is displayed before you may begin entering text.

This is the Editor Help File

topic? EDITOR

C-Net's extremely powerful and complex 100% machine language Editor Subsystem is used at all points throughout the system wherever text messages are written or edited. Editor commands are "dot commands"--that is, they are activated by hitting a period (".") at the beginning column of any line. The Editor will prompt you with "Edit:" when it is waiting for a command. To enter an actual period at the beginning of any line in the text, simply type a second period, and the "Edit:" will be erased and be replaced by a period.

The most basic of editor commands are "A" to abort (that is, quit the editor without saving what you have written), "S" to save your message, and "H" to receive a complete listing of all editor commands and their functions. For these commands and others that may potentially alter text or require Further input, the Editor will wait For you to press RETURN after it has printed the name of the function that it is ready to perform.

One very important concept to be aware of while in the editor subsystem is that of paragraphs. C-Net has been designed to automatically format text for the current user's column width, to avoid broken words at the end of lines, regardless of what column width the message was written in. In order for C-Net to effectively accomplish this, it must know where paragraph breaks are. Whenever RETURN is pressed, it is assumed that the you are ending a paragraph. If you are at the end of a line and have not finished a paragraph, continue to type, and C-Net will automatically "wrap" your words to the next line. You can manually alter paragraph boundaries on lines by using the .T command.

For a complete tour of the editor's functions, enter .H the next time you are in the editor subsystem.

This is the Parameter Help File

topic? PARAMETERS

You have a definable set of "terminal parameters" that affect the way that C-Net communicates with you and your terminal. The most general of these is your computer type, wheter it be Commodore 64, Apple, or whatever. Generally, your computer type is kept for the system operator's information, but is used by C-Net to determine your default file transfer protocol Cie, Apple users may only use x-modem on this system).

C-Net also keeps track of whether or not you can display lowercase (something that is really only useful for old Apple II+ users), and whether or not your terminal requires linefeeds (0Ah) to be sent following each carriage return (0Dh).

C-Net keeps track of your screen dimensions (line length and screen rows) in order to properly format text. If a word will not fit at the end of a line on your terminal, C-Net will automatically move to the next line and continue before printing the word. Your number of screen rows is also used to determine where to stop to ask the "More?" prompt if you have it enabled. The "More?" option is to allow you to allow your screen to fill up without having to worry that text will scroll off of the top of your screen (into the proverbial bit bucket) before you have a chance to read it.

Your "Help Level" (beginner, novice, or expert) determines the amount of redundancy that C-Net will supress based on your familiarity with the system. At beginner level, all command level prompts are preceded with the most commonly used commands spelt out for the user to choose from. At novice level, this is dropped. At expert level, even the desctiptions to individual subboards are dropped, printing only the subboard titles when moving between them. This can also be a time saver.

Lastly, your "time zone" is a relative measure of your time zone difference from that of the system's time. For example, if the system were in the Eastern Standard Time zone, and you were calling from the Hawaii Standard Time zone, your "time zone" correction factor would be "-5." The effect of having your time zone set as such will be that all dates displayed throughout the system, even though stored in the system's time, will be displayed to you in your own relative time.

This concludes our on-line visit with The Temple, a C-Net BBS. Hope you have learned something and enjoyed it. I know I did!

Cheryn Nunn

(NOTE from Bob Nunn)

C-NET BBS's are the most sophisticated bbs's around. The Temple which is run by the clubs own Hugh Garner (JUMPER) is the latest 128 version and runs in 80 column as well as 40. It runs in ASCII as well as Color/Graphics mode. Another top flight C-NET bbs is The Clinic which is run by one of our newest club members Kevin Phillips (Checkerboard Phox). The Clinic features 2400 baud and a 20 meg hard drive online. It is our hope that this article will make it easier to navigate these complex systems. We have only explored a small piece of one to share with you. Have fun and try these FINE BBS'S...

The Temple - (901) 327-1251
The Clinic - (901) 3B2-3069

Editor's Desk

This month look for some new authors in the newsletter. I'd like to thank all of them for their contributions. I also neglected to mention that Ben Hudgens was present at the Board Meeting. Sorry, Ben the old memory is going.

Be sure and pull out the middle page with the calendars of our meetings. Post it at work, your local grocery or your refrigerator. Let's spread the word about the great things happening at MCUC!!

Cheryn