mirror-textfiles.com/bbs/CBBS/1993/930601.ch

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CONNECT 2400
CBBS(R) 4.0.3b
06/01/93 22:41:28

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?n;ward;christensen;odraw;;fullc;piss

Logging name to disk...
You are caller 229875; next msg =46290;  374 active msgs.
Prev. call 05/31/93 @ 21:29, next msg was 46280
Recording logon for next time.
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"Mine" command checking for msgs TO you, ^K to ab
>Function:?dir c:log;dir c:killed;dir summary;type-20 log,ward c;or;*;short
LOG.   5 
KILLED.  70 
SUMMARY.  25 
56,229862,2,WARD CHRISTENSEN,,
05/31/93,21:50:57,229863,2,WARD CHRISTENSEN,,
E#46280,
E#46281,
E#46282,18
05/31/93,22:39:52,229864,2,BILL MATTSON,,1
06/01/93,05:21:01,229865,2,JERRY OLSEN,,118
06/01/93,07:36:32,229866,2,RANDAL CRAIG,,
E#46283,6
06/01/93,11:21:32,229867,2,DENNIS STAHL,,3
06/01/93,13:12:47,229868,2,ANDY SHAPIRO,,
E#46284,
E#46285,9
06/01/93,15:53:24,229869,2,DENNIS STAHL,,1
06/01/93,15:55:17,229870,2,ANDY SHAPIRO,,0
06/01/93,19:28:55,229871,2,RICH FOSTER,,3
06/01/93,21:08:31,229872,2,SUNIL VASA,,
06/01/93,21:12:24,229873,2,WARD CHRISTENSEN,,
E#46286,
E#46287,
E#46288,9
06/01/93,22:21:31,229874,2,MICHAEL SHARTIAG,,
E#46289,5
06/01/93,22:41:32,229875,2,WARD CHRISTENSEN,,
46280 05/31/93 WARD CHRISTENSEN => ANDY SHAPIRO: "R/AN INNOVATION.?"
46281 05/31/93 WARD CHRISTENSEN => NORB DEMBINSKI: "R/HP 1200C DESKJET PRINTER"
46282 05/31/93 WARD CHRISTENSEN => ALL: "COMDEX REPORT"
46283 06/01/93 RANDAL CRAIG => WARD CHRISTENSEN: "COMPUTER CHRONICLES"
46284 06/01/93 ANDY SHAPIRO => WARD CHRISTENSEN: "R/AN INNOVATION.?"
46285 06/01/93 ANDY SHAPIRO => WARD: "CABLES."
46286 06/01/93 WARD CHRISTENSEN => RANDAL CRAIG: "R/COMPUTER CHRONICLES"
46287 06/01/93 WARD CHRISTENSEN => ANDY SHAPIRO: "R/AN INNOVATION.?"
46288 06/01/93 WARD CHRISTENSEN => ANDY SHAPIRO: "R/CABLES."
46289 06/01/93 MICHAEL SHARTIAG => WARD: "PALMTOPS."

 - End of summary - 

Retrieving flagged msgs: C skips, K aborts.

Msg 46280 is 01 line(s) on 05/31/93 from WARD CHRISTENSEN
to ANDY SHAPIRO re: R/AN INNOVATION.?

I don't understand - just where does the mouse cable go into?

Msg 46281 is 11 line(s) on 05/31/93 from WARD CHRISTENSEN
to NORB DEMBINSKI re: R/HP 1200C DESKJET PRINTER

 I never heard of the 1200C, didn't know it was coming, then found myself
standing in front of it at Comdex - Beeeeautiful printer! By going with
separate cartridges for the 4 colors, it can print SO much faster - i.e.
with the 500C/550C CYM cartridge, it has less holes, and only prints 1/3
of the width stripe that the black one does.
 It looks like it is at least 11" wide, and since it is a "plotter-like"
machine, I'd think it would go to 11 x perhaps 17. But, like I say, I
didn't know about it before Comdex, and I didn't persue it any further -
I've no budget for anything beyond what I have already, since I have no
REAL use for what I already have - I just tinker.
 (no need to sign your msgs - header says who it is from).

Msg 46282 is 30 line(s) on 05/31/93 from WARD CHRISTENSEN
to ALL re: COMDEX REPORT

 Found a few interesting things at Comdex -
 - Deskjet 1200C printer - has separate cartridges, prints very fast; seems
to have much larger paper size capability; they also have a "deskjet" that
looks like it might do D or E size!
 - "morph" - this is a program that morphs one graphic into another - and
does an EXCELLENT JOB. Price was $74 or so, I ordered a copy. By example,
they had a (real?) stamp of Elvis, from some foreign country, in which he
was in his Army hat, and another in which he was wailin' away with hair down
over his forehead - the morph between these 2 pictures was VERY smooth,
with almost a look of the hair pulling up, and into the cap, as the cap
appeared. They nicely morphed between a kitten and a lion, between women
and men (with obviously interesting in-between pictures). I'll give a
full report when it arrives.
 - fractal image compression - someone finally has an affordable (under
$100) image compression for the PC using fractals. Up to 100-to-1 compression,
and you can pick the level you need. Since it determines "areas", and not
just pixels, you can blow the image back up to other sizes without getting
the "jaggies". For example, if there's a little crescent-shaped light
highlight in the eye of a face, and you blow it up 200%, you don't get a
jaggie highlight, you get one twice as big!
 - Been looking for a laser pointer, but I didn't want to spend > $75, so
whad-ya-know, someone was selling them for $72 @ Comdex! (wound up going
up to the black anodized one for $82 after all).
 - "Jammer" - a nice (I think!) replacement for band-in-a-box, a MIDI
algorithmic composition/accompaniment program. Ability to add a lot more
instruments, and have finer control over styles, chord changes (on 8th
notes, not just quarter notes like B-I-A-B).
 Lots of other cool stuff. VERY tempted to buy Fractal Design Painter
and the bundle with the pressure-sensitive Wacom tablet, but just can't
justify the expense to just have a "new toy" no matter how cool.

Msg 46283 is 03 line(s) on 06/01/93 from RANDAL CRAIG
to WARD CHRISTENSEN re: COMPUTER CHRONICLES

On the Computer Chronicles they had the 5th annual trivia bowl. The first
question concerned you and Randy and the fact that you guys set up the
first bulletin board system. No one on the two teams got it.

Msg 46284 is 07 line(s) on 06/01/93 from ANDY SHAPIRO
to WARD CHRISTENSEN re: R/AN INNOVATION.?

It goes INSIDE the keyboard cable coil. You've probably done like me -
waiting on the phone, you manage to wrap the coil cord around a pencil.
My 'innovation' (single quotes) works the same way - I just wraped
the coil around the mouse cable. It's conceptually weird (at least it
was for me!) because it looks like you shouldn't be able to do that. But
it works. I suppose that if you don't have a coiled cable, it could
be a lot harder. :-)

Msg 46285 is 10 line(s) on 06/01/93 from ANDY SHAPIRO
to WARD re: CABLES.

I'm not sure I'm explaining this clearly, so here goes again. Take
your mouse (well, trackball that fits on the keyboard). It has a long
straight cord. Stretch that out so that one end is right by the point
where your keyboard cable comes out of your keyboard. Now, stretch
out the coiled keyboard cable and wrap it around the mouse cable so that
the latter goes along the inside of the loops. Like I said, weird, but
it works. When I first had the idea, I thought that I'd have to MAKE an
extension cable for the mouse, and put on the connector AFTER I'd
run the cable through the coils. But the coils AREN'T CLOSED. It's all
one long opening. #@$%! It's harder to explain than to do.

Msg 46286 is 06 line(s) on 06/01/93 from WARD CHRISTENSEN
to RANDAL CRAIG re: R/COMPUTER CHRONICLES

 I'll be darned, thanks for the info! Normally, I would have taped
Chronicles, but I was out of town @ Comdex, & stayed the weekend with
friends. Heh.
 'preciate the info!
 What was the question? "Who set up the first BBS?" or what?
 Thanks again.

Msg 46287 is 17 line(s) on 06/01/93 from WARD CHRISTENSEN
to ANDY SHAPIRO re: R/AN INNOVATION.?

 Oh, it worked by "induction"? Hmmm.
 I almost wouldn't believe you if it weren't for an experience of my own:
A customer said that their IBM 3812 printer was "flakey" and that at times
it would take HOURS to print the first page.
 Well, I went there, and tried - sure enough, it was "flakey". I hooked
up my RS-232 break-out box, and things seemed kind of screwey. I finally
swapped pins 2-3, and the printer started working VERY well.
 I said "I don't know why, but it IS working, and don't touch that box
under the table the printer is on" (my RS-232 break-out box).
 I called the next day, asked if they used the IBM-supplied cable. They
said "no, we made our own because we coudln't get the ends thru the little
"dog houses" that go into the floor". "Could you give me the name/number
of the guy who made the cable?" . talked to the guy, he did a 1-1 cable!
The 3812 required a "null-modem" cable!
 All I could figure out was that there was enough signal INDUCED from the
one cable to the other cable! (2 <-> 3) etc.
 Strage!

Msg 46288 is 04 line(s) on 06/01/93 from WARD CHRISTENSEN
to ANDY SHAPIRO re: R/CABLES.

 Oh, I see - you just ran the trackball cord THRU the keyboard loop -
ya, like you said - like wrapping the phone cord around a pencil - BUT
you HOOKED IT UP, ah, I see. Not "induced". Just making a single sort
of cable out of two since one is coiled. Heh. Sorry to be so dense!

Msg 46289 is 05 line(s) on 06/01/93 from MICHAEL SHARTIAG
to WARD re: PALMTOPS.

Ward,
 Did you check out any of the palmtops from Apple, IBM, etc.
They have run some nice video on CNN tonight.
If so, how much computing poer are they packing? Are they anywhere
near replacements for notebooks ?
dup. chars.
>Function:?