BTN:  Birmingham Telecommunications News
COPYRIGHT 1991            ISSN 1055-4548

December 1991    Volume 4, Issue 11

Table Of Contents
-----------------
Article Title                                  Author
Policy Statement and Disclaimer................Staff
Publisher's Corner.............................Mark Maisel
Notes From The Wenches.................Judy Ranelli & Deborah Bolen
Music Revue For Those Without A Soul...........Joseph Ray
My Origins Into BBS'ing........................Michael Davidson
Not A BTN Party Review.........................Scott Hollifield
Running From Remote............................Tim Straughn
The Adventures of R.G. Strangemind & Herbert...Jeremy Lewis
Notes From The Trenches........................Dean Costello
ProFile:  Kevin Hitt...........................Scott Hollifield
Review:  Quandary 4.65.........................Eric Hunt
Reflections....................................Colby Gibson
Windows & Diamond Speedstar Plus SVGA Card.....Eric Hunt
Special Interest Groups (SIGs).................Barry Bowden
Known BBS Numbers..............................Staff

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Disclaimer and Statement of Policy for BTN

We at BTN try our best to assure the accuracy of articles and
information in our publication.  We assume no responsibility for damage
due to errors, omissions, etc.  The liability, if any for BTN, its
editors and writers, for damages relating to any errors or omissions,
etc., shall be limited to the cost of a one year subscription to BTN,
even if BTN, its editors or writers have been advised of the likelihood
of such damages occurring.

With the conclusion of that nasty business, we can get on with our
policy for publication and reproduction of BTN articles.  We publish
monthly with a deadline of the fifteenth of the month prior to
publication.  If you wish to submit an article, you may do so at any
time but bear in mind the deadline if you wish for your work to appear
in a particular issue.  It is not our purpose to slander or otherwise
harm a person or reputation and we accept no responsibility for the
content of the articles prepared by our writers.  Our writers own their
work and it is protected by copyright.  We allow reprinting of articles
from BTN with only a few restrictions.  The author may object to a
reprint, in which case he will specify in the content of his article.
Otherwise, please feel free to reproduce any article from BTN as long as
the source, BTN, is specified, and as long as the author's name and the
article's original title are retained.  If you use one of our articles,
please forward a copy of your publication to:

Mark Maisel
Editor, BTN
221 Chestnut St.
BHM, AL 35210-3219
(205)-956-0176

We thank you for taking the time to read our offering and we hope that
you like it.  We also reserve the right to have a good time while doing
all of this and not get too serious about it.

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         F R E E B I E :  G E T  I T  W H I L E  I T S  H O T !

The following boards allow BTN to be downloaded freely, that is with no
charge to any existing upload/download ratios.

The Connection          LZ Birmingham           Alter-Ego
Channel 8250            Little Kingdom          Joker's Castle
Crunchy Frog            Myth Drannor            Posys BBS
The Matrix              Abject Poverty          The Bus
The Outer Limits        Bloom County            The Round Table
DC Info Exchange        Radio Free Troad        Owlabama BBS
Amiga Alliance ][       DataLynx                Martyrdom Again?!
Arkham Asylum           Road Kill

If you are a sysop and you allow BTN to be downloaded freely, please let
me know via EZNet so that I can post your board as a free BTN
distributor.  Thanks.  MM

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                           N E W S  F L A S H

         I would like to apologize to David Roberts for
         taking so long to do what I said I would do.  It is
         coming, I assure you.  The project is larger than
         I'd thought and should materialize in January.  You
         will see it prior though.  MM

         Robin Newberry, sysop of Safety BBS, is thinking of
         putting up another bbs and is looking for your
         input.  He is thinking of orienting it toward folk,
         bluegrass blues, gospel, and ethnic music.  Please
         pass on your comments to him via The MATRIX.  MM

         I don't know when I will be hosting another party.
         Kathy's health has not been stable for some time
         now, and we are hoping to get her a bone marrow
         transplant as soon as possible.  We have a donor
         now, possibly two.  At this time, we have no idea
         as to what our next moves will be, and as such, I
         will not make any plans I can't honor until I know
         more about what the next year holds for us.  I
         appreciate your patience, and I assure you, this
         does not mean there won't be any more parties.  MM

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Publisher's Corner
by Mark Maisel

Modem Talk

     This started out as a question I answered on The MATRIX, asked by
someone who was shopping for a new 9600 baud modem.  I will admit that
there are many new things to learn when considering these modems that
just don't come up when purchasing 2400 baud or slower modems.  I read
what I'd written to the person and thought it worthy of sharing with
you.  Perhaps it will help you if you are considering the purchase of a
high speed modem.

     I've noticed modems that offer V.42, V.32, 9600, etc.  What do
these mean?

HST - modulation (connection & transmission) standard that enables
      connect rates up to 14,400 baud and 38400 bps (bits per second;
      divide by 8 to get a realistic rate per character).  HST is only
      good for connecting to another modem that supports HST. Currently,
      such modems are the US Robotics Courier HST and Dual Standard.

V.32 - modulation standard that enables connect rates up to 9600 baud
       and 38,400 bps in some cases.  Some V.32 modems prefer to limit
       you to 19,200 bps, or 9600 bps, but that is a function of any
       error correction and compression that may or may not be
       available.  V.32 is not a proprietary scheme, so it is available
       from many vendors, and in many flavors.

V.32bis - similar to V.32 except that the connect rate is 14,400 baud
          and all of these come with some error correction and
          compression allowing for a theoretical throughput of up to
          38,400 bps.

      The above are modulation standards that you should consider when
purchasing a modem.  Below, I will summarize error correction and
compression schemes available.

None - just what it implies.  This can be found on most 300, 1200, and
       2400 baud modems.  It may also be found on some V.32 modems.

MNP - MNP is a proprietary, but widely licensed method of error
      correction and compression.  MNP levels 1-4 were recently released
      to the public domain and many manufacturers have adopted it for
      use in their modems.  It does not allow for any data compression,
      only error correction.  MNP level 5 includes correction. There are
      higher levels of MNP to be found, but mostly these are limited to
      modems from the originator of MNP, Microcom.

V.42/V.42bis - this is a non-proprietary scheme for "intelligent"
               correction and compression.  The way it is supposed to
               work is similar to MNP but the modem's processor can be
               set to decide if data passing through will benefit or not
               from compression, and then it will act accordingly.
               Compression here, as well as MNP5, is said to be capable
               of up to 4:1.

      In summary, if you have the bucks, the best bet is a US Robotics
Dual Standard as it supports everything listed above.  It is not an
inexpensive modem, but it will talk to everybody, nearly.  HST
modulation is wide spread on bbs' because USR has gone out of their way
for a long time to get modems into the hands of sysops, thinking, and
correctly, that users would follow suit.  They have, and there is a huge
base of HST modems installed.  V.32 and V.32bis seem to be getting wide
acceptance from manufacturers and business because they are
non-proprietary, thus allowing anyone to implement it.  The danger is
the potential for poor implementation of the standard, possibly
rendering such not very useful, as it may not connect to all other
modems sharing its modulation.  This is a rarity as it is not in the
best interests of the manufacturer to not fully comply with a standard.
Stay away from deals that sound too good to be true.  They usually are,
unless you are ready to trust or get guarantees from the seller.

      There are many folks out there making and selling modems that use
any of the above methods.  Among those are US Robotics, Hayes,
Multitech, Practical Peripherals, Forval, Microcom, Intel...I'm sure
there are others that I've forgotten to name, but they are out there.
Good luck!

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Notes From the Wenches

(yet another view of the now-infamous Halloween Party)

by Judy Ranelli and Deborah Bolen

     Our scene unfolds at a house in the midst of the mysterious kingdom
known as Southside.  We approach the scene of an eerie nocturnal ritual,
heralded by three pumpkins etched with strange runes that spell out
B T N.  The night is electric with the promise of unspeakable things.
The members of the elite cult approach this most hallowed of places.
Meanwhile, a car full of new users parks in the shadows near the house
as its occupants wonder if the cult will bid them welcome.

     There are werewolves and women of the night, ghouls and little
girls, cats and cowboys, Trekkers and t-shirts, monsters and multiple
personalities... But there is a presence lurking in the corners, hiding
in the hallways, more ghastly and ghoulish than any of these.  It is a
force so fiendish as to strike fear and loathing into the revelers for
many days to come. A strange, enigmatic shadow falls on the faces of the
party-goers.  They shift uneasily and sniff the wind, like the prey who
sense the unseen predator.  Yet, the figure goes about his business
undiscovered, hidden in the shadows.  He scribbles in his notebook.  He
whispers into his tape recorder, laughing silently all the while.

<Deborah and Judy are seen talking about Star Trek.  Enigmatic
shadow grimaces and finds a voice.....>

     Disembodied Voice: "No, no, Deborah.  Trek talk is verboten!"

<Deborah looks around in a state of confusion.  Deciding to play along,
she answers...>

Deborah:   "Uh...since when?  Besides, Judy, Scott and I are writing a
           Trek parody on the boards.  We need to see where the story is
           going and..."

DV:        "No matter!  Don't you know where you ARE?"

Deborah:   "I thought I was at a party???"

DV:        "Not just ANY party!  Didn't you know that this is akin to a
           meeting of the U.N. Security Council?!?  You may only discuss
           things of great importance here!"

<Deborah frantically mulls over the directions she had to the site of the
party, wondering what wrong turn she made to end up in such a restricted
affair.  "Damn!" she thought to herself.  "Should have taken a right at
Albuquerque...">

Later that evening....

     High Priestesses Judy, Patsy and Deborah huddle around a huge
cauldron, which bubbles menacingly and reeks of venomous fumes.  They
cackle wildly and begin chanting the magic words: "Ignore Dean!  Ignore
Dean!"

     Judy straightens up and pauses.

     "Which one IS Dean?" she asks her wicked sisters.  They both turn
and look at her incredulously.

     "Uh... never mind," she whimpers and they continue their spell.
The three witches revel in the power they hold over the self-esteem of
other guests.

     Meanwhile, the denizens of the night find themselves at the mercy
of some strange force.  Mark walks through the house and people slide
across the floor with absolutely no control over their actions and stick
to him like glue.  He calmly and blithely scrapes them off as if nothing
is out of the ordinary.  Someone else walks across the porch, while like
the parting of the Red Sea, people are pushed to either side from his
path by a mysterious repulsing field that is invisible but compelling in
its force. Several guests begin to exhibit these powers.  The party is
disrupted by the two forces until people are squashed against walls and
ceilings and stuffed into sofa cushions head first.  One poor soul has
her head repulsed into a bowl of dip and finds herself attacked by
potato chips. The sound of a clock chiming twelve releases the
beleaguered guests, and the attractors/disrupters each retire to neutral
corners.

     The new users, frightened out of their wits by this supernatural
display, huddle together and try to muster up the courage to initiate
conversations with strangers.  A chill wind blows across the porch as
the mysterious guest records his disapproval of the more ingenious
costumes.  He also curses the women present who choose to drink what
they want and as much as they wish.  It's a free country, but not a free
party, in his estimation. Old friends of both sexes get together at the
party, guilty of having every gesture and word misconstrued as a sexual
come-on.  As far as the evil entity is concerned, everyone present at
the party is debauched. As the slavering ogre scrawls his evil notes,
people find themselves grouped and ranked in formerly nonexistent
patterns.  Those with the fastest microprocessors find the speed written
on their arms like some ghoulish tattoo.  And pity the poor souls who
have the audacity to own non-IBM computers.  They are relegated to
holding areas where they await their punishment.

     Guest x to guest y: "Gee, y, we've been friends for years, but now
that I find that your processor is slower than my 486, I don't think I
can associate with you anymore.  And to top it off, you own an Atari!" X
makes the sign of the cross to ward off the evil one.  Y, now crushed
and seeing that his life is thoroughly without meaning, goes off and
loses himself in re-runs of Gilligan's Island.

     The evil entity, having studied his subjects like rats in a maze,
now feels he has enough information for his thesis.  Having talked to
guests for as much as 10 seconds each, he judges himself informed enough
to make broad generalizations about their character and motivation.  He
gloats as he realizes his two classes in social science have equipped
him to sit and observe, god-like, over people who will not even remember
encountering him later.  He slinks off into the night clutching his
notes against his chest as steam rises from his nostrils and his fangs
drip some noxious and loathsome fluid.

     The thesis is circulated in a public magazine, available to those
who have just discovered telecommunication.  They download and read his
conclusions, which come off like a B-Grade horror movie, complete with
obligatory sex scenes and dime store psychoanalysis.  They think,
"Perhaps this isn't what I thought it was all about.  I thought
telecommunications would be a way to meet friendly, interesting people
and a way to exchange information.  It seems like I wouldn't fit into
these well-entrenched cliques.  Besides, I wouldn't want to end up
shredded in one of these articles by people I don't even know yet.  A
pity; I might have had a lot to offer."

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Music Revue for Those Without Soul
by Joseph Ray

     Hi Ho! As you know, there was no music revue for last month. But,
since I'm the one putting in the time and energy for this, you'll just
have to live with it. It's not like I received a hell of a lot of
comments anyway, so what do I care? Not a whole hell of a lot! I'm just
doing this so I can have something interesting for my resume anyway, so
screw off if you don't like it!

     Today, you worthless punks, I'm going to take a brief look at some
albums that have been recently released.

-Skid Row's "Slave to the Grind" - freakin' awesome!

     I had the luxury of seeing these 'heads open up for GNFR out at the
slime track back in June. First impression tells you this is just
another slash band with a pumpin' bass line. Listen to it a little
closer next time. Don't be so closed minded and you'll see that Dave
"the Snake" Sabo has just as many riffs up his sleeve as Eddie Van
Halen. The only difference being that Eddie has forgotten how to put the
rock into rock-n-roll. Ever since Van Halen stupidly let Diamond Dave
split from the group, they've gone downhill. Its obvious that Van Hagar
let their penises wrinkle. With "Monkey Business," its obvious that they
still know how to let their hormones boil in their blood.
 
     "Well, Joey, Skid Row is nothing but a bunch of kids with guitars
and a record contract" you say.
 
     Even if they are, what of it? They still provide insightful
commentary into sociological dilemmas which this society faces. Just
because someone is a young rock-n-roll star does not mean that their
views and ideas are any less worthy than some hypocritical politician
gnawing on jelly beans or fending off broccoli farmers. Listen to the
words, and maybe you can understand that they are a legitimate band with
legitimate claims and not just another "whip me, beat me" quintet of bad
cross- breedings.

-Dread Zeppelin's "5,000,000" - Ultimate Parody

     Basically, what this group is trying to say is "Led Zeppelin
suxx!!!" But, the best part about their act is that they do it with such
humility that no one is going to get pissed off.  Dread Zeppelin knows
that they cannot piss off too many people if they're going to make any
money. To take the edge off their flaming message, they resort to gags.
TortElvis, an Elvis impersonator, takes up the lead vocals with to mock
those fans who have been brainwashed into thinking Robbie Plant had a
voice. Many say this album is sacrilege, but that's placing Led Zeppelin
into the meta-physical realm. Led Zeppelin is a band. Bands are composed
of people. Led Zeppelin is nothing more than a bunch of people. And
that, you bunch of losers, is Dread Zeppelin's point. Robert Plant is
not a god and neither is Jimmy Page. They bleed just like any other
human beings. Hopefully, you'll take Dread Zeppelin's message to heart
and get your heads out of your asses.

-U2- "Achtung Baby!" - A Transitional Stage Into a New Form of Greatness

     With "Joshua Tree" and "Rattle and Hum," U2 made their vision to
become the world's best band come true. But, such as true artists do,
they performed research and tested out new ideas with the experimental
album "The Unforgettable Fire." "Achtung Baby!" is one of these
experimental albums. This time, U2 tries out a little bit of funk mixed
in with a plethora of new guitar sounds that Edge conjured from his
superb, creative mind.

      "Joshua Tree" was U2's first real integration of keyboards into
their sound, but "Achtung" takes this another step further by allowing
even more of the key's sound come through on the playback. Guitar
purists can whine and moan all they want, but there hasn't been a band
to reach true greatness without the use of the keyboards. With
"Achtung," U2 is letting the world know that they're going to be around
for a long while, and that they're not going to be another long lost
band of the eighties.
 
You have a comment? Send something over EZNET...
You have something you would like to see reviewed? Send something
over EZNET...
You want to kill your father and marry your mother? Do it to the
sound of a wailing guitar!!!

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My Origins Into BBS'ing or
An Addict in Retrospect
by Michael Davidson

     Many people have recently been writing articles about their start
into the marvelous world of BBS'ing, so I thought I'd try my hand.  A
little personal info. to set the mood: I'm a thirteen year old in the
eighth grade who, by some stroke of misfortune, fell into a friendship
with the one and only Ricky Eanes.

     I guess my origins with computing would start way back when I was,
oh, five.  One day Mom and Dad brought home a computer! Yup, a real live
working computer!  It was our very own Commodore 64, complete with one
disk drive, a printer, and two programs.  Facemaker, by Spinnaker (a
truly classic game, for those of you who have never had the experience),
and some word processor which would actually check the text you wrote!
(Can you imagine?!?)

     My next experience would be learning how to (kind of) program in
BASIC, the only programming language the C64 had.  Needless to say, I
wasn't very good.  Give me a break, I was only 7 or 8 at the time.  I
wrote a few programs of my own, and typed in some from the manual.  Wow,
we were having some fun now!

     Then, a hint of things soon to come came in the form of a card
describing things we could buy to add to our wonderful machine.  One of
them was a modem.  They really existed!  If we got one, then maybe I
could find out all of the government secrets, like in War Games.  Or at
least use the encyclopedia on CompuServe for school projects.  The
valiant C64 never got to have a modem, but it was my first true
computer, and it will always live in the playroom upstairs, that is,
until we decide to give it to goodwill, trash it, or whatever.

     Anyway, about the same time, one of my neighbors got an IBM
compatible.  It was soooo cool.  You didn't have to pop in a disk for
each game you wanted to play!  It had a "hard drive", whatever that was.
They didn't have a modem, but that CGA system was all I needed to get
hooked.

     Zoom ahead to age 10 and fifth grade.  A new school, a new class,
and a new friend named Ricky Eanes.  One day, I went over to Ricky's
house.  What did I see before my eyes, but an IBM compatible like the
days of ole' except this time with 16 colors. Shure enough, he had a
modem, and a word processor that could utilize it.  He had the numbers
to two local BBS's, called Duck Pond and Crunchy Frog.  Ah, my first
experience with BBS's.

     Enter summer of sixth grade.  My parents wanted a new computer for
"business purposes" and they were debating between a Mac and IBM.  It
took a lot of conniving, and insulting of family members, but we finally
got the IBM I'd always dreamed of, complete with a 2400bps modem.  Ricky
told me that he'd read a new magazine, called BTN, that listed TONS of
BBS numbers for the B'ham area.  A thirty minute session with my comm
program Quick Link 2, and I was off.  The rest is history.

     Now I know my way around computers and BBS's pretty well, although
I'm not very active, due to my school activities.  Ricky and I have come
a long way since then, and we now host two conferences called CAAT on
Joker's Castle and Nonsense on Hardeman' Christian BBS <plug plug>.
Well, that's my story, like it or not.

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Not A BTN Party Review

                   or, Who Is Michael Walker and Why
            Would Everyone In Birmingham Like To Kill Him?
by Scott Hollifield

     As the title says, this isn't a review of the October BTN Halloween
party, and anyway, who ever heard such a ridiculous thing?  It's
December already, or will be by the time you read this, and besides,
last month's issue of BTN provided us with two very lucid, if somewhat
biased, articles covering the events at the already-infamous Halloween
party.

     And let's face it, you don't write worth a damn anyway unless you
show a little bias.  That is, after all, what writing is all about (or
so I've decided), and the key to good writing is in how you channel your
bias.  Dean did his usual bit with his party review; in fact, so usual
was his review that I had already heard everything in the article before
I even read it.  But that's okay, because BTN is pretty much the only
connection left to any real Birmingham audience for Dean, and like the
most persistent of entertainers, Dean craves an audience, whether he
admits it or not.  We all do.

     No, Dean's article didn't tell me anything new, but there was
another party review, sandwiched quietly in between Eric Hunt's Windows
column and Bob Crawford's just-discovered-BTN "please allow me to
introduce myself" piece.  This party article was written by someone whom
I've never heard of, a fellow named Michael Walker, and it was an
eye-opener.

     It was the kind of bias that tries to make itself look like
straight reporting, which is often the most entertaining kind.  While
reading it, my mind flashed back instinctively to Jet Thomas' quite
interesting party review from BTN #24.  Jet's coverage of that season's
BTN party was a hair-raising illustration of how frightening and
powerful the straight, blunt, camera-eye truth can be.  I don't know if
anyone was actually offended by Jet's article, but it wouldn't surprise
me in the least.  Michael's party piece was basically the same fare, but
told from more of an "outsider's" perspective - someone who had never
been to one of these things before.  Jet himself even got the tables
turned on him by being referred to in Michael's article as "a very weird
little person who was trying desperately to be clever".

     And therein lies the rub: Michael's article was interesting because
it was a raw grainy look at a BTN party from the point-of-view of
someone who didn't know any of the unwritten rules or in-jokes. Anyone
who knows Jet well (or as well as can be) realizes that Jet's weirdness
isn't a pretentious attempt to be clever, although it might well come
off that way to an amateur sociologist like Michael.  Further on down
the list, I noticed that Michael spelled "BTN" as "BTM", puzzled over
Mark Maisel's legendary social status, and actually professed to have
never heard of "some person named Dean" - the first time I've EVER heard
Dean referred to in those words.  (I laughed out loud at the image of
Dean uncomfortably finding himself in the position of actually having to
*introduce* himself to someone.)

     Michael even made the penultimate (and easiest) mistake an outsider
could make in reviewing a BTN party: he concluded that computer-level
actually determined social status, or to put it in his words, people are
ranked by the speed of their microprocessor.  Most of the computer users
I know HATE talking about their machines, as do I, since all I do on it
is telecommunicate and write (often merging the two, as I do here).  As
statistically unlikely as it sounds, the best conclusion that *I* can
draw from this is that Michael did indeed talk to most or all of the
wrong people, particularly if anyone actually asked him to trade
software.  Anyone who goes to a BTN party and talks primarily about
computers isn't really experiencing the party itself, and is probably
being laughed at by the ones who are.

     Personally, I don't remember talking to Michael at the party, and
since I was sober the whole time, I either didn't catch his name or
somehow missed him - strange, considering he was there (as was I) until
at least 3 a.m. (from his account of Chris Mohney tipsily crooning "I
like New York in June" in the front yard).  I even got mentioned, albeit
inaccurately and with my name misspelled, which indicates that Michael
must've gotten my name from Dean after I left the vicinity to get a soft
drink.  But we can forgive that; I don't know about his background as a
writer, but being a neophyte BTNer, Michael was certain to get a few of
his facts wrong, and since we all know what happened anyway, Michael's
article reveals as much about himself as it does what happened at the
party.

     I actually didn't intend for this to develop into a full-blown
review of Michael Walker's article, but while I'm at it, I might as well
mention what he did manage to get right, which was a surprising amount.
Dean impressed him as "standoffish and surly", which is just about
perfect, considering that Dean may as well be the poster child for Surly
People Local 251.  Lurch Henson was denigrated anonymously as "some guy
with a scraggly beard...dressed in black" who "just stood around and
pretended to be cool".  Being an outsider, Michael of course was
obligated to see pretention in everyone, which doesn't really surprise
me much.  Michael reveals his own human desires and vulnera- bilities:
he points fingers at the "nerds" who leered at the very unsteady Tiffany
Griffin, while simultaneously letting us know that he too had noticed
the "very fetching thighs" of Dave Stanton's date (Dave was the one
dressed as a televangelist).  A mistake Michael makes here is
attributing the oglers' activity to nerdiness instead of drunkenness
(there was much more of the latter than the former), and in the future,
it might be a good idea for him to be watchful of any pokes at the
social interaction of those around him.  Even veteran BTN writers like
Dean and I occasionally fall into the trap of trying to separate
ourselves from the BTN scene in our role as "objective reporters"; Dean
fails miserably at it, and personally, I've long since given up the
illusion that I'm on some kind of plateau looking down at the masses.
In other words, we're all in the same boat, even if some of us are
hanging on to the masts.  He's one of us now; to trample another
metaphor, Michael should keep on eye on that developing pot-black
coloration lest he start to slowly resemble the kettle he targets.

     I mentioned "in the future".  Does Michael Walker, in fact, have a
future as a BTN writer?  Well, ultimately, that's up to him of course,
and, indirectly, to the persons who may want to lynch him after having
read his article.  Michael himself touches on this very tangent in his
closing paragraph, as he ponders the understanding that's coming; "maybe
soon," he says, "but not yet."  He realizes that he will learn more
about what goes on as he spends more time on the boards and at the
parties, provided he talks to the right people.  I have to admit that he
has potential, even though virtually anyone can make a party review
interesting (parties are easy; the trick is finding other things to
write about between parties).  The thing that I'm wondering, though, is
if Michael's polish may be a bit worn by the time his next article, if
one comes, rolls around.  By the next time he writes, he will have
learned a bit more about the BTN scene; he will have become more
integrated into the crowd, and the innocence that highlighted Michael's
party article will be peeled away layer by layer.  Only time will tell
if there is a comparable level of insight lurking beneath.

     Michael, if you're reading this (and I have a feeling that word
will eventually get around to you), then let me say this: some say that
I may be easily impressionable, but you did actually impress me - not in
the colloquial sense of "come off flatteringly", but literally made an
impression, and in fact did that increasingly rare thing: you caused me
to sit down and write a new BTN article.  You've also increased the
controversy level of BTN another notch, and as a fellow
controversialist, I can't complain too much.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Running From Remote
by Tim Straughn, SysOp, Bus System

     I have been operating a BBS for nearly 6 years now, and haven't
really regretted a minute of it.  It has given me some incredible
challenges, and taught me a lot about dealing with other people and
their 'isms.  It's had it's ups and downs, and it's downs and ups,
including massive hardware failures, being struck by lightning
(resulting in the previous), major security screw-ups (disrupting the
entire BBS community on Christmas day of 1988), and just plain ornery
people sometimes, but over all, it has been a very enjoyable experience.

     From the day I first put in a private line for the system, it has
been a daily task of keeping the board put together.  I perhaps ran it
in absentia a bit too much, and now, it isn't nearly as popular as it
was the first few years I had the system.  From the get go, I started
hot-rodding batch files to take care of the mundane chores that other
sysops have all the patience of Job for, because I hate repetitive
tasks.  I kept at it until the system could completely support itself
with no intervention at all, including all the message base packing,
user data base management, virtually everything except uploaded file
directory management.  I am a stickler for detail, and due to the
limitations of PCBFiler, I haven't yet figured out a way to automate
this process, and place the files in the right directories, but believe
me, it isn't because I haven't tried.

     My goal, beginning in August, 1989, was to get the system to the
point it required absolutely no human intervention, and that I could
leave it and not come back to a disaster on the hard disks with
humongous files resulting from old messages and other stuff.  I finally
got all details of the system worked out, including a timed
registration.  I worked hard at the batch files, getting the system to
delete any new users that hadn't registered completely, and hadn't been
back on for 10 day, as well as bumping off registered users that hadn't
been on for 180 days. I was very pleased with myself, and worked more
diligently and had the system packing the message bases every 7 days,
killing off old traffic so that the new user on the system wouldn't have
reams of mail to read which would be of little value.  I was tickled
pink because I wasn't spending tremendous amounts of time maintaining
the system.  I had some batch files that were called "batch files from
Hell" by another local sysop who helped me set up and start the BBS.  I
was, at the time, at DOS's mercy, and knew little about batch
programming.  Now, I have nuclear powered batch files which all but
eliminate any intervention from me, the fully self-supporting BBS.  It
offers very little trouble, and the only time I ever do anything to the
batch files now, it's just something for finesse, nothing really
functional.

     Why did I ever set this goal for my BBS?  At the time I got the
notion, I knew that I was going to become involved in a long-term
project at the Saturn automobile plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee.  This
meant that I would be gone for weeks on end, and I didn't want the
system to die or take it down because of my absence.  I wanted the users
to keep it alive for me, and felt that if I wasn't interfering with the
operation, that it would run more smoothly and become more popular.
Since I wasn't having to take it down for long periods of time to answer
mail and manage the file directories, I thought traffic would pick up
and the system would become even more busy.  At one time, traffic on my
system was in the top ranks.  Now, I think it probably would fall into
last place, though it is getting better.  I actually thought I was doing
my users a favor by ducking out and leaving the system to them.  I
actually thought that a "sysopless" system would prosper beyond the
wildest dreams of any sysop because I wasn't getting worked up over some
message that a user left, or a file that shouldn't have been uploaded
for whatever reason.  I truly thought that the users didn't want a sysop
watching the BBS like `Big Brother'.  I have learned over the past few
months, however, that this is not true.

     In the past 12 months, I have seen entire weeks go by without a
single message being entered on the system.  Every message that was in
the message bases was coming from remote systems.  Even with the
networking to other boards, the system was dying a very slow and painful
death, and I couldn't figure out why.  I was dismayed, and even
considered having the phone line removed because there wasn't much point
in keeping the extra phone line if it wasn't being used.  I even left a
message to that effect.  Lo and behold, I got a message!  I left
another, and got two responses.  Hmmm, what was happening here.  Since I
finally got a message, and even started a conversation with one of the
users, and that user extended the conversation to another, the message
activity has been picking up.  Then it dawned on me, perhaps the users
don't really want a board that supports itself.  Perhaps the users want
a board with a personality?

     I found this to be a bit intriguing, so I put the old Sysop's
personality back into the flow of things on the system (though
maintaining all of the automated maintenance functions that I worked so
hard to develop).  I just started getting more involved with the system,
and actually interacting with users.  I started leaving messages to
those that were bending or breaking the policies I set up for my system,
and some of them have even turned into regular users.  I have
re-established a few cross-town connections with other users via EzNet,
and some of them have started calling my system direct.  This was so
enlightening.  Folks don't want just a machine to answer their phone
call and provide them with a library of files and the same messages they
can find elsewhere.  They want that individual personality of the person
running the BBS.  They want to `talk' with the person paying the phone
bill for their enjoyment.

     I found, in the long run, that one cannot be a REMOTE sysop in the
sense of not being involved with the system.  A BBS operator cannot
disassociate himself/herself from the system, even if there are
networked message bases.  The system will die, unconditionally.  My
involvement with the Saturn facility lasted for 20 months,and at first,
I couldn't see the degradation in activity because the system was always
busy.  As the time wore on, though, I realized that the system had a
terminal disease, and was going down the tubes, no matter how hard I
tried to make sure it was always available.  The more I tried to keep it
available, the more available it became.  I took drastic measures such
as operating without file libraries at all.  I lost several regular
users because of this move, because there were several that depended on
the file libraries on my system to be accurate, and clean, and
completely tested and categorized properly.  I saw the error of my ways,
but not until it was nearly too late.

     Perhaps I got bored with the system, or most probably, I was too
tired to try to take care of it on weekends while involved with the
Saturn project.  Perhaps I was tired of spending hours of mail reading
on Saturdays and not having any time for myself.  I don't know exactly
why I stopped taking part in the operation of my own BBS, but I know
that I didn't make a very wise choice.  Since I have returned to routine
service work at my job and am home much more frequently, I have worked
toward a happy medium, working for something that I enjoy, without
cutting off any privileges, or adding anything that would further
belabor me with the system and cause it to lose favor with me again.  I
reorganized the system considerably, and adopted some new policies of
operation, and modified other standing policies.  So far, putting a
little personality back in the system is paying off.  What I hope to
avoid, though, is allowing the system to again become overbearing, to
the point of taking anything personally from some people that I don't
even know, and having real problems separating the board life from the
real thing.  The users didn't do anything to the board.  I killed it by
removing that which the users expect to see, the Sysop.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Adventures of R.G. Strangemind and Herbert
by Jeremy Lewis
Copyright 1991 by Jeremy Lewis
no reprints without the permission of the author

Part IX

    In a dark room, in a dark place somewhere, really 
really dark, a voice spoke.

    "We should be approaching them at any moment sir."
Another, deeper voice was heard in the darkness.

    "Ahhh...That is as it should be."

The other voice spoke.

    "Sir, why are we chasing the large gray spaceship?"

The Deeper Voice was heard again, this time quite 
impatient.

    "How many times must I tell you.  Toastus' essense is 
on that ship, and when we reach it, we shall take care of 
him."

The other voice spoke once more.

    "Sir, who is Toastus?"

    In the depths of space, a large glistening fist-shaped 
vessel shot towards an ususpecting large gray spaceship 
quite unaware that behind it dwelt two beings with the 
power to destroy the universe itself.

    Back on the large gray spaceship, herbert was waking 
up when he felt himself being pushed out of his body.  It 
then turned to him.

    "I AM TOASTUS!!!"

Herbert, as usual, was at a loss for words.

    R.G. was very worried.  he couldn't find Herbert and 
the SHip's Computer, no matter how many times he called 
for him, would not respond.  He had a very terrible 
feeling...a premonition of things to come, for a fleeting 
instant, he had seen the universe swirl around him and, 
although it sounds rather silly, toasters surrounded him.
Voices had spoken out to him.

    "Save us!!!  Save Us!!!" then a sudden "NOOOOOO!!!"
and then all exploded.  When he could think again, he 
found himself running helplessly down the coridoors of the 
ship, screaming wildly that he had not meant to hurt them.  
Now, now he was frightened...frightened and alone.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes From the Trenches
by Dean Costello

"My Computer Can Beat Up Your Computer"

     People who know me come up to me and say,  "So,  Dean, I hear that
you are active in computer bulletin boards.  What kind of IBM do you
use?"
  
     Ahh, another person who feels that IBM is the default computer.  I
suppose, though, that in the region where I lived, Birmingham, AL, this
kind of assumption is probably fairly accurate.  As far as I know, there
are a couple of ST people, but they aren't that active except on the
Atari board, a handful of Amiga-types, a Mac person or two; everyone
else drove IBMs.  So, I suppose, the bias is for the most part an
accurate one.

     Party dialogue:  "Atari?  Are they still in business?"  Yes, they
are.  They even have put out a new computer or two since the 400.  "Get
out of here!  You really have an Atari computer?  Does anyone make
cartridges for that type anymore?"  The ST doesn't run on game
cartridges, though there are nice games for it, as well as application
software and programming languages.  "You mean like that Basic cartridge
for the 800?"  <sigh> Yeah, something like that.  Pardon me while I go
get something to drink.

     For a while I used to attack the PC-Slaves, those users that feel
that the MS-DOS-based machines are the end-all, be-all of computer
technology.  "Slots?  What do you need them for? You mean to tell me
that you need some kind of outboard dohickey just for a floppy drive?"
But even if this leads to short-term catharsis, the expression "banging
ones head against the wall" coming to mind.  And they always say, "Well,
I have a '386, which is better than yours", or words to that effect.  I
guess it is a more powerful computer, but when it is only used for games
and looking at X-rated GIFs, what's the point of spending the bux?
Status?

     So, I have gotten to the point that I have become comfortable about
my choice of computer.  I even accept the PC-types that like to brag
about their system.  One person in Birmingham has spent lots of money in
order to say,"I have the fastest BBS in the city".  Well, it's down now,
but that's probably another story.  I discovered that by making
appropriate "Oooh" and "Ahh" noises, he is happy that I 'admire' his
technical prowess.  Kind of like when someone you know has a gold credit
card, and when you make the appropriate noises, they will be inclined to
show it off by buying you meals, but I digress.

     I would like to say to people like this, "Oh yeah, well look at
this!  I have 17 gigabytes of HD space!  2480x1920 resolution, with
6.02E23 colours!", etc., etc.  But I cannot at this point.  I merely
have a 1040ST, circa 1987, an old Supra 20MB hard drive (250K/sec, a
strong 88ms access time), a Syquest 44Meg removable HD, a stock color
monitor, and a 2400bd Supra modem.
  
     I like my ST, I don't regret buying it, and it does everything that
I need a computer to do.  It is difficult to be an Atari prophet in such
an IBM-heavy world.  But I am still in there...slugging away... making
my converts where I can...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ProFile
by Scott Hollifield

     Okay, I know I said I was going to change the ProFile questions
some, and a quick cursory glance of this month's offering will reveal
that the questions are still the same old pasty white-bread
politically-correct ones.  The reason for this is two-fold: first, in
the true spirit of a BTN writer, I waited until the last minute to even
try to do anything about this month's feature.  Second, I'm simply
having trouble thinking of any good questions that don't sound stupid,
seriously deranged, or both.  So, in light of this, I am quite willing
to go the lazy route and take suggestions.  If you have an idea for a
ProFile question, or indeed, any way to spice up this feature at all,
leave me mail on the Crunchy Frog.  Be sure to spell my name right or I
may not get it.  And thank you in advance.

     You've probably seen this month's victim if you hang around Alter
Ego.  His name is Kevin Hitt, and he's a hep cat for no better reason
than the fact that he bares his soul right here in BTN.  The answers are
four months old, though, so I apologize if he's improved upon himself in
the time since.

---------

       ProFile on KEVIN HITT

---------

Age:    32

Birthplace:  Poplar Bluff, Missouri

Occupation:  Physician

My hobbies include: Raquetball, golf, reading

Years telecomputing: 1

My oddest habit is:  BBS'ing when I should be studying

My greatest unfulfilled ambition is: to have my kids grow up with
                                     their heads on straight

The single accomplishment of which I am most proud is: my family

My favorite performers are: James Taylor, Dan Fogelberg

The last good movie I saw was: Jungle Book (my kids took me)

The last good book I read was: Treasure by Clive Cussler

If they were making a movie of my life, I'd like to see my part played
    by: Mel Brooks

My pet peeves are: Chronically late people

When nobody's looking, I like to: sing at the top of my lungs

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quandary File List Manager v. 4.65
D'Vise Software
A Review
by Eric Hunt

     Quandary is primarily a program for those of you out there who do
lots and lots of uploading. It also has a couple of features that a BBS
Sysop would be interested in as well.

     Quandary's main purpose is to compare lists of files, and noting
the discrepancies. That means it can be useful in many different
situations. The intended use for the program is this: You can't remember
what files you've uploaded to what bulletin boards. So, you download the
most current ALLFILES list for the BBS in question, and also create a
listing of the files you wish to upload. Run both files through
Quandary, and the program will tell you which of your files are not
found in the BBS allfiles list. It's that simple. Quandary will also
take your list of files and consult an ALLFILES list in order to attach
descriptions to your list. Finally, Quandary will search lists of files
to find duplicates. This is handy for sysops. They can run their
allfiles through the program, with a detailed report listing duplicate
file names produced. From there, the sysop can trek into his filebase,
report in hand, and decide which files get the axe (and which users,
too! [g])

     Now, my reflections and opinions on the program itself:

     As the program comes out of the archive, you must first run an
'install' program that allows you to use the program in a fully
functional shareware environment. Those of you who blindly start running
things without reading the READMEs and such take note of this. If you
don't run the install program, Quandary runs in DEMO mode, which is
quite useless.

     The documentation for the program is very well written. It is easy
to read and follow. All options and functions in the program are clearly
explained. Best of all, the docs are SHORT! Slightly over 300 lines,
which is not bad. However, the order form is reminiscent of those
'bubble' sheets and data entry sheets you used as a child in school. One
other minor oversight in the documentation was the omission of where one
can contact the authors ELECTRONICALLY. There is a snail mail address,
but this is really unnacceptable, especially for a product that is
geared exclusively towards the online community. For those of you who
are not in the Birmingham area, this omission might be crucial. However,
I was able to contact the developers because the program is local. And I
can say they were *very* responsive to comments and suggestions I had
about the program.

     Operation of the program is easy as well. Everything is presented
to the user from a series of menus. Navigating the menus is easy, and
they are laid out in a visually appealing pattern, none of that drop
down menu stuff. There is context sensitive help available at all times,
an F1 key away. The help screens are concise, and informative. A list of
'hotkeys' is available by pressing F2. All of the major features of the
program, comparing files, adding descriptions, importing and preparing
file lists, etc, are explained onscreen with F1 help available at any
time. The help is invaluable the first few times you use the program.

     Quandary requires that you run your personal files listing through
a utility that removes extranneous information from the listing and
prepares a Quandary-friendly listing. You can even take a file listing
from the popular CATDISK disk cataloguing program and use it as your
personal files list. I did feel that this extra step of converting your
list to an internal format manually was cumbersome, and possibly could
be confusing to the neophyte computer users. However, it is not hard to
do at all, and takes very little time. It is a crucial step, however, as
Quandary will not accept files for processing that have not been
converted. Also, Quandary requires that you split long file listings
into chunks. This is done very easily, however, by a semi-automated
process. Tell Quandary what file to split, and it will be split into 32k
chunks sequentially. This splitting is necessary for speed, as most of
the functions of the program are done directly from memory and not from
disk. This last fact also makes Quandary FAST. The speed is impressive.
Add a hefty disk cache to the system, and it gets even faster. Very
nice. Next, one of the best features of Quandary is the ability to take
your list of files and slap descriptions onto it via a BBS ALLFILES
listing. This is very handy for creating disk catalogues without having
to type in those long descriptions for every file. Finally, there is a
nice internal text viewer for the program, and hooks to use an external
one. This viewer is a nice touch, and it will view files up to 32k in
size.

     Quandary is $15, an excellent value considering the features of the
program. It is extremely easy to use, has excellent online context
sensitive help, and has clear, concise documentation. The learning curve
is very short, and once mastered, the program can be a wonderful
timesaver. If you are in need of help in managing your uploads, this
program just might be your answer.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Reflections
by Colby Gibson

     I think it is time to reflect a bit more on the past and see what
has happened as of late. I missed writing anything for BTN last month
because of the workload our teachers seem to "love" to throw upon us at
inopportune moments, especially when they are certain that no other
teacher could possibly have any work for us to do. Such is life.

     I find it necessary to recount what stands out in my mind for the
past year and see what I come up with. I wrote another reflection file a
year ago and so much has happened since that here I am again.

     I find it funny that a company such as AMD could pull off something
like they did and bust Intel a good one in the head. I have been looking
at the stock market reports and AMD seems to be going up and Intel is
just going down and down. I believe Computer Shopper had a good
rendition of the story for those that collect the huge monsters of
magazines.

     It is in the past year that I have had the opportunity to attend
the BTN get-togethers with more impunity than before. Being one of the
youngest users in the city and not quite old enough to drive a car
without a guardian present, life can be pretty brutal. But, I was able
to effect a ride to several of the extravaganzas with the Sullivans, who
I find generally nice people.

     I must put a part in here about them. They are some of the nicest
people I have met in a long time, even in their own way. Patricia is
always willing to lend a hand (I don't know about the deal with her and
Dean, so don't even...) to those that need it and she did so with me.
Erica is a good friend that just about anyone can have. Nathan and Shane
are good guys but you have to keep them entertained.

     I have met a whole lot of new people in the past year, national and
local. After finding out that the MATRIX carried ILink, I figured I
might as well go and shoot myself in the foot and talk to people. Wow,
it's neat to get mail from people in Florida and California. Public
opinion of me is still one that I could use if it was better, but trying
to be friendly in one place and abusive in another hasn't proved good to
anything.

     I can say one thing to anyone who has not yet gone to the Denny's
run in the early morning hours of the BTN parties. Don't go. That is,
unless you love food that is better being fed to leeches than people.
You can sit there and throw sugar packets next time.

     I learned quite a bit about software in the past year. One of them
is when you install DOS5 you don't go installing 8 year old TSRs in High
Memory. I see that young people still have quite a bit to learn.

     School is hell, but that can be dealt with if you look at it right.
Most of the people that go to my school are full of themselves and they
need a good whack across the head. But, socialism isn't my strong suit
and I try to stay as neutral in that as possible.

     Life unfolds itself more and more as I get older and older. I have
spent the last couple of months in a pseudo-depressed state because of
social circumstances that I never knew existed. I guess that someone had
better hit ME in the face and tell me what is going on in the world.

     Computer prices still fall and fall, but that doesn't help me
because I can't legally work yet. That is a bitch when you have RAM that
blows up in your face in the middle of the night and wires seem to just
touch each other by ACCIDENT. Every day I have to work with Windows, and
as much as Eric Hunt sits there and praises it I cannot see one useful
application of that software that would merit it the space and memory
that the hog consumes when it is operating. Not to mention the time that
the thing takes to load software and the mouse clicking thing that is
always getting on my nerves. Arrrghhhh!!!!

     I don't call many systems during the week because I am rarely home
long enough to do that. I am fairly active on Crunchy Frog, so if you
want to come out and yell at me, do it there. I can see where the BBSing
thing is going. It is not just something you do as a hobby. It's a way
of life.

     This is not good. I have spent the last 6 years of my life in front
of a keyboard typing away at people that I could not see and I could not
hear. But now, all of these things are coming together.

     The bulletin board population has grown. No, not the amount of
people that call them but the boards THEMSELVES. Legitimate systems come
and go, because usually the Sysop will see what hell it is to run a
system and he or she will get rid of it. But, hardrock systems have
stayed in there and according to BTN, the systems have grown from a good
number of 47 systems to that of 64. That is a substantial increase in a
year considering the number of systems that come and go in a week.

     One problem I have found with BBSing since I was forced to live in
the wonderful city of Trussville is the damn phone system. I swear, it
is the most redundant system I have ever seen in my life. GTE (Formerly
Contel) should realize these things, but they are making a killing off
of the people in the area.

     Consider this. Douglas Griffin runs Baudville which is basically 1
mile down the street from me. I rode my bike (Really mature
transportation) to his store the other day. I can call someone out at
the Fairgrounds in Ensley but I can't give Doug a call because the
"line" happens to run about 200 feet in FRONT of his store. That sucks.

     It's not all that bad, I guess. I have little use for the phone
outside of calling systems within my range and talking to the occasional
friend that might deign to call me. But, I digress from the subject
here.

     Our very own Chris Mohney left us and so did Dean, and I am quite
sure we are all crying over it. I know I am. But, I wish Chris well in
Tuscaloosa and Dean well in whatever point between states he might be
in. Mark Maisel spent a great deal of time on the road sucking in
information from Comdex, and we have had great amounts of people from
Hotlanta coming to the parties. Raymond Hugh even came down from New
York to see us.

     I guess what I am trying to say here is that the Birmingham BBS
community sure does change fast and you had better stay glued to the
station in order to keep up with it. I was away from home for 2 weeks
visiting my father and trying to leach money out of him for purposes up
here and when I got back, It was data shock trying to get back in the
saddle. Only 3200 messages on the Frog to read, and I just said forget
it about the national nets I was pulling down.

     I would like to say several things in closing. Computer freaks are
not geeks as most people make them out to be.

     The MATRIX will get bigger and bigger until the table that Rocky
has holding the machine up collapses.

     Depressed people don't need to stick their hands in a candle flame.

     And last, the faster you move the more you will get out of it. Make
your own judgement from that.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Windows, Video Cards, and You
more specifically, the
Diamond SpeedSTAR PLUS VGA card
with a little extra discussion
thrown in for good measure.
by Eric Hunt

     After a title like that, you're afraid to read the article, right?
Don't worry. Windows 3.0 has always had its foes and its supporters,
each one having his/her own reason for liking or disliking the product.
Unfortunately, many of the solid arguments AGAINST Windows 3.0 centered
around the abysmal video performance one could expect using many of
today's SuperVGA cards. Good news is here, though. Video cards are
entering their second generation, and video performance in Windows is
proving it.

     Historically, the VGA video subsystem has not had too much
'intelligence.' In other words, the host CPU was given the task of
computing all pixel movements instead of the card doing it. This leads
to extremely slow screen redraws and image displays, especially when in
a complex environment like Windows 3.0. The next step is to take these
housekeeping duties away from the host CPU and place them on the video
card. This is called a 'coprocessed' video card. The XGA and 8514/A
video adapters from IBM are the best examples of this. However, the card
I'm going to discuss in this article is not a coprocessed card, but an
example of the last category of SVGA adapters, second generation. The
'dumb' VGA adapters have gone through several years of fine tuning, and
the latest crop have improved their overall speed quite a bit, and can
therefore keep up with the CPU better. Also, the video drivers that
Windows 3.0 uses to talk to the card are of a better quality than some
of the initial SVGA drivers that appeared. Better quality = better
speed.

     Now, with all that boring background information out of the way, my
impressions of the Diamond SpeedSTAR PLUS SuperVGA card in the Windows
3.0 environment.

     The card came prebundled with an entire computer system already, so
I cannot give you any thoughts on the quality of customer service
Diamond gives direct-purchase customers. In addition, the manual for the
card had been made homogenous with the manuals for the system as a
whole, so I can't even discuss the quality of their manuals! I can,
however, tell you about the card's performance and what it will do.
That's the easiest! As the card came in the system, there was a set of
Windows 3.0 drivers already. In addition, there was 1 meg of DRAM
installed. A closer inspection revealed that these were not the latest
drivers available, and a call to the support BBS for the computer system
produced a copy of the latest ones. Let me tell you, these drivers make
this card HUM under Windows. The card supports modes from standard
640x480x16 VGA all the way up to 1024x768x256, with everything else
inbetween. The most startling performace came from the 256 color modes.
Simply put, they were as fast as the generic 16 color VGA driver that
Windows uses. On a 386-33 running 800x600x256, there was no perceptible
decrease in speed. And a 386sx-16 using the 640x480x256 mode was again
as fast as the regular 16 color VGA driver. One can only imagine how
fast they would be on a nice 486-33.

     And this card/driver set finally fixed a bothersome quirk that
almost every other 256 color driver set has had. Blue menu bars. Under
16 colors, the menu bars are nice and black, the way they should be.
Under other 256 color cards, they've turned an eye-straining shade of
light blue. Well, with the Diamond card, they are now again black. I
don't know if this is a function of the card, or just a fix in the 256
color drivers, but I like it.

     While I'm primarily a Windows person, I did have some DOS
applications that were SVGA, so I tried it with them. No real noticeable
difference, but I did have to figure out what SVGA chipset the card
uses, as 'Diamond SpeedSTAR' was not a choice on most anything I had.
TSENG ET-4000 did the trick, however.

     Finally, when I moved the Diamond card to the 386sx, which was a
different brand than the PC the card arrived in, there were some dip
switch setting problems. They were soon fixed, however, and everything
worked fine from then on.

     Diamond sells this SVGA card for approximately $350-400, depending
on how much RAM you purchase it with initially. If you are tired of your
slow SVGA card now, but don't really have the money to upgrade to a true
coprocessed SVGA card, this is one to look at.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SIG's (Special Interest Groups), Computer Related
-------------------------------------------------

BEPCUG                              CCS
Birmingham East PC Users Group      Commodore Club South
Jefferson Sate Jr. College          Springville Road Library
Ruby Carson Hall, Rm 114            2nd & 4th Tuesday (C64/C128)
3rd Friday, 7-9 PM                  3rd Monday (Amiga)
Paula Ballard 251-6058 (after 5PM)  7:30-10 PM

BCCC                                BIPUG
Birmingham Commodore Computer Club  Birmingham IBM-PC Users Group
POB 59564                           UAB Nutrition Science Blg
Birmingham, Al 35259                RM 535/541
UAB School of Education, Rm 153     1st Sunday (delayed one week
2nd and 4th Sundays, 2 PM              if meeting is a holiday)
Rusty Hargett 854-5172              Marty Schulman 967-5883

BACE                                FAOUG
Birmingham Atari Computer           First Alabama Osborne Users
Enthusiast                          Group
Vestavia Library, downstairs        Homewood Library
2nd Monday, 7 PM                    1st Saturday, 1PM
Benny Brown 822-5059                Ed Purquez 669-5200

CADUB
CAD Users of Birmingham
Homewood Library
3rd Tuesday, 6:30PM-8:30PM
Bobby Benson 791-0426

SIG's, Non-Computer Related
---------------------------

BBC                                 Birmingham Astronomy Club
Blue Box Companions                 Subject: Astronomy
Subject: Dr. Who                    Red Mountain Museum Annex
Hoover Library                      4th Tuesday, 7:30PM
1st Saturday, 2PM-5PM

If you belong to or know of a user group that is not listed,
please let us know by sending E-Mail to Barry Bowden on
The Matrix BBS.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Known BBS Numbers For The Birmingham Area

    NAME                    NUMBER     BAUD RATES  MODEM    BBS SOFTWARE
                                       SUPPORTED   TYPE

*   Alter-Ego BBS           744-7733   300-9600    USR HST  PCBoard 14.5
*   Amiga Alliance ][       631-0262   300-2400             PCBoard 14.5
^   Arkham Asylum           853-7422   300-2400             WWIV 4.12
    Baudville Node 1        640-4593   300-2400             Oracomm Plus
    Baudville Node 2        640-4639   300-2400             Oracomm Plus
&)*}Bloom County            856-0587   300-9600    USR DS   PCBoard 14.5
-*  Bus System              595-1627   300-2400             PCBoard 14.2
*%  Byte Me!                979-BYTE!  2400-9600   USR HST  WWIV 4.12
    CM(ee) BBS Node 1       655-4059   300-2400             Oracomm Plus
    CM(ee) BBS Node 2       655-4065   300-1200             Oracomm Plus
    Camelot BBS             856-0679   300-2400             Telegard 2.5
-*# Channel 8250 Node 1     744-8546   300-9600    USR DS   PCBoard 14.5
-*# Channel 8250 Node 2     744-5166   300-9600    USR HST  PCBoard 14.5
{   Connection Node 1       854-9074   1200-2400            PCBoard 14.5
{   Connection Node 2       854-2308   1200-2400            PCBoard 14.5
{   Connection Node 3       854-0698   1200-2400            PCBoard 14.5
{   Connection Node 4       854-5863   9600        USR DS   PCBoard 14.5
*   Crunchy Frog Node 1     956-1755   300-9600    USR DS   PCBoard 14.5
*   Crunchy Frog Node 2     956-0073   300-9600    USR DS   PCBoard 14.5
    DataLynx                322-3425   300-2400             Oracomm5.L.30
    Disktop Publishing BBS  854-1660   300-2400    MNP4     Wildcat! 3.01
    Downgrade Evolution     823-4858   1200-2400            Vortek 1.49
*+{ Family Smorgas-Board    744-0943   300-2400             PCBoard 14.5
    Flip Side               798-3961   300-2400             Telegard 2.5i
    Graphics Zone Node 1    870-5306   300-9600    MNP4     TBBS 2.1(16)
    Graphics Zone Node 2    870-5329   300-9600    MNP4     TBBS 2.1(16)
    Hacker's Corner         674-5449   1200-2400            PCBoard 14.5
    Hardeman's BBS          640-6436   1200-2400            Wildcat! 2.55s
    I.S.A. BBS              995-6590   300-9600    HST      Remote Access
-*  Joker's Castle          664-5589   300-2400    MNP4     PC Board 14.5
*&  Little Kingdom Node 1   969-0007   300-9600    USR DS   PCBoard 14.5
*&  Little Kingdom Node 2   969-0008   300-2400    MNP4     PCBoard 14.5
*}  Magnolia BBS            854-6407   300-9600    USR HST  PCBoard 14.2
+{  MetaBoard               254-3344   300-2400             Opus
@   Missing Link            853-1257   300-2400             C-Net
^   Myth Drannor            699-5811   1200-2400   MNP4     WWIV 4.11
    Night Watch             841-2790   300-2400
    Optical Illusion        853-8062   300-1200             C-Net
    Owlabama BBS            833-7176   300-2400             GTPower 15.00
    Owl's Nest              680-0851   300-2400             PCBoard 14.5
    Paradise City           853-1439   1200-2400            PCBoard 14.5
    Pooh's Korner           980-8710   300-2400
*-  Road Kill               987-0794   300-2400
    Safe Harbor             665-4355   300-9600    USR DS   GTPower 15.00
    Sperry BBS              853-6144   300-9600    Hayes    PCBoard 14.5
*   ST BBS                  836-9311   300-2400             PCBoard 14.2
    Teasers                 987-0122   300-2400             WWIV 4.20
+   The Bone Yard           631-6023   300-2400             PCBoard 14.5
    The Commodore Zone      856-3783   300-2400             Image1.2
    The Den                 925-0707   300-9600    USR HST  ProLogon/ProDoor
^   The Dragon's Hoard      833-3790   300-2400             WWIV 4.12
^   The Edge of Oblivion    520-0230   300-2400             WWIV 4.11
    The Madhouse!           428-3061   300-9600    USR V.32 Telegard 2.5i
-*$(The Matrix Nodes 1-4    323-2016   300-2400             PCBoard 14.5
-*$(The Matrix Node 5       251-2344   2400-9600   USR DS   PCBoard 14.5
-*$(The Matrix Node 6       323-0799   2400-9600   USR DS   PCBoard 14.5
    The Monster             967-4839   300-2400             Telegard 2.5i
+   The Outer Limits        985-1725   1200-9600   USR HST  Wildcat! 3.01
    The Quiet Zone          833-2066   300-2400             ExpressNET
+   The Round Table         938-2145   300-2400             Telegard 2.5i
    The Safety BBS          581-2866   300-2400             RBBS-PC
    The Word                833-2831   300-2400             WWIV 4.12
    Willie's DYM Node 1     979-1629   300-2400             Oracomm Plus
    Willie's DYM Node 2     979-7739   300-2400             Oracomm Plus
    Willie's DYM Node 3     979-7743   300-1200             Oracomm Plus
    Willie's DYM Node 4     979-8156   300-1200             Oracomm Plus
    Ziggy Unaxess           991-5696   300-1200             Unaxess

The many symbols you see prior to the names of many of the bbs' in the
list signify that they are members of one or more networks that exchange
or echo mail to each other in some organized fashion.

* = EzNet, a local IBM compatible network

@ = Image network, a national Commodore network

+ = FidoNet, an international network, multi-topic

- = Metrolink, an international network, multi-topic

^ = WWIV-Net, an international network, multi-topic

& = Intellec, an international network, multi-topic

# = Uni'Net, an international network, multi-topic

% = ThrobNet, an international network, adult oriented

$ = ILink, an international network, multi-topic

( = TheoNet, a national network, multi-religious

{ = ADAnet, an international network dedicated to the handicapped

) = USNetMail, a national network, multi-topic

} = RIME, an international network, multi-topic

If you have any corrections, additions, deletions, etc., please let us
know via EzNet.
