BMUG PD-ROM B4/PD-ROM B4.iso/Utilities/TidBITs/TidBITS 101-125/TidBITS#100⁄06-Jan-92.etx

Text File | 1992-05-27 | 36KB | 734 lines

TidBITS#100/06-Jan-92
=====================

 To kick off our new format and the new year we've included reviews
   of some hot new products, Word 5 (with important installation
   tips!) and the PowerBook 170. Find out about chord keyboards that
   might help with carpal tunnel syndrome and about computers you can
   wear. Also this week: a bug with some RasterOps video cards, an
   incorrect illustration in the PowerBook manual, a superstore
   rumor, and how to get that ResEdit template we promised last issue
   but forgot. Enjoy!

 Copyright 1990-1992 Adam & Tonya Engst. Non-profit, non-commercial
   publications may reprint articles if full credit is given. Other
   publications please contact us. We do not guarantee the accuracy
   of articles. Publication, product, and company names may be
   registered trademarks of their companies. Disk subscriptions and
   back issues are available.

 For more information send electronic mail to [e-mail] or
 Internet: [e-mail] -- CIS: 72511,306 -- AOL: Adam Engst
 TidBITS -- 9301 Avondale Rd. NE Q1096 -- Redmond, WA 98052 USA
 -----------------------------------------------------------------

Topics:
    TidBITS in new format
    MailBITS/06-Jan-92
    NewsBITS/06-Jan-92
    Word 5 Impressions
    PowerBook 170 Review
    BAT Updates
    Reviews/06-Jan-92

[Archived as /info-mac/digest/tb/tidbits-100.etx; 36K]


TidBITS in new format
---------------------
  Welcome to TidBITS#100 and our new setext format! The term
  "setext" stands for "structure-enhanced text" and we have designed
  and optimized the format for use primarily by online publications
  such as TidBITS (i.e., 7-bit text only). We'll be publishing more
  about the format itself as time goes by, but for now suffice it to
  say that there are vast advantages of using a consistently-defined
  text format, both for you that read us online and offline and for
  ourselves, the publishers. At the very least, our weekly issues
  should be easier to read and peruse directly online without having
  to download first.

  This week we have a number of excellent articles, so please bear
  with some administrivia first. Those of you that have not seen
  TidBITS before ought to know that we're a FREE weekly electronic
  newsletter, with a full 100 issues since April of 1990 to our
  credit. The first 99 were written and distributed in the HyperCard
  stack format. We're now switching to the setext format to widen
  our accessibility on all computer platforms. Those of you on the
  Internet, AppleLink, or CompuServe (i.e. who can send electronic
  mail to the Internet) can receive more information about TidBITS
  through our fileserver. Address the email to:

    [e-mail] - or - [e-mail]

  The fileserver, which is an automatic program that understands
  commands sent to it via email, will send you back any file whose
  name you specify in the Subject: line. For help and an abbreviated
  listing of what is currently available, send a message with the
  single word "help" (without the quotes) in the Subject: line. Any
  text in the body of the letter or other words on the Subject: line
  will be ignored.


More about setext
  From now on all issues of TidBITS will be readable directly online
  (for those of you whose systems support this anyway). Those of you
  wishing to download/ read/ archive them at home may read the files
  with any computer program that is able to open TEXT documents. In
  time - not too distant, we promise - there will be special setext
  _browsers_ to automate the task of searching, archiving and
  transforming bits of the encoded material into WYSIMOLWYG ("What
  You See Is More Or Less What You Get"), to permit navigation in
  large archived mass of data, and more. At least two people are
  currently writing setext browsers, and they will _not_ be
  specific to TidBITS but to **any** setext publication that
  conforms to the format. We also hope to have browsers for direct
  online use (attachments to rn etc., so if you're interested in
  writing one, please contact us). For now any word processor or
  even TeachText (for issues under 30K, as most will be) will do the
  job just fine. Incidentally, setext issues submitted to the Info-
  Mac archives and other archives will have an ".etx" suffix
  ("enhanced/ e-mailable text"), to distinguish them from plain
  ".txt" files, but they'll contain nothing but pure, undiluted,
  structure-enhanced text. So look for "tidbits-###.etx" documents.


Introducing: The Delimiters!
  Another of the new enhancements is a special article-end-
  delimiter, expressed as "end" sandwiched between the "<>"
  characters at the very end of each article. You'll see it. This
  should allow importing of the issues into any text database
  programs (like Storyspace from Eastgate Systems or ThoughtPattern
  from Bananafish Software) that can break text into chunks based on
  specific text patterns. Small items within "compound" articles may
  also be delimited with four offset hyphens on a line by itself or
  with short sub-subheads.

  Finally, among the most noticeable changes in the structure of
  TidBITS is the placement of the review listings at the end of each
  issue. From now on, this is where they're going to be found. Quite
  frankly, they are boring to read but are useful to many. Those of
  you downloading and archiving the issues may still want them for
  occasional searches but the majority of (online) readers won't
  have to scroll or page first in order to start reading. We'll have
  more on the setext format in future issues as well.

  Information from:
    Ian Feldman -- [e-mail]
      chief designer, demon encoder-coder and the current Setext
      Oracle, hard at work on a browser & the setext format release
    Adam C. Engst -- [e-mail]


MailBITS/06-Jan-92
------------------
  I thought that the 13-Jan-92 issue might never happen because I'm
  planning to attend the Macworld expo in San Francisco. It turns
  out that we have enough articles built up to do that issue a few
  days early, so I'll be sending it out before I head off to collect
  lots of news and information for future issues and generally enjoy
  myself. I've already got an invitation to a Claris press reception
  and a couple of others, and I should be at the netters' dinner on
  Sunday night as well. I'm sure I'll see some of you there, and the
  rest of you will hear about it in the 20-Jan-92 issue.


ResEdit Template Goof
  In our last issue, which was the last HyperCard stack, I had
  planned to include a ResEdit fmnu template to aid in editing the
  System 7 Finder (for those of you who didn't see that issue, it
  included a number of ways to modify your Finder to make it faster,
  more useful, or merely different). But in the flurry of the
  season, I forgot. So, I've put the template up on our fileserver
  (it's only 714 bytes) for anyone to request. It is Binhexed, so
  you will need to deBinhex it after downloading. Then you can
  install it in your ResEdit Preferences file as I outlined in
  TidBITS#99/Finder_Fun**. **To receive this file, send email to
  [e-mail] or [e-mail] with the
  single word (no quotes) "template" in the Subject: line.


RasterOps 364 Video Bug
  Mark H. Anbinder writes, "Owners of the RasterOps 364 video card
  for the SE/30 who have tried using System 7 may find that they get
  occasional, unexplainable system errors (usually reported by the
  Mac as bus errors). Since the crashes don't happen at predictable
  times, they are tough to track down. Apparently, this is due to an
  incompatibility in the older ROMs on some 364 cards. RasterOps has
  said they will send a replacement ROM free of charge to affected
  users. I recommend that most users have this ROM installed at
  their local Apple authorized service center. While some people may
  be comfortable with and familiar with opening the SE/30 and
  fiddling around inside, it's not generally something I recommend
  to the average user; it's too easy to injure yourself or the
  computer."

  "Thanks to Tory Yaphe of BAKA Computers for providing this
  information, after he laboriously tracked down the cause of the
  problem in his own computer. :-)"

  Information from:
    Mark H. Anbinder -- [e-mail]
    Tory Yaphe -- BAKA Computers


NewsBITS/06-Jan-92
------------------
  Again, from Mark H. Anbinder. "On page 97 of the Macintosh User's
  Guide for PowerBook computers, there is an illustration showing
  how to insert a battery into the PowerBook 140/170 recharger. The
  illustration is incorrect. The battery should be turned around so
  that the brass contacts on the battery meet with the brass
  contacts inside of the recharger unit."

  "When the battery is inserted according to the illustration, the
  charge light will not come on, indicating a defective battery or
  the charger not plugged in. When the battery is plugged in
  correctly, there should be either a yellow light indicating that
  the battery is charging or a green light indicating that the
  battery is charged and ready for use."

  Information from:
    Mark H. Anbinder -- [e-mail]


J&R Superstore Rumor
  We've heard from a usually well-connected source that New York
  City's J&R Music World, one of the biggest consumer electronics
  discounters, has just "acquired" the entire Macintosh-oriented
  staff of the Mac Emporium, one of the big Apple dealers in NYC.
  Apparently J&R plans to offer Macs at superstore pricing and still
  provide a competent level of support, unlike many of the
  businesses trying the superstore approach. It will be interesting
  to see if indeed this is true, and if J&R will manage to combine
  the benefits of dealer service with the superstore pricing
  structure.

  Information from:
    Pythaeus


Word 5 Impressions
------------------
  by Pythaeus

  Microsoft has begun shipping Word 5 for the Macintosh, and
  everyone seems to have questions about the it. Is it any good? Is
  it worth $129 upgrade? Will it work with my computer? Should I run
  right out and buy Nisus? I won't attempt to even begin to answer
  all these questions, but I can give a couple of my early
  impressions, some interesting and hopefully useful information,
  and some important installation tips. Stay tuned for more (yes,
  "Word 5, The Sequel") coming to an issue of TidBITS near you next
  week. In that article I'll look at all the external parts of Word,
  the import filters, the modules, the manual, and those sorts of
  things.

  Quite frankly, when I first started using Word 5, I was less than
  impressed. It seemed as though Microsoft had upgraded Word 4 for
  System 7-savviness, slapped on a new interface, a thesaurus that
  did not require the Font/DA Mover to install (as Word 4's did even
  under System 7), a Grammar Checker (for people with no linguistic
  confidence), an Equation Editor (which is actually pretty
  powerful) and a drawing section. Since I'm not much of an equation
  person, I mainly liked the drawing section's text rotation tool,
  which rotates text to any angle that you wish (something that
  PageMaker still doesn't do).

  I've had some time to work with Word 5 now, and though it still
  holds numerous puzzles and some features that I have not explored,
  I'm liking it quite a bit more than I did before. I've also had a
  chance to look over the manual, which is a vast improvement over
  the Word 4 manual, not that that would be difficult. But more
  about all that next week. Here's a rundown of some of the features
  that I have used.

  Before I started using Word, I mainly wrote with WriteNow, which
  uses the standard Macintosh keyboard shortcuts for Bold, Italic,
  Select All, and a few others. Try some of these shortcuts in Word
  4, and - hold on to your mouse - wacky stuff happens. Word 5
  returns Word users to the standards with Command-A for Select All,
  Command-B for Bold, and so on, although you can completely
  customize the keyboard shortcuts in both programs. Word 5 ships
  with an optional Word Settings file having Word 4's eccentric
  shortcuts, so Word 4 users won't have to relearn any commands.

  The menus have changed a lot too. There's now an Insert menu for
  inserting all sorts of stuff, and the Font menu contains "Up,"
  "Down," and "Other" commands. It isn't obvious from the structure
  of the menu, but Up and Down actually increase or decrease the
  font size by one point, and Other appears to merely bring up the
  Character Formatting dialog box, probably so you can select a
  different font size. Even stranger, Other was in Outline style,
  indicating that other font sizes are available, I suspect. As a
  boon to humanity, Microsoft removed the old Short Menus feature
  (or bug, as someone I knew once called it) in favor of shipping a
  special Word Settings file for folks who liked not being able to
  do much of anything.

  One obvious new part of the interface is the ribbon, a bar that
  appears just above the ruler and contains some of the more common
  formatting commands. In fact, the pop-down menus on the ribbon
  almost completely duplicate the contents of the Font menu.
  Microsoft also included the more common style commands like Bold,
  Italic, and Underline, which are duplicated in the Format menu,
  but included Superscript and Subscript, which are otherwise only
  available in the Character Formatting dialog box. Other buttons on
  the ribbon include a button to switch to the graphics section, a
  button to display the paragraph markers, and buttons to change
  between one, two, and three columns, which ought to be especially
  handy.

  The extensive Preferences dialog box has an interface much like
  the System 6 Control Panel. Some new and notable preferences
  include a Save reminder (you specify how often, but then you have
  to be willing to be beeped at that time interval for the rest of
  your writing life, unlike most other programs which can save
  automatically without bothering you), Short Menu Names (this means
  that the menu titles in the menu bar are abbreviated so they fit
  on the 9" screen better), and an extremely straightforward way to
  set the default font (one of the major bug-a-boos in Word 4 for
  people who didn't realize it was the result of the Normal style).

  Here's a new idea - drag and drop text. Basically, you select some
  text, and then you click on it and drag it some place else. Within
  the same screen of text, this is easier than cut and paste, but
  I've found myself accidently dragging things around. Luckily, this
  option can be turned off, so if I don't improve at it, I won't
  have to use it. It's also only practical within the screen since
  once you've started to drag, you can't use the mouse or keyboard
  to jump around in the document, although the window will scroll
  with you as you drag.

  The Find and Replace command lets you do a bit more than Word 4
  allowed. For example, you can look for a particular bold word and
  replace it with that same word in italic. But you still cannot
  look for all bold words and replace them with italic words. (You
  actually can do this in Word 4 and Word 5 with the file saved in
  RTF format, but this is not for the timid). The Find and Replace
  box is a bit awkward, with menus popping up and down all over the
  place. You can also search for a pattern of numbers, but the
  pattern matching stops there and doesn't come close to matching
  the raw power of Nisus's PowerSearch+ (essentially a Unix-like
  grep, which stands for Global Regular Expression Parser. Glad you
  asked?).

  Still no macro language, though Microsoft claims that WordBASIC
  from Word for Windows will be in Word 5.1.

  Still only one undo, grrr, unlike Nisus's unlimited undo's.

  Before you can play with some of this stuff you (of course) have
  to install Word 5 on your machine. Here are some important things
  to keep in mind:

* Speed: Face it. If you have a 68000-based machine, Word 5
  ambles. Use WriteNow. Put Word on a IIcx and it works fine. I
  haven't seen it on a 68020, so you'll have to try it yourself.
  Right now, I'm running Word on a Mac Classic, and while it
  certainly keeps up with my typing, I'd probably turn into a
  frustrated pumpkin if I had to do a lot of quick formatting to
  meet a deadline, since each dialog box takes its own sweet time
  opening and closing.

* Hardware: Word 5 moseys on a Mac Plus and runs on machines newer
  and faster than the Plus. PowerBook users will want to remember to
  turn off the preference for Background Repagination (I still can't
  believe that Microsoft can't figure out how to do Background
  Pagination quickly like everyone else in the known universe.) so
  that their computers can sleep properly, and Quadra users can keep
  their caches on.

* Memory: Microsoft explains this right on the package.
  Essentially, Word 5 is a RAM hog. If you run System 6.0.2 or later
  (but not System 7) your computer must have 1 MB of RAM, but
  Microsoft recommends having 2 MB. If you want to run the Grammar
  Checker, you must have 2 MB. If you run System 7 or later, you
  must have at least 2 MB (of course) and 4 MB to run the Grammar
  Checker. Word 5's suggested size without the Grammar Checker is
  1024K (I believe the suggested size increases to 2048K with the
  Grammar Checker installed).

* Disk Space: You need a hard drive for the installation, and you
  won't want to work off of floppy if you can possibly avoid it. The
  Word 5 program alone is 825K. Add the spell checker and the
  dictionary file and you'll need 1.2 MB. The drawing capability
  takes another 72K and the Find File function takes up 81K. I
  installed as much as I could on my hard disk, and my Word 5 folder
  takes up 2.7 MB. Notice I said I installed "as much as I could."
  The Word 5 installer (Microsoft used version  3.3 of Apple's
  installer program) requires enough free space on the hard disk to:
  hold the compressed files, the uncompressed files, and a copy of
  your System file. So, when I tried to install, I only had 7.5 MB
  free and I tried to install most everything. After a few tries,
  Word and I compromised on not installing any of the filters except
  the EPS/TIFF/PICT filter and not installing the Grammar Checker (I
  don't have enough RAM to use it under System 7 anyhow). Another
  solution would have been to install the System-related files in a
  second installation. The installer has a custom install option in
  which you select files to be installed.

* System Folder: Some parts of the Word 5 package (the Equation
  Editor's special font, specially configured Word Settings files,
  and the Voice Annotation software, for example) install into your
  System or System folder. If you choose to install on a disk having
  no System Folder, none of the System stuff will show up as
  installation choices. So, if you normally put your startup System
  on one disk and your software on another, you'll need to pay
  attention to what you install where. The best tactics here might
  be to either install everything on your startup disk and then copy
  the application-related files to another disk or run the installer
  twice, once to install the System stuff on the startup disk and
  once to install the applications files.

  Well that's enough words about Word for now. Remember, if it seems
  like I didn't talk about a lot of the cool features that you've
  been hearing about, that's because they are external to the
  program. So tune in next week, same bat-channel...

    Microsoft Customer Service -- 800/426-9400
    Microsoft Mac Word Technical Support -- 206/635-7200

  Information from:
    Pythaeus
    Word 5 Installer Read Me
    Word 5 manual


PowerBook 170 Review
--------------------
  by Murph Sewall

  My initial reaction to the PowerBook 170 was WOW! So, I thought I
  might use it for a couple of weeks before writing down my
  impressions. Now that I've used the PowerBook 170 long enough for
  the initial dazzle to wear off, my considered impression is WOW!

  One of the first things I did was run a Speedometer comparison of
  the PowerBook 170 and the IIci (with cache card). The statistics
  are nearly dead even. The PowerBook 170 also has a 16 MHz "power
  saver" mode for lengthening the usable life of a battery charge.
  The statistics for power saver mode are a close approximation to
  those recorded for an SE/30 (16 MHz with FPU and black and white
  display).

  I've taken the opportunity to cycle (full charge to "I'm going to
  sleep, ready or not") the battery several times in both 25 MHz and
  16 MHz modes. A battery life of about 2.5 hours in normal use at
  power saver speed seems a realistic expectation. Using the modem
  which the manual says consumes extra power) even without power
  saving, the battery delivers the low end of the promised "2 to 3
  hours." At 16 MHz, the battery lasts longer, but not an hour
  longer (at least not the way I use the PowerBook). Word processing
  sessions, with infrequent saves, permit the hard drive to power
  down and prolong the usable battery life. Sticking to tasks which
  rarely access the hard drive may provide close to three hours of
  computing before recharging. Even though the internal floppy drive
  gobbles power, I have been able to duplicate floppy disks at user
  group meetings for more than 1.5 hours without depleting the
  battery.

  The PowerBook provides ample warning when the battery charge gets
  low. There's roughly a half-hour left after the first warning, and
  perhaps ten minutes after the second. The third warning occurs
  only 10 seconds before the PowerBook drops into sleep mode.
  Fortunately, memory contents are preserved (at least for awhile).
  Plugging into an AC outlet restores programs to where they were
  when the system went to sleep.

  Commands which activate the drive once it has fallen asleep take a
  little getting used to. The delay while the drive comes up to
  speed is a clever imitation of a system freeze. The Portable
  Control Panel has an option that keeps the drive active while
  plugged into an AC outlet.

  Galen Gruman's review in the February Macworld (pg. 258) complains
  a great deal about the PowerBook keyboard. While I too prefer the
  Apple Extended keyboard to the PowerBook's built-in keyboard, I
  find the Macworld review overly critical. In my opinion, the
  "wrist rest" design is more comfortable than the keyboards of
  other (MS-DOS) notebooks. Possibly, my more positive view is
  affected by my hand size (not large), and the fact that I'm not a
  flash typist (I do touch type, but at something on the order of 40
  words per minute). I've also used a _lot_ of keyboards, so I'm not
  habituated to a particular feel (the PowerBook has it all over a
  33 KSR teletype :-)).

  The review expresses a lot of frustration about trying to find a
  comfortable placement of the keyboard. I've also found the average
  table or desk too high. Tables and desktops also place other
  computer keyboards at a greater height than a typewriter (or
  computer) table. Even at typing stand height, the PowerBook
  keyboard feels odd. It's likely I haven't adapted to using a
  PowerBook on a fixed surface because I rarely do so. The real
  reason for a notebook computer is portability. The PowerBook's
  wrist rest design is the best literally "in-my-lap" keyboard I've
  ever used. My preferred PowerBook typing position is in a
  recliner. I've tried putting an Apple Extended Keyboard in my lap;
  in that position, I prefer the PowerBook.

  Unlike Gruman, who doesn't like trackballs, I prefer them. Hence,
  I adapted to the PowerBook's "thumb ball" rather quickly. Gruman
  had trouble pointing accurately on a subway. I experienced similar
  difficulty riding home over two lane roads as a passenger in a
  pickup truck. However, I generally was able to keep on computing
  (and typing) in the truck, in the dark. I'm sure using a PowerBook
  on a commercial airline will not be a problem.

  Gruman evidently runs a very spare System. The claim that 7.0.1
  requires a megabyte less memory than 7.0 isn't borne out by my
  experience. With all extensions off, 7.0.1 only squeezes down to
  1.3 megabytes. The addition of a modest number (for me that's
  about a dozen) of utilitarian extensions (Apollo, ShortCut,
  BeHierarchic, a printer driver, and so forth) results in a System
  of 1.75 MB. With 4 MB of RAM, I have room to run an application
  which requires 2 MB (SPSS), but I have to quit before PrintMonitor
  has room enough to print the application's output.

  It's difficult for most users to justify the expense of a
  PowerBook as a second Macintosh. Hence, a reasonable question is
  how capable is the PowerBook as a primary computer? First, I would
  recommend purchasing a separate keyboard to plug into the ADB port
  for regular desktop use. Placing the display in a comfortable
  location relative to an external keyboard probably will make the
  built-in trackball difficult to reach. An extra trackball or mouse
  could prove handy. For many of us, a 40 MB hard drive also is
  limiting. The PowerBook on a desktop works very nicely with an
  external drive, and 40 MB or even larger external drives have
  dropped to quite reasonable prices. One doesn't really need to
  take every application and document on the road.

  The active matrix display is at least as nice as the venerable 9"
  screen of the compact Macs. In fact, the PowerBook screen is wider
  than that long-time Macintosh standard. If color really is
  essential, there are third party devices that permit attaching a
  PowerBook to a color display.

  The PowerBook 170's price is slightly less than for a 5 MB IIci
  with 80 MB hard drive (without keyboard and monitor). The
  PowerBook 140 and IIsi are likewise comparably priced. Anyone in
  the market for a IIsi or IIci might find a PowerBook with external
  keyboard and third party external hard disk worth considering. I
  believe the PowerBook 170 is worth every penny of the premium over
  the model 140. The most valuable differences are the internal
  fax/modem (about one-third of the price difference if purchased
  separately) and the FPU (floating point unit). Many people don't
  realize the extent to which the math coprocessor accelerates
  calculation and display of graphics. An FPU is a worthwhile
  addition even for users who don't crunch a lot of numbers. The
  other noticeable difference between the 170 and the 140 is the
  active matrix display. I find the 140's passive LCD quite
  satisfactory, but the active matrix looks and acts a lot more like
  a CRT. LCD displays have a relatively narrow viewing angle that
  makes it difficult for more than one person to have a clear look
  at the screen. The active matrix display has a viewing angle the
  equal of a CRT.

  In short, if buying a IIsi seems sensible, buying a PowerBook 140
  should seem sensible. If a PowerBook 140 seems sensible, then
  finding the extra dollars for a 170 is not a farfetched notion.

  Information from:
     Murph Sewall -- [e-mail]


BAT Updates
-----------
  I've written in the past about the cute personal organizer
  (nanocomputer?) from Infogrip called the miniBAT. I've used one
  since early August when Ward Bond, Infogrip's president, sent me
  one to try. After a fair amount of use, I've come to several
  conclusions. First, the miniBAT works well as a small note-taking
  machine, and its other features add a bit to its overall utility.
  Second, and more importantly, I think chord keyboards stand a
  chance in the fight against carpal tunnel syndrome-causing QWERTY
  keyboards, although the fight will be an uphill one even now that
  Infogrip has come out with the BAT, a pair of seven key chord
  keyboards that supplement or replace your standard keyboard. The
  BAT comes in models for the Macintosh and PC clones, and several
  other options are on the way. For those of you who haven't heard
  of a chord keyboard until now, it works in the same way a piano
  does; you simply hit two or more keys together to create a unique
  keystroke. For instance, the single index finger might be the
  letter "e" and the index finger and the middle finger together
  might be the letter "a." Believe me, it works, and surprisingly
  well.

  The miniBAT measures about 3.5" x 7" x .75" and weighs
  approximately eleven ounces - and that's with a full 37K of data
  in it. :-) It comes with a sturdy plastic slipcase and fits into
  roomy pockets. The current incarnation of the miniBAT sports a
  tiny twenty character by four line LCD display that isn't lit in
  any way. Its has a terribly laid-out alphabetical keyboard (laid
  out in alphabetical order), number keys, and 19 function/
  navigation keys. Both the screen and the keys would seem to be
  major drawbacks to using the miniBAT, but they're not. I'll
  explain in a bit. The rest of the surface of the miniBAT is taken
  up by seven large keys placed to correspond with the natural
  positions of the fingers on the right hand (lefties can learn to
  use their right hands pretty easily I suspect, since the motions
  aren't significantly different from normal typing, which uses both
  hands). The right side of the miniBAT contains the rest of the
  items the user will care about, the ON/OFF switch, the power plug
  for charging, an indicator light that goes on when the miniBAT is
  plugged in, and a small serial port covered by a sliding panel.
  The miniBAT supposedly lasts about 40 hours on a charge, but I've
  never tried to run it down all the way.

  I'm not really up on the personal organizer market since I'm not
  particularly impressed by what they can do for me. However,
  nanocomputers intrigue me, and I like to check out computers like
  the HP 95LX and the Poqet PC from the hit movie, "Honey I Shrunk
  The Keyboard." Those two have far better screens than the miniBAT,
  and their keyboards are at least laid out in the QWERTY layout, so
  you have a chance of being able to type on them, but when it comes
  right down to it, they're too small. It doesn't make sense to make
  a nanocomputer by merely shrinking the design of a desktop
  computer; they are different beasts and serve different purposes
  so they should be designed differently.

  Later this week Infogrip will introduce the first in a line of
  InfoWear, computers that you actually wear. The Hip PC is a small
  PC clone that lives in a fanny pack worn around the waist. A
  miniBAT serves as a keyboard, and Reflection Technologies's
  Private Eye virtual display works as a monitor. I'm pleased to
  hear about InfoWear, and in fact as soon as I heard the name from
  Ward, I asked him to spell the last four letters for me, just to
  be sure. I have pushed for wearable computer equipment for some
  time now since makes so much more sense than an itty-bitty
  desktop-style palmtop. See TidBITS#23/01-Oct-90 for the article I
  wrote way back when on Portable Computer Clothing.

  So anyway, yes, the miniBAT has a bad screen and yes, the miniBAT
  has a terrible alphabetic keyboard. But the chord keyboard makes
  up for it with a vengeance. As I've said, I use the miniBAT mainly
  for taking notes in meetings, although I'm considering starting to
  use it for taking notes while I talk on the phone since I hate
  trying to type on my keyboard with one hand. I even used the
  miniBAT to write a short letter to my mother while creeping along
  in a Seattle traffic jam. Ward told me that one miniBAT user is
  writing a novel while commuting to work; I'm too chicken to try
  that.

  The beauty of the chord keyboard is that within an hour or so you
  can learn to touch type. If you can touch type, you don't have to
  use the alphabetic keyboard at all (or most of the function keys),
  and you no longer have to look at the screen. If you don't have to
  look at the screen, you can do lots of other things like pay
  attention in a meeting or interview, watch a presentation in a
  darkened room, drive your car (apparently), or who knows what
  else. As you grow more proficient with the chord keyboard, your
  speed will improve and you won't have to concentrate as much on
  remembering the chords. This is not to imply that the miniBAT's
  chord keyboard is ideal, because if it was, I would have retired
  my extended Mac keyboard by now and my wrists would thank me.
  Being so small, the miniBAT's chord keys don't have positive
  tactile feedback, which makes them worse than mushy. I find it
  difficult to tell when I've actually pressed a chord at times,
  although I'm improving now that I have figured out to create the
  pattern in mid-air, and then "thwack" the proper keys. I'm waiting
  on the full BAT keyboards before I put the effort into
  transferring all my typing to a chord keyboard, and I'll be sure
  to write about them once I've tried them.

  The miniBAT accepts memory and program cards that expand its
  power, and can even take a fax modem or alphanumeric pager.
  However, it's too pricey at $595 for what it does right now,
  considering the price of the personal organizers and the DOS
  palmtops. The success of miniBAT will not come from sales, but
  from the experience that Infogrip has gained from it that will
  benefit future products. Given Infogrip's fast pace and innovative
  ideas, I'm sure that they will have even more original products
  out soon.

  If you are going to Macworld San Francisco, you may be able to ask
  them yourself, since Infogrip will be there showing off the BAT
  for the Mac as well as other cool stuff for ergonomic computing.
  Check them out at Booth 5323 in Brooks Hall.

    Infogrip Inc.
    812 North Boulevard
    Baton Rouge, LA 70802
    504/336-0033

    Reflection Technology -- 617/890-5905

  Information from:
    Ward Bond, Infogrip president
    miniBAT documentation
    Infogrip propaganda


Reviews/06-Jan-92
-----------------

* Macworld
    Desktop Publishing Programs -- pg. 208
      Aldus Personal Press
      Timeworks Publish It Easy 2.12
      Letraset ReadySetGo
      Applied Systems and Technologies MaxPage 1.2
      Aldus PageMaker 4.01
      QuarkXPress 3.0
      Letraset DesignStudio 2.0
      FrameMaker 3.0
      Ventura Publisher Macintosh Edition 3.2
    Page Layout Add-ons -- pg. 214
      (too many to list)
    Midrange Hard Disks -- pg. 218
      (too many to list)
    Email Programs -- pg. 235
      cc:Mail
      InBox
      Microsoft Mail 3.0
      QuickMail 2.5
      WordPerfect Office
    3D Modeling Programs -- pg. 246
      (too many to list)
    OneScanner -- pg. 256
    LaserScript LX -- pg. 257
    Macintosh PowerBook 170 -- pg. 258
    MarketPlace Business -- pg. 262
    Image Cataloging Programs -- pg. 264
      Mariah 1.06
      Multi-Ad Search 1.0
      PictureBook+ 1.0
    Fractal Design Painter 1.0 -- pg. 266
    Hard Disk Toolkit 1.0 -- pg. 273
    Help 1.0 -- pg. 273
    DynoDex 2.0.4 -- pg. 274
    Address Book Plus 2.0 -- pg. 274
    Acta 7 -- pg. 277
    Azimuth 2.0 -- pg. 277
    Earthquest Explores Ecology -- pg. 278
    Glider 4.0 -- pg. 278
    PageBrush Color for the Mac -- pg. 280
    Verbum Interactive 1.0 -- pg. 280
    Aqua Blooper Piper -- pg. 282
    3 In Three -- pg. 282
    Backmatic 2.01 -- pg. 284
    JMP 2.0 -- pg. 284
    Michelagniolo: Self Portrait -- pg. 287
    Instant Update 1.0 -- pg. 287
    Now Utilities 3.0.1 -- pg. 289
    CheckList 2.0 -- pg. 289
    OutNumbered 1.0 -- pg. 291
    EPS Exchange 1.01 -- pg. 291

* BYTE
    ClarisWorks -- pg. 48
    Claris Resolve -- pg. 273
    Tektronix Phaser III -- pg. 285

References:
    Macworld - Feb-92
    BYTE - Jan-92


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