BBS in a Box 7/BBS in a Box - Macintosh - Volume VII (BBS in a Box) (January 1993).iso/Files/Word/Md-Mz/MME-XPress.cpt/MME-XPress/XPress1 - TXT

Text File | 1986-11-23 | 45KB | 1,306 lines

MME-XPress

Vol.1, No.1    Saugus, Massachusetts         November 15, 1986



Hard Drive Group Purchase A Mega-Success!

by Jim McKee



The old Latin adage, "let the buyer beware" was extended to "the buyer
conquered!" as the result of a highly successful MME-sponsored group
buy of the DataFrame20 SCSI Hard Disk in September.  Twenty-five MME
users participated in the group purchase from the K.B. Company in
Dorchester, a local SuperMac Technologies distributor.  The
consolidated deal brought each user about $325 in savings over the list
price of the drive.

"Buying in large numbers like this is something that is now a real
possibility here on MME," said Mass. Mac & Electric SYSOP, Barr Plexico.
"With a current user base of close to 1000, we can now be assured of
getting at least 25 to 50 people to participate in these group
purchases."

Plexico noted that other electronic bulletin board systems around the
country have yet to become aware of their economic clout in the group
purchases area.  "We've just scratched the surface of the potential of
this kind of thing," Plexico said, "and MM&E users will be seeing many
more of these system-sponsored group-buys in the future."

Another possibility pointed out by the MM&E SYSOP was the power of
various BBS's around the country doing networking in the group
purchase arena.  "If several different systems would expend the energy
to do a multi-system group purchase, for example, 1000 copies of a
major software release, imagine what the savings to individual buyers
could be."  He noted that a successful multi-system purchase of this
kind would entail considerable effort on at least one individual's part.
"It takes a lot of research, a lot of time on the phone with distributors,
and a real determination to pull the thing off."

Plexico emphasized that, "It requires staying in constant touch with
users, feeding them information as it comes in, and acting like a
cheerleader of sorts.  In our own group-buy, which took about two
months to complete, we had to encourage users to not jump ship and
make individual purchases.  This was especially difficult with the
pressure of the MacExposition in town during August, an event which
stimulates people to buy, buy, buy!"

Plexico expressed his appreciation to everyone involved in the planning
and successful completion of this first MM&E-sponsored group
purchase, organizers and buyers alike.











PC Pursuit: It May Not Be For Everyone

by Eric Larson



PC Pursuit is a telecommunications service offered by GTE's Telenet
operations. It allows long distance data only calls originating from any
Telenet node to one of 14 major metropolitan areas evenings and
weekends. The service costs $25/month with a $25 sign-up fee.
Currently 1200 and 300 bps data transfer rates are supported. Data
transfer occurs over Telenet's X.25 network. Service during business
hours is available at an hourly rate. Customer support is offered
through Telenet's own BBS at 1-800-835-3001, through customer
service representatives, and through the Net-Exchange BBS at
1-202-689-3561 (available through PC Pursuit).



How does it work?

Users dial up their local Telenet node and enter a series of commands
to choose the target city. Then the user enters his account number and
password and is connected to the target city modem. The user can then
issue a series of Hayes-type dialing commands to dial BBS's in the
target city. The entire procedure is very easy to automate with
programs such as Red Ryder.

A sample Red Ryder procedure to dial MME on PC Pursuit would be:



PAUSE

(TOP)

TYPE C

DIAL617/12,YOURNAME^M

PROMPT =

TYPE YOURIDNUMBER^M

ALERT1 01/JUMPTO (TOP)

ALERT2 D2/JUMPTO (TOP)

ALERT3 D0/JUMPTO (TOP)

PROMPT TED

BELL

TYPE ATZ^M

PROMPT OK

(LOOP)

TYPE ATDT2312810^M

ALERT1 BUSY/JUMPTO (LOOP)

PROMPT NECT

(BELL)

BELL

JUMPTO (BELL)



How well does it work?

PC Pursuit has some significant limitations and problems. The worst of
these problems revolves around the very nature of the Telenet network.
Telenet is a time-sharing network which sends packets of information
in each user's time frame. This system works very poorly with Xmodem
file transfers as the return ACK or NAK does not efficiently use the
packet size available. The end result is that Xmodem file transfers
occur at the rate of about 20 blocks/minute.

There are two ways to work around this problem. The first is to use
variations on the Xmodem protocol collectively known as "turbo"
downloading. This system was first devised to work with Compuserve
as it suffers from the same time sharing problems that Telenet does.
Turbo Xmodem transfers work by sending the ACK before the block is
actually received. This causes the sending system to send a steady
stream of data, and with PC Pursuit results in Xmodem file transfers at
normal 1200 bps speeds. The problem with this is that if a
transmission error occurs the file is lost because error recovery and
block retransmission cannot occur. In addition this protocol can only be
used for downloads.

My experience is that the success or failure of a transfer of this type
depends on the file size and the line noise on a given connection. The PC
Pursuit lines themselves are quite error free. In general files less than
300 blocks can be transferred with about an 80% success rate, up to
500 blocks at a 50-60% success rate and much above 500 blocks -
forget it! With the typical BBS time limit of 1 hour and a data transfer
rate of 20 blocks/minute this means that there is a practical limit to
the size of a file that can be transferred of 1100-1200 blocks on PC
Pursuit by Xmodem.

The other work-around to the Xmodem problem is to use a protocol like
Ymodem. Because of Ymodem's larger block size file transfers using
full error checking are possible at speeds within 90% of those
obtainable over normal phone lines. The difficulty here is that most of
Mac BBS's use either Fido or Red Ryder Host, which do not support
Ymodem. MME is one of the rare exceptions to this as it runs PC BOARD
which does support Ymodem. In addition there is only one Macintosh
terminal program which supports Ymodem, Microphone.



Support

In my dealings with Telenet's customer representatives I have found
them readily available and quite helpful in answering my questions. In
addition Telenet moved quite quickly in adding more lines to cities that
became congested when the service was expanded.

The documentation that the user receives when he signs up with PC
Pursuit is pathetic, consisting of merely a list of available nodes and
target cities, a one page command summary and a letter suggesting
that protocols other than Xmodem will perform better over the
network. As a result PC Pursuit users are forced to scramble for
tidbits of information about the service on various BBS's. This lack of
documentation is the area where GTE deserves the most criticism.



Value

Given the low monthly cost and unlimited use PC Pursuit can be
considered a good value if you are a modem junkie using terminal
software with scripting capabilities. Anything less will have a tough
time punching through to your favorite BBS on PC Pursuit. If your long
distance bill is greater than $50 per month (or would be if you could
afford it) and you dial mostly large metropolitan areas this service
would be of benefit to you. If your primary purpose is transferal of
files greater than 100k in size or you are happy with your local BBS
this service is not for you.

There are many fine BBS's, but time doesn't permit me to use them all.
See the inset for the ones that keep me more than satisfied with
rumors, information and the latest software goodies.



Outlook

Telenet has promised more cities and 2400 bps will be added to the
network RSN. Fido version 12 is in beta testing and is rumored to
support Ymodem. Scott Watson has told me that he considering either
Ymodem or Zmodem for the next versions of Red Ryder and Red Ryder
Host.

Information posted on the Net Exchange BBS indicates that PC Pursuit
will be expanding to about 25 target cities at about the time you read
this. New modems supporting 2400 bps and improved command sets are
under test now, and subscribers can experiment with them in the
Washington D. C. area.

PC Pursuit is experiencing a few technical problems with the new
modems, so implementation of 2400 bps may be delayed until these
problems are corrected. The Net Exchange BBS will continue to be the
source of the most up-to-date information. BBS software and terminal
programs will support protocols which use PC Pursuit's time sharing
more efficiently as the user base grows. Glitches in the service will
still exist, making it frustrating for the casual user. For the power
user the need to supplement PC Pursuit with other services such as
Compuserve will gradually disappear, making it a most attractive
value.



© 1986, Eric H. Larson

The author can be reached on the MME BBS









QuickDraws

by Jim McKee





Subscriptions Taking Off!



Since initiating the MME Subscription program last summer, over 100
MME users have taken the plunge, sent in their annual $15 donation, and
are now enjoying the benefits of subscribing to MME.

First and foremost is easier access to the system, which has had a
subscriber only node in service for the past 5 months. This allows
subscribers to dial up the 231-2810 number and be connected on
whichever of the two nodes is then free. Downloading by subscribers is
permitted on either node. Non-subscribers can get their normal access
to the system only via the 231-2872 line, and may not download from
the subscriber-only node.

As the number of subscribers has increased, so has difficulty in
accessing the system, even on the subscriber-only node. As a result, a
third line will be added in January, 1987, and it will be exclusively for
subscribers. In addition to easier access and more daily time,
subscribers also receive the MME-XPRESS via  mail.





Welcome Back Brad!



Brad Vautrinot, a veteran MME supporter, has returned to Boston after a
several month venture into the hinterlands of Arizona. Sysop, Barr
Plexico, immediately reinstated Brad as MME's Security Chief (a
meaningless title, but it makes Barr feel a little more secure), a post
he had held for a year prior to leaving Boston last spring. Brad was in
attendance at the October MME Executive Committee meeting, and
looked in grand shape. Users will find Brad very responsive to queries
about Mac software, so feel free to send along your questions to him
on-line. Welcome back, Brad! Good to have you back in the MME fold.





MME Expo Tag Contest Winner!



Robert Silva was the winner of this year's MME Expo Tag Contest. The
annual event on MME seeks the best designed identifying graphic for
system users to wear at the Boston MacWorld Expo as an aid in meeting
one another. Eric's design was one of only four submitted. There was a
disappointing response to the contest this year in contrast to last
year's which saw a dozen entrants.





DataFrame Backup Utility Buggy



There have been a number of reports of bugs in the release version of
the DataFrame Hard Drive backup utility. Several users experienced
system bombs during the backup procedure. In addition, it seems that
when restoring the drive from the backup files, the modification date
in all documents is changed to the restoration date. Nate Goldshlag, one
of MME's resident software experts, reports that HFS BackUp, another
commercial hard drive utility, does not alter documents' modification
dates on restoration, but can produce problems if single files are
deselected during an incremental backup procedure.

On a more positive note, the release (3.1d) version of the DataFrame
Print Spooler seems to be working fine. No serious problems have been
reported on the board. Users should feel free to post their questions and
reviews about these programs on the Main Board.



Current Macintosh System Files Versions

For those of you who don't subscribe to the various Mac-publications,
and don't have a knowledgable dealer, keeping up on the latest
Macintosh system files versions can be an arduous task. Here, FYI, are
the latest versions of the files needed to get the most out of your
software/hardware.



Filename    Current Version



System        3.2

Finder        5.3

Font/DA Mover    3.2

ImageWriter    2.3

LaserPrep    3.1

LaserWriter    3.1

AppleTalk
  ImageWriter    2.3

Hard Disk 20    1.1











From The Editor's File

by Jim McKee



Who ever imagined when the first Macintoshes rolled off the assembly
line back in 1984 that this small wonder would create the kind of
excitement, user interest (some would say “obsession”) and industry
shakeup that it has? Those of us who have been observers of the
Macintosh's evolution since the “early days” have watched in
amazement the parallel developments of both the machine and the
multitude of peripherals and software products that make it perform
its magic. It has been one helluva fantastic show!

Evolution is a natural and necessary process. Until a living thing has
developed to the point where it can comfortably exist in its
environment without succumbing to predators or natural forces, it
must evolve or go the way of the do-do bird.

Like living things, the Macintosh, has had to evolve to remain viable in
the marketplace. And, it's safe to say that this evolutionary process
has been stimulated as much by users' excitement and interest as it has
by the bottom line — profits. “Big Blue” hasn't kept abreast of users'
needs, and, let's face it, it's the rare PC owner who feels any
excitement about the machine. And, can we talk plunging stock prices
here?

Mass. Mac & Electric has had to evolve too. Scores of BBS's have come
and gone in the Boston area and around the country during the eighteen
months MME has been online. To our benefit, and to some people's
surprise, MME has not only survived, but has evolved considerably in its
still short life. And, what I've been pondering these past few days is
“Why?”

In "The Sysop's Corner" in this Flagship Edition of the XPress, Barr talks
about the evolution of MME from what was essentially a download board
to a “community of users.” Without a doubt, most successful BBS's have
followed this same course. MAUG on Compuserve would not have grown
to what it is today had it not been for individual Macintosh users
joining with one another in the search for answers. The sharing of ideas
and the exchange of information are central in the building of a
community.

As I look back over my own evolution as a “Macintosh'er”, I am struck
by the similarities in mine and MME's development. For the first year I
owned my Mac, I was continually fascinated by and lived in a state of
high expectation for every new software release and hardware
improvement. I was registered on Compuserve and about 30 BBS's
around the country. I downloaded everything I could. I sure as hell didn't
use my precious online time plodding through the message areas.
Straight to the files sections, and full speed ahead! I read MacWorld
feverishly. I got my 512K upgrade. The 1200bps modem came next. My
storage disks were filled with every imaginable program. I remember
one weekend “Macintosh binge” when I tackled MS-Word, Chart, File,
Multiplan and Basic — cutting, pasting, searching, paginating, saving,
stringing, switching, linking, clipping, justifying, inputing, formatting,
and printing. I stared at my screen in amazement until 4 in the morning,
watching the Mac do its thing. I couldn't get enough. I imagined myself
becoming a “power user.”

But my delusion of being a “power user” did not last very long. I came
to realize that mastering the menus in programs does not a “power
user” make. Ninety percent of the applications on my storage disks
began to sit idle, collecting electronic dust. MacPaint no longer thrilled
me, I didn't need a spreadsheet, and the stuff I was doing with File
could have more easily been done on index cards. Beyond writing a term
paper, some television scripts for school projects, and an occasional
letter, I had not produced anything important. All of my diddling on the
machine for hours on end and nothing to show for it. For me, it had been
a toy. And an expensive toy at that!

In reality, I hadn't discovered the limits of the Mac. Instead, I had come
up against the brick wall of my own limited posture toward the
machine. I had been entertaining myself with programs rather than
using them. I had been playing with tools rather than applying them to
do my work. I hadn't yet made the leap from watching the Mac do its
tricks to making it do my tricks.

Right now, I don't need anymore applications. To coin a phrase, I am
“application toxic.” What I am down to is the very difficult and
nitty-gritty work of harnessing my creativity, formulating my ideas,
and learning to value what it is that I do well. The Mac simply makes it
easier for me to communicate all of that. I have enough tools at my
disposal to put most any of my ideas into an effective package. Perhaps
a “plain vanilla” machine like the PC would have forced this issue
earlier. I'm sure my excitement about function keys and multi-tasking
would have worn thin long before my fascination with the enormous
graphics capabilities of the Mac began to wane.

MME's evolution from a download board to a community of users has
followed a similar path. The most important aspect of the board for me
now is the interaction (albeit, electronic) between users. Ideas are
communicated, information is shared, help is given. For example, the
development of this newsletter from the idea stage to a visual reality
took many months, lots of work, many frustrations, and enormous
effort on the part of several people. MME and the Mac were two of the
tools we used to make it happen. And what powerful tools they are!

Whether MME continues to evolve will depend entirely on users making
the effort to contribute their ideas, their creativity, their energy. The
recent initiation of the Desktop Publishing Conference is one of the
ways MME provides the tool; users must make it work. Likewise this
newsletter. It belongs to you, the people of MME. We want it to be a
vehicle for your ideas, your creative energies. We'd like to hear, for
example, what you are doing with your Mac, how you use it to be
productive. How you make your Mac work for you.

Whether The MME-XPress evolves is up to you. We can't compete with
MacWorld, MacUser and Macazine. We won't be duplicating their
functions in the Macintosh world. Their budgets, expertise and profit
motive place them on a whole different plane than the XPress.

So, we need to make the XPress something different, something unique,
a tool to serve us. I think that if we use it to share our ideas, express
our creativity and give something of ourselves to one another, we'll all
be true “power users”—applying the power of the tool to help our
community grow and evolve.











Hot Time In the Ole Mac Tonight

by Darrell Jan



Question: When does a Macintosh smell like a Chinese meal?



Answer: When its power supply is burning up.



I personally discovered the answer to this riddle one day last year, a
day which happened to fall a couple months after the warranty to my
512k Mac had expired.  I had been happily doing  routine
word-processing, and I turned away from the machine to look up an
article. I was engrossed in a journal when a familiar odor distracted
me.  "The neighbors next door must be cooking Chinese food," I thought
to myself.  I heard a sizzling noise. "Sounds like fried food."



Into the Oven

I turned back to my work.  But why was my screen blank? And that
sizzling noise, it's not from outside, it's from inside my computer!

So began the first of five experiences with Macintosh power supply
failures.  Problems with the Mac power supply, or analog board, are
anecdotal but well known.  A user of BYTE magazine's bulletin board
network, BIX, reported needing three analog board replacements on his
Mac Plus.  At the October meeting of the Boston Computer Society
Macintosh group, a show of hands revealed that about 20% of Mac
owners there had experienced power supply problems.

An Apple serviceman told me that there would be a delay  in repairing
my power supply for the third time - he had a waiting list of 10 others
ahead of me.  And finally, a fellow at the Boston MacWorld expo was
reported to be wearing both a failed power supply board and a sign
around his neck that read: "26% power supply failure rate on Mac
Plus--Is this quality?"







Main Ingredient:

 Poor Design

Why do Mac power supplies have such poor reliability?  Part of the
reason is that to fulfill the dream of Steve Jobs, the Mac was not
allowed to be designed with a noisy fan.  Instead, several vents are
located to allow cooling by natural convection: room air is drawn in at
the bottom and heated by the electronics, which causes the warmed air
to rise buoyantly out the top.  This design allows the Mac to function
without overheating, but without much of a margin of safety.  Almost
every third party memory modification increases the heat buildup and
requires the addition of a fan.

But what's wrong with having a fan? Or for that matter, what's wrong
with not having a fan? After all, solid state television and stereo
equipment can consume several times the power of a Mac and no one
expects to see a fan.  One might argue that computer circuits are much
more compact, thus exposing less surface area for heat transfer.  But
with a little engineering ingenuity,  why shouldn't it be possible to
create a fanless design?

This leads us to the rest of the problem:  Heat dissipation is a
mechanical engineering problem, not well understood by the electrical
engineers who run computer companies.  But in Silicon Valley,
mechanical engineers, as Rodney Dangerfield might say, just don't get
no respect.  "I think of mechanical engineering as really an ancillary
sort of thing," says Dr. David Gold, former technical consultant, in the
Boston Globe.  So we consumers are left with low quality designs that
are either mindless quick-and-dirty solutions, like installing a bigger
fan, or are simply unreliable, like the Macintosh.



Cooling Down

To finish off my own story, after experiencing 4 power supply failures
in my Mac Plus (the last one blew 3 days after installation), I refused
to accept another repair, insisting that they were not fixing the real
problem.  My dealer was sympathetic and agreed to replace it with a
new machine.  He may even be paying for it himself, for at last report
the stubborn dealer support group at Apple wanted to replace the power
supply  yet again.

It's too soon to tell if  I'm better off.  And often repairs do work; that
512k Mac is now running fine with a new power board (it also now has a
fan).  Other friends report using their Macs in 90 degree heat for hours
with no problem.  I just hope that my Macintosh continues to function
as a Macintosh, and doesn't cook itself—like my previous machine—into
a chop-suey.



© 1986, Darrell Jan.

Darrell Jan is a frequent contributor of graphics to MME.  He received
his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1986.



EDITOR'S NOTE:  Not all power supply problems will necessitate the
repair or replacement of the power supply board on the Mac.  Last
summer I was experiencing severe screen flutter/flash problems on an
intermittent basis.

Every Apple dealer I spoke with wanted to replace the entire board (it
was not under Apple Care).  Instead, I took my machine to Frank Burke
at the K.B. Company in Dorchester, who simply adjusted the voltage to
it's proper level, and the screen is now fine. If your machine is not
under warranty or a service plan, have it checked-out first by a
technician you trust before having the entire power supply replaced.
-JM











The Sysop's Corner

by Barr Plexico



I am sitting here in the middle of my twelfth rewrite of this article,
due long ago. It was difficult to choose a topic to lead-off our Flagship
Edition of the MME-XPRESS. But, what follows seemed to be the most
appropriate: MME's past, present, and a glimpse at its future.

I can't recall the original premise for the founding of MME, but surely it
was a combination of enthusiasm, boredom, and ego. It certainly has
been a most interesting process, going from an initial setup on a 512k
Macintosh with one 400k external drive, running Mouse Exchange
software under the name Mac-Saugus, to our present set-up on an IBM
PC-XT with two nodes and a 32Mb. hard drive. During the past eighteen
months a lot of users have come and gone. But a core has remained
which has helped develop the board to its current status.

Initially, as on most BBS systems the focus was on the files
directories. This this was back in the "dark ages" of the Macintosh,
when software was scarce. Gradually, though, there has been a
noticeable shift from the system being used mostly as a file resource
library, to that of a mixed system with heavy message activity as well.
People take advantage of the fact there are many knowledgeable users
on-line, who can help them with various problems they might be
experiencing. Other users share their experiences and ideas, creating a
real people-based library of information and assistance, which is
available to all.

We have all heard complaints about, and many of us have experienced
the frustrations involved in trying to get up-to-date and accurate
information on hardware and software compatibilities. Dealers are
often at the very end of the chain of information dissemination in the
Macintosh world.

But, on MME, users have virtually instant access to the latest facts and
figures on the Macintosh and its related products. Users trust and seek
information from other users, and this process of information sharing
is at the very heart of MME's success. We have congealed as a local
community at MME—an electronic community in process, but a human
community in function. And MME has developed as a key player in the
nationwide Macintosh community of users.

It is only in the past six months that we began to make serious plans
for the expansion of the system, and the services offered by it. For that
reason we began a subscription policy on the board, allowing continued
free access to one node, and making the other available only to
subscribers of the system. The goal was, and is, to generate funds for
the purchase of new equipment, to increase the speed of the system,
the storage capacity, and lastly to add a third node to the system, to
handle the large daily traffic. These goals are soon to become reality as
we plan to have most of the new equipment by the beginning of January
1987.

We began to explore new terrain as well this year. Among the highlights
was an MME-sponsored purchase of Dataframe hard drives, the first of a
series of MME Soirees, which gave many users a chance to finally meet
one another face to face (we won't mention the Amaretto dip), and now
this, the first edition of the MME-XPRESS. There were the usual flops as
well, including the infamous 2nd Annual MME Mac Expo Tag Contest,
winners of which were picked one week *after* the Expo, and the
short-lived Satellite-1, a sister BBS, which due to incredible line noise
never made it out of the starting gate.

But, in spite of our failures, we will continue to remain tuned-in to the
needs and interests of our users. During November our new DeskTop
Publishing Conference will be inaugurated, with the purpose of
providing a forum for the exchange of technical and aesthetic
information relevant to this mushrooming new activity in the
Macintosh world. And users can look forward to our next MME Soireé in
December, another chance to meet and shake hands with some of the
terrific folks who make MME the premier Macintosh BBS in New England.

Needless to say this has not been a one man show. In fact other then
getting the ball rolling, and maintaining the actual system, I have done
little more then provide a forum. It is the users of the system who have
made MME what it is today. They are the ones who have helped shaped
its character, and have enabled us to grow with them. Many of the
ideas, and events were conceived and implemented by them, and this is
really what MME is all about, a community of users working together
for the benefit of all.

As I begin my sign-off I would like to tip my hat to Jim McKee. Without
his dedication (some might call it a love affair), this newsletter would
never have gotten off the ground. If one of our corporate accounts hadn't
been embezzled by a former employee, we would have sent him on a
nice vacation to Tahiti. I do hope this edition will inspire other users
to become involved, and perhaps join us for the next one. Help us make
it better!

Cheers and happy holidays from the Executive Committee at Mass. Mac &
Electric.



Barr Plexico is the System Operator of Mass. Mac & Electric, as well as
a helluva nice guy.









A Review of Double Helix

by Eric Larson



Double Helix is a database manager with unusual features. It operates
in highly visual modes, using and sometimes abusing the Macintosh user
interface to present the concepts of relational database management in
a highly interactive, graphical fashion. It has extreme flexibility in the
way it allows the user to specify and store data in its data fields. It
also makes full use of the screen, Laserwriter and Imagewriter
formatting capabilities allowing multiple fonts to be used along with
embedded graphics.



What is a database?

A database is a program which is used to store large quantities of data
in a structured way allowing for quick retrieval and manipulation.
Positive characteristics are speed, organizational flexibility,
mechanisms for assuring data integrity, formatting flexibility,
programming power and ease of use.

Speed is typically measured in the time taken to retrieve an indexed
record, at least in manufacturer’s hyperbole. However, just about all
database programs do at least an acceptable job at this, and it is really
factors like how long it takes to generate a complex report that are
important.

Organizational flexibility has to do with the types and amounts of data
that can be stored in a database record, and how the relationships
between the records are defined. Flexibility can be seen in the limits on
the numbers of fields and the numbers of characters that can be stored
in a field. Relationships between the fields fall into three broad
classes - hierarchal, relational and flat. These types of relationships
define the class and power of the database program.

Hierarchal file systems are rarely implemented on microcomputers.
Relational implies that sets of fields can be made to interact in
various ways to generate summaries of the data in the database. These
interactions fall into three main classes, one to one, one to many and
many to many.

How completely the database implements these relationships has a
great deal to do with the power of the system. Flat files do not allow
interaction between sets of fields. The biggest advantage of the
hierarchal and relational structures over the flat file is the
elimination of the need to store great amounts of redundant data.

Mechanisms for assuring data integrity include generation of audit
trails, comparison of data with previous versions of the file, hardware
error detection and correction, input validation and the like. A database
used for accounting or financial work it is often set up so that the
deletion of a record is impossible, and all corrections occur as
additional records in the database. Multiple copies of the data are kept,
and when report generation occurs, multiple copies of reports
generated from the supposedly identical files are compared.

Formatting flexibility allows the user to view his report in any of a
multitude of ways. This may be important for applications where the
database is used to generate form letters or is used for financial
modeling where the results must be presented in tabular form.

Programming power refers to the facilities which allow the user to
generate applications that operate quickly and are easy to train staff
to use. Important are a rich set of operations, error detection and
support from the vendor.



How does Double Helix stack-up?

The best feature of Double Helix is its formatting flexibility. Multiple
fonts, formatted fields and flexible print out capabilities are take
advantage of all the Macintosh has to offer. In addition DH extends the
print options typically available through the use of a menu which
allows the user to select from dozens of common form and label sizes.
The only thing missing is the ability to let the user define his own form
size. Field sizes are limited to 32,000 characters, a limit not many
will even approach. Field types include text, boolean, number, date and
picture. Field length is variable, and in fact cannot even be fixed by the
user.

The number of fields in a relation is limited only by the speed of the
software and hardware. This allows great flexibility in setting up
databases for form letters and stock memos, as well as allocation of
generous space for comment fields. Odesta's implementation of the
graphics interface is a powerful tool for designing report formats and
input screens. The only formatting feature that I miss is the inability
to easily print page numbers in a long report. This has been promised
for a future release.

Searching on indexed fields is acceptably fast. Generation of reports
can be slow depending on the structure of the data. Each release of
Helix and now DH has resulted in significant increases in speed, and
now with the 128K ROMS, 1MB RAM machines and SCSI disk drives DH is
acceptably fast for most applications. Future generations of Macintosh
hardware should further improve DH's range of applicability.

Helix does not support a programming language per se, but relies on
definitions of the relationships between the various objects in the
database using its icon oriented definitions. This works quite well
except in the area of defining relations between files for producing a
complex report. An optional programming language interface or a
clearer iconic representation of these functions would do much to
extend the value of DH for applications of this type.

Because of the flexibility of Helix, definition of procedures allowing
recording of audit trails should be possible. Error detection, especially
on field entry is very good. However these features must be
implemented by the user. More advanced systems include automatic
generation of audit trails. Less good is error handling by the program.
Helix appears to use a non-write through cache, resulting in data loss
when a system error occurs.

Unfortunately DH appears to be a rather fussy program, not tolerating
any memory stealing such as caches, Autoblack or others on 512K
machines. The rule with this program is to backup frequently.
Fortunately Helix allows automatic save-to-disk from one of the
program menus.

Double Helix is the first version of Helix which allows true relational
file manipulations through its new list feature. Previous versions did
not allow one-to-many and many-to-many relations, so they did not
qualify as relational databases in the classical sense.





Support from the vendor is very good with free mailings of updates, a
very capable support staff and various optional support programs. The
Helix family of products used to be the best supported Macintosh
software in existence, however a new policy requiring payment of a fee
for assistance in file design questions reduces the value of Odesta's
support to the user. Also available is an independent Helix newsletter
with hints, tips and example templates complete with offerings from
vertical market developers.

Helix documentation leaves something to be desired for the experienced
user. Odesta has chosen to try to insulate the user from the commonly
used terminology of database design, and the result is a manual that
may superficially look good, but when serious use of the program is
attempted becomes confusing due to the lack of precise terminology.
Odesta should devote a large section of the manual to a technical
discussion of the capabilities of DH, how to wring the most speed from
the system, and how to implement the commonly used relational models
in unambiguous language.

Also needed is a discussion of the factors that cause DH to generate
system errors, and how to avoid them. One the biggest complaints I
have against software vendors is when they offer a complex package
like DH they often fail to document it completely and in precise
language and then complain about technical support costs.

Conclusion

Double Helix is ideal for use in applications where maximum data
storage or report design flexibility is needed. DH is the best application
I am aware of for generation of sophisticated form letters and similar
reports where formatting requirements are important. If your
requirement is for a computationally intensive database with heavy use
of relational features then DH's lack of speed may make it unsuitable.

The single greatest fault in DH is its tendency to crash and that it will
often corrupt the database when a crash occurs. This imposes a great
deal of inconvenience on the user who must back up everything
frequently. For a large database these backups can be time consuming.
Odesta needs to fortify DH so either the program is much less liable to
crash, or the open database is not damaged when a crash occurs.

The implementation of user definable menus and the ability to insulate
the user from the database design is a major step forward in making DH
suitable for business use. Full relational capabilities also help.
Program instability on a 512k machine is a major detriment.
Performance (speed) is usually acceptable given the 128K ROMs and a
hard disk.

For business uses I would recommend a Mac Plus and an external SCSI
drive. This combination gives DH a lot of RAM to work with (it will use
all that is available) which will make it a much more stable program.
The SCSI drive will dramatically improve data access speed and speed
up the frequently required backups, and the 128K ROMs will speed up
the drawing of DH's complex graphics displays. I have not run DH on
1MB+ machines so I do not know if further performance improvements
will occur, but I would expect so.

One area that augers to expand the usefulness of Double Helix to the
business user are various enhancements to the Helix family of
programs be planned, such as Run-Time Helix, MultiUser Helix, Helix
VMX (runs on a host VAX) and Remote Helix. The expansion of Helix into
a family of programs may make it a dominant product in the Macintosh
database market.



©1986 by Eric Larson

The author can be reached on the MME BBS 617-231-2872











Optimize Your Hard Drive and Floppies With : DISK EXPRESS

by Andrew Shalit



Disk Express is a neat little utility for optimizing all forms of disk
storage. While it may catch the eye of more hard disk users, it can
actually be just as valuable for floppy disk users. The main function of
Disk Express is to reduce fragmentation. In addition it can compress
the desktop file, verify media and directory integrity, prioritize files
on disk, and physically erase deleted files.

A file is fragmented when it is not recorded along contiguous blocks on
the disk. If you record a file, and there is no empty spot on disk large
enough to fit the whole thing, the file will be broken up into smaller
pieces scattered throughout the disk. This can (at least theoretically)
slow down access to the file; the drive–head has to move around more,
do more seeking, to get at all of the file. By reading all the files off a
disk, and rewriting them intelligently, Disk Express can completely
eliminate fragmentation. Surprisingly, simply copying the entire disk
with the Finder doesn't necessarily reduce fragmentation. It may even
increase it. Unfortunately, this type of optimization doesn't seem to do
a whole lot. I tried Disk Express in a couple situations, and
optimization never resulted in noticeable speed increases. I optimized
an Apple HD20 that had 12mb full, and also a floppy disk that was about
780K full. It's easy to understand why the optimization didn't help much
on the hard disk: with 8 meg free, there's probably not much
fragmentation (according to Disk Express, 14% of the files were
fragmented). However, the floppy disk I optimized had almost 50%
fragmented files, and there was still no noticeable increase in speed
when the optimization was done and fragmentation reduced to zero. (Of
course, it is possible that the 5 files on the floppy disk I tried out
weren't among the fragmented ones. But, considering they were copied
to the disk last, when there was very little space left, I think they
probably were fragmented.)





In spite of this, there are a few things that make Disk Express useful.
Chief among these is it's ability to intelligently clean up the desk–top
file, throwing out unneeded icons and recovering space. It can also
recover blocks which somehow get lost by the Macintosh directory
system (this does happen). If you're big on security, Disk Express can
also physically erase any files which have been trashed, so that they
can't be recovered and looked at by spies who know how to use FEdit.

My favorite feature of Disk Express, however, is its interface. Instead
of giving you a silly little standard file dialog box, or a blank screen,
Disk Express gives you a Macintosh desktop, just like the one you get
when you go into the Finder. You put in disks, and they appear on the
desktop. When you open up a disk, instead of seeing files and folders,
you see information about the disk, and check–boxes for the various
things Disk Express can do. If you want more information, just click the
'more info' button; Disk Express will check fragmentation, directory
integrity, and calculate how much work it will have to do to optimize
the disk (see figure 1). When you choose 'more info' Disk Express warns
you that its figuring might take a little while. It's not kidding! Floppies
don't take too long, but with a hard disk the process can take five to ten
minutes.





The only step left is choosing which options you want to perform, and
then putting your disk through the ringer. (Make sure you have back–ups
first! You never know what could happen.) The options are chosen
through simple check boxes. Actually performing the disk operations
can take a very long time. We're talking ten minutes for a double–sided
floppy, and about an hour for a 20 meg hard disk. Make sure you have
something else to do while your disk is being expressed! Disk Express
does have some extremely cute animated icons, and a counter showing
what percentage of each task has been completed (see figure 2). But
still, the process is nothing you want to sit and watch for more than a
minute or two.





In the end you have a thoroughly cleaned up disk (see figure 3). The
features that I see as most useful are the desktop compaction, and the
disk/directory verification features. In spite of its claims, the
de-fragmentation didn't really seem to do a whole lot. Thirty dollars
isn't a whole lot of money, it may be worth that much just to see such a
pretty program. But if you're looking for great performance increases,
you may want to put your money towards something else.







Mass. Mac & Electric

New England's Premier Macintosh BBS/User Group

Salutes Our 1986-87 Subscribers:



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End of Part 1