Display article   Subject:  May 1992
   04/30/97   19:56:11


TANDY USER GROUP NEWSLETTER..............................MAY 1992

Material contained herein may be reproduced in whole or in part
in user group newsletters.  Please quote source as Tandy
Corporation/Radio Shack.  The company cannot be responsible for
inaccuracies or for information which changes prior to or after
publication.

Send questions/suggestions to:  Ed Juge, Director of Market
Planning, Radio Shack, 700 One Tandy Center, Fort Worth, TX
76102.



Windows 3.1

Most of you probably had Windows 3.1 installed weeks before I
did, so this may be preaching to the choir.  I was
(unintentionally) late making the switch.  Any Windows users
among you who haven't tried 3.1 should do so.  A most impressive
difference is in the speed of printing with TrueType fonts.  That
improvement alone is worth the upgrade price.  Documents that
once hesitated 45 seconds before printing now start in five to 10
seconds.  The variety of TrueType fonts packaged with 3.1 is
somewhat limited, but Microsoft offers an add-on package with 44
additional fonts.  This month's newsletter is done entirely in
TrueType fonts.  This text is Bookman Old Style 11 pt.

There is also a third party TrueType package called Typecase from
SWFTE International, Ltd., that includes more than 125 fonts.
These two packages provide more font variety than you'll probably
ever need.  As you no doubt know, every font provider has his or
her own fonts resembling old standbys like Times Roman and
Helvetica.  Due to trademark issues, they all have their own
unique names.  Helvetica, for example, is matched closely by
Bitstream's Dutch, Win 3.1's Arial, and so on.

Win 3.1 is somewhat faster than 3.0 in many areas, and program
manager sports a new and very functional design.  Everybody's
favorite, the ubiquitous Unrecoverable Application Error has been
renamed General Protection Fault and no longer crashes your
entire system.  When an application does have an error -- and
they happen much more infrequently -- all that must be closed
down is the one errant application.  Windows and any other open
applications usually survive and continue without interruption.
Of course the new 3.1 version includes the required drivers for
multimedia operation.  It's a winner.


Notebook Computing

You can't tell I'm a believer in notebook PCs, can you?  A couple
of months ago, I told you about the neat BallPoint Mouse, and how
nice it is for running Windows applications on a portable in a
cramped location.  This month, I'd like to suggest another really
neat mouse alternative.

If you're going to work with Windows applications for an hour or
two, you'll probably want to use the BallPoint or a mouse.  But
in the real world, it is very common to make occasional quick
notes, or changes in a spreadsheet.  Many such changes can be
made in less time than it takes to drag out and put away your
favorite rodent.

The ideal solution is a program from Abacus, called NoMouse (not
currently available from Radio Shack stores).  This small
utility takes up only 158K of hard disk space, and installs on
your desktop.  Click on it, and your cursor keys control your
mouse pointer.  SHIFT with a cursor key slows the movement for
really fine positioning accuracy.  The INSERT and DELETE keys
serve as the left and right mouse button, but you can redefine
these and other "hot keys" to your convenience.

If you need to use the cursor keys for their normal function,
like moving between spreadsheet cells, just hit
CTRL-ALT-SPACEBAR, and NoMouse toggles on and off.  NoMouse is
without a doubt one of the nicest utilities I've found for
portable operation.


Adding 5 1/4" Drives to Your 2500 SX/20 or 2500 SX/25

You've made the 2500 computer family a best seller!  This should
not come as a surprise to anyone who has used one... it's a hot
performer and priced right.

Many of you may be adding older 5 1/4" floppy drives to your 2500
SXs.  Occasionally, the power cable that connects to the drive
may be too short.  If you have this problem, order a cable
extender, Cat. No. 278-767.  It will replace your present cable.


Video RAM Upgrades

Many late Tandy computers support Super VGA, and come with 512K
of video RAM.  Video RAM is upgradable to 1 MB by using 70 ns,
256x4 DRAMS.  Your local Radio Shack store can special order
these chips for you... they are not a store-stocked item.  Be
aware, however, that you may not need them!

The 512K VRAM configuration will allow 800 x 600 x 16-color
resolution on a VGM-440 monitor.  Lesser monitors won't support
this mode.  800 x 600 is about as dense as you can use in most
applications without eyestrain.  If you're into hi-resolution
photographic images, and you want higher resolutions and more
colors, then this upgrade is for you.


Tandy Diskettes Upgraded

Not upgraded in quality... they are already the best we can
obtain.  But they have been reduced in price from 36 to 50% (in
keeping with our Fifteenth Anniversary PC Strategy), they're now
preformatted, and carry a lifetime warranty!  Easier to use and
guaranteed for your lifetime -- How can you go wrong?


Bundled Software

As popular as Windows and DOS 5.0 are, it was only a matter of
time until someone asked,  "I already own those two packages.
Can I buy the computer (cheaper) without them?"  Good question.
For a variety of reasons, you can't.  The issue isn't quite as
simple as "keep the software and give me credit."

Most computer manufacturers bundle at least the software you need
to make the computer operate, in this case MS-DOS 5.0.  Many of
us also bundle Windows and one or two other software packages,
because you -- our customers -- pretty well demand it.  If we
didn't, thousands of people would ask daily, "What!  No bundled
software?  Brand X gives me Windows and this spreadsheet or that
word processor.  That's $XXX worth of software! That's a better
deal."

The only way any hardware vendor can afford to offer you bundled,
prime software is by contractually agreeing with the software
manufacturer to bundle its product with every CPU sold!
Frequently, an agreement like this can mean the difference
between paying a 2-digit royalty per package, and purchasing
finished packages for ten times the royalty amount!  Several
other things result from the agreement... First, you can't buy
the computer without the bundled software, because the hardware
manufacturer pays for it anyway.  Second, if the vendor could
give you "credit" for $750 worth of bundled software, it would be
a tiny fraction of the retail value.  Third, Tandy and others are
preinstalling the software on your hard disk for you... we don't
just hand you a package and tell you to do it yourself.  And
finally, preinstalled software means there is no "retail package"
for us to put back on the shelf and give you credit, even if we
wanted to.

Does this mean bundled software isn't worth much?  Very unlikely.
The value to you may depend on whether you use it.  But assuming
it's popular software -- like we bundle -- the value is what you
would have to pay if you bought each of the bundled packages on
the open market.  Almost surely you will use DOS 5.0, and 90% of
you will use Windows 3.1.  Works is invaluable to a new computer
buyer, and many seasoned users will find it beneficial.

If you already own one or more of these packages, you might
recover some cost by selling your original packages to a friend,
and using the ones that come with your new computer.  One large
caveat...  Remember that if you sell or give your present
computer to anyone else, legally you must either give them all
copies of the original software packages and documentation, or
remove the software from the machine's hard disk.  To do
otherwise is software piracy, and against Federal law.


Is Radio Shack Abandoning DeskMate?

Several of you have asked this question.  DeskMate software is
alive, well and living in the Tandy 1000 computer world.
DeskMate was conceived as a graphical user interface for
computers that weren't powerful enough to do a good job with
Windows applications.  (Remember the days when WIN on anything
costing less than $3000 would put you to sleep?)  DeskMate is an
easy system to learn and will run on an 8088 or 8086-based
computer or better with far less memory than Windows needs and it
will even run from floppy disk.  It is considerably less
powerful than Windows.

One nice thing about DeskMate is its command similarity to
Windows.  We frequently comment that this similarity will make
the transition to Windows easy, when you are ready to move up.

The reality is that today, extremely powerful PCs are priced well
within the reach of most home or individual buyers... PCs more
than powerful enough for Windows applications.  On PCs of that
capability, Windows is the de facto choice and the system we will
be bundling in the future.  DeskMate is still provided with Tandy
1000s, and I still get many, many letters from very happy
DeskMate users.  One even wrote to say how pleased he was to find
he could run Windows 3.0 under DeskMate!


See you next month!
