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AT&T USER'S GROUP SAN FRANCISCO, CA NEWSLETTER FEB88
User Group member Bill Todd of Todd PC3 gave a demonstration of his
AT&T PC6300 conversions. Bill has been an AT&T owner/user since
September, 1985. He uses the computer for business, engineering and
scientific applications. Through his business, Bill does computer
conversions and sells accelerator boards. He has been working on
several upgrades to the PC6300, which he has designated the
Mark 8, Mark 10, and Mark 11.5. They were developed as inexpensive
alternatives for increasing the performance of the 6300, using an
integrated approach, combining both software and hardware changes.
These include the installation of an NEC V-30 microprocessor; new DMA,
bus controller and timer chips as necessary; and software that moves
the ROM BIOS and hard disk BIOS into RAM, and also changes the memory
refresh rate.
Bill explained that the AT&T 6300 is assembled with parts that meet
specification, but they are not "dynamically optimized". Some
motherboards may have the same revision letter but still use different
The systems are tested before conversion to check relative
performance. The soldered-in chips are professionally removed, and
sockets are installed. Then high speed componentry is installed. If
it all meets spec, the software is added. The system is then tested
for final benchmarks. As part of the conversion process, any
deficiencies in hard disk setup are found and corrected, and several of
the modifications are specifically designed to increase hard disk
throughput.
The Mark 8 conversion is available now at $225.00, and Bill claims a
typical benchmark speed increase of about 20% with actual throughput
approximately doubled (depending on application and hard disk). Both
the Mark 10 and the Mark 11.5 conversions are under development,
probably due in mid-March.
The Mark 10 conversion, which is planned to increase throughput by a
factor of approximately 7 times, will go for an estimated $500.00.
The systems have a 1 year parts and labor warranty. The conversion can
be done on site, but it normally takes 7-10 working days to do a
conversion when you ship the unit to his shop. Contact Bill Todd for
shipping details. In the near future the data can be downloaded from a
the mailing list or for more information.
Bruce MacKenzie from SOTA spoke about the SOTA Mothercard 5.0A. He
briefly explained EMS, EEMS, and protected mode operation with an
80286 system, and how these hardware features will affect a user's
ability to run new software and operating systems. The main features
of the SOTA card are:
1) full compatibility with the AT&T 6300, standard DOS applications,
and networks; 2) the ability to run OS/2 and other protected mode
systems, such as ORACLE; 3) the ability to access up to 16 Mbytes of
extended memory (non-paged) 16-bit RAM; and 4) a significant speed
increase due to the 80286 microprocessor. The "A" version of the
Mothercard 5.0 was designed specifically for the PC6300 to meet the
requirements of several large government agencies. Installation
involves the running of a specially designed 2.2 ft. impedance matched
shielded cable from the SOTA card to the 8086 socket on the bottom of
the 6300 motherboard, and transferring the 8086 to the new card.
Bruce demonstrated the operation of IBM OS/2 on a 6300 with the SOTA
card installed. One of the neat tricks that SOTA has come up with
is a programmable AT ROM BIOS to keep up with whatever tricks
machines. The card runs at 10 Mhz, with a 12.5 MHz version
in the works. With a 10 Mhz SOTA card installed, a PC6300 runs
about 20% faster than an 8 MHz IBM AT. At the moment, switching
between 80286 and 8086 mode requires a re-boot.
In 80286 mode, original PC6300 memory is used only by utility software
-- normal program operation takes place in the SOTA card's own RAM.
There is a spare connector on the card that SOTA intends to use for
connection to a 16-bit hard disk controller card they will manufacture.
List price: $895 for the 10 MHz card, $995 for the 12.5 MHz version
(a 10% discount is available to User Group members through Todd PC3).
SOTA Technology, Inc. 657 N. Pastoria Avenue, Sunnyvale, Ca 94086
(408) 245-3366
PRESIDENT'S BITS
Joe Mahoney
****************
We are looking for programs for meetings in June, July, August.
Please call with your ideas. Your President is taking a close look at
have a new subscription plan ($12/year) for out-of-state readers who
are not members. Individuals will be contacted by letter before they
are dropped from the mailing. The 13th West Coast Computer Faire is
coming up April 7-10. We will participate in the event with a booth,
and badges to see the Faire for members who help at the booth, as last
year. Call the Joe, or Kevin Newman for details.
We will have election of officers in June, with nominations starting
at the May meeting. Consider taking a spot on the Executive
(steering) Committee. Anyone interested in attending an Executive
Committee meeting or having an item discussed at the meeting should
contact me quickly. I hope to get the EC together before the March
meeting.
Scanning other user group's publications can be interesting and
entertaining. The Sacramento PC Users is one of the largest in the
West (2000+) and has an impressive publication, Sacra Blue. The Editor
recently happened across an old, unopened, dust-covered box of Dysan
DD/DD floppies at a Davis office supply store. The price? Only
$85.00. This sort of believe-it-or-not is just the opposite of the
kind of consumer action report I'd like to see shared here in the
newsletter: if you find a good buy or exceptional service in an area
shop, pass the word along to the readers!
I can't resist a magazine subscription or the rack at Crown Books.
Have you discovered PC RESOURCE yet? Not only have they plugged our
group and reviewed the 6300 (Clone Report, Feb 88), they always have
great do-it-yourself tips on hardware -- disk drive maintenance (Sep),
drive alignment (Nov), installing a 3.5" drive (Jan), memory chip
additions and the Mothercard from SOTA (Feb). This magazine has
articles on software, new products, programming, applications, industry
news -- written so that even a novice can get into the subject.
There's DOS handbook reference cards bound into most issues. The
photography is sharp and the overall layout quite appealing. Take a
look!
USER GROUP TECH-TIPS #6
L.J.(Larry)Risner
AT&T Tech Staff
***********************
A major concern of computer owners today is how to upgrade their
current CPU and retain as much of their investment as is possible. In
this article I will attempt to describe some of the benefits of
"adding a system to a system" as well as some of the trade-offs one
should consider. The boards being discussed here are the i80286 &
i80386 processor boards that can be inserted into the bus in the CPU
housing.
First consider the starting point, your existing CPU. If it is an
AT&T PC (I am assuming for this discussion that it is an AT&T PC), the
basic CPU meets the first test with flying colors - an adequate power
supply. The power supply in the PC6300 is rated at 170 watts, which
will support even the most demanding peripheral.
What board fits the bus? The PC6300 as well as the PC6300+ will
accept PC/XT compatible boards, but not AT style boards. The 6310,
6312 and 6386 will accept PC/XT boards, and also AT style boards.
Refer to your user's manual to determine your bus configuration.
What will the board do for me? Perhaps the best way to think of an
"add-on" board is to consider your original system as an input/output
device for another computer. That is, all activity to and from the
added CPU, regardless of how fast it is, will be to and from your
existing system and peripherals (by the way, the biggest bottleneck for
a CPU is it's storage media).
So there you are. Adding a board will give you a much more powerful
CPU that is "wrapped" by your existing hardware. This may not be
at all bad depending on your reasons for adding the CPU. If all you
want is more horsepower and you are using applications that don't
utilize a lot of disk access then this may be for you. However, if you
are into something that moves a lot of information around and through
the bus, then you may want to consider a unit that is totally faster, a
new machine - the decision is yours. Here is a small list of
comparisons:
ADD-ON BOARD
Memory - Limited to on-board space (4-16M max - typical)
Power Supply - Original PC unit
Speed - Accelerator board increase only (not entire system)
Peripherals - Limited by bus design
NEW MACHINE
Memory - Limited by bus slots (16-48M max - typical)
Power Supply - Large capacity to support added memory
and peripheral requirements
Speed - Higher performance bus and peripherals are in support of CPU.
Peripherals - Total adaptability (except 32 bit slots, which differ by
manufacturer)
FILE MANAGERS
Kevin Newman
*************
(editors note: At the time Kevin was writing this, things looked
pretty sad for newsletter contributions from members. However, in the
last several weeks, articles have started to come in, and we hope this
is a trend. Otherwise, I heartily endorse what Kevin is saying here.)
It's been 7 month since my last "monthly" article. The reason I have
started this article in this manner (which is supposed to be
about file managers), is that I am trying to show that I understand
why so few of YOU have never sent in an article, come up with a
program for the meeting, or offered to help with any of the many things
which need to be done to keep the User Group going. It is a pain to
try and write these things when you aren't a writer (7 months between
articles indicates how difficult this is for me, and when compounded
by inherent laziness -- poof! -- 7 months).
- But try and think of what Ed has to go through to get the newsletter
out by himself, and my laziness (and maybe yours) is rather a weak
excuse. What I am trying to say is that I have been rather surprised
at the lack of enthusiasm that people show when asked to volunteer for
any type of position in the group (such as the "enthusiasm" we all
showed when Joe asked for volunteers for group Secretary).
Now, I am not the one to criticize. I volunteered all right, but have
produced less than nothing when compared to the fact that just a few
individuals are shouldering most of the work (we all know who they
are). What I am trying to say is, we as a group will only survive if
we work as a group. Now that I've said my piece, I'll get down off my
soapbox and cover file managers.
Have you ever looked at the multitude of files on your hard disk and
thought to yourself "What a mess?". Well, if so, you are in need of a
file manager. A file manager is a utility that allows you to do the
basic and not so basic manipulations that we all have to do to keep our
hard disks organized and have some space left over.
One quick side note: so far I have only talked about using file
managers on your hard disk, the reason being that with the current low
price of hard disks I don't know of anyone other than laptop users
- without a hard disk in their computer (and the 720k floppies in
laptops could use a file manager).
It is true that DOS gives us ways to keep everything organized, but
what happens when you have a directory with 240 files in it and you
only want to delete certain ones (and you have to decide which ones to
delete)? This is where the file manager comes in. There are a large
number of different file managers that are available, but all do
basically the same things with some doing a bit more than others. In
the next few paragraphs I will discuss the basic functions of most
file managers.
One of the most powerful feature included in almost all file managers
is a concept known as "tagging". The idea behind tagging is to mark
specific files within a group allowing you to manipulate all of these
"tagged" files as you require (i.e. delete, copy, move). Since most
file managers display all files in a directory in two, three, or more
columns, "tagging" files as you move the cursor across the file
listing is quite an easy task.
Another powerful feature of file managers is the ability to sort files
so that you may look at them in different ways, such as sorted by
date, extension, attribute and other sort keys.
-
One feature that I use quite often is the "move" command. This
command performs a pseudo file copy, but instead of actually copying
the file to the destination (i.e. different directory), simply
performs a rename in the File Allocation Table, effectively
"moving" the file to the new location by assigning a new pathname
to the file (the actual physical location of the data on the
disk is unchanged). There is one limitation to this command:
it can only move files on the same physical device (i.e. files
can be "moved" to a different directory on one hard disk, or on a
floppy, but not from a hard disk to a floppy).
I realize that this has been a rather brief article but you can't
imagine the agony of just getting this out. Hopefully as I continue
to write, this will become easier.
(Kevin Newman is our Public Domain software librarian, and a
knowledgeable source on available programs that make life easier for
computer users. I would like to add two of my favorite file manager
functions to his list. The "look" function (or "browse", or "scan")
allows you to make a quick check of the contents of a file without
having to call up the application that created the file. Also, most
file managers give you the ability to "rename" a file simply and
easily from the file listing. -ed)
COMPATIBLE HARDWARE
Thomas Herzfeld
*******************
KEYTRONICS KB5151 KEYBOARD. This keyboard is available as an
alternative to the AT&T standard keyboard, which does not provide a
separate numerical keypad and arrow keys. It is cabled to use the
standard AT&T keyboard input port, and behaves exactly like the AT&T
keyboard. The touch is excellent. Drawbacks include lack of a mouse
port and a small carriage return key. The former makes it necessary
to use the serial port for mice (see below) and the latter problem has
generated more typos than any intoxicant. The function keys are
placed across the top of the keyboard, which means that the standard
templates provided with most programs will not fit. Special templates
for the KB5151 are readily available for WordPerfect, and no doubt for
other programs.
LOGITECH C7 MOUSE. I just obtained the latest version of this best of
all mice. Logitech has eliminated the external power supply, so all
you have to do is plug it in to the serial port and load the software.
The touch is excellent, and the editor provided continues to improve.
The mouse can be configured to run on COM1 or COM2, which is more than
can be said for the 6300's serial port.
AST RAMPAGE BOARD (STANDARD VERSION). I was unable to obtain the AT&T
version of this board, because no one would acknowledge its existence
in 1986, so I bought the 8-bit bus version. It works perfectly, and I
don't know how I got along without it. It may be slower than the 16
bit version, but I have not been bothered by any sluggishness using it
as a virtual hard disk.
A NOTE REGARDING THE 6300 SERIAL PORT. It is hard-wired as COM1.
This becomes a major flaw when you have an internal modem which you
want configured as COM1. As a result of this glitch, I now own both an
internal modem and an external modem. The external modem is connected
to the serial port via an A-B switch, so that I can use either the
external modem or the mouse. Fortunately, I have not needed both at
the same time.
VIRUS EPIDEMIC?
Joe Mahoney
***************
A microbiologist, I read with interest the reports on virus problems
with PC's. You've heard of these nasty items -- known also as Trojan
Horses, worms, logic bombs -- tiny (a few hundred bytes) programs or
segments that invade your diskettes or disks (!) and secretly
replicate, eventually wrecking or erasing your data, interrupting
entire systems, or perhaps only flashing a surprise message ("Peace or
Earth" or the like, or worse) on the monitor.
The San Francisco Chronicle (2-12-88) covered a MacIntosh virus that
was spread through "infected" files on CompuServe and GEnie (hypercard
application files, system files). The virus creator bragged that this
group had worked on the virus for over a year! John Dvorak (PC
Magazine) describes virus concerns and mentions the celebrated Lehigh
University virus -- computing center students at that college found
viruses widely spread throughout their public domain diskette library
in December 87. Earlier, AMIGA users got an infection through altered
boot or system files on application software diskettes.
Publications and industry spokespersons have been reluctant to cover
this area, fearing that publicity will invite problems and ever more
diabolical and creative sabotage. Software developers and university
researchers are scrambling to find ways to detect viruses and write
utility programs, but the wicked hackers will always strive to outsmart
'em. Security and protection of data -- personal or corporate or
government -- is at stake... part of our right to privacy, no?
What do we do to protect ourselves?
The choices now are few. First, wear your protect tabs ("safe-
computing" as Dvorak calls it) to prevent unexpected program segments
being written to your floppies. Viruses spread from machine to
machine within a file on a floppy or perhaps through E-mail or BBS
systems. Once programmed into a COMMAND.COM or other executable file,
you may unknowingly replicate them -- a write protect precaution will
alert you when a harmless copy, dir, or type command gives a write
protect error.
Back-up your files frequently. If you discover an infection you may
still have "safe" files in reserve. (We do this routinely anyway,
right?)
Dvorak and others tell us to keep an eye on the date/time labels on
files. COMMAND.COM, and other .COM or .EXE files do NOT get updated
frequently...you could print-screen and save to refer back to this data
periodically. Some writers say to keep an eye on file size (bytes) --
system files should not change size unexpectedly. Dvorak says size is
not a good check as most viruses are small.
Be a little reluctant to take personal diskettes into the workplace and
chose your software carefully. Trading programs and diskettes is a
popular but risky business. One peninsula computer store claims they
got a virus when a customer brought a game disk in to try on some of
their computers!
Yes, "safe-computing": use prophylaxis, and know your files and
friends!
- Joe Mahoney
APRIL MEETING (S.F.)
Barry Newman
********************
There will be a presentation at the April meeting by D.R.I. (Digital
Research Inc). They will be showing GEM, a mouse manipulated, icon
based operating system quite similar to the Mac. In addition, they
will be showcasing GEM Desktop Publisher and GEM Draw, both excellent
graphics products plus other products in the GEM line. They have
offered to supply some copies of a few of the products as door prizes.
Be sure to attend as you'll have an opportunity to see some excellent,
reasonably priced graphics presentation software.
EQUIPMENT REVIEW
Ed Ely
****************
RAMSACK 16-bit Memory Board
Computer Peripherals, Inc.
I have been looking onto various upgrades for my PC6300 for some time,
and I have found that while not all PC/XT compatible hardware will work
with the AT&T machines, some of the best pieces of equipment work just
fine, and many specifically support installation in AT&T computers.
The Plus HardCard and Intel AboveBoard are two examples that come to
mind.
However, the fact that we sometimes have fewer choices in a given
hardware category can mean that it is sometimes difficult to find an
effective solution that is also inexpensive. For example, try to get
two floppy drives and a hard disk operating on a 6300. Not an
inconvenient arrangement for other machines, it is for the 6300. We
must install a hard disk on a card, or an external unit, typically at
greater cost than would be the case for a standard-mount hard disk of
similar performance.
If AT&T had decided to provide the PC6300 and PC6300+ with industry
standard 16-bit peripheral slots, instead of the AT&T proprietary
design, there would be a lot more 16-bit peripherals that would
support the AT&T machines. As it is, there are very few products
designed to take advantage of the wider data channels available on
these computers.
With AT&T's recent decision to discontinue the 6300, we can probably
expect even fewer new products that will specifically support it.
However, there are products out there that do utilize the special
features of the AT&T machines, and we will continue to report them as
they come to our attention.
Memory cards are an interesting case study. AT&T sells an "Enhanced
Memory Board", manufactured by AST, that uses the special AT&T 16-bit
bus on the 6300 and 6300+, and has excellent performance. It is a good
product, but it is relatively expensive, and it can only be used on an
6300 or the 6300+ (not even the 6310/6312 can use it). Memory boards
that utilize AT compatible 16-bit slots are not compatible due to the
bus design.
Many PC/XT memory boards that use the standard 8-bit slot are
compatible with the AT&T machines, but you are limited in performance
due to the narrower data path and lower clock speed on the 8-bit
peripheral bus (4MHz). Of course, many of us have opted for the AT&T
board, or for one of the many 8-bit memory boards, and have been very
happy with the results (big RAM-disks, print spoolers, disk caches,
swapping programs in and out of EMS memory or even multi-tasking on a
PC6300 with DESKview).
Along comes Computer Peripherals, Inc. (CPI) and produces a memory
board called RAMSACK. This is a hybrid product that has the standard
8-bit PC bus connector, the 16-bit AT bus connector, and the 16-bit
AT&T bus connector. Therefore, it works in 8-bit mode on a PC/XT
compatible machine, in 16-bit mode on an AT compatible machine, and in
16-bit mode on a PC6300. It was originally designed to work also on a
6300+, but that did not work out (CPI claims AT&T changed technical
specifications on the 6300+ after it was too late for them to re-
engineer their board).
There are a minimal number of jumpers and DIP switches to check on the
board, mostly of concern if you are going to install more than one
RAMSACK board, but for the installation of one board, the entire
installation setup is done through software that is run from a floppy
disk. The setup information is then stored in non-volatile RAM.
One unusual and necessary trick to the installation, that is not made
clear anywhere in the manual, is that to install the RAMSACK for the
16-bit bus on an AT&T machine, you must run the installation program
while the board is plugged into an 8-bit slot. When the installation
program is complete, you then shut down the computer and transfer the
board to a 16-bit slot. This information had to be obtained from a
phone call to CPI technical support. They were very helpful, but such
a major omission in the manual was not an encouraging omen.
There were two main reasons that I wanted additional memory beyond the
640K already on the main board. The first was to be able to run a
large disk cache without eating into DOS memory. With the RAMSACK
memory board, this has worked out wonderfully. I use the cache
program from MACE utilities (a licensed version of Golden Bow VCACHE),
and it has resulted in a very substantial decrease in effective disk
access times, as the cache program typically finds approximately 85% of
requested data in the cache, and therefore only about 15% of disk reads
actually go to the hard disk. There is also a smaller saving in disk
writes, by ignoring duplicate data.
The cache operates slightly slower using EMS memory, as compared to the
same size cache in standard DOS memory. The "paging" requirements of
EMS memory exact a slight penalty here. One important note: the
newest version of MACE utilities uses a different cache program that
does not recognize the EMS memory on RAMSACK (so far, neither MACE nor
CPI has come up with a satisfactory explanation).
The second reason for the extra memory was to be able to swap programs
in and out of expanded memory -- allowing an entire application (and
all its data) to stay resident in expanded memory while another
application runs in DOS memory -- and then be able to switch back and
forth between applications. There are several programs available that
accomplish this -- the one I use is the shell program from WordPerfect
Library. So far, the program recognizes the extra memory and utilizes
it correctly when I manually "exit to shell" from an application --
that application is then swapped to expanded memory, and I am able to
utilize the full 640K of DOS memory for another application (less any
TSR programs, and the resident portion of the shell program and the
disk cache). The actual swapping takes place in less than a second,
which is tremendously quicker than saving your data, exiting one
application and then starting up a new one.
However, I have run into problems when I attempt to use a "hot-key" to
switch applications, which is supposed to work, and works on other
identical systems. When I contacted WordPerfect about the "hot-key"
problem, they said they would obtain a RAMSACK board, put it in an
PC6300 and try to find a fix. A plug for WordPerfect product support -
- they are the best I have ever encountered -- they don't just mutter
something about hardware incompatibility, they actually seem to have an
interest in getting things to work right, and they are well acquainted
with AT&T machines.
The RAMSACK board with 2 MBytes sells for $450 to $600 retail (I don't
have the actual list price), but I have seen it priced as low as $175
with 0K installed ($165 in quantity). The board comes with software
for a print spooler, RAM-disk, and disk cache (for diskettes only).
They do not provide a hard disk cache. CPI also includes a SIDEKICK-
like collection of desktop utilities which I haven't tried because it
duplicates many of the functions I am already using with WordPerfect
Library.
The RAM-disk can be varied in size, but I ran up against a 64 file
limit, regardless of the amount of memory allocated for the RAM-disk.
Fortunately, the DOS RAMDRIVE.SYS recognizes and uses the RAMSACK EMS
memory, and can be set for a maximum of 1,024 root directory entries
(DOS 3.2). The RAMSACK board come in various standard configurations
with up to 4 Mbytes of memory (with a plug-in daughterboard).
There are DIP switch settings to allow unique memory addresses
for up to four boards (if you have the slots).
The RAMSACK memory can be used to "back-fill" conventional memory up
to 640K, or as LIM compatible expanded memory (paged), or as extended
memory (non-paged) on an AT compatible system. CPI plans to have LIM
4.0 software emulation available sometime in the second quarter. The
board comes with a two year warranty.
Computer Peripherals, Inc. 2635 Lavery Court #5, Newbury Park, Ca
(800) 854-7600 (outside Calif.) (818) 710-1717 (inside Calif.)
SERVICE/PARTS EXCHANGE
**********************
Last month, we reported some rather remarkable exchange parts prices
available through the AT&T Service Center in San Leandro. Some members
called, and received substantially different (and higher) price quotes
over the phone. The problem was not that the prices were wrong -- the
telephone number was wrong. We inadvertently published the number
for the Data Services Organization (AT&T DSO) in Oakland, not the San
Leandro Service Center.
All the DSO service depots (there are several in the Bay Area) look up
their prices on a common data base, and whatever price is shown is what
they have to charge. The Service Center in San Leandro is a separate
organization within AT&T and has a totally different pricing structure,
and since the last newsletter, they have reduced their prices. The
AT&T Parts Hotline will also arrange parts exchanges, and they have yet
another pricing structure.
As an example, to replace a PC6300 motherboard through the Parts
Hotline, you will end up paying something like $1,100, depending on
the model of the motherboard and amount of RAM installed (that price
includes a small exchange value for your old board). If you were to
make the exact same exchange through a DSO location, the cost would be
in the neighborhood of $500, again depending on model and amount of
RAM. If you take your old board to the counter at the San Leandro
Service Center, the cost will be $101.00 plus a $10 handling charge,
for any PC6300 model.
Now this price does not apply if you bring in the whole computer and
have them look for the problem, remove the board, make the repairs,
and put everything back together again. That process could very well
cost you around $500. Also, they do not just give you a new board in
exchange. You need to leave your board there, and they will attempt to
repair it.
If it can't be repaired, you will be given an exchange board. Either
way, it's the same price. And the board you get back will have all
the latest revisions (including ROM BIOS updates). You won't get a
640K board back if you give them 256K, and you won't get a CPU-3 if
you give them a CPU1-A, but otherwise it will be completely updated
(unless you request that it not be).
The Service Center is located at 2200 William Street, at the corner of
Doolittle, in San Leandro. Their telephone number is (415) 678-1300
(that's the correct number this time). Business hours are
8 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.
They will also accept UPS shipment, but you must contact them
by telephone prior to shipping.
So far, they are set up only for repairs on the PC6300 (and PC6300+).
Here are some more examples of their exchange prices: Keyboard
($35.11 + $2.00 handling); ANY supported hard disk, 10 or 20 Mbytes
($95.56 + $10.00 handling); power supply ($42.11 + $2.00); video card
($89.38 + $2.00); HD controller card ($44.24 + $2.00). Thanks again to
Dave Ralston, who is the supervisor for the computer repair group at
the service center.
In upcoming issues, we will look into the services provided by the DSO
depots, and the various AT&T Hotlines. If you can pinpoint your
computer problems down to the board level, and feel comfortable with
removing and reinstalling components in your machine, the San Leandro
Service Center prices can't be beat. If you need someone else to
handle more of the job for you, the DSO depots may be more convenient
and may be somewhat closer in price for the same work performed at the
main service center. However, Dave Ralston and his group may be hard
to beat. For more information, use your phone -- that's why God
created AT&T.
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
*************************
Some of you may have noticed that we managed to have two NEWSLETTER #11
issues (October/November, and December/January). That's just my way of
pretending to be overworked. I sure could use a proof-reader, or
other help on the newsletter. It would be nice if someone could take
alternate issues. Give me a call, or come and talk at one of the
meetings. I ain't gonna keep this up forever. -ed
EDITORIAL & ADVERTISING POLICY
******************************
Display ads and classifieds, maximum 9 text lines (as above): $5.00 per
issue, free to members.
We will print articles, reviews and letters as they are submitted and
as space and time permits. Modem or diskette preferred. First
choice: Wordperfect. Or WordStar, MultiMate or ASCII text. (Please
indicate which in the file name or on the diskette label, and include
a printout for reference). Advice, help, comments and criticism are
welcome. For now, we will combine articles on meetings in all
locations in this newsletter.
Copy deadline for the next issue of the Newsletter is March 21. Many
thanks to those who have contributed to the newsletter. Please keep
the information coming.
BAY AREA AT&T PC USERS GROUP
P.O. Box 410321 S.F. Ca 94141-0321
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PRESIDENT Joe Mahoney
W:(415) 540-2219/540-3256
H:(415) 586-8376 371 Joost Avenue, San Francisco, Ca 94131
VICE-PRESIDENT Maurice Aranda
(415) 972-0669
SECRETARY (position vacant)
TREASURER Frank Davidoff
(415) 237-3865
MEMBER-AT-LARGE Mark Almeida
"The Wiz" Data:(707) 429-1035
W:(415) 823-9553 H:(707) 429-9122
LIBRARIAN Kevin Newman
(415) 933-7391 504 Waterbery Dr. Pleasant Hill Ca 94523
DATABASE KEEPER Bill Goebner
(415) 823-6931
NEWSLETTER EDITOR Edward Ely W:(415) 836-0910 H:(415) 641-1556 379 Day
St. San Francisco Ca 94131
SOUTH BAY/SILICON VALLEY
Bob Larsen (408) 224-4422
Joe Lipsig (408) 733-6522
EASY ACCESS BBS, WITH AT&T SIG (300/1200/2400 8/N/1)
(415) 829-6027 Tony Waddell, Sysop
RICK'S HIDEAWAY BBS, WITH AT&T USERS CONFERENCE (1200/2400 8/N/1)
(916) 961-1042
AT&T USERS GROUP LIAISON
Jim Keeton (415) 442-2692
AT&T PUBLIC RELATIONS
Mark Dill (408) 995-3966
AT&T TECHNICAL CONSULTANT
Hal Shields (415) 442-2740
AT&T TECHNICAL CONSULTANT
Larry Risner (415) 464-4687
AT&T TECHNICAL CONSULTANT
Syd Reid (408) 522-4802
AT&T TECHNICAL HOTLINE
(800) 922-0354
AT&T PARTS ORDERING
(800) 922-PART
AT&T CUSTOMER INFORMATION CENTER (800) 432-6600.
This following list of AT&T support boards and boards with an AT&T
sub-board or conference was compiled by Ken Camp, who can be contacted
via one of the boards shown in 415 area or via FIDO NetMail at 161/42
(The Records Department 415-426-0470)
Flea Market 201-446-1665 (Merged with The Right Choice BBS)
( Please use 201-974-8317 )
AT&T Dev 201-658-5345
ITM Database 201-943-5419
The Right Choice 201-974-8317
AT&T Info. Exchange 201-980-2012
ASCII Neighborhood 203-934-9852
Deathstar 301-839-0705
Black Hole 305-260-6397
Florida Death Star 305-660-6300
INDY Net One 317-846-8675
CBM Computer Center 402-391-3102
THE SOQUEL BBS 408-462-6329
Easy Access 415-829-6027
The Unknown 516-486-4705
Ed Hopper's Board 713-782-5454
Software Safari 717-226-1943
So. Cal. AT&T BBS 818-954-0530