Letters to PCM
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                        THANKS FOR THE TIPS

Editor:
   As a retired professional engineer and a computer novice, I would like 
to tell you that your articles "Learn to Use Your Computer," "The Disk Is 
In Your Hands" and "Can I Run This Program?" were without a doubt the 
finest technical articles that I have ever read. They all appeared in the 
January issue of PCM within the Software Shopper section.
   Armed with this information I was able to attack my computer full of 
confidence. I was sure there were tips somewhere that could get me off 
dead center, and you provided them.
   Thanks a great deal for giving a big jump start to my computer 
education.
                                       William Zabriskie, Jr.
                                       Old Saybrook, Connecticut

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                     REMOVING UNNECESSARY FILES

Editor:
   My wife and daughters love to play the Carmen Sandiego series. I think 
we have them all except the deluxe versions that require more than Tandy 
graphics or EGA.
   I have a 65MB hard drive with DOS 6's compression and it is running 
out of room. I either have to put some programs or data on floppy disks 
or get rid of unused files such as Windows' VGA files (I have EGA).
   There are several Carmen Sandiego data files that I don't need: 
MCGA.DAT and MIDISND.DAT are two I'm sure I don't need. There are others 
I'm not sure about, such as IBSND.DAT, FRAGSND.DAT, DIGISND.DAT and 
MFXSND.DAT. Which files are used by Tandy sound and which are used by 
popular boards? (I presently have Game Blaster, which is no longer 
supported.) I would like to delete the unnecessary files after copying 
them to a floppy. Broderbund told me to buy a new hard drive, which is 
not in the piggy bank with three now in college.
                                       Robert Hales
                                       Albion, New York

               Although it may be a time-consuming process, generally the 
            best way to find out which files are required is to either
            rename or move each suspect file to a floppy disk one at a
            time. If the program continues to work without any problems,
            you know that file isn't required. If the program quits
            working or acts strangely, either rename the file back to its
            original name or move it back onto the hard drive. Some
            files, such as MCGA.DAT and MIDISND.DAT, are obviously for
            MCGA and VGA graphics and MIDI sound so aren't applicable to
            your configuration and can be removed. We agree with your
            idea of keeping backup copies of the files on a floppy disk.
            In this way you can easily copy the files back onto the hard
            drive if they are needed later, or if you upgrade the
            computer such as by adding a VGA card.

                                  -=*=-

                         TANDY GRAPHICS TO VGA

Editor:
   I am a subscriber to PCM and have a Tandy 1000 RLX. In the July 1993 
issue of PCM was a feature called "A Little Flag-Waving Music, Please!" 
by John Shewchuk with his listing of FLAG.BAS. I entered this program 
into my computer but the program stops at Line 100 asking for an End Of 
Statement for the statement CLEAR ,,,32768!.
   I wrote Mr. Shewchuk asking for any assistance he could give me to 
clarify this problem. He stated he could only suggest trying two changes, 
which were to first change CLEAR,,,32768! to CLEAR and if that didn't 
work to completely eliminate the CLEAR statement. I tried both of these 
changes but the program still will not run.
   I am hoping that you may be able to help me make this program work. 
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
                                       William Hart
                                       Kenosha, Wisconsin

               The problem you are experiencing is because the Tandy 1000 
            RLX has VGA graphics whereas FLAG.BAS requires Tandy 
            graphics. To make the program work properly on your computer 
            in the equivalent VGA mode, delete the statement CLEAR 
            ,,,32768! and change SCREEN 6 to SCREEN 8 so Line 100 reads:

            1OO SCREEN 8:KEY OFF:CLS:IX=5:IY=6: X1=2O:X2=O

                                  -=*=-

                      ENHANCING A SIMPLE DATABASE

Editor:
   Regarding the "Plain and Simple" program in the February 1994 issue of 
PCM, I found errors when attempting to run it (SDB.BAS) on an IBM 386SX 
clone using MS-DOS 5.0 and GW-BASIC 3.2. Solutions and other comments are 
given below.
   1. When using random-access files, the default record length is 128. 
Because SDB.BAS uses record lengths of 1200, it is necessary to use GW-
BASIC option /S:record length and option /I. The /S:record length option 
specifies the record length for random-access files. If you use the 
/S:record length option, you must also use the /I option. The best way to 
perform this task is to use this batch file:

   @ECHO OFF
   ECHO Loading Simple Database (SDB.BAS)
   GWBASIC SDB /S:12OO /I

   2. Add a semicolon at the end of lines 3950, 3970 and after (186) in 
line 3960 to prevent double spacing of the card display.
   3. Change all VIEW PRINT statements of the form VIEW PRINT X TO 25 to 
VIEW PRINT X TO 24 to avoid syntax errors.
   4. When using COLOR 14.1 (yellow on blue) for the main displays, I 
found that the display is improved by changing the other colors (4,7 7,0 
0,7) to use the brighter foreground colors (10-13 and 15) until you get 
results that please you.
   5. Because the program disk and the magazine are not stored together, 
I found it useful to create and store an ASCII text file that contains 
the documentation on the disk. To display this text file from the program 
menu, make these program changes:

   125 PRINT:PRINT " O) View program documentation"
   21O ON A+1 GOTO 461O,22O,42O,4O2O, 43OO,388O
   461O CLS:SHELL "TYPE CARDBASE.TXT | MORE"
   462O LOCATE 25,7:PRINT "Press any key to return to menu.";
   463O ND$=INKEY$:IF ND$="" THEN 463O
   464O RUN
                                       Robert Hood
                                       Bremerton, Washington

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                         COMPUTER NETWORKS

Editor:
   I need help setting up two computers for networking. I have a Zenith 
248, 286-based laptop with two floppy drives and 640K of memory, and a 
Tandy 1000 TL/2 with a 40MB hard drive and 640K of memory. Both have DOS 
3.21.
   I need to know what hardware and software are needed for each computer 
to make the 1000 TL/2 the host and the Zenith the terminal since it has 
no hard drive. I would like the Zenith to access programs such as 
DeskMate and Money Counts) on the Tandy and run them and save data.
   The two computers will be about 100 feet apart from each other. Any 
help you can provide will be appreciated.
                                       Timothy Rodier
                                       Portsmouth, Virginia

               The easiest and least expensive method is to link the two 
            computers via the serial or parallel ports with a program 
            such as Rapid Relay (Systems Management Associates, 919-878-
            3600), Fast Lynx (Rupp Technology Corporation, 212-517-7775) 
            or Brooklyn Bridge (White Crane Systems, 404-446-0660). These 
            are relatively inexpensive programs that include the 
            necessary cables and allow you to easily copy files between 
            the two computers. Actually running programs remotely 
            requires a different tact, so you might look at remote-
            control software such as Remote2 (DCA, 404-442-4495). 
            However, you'll be limited to strictly CGA text and graphics 
            when using remote-control software. This means you'll have to 
            reconfigure DeskMate to use CGA graphics instead of Tandy 16-
            color graphics. One potential problem is that some software 
            may not work properly; in particular you may or may not be 
            able to use DeskMate remotely. Also keep in mind that you 
            will have to make your own cable if the computers are more 
            than about 10 feet apart, and we recommend using shielded 
            cable. In fact, you may run into communication problems by 
            using serial cables longer than about 25 to 50 feet.
               The ultimate solution, in our opinion, is to use a peer-
            to-peer network such as LANtastic with inexpensive Ethernet 
            boards. Unfortunately this solution is a bit more expensive 
            and may not be a viable alternative if the Zenith laptop does 
            not have a standard expansion slot. However, we have tested 
            and confirmed that DeskMate works like a charm when run from 
            a workstation on a LANtastic network, and Ethernet cables are 
            readily available in lengths of 100 feet.

                                  -=*=-

                              BACK ISSUES

Editor:
   I am the owner of a Tandy 1000 SX and a Tandy 2500 SX/20. I would like 
to know which issues reviewed the Tandy 2500 SX and the Tandy 2500 SX/25.
                                       Lester Youngreen
                                       Howard Beach, New York

               Two articles we found of interest are "The Tandy 2500 XL 
            and 2800 HD Computers" (August 1990, Page 40) and "New Tandy 
            Computers: Introducing the 2810, 3810, 1100 HD and 2500 SX" 
            (November 1991, Page 32).

                                  -=*=-

                              USING DEBUG

Editor:
   As given in PCM (February 1994, Page 52) ANYKEY.COM may be created by 
using DEBUG to write and assemble the source code. It is easier to write 
the code as an ASCII file (e.g. ANYKEY.DBG) and then use DEBUG to load 
and assemble the .COM file using DEBUG < ANYKEY.DBG from the DOS prompt. 
It is easier to correct typing errors in an ASCII text file than when 
writing the program in DEBUG. The only change required in the source-code 
listing is to change the (Press ENTER) to a blank line. This information 
is applicable to creating any .COM file from DEBUG and should have been 
given in the article.
                                       Robert Hood
                                       Bremerton, Washington

                                  -=*=-

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