              * * * T H E  M A I L B A G * * *
                  for On Disk Monthly #78

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                          ASK ODM

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After extensive efforts, all resulting in failure, I'm
convinced that Label Meister from ODM #73 may have a
problem.

I've been trying to print several copies of a single label.
Each time I set up the number of copies, then select the
name record I'd like to print. Next, I have answered the
categories question, both "yes" and "no," but always the
result is the same. The program tells me that there are no
records that agree with my selection.

Am I doing something wrong or does the program have a
problem?

                                  Donald Bilicki
                                  Marietta, GA

RESPONSE: After printing multiple copies of a single label
several times myself, I think you are either doing something
in the wrong order or your data file has been corrupted. We
recommend that you run this program from the DOS prompt, not
from Windows or some other shell program. Label Meister was
designed to work with tractor-fed labels only (not laser
labels).

Try following these steps:
Step 1 - Run Label Meister and load one of your label files.

Step 2 - Select FIND at the bottom of the screen (highlight
it and press Enter).
Step 3 - Type the name of the person you wish to find in the
name field(s) or "check" one of the categories (business,
personal, etc.). These are the only fields that will
respond to a "find" and they are not case sensitive.
Step 4 - Press F10 to find and the record you requested
should appear on the screen. If not, you either didn't type
a matching name or category, or your files have been damaged
or corrupted in some way.
Step 5 - Select LABEL to print your labels for this record.
Step 6 - Type the number of copies you wish to make, then
press Enter.
Step 7 - Answer "yes" when you are asked if you want to
change the label settings.
Step 8 - The normal settings are: 10 character per inch, 6
lines per inch, 3.5 inches wide, 0.9375 inches high (for
"one-inch" labels), 1 character left margin, 1 character
right margin, 0 top margin, 0 bottom margin, and 1 label
across (2 or 3 are also common).If your settings do not
match these, select CHANGE and make any necessary changes.
Step 9 - Select SAVE to save any changes or select EXIT if
changes were not necessary.
Step 10 - Make sure your printer is "on" and "on line."
Press any key and your labels should print.

If these steps do not solve your problem, please call our
technical support department for help. Remember, when you
call us about a problem, you help US, too.

                        *    *    *

Shortly after starting my subscription I received a back
issue catalog and noticed that "Up Time" was included in the
list. How about rewriting some of the Apple II "Up Time"
programs for IBM. I still have my old Apple II because I've
never found several of my favorite programs elsewhere. Some
of these are:

Weddings - a two-deck card game
Krazy Kobra - an arcade-style maze game
Super Sam - a speech program

Now for the real challenge. Remember the CGA emulator? How
about a VGA emulator? The .PCX Viewer on the last issue was
a start. The next step is a stand alone TSR to work with any
program.

                                  Joseph Beckage
                                  Phoenix, AZ

RESPONSE: Thanks for the reminder about "Up Time" and Apple
II software. We'll keep your ideas in mind, though I can
tell you now that a speech program for the IBM would be
HUGE! The Apple has built-in sound support that the IBM
doesn't. The PC Speaker that comes with your IBM or
compatible just won't cut it. You'd need a separate sound
card just to be able to understand most speech.

PCX Viewer (and PCX 'Rangler) do not "emulate" VGA. When you
run Viewer, the program's interface is CGA graphics (drawn
with computer code). Viewer does not "color map" its
interface from a VGA graphic. It will, however, allow you to
load a VGA graphic and it does "color map" a VGA graphic
down to four-color CGA. The results are sometimes better
than expected and sometimes horrible. You will notice that
these "color-mapped" graphics do not fit your computer
screen; you must scroll around the see the entire graphic.
That same graphic in VGA mode would exactly fit your screen.
The reason a VGA emulator is impractical (maybe not even
possible) is that much of a VGA program's interface would be
unavailable to you because it would be off your screen and
you'd have no means of scrolling to it. Also, the color
mapping process might assign the same color to the text and
the background so that it effectively "disappears."

                        *    *    *

I need your expertise for locating a program. I am looking
for a program that will work on my Tandy 1000HX computer
which will teach writing and English composition skills at a
high school or college level. If you have such a program or
can recommend one, please advise.

                                  Gary Cranford
                                  Del City, OK

RESPONSE: We haven't published any programs that teach
"composition." And to be honest, I haven't seen one that I'd
recommend. If anyone else has, let me know. We HAVE
published a pretty good educational grammar program titled
"Grammarama" (ODM #53).

                        *    *    *

I just subscribed to On Disk Monthly and received disk #74.
I am enclosing my report card on it. Directory Tree is very
good. I was a bit disappointed by the rest, though--a bit
simplistic. And the .PCX program was disappointing in that I
learned that to really use it I would have to separately
purchase .PCX 'Rangler and to get it I would have to buy
another disk with other programs I may or may not want.
Could you consider a special disk for gathering the programs
on which other programs depend? It would certainly help a
new user.

                                  Sarah H. Knutti
                                  Kennett Square, PA

RESPONSE: There are only three items that are published on
On Disk Monthly which require programs not necessarily on
the disk. Those are: Print Shop format graphics (you must
own The Print Shop or The New Print Shop by Broderbund, a
commercial product); .PCX format graphics (you must own a
paint program, desktop publishing program or word processor
that will allow your to load .PCX format graphics); and
occasional updates for the database of ODM software that
accompanied the ODM Indexer program (ODM #64). We'll upgrade
this program on some future issue, I'm sure.

The two graphic formats are the ones most commonly used by
IBM owners. We have published two programs--Print Shop
Utilities 5.0 (#71) and PCX 'Rangler (#70)--which provide
needed functions. PSU5 gives you a way to index your Print
Shop image collection and do basic image file management.
'Rangler gives you the ability to clip and save a single
image from a page of images or a section of a larger image.
I understand that 'Rangler is very handy for "preparing"
.PCX graphics for import into other programs, such as
GeoWorks Pro (which allows the direct import of .PCX images
via the scrapbook or GeoDraw program.

Finally, we have considered implementing a "starter disk"
that would contain those programs that run often, such as
.PCX Viewer, Print Shop Viewer, Word-Up!, Super Crossword,
etc. However, this would mean that you could not access
those files directly from our monthly disks. You'd have to
run those programs from your starter disk or from your hard
drive. How about some feedback on this idea?

                        *    *    *

For years (since 1988) I have used the Home Inventory
program. Over the years I have found this program useful as
a really simplified means of addressing the small business
needs of my Mobile Dee Jay service's equipment purchases and
home purchases. During this same period I have sampled
several other "inventory" programs. Needless to say, I am
still "pecking along" with the 1988 version of his very
simple and straight forward program. Now comes the
"however"...are there plans to update this program just a
little bit?

A question of interest to me is whether or not Sofdisk's
programs can be modified by you on a request basis. Is that
a possibility?

                                  Leroy Williams
                                  Anchorage, AK

RESPONSE: At this time we have no plans to upgrade Home
Inventory. However, we did publish an inventory program
called HouseHold on issue #67. Produced by a different set
of programmers, it will not open your Home Inventory file.
HouseHold does have some features that Home Inventory did
not...and vice versa. Finally, we don't modify programs for
individuals--our staff is too small and it is not
financially feasible. We have made modifications to a couple
of programs for companies willing to purchase hundreds or
even thousands of copies since the quantity ensures a profit
instead of a loss. If we thought a project like that would
affect our monthly issue, however, we would not agree to it.

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                          LETTERS

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I would like to thank you for producing such an excellent
product. I enjoy each and every diskette. In fact, I have no
complaints whatsoever. I do have a few suggestions, however.

1) Make a Windows version of your product. As you know,
Windows is everywhere. I don't use Windows, but I notice it
on all of my friends' computers.

2) How about adding a small column, "In the Works," that
uses your influence to find out what software is in alpha or
beta testing and let your readers know.

3) Ever think about making a CD-ROM with all of your issues
on it?

4) Make a "macros" column where readers can submit macros to
use with popular programs.

5) Use Superstore or Stacker on your floppies.

I hope you can use some of my suggestions and please try to
use more shareware. I'm surprised how many people don't know
about it.

                                  Jose Martinez
                                  Columbia, SC

RESPONSE: First, we're just getting our feet wet where
Windows is concerned, but look for more Windows stuff on
future issues of ODM. We've pretty much decided to produce
two versions of ODM--a CGA/EGA version and a VGA/Windows
version. Windows fans, please hang around. If we determine
that there's enough interest, we may eventually spin off a
separate Windows disk (but not in the near future).

Second, I hate to disillusion you, but we generally find out
about commercial software that's "in the works" the same way
you do--through the computer magazines or at the same time
as the magazines do at some of the computer shows. Computer
software developers don't make a habit of telling each other
what they're planning to do. Though we're not direct
competition, we're still competition. The computer magazines
get the scoops because they're "neutral" entities that are
useful and essential for marketing software products. Any
such news on ODM would be "old" news by the time it reached
you.

Third, we have thought about making CD-ROMs, but that's
about it. Fourth, I'd much rather see a "Reader Forum"
column that allowed subscribers to share anything--tips on
using programs, shortcuts, solutions to problems...and even
macros. I just feel that a column on macros alone is too
narrow in focus for ODM--particularly since everyone owns
different software.

Finally, we can't use any of those commercial products, but
we have our own routines that you'll be seeing more
often--especially when we get into Windows and VGA
programming. An example of this is the compressed help text
for Personal Calc 2.0 on issue #77.

                        *    *    *

I received my first shipment of your software. I am a little
disappointed. I asked several times, via E-Mail on Prodigy,
if your products were compatible with the IBM OS/2 operating
system. Your representative responded in the affirmative. We
then agreed to a three-month trial subscription.

Sending DOS utilities to an OS/2 user is somewhat a waste of
time. They may or may not be good programs, but I have no
way of telling as they are incompatible with OS/2. I am
somewhat miffed about this. How much of your merchandise is
strictly DOS utilities?

                                  James A. Fleming
                                  Olympia, WA

RESPONSE: Most of our programs can be run (i.e., are
compatible) in Windows and OS/2. Our representative did not
misinform you, but he or she should have explained that On
Disk Monthly is a DOS-based product. DOS utilities obviously
cannot be used in OS/2 or Windows, however, we typically run
only one utility per issue (one item out of six or more).
Unfortunately, we do not publish an OS/2 version of ODM and
have no plans to develop OS/2 specific programs. I hope that
you'll find enough value in the non-utility portions of our
issues to continue as a subscriber.

                        *    *    *

In your "Mailbag" on issue #72 or #73 there is a note from a
subscriber that I want to second. It's about the possibility
of having a special subscription for Windows users. I am a
Windows user and would change my subscription to a Windows
version of On Disk Monthly if you give me that alternative.
Good idea.

                                  Jaime G. Escalante
                                  Miami, FL

                        *    *    *

I have to tell you that I think you guys are having such a
good time "checking out" the programs that you put on your
monthly disks and I just have to complain. The editor
praised the "Color Directory" so highly that it really
irritated me that I cannot figure out how it works. I can
see what it is supposed to do, but how do I get it to
highlight the different extensions? It prefers to color up
.EXE files only. Your instructions are nowhere to be found.

In the meantime, I must add that I think you are playing a
dirty game by making disk #75 an anniversary summary. I want
new stuff always! My subscription is soon coming to an end
and I do not think I will renew, mainly because Softdisk
repeats itself too much and because American products are
getting too high for my budget.

P.S. Directory Tree 2.0 does not show percentage of
kilobytes or file in the left window.

                                  Marilyn Yvonne Bailuk
                                  Canada

RESPONSE: We freely admit that Color Directory had some help
text problems. It was kind of a last minute addition to the
disk and its interaction with the menu was not satisfactory.
As a result we've developed the text presentation method
you've seen in ResiCalc (#76) and Clock Worx (#77). I'm
sorry if our text mislead you into thinking that CDIR will
allow you to assign a different color to every file ending.
We plan to upgrade it on a future issue, but at present it
allows you to choose one of four colors for two groups of
files. I prefer to "highlight" my executables (.EXE) files
most of the time, so that when I type "CDIR" at the DOS
prompt I get a list of all files with the .EXE files in
bright red. I can change the color or the highlighted file
extension anytime I want. When working with graphic files,
for example, I highlight .PCX files.

Type "CDIR /?" at the DOS prompt for help. Type "CDIR /C"
for the configuration screen (set colors).

Finally, run Directory Tree 2.0 and press F2 (Display) which
toggles between sizes and percentages. You'll see the data
on the left side change to percentages.

                        *    *    *

Thanks for your attention and response to my correspondence.
I received the replacement disks. Anyway, I'm satisfied and
all is well.

The one complaint I have about your software is the color
selection and quality. I realize that you probably have to
default to CGA, but trying to read those on an EGA monitor
really strains the eyes. Can you provide a means of changing
the colors so that you can read the print? In most cases,
yellow printing on an off white background is extremely
difficult to read.

                                  Jim Moore
                                  Addison, TX

RESPONSE: You should not be seeing yellow printing on an off
white background with an EGA monitor. Please call our
technical support department at 1-800-831-2694 so we can
figure out what's going wrong. You might try running your
issues of ODM by typing "GO /C" at the DOS prompt. Some of
our programs do contain a "change colors" option, but some
do not. Why? Our programmers sometimes grab the screens you
see as "graphics" rather than building each piece in code.
These "grabbed" screens cannot be altered on the fly. Our
Art Department generally does a great job on our screens,
which are all tested for monochrome (LCD) compatibility.

                        *    *    *

Letters used in the Mailbag may be edited for length and
clarity.

                   Mail your letters to:
       Attn. Ronda Faries, On Disk Monthly's Mailbag,
  Softdisk Publishing, PO Box 30008, Shreveport, LA 71130

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