CompuServe Archive

This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.

Search Results (401 messages)

#46437 #Encarta Data Message #46461
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia April 21, 1993 5:49 AM
Oops. The Groliers is organized so close to the Colliers I grew up with and reads so similarly I made an unwarranted assumption. Still, the basics stand. Multimedia? No contest–Encarta. Depth? Encarta and Comptons leave a lot to be desired and seem basically intended for the middle school market. Groliers…
#46242 #TEXEL 3204 + PAS 16 Message #46460
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia April 21, 1993 5:49 AM
Vidtest is an absolutely wonderful program and I wish MicroSoft would make it available all over, particularly on Video for Windows and such disks. Alas, it currently exists in only two incarnations: a strictly beta multimedia Windows version that was created for a beta test and never released as an…
#46215- #New Technology Message #46459
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia April 21, 1993 5:49 AM
Rich, I'm really not anti-multimedia or I wouldn't be here, and a good gimmick is always something I like playing with, but most of the thrust of multimedia has been towards little "goshwow" bells and whistles that really have little practical application at this time on the PC platform. Having…
#44148 I'm back Message #44244
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 27, 1993 4:14 AM
The danger with a nuclear North Korea isn't that it will use them; it would simply cease to exist if it did and it knows it. What is far worse is that they appear to be manufacturing the damned things to SELL….
#44033 I'm back Message #44243
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 27, 1993 4:14 AM
Yes, the only month I will visit Paris is in August, when there are no Parisians there.
#44138 I'm back Message #44242
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 27, 1993 4:14 AM
Well, Ed, you remember the Chalker Theory of Westward Migration, don't you? That our ancestors were the scum, crooks, losers, and nuts of the Old World who came here and settled the East becoming the new Establishment, forcing the next wave of scum, crooks, losers, and nuts further west, and…
#44217 Need Advice Message #44241
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia March 27, 1993 4:14 AM
The Texel package, available only from their dealers, has the Texel in it. MediaVision also has a higher-end (street about $995) package containing the PAS16 and a NEC83. That's a nice package, but steep.
#44119 #Worst CD-ROMs Message #44240
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia March 27, 1993 4:14 AM
Beethoven was the first of the musical CD ROM titles so it's a big older, yes, but I've had no trouble with it whatsoever and it's actually kind of a neat program.
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · General March 27, 1993 3:24 AM
Only in strange restaurants. I trust the chefs I usually patronize. At least, if they're letting flies get in, I've never suffered any ill effects from the added protein….
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · General March 27, 1993 3:24 AM
Well, yes, you're right. I'd forgotten. My memory manager CAN use the upper memory and I'd forgotten that this isn't a default.
#44048 Playing audio files Message #44155
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 26, 1993 4:14 AM
Well, tell me what the files are like and I might be able to tell more.
#44039 I'm back Message #44154
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 26, 1993 4:14 AM
Ah, yes. We all had to be reminded by the news of the Day, since it isn't even enough of a holiday here to suspend the parking meters. They do a big deal down in St. Mary's City, though. They used to do it where Leonard Calvert planted the cross…
#44038 I'm back Message #44153
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 26, 1993 4:14 AM
Oh, well, I can prove that everybody has royal blood. Just assume you have two parents (you do, don't you?), four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, etc. and take it back as far as you can. Using average lifespans for the covered period, you will find that your total of ancestors will…
#44037 I'm back Message #44152
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 26, 1993 4:14 AM
Well, three studies (one by the Wall Street Journal) found that the largest number of pharmeceutical R&D projects, the largest bearing real fruit, and the largest per share investment in same, came from the smallest companies and the government itself! The larger the company, the less it puts into R&D,…
#44036 I'm back Message #44151
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 26, 1993 4:14 AM
We'll contribute, but there's no way Congress is going to pay for cleanup of German bases! Heck, they haven't even cleaned up all their own WWII stuff, yet.
#44035 I'm back Message #44150
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 26, 1993 4:14 AM
Actually, my theory is that it's an abnormally large number of buzzards returning to Hinkley, Ohio.
#44025 Corel Matters Message #44149
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 26, 1993 4:14 AM
Heck, all I did was install it to a different drive and directory. The two don't seem to conflict and it puts everything in its own named directory. I have a strict policy that's even more strict with betas: other than reading the "what we already know is wrong or…
#43967 #Playing audio files Message #44003
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 24, 1993 10:20 PM
It's quite possible that it's the MicroSoft Sound System, which is not designed to play all the file types you can with a PAS16 or SoundBlaster card. I have heard of a large number of limitations on the MSS card and its near twin the Compaq Business Sound System. In…
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · General March 24, 1993 10:20 PM
Well, everybody really has some expanded memory if they have a stock 640K system with video; it's possible that it's sticking itself in that small unused kernel above 640K but before the 704K video kick-in. Having now waged the battle of SCSI-2, though, I can tell you that much of…
#43906 I'm back Message #43922
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 24, 1993 1:24 AM
I'll check out the new section once I learn what number it is and can stick it on TAPCIS.
#43837 #Playing audio files Message #43921
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 24, 1993 1:21 AM
You will need some sort of Windows driver that can play CD Audio tracks. Many sound boards come with drivers that will do this, and there are several third party and shareware apps that do this and supply the drivers as well. Can you play the MIDI and WAV files…
#43875 I'm back Message #43920
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 24, 1993 1:21 AM
Except that the record length of the legendary average German vacation is being noted as a factor in its low and declining productivity. Of course, I haven't gone to work for 15 years, so who am I to complain? And I've often taken very long holidays….
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 24, 1993 1:20 AM
Hillary, while you might not have been in touch with Trantor, Trantor has been monitoring the MultiMedia section here (I think it's 6) and others have asked there about similar questions. You might try posting a query there and see what happens. For the record, Trantor offers all sorts of…
Corel Matters Message #43918
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 24, 1993 1:20 AM
Well, speak and it shall be so. Care package from Corel came today. Wish I could show THIS to some of the Bombay crowd–then they'd know what a beta really was. Oy–bet I have to reinstall Windows from scratch when THIS one's over!
#43715 I'm back Message #43917
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 24, 1993 1:20 AM
Well, okay, I'm a historian, but I assure you that MY students knew Jefferson was a slaveowner and I don't remember a time when I didn't know, and the slave quarters of Mt. Vernon are still there and explained as they have been for the almost two centuries since it…
#43714 I'm back Message #43916
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 24, 1993 1:20 AM
To really pump up the economy without a massive defense program would take an equally huge commitment to other, more positive comparable programs that such industries could do, and there's no understanding of that. Recently an airliner crashed in Russia and because of the inevitable deaths got big play in…
#43713 I'm back Message #43915
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 24, 1993 1:20 AM
Oh, I agree, the cleanup's enormous, and that's true even for non-nuclear bases, since the military has never thought much about damage to the area. It's always been a fact that the defense industry, since the start of WWII at any rate, was a large blind for a massive socialist…
#43712 I'm back Message #43914
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 24, 1993 1:20 AM
I don't think that the moon itself had much to do with it since the real conjunction of two weeks ago was that the moon was as close as it gets to the Earth in any given year (but it gets there once a year) AND it was full, which…
#43873 I'm back Message #43913
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 24, 1993 1:20 AM
So far, every time they do one of these massive studies–some health ministry or university or whatever–to try and do in coffee, it has come back saying that it's not at all bad for most people and is beneficial for the majority. They have been going crazy trying to get…
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia March 24, 1993 1:20 AM
I'm not MediaVision but several possibilities come to mind. First, check to see that your card isn't using addresses that conflict with IRQs or DMAs currently being used by other hardware/software. Second, make sure you have excluded the card's address range both in QEMM's load line and in SYSTEM.INI using…
#43753 PURCHASE NEW Message #43911
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia March 24, 1993 1:20 AM
It really depends on what you want to do. If what you want is the best current Multimedia playback capability and some business audio to boot, almost any of the top of the line multimedia upgrade kits will do, with the top of the line Texel the best price-performance kit…
#43900 Need Advice Message #43910
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia March 24, 1993 1:20 AM
The new top of the line Texel really is a fine CD ROM at one of the best prices in the business, I agree. Although I use a SoundBlaster card in my main machine, when I got a multimedia upgrade kit for my other big 486 I got the PAS16/NEC83…
#43813 NEC CD74 Buffer Size Message #43909
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia March 24, 1993 1:20 AM
I'd been led to believe that the port off the PAS16 wasn't efficient for chaining with or without a manager. Are you saying that it's a fully compliant SCSI port that would accept the usual chain with the right manager and drivers?
#43511 /93 Nerd Column Message #43703
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 22, 1993 4:26 AM
Landslides, earthquakes, high humidity–makes the point I made to Ed that there is nowhere you can live that doesn't have a downside. I can't remember who got the full burnout at the moment, but I'm just in on less than 6 hours sleep from an SF convention in New York…
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 22, 1993 4:26 AM
Actually, Lynne, Hillary had to resign from the firm when Bill was elected President. The First Lady, it seems, is covered under conflict of interest laws (and for good reason). However, it seems to me that if we're going to restrict outside activities of first spouses then we've got no…
#43523 #I'm back Message #43701
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 22, 1993 4:26 AM
The only reason I wondered about it was that I received about a week ago the big mailer from Corel on their huge conference in Washington, D.C. in mid-May, the climax of which is supposed to be the world premiere and intro of the very product that, as of almost…
#43522 I'm back Message #43700
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 22, 1993 4:25 AM
Yes, I notice that mine and another letter with similar sentiments showed up. I didn't think the nerd really answered the points and I hold the NAUTILUS editors ultimately responsible for what's printed and they were conspicuously silent, but by the resolution it appears that I and the other fellow…
#43541 #I'm back Message #43699
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 22, 1993 4:25 AM
Actually, that quotation is universal at least amongst English-speaking peoples, nor is the sentiment exactly new. It was Shakespeare, after all, who had Hamlet say, "First, let's kill all the lawyers."
#43539 I'm back Message #43698
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 22, 1993 4:25 AM
While State Police performance isn't measured by the number of tickets they write, it is certainly true that unless they turn in a lot of fully used ticket books during this period they aren't going to get the plum assignments. Faking stops, however, isn't necessary in any highway system in…
#43678 #Need Advice Message #43697
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia March 22, 1993 4:25 AM
Insight is an old and reputable mail order outfit. Although I haven't ever used them myself, I know a number of people who have and haven't heard any horror stories. Be aware that while the Talon drive you mention is MPC compliant according to current standards, it's a generation and…
#43675 Which Encyclopedia? Message #43696
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia March 22, 1993 4:25 AM
(A) Remember that press releases of not yet existant products are often full of promises of "must have" stuff that might or might not be possible to be delivered. (B) Sometimes promised features are a lot harder to get in and get past beta testing (meaning they don't keep crashing…
#43494 NEC CD74 Buffer Size Message #43695
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia March 22, 1993 4:25 AM
There's no good way to find out, but it's likely that if it's an older version it does not. One key indicator is if it states that it is Kodak photo multisession (not single session) compatible. NEC has offered upgrades to the firmware on the 74 and 83, although you…
#Multimedia kit Message #43694
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia March 22, 1993 4:25 AM
There is one caveat with the Fusion, a fine and very cost-effective set otherwise. It's been known to cause some hardware conflicts with some systems because it's not as configurable as some of the others. Make sure you have the ability to return it if it proves incompatible, or at…
#43340 #I'm back Message #43421
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 18, 1993 11:07 PM
By the way–you heard anything from Corel on the new project yet? I haven't.
#43340 #I'm back Message #43420
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 18, 1993 11:07 PM
I live on a mountain. Or, at least, a high hill about as high as those in San Francisco overlooking a mile-wide valley. There's something wrong with almost everywhere anybody considers liveable. I'm not so much worried about the storms of Florida but the bugs and sink holes are far…
#43280 I'm back Message #43419
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 18, 1993 11:07 PM
Yes, it's just more of the usual panic. I thought the "what to do if the big one hits" spots on the local news were hilarious. My wife and I almost died laughing at them. I guess they're terrified in Columbia that they might get a really big one, like…
#43294 #I'm back Message #43418
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 18, 1993 11:07 PM
Most laws, like most taxes, aren't designed to do what they claim but rather something else. Just as taxes are used to control behavior more than raise revenue (or at least as much), most laws like the speed laws and much of the civil code are used to raise revenue–not…
#43384 #I'm back Message #43417
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 18, 1993 11:07 PM
Radar trap types tend to be tall and thin and seem to be manufactured in the same factory worldwide (sort of like taxi drivers, who come from a different factory). It's the parking ticket issuers who tend to be small. State Police here do all manner of police work, but…
#43383 #I'm back Message #43416
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · NAUTILUS PC March 18, 1993 11:07 PM
You must have a heck of a CI$ bill, I'd say! Sorry about the slang; I don't think "bum" is the proper comparative, though. Up the kazoo means generally up to your neck or not only more of something than you needed but more than you ever wanted, usually applied…
From: Jack L. Chalker CDROM Forum · Multimedia March 18, 1993 11:07 PM
Actually, I've got two slots open since I was able to consolidate some cards. However, with two EISA FastSCSI-2 boards in the system, that's 2; LPTs take 2 more, COMs 2 more, sound board 1, 5 are reserved for BIOS use by the EISA chip set, and I forget what…

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