dacs.doc electric

Random Access

Instant Replay: June 1998

Bruce Preston, Moderator

 

This month we are initiating a new service for the many DACS members who would like to participate in the Random Access sessions but are unable to attend the general meetings. Now you may now e-mail your questions to askdacs@aol.com. Questions will be presented to the membership and responded to via this column. Please submit your questions by 6 PM the evening before the general meeting, and try to provide about the level of detail as in the questions in the column. We regret that we will not be able to answer individual questions personally.

Ask DACS: I have a Pentium computer running under Windows 95 and am using an HP6L printer. This is the only printer on my system. When I print, a status window appears created by the HP software. Sometimes at the start of printing, a message appears in the status window that says "printer not found." My system does not lock up because of this, but I have to reboot anyway to get the printer to work again.

A. First, make sure that you have the most recent driver, available from HP's Web site. If that doesn't work, try using the HP LaserJet III driver, which is very stable and supports all of the standard functionality of the HP family of laser printers.

Ask DACS: Recently my HP LaserJet III printer has started printing a single graphic character when the printer and the machine it is connect to is turned on. The machine participates in Windows peer-to-peer networking.

A. If the machine to which the printer is attached has SCSI devices, it is probably the SCSI software looking for a SCSI device attached via the printer port. This could happen if you have a SCSI tape drive, or perhaps if the machine has access to a ZIP drive, either directly or via sharing. You might try not turning on the printer until the machine has completed the boot process.

Q. Is anybody using ProComm Plus to transmit Electronic Data Interchange files? The software I am currently using does not let me automate the transmissions.

A. EDI is a highly structured protocol, but the files are essentially ASCII. If you are looking for a terminal emulation program that lets you control it programmatically, you might look at HyperAccess from Hilgraeve. It uses a subset of the C language and also has an API (Applications Programming Interface), which lets you embed communications functions within your application. Note, however, that it does not provide any EDI-specific capabilities. For an EDI application, you might call the APL Group in Wilton, CT, who have an excellent EDI product.

Q. Does anybody have any experience with rewriteable CDs? I want to transfer stuff from a ZIP drive. Do I need to worry about access speed for the ZIP?

A. The SCSI version of the ZIP drive (and perhaps the EIDE internal version) have transfer rates roughly equivalent to an older hard disk. The parallel port version is not as fast and might not be able to feed the CD writer fast enough. Lastly, according to various reviews, the drives themselves are comparable in capabilities, but the software that comes with them varies widely.

Q. A number of online services will back up your hard disk for about $15 per month. Has anybody used these centralized backup services?

A. Doing it over the Internet could take a long time unless you have a high bandwidth connection (not a dial-up line). It is not cost effective compared to using a local tape drive.

Q. In Windows 95 Explorer, is there a way to delete multiple files without having to select and remove them individually?

A. Click the first file. Then Shift-click the last in a range, and it will select all between. Or to select non-contiguous files, click the first one, then Ctrl-click additional files. Selected files will be highlighted. If you want to unhighlight a file, Ctrl-click it. Control-A will select all files in the window. Shift-End will select from the currently selected file to the bottom of the window.

In the "details view," clicking on the column header will sort the window by that column--by oldest file, for example,. Click again, and it will do a reverse sort, for example, by newest file. Be careful: These short-cuts may also select folders within the current folder. For those who like to live dangerously, shift-DELETE will delete files without placing them in the Recycle Bin.

Q. Where are these [keyboard shortcuts] documented?

A. Take a look at START / HELP / INDEX / KEYS. By the way, here is a neat one. If you use the "detail view" in Windows Explorer, your right window contains a directory listing with file type, size, modification date, etc. Click in the window and then press Ctrl-+ and the columns will resize to "best fit."

Q. Has anyone used the ISP SmartNet, which advertises in the local paper? It has a one-time sign-up fee of $60, and from then on it is all-you-can-eat.

A. We believe that you must use their provided browser, and if you don't mind a lot of advertising when you start up, it may be for you.

Q. What is the latest version of AOL's browser?

A. The current "published" version is 3.0, but there is a 4.0 BETA available for download. (Webmaster's Note: BETA version's of software are prerelease and are often quite buggy. Readers should exercise extreme caution when using them.)

Q. When I am using PC-Network (a news-feed push service), it takes control of the whole machine. Is there a way to have it run in the background?

A. The current version is not multithreaded and doesn't support background processing. The 2.5 beta version was reported to be fine. Watch for its release, or see if you can get the beta.

Q. I installed the Brøderbund 3D Home Interiors application, and now when I boot I am asked whether I want the original configuration or the Brøderbund 3D Home Interiors configuration. The boot will not proceed without a response. How do I get rid of this prompt?

A. The application installation has created a hardware profile, which is most normally used on notebook machines which can be connected to a docking station. The "mobile" configuration typically doesn't have network access, so network support might not be loaded, while the "docked" configuration will make use of the network card in the docking station. Why Brøderbund added a hardware profile is hard to say, unless they added a Web browser or other software to support dial-up networking so you can get templates (furniture, etc.) from their Web site. You can delete a hardware profile via My Computer / Control Panel / System - Hardware Profiles tab. If you go into device manager and look at the individual devices, you may see some hardware that has been added for the profile, perhaps the Dial-Up Networking Adapter, which is actually software. You probably should call Brøderbund to ask them what they are doing.

Q. Could people comment upon V.90 modems?

A. The following is distilled from several respondents: The ITU is expected to ratify the V.90 protocol which many modems are already supporting via "flash ROM" updates. Some of the things that will control your maximum data transfer rate are: distance from your central telephone office (CO) and line condition, whether all links between your CO and the ISP's CO are digital, and most important, which terminal handlers your ISP is using.

The ISP's hardware must be capable of driving the line at 56K and might be using any of three possible standards: X2, which was developed by 3Com/US Robotics, K-flex, which was developed by Rockwell and AT&T Bell Labs, or V.90, which is the ITU standard. If the ISP hasn't converted to V.90, and/or your modem hasn't been upgraded to V.90, then you will get 56K only if your modem matches the ISP's configuration (i.e. X2 talking to X2, or K-flex talking to K-flex). Otherwise the connection will be made at a nominal 33K.

Note that the higher speed is only for data moving from the ISP to your system. You will not get 56K if you dial into another V.90 modem since they are capable of receiving only at the high speed--the transmit speed tops out at about 33K. Note also that even in perfect conditions, the best connection is more likely to be about 52K or so, since the FCC has restricted the signal strength that may be applied to the communications line. Lastly, if you experienced significant telephone line quality problems with your previous modem (e.g. line noise), then a V.90 is going to see the same noise and have to retransmit more data, possibly making the connection actually slower.


Bruce Preston is president of West Mountain Systems, a Ridgefield, CT-based consultancy specalizing in database applications. A DACS director and moderator of the Random Access sessions opening the general meetings, Bruce also leads the Access SIG. Contact Bruce at bpreston@mags.net.

BackHomeNext