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The LangaList
6-Jul-99
A Free Email
Newsletter from Fred Langa About BrowserTune,
HotSpots, Columns, Tips & Tricks, and Other Activities
In This
Issue:
Share That Web Access And Save!
A Drum Roll, Please… Here Comes The BT2K Rollout
More NT Bugs!
Netscape Communicator 4.61 Released
Byte's Very First Editor Joins Discussion
A Week Too Early?
Y2K BS
Summer Reading?
How To Publish Your Own Email Newsletter
Everybody Likes Free!
Just For Grins
More!
Share That Web Access And Save!
Have multiple PCs in your home, small business or workgroup? Chances are you’re still using a separate modem for each user---an inefficient and expensive way to connect. You're not only saddled with the direct expenses of multiple modems, data lines and ISPs, but every separate Internet connection also is a separate security hole, potentially allowing unwanted access to or from your PCs.
Besides, modems just don't cut it anymore. Even a 56K modem gets bogged down with long files, graphics-rich Web pages, streaming video and audio, desktop-to-laptop synchronization of directory trees or databases, and so on. And many desktops still use older, slower modems that offer even worse performance.
If you’re on a LAN---even a simple peer network such as the one built into Windows 9x, running on inexpensive, generic Ethernet cards and cables---it's amazingly simple to bring faster, cheaper, more efficient and more secure Internet connectivity to every PC. In most cases, you don't even need a network server.
I’ve written about access sharing in the past (for example, see http://content.techweb.com/winmag//library/1998/0701/ana0006.htm ), and each time I’ve done so, I’ve gotten a flood of mail from people wanting to know more. And the whole topic of connection-sharing is especially relevant now that the Win98 Second Edition has shipped: The full version includes connection-sharing software built in!
So I was very glad when the editors of WinMag asked me to write a full feature article on the subject. The article is called simple "Web Access" and you’ll find it in the Summer ’99 Special Issue, which is now out; or you can read it on the web at http://content.techweb.com/winmag//library/1999/0602/bui0006.htm .
Check out the article, and then click on over to the Dialog Box area via the WinMag front page at http://content.techweb.com/winmag// starting about midday Tuesday July 6th. I'll welcome your comments, questions, or suggestions for other ways to share access. Let’s pool out knowledge: Join in!
--------------Please Visit This LangaList Sponsor!------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The shutdown of WinMag’s print
edition threw me a pretty good curve: I went for the better part of a week
not knowing if my freelance contract was intact or not. One of the things
covered in my contract is BT2K. But at least for now, it looks as
though we’re proceeding as usual, and that’s good because I’m just days
away from releasing the public beta. All the new tests are done and
are working great! At the least, I’ve re-coded and refreshed all the old
tests, and in many cases added totally new ones. For example, BT98 has a simple
Graphics Test that lets you see if your browser could display GIFs, JPGs and
BMPs. (Curiously, Netscape browsers still can’t show BMPs.) For BT2K, I’ve
added a PNG image to the test: this is a new "Portable Network
Graphic" file format that offers high compression and
platform-independence; it’s meant as a replacement to the proprietary (but
popular) GIF format. Over time, PNG will become prevalent as software vendors
opt not to pay royalties to use the GIF algorithms--- your browser needs PNG
support. BT2K will let you find out if you can view PNGs, and the test takes
literally about a second. Likewise, the streaming audio
tests now include MP3 files, and streaming video includes Windows Media Player
(which actually isn’t just for Windows---- there are Mac and Unix versions,
too.) Many, many of BT98’s tests have
been updated similarly, but there are many new tests too. For example, although
you still can opt to run a manual throughput timing test, BT2K now automatically
runs nine separate small-file throughput tests for you, and also offers two
additional automatic tests for people with fast connections: a 1MB file test
that’s ideal for ISDN and low-end cable, DSL, and satellite services; and a
10MB file test that’s great for gauging the performance of full-bore cable,
satellite, DSL, and other high-speed connection types. I’m knee-deep in coding the
"results" section (where BT2K tells you what it’s found about your
browser), and as soon as that’s working reliably, we’ll go live! I know you’ve
been waiting for BT2K for a long time--- but I honestly think it’ll be worth
the wait. Stay tuned for an announcement very soon! Meanwhile, a newly-updated
version of the short (but thorough!) BT2K Demo awaits you at http://www.browsertune.com/bt2kdemo/ If you or your company is running
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0, Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Microsoft
Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, grab a patch for this bug.
Microsoft describes it this way: " If an executable file with a
specially-malformed image header is executed, it will cause a system failure.
The affected machine will need to be rebooted in order to place it back in
service. Any work that was in progress when the machine crashed could be
lost." OK, that sounds nasty. But you
can grab a free patch at any of these places: Windows NT Server and Workstation
4.0: Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal
Server Edition: More info: Netscape fans should note that
Communicator 4.61 is out, although (curiously) Navigator has not been
updated---it’s latest release is still 4.08. Grab a copy or an update at I was very pleased and honored
when Chris Morgan---the editor who launched Byte back in 1975, joined the
discussion attached to my most recent column at Byte.com--- Part Two of a
retrospective on 25 years of Byte. Part One (covering 1975-1985)
appears at http://www.byte.com/columns/monitor/1999/05/0524langa.html
and Part Two (covering 1985 to the present) is available at http://www.byte.com/columns/monitor/1999/06/0628langa.html---
but note that the column may soon be moved into the archive area, so you may
need to navigate to it from Byte’s front page (www.byte.com)
if the link above doesn’t work. If you prefer, you also can jump
straight to the discussion at In last week’s Dialog Box , I
wrote: A long time ago---in
January 1996---in a speech I gave to the Washington Software Association, I
joked that AOL eventually would tire of carpet-bombing the planet with free
diskettes and CDs and would start giving away free PCs. The catch, I thought,
would be that you'd be locked into AOL---sort of like a TV that's permanently
tuned to one station. The rest of the Dialog Box
revolved around speculation that AOL might do a deal with Microworkz (http://www.microworkz.com/)
for just such boxes. Days after column appeared, AOL
and Microworkz announced that, in fact, just such a deal had been consummated:
AOL’s CompuServe division would start giving out "free" PCs as a
come-on. Not to be outdone, MSN, Prodigy and other services then rushed in with
similar deals. But what most glowing accounts of
this "free" AOL PC deal missed is that you have to sign up for nearly
$800 worth of connect time from CompuServe, over three years. The Wall Street
Journal did the math and figured that the real cost to AOL for the connect time
and hardware was about $500, so AOL is going to make about a $300 profit on
every "free" PC it manages to foist on the unwary. PT Barnum was wrong--- there’s
not a sucker born every minute: there are boatloads of them born every minute. Most of the Y2K hysteria has
passed (although it will return in the last few months of this year). But a few
companies out there are still using scare tactics to drum up sales. Reader "miketraina"
wrote this note about experiences: Dear Mr. Langa: I look forward to your
articles in each month's WINDOWS Magazine. I finally got around to performing
the Y2K compliance test that was detailed in the January 1999 issue. I ran those
tests after I ran a few of the Y2K test programs found at various sites on the
web. I ran two programs, then decided to do the tests "manually",
using your method. The program, PCWatch2000,
by Henry Spencer Company, P.O. Box 3090, McLean, VA. 22102 (a freeware program I
found somewhere) indicated a non Y2K compliance, in particular the date change:
Dec 31, 1999 to Jan. 1, 2000. The program then alluded to the necessity of
purchasing a full "registered" version. The program 2000 Toolbox,
by McAfee Software (downloaded from the PCMag website) indicated (all three)
BIOS, DOS and Windows date of 1/01/2000 failure. As above, a solution was to
purchase the 2000 Toolbox full version. Anyway, my PC passed your
test procedures with flying colors. I should not have been so lazy. I should
have known better. As is often the case, if you want something done properly, do
it yourself. In this case, following your guidelines. Thanks for the continuing
education! I thoroughly enjoy your articles! Mike Traina The article he’s referring to
is at http://content.techweb.com/winmag//library/1999/0101/fea0061.htm
and it contains a series of fast, free tests that takes about 5-10 minutes to
run and that will smoke out all the most common types of Y2K glitches a PC can
have. The article also has information on dealing with software issues. There may be times when
commercial Y2K software is indeed the best choice. But not always: If you haven’t
done your own Y2K tests yet, before you go and spend money on test suites you
may not need, check out the above article for easy, free tests you can do on
your own. Reader Dave Solimini wrote: Fred: I found something you
should be able to put in your Newsletter - a book, "Dealers of
Lightening" by Michael Hiltzik. It's about Xerox PARC. As I’m sure you
know, PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) invented the PC, the GUI, WYSIWYG, the
mouse, and Ethernet, among other things. Its told as a personal story, mainly
from interviews with the people who were there, and its a fun read, regardless
of the topic. I knew a bit about the place before, but this book really educated
me on the story. Its a new book, written in 1999. Love the newsletter... Dave Solimini Thanks Dave. I hadn’t heard of
that one. A related book I have read is "Fumbling the Future; How Xerox
Invented, Then Ignored, the First Personal Computer" by Douglas K. Smith,
Robert C. Alexander. Fascinating reading! By the way, an easy way to search
for and order any book online, at a discount, is via the form on the bottom of
this page: http://www.langa.com/book.htm I wrote a long chapter about this
free email newsletter, the "LangaList," for a book, called "Poor
Richard's E-Mail Publishing: Creating Newsletters, Bulletins, Discussion Groups
and Other Powerful Communications Tools." Through an "affiliate"
program, you can get a copy for 20% off the cover price! Here's how Amazon.Com describes
the book: "E-mail publishing is
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program, signing up members, successfully moderating a list, and using the lists
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by selling advertising, writing newsletter messages, using E-mail services when
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you can save $5.99 (20%!): your cost will be $23.96: just click here to order: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0966103254/langacom (Online ordering here is 100%
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to instantly email your friends a free, no-obligation sample issue of the
LangaList in your name. Do you know just one other person who might find this newsletter interesting
or useful? Send ‘em a copy! Thanks! Here’s a quick Y2K chuckle from
reader "buytexas:" "Spoken by a software
programmer: "I've finally figured out why this whole Year 2000 problem is
causing so much trouble. Fixing it depends on programmers finding a date. This
isn't exactly one of our classic strengths" See you next issue! Best, ( fred@langa.com ) (P.S. Please email the LangaList
to a friend! Use this super-fast
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Administrivia:
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rights reserved.A
Drum Roll, Please… Here Comes The BT2K Rollout
More
NT Bugs
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/fixes/usa/nt40/Hotfixes-PostSP4/Kernel-fix/
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/fixes/usa/nt40tse/Hotfixes-PostSP4/Kernel-fix
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q234/5/57.aspNetscape
Communicator 4.61 Released
http://www.netscape.com/computing/download/index.html?cp=hom07pbroByte’s
Very First Editor (Chris Morgan)
Joins Discussion
http://cmpweb-media0.web.cerf.net/scripts/WebX?cmpnet-13@^41345@.ee6d875A
Week Too Early?
Y2K
BS
Summer
Reading?
Speaking
Of Books:
How To Publish Your Own Email Newsletter
Just
For Grins:
Fred
An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "what's
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