Rich's Rambling's
by Rich Schinnell
I've received several copies of Smart Computing, and I find the magazine has some helpful articles in it. It seems to be written in nontechie language, and I can recommend it to those of you who consider yourselves to be in the nontechie or novice category. I think it is a great magazine and well worth its price to the novice.
Maybe Smart Computing can answer some of your questions. Its cost is $29.00 for 12 months and $48 for 24 months. Specify number 6939 when you call (800) 733 -3809, or you can FAX your order to (402) 479-2193. By the way, Capital PC User Group (CPCUG) will receive a $5 commission each time our special renewal or new order number 6939 is used.
Next month (November 17-21) I will be in Las Vegas attending the computer dealers exposition (COMDEX). The weekend before COMDEX (at both the spring and fall events) the Association of PC User Groups ( APCUG) has seminars and round table discussions. Software and hardware vendors also conduct seminars and presentations for user group officers from around the world. This is where many of us learn of the new products that will be coming out in the next year or so.
CPCUG has been a member of APCUG since its inception and formation by one of our past presidents, Jerry Schneider. APCUG is an umbrella organization of user groups with more than 400 user group members throughout the world. Lillian Milliner, CPCUG President, and Peggy Ireland, Program Director, attended their first APCUG conference in June 1997 at Spring COMDEX in Atlanta.
Microsoft and IBM are always sponsors at these events as well as Borland and Symantec. Unfortunately, Las Vegas hotels always raise their prices during COMDEX because most of the attending nerds are not gamblers, and hotel managers claim they lose money. I, however, always try to help the local economy when I go there. < G>
Back to my day job now -- I have been experimenting with operating systems release version 2 (OSR-2) of Windows95. It is supposed to be available only with a new system, but I purchased a copy at one of the local computer shows. The best part of the new version is its support of 32-bit file systems.
Remember when I used to harp on you for wasting disk space with large allocation sectors on hard disks? If you partition a 2.1-gigabyte hard disk as one C drive with DOS or the earlier version of Windows95, it ends up with a sector size of 32,000 bytes as the smallest cluster that can be allocated. The result is your CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and any other small files, regardless of size, each take up 32,000 bytes. But with the latest OSR-2 version of Windows95, the hard disk can be huge but the minimum cluster size only 4000 bytes.
Windows95 OSR-2 is a great improvement and much more efficient. If you are using the older version of Norton Utilities for DOS, however, you will be disappointed because it cannot recognize this new file system. With this new release, Windows95 uses your hard disk much more efficiently, and you can partition your hard disk in much larger chunks without wasting additional space.
The OSR-2 version of Windows95 comes on CD-ROM with a bootable floppy diskette. Caution: it is designed for use by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and is a bit tricky to install. First the assumption is that your CD-ROM drive is drive D, and that is hard coded into the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. This must be changed if you either have partitioned your hard disk into more than one drive or have more than one hard disk on your machine. But it is a piece of cake (so says a techie) to install and get working.
Local dealers can legitimately sell you a copy of the OSR-2 version of Windows95, if you buy a motherboard and processor. The resulting upgraded machine is considered a new machine, even though the installation is designed to be accomplished by the OEM or dealer. Those of you who insist on packing the proverbial 6 pounds of apples into a 4-pound bag may, however, have some problems.
Hint No. 1: Remember the old KISS admonition -- keep it simple, stupid. It is
never more appropriate than in Windows95 machines. The less you have in your
startup folder and CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, the better off you will
be.
Stability is much easier to attain without a lot of junk in your machine. But
who am I to tell you how to configure your machine? I'll only say that I
receive many Helpline calls from people who are really frustrated. After asking
them some
questions, it seems many problems result from installing so much in the startup
folder.
Hint No. 2: If you are not a complete novice and would like to get a good
price on a computer and don't need any hand holding, join the hw Conference
(hardware, no. 33) on our MIX BBS. There you'll find information about a local
company allowing
CPCUG members to purchase machines at quite reasonable prices. That firm also
supports our Build Your Own PC Workshop.
Hint No. 3: Please spend the money and get a good backup device when you get
that new humongous hard disk. Especially now that they are cheaper, tape drives
are a good investment. Go for it, then you won't be crying when you give me a
call on the
Helpline and tell me that your hard disk stopped working. It depresses me to
hear people crying on the phone. <G>
Rich Schinnell is the First Vice President of CPCUG, having been around almost since day one. He enjoys helping people with their computer problems, and does a bit of small business consulting during the day. You can call him in the evening between the hours of 6 and 9pm when you need some advice or help. He can be contacted via e-mail at schinnel@cpcug.org or by phone at (301) 949-9292.
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