ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN MICROPENDIUM P.O. Box 1343 Round Rock TX 78680 Phone 512-255-1512 Internet jkoloen@io.com MICRO REVIEWS for Sept 1993 Micropendium by Charles Good MEMBERSHIP MANAGER and NEWSLETTER EXCHANGE Last month I reviewed a good "name/address/phone" program. MEMBERSHIP MANAGER is another such product specifically taylored for 99/4A user groups but potentially useful to any organization that has a membership roster. It is a TI BASE template. First you load TI BASE (version 3.01 or later) and then you type DO MENU to boot MEMBERSHIP MANAGER. Data stored for each member includes name, address, city, state, zip code, nation, membership number, date joined, date membership expires, scratch pad notes (up to 40 characters) unique to each member, and three user defined fields of information. You can search and sort data in any of these fields, including the user defined fields, and of course you can print reports and mailing labels. The design of the software does a good job with foreign addresses and postal codes. Address labels for foreign locations are nicely formatted. Some examples of user defined or scratch pad information might include a member's system hardware (hard drive, Geneve, 80 column card, DSDD floppy capacity, etc.) and stuff the member has checked out of the group's software or hardcover library. Members can be marked as "inactive" without deleting member information from the data base. All user groups have such inactive or ex members whose dues have not been paid for some time. You can created sorted lists that only include active members if you want. Group officers do not necessarily want to discard data on inactive individuals. It is, of course, also possible to permanently delete a member's data from MEMBERSHIP MANAGER's data base. The size of the data base is limited only by the size of the storage media. MEMBERSHIP MANAGER is optimized for use with a hard drive, but works nicely off a ramdisk (good speed) and can be used with SSSD drives. One feature I really like is access to TI BASE functions from within MEMBERSHIP MANAGER. You can format disks, catalog disks, and copy files all from within MEMBERSHIP MANAGER. NEWSLETTER EXCHANGE is a second TI BASE template designed for 99/4A user groups, separate from and not directly accessable from MEMBERSHIP MANAGER. You load TI BASE v3.01 or later and then you load NEWSLETTER EXCHANGE. Some user groups go to great lengths keeping track of exchange newsletters received from other user groups, checking to verify that the other groups are regularly sending out exchange newsletters. NEWSLETTER EXCHANGE is designed for this sort of record keeping. The data base contains the name and address of other user groups. It tracks dates of first and last newsletter received from other groups and dates of the first and most recent newsletter sent by your group to each of the other groups. A group's exchange officer can check how long it has been since a particular group sent an exchange newsletter and the total number of newsletters received or sent, etc. One indication of the professional quality and attention to detail of both MEMBERSHIP MANAGER and NEWSLETTER EXCHANGE is the documentation. It comes on disk and prints neatly from DSK1.LOAD into 24 pages of text plus a nifty title page and table of contents page. The resulting printed copy is well written, nicely formatted, and makes good use of double strike and enlarge print to enhance its general appearence. Both data bases also have well written on line help screens that you can call up at any time. This is a feature that should be a part of all application software. MEMBERSHIP MANAGER and NEWSLETTER EXCHANGE can be purchased together as a single commercial (not sharware, not for distribution via user group libraries) package from the author for $25 including postage. Send your money to Bill Gaskill 2310 Cypress Court, Grand Junction Colorado 81506. TI BASE is available TEXAMENTS and other 99/4A software dealers. ---------------------------- MINESWEEPER This is a game for the 99/4A (or Geneve) that has the "look and feel" of the PC Windows game of the same name. The basic Microsoft Windows environment used on many PCs these days includes a few games, and MINESWEEPER is one of them. Windows can sometimes be used as a multi tasking environment. While your PC at work is doing some number crunching you can play MINESWEEPER, if the boss isn't looking. MINESWEEPER (both the /4A and PC versions) is a logic game that can be quite addictive. The playing field consists of squares, each of which may or may not have a mine underneath. The object of the game is to uncover all of the squares without mines before time runs out. When you uncover a square, you are informed how many mined squares are immediately adjacent. Of course if you uncover a mine you are dead. The 99/4A version of MINESWEEPER is written in c and has excellent movement of its cursor in a manner that simulates what you get with a PC's mouse. The joystick or the WERSDFZXC keys move the cursor, and the fire button or Q key are used to "click on" a screen object. The "version 1" that I am reviewing does not support a mouse, but the author says he intends to purchase one of the various TI rodents with the initial fairware donations received and incorporate mouse control into later versions. Cursor movement is very precise and fast, just like using a mouse on a PC. When you begin to move the cursor it initially moves slowly in the selected direction and then speeds up. I really like the automatic increase in cursor speed which allows you to precisely move the cursor quickly to a point on the other side of the screen. Across the top of the screen are the number of mines not yet uncovered, the time clock (max 999 seconds) and some words you can "click" on. CUSTOM allows you to select predefined sizes ("Easy", "Okay", or "Hard") of minefields, or to create a custom mine field of any size and complexity desired. Clicking on INFO gives you a fairware notice and address. If you click on HELP (available any time in the game) complete instructions are displayed. SCORES gives you the highest scores yet obtained (minimum elapsed time till all mines uncovered) in each of the three predefined levels of play. High scores with player names are saved to disk. Several of my colleagues at the university play the Windows version of MINE SWEEPER. I have shown two of these people my 99/4A version, (when the dean wasn't around) and they think it is as good as the Windows version. MINESWEEPER is fairware, will fit on a SSSD disk, and boots from any EA5 loader such as Funnelweb. It is available on TI related BBS systems, from user group libraries, or directly from the author. No specific donation is specified but you should probably send at least $5, particularly if you want the author to send you the game on his disk using his disk mailer and postage. If you send $10 and request it, the author will send you the source code along with the game. David Orman, 212 S. Nema Pl., Tuscon AZ 85711 (home of the Southwest 99er User Group). --------------------- THE SPIDER'S GUIDE TO FUNNELWEB CONFIGURATION Configuring Funnelweb with its CONFIGURE utility confuses many potential Funnelweb users. There are many menus, sub menus, and hardware specifications that Funnelweb needs to know about. Funnelweb is designed to operate in all known TI99/4A and Geneve environments, and since there are lots of possible environments (from one SSSD drive on up to more complex stuff) the configuration process is a bit complex. SPIDER'S GUIDE is a little 24 page book that walks you through the entire process step by step. SPIDER'S GUIDE is full of screen pictures. These reproductions of Funnelweb screens are what make the book such a supurb tutorial. Most users should be able to follow the book with no trouble as they sit at their computers with one of Funnelweb's introductory menus on screen in front of them. A small sample quote from page one shows you how the book works: "Select CONFIGURE from the menu of FUNNELWEB, or enter CF from any option 5 loader and it will load. You should have a screen that looks like this: [book shows picture of intro configure screen] At this point, just press any key. This should be on screen now. [book shows picture of second confugure screen]". I highly recommend this book to anyone who becomes confused when trying to configure Funnelweb. It is better than any of the video tapes (including mine) and newsletter articles (including mine) previously published on this subject. The only subject not covered is customizing Funnelweb's v5 text/program editor, which is configured separately from the rest of Funnelweb. Here is an interesting bit of trivia, in case you don't know. Why is the book called The "SPIDER'S GUIDE" to Funnelweb Configuration? Funnelweb (the software) is named for a spider that lives at Funnelweb Farm, the Australian home of Funnelweb's authors Tony and Will McGovern. Funnelweb spiders live in the ground and build funnel shaped webs over the entrance to their holes. They are probably the world's most poisonous spider, with a bite that can kill small mammals and occasionally even humans. The McGovern's have to be careful when they walk out to their roadside mail box. THE SPIDER'S GUIDE TO FUNNELWEB CONFIGURATION book is available directly from the author for $3.50 + .50 postage. Send your money to Larry Tippett, 5826 Buffalo St. Sanborn NY 14132. --------------------------------- I have pretty much reviewed my supply of 99/4A products I have at my computer shack that were not previously reviewed in Micropendium. Please send me some more items for Micro Reviews. Products that are never submitted are never reviewed. Send your goods to Charles Good, P.O. Box 647, Venedocia OH 45894. If you want to chat feel free to phone me evenings at 419-667-3131