                           ķ
                            Opening Format 
                           Ľ

                             by Tony Curro

    As you may have noticed, we changed the name of this column. In
    keeping with the contents of the magazine, we feel that "Opening
    Format" is more fitting.

    I am happy to announce that we have expanded our storage capacity.
    We will shortly have two IDE drives totaling 410MB. This will allow
    me to reinstall OS/2, and give you some news from that front also.

    I have Corel Draw 3.0 that takes up a large amount of disk space.
    Now I can install it.

    I was at a demonstration a few weeks ago of Advanced Gravis's 3-D
    sound. The package consists of their current sound card and new
    software. The software will work in both DOS and Windows. Several
    companies have already started releasing software using the Ultra
    Sound format. Over 3 dozen more have committed, and you should be
    seeing this software soon. Several may be in the form of new drivers
    for the game or program. The 3-D sound was something I was skeptical
    of. However, after sitting down and listening, I came away
    convinced. It can be done. It has been done. It will be out shortly.
    Advanced Gravis has taken sound, and using binaural technology
    wrapped it around your head. I heard the sounds with both speakers
    and headphones. The speakers were passable, but the headphones were
    superb. I did get confused at the outset. You must concentrate on
    where the sound is coming from. There was a demo of a turkey shoot.
    It did not have any graphics. You had to move the joystick, and
    press the fire button, where you thought the sound was coming from.
    You have up, down, left and right. The first time around I did not
    fare well. But, in the next go round, and by adjusting where I was
    hearing the sound, I was able to hit almost 50% of the time. I
    listened to over a dozen sounds, and heard several games using the
    new format. I liked what I heard. 3-D will work well with all games,
    but it shines on flight simulator type games. One sound I did NOT
    enjoy hearing was the dentist's drill. My teeth were starting to
    hurt!

    We have some hardware and software to look at this month. Amazon is
    an adventure game, that comes in serial form. In hardware I take a
    look at WinStorm ,Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 550c, and HP ScanJet IIC
    (color scanner). WinStorm is a combination video/sound card. The
    card works in both DOS and Windows, and is fully Sound Blaster
    compatible.The DJ is a inkjet color printer that I am sold on. The
    SJIIC is the latest HP flatbed scanner to hit the market. It is a
    color scanner. It's counterpart is the SJ IIP, which does not have
    the color capability.

    Our software, other than Amazon, is mostly for Windows. Products we
    look at are: MS Access, Becker Tools 4.0, FaxIt (DOS & Windows),
    Picture Wizard, Star Trek (screen blanker), MS Word for Windows, and
    MCS Stereo.

    Until next month, may you have a successful format.

    Tony Curro

             ------------------- DISCLAIMER -------------------

    The information provided in this magazine are the opinions of the
    author whose name appears at the top of the article.

    We do not wish to discredit a product, company, or  author of said
    product. The software reviews are based solely upon the opinion of
    the author of the review, and his or her experiences from using the
    product in question.

    We further assume no liability from any problems or dissatisfaction
    that a user may have from a product that we have reviewed in our
    magazine.

                Tony Curro, Editor - ComputerTalk Magazine.

