🚀 go-pugleaf

   ... Hello Net-land!

   I am simply overwhelmed!   Thanks to all the netters who initially
   responded.  I expect more as the days go by.

   Since my last posting I have received over 20 e-mails and seen 7
   net messages fly by (some were duplicates of the e-mails) from
   people who have Rainbows (one person has control of 450+ Rainbows!),
   people with friends who have Rainbows, and simple curiousity
   seekers.

   There's been enough response that we could form our own newsgroup....
   Naw...Let's not push it!

   Anyway, I am going to try to respond tomorrow to most of the e-mails
   personally.  However, let me try to answer some quick questions here
   which should be of interest to all.

   First of all, who am I to be pounding people?  Well, I've been a Rainbow
   owner, user, software developer, and DEC PC consultant on and off for
   the last 4 years.  I've released numerous Shareware Packages for the
   Rainbow (such as WDIR, Rainbow ROM routines, GALLERY graphics demo,
   and other utilities) and I have several more to be released (a Shareware
   spreadsheet/word processor package called Prism, a graphics pin ball
   game called Zippy Pin Ball!, an updated version of WDIR renamed Power-
   Scan, a Rainbow-specific version of the VMS Moria dungeon game, as
   well as other items).  When and if I get my hands on Turbo Pascal 4.0,
   more things will be planned simply because I love the machine and 
   it's better than an IBM PC or compatible (except for those new-fangled
   '386 machines!...ok, it's not faster than an AT...).
   
   Let's be fair...No PC bashing here... for the moment...

   Unfortunately, as many of you know, life and bills often intrude into
   one's pleasurable adventures and, thus, I am forced to make a living.
   Rainbow software hasn't been profitable for me.  So, I currently make my
   fortunes working in the Mac and IBM PC world developing software
   and documentation for interactive videodisc technology products such
   as CBT and CAI packages.

   Also, credential-wise, I am past Vice-Chairman and past Acting Chairman of
   the Rainbow Special Interest Forum for our local DECUS chapter (GRALUG).
   And, I am the new public domain columnist for The DEC MicroLetter as
   well as a product reviewer for the newsletter (see issue #4 for a
   review on Boston Software Work's redone VenturCom's Venix Version 2.0
   for the Rainbow --- that is if life stops pestering me long enough
   for me to complete the review!).

   So, that's basically me... You can see my interest in wanting to keep
   Rainbow owners talking.  DEC may have killed the Rainbow line officially
   in July of this year, but I plan to give CPR for as long as my pocket
   book holds out!  It's a damned nice  machine.  I haven't had one failure
   (except a broken hard disk cable) since I got the machine.

   OK, some quick answers...

   For reviews on over 100 Rainbow Shareware/PD programs, check out
   Bruce Jackson's "Rainbow Freeware" ($20 US from New South Moulton Press,
   96 Rumsey Roaid, Buffalo, NY, 14209, USA).  This soft-back, spiral-bound
   book is a treasure trove of reviews of Rainbow software.  I have no
   financial interest in this book.

   Contact Carolyn Mack at (618)-632-1146 (BBS #) or write to "Rainbow News"
   IRUG (International Rainbow Users Group), P.O. Box 567, O'Fallen, IL,
   62269, USA, to subscribe to the "Rainbow News" newsletter.  Rates are
   (I believe) $30 U.S./year to US addresses and $50 U.S./year to international
   addresses. (10-11 issues/year).

   Contact Ted Needleman at (914)-425-0100 or write to "The DEC MicroLetter"
   Microtechnology Associates, Inc., P.O. Box J, New City, NY, 10956, USA.
   Subscriptions are $36/year for US, $40/year for Canada, and $60/year for
   international.  (6 issues a year).

   Both are excellent sources of Rainbow information.  I have subscriptions
   to both (but both are regrouping so latest issues are behind..both are
   now being produced nearly single-handedly by the two people mentioned...
   they can use the help, I think!). BTW, yes, I have a SMALL financial
   stake in The DEC MicroLetter.

   Checkout any PC trade magazine for computer parts and IC companies.
   You can purchase an NEC V20 (5mhz version) for about $8.50 US to $12.50
   US for the Rainbow.  Contact Advanced Computer Products for the NEC V20
   and Microprocessors Unlimited for memory chip purchases.  Sorry, no
   addresses or phone #'s.  No financial interest either (except that I
   gave them money for things.)

   The NEC V20 chip plugs right into the 8088 socket.  That's it!  No
   jumpers; no mess.  One bug, though, the timing will be off for the
   diagnostic ROM check upon power-up.  Simply SET-UP, CONTROL-SET-UP
   the Rainbow and it'll finish the boot.  Norton SYSI reports a
   1.8 relative performance index compared to an XT (1.00 index).  Not
   bad.  I've seen a little faster displays and calculations are a little
   faster. There are a few people who make E-PROM changes to the Rainbow's
   E-PROMS so the boot process works properly.  

   Interesting new software available:

   MS-DOS V3.10.016 DOES exist.  I've heard of it's existence somewhere
   in the US.  It's floating free of its prison cell at DEC.  Someone let
   it out (DEC DIDN'T like that one bit!) and it is thus looking for a few
   good Rainbows.  I've heard about it but then again...

   "Micro Display Manager" from JPL Labs - digitized pictures (in COLOR)
   of Saturn's rings, the moons of Jupiter, Mars' surface.

   "Rainbow Graphics Library" source routines in CI-C86 and MASM (from
   DEC)... what DEC used to produce the DESK, CMAP (color map), Windows-like
   Dialer, and Xpress (graphics editor) programs.

   "TurboComm II version 3.1" - VT102/125/241 emulator and communications
   program. (works with Poly-ReGIS).

   History V3.6, Print Screen v4.0, RB-Buffer V2.0 (VMS-like history,
   print screen key support, 128-character buffer Mem Res utilities) as
   well as SmartKey V5.0.
    
   Not necessarily new: GW-Basic compiler (pd version!), GSX for MS-DOS,
   MACPIX (Mac pictures for the Rainbow), TODO V2.7 (time management),
   SEDT V3.1(126) multi-buffer editor (like EDT), all the programs from
   CICA, Inc. (Chess-Ingenuity, Menu-Ingenuity, enhanced Patch program),
   the PD PATCH program, a whole couple of Megs worth of Unix-like utilities
   (everything from Touch to YACC to shell programs).

   JOBSDUMP V4.0 (GW-Basic graphics screen to printer dump program) has been
   announced...

   Games such as Hack, Moria, Larn, and graphics Othello, as well as
   others.

   Oh, I could go on and on!  Items of request by a couple of people
   may find their way to being posted here...

   Many of these files can be grabbed off of the HitchHiker's FIDO BBS
   at 1-315-589-7361.  Tell the Sysop, Fritz Howard, I sent you.  In fact,
   tell Ted Needleman and Carolyn Mack I sent you, also. I don't get any-
   thing for it but I would like to hear about people calling them!

   (BTW, The HitchHiker's Guide is now one of the largest Rainbow FIDO
   boards in the WORLD!  Some 1300 files on a Rainbow 100+ with a VERY
   large disk drive!  I get most of my stuff from there).

   Enough for now.  I'll wait to see what responses I get before I carry
   this any further.

   Thanks, again, to everyone who sent me an e-mail.

   Thanks, especially, for reading through this posting!


   Enjoy!
   Alan


   Alan I. Vymetalik  @  {allegra,seismo}!rochester!ritcv!iav1917
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   DISCLAIMER:   The above statements and opinions belong to the author.
   Any resemblence to statements found in actual reality is purely coin-
   cidental.  And, as always, the above opinions have absolutely nothing
   to do with the little, fat man putting $100 bills in my pocket.
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