SOME BITS ABOUT TELECOMMUNICATIONS WITH MODEMS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the huge number of Communications Protocols, Baud rates, brands of modems and computers and claims made by advertisers, the beginner can feel very confused. All he wants to do is get onto a Bulletin Board or a Database. I'll try to clear up a little of that confusion here, and review a couple of packages which should help. OVERVIEW Modems are needed to communicate with your computer over the phone lines, simply because computers emit digital pulses (bits and bytes in bursts) while phone lines transmit in the form of a frequency. This will change as voice telephone networks slowly change to digital transmission, when it should be possible to connect a computer directly into the network - but not yet. Modulator/Demodulator Keeping it simple, modems take the digital output S:, LIBS:, etc. To see what are the logical and physical devices recognised by the system, simply type > assign in the CLI. And of course you can ASSIGN whatever you like, so if you often refer to, say, the directory MYLETTERS:LOVELETTERS/ANNA, you could simply type this: > assign A: myletters:loveletters/anna and in future just type a: when you would normally have typed the whole thing. In fact, if you have a regular pattern in this way, you could set up an ASSIGN_TABLE in your favourite text editor of all the ASSIGNS you want to make each session, and then insert in your startup- sequence the command EXECUTE ASSIGN_TABLE . * MAKE THOSE GAMES RUN IN EXTENDED MEMORY Some of the quicky games put out (and a variety of PD programs) don't handle expansion ram at all - get the program FIXHUNK2.1, which will normally be able to fix the problem. If you can't find it write to Megadisc. * IMPROVED STARMAP Anyoneacro and graphics functions not available in V. 1. Include also $5 for shipping, etc. Address is: Micro-Systems Software 1279 W. Forest Hill Blvd, Suite 202 West Palm Beach FL 33414 USA. * PRINTER DRIVERS For those who want a printer driver for a printer without one on Workbench, contact PRINTBUSTERS, PO BOX 20386, Columbus, OH 43220, Tel: (614) 4591314. They'll furnish it if you send the command set and $20 US. Also dealers can get a licence to maephen Levy ISBN 0-87455-028-9 456 Pages $39.95  Nine authors claim to be responsible. But don't worry it's not another case of "Too Many Cooks.....". The editor did a good job in getting a few experts together to cover the various fields of this book. If you still want to make up your mind in which language to programme, this could be your book. This information will show you the different aspects of BASIC, C and Assembly Language: -A complete BASIC reference section with dozens of programme examples -How to write C and machine language programmes using INTUITION, KERNEL and DOS routines. -Comprehensive explanations of how to programme sound and graphics from BASIC. -Sample programmes that illustrate how to create windows in C and machine language. -A quick disk copy utility written in 68000 machine language. -Mandelbrot C programme that creates beautiful designs on your Amiga screen, including all the C source code to study and learn from. -An easy to use AmigaDOS command summary. -Numerous reference charts and tables. All the chapters,with one exception,are written by a different author which gives you the feeling you are reading separate small books and you can start reading anywhere within the book. On the other hand all subjects are handled by an expert, who under- stands his (her) field well. If you are starting to learn programming in one of the particular languages, you still need another book, to see all the available functions.  -ELEMENTARY AMIGA BASIC by C.Regana ISBN 0-87455-041-6 COMPUTE-Pub. 200 Pages $33.95  This book is a complete primer in the fundamentals of BASIC programming.All commands and various techniques are explained in plenty of examples you can use or modify. There is also a chapter on debugging, a very important field especially for the beginner to avoid frustration and waste of time. If you want, you can order a companion disk with this book,but the longest programmes on it are mainly on mathematics and in my opinion not too useful.It needed more advanced graphics examples. The book explores all the main features of the AMIGA including how to: -Create your own screens and windows -Design and display menus -Compose and play music -Format and display text -Create colourful graphics -Produce a variety of sound effects -Manipulate sprites and ns have their own set of standards called Bell standards, requiring a form of analogue modulation, and incompatible with our standards (just as they have NTSC video signals while we have PAL). Note that it's unnecessary to buy a modem that claims to adhere also to Bell standards - if you're going to call the US, OTC's MIDAS overseas packet-switching network will handle it using the normal CCITT standards. RS-232 About the nearest thing to a universal standard, but with a lot of unstandardised aspects. The RS-232 port on the back of your Amiga can feed (serially, rather than in parallel) your serial printer or modem or numerous other peripherals. The actual physical standard of the connector itself has developed into use of the 25-pin connector known as DB-25. Not all these pins will be connected, and you may find as few as 3, or up to 10 or so. The standard contains both receive and transmission lines and also a number of status lines that advise the computer or the modem of the condition of the other. There is some confusion about the gender of cables at times - the Amiga has a female port, and you may find you need a "gender-bender" if your modem's cable is the wrong sex. Also read carefully the manual for which pins should or should not be connected. For the enthusiast, investment in a "break-out" box will let you cross-wire plugs at will. The average user should make sure that the modem bought comes with the right cabling - demand it from your dealer.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~END OF ABOUTMODEMS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~