ASCII(Aug. 18, 1994)

The August 18 issue of ASCII (632 pp.; 750 yen has two main themes. The first focuses on "An Enjoyable Environment with Windows." This section introduces peripheral devices that can make the Windows environment more comfortable to use. Equipment tests included several accelerators (both for PC-9800 computers and for DOS/V), eight 17" displays from major display manufacturers, eight 3X or 4X CD-ROM drives, three color ink jet printers, and seven low-price A4 laser printers.

The second main theme is "All About the Internet" (part 1). This section first outlines what the Internet is, then suggests short cuts to the Internet (using IIJ and InfoWeb as service providers). Important capabilities of the Internet are also explain ed (such as telnet, FTP and e-mail), and selected tools and resources are described.

Other major stories in the issue include in-depth looks at NEC's newest personal computers (the PC-9821X and PC-9821N series, PC-9821Es, and PC-9821Ce2) and other products (such as the PC-TP611 TFT full-color LCD monitor with TV tuner and PC-980199 MPE G decoder board).

The regular ASCII Express, the magazine's most popular feature, introduces a variety of hardware and software products. Featured hardware includes Fujitsu's new FMV series computers, Deli's DX4 color notebook computer, an AST 100-MHz Pentium machine, S un's low-price SPARCstation 5S24 workstation, IBM's new entry-model servers, and Preside's 90 MHz Pentium machine. Introduced software includes Microsoft Office 4.2, Microsoft Home products, and new versions of four Windows titles from Lotus. -NT

DOS/V(Aug. 8, 1994)

The lead theme of the August 8 issue of DOSIV magazine (596 pp.; 980 yen is "The Second Generation of V-Text Drivers." These are drivers that make it possible for the DOS/V operating system to display more than 80 characters by 25 lines on the screen u sing an 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, or 1600x1200 display. SoftBank and IBM have issued new V-Text drivers recently; articles entitled "DOS/V Super Drivers 32" (SoftBank) and "IBM DOS/V Extension 2.0" outline and review these products. These products sup port many video chips, including Diamond Viper VLB, various S3 models, MACH32, GD54xx, Western Digital WD90C31, Compaq QVision, and ET4000/W32p, as well as ordinary VGA and SVGA. To obtain high resolutions under DOS/V. applications must support V-Text; th ose that do so are listed.

A secondary theme of this issue is headlined "Paper Lecture on HighLevel Personal Computer Communications." The first story under this theme outlines the Internet and introduces some Internet service providers, such as IIJ, the AT&T Spin project, InfoW eb. and TWIGS. The second story discusses the communication environments, including data lines and high-speed modems, serial cards, and telecommunications software. Some V.Fast-class modems that are available in Japan are introduced. Tips for using BBSs a re provided, including a way to reduce the access fee for Nifty-Serve by entering via the Internet. The last story under this theme is "Making the Best of Hide-Term," one of the most popular terminal shareware programs for Windows.

The regular Vmag.exPRESS section includes reviews of the beta version of Daytona (Windows NT 3.5) and the IBM 8640 PC Server as well as reports on Computer Taipei '94 and the Windows World Expo. Software reviews include AmiPro R3.1J, Hanako version 3, ScreenCam 1J, MakeOver Plus, Power Cleaner 2, InfoAssist for Windows, Ekisupaato "All Japan" for Windows (an excellent train/subway trip planner), Dungeon Hack, and some shogi (Japanese chess) games. The hardware reviews target image-capturing devices, in cluding the Canon IX-401S color scanner and Fujix Fotovision FV7, and the DC200 IDE cash controller card. -NT

MacLife(Sept. 1994)

The September issue of MacLife (532 pp.; 1,200 yen has two main themes. The first theme is "The Whole Aspect of QuickTime 2.0," which reports on the new features of QuickTime 2.0 and summarizes the history of QuickTime. The new features include capabilities twice the size and speed capabilities of QuickTime 1.6.1, the ability to play MIDI music data and MPEG video data, Timecode, "drag & drop" support, and an IMA sound archive algorithm. This issue also has an interview with Peter Hoddie, a Quic kTime engineer. Interactive TV via the Macintosh with QuickTime and MPEG, and QuickTime VR will soon be here. The first package probably will be "Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual" by Simon & Schuster Interactive this winter.

The second theme of the issue is "The Illustrated ABCs of Macintosh." One article explains many Macintosh technical terms for beginners, such as RAM, PowerPC, ADB, NuBus, SCSI, LocalTalk, Ethernet, TrueType, ATM, JPEG, CAD, OpenDoc, and many others. These pages will be useful even for non-beginners.

There is a special "Report on the '94 Japan Developers Conference," held on July 14 and 15. Apple announced several new products: System 7.5 and OpenDoc, QuickDraw GX, QuickTime 2.0, and MovieTalk. Another special report covers the Macintosh 630 seri es recently released in the US. The Macintosh LC630 series was due for release in Japan in September. The Japanese version LC630s will all have internal CD-ROM drives and should be a popular choice as an inexpensive multimedia machine. The Macware Selecti on pages introduce a variety of new software Microsoft FoxPro (database), Live Picture (graphics), SoftWindows (utility), and Scenery Animator (3D), to name just a few and hardware products. The Viewpoint section reviews 18 keyboards for the Macintosh and 20 recent 14.4W28.8Kbps modems for the Macintosh. -MK

Nikkei Personal Computing (July 18/Aug.1,1994)

The feature article in this double issue of Nikkei Personal Computing (354 pages) is "The Challenge of IBM." It analyzes the strategy of IBM as a personal computer maker and the effect that the change of the top management (on May 2) will have. The aut hor concludes that IBM is focused on the PowerPC and that preparations are being made for the resuscitation of the IBM brand. IBM has introduced a notebook PC (the Think Pad), and its new PowerPC machines and Workplace OS (OS/2 for the PowerPC) will be re leased this fall.

Another lead story is "An Investigation of the Actual Conditions of PC Users," which summarizes the results of a survey of 1,000 companies and 1,000 readers of the magazine. The results from magazine readers reveal the following usage statistics.

• Computer: NEC PC-9801, 53%; Epson PC, 13%; Macintosh, 9%; DOS/V machine, 8%; NEC PC9821, 7%.
• OS: DOS, 54%; Windows 35%; Mac OS, 8%.
• Wordprocessor program: Ichitaro, 51%; Word, 12%; Matsu, 5%.
• Spreadsheet: Lotus 123 (DOS), 28%, Excel (Windows), 20%; Lotus 123 (Windows), 7%; Sanshiro, 5%.

The results of the company survey show that, in the past year, 41% have purchased a DOS/V machine, 30% have bought an NEC PC-98 (9800 or 9821), 15% have bought an FMR series computer, and S% have bought a Macintosh. About 70% of the companies use Windo ws 3.1. The most widely used Windows programs are spreadsheets (91%), wordprocessors (76%), databases (48%), and graphics programs (17%). More than half of the companies use a LAN, but only a quarter of them use e-mail.

Other stories in the issue include an interview with Mr. Atsushi Asada, VP of Sharp Co., Ltd., regarding the success of the Sharp Zaurus. The Report section compares three "All-In-One PCs (multimedia PC + TV tuner): the PS/V Vision (IBM), FM Towns II F resh-TV (Fujitsu), and Woody (Matsushita). Another report focuses on the installation of email in the Nikkei PC editorial department (which has about 50 PCs, including PC-98, Mac, DOS/V, Windows, and MS-DOS); this is the first report (from installation to the selection of applications) in a series of three. The regular First Looks section covers the 98MATE series (NEC), PC-486MU (Epson), and PageMaker 5.OJ for Mac (Aldus), and the Buyers' Guide section covers several new color notebook PCs. -SS

UNIX Magazine (Sept. 1994)

The main theme of the September issue of UNIX Magazine (266 pp.; 810 yen is "Windows and UNIX" (part 2). It covers the use of notebook PCs (such as the DynaBook SX, Zeos Contenda, and Toshiba Portege) for Windows and UNIX, and the difficulties of "plug and play" with PCMCIA cards. There is also a report on PD (Packet Driver), WinSock, and Mosaic for Windows. If you want to try using kanji on Mosaic for Windows, you should definitely read this report.

Another major article in this issue is "Report of the USENIX Summer 1994 Technical Conference." This conference, held July 6 to 10 in Boston, had several intriguing sessions such as "Coping with the Mysteries of a Modern UNIX Environment," "Breaking in to Banks: Security Lessons Learned From Financial Services," "Asynchronous Transfer Mode ( or, ATMs Aren't Just for Cash Machines"), "Cryptography and Public Policy," and "A Toolkit and Methods for Internet Firewalls." Security and cryptography were promi nent issues. There is also a special "Report on Computer in Taipei and PC Tour in Hong Kong."

Regular columns include How to Internet ("Gopher and Hybrid Servers") Network Security, Creating an Application, UNIX Programming, NetNews, news of the WIDE project, and a report on JPNIC. -MK