djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) (03/10/90)
By now, some of you have noticed that Central Point is ready to release PC Tools Version 6. All I've seen to date is a list of features and the standard statement that Central Point prices its upgrades at 25-30% of the new version's list price. Has anyone upgraded and had the chance to try it out? ["What's this?? *Another* new version??"] Apparently Version 6 supports sending faxes, backups directly to tape units, and a host of other stuff. If there's enough interest, I can post a list of changes/features I saw in the glossies. But I haven't talked to anyone who has used it yet, so whether it's worthwhile is for someone else to say... "Moby" Dick O'Connor ** The only difference between Washington Department of Fisheries ** a lazy man on a riverbank Olympia, Washington 98504 ** and a fisherman is a pole Internet Mail: djo7613@blake.u.washington.edu ** and a length of string.
MAM155@psuvm.psu.edu (03/12/90)
> I haven't talked to anyone who has tried it ( PCTOOLS ver 6) yet.
I have a test release of it. I can't compare it to the older versions of
PCTOOLS because I haven't used any other version.
If you want to know what it has let me know and I'll tell you.
Mike Marzanotoma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) (03/13/90)
In article <6194@blake.acs.washington.edu> djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) writes: >By now, some of you have noticed that Central Point is ready to release >PC Tools Version 6. [...] >Has anyone upgraded and had the chance to try it out? I think every PC Tools user in the local calling area of Central Point Software received a Beta evaluation copy. I came up with two pages of bugs (some catastrophic) that I have every belief they will fix before the actual release as I've received several callbacks already. Basically in the 5.x mold, it does add more new features over 5.5 than 5.5 added over 5.0. (Was 5.5 just an excuse to double the obviously-too-much-a-bargain price of 5.0?) Major improvements (IMHO): 1. Shell has a DOS command line readily available. 2. Gobs of file viewers, including some that list contents of archive files (arc, pkzip, zoo, lharc). 34 viewers total. 3. Improved application launching. Can launch from viewer. Launcher can stuff keyboard buffer for applications which prompt for files rather than taking them from command line. 4. Diskfix program (equivalent to Norton Disk Doctor) 5. Desktop has HP-16C equivalent programmer's calculator. Database application has numerous improvements. Desktop will also run in 43/50 line mode. 6. PC-Cache looks real nice (it will now cache disk writes), but I haven't tried it -- none of the previous versions worked on my machine. Problems that won't be fixed: 1. Manual cover looks sophisticated rather than toyish -- I expect another major price increase. 2. I use DOS 4.0 with one huge partition (450 directories containing 160megs of files). There is no good way to move around the directory structure in PCSHELL, and it takes it 12 seconds to read in the directory tree (which it does *every* time it is invoked in version 6.0). PC-Compress doesn't work because of limited memory space. Tom Almy toma@tekgvs.labs.tek.com Standard Disclaimers Apply
msschaa@cs.vu.nl (Schaap MS) (03/13/90)
In article <6194@blake.acs.washington.edu> djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) writes: >units, and a host of other stuff. If there's enough interest, I can post a >list of changes/features I saw in the glossies. But I haven't talked to Please do! Thanks, Michael
fredb@llama.rtech.UUCP (Fred Buechler [Devil Mountain Consulting]) (03/14/90)
In article <7081@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM> toma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) writes: [Stuff Deleted] > >Major improvements (IMHO): > [More Stuff Deleted] > >Problems that won't be fixed: > [Yet More Stuff Deleted] > >Tom Almy >toma@tekgvs.labs.tek.com >Standard Disclaimers Apply Tom, Can you tell us more about the tape backup functionality that was supposed to be 6.0? I really like PCBackup, but I want it to use my tape drive!! Tape is by far the best media for backups, but most software from the tape drive manufacturers is horrible. Fred. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fred Buechler fredb@llama.rtech.com Devil Mountain Consulting, Inc 71261.2747@compuserve.com Concord, California # include <DISCLAIMERS.STD> "Don't test for an error condition that you don't know how to handle" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
toma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) (03/15/90)
In article <4985@rtech.rtech.com> fredb@llama.UUCP (Fred Buechler [Devil Mountain Consulting]) writes: >Tom, > > Can you tell us more about the tape backup functionality that was >supposed to be 6.0? I really like PCBackup, but I want it to use my >tape drive!! Tape is by far the best media for backups, but most software >from the tape drive manufacturers is horrible. >In article <7081@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM> toma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) writes: >>Major improvements (IMHO): ^^^^ I only wrote about changes that affected me. I don't have one of the supported tape drives (ours are DC600). They support DC 2000 tape cartridges drives: Irwin: IBM PS/2 Internal, Compaq internal, Models 2040 and 2080 Mountain: TD-4000,TD-8000 ArchiveXL: Series 80 Colorado Memory Systems: DJ-10 PC Tools can format new tapes, and has a new command to compare the backup with the disk. More than one backup can be placed on a tape and conversely backups can occupy multiple tape volumes (it will format new tapes as necessary). Tom Almy toma@tekgvs.labs.tek.com Standard Disclaimers Apply