hjstein@twinkies.berkeley.edu (Harvey J. Stein) (02/09/91)
In article <1991Feb8.005302.24572@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> dab6@po.CWRU.Edu (Douglas A. Bell) writes: > ... >This all is leading up to a question on my part. Does anyone know >of an attractive looking menu system for a novell network that > > 1) Doesn't fill the drive with random little batch files, > 2) Doesn't waste 14k of memory like novell does, or 31k like saber, > 3) Is easy to operate & maintain > 4) And of course, inexpensive. I don't ordinarily send out product announcements over the network, but since this is the second time I've seen an inquiry about menu systems, I figured that it at least isn't unsolicited. I've written a menu system under the guise of Natural Intelligence Co. It's been available for a couple of months now, and is running on a handful of networks in sizes from single user to 16 user (you can see that marketing isn't my strong point). Versions are available in powers of 2 users up to 256. Point three above shouldn't be a problem, since it was developed under the supervision of someone who does many network installations, and thus ease of installation and maintenance were given high priority. In fact, I spent much more time on the menu editor than on the program which actually runs the menus. Although it does make batch files to run things, I wouldn't say that it fills the disk with batch files, because it keeps *all* batch files in one directory, and it cleans up after itself. That is, even if the user turns off his workstation, the batch files that were in use will be removed when *any* user reenters the menu program. So, I would say that point one above has been addressed. As for point two above, the program mostly removes itself from memory before executing menu choices. It only leaves about 200 bytes around. Thus, memory usage shouldn't be a problem. Alot of emphasis was also given to security. Menu choices can be given (multiple) passwords, menu files are encrypted, and users and/or groups can be included or excluded from menu items. In the latter case, the items won't even appear on the menu. Also, the menus and the temporary batch files are kept in different directories, so that users need only be granted read access to the menu files. Additional features include the use of function keys and online help for menu editing, a built in screen saver, up to 19 items per menu, and menu nesting to a depth of 10. Colors can be set globally or by workstation number. One powerful feature that was included was prompting fields for user data. As for item four above, the current pricing scheme is about twice that of the cottage menu system. I don't know if you'll consider that inexpensive, but when you divide by the hardware costs of a network, you will get a good approximation of zero. Furthermore, we will discount for volume purchases, and if you have a good reason why we're charging too much, we'll lower the price (since this is just a preliminary pricing scheme anyway). I won't quote price here, so as to take at least a small step away from product announcements, so for a price list, or just more information, please contact me. Harvey J. Stein Natural Intelligence Co. 1327 Santa Fe Avenue Berkeley, CA 94702 (415) 528-8433 hjstein@math.berkeley.edu
kenh@techbook.com (Ken Haynes) (02/14/91)
In article <1991Feb9.100800.26888@agate.berkeley.edu> hjstein@twinkies.berkeley.edu (Harvey J. Stein) writes: >In article <1991Feb8.005302.24572@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> dab6@po.CWRU.Edu >(Douglas A. Bell) writes: > >I don't ordinarily send out product announcements over the network, >but since this is the second time I've seen an inquiry about menu >systems, I figured that it at least isn't unsolicited. > >I've written a menu system under the guise of Natural Intelligence Co. > >Although it does make batch files to run things, I wouldn't say that >it fills the disk with batch files, because it keeps *all* batch files >in one directory, and it cleans up after itself. That is, even if the >user turns off his workstation, the batch files that were in use will >be removed when *any* user reenters the menu program. So, I would say >that point one above has been addressed. This sounds like a nice product with a lot of features.... However, *ANY* menu system that uses batch files for execution, will cause the file server problems with performance. NOVELLs blocking mechanism uses a 4K block on the disk and in memory as a minimum size for each file. Thus if you have a .bat file that has 96 bytes for executing a program, you will have 4000 bytes of unused memory in that block. That block will hang around in memory and on disk, wasting space until programs finally squeeze it out of cache. Be careful when designing systems or purchasing programs that use the batch file scheme of execution. While it will work, and probably work OK, you will be wasting server memory in the process. The more users and the more unique .bat files you execute, the more server memory is wasted. Just my 2 cents worth... for whatever it's worth. Ken -- ****************************************************************************** Ken Haynes, Certified Netware Engineer Technical Support Product Mgr. 900 Support
e122-ag@falstaff.uucp (Andrew Corlett) (02/15/91)
Regarding a menu system. I developed a Graphical Menu Systems that supports a menu language and thus SHOULD (and has tested to be) easy to use. Plus it has the best visual effects I've seen. The only problem is that it needs an EGA or better type card/monitor. The system was developed for internal use at a company called TRW is L.A. If you are interested I can send you a DEMO copy for your comments and suggestions....this edmo copy is fully functional. corlett@cory.berkeley.edu Andrew Corlett ps...it works with networks via Banyan/Novell/LAN MAN/etc.