Tech Talk, Copyright 1997
http://pyrite.wnmu.edu/~techtalk
Published by: Allied Health and
Technology Division
Western New Mexico University
Box 680
Silver City, NM 88062
Editor: Peter Shkabara
Internet: peter@wnmu.edu
505 538-6285
End of term is upon us and it is time to review our accomplishments and failures. Although we have an Early Alert program, much still needs to be done.
Reviewing the Introduction to AutoCAD classes, there are two students who fell back due to apparent health problems. Two students "did not have time" to adequately attend the classes or lab. One student, who was repeating the class after missing the final last term, has "disappeared" from class this term as well.
Despite some of these setbacks, we still should have 15 or 16 students completing the introductory class this term. Adding these to the 13 from last semester means that there should now be almost 30 new students continuing in the drafting program.
Several local employers, including Phelps Dodge, indicated that they would be seeking persons with drafting skills over the next several years. Applied Technology provides training in useful skills for our students.
Just as you were getting used to CD-ROMs, along comes the DVD (Digital VideoDisk). A CD-ROM can hold up to 680 Megabytes, but a DVD can presently hold 4.7 Gigabytes and is forecast to eventually have a capacity of 17GB.
Although DVD drives are now shipping, software support for the drives is very skimpy. If you buy one, there is no guarantee that it would work in your system. Also, there are very few offerings in terms of software that you can buy in the new DVD format. The DVD will, however, read a standard CD-ROM. But why would you buy a DVD to read standard CD-ROMs?
Just as the new DVDs are now coming on the market, Toshiba announced a still newer technology it calls "Terabit Molecular Memory." The new device will hold a trillion bits which translates into a capacity of about 128GB! When can you buy one? Don't hold your breath. Estimated arrival is in the year 2010.
The story does not stop here. In addition to having CD-ROM or DVD-ROM available, there is now a DVD-RAM! This is a version of the DVD that can be written to, erased, and written again. Storage capacity is expected to be about 2.6GB with a price in the vicinity of $350. Media cost is near $10 per disk. The DVD-RAM will also read the CD-ROM and DVD-ROM formats. Unlike the Terabit device, Toshiba is promising the new DVD-RAM by the end of 1997.
Are you experiencing déjà vu? This one is thanks to IBM and deals with hard disk technology. Although IBM is yet to deliver on its 1995 announcement of a high capacity hard disk, it now announced a newer technology that almost doubles the previous capacity. If the new drives come to market, you would get a Terabyte hard disk for only $500. A Terabyte is 1024 Gigabytes. Can you wait?
Now that many of you are getting connected to the "backbone" with the campus wiring, you want to make use of Internet programs.
To make it easier for you to access the files mentioned here, I have prepared a special web page. The link for the downloads can be found at http://pyrite.wnmu.edu/~techtalk
In previous articles, I had mentioned the telnet terminal emulation software such as Anzio. The commercial version is available from the IS department for about $25. However, you may try a trial version by downloading it from a web site. If you already have a browser (Internet Explorer for example), then you simply need to go to http://www.anzio.com/ and download the Anzio Light free trial. If you like it, you can then buy the license from IS.
Another telnet client with emulator is free. Actually, the author does ask for a donation if you like the program. The donation may be in the form of a postcard of your city. The program is not quite as good as Anzio, but the price is lower. Check out SimpTerm on the web page.
For your e-mail needs, you may want to try Eudora Light or Pegasus Mail. Both of these programs are free. Eudora hopes that you will eventually buy the commercial product named Eudora Pro. Pegasus has no commercial version, and it more capable than Eudora Light. Microsoft also offers a free e-mail client appropriately named MS Internet Mail. Although the Microsoft product is not quite as featured as Pegasus, I found myself using it instead. The feature that attracted me is that Internet links in the text of the mail can be clicked on to activate the browser of mail as needed.
For the more advanced user, you may find that you need an FTP client for the PC. Although a browser can handle FTP connections, it is much slower to start than a small FTP client program. A free program that works well is called WS FTP for Windows Socket FTP. This program is 32bit and will run under Windows 95 or NT. Works well, is fast, and the interface is friendly.
There are many other free and shareware programs out there. Remember that shareware is a "try before you buy" concept. If you like it, then you pay for it.
A good place to look for programs on the Internet is: http://www.shareware.com
This story takes it only half way. Just as the coach turned back into a pumpkin at midnight, your editor suddenly turns from faculty member to staff. I have been teaching since 1980 and hope to continue in that line of work. However, since my faculty status is currently uncertain, this is likely to be my last issue of Tech Talk. You are invited to visit my web page for further updates as they may come up: http://pyrite.wnmu.edu/~peter