From: pvonk@scott.skidmore.edu (Pierre VonKaenel)
Subject: HyperAccess/5 : first impressions.
Organization: Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs NY, 12866
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 02:02:08 GMT



        As reported earlier, HyperAccess/5 (3.0) arrived on messed up
disks (caused by the disk duplicator).  I finally got the "good" disks
promised me today; just installed them.  This time the install
procedure works without a hitch.
        While it is compatible with OS/2 2.0, the install just copies
files to a directory (about 1.2 MB of files, for all of them - this
includes the dictionary for the spell checker, help files, and other
secondary files that can be bypassed during install).  You then have
to manually set up an icon by making a shadow of the .exe in some
folder or the desktop.
        Invoking the program, I found it quite different (the
interface).  It is texted base (a WPS version is due sometime - does
this mean GUI-ish?).  The menu system is what surprised me.  Alt-H for
help and Alt-whatever to activate a menu window.  Instead of drop down
(or is it pull down) menus, you get a window of text with letters
highlighted for various choices.  Not that it doesn't work, just
different.  At any rate, the first thing that I noticed (after logging
on to the Sun at school, from home) was the slowness of the system.
As I type, the letters appear a fraction of a second later - enough to
notice.  My modem is an Intel 2400 MNP5.  I tried setting the modem
speed (from the menu) to 9600, then 4800, but it wouldn't work.  At
2400 baud, I got proper handshaking, as would be expected.  At this
speed I get that jerky, somewhat delayed typing.  My former comm
software was Crosstalk for Windows (I'm using it now, it is faster!)
and I recall having to change several settings in the DOS-WIN settings
notebook to get it to move well.  I tried to do that with HyperAccess
(not with the DOS-WIN but something in the settings), but there seems
little control for an OS/2 program.  Within HyperAccess, I fiddled
with more settings, but again there are few, just the % of processor
time to devote to the program (orginally 50%, I upped it to 75% - a
little better, but...).

        Does anyone have suggestions for improving speed by tweaking
something?  It must do better, considering a Windows comm program can!

        Not to dump too much on HA/5, this _is_ my first spin with it.
I'm sure it will improve once I get it set up right.  As for the
program's abilities - I've only read a small bit of the 300+ page
manual, and already I can see it's superior to Crosstalk : spell check
capabilities, editing of the scrollback buffer (I can make some
changes to past input before printing it - I like that!), quick key
capture and printing, auto learn mode for script files - to name a
few.  The one thing I didn't like about the manual, it's for both DOS
and OS/2 versions - and there's very little specific to the OS/2
version (an appendix mentions some OS/2 features).  For example,
there's nothing mentioned about installing on an OS/2 system (creating
the icon shadow, etc after the install).

        Enough for now.... I must go back to it and play.  Haven't
tried downloading yet (it does Kermit, Z modem, and a whole bunch more
- emulation is also abundant).  That's the reason I switched, Xtalk
couldn't do background downloading reliably.

         



-- 
Pierre von Kaenel	| Skidmore College	     | pvonk@skidmore.edu
Math & CS Dept.		| Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 | (518)584-5000 Ext 2391

[.... old sig has been retired.  New sig isn't ready yet. ]