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THE PORTABLE PAPER
second line of the file) and then copies all
files changed that day from the A drive to
the C drive. (Before I got copynew from
your DOS Tools disk, the batch file copied
all the files.) The two beeps are to tell me
it's done. A beep.com program comes
from either the Norton Utilities or the
DOS Tools disk.
The net result of running this file is
that the copies of daysend that are on
both the A and C drives are time- and datestamped at the time of the last running of
the file. This way I can see what I last
saved all the A drive files.
For my usage of the Portable, a daysend disk lasts approximately six months.
I will admit to occasionally looking
through the disk and removing files
known to be saved elsewhere. The batch
file is as follows:
pause Insert DAYSEND disk in drive C:
copy a: \ daysend.bat+ "
copynewa:\ c:\
beep
beep
Keith Schaefer, Craryville, NY
Overseas Import Taxes"
In my letter of Jan. 24 I mentioned the
high taxes that are imposed on imported
Personalized Software goodies. You asked
me if I had any suggestions (within legal
and ethical boundaries) to reduce those
taxes. Well, I have: often books are sent
together with one or more disks. If the
package you send does not carry a note
differentiating between software (disks)
and manuals (books), Customs takes the
total amount as a starting point for their
calculations. But books normally are
taxed low are not at all! And this is no
trick or ethical/legal bypass-this is the
truth.
Also, is it possible to use another kind
of character in The Portable Paper to
distinguish between a lowercase L and a
1 (one)? I have tried to see the slightest difference between these two characters, but
I'm unable to do so! The type of characters you use is clear and easy to read, but
this I and 1 problem ...
Also, on the DOS Tools disk wearout
doesn't work at all.
R.M. Franquinet, The Netherlands
[Hal-I am ignorant as to what happens
to our products once they leave the US.
borders. From letters apparently each
country has its own way of dealing with
our products. Some charge no tax, some
charge an exorbitant tax; some are inconsistent. As long as it is legal and
ethical, if you have suggestions, tell us
with the order.
llIV are seriously considering working with a distributor in England. Would
it be worth it ifyou had to pay 10 to 20 %
more for the actual product (saving some
shipping charges)? I am open to input
from any of our Non-US. customers.
wearout.com does not seem to work
with the HP9114B disk drive.
From now on, our characters will be
2
MAY / JUNE 1987
distinguishable: numbers lJ (zero) and
X (one), letters 0 and 1.]
Communications And
Battery Life
I travel a great deal and have discovered
the big productivity level called E-Mail to
keep in touch with my management consulting practice clients here and abroad.
Three hundred baud on the HPll0 is too
slow, though, and I'm glad to hear you're
zeroing in on one of those cigarettepackage-sized 1200 baud battery-operated
modems for the HPll0. The ones I've read
about have 25-pin RS-232 connectors,
which is a pain. We need one with a 9-pin
male connector to plug right into the 110's
serial port.
Since HP makes a big point ofthe low
battery drain of the HP-IL interface, if you
start selling the 1200 baud outboard
modem please try to give us an idea of
how much it will penalize battery life.
I'm amazed how convenient a battery-operated computer is. We move it
around the office several times a day, and
I find myself instinctively taking it along
on visits to clients. Here in the Rockies we
average at least one power interruption a
day that will crash any 120VAC computer
system. We find it necessary to invest in
$700 UPS boxes for all such systems, but
the 110 has its own "built-in UPS"
whether plugged into the wall or not.
Often I'm away for several weeks and
want to leave the batteries on charge in
my HP41s (N-cell Nicads), HP-IL Thermal
Printer and Cassette Drive (both use
82033A C-cell Nicad batteries), HPll0
(sealed lead-acid battery), 9114 Disk Drive
(sealed lead-acid battery), and 2225B
ThinkJet (Nicad battery).
It's very important to the longevity
of both lead-acid and Nicad batteries
to NEVER leave them in fully discharged
condition. If you do, at best their lives
will be shortened, and at worst they'll
forget altogether they're supposed to be
batteries.
Compact Nicad and lead-acid cells
and batteries like those above will selfdischarge at the rate of a few percent per
day Fhen left standing at room temperatu~e. Even if you're not using them, they'll
soon run down to zero if you don't keep
them on charge, risking untimely death.
But leaving either a lead-acid battery
or Nicad on charge 24 hours a day quickly charges the battery to full capacity, after
which the internal resistance of the battery rises rapidly, converting the charging
energy to heat. This warms the battery
well above room temperature, especially
since the heat can't easily escape from the
confines of the Portable, disk drive,
printer, etc.
Battery life is limited ultimately by internal chemical degradation processes,
which proceed much more rapidly as
operating or storing temperature of the
battery increases. Thus, if you leave your
lead-acid cells or Nicads on charge all the
time, they're going to be running con-
THE PORTABLE PAPER
Volume two/Number three
May/June 1987
Editor/Publisher
Hal Goldstein
Department Editors
Ed Keefe
Cliff Looyenga
Editorial Consultants
Steve Cooperman
Edward Goldfinger
Contributing Editors
Paul Grimmer
Guy Mendt
Thomas Page
Rolf R. Schmidt
Art Director
George Foster
Typography
The Word/Form Corporation
Circulation
Rita Goldstein
Frances Kempton
Glen Frank
Advertising Manager
Steve Cooperman
The Portable Paper (ISSN-0886-9138) is
published bimonthly by Personalized Software
at R.R.4, Box 310, Fairfield, IA 52556. Subscription rates, one year: U.S. and U.S. possessions, $55; Canada, Mexico add 53 surface
mail, $6 air; other countries add 56 surface
mail, $18 air. Please allow four to six weeks for
receipt of first issue. Executive, Editorial, Circulation, and Advertising Offices: P.O. Box 869,
Fairfield, IA 52556. Telephone: (515) 472-6330.
© Copyright 1987, Personalized Software, all
rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced without written permission.
Reasonable efforts are made to provide accurate
and useful information, but the reader must
make his or her own investigations and decisions; the Publisher and Editorial Staff cannot
assume any responsbility or liability for the use
of information coruained herein. Application to
mail at second-class postage rates is pending
at Fairfield, IA 52556. POSTMASTER: Please
send address changes to Personalized Software,
The Portable Paper, P.O. Box 869, Fairfield, IA
52556.
tinuously hot and their lives shortened
significantly.
The "right" way to maintain a leadacid or Nicad battery on standby for extended periods is to charge it for an hour
or two a day-enough ~o maintain full
charge, but with the battery remaining at
room temperature most of the time.
A convenient way to do this is to
connect your batteries to HP's 82059B
(continued on page 38)