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ExpoBITS/26-Aug-91

As we promised (threatened?) at the end of our special Macworld Expo issue two weeks ago, there’s more to say about the Expo that just didn’t fit. Here’s a little bit more material from Ilene Hoffman’s Expo coverage that doesn’t need a special issue but deserves mentioning.

The best new utility for power users at the show was Hard Disk Toolkit (HDT), a SCSI formatting utility from hard drive manufacturer FWB, Inc. This powerful tool, similar in concept to SilverLining, LaCie’s universal formatter, will ship within the next few weeks. HDT includes a heap fixing tool, flexible partitioning, "impenetrable password protection," 15 diagnostic tests, bench tests for transfer rates, seek, access, and read times. The test results are stored in a library for later use. In addition, over 150 different SCSI-1 and SCSI-2 parameters are supported. You can even edit your drive’s microcode! The manual is a comprehensive guide to SCSI and will be over 100 pages thick. HDT supports AppleShare, A/UX, and System 7, but its minimum requirements are one megabyte of RAM and System 6.0.2 or higher. It will retail for about $199.00. HDT gets Ilene’s vote for the hottest product at the show.

Golden Triangle will release another impressive SCSI utility later in the year. DiskMaker, also with full System 7.0 compatibility, includes one button installation, password protection with an emergency override, partitioning, and an easy to use control panel. It is a good consumer product for those who do not need all the features of the Hard Disk Toolkit. The suggested retail price is $89.00.

The best general utility at the show was the update for HAND-Off II from Connectix. The desktop utility has five major features including pop-up menus to launch applications, open files, or open groups of applications and files (called Briefcases); SuperMenu, which allows for hierarchical System 7 Apple menu access like the old DAMenuz hack; automatic application substitution, which is invaluable for those without MacWrite for opening read-me files; AutoHide, which hides applications as they switch to the background to keep your desktop tidy; and automatic sound and color depth switching. Fred Hollander, the developer, was on hand to demonstrate his latest version.

Information from:
Ilene Hoffman — America Online: IleneH

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