PCjs Machines

Disk No: 2594                                                           
Disk Title: Operation Desert Storm                                      
PC-SIG Version: S1                                                      
                                                                        
Program Title: Operation Desert Storm                                   
Author Version: 3/91                                                    
Author Registration: $10.00                                             
Special Requirements: None.                                             
                                                                        
OPERATION DESERT STORM is an electronic book about the recent war in the
Gulf as told by American soldiers who were there. This book is published
in a form that is new, easy and fun to read on a computer system of any 
kind. Also included is a catalog of more electronic books by this new   
Non-Profit Corporation dedicated to promoting the use of computers for  
information.                                                            
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
PC-SIG                                                                  
1030D East Duane Avenue                                                 
Sunnyvale  Ca. 94086                                                    
(408) 730-9291                                                          
(c) Copyright 1991 PC-SIG, Inc.                                         

              Iris: Electronic Books Made Simple!

Binding sheets of paper together to form books was a landmark
idea. Papyrus scrolls were suddenly obsolete. The book format made
a table of contents and index practical. Steering the reader to
another part of a book was as simple as citing a page number. Best
of all, you never had to rewind a book. This was the beginning of
random access.

Iris has taken books one step further. Instead of citing page
numbers, authors can cite topic names. The names can be woven into 
the text itself, or displayed in popup menus. Electronic books 
can ask questions and respond to the answers. Readers can jump 
from one topic to another with the flick of a key. Windows can 
change color and size, and be accompanied by pleasant tones.

When you use Iris, the first thing you see is a friendly help
screen and a menu of available books. This menu works like all
Iris menus. A single sorted column with items that can be selected
with cursor keys, or by typing the first letter of the item. If
all the items cannot be shown at once, readers can quickly scroll
up and down the list.

The Iris distribution disk comes with three sample electronic (or
"virtual") books. One is a tutorial. Another is a reference work.
The third is a catalog.

The tutorial and reference books covers Iris itself, and contain
everything you need to know to read or write a virtual book. The
catalog describes other books available direct from UserWare.
Although a sample text adventure was not provided, it's obvious
that Iris was designed with gaming in mind.

If you already have material stored in an ascii text file,
converting it to a virtual book is a snap. Internally, Iris uses a
format similar to the well-known DOS batch file. The major
difference is that "unmarked" lines are displayed, while "command"
lines use a special one-character prefix.

To get started, all Iris needs is an occasional "topic name." These
look just like a batch file "label". Just type a colon followed by
the name you want to give the following text. Topics can be any
length. Rename the file with a .PGE extension, and you're in
business. Of course, you might want to go on and take advantage of
the many special features Iris offers, but that's optional.

UserWare is building a "library" of virtual books. Your
submissions are invited, and royalties will be paid. You may also
distribute your books independently. No license required.

A registered copy of Iris sells for $8. An advanced version,
Prism, is $24. Prism adds many features that would interest people
writing books themselves, and includes a complementary text editor.

Iris, a MS dos program, uses 256k of free memory, and works well
with both color and monochrome monitors. Iris is also compatible
with most speech synthesizers.

             UserWare, 4 Falcon Lane East, Fairport NY 14450-3312,
                                                   (716) 425-3463,
                                                  CIS: 71540,3660.





Features List:

For readers: select screen colors, borders, and CPU speeds, sound
switch, bookmark, topics list, view list, DOS shell, speech
synthesizer compatible.

For authors: color, sound, windows, variables, arithmetic and
logical operators, procedural commands, external programs, user
input, link topics via menus or "hotwords", (advanced version also
includes) autoplay, topic and variable listing, command trace,
editor support, optional compressed and encrypted formats.



Capsule Description:

Iris. "Electronic book processor." Link topics. Store input. Merge
variables. Run programs. Use color, sound, windows. $8 registration.
256K, monochrome or color. Disk _____.



Here's what people are saying about Iris ..
-------------------------------------------

"Iris is very well conceived and designed.  It makes the most of
the advantages of reading text on-line rather than on-paper."
-- PSL News, May 1989.


".. my overwhelming admiration .. It is very simply organized and
readily accesible to the average reader.
-- Harvey Wheeler, Director, The Virtual Academy.


"I've had a chance to put Iris through its paces, and I must say
I'm impressed."
-- Thomas Easton, Analog, June 1990.


"There is no easier or cheaper way to get started with hypertext."
-- Ron Albright, Assistant Editor, Computer Buyer's Guide.

 Volume in drive A has no label
 Directory of A:\

README            1295   3-02-91   1:19p
README   ODS      1295   3-02-91   1:19p
PART1    PGE    134027   3-03-91   9:21a
PART1    MRK      4959   3-03-91   9:21a
BOOKMARK CFG       389   2-18-91  11:08a
IRIS     EXE     65606   9-29-90   1:28p
GO       BAT        16   2-20-91  12:53p
IRIS-REF PGE     43891   9-10-90   1:28p
IRIS-REF MRK      8274   9-10-90   1:28p
IRIS     TXT      4451   9-10-90   1:28p
IRIS     MSG      8506   9-10-90   1:28p
CATALOG  PGE      7085   3-03-91  10:15a
ORDER    HDR        83   1-10-90   1:24p
ORDER    FTR      1016   3-03-91  10:19a
ORDER    BAT       759   1-10-90   1:24p
STORM    DIR      1106   3-02-91   1:03p
CATALOG  MRK      2684   3-03-91  10:07a
HARDCOPY SET      2154   3-02-91  12:38p
HARDCOPY EXE     20309   3-30-90   1:26p
CHKPRN   EXE      1872   9-10-90   1:28p
GETKEY   EXE      3120  11-10-89   1:30p
README   PGE      1802   3-02-91   4:09p
FILE2594 TXT      1702   3-27-91   7:35a
       23 file(s)     316401 bytes
                       33792 bytes free