These hands-on stories from the electronic front line should save you some fretting and sweating as you try to get your machines to work properly. As you've probably discerned by now, your actual experience testing new hardware and software may be quite different from that promised by the brochure - or, even the manual...

The list will be updated to follow my writing in The Age's Tuesday computer pages - both the Cybersurfing column and occasional reviews...

Here's the story so far...

Notebook computers are all the rage. But you can easily splurge on a dog. Avoid the pitfalls with this great checklist of points for those who don't want to start a kennel...

  • Buying a notebook? These are the points to check!

    Not all PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) were created equal...

  • The Amstrad Personal Digital Assistant - cheap, but...

    You'll spend hours gazing at your new computer screen. Make sure you know the inside story on resolution modes, interlacing and other esoterica...

  • A consumer guide to buying a good computer monitor...

    There's not a cyberchild in the universe who doesn't do it some time or other. Find out some tantalising tricks for the real power scribe...

  • Word Processing - the inside story for blinding speed, part 1
  • Word Processing - the inside story for blinding speed, part 2
  • Word Processing - the inside story for blinding speed, part 3
  • Word Processing - the inside story for blinding speed, part 4

    We all thought the Newton would be God's gift to the travelling technocrat. Those ardent first-adopters tell a different story...

  • Problems with the Apple Newton - An Overview

    If you need a keyboard, the HP Omnibook could be an attractive compromise between tiny PDA and traditional notebook...

  • The Hewlett Packard Omnibook - An Overview

    You know that sickly feeling when you get an "error reading drive c:" message just as you're calling up that mission critical tome! Find out how to avoid the bottom of that data abyss where the sun never shines...

  • The Norton Utilities V7 - an essential tool

    The new (Macian) version is even better (see review here soon), but V1 of PC Tools for Windows from Central Point was a fundamentally good Windows desktop enhancement. Find out why...

  • Central Point PC Tools for Windows V1 - review

    Text retrieval engines are going to be a key to staying afloat in the late 20th century data soup. This is an intro to the excellent Isys for Windows... see more information about Chris Priestley's awesome Total Research program, further below...

  • Isys for Windows, both parts of a 2 part series

    Sure they don't have nuclear weapons, but if you want to do business with the most powerful economy on earth you'll need the lingo. Find out about learning a language with all the latest multi-media bells and whistles in this assessment of Power Japanese...

  • Power Japanese uses multimedia to teach the language - a review

    Well, that Sydney demo by Apple convinced me. The Power PC is a gorgeous beast. This series compares it with that Pentium you've been drooling over...

  • Apple and IBM's Power PC - an appraisal, part 1
  • Apple and IBM's Power PC - an appraisal, part 2

    My e-mail box bursts with questions about the Internet. If you're here at all, you've come a long way. But you'll still find some useful tips scattered around this intermediate level series on Internet usage which spans issues from how to join through to what to do when you get there...

  • The Internet - a Melbourne User's Guide, part 1
  • The Internet - a Melbourne User's Guide, part 2
  • The Internet - a Melbourne User's Guide, part 3
  • The Internet - a Melbourne User's Guide, part 4
  • The Internet - a Melbourne User's Guide, part 5
  • The Internet - a Melbourne User's Guide, part 6
  • The Internet - a Melbourne User's Guide, part 7

    The clipper debate is a seething flashpoint in US political and technological circles. But PGP is even more important for us in Australia now. Find out what it is, and how to make it work for you...

  • PGP or Pretty Good Protection - Data Encryption, an overview (part 1)
  • PGP or Pretty Good Protection - Data Encryption, an overview (part 2)

    If you don't want to plunge into a turbo-charged SLIP connection but just want a good communications package for the Net and other on-line services, this article gives good advice on ProComm's offering...

  • ProComm Plus for Windows and Vomax - a review (re use for Internetting)

    The electronic Superhighway is soon to be chockers with GUI navigation aids. This article on Magic Cap gives you an overview of one of the better prospects...

  • Magic Cap, by General Magic, has awesome potential - a review

    You can do it all from the TV on your bedside table. A computer to TV connection can't match a real monitor's resolution but has its advantages nonetheless...

  • Connecting your computer to your TV - net like a prince :)

    Start a network in your own home and stop drowning in all that wretched e-mail

  • Computer networks, part 1 of a 3 part series
  • Computer networks, part 2 of a 3 part series
  • Computer networks, part 3 of a 3 part series

    In this further series on text retrieval, more tips on how to retrieve the data needles in the cyber haystack...

  • Text Retrieval Engines, part 1 of a 2 part series
  • Text Retrieval Engines, part 2 of a 2 part series

    MANY more computer-related stories by Jason Romney are available at this site - they are as yet, however, unindexed. The overview of these stories is a quick download - but note that if you choose any one of the stories in the overview list, it will involve a large text download of approximately 200K.

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    Feedback would be gratefully received at
    jromney@werple.mira.net.au