Most computer enthusiasts are also gadget-happy. Maybe that's why so many of the cleverest gadgets we review were invented to fix a Mac or IBM-compatible or other computer user's nagging problem.
For instance, there's now an affordable way to hook together computers, networks, printers, modems and similar parts without stringing any wires between them. It's a set of little black boxes from Verran, called AC DataLink (for computers) and DataLink DPS (for peripherals). They retail for $300 to $400 apiece.We've seen other solutions to the tangle of wires in computer installations - for instance, radio- and microwave networks. But they're expensive. Motorola's Altair, a wireless Ethernet network, costs $3,495 for the first user and $3,995 for the control module.
Verran's boxes work cheaply because they use the electrical wiring already in your walls. Why hasn't that been done before? Because until now, no company figured out how to filter out the `noise' that comes in over the AC wires from on-off switches, vacuum cleaners and such - the noise that used to show up as jagged lines on old TV sets. Noise can make computers send garbled signals and printers print junk.
Verran's engineers filtered out the noise, letting just digital signals pass through their little boxes. They let you put a computer, network server, printer or modem anywhere where there's an AC outlet, not just where computer cables can reach.
If you have ever set up a Novell network, you'll appreciate the freedom DataLink gives. With older Novell software, you can usually attach printers only to the file server. For most people on the network, it means a hike to get the printout. Any time a parallel printer is any distance from the server, it needs a booster. Serial connections can need debugging even at short distances.
But you just plug one cord of a DataLink DPS box into a printer and one cord into the nearest wall outlet. Plug a DataLink box into each PC that uses the remote printer. You may also have to set a set of switches, but there's a clear chart in the manual. That's all there is to installation.
The DataLink boxes are streamlined and attractive. They work with any peripheral that sends or receives parallel or serial signals, such as modems, plotters and terminals. The quick setup (once you read the manual) makes these devices great for adding temporary, test and emergency units to networks.
The DataLink boxes passed all our performance, setup and safety checks - the first equipment of this kind to do that in 25 years! They're sold here by a General Electric subsidiary. If you can't find them locally, phone GEC-Marconi Software Systems, 703-648-1551.
We've tested a lot of gadgets designed tosolve telephone headaches - and found problems with them all. Then we found RingRite, an $80-list gadget. It saves a lot of headachesfor folks who use one phone to talk and telecommunicate or receive faxes.
The device depends on a new service of most telephone companies - distinctive ringing. It goes by different names in different places: Custom Ringing, Identa-Ring, Ring Master, Ringmate, Call Identification Service, Intercom Plus, Personalized Ringing, Smart Ring.
With this service (but without RingRite), when callers dial your usual number, the phone rings in its usual way. When they dial a second number, the phone rings a different way: two shorts, one long one short or whatever. We think someone in a phone company invented it so she wouldn't have to answer calls for her teenage kids.
With RingRite's little tan box plugged in, you can use that second number as your dedicated fax or modem line. Every time it hears the second type of ring, RingRite redirects the call to your fax or modem (or answering machine or whatever else you connect to it). When your regular line rings, RingRite doesn't butt in.
If you can't find RingRite locally, phone 800-245-9933.
The third great gadget we found is for readers who bought those cheap hand-held scanners. They work like this: You run a scanner about 3 or 4 inches wide down over a page-length strip. Like magic, an image of the scanned material is copied onto the computer's disk. Scanning software pastes the strips together to make a pageful of image.
These little hand-held scanners cost in the low hundreds. That's a lot cheaper than full-page scanners, which cost thousands. That's the good news. The bad news, you may have found out, is how hard it is to keep your hand steady and straight as you scan. Instead of getting segments of a page that paste together properly, you get overlap and no-lap at the edges.
It doesn't have to be that way any longer. For $40 retail you can buy SCAN:ALIGN. It's a clear plastic frame to hold the paper as you scan. A clever built-in guide keeps your hand scans straight and professional. A set of lines on the plastic also helps guide multiple scans of the same document.
SCAN:ALIGN comes with a thin, clear acetate sheet that makes scanning of pasteups and rough papers easy. Instructions are printed right on the gadget. If you can't find it locally, phone American Business Concepts at 214-904-9121.