I failed to post this during the change over.... digest mode problems. 
Some of it is out of date, but somewhat relevant. The real Q is this 
one...


Is there a quick, one command way of changing the sign of a number... say 
from 102.092 to -102.092?  

I'm using a fairly simple method at the moment, but elegant it aint. I 
wouldn't want my wife or kids to see it.


On the CR-R issue. The current street price here on Kodak CDR blanks 
(which are meant to be fairly reliable) is just over $3.20. You can buy 
them in bulk for $2.50 each. In US money that's less than $2 each. Almost 
less than a good floppy.

The discs do seem to vary, and I had several failures with the first 
batch I got with the recorder. This was a bundle deal through AAPDA 
Australia where you got the drive (Smart & Friendly) Toast (and Director) 
for either $690 or $790. 

At these prices its by far the cheapest form of storage, but its 
complicated. To have a reasonable chance of success I use a clean MO disc 
or partition to store the disc material on before burning, then run 
norton and speed disc, and then turn off everything and reboot just for 
the burn. Not a trivial operation, and one where a 4x burner would seem 
really good value.


JC




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John Clark                    
Aeronaut Automation
30 Kennedy Place Bayview 2104 Australia
Phone:   61 2 99 97 28 42              Fax: 61 2 99 79 56 15
email:   ArtVandals@...
Visit the web site at <http://cygnus.uwa.edu.au/~peterh/>
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