Issue Number 20 - March 2000

Psst! Want some free fonts meester?
There are some people who just can't get enough free fonts - fontaholics, as they're known in typography circles. If you are suffering from this collection mania - help is at hand! We have compiled a long, long list of resources. The fonts range from classics to the bizarre, and there are plenty of buttons, dingbats, and other gizmos thrown in.

http://www.mantex.co.uk/samples/fonts.htm

Microsoft Vs Linux
In all the recent publicity surrounding the launch of Windows 2000, you might have noticed mention of Linux. This is the completely FREE operating system which is challenging the dominance of Microsoft. Linux was developed by a young Finnish student called Linus Torvalds. He decided to make his work public, and invited others to debug and improve his coding.

This idea of making software free has gathered momentum, and is now organised in what's called the Open Sources movement. If you want to catch up with these developments, we have details of two books which will explain it all. 'Open Sources' is a collection of documents from the founders of the movement. 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar' is a set of essays by Eric Raymond, one of the founding revolutionaries.

http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/raymond.htm

http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/dibona.htm

Poor Richard's Web Site
If you want to set up a web site without spending a penny, this book shows you how. It's an amazingly successful publication - a self-published manual of 'geek free common sense advice' on which its author founded a whole new publishing house. Peter Kent has revised and updated his best-seller. It's packed with more pointers to free software and services than ever.

http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/kent.htm

Boot Up - Computer Help
The Daily Telegraph runs a very popular column in its weekly IT supplement. 'Boot Camp' written by Rick Maybury, answers reader's questions on how to deal with everything from upgrading your equipment, plugging in printers, and getting your software to work. 'Boot Up' is a selection of answers to the most frequently asked questions. It also has a primer at the start of each chapter which acts like a mini-tutorial on all aspects of computing.

http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/maybury.htm

The Form of the Book
If you are interested in typography, book design, and page layout, you should have a look at this collection of essays on 'the morality of good design' by the German typographer Jan Tschichold. He is an eloquent writer, and a lover of details - from the thickness of an em-dash to the size of margins and even the blank pages inside the covers.

http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/tsch-03.htm

How much space on your hard drive?
1. Double-click My Computer.
2. Right-click your hard drive icon.
3. Choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
4. The chart that appears tells you how big
your drive was to start and how much of
that space is still free.

E-TRIVIA
Where did the name Eudora come from? Steve Dorner, one of the authors of Eudora e-mail software, says that when he was looking for a name for the new Post Office Protocol (POP) mail program, he remembered the title of a short story 'Why I Live at the P.O.' He named the program after its author, Eudora Welty.