The author of the Showman, SaveRefs and Mailing Labels programmes, and also of the downloadable 'papers' on the Computer Topics page is Clive Bowden, who also designed this web site.

CB Software is not a business, but just a convenient name that I use for a few items of Software that I have written.

Show Management is a complex task, and I have tried to make the ShowMan Show Manager suite as versatile and as USER FRIENDLY as possible as possible without loosing flexibility. See the 'About Showman' page (Quick Find list and Showman Download pages) for more information.

I have been in the habit of storing interesting snippets and articles from magazines by tearing them out, and placing into (cardboard) folders - but then it was difficult to find anything or even know what I had. So I wrote 'SaveRefs' to enable me to create my own database of references. I can now search out references very quickly - and it isn't too bad searching through the stored magazines to find the ones) I want. Every few years I can throw away old magazines and remove the references from the database.

The 'Mailing Labels' program was originally an 'offshoot' from the 'ShowMan' Show Manager suite. Now that 'Showman' is using an Access type databases however, it isn't possible to store a 'freeform' field so the Name and Address module in Showman now differs significantly from that in Mailing Labels, and the data formats are no longer compatible.

• Contacting CB Software

You can use the contact form on the 'Home' page. Alternatively you can click this link to email me directly.

History of the Software

In the early 80's I started to develop my 'Show' management program, to help my wife, who was Secretary of a Section at Stithians Show (for more information, see relevant pages on this site).

Initial work was done with Microsoft MBasic. When I started to use a PC compatible, I moved on to Microsoft QuickBasic 4.5, which was a big improvement on MBasic, but was still a DOS based environment.

Around the mid 90's I decided I should move with the times and modify the program for Windows, so I started to convert my project to Visual Basic, starting with version 3. I soon found this environment allowed much more flexibility. I am now using Visual Basic version 6, together with 3rd party controls by VideoSoft, and TX Text Control. Once this version becomes fully developed I may move it to VB.NET.

About the Author

Interests - Are, or have been - Computing, Amateur Radio, Fishing, Boating, Walking, Tennis, Skiing, Gardening, DIY, Charity Work, Local Show

After National Service in RAF as a Radar Fitter, I was a Power Engineer for some 16 years, and then a Telecommunications Engineer/Manager for another 16 years. I worked for the South Western Electricity Board in Cornwall, England. I took early retirement in 1994.

I hold the Amateur Callsign G3OCB, and my main interest was in home construction of Amateur Radio equipment - I was active on 2 meter SSB in the early 1960's, when the art was in its' infancy. I built many receivers, transmitters and all sorts of test equipment. Some of my equipment was featured in UK ham magazines. I also gave courses on Amateur Radio for the RAE exam at a local college.

In the late 1970's my main interest moved from Amateur Radio to Computing. I built my first computer (a Nascom 1), around 1978. It had a 2 mhz Z80 processor, and a whole 1k of RAM!. Programs were saved to a cassette at around 75 baud - that's about 8 bytes per second!!. Over the next few years I graduated to a Nascom 2, with 5.25 inch 'floppy' disks. Then on to the Gemini 80 bus system, with a 5 mb hard disk!! - a very versatile 4mhz CPU Z80 based system, running CP/M and successors like ZCPR3 and BDOSZ - systems much better than plain CP/M.

Around 1980 I designed a system for a Control Application at work that used a Nascom 2 based system - this ran for over twelve years. The software for this was programmed in Z80 machine code, first to suit the native machine code monitor on the Nascom. Later versions were written with the Microsoft Macro 80 Assembler, to run under CP/M. I also used MBasic to write several 'custom' database programs that were used on 80 Bus systems at work.

In the late 80's I moved on to a AT style PC (12mhz 286!), and since then, I have graduated through 386's, 496's, Pentiums and Athlons

My current desktop machines are -

Multimedia PC with a 1200m mhz Athlon, 512mb RAM, 1 x 60 and 1 x 80Gb Hard disks, Matrox G450 Video Card, LG DVD Reader, LG DVD writer, 19 inch Philips TFT monitor, Epson 4900 scanner and HP 1215 Photosmart printer. Choice of six bootable partitions with various OS's for software testing.

Multimedia PC with Intel P4 2.8Ghz, 2 x 160 mb SATA drives, 1Gb RAM LG DVD Reader and LG DVD Writer and 17 inch CTX TFT monitor, with 3 bootable partitions, running Windows Xp - mainly used for Video Editing.

2007 -Mesh E6700 Core Duo, 2 Gb RAM, 22 inch IIyama monitor, Windows Vista Business, Xp Pro Boot Options

2007 - Dell Inspiron 9400 Notebook, 2 Ghz Core Duo, 2Gb RAM, 17 inch screen, with Vista Busines and Xp Pro Boot Options

I also have an 800 mhz Notebook with 192 mb RAM, 20 Gb hard disk, CD ROM, 13.3 inch 1024 x 768 TFT screen, running Windows 98, and several other older PC's which are very useful for testing programme installations against older operating systems.

Recommended Software

My most used and indespensable program is Windows Commander (now called Total Commander). Go to www.ghisler.com for evaluation version - when I recommend this programme, people fall into two camps - those who can't bother to learn to use it, and those who soon become 'lost' on a PC that doesn't have it installed. It is a super replacement for Windows Explorer, ZIP Folders and many more programs. see the 'Computing Topics' page a for paper on this programme.

I use used to use PowerQuest Partition Magic, BootMagic and Drive Image extensively, but I now prefer Acronis True Image and Acronis Disk Director. I find these programmes very useful for managing my PC - including software testing and 'repairing' broken 'Windows'- see the 'Computing Topics' page for papers on this. I have three bootable partitions on my desktop PC's, and can try my software with various operating systems very quickly, using Imaging software to restore various systems.

If you write programmes, and need a package to create 'Setups', I recommend Tarma Installer - http://www.tarma.com - this programme is quite flexible and reasonably priced.

For HTML Help File creation 'HelpScribble' is very good - http://www.helpscribble.com but I prefer Help Magician - http://www.sinterphase.com to actually write the source and create the RTF for import to HelpScribble