H  O  M  E  P  A  G  E 

First: Some Background



I really like the Star Trek Usenet FAQs and Lists of Lists, and I find them to be an invaluable reference. Unfortunately, each deals with only a small segment of the Trek "universe"; when I am looking for specific information, I usually have to wade through 3 or 4 lists before finding what I want --- especially now that there are now four series, and eight movies.

So I decided to create a gigantic Windows Help file, which would contain all the Star Trek information anyone could ever want. The idea was deceptively simple: I thought that I could just import all the FAQs into one file, format the text, compile everything, and be done in a week. However, version 1.0 ended up taking months to complete, and version 2.0 took a similar amount of time.

This help file, which I call the Star Trek Explorer, is my attempt to put all (well, as much as possible of) the interesting, useful and reasonably detailed Star Trek information in one easy-to-use (but heavily indexed) reference file.

The Help file is all text --- although graphics, sound and animation would be nice (and would certainly make the file look slick), they take up huge amounts of disk space, and I wanted to distribute this information as compactly, and efficiently as possible. Secondly, all images and sounds are owned by Paramount, and I understand that they are quick to take legal action against those who borrow or otherwise use them.    ...enough said.



Distributing The Program



This help file may be freely distributed, as long as it is unmodified and in its entirety. In keeping with the spirit of the free flow of information on the Usenet conferences, I would also add that this file must be freely distributed. That is --- no charge whatsoever may be made for diskette duplication or transmission. The vast majority of the information in this file was painstakingly compiled by Trekkers as a labour of love. Although I spent considerable time formatting the text, and creating a network of jumps, popups and keyword searches, I still feel that I have no right to profit from it. Therefore, I do not want to see this file included in any shareware distributors' catalogue. Finally, this file may not be included in any commercial or shareware product under any circumstances.

In short --- please feel free to give this help file to your friends, or to any other Trek fan who owns a computer!



How About A Sample?



It would not be fair to ask you to download a 1.35/2.05
meg file without at least offering a peek at its
contents. So, on the left, is a portion of the STE
popup menu. I have copied the contents of 3
Explorer articles to this web site: Data's Positronic
Brain, Data Uses Contractions, and Did You
Know --- TNG. This is just a miniscule sample
of what you will find in this help file!

In the articles, the green underlined words represent
hypertext links to related items.
A Special Section



Here is a special little extract from STE, exclusive to SFCentral's STE English Page. If you're not persuaded yet - this should finish you... Read on... :-)

Data's Christmas Jingle

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle all the way!
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh--
or so I am reliably informed; lacking a subjective
and intuitively perceived referent for the term "fun,"
I am able only to report the phenomenon as experienced by others,
whose individual perceptions somewhat color the --------- yes, sir.
Download the Star Trek Explorer v2.2 or v2.3



Explorer

V.22

V.23

WinZip
Star Trek: Explorer Version 2.2 is a ZIP file called STEX-V22.ZIP, Version 2.3 is a ZIP file called STEX-V23.ZIP. STE 2.2 works with Win 3.1, Win95, Win98 and Win NT, but it is an older version, with less information, Version 2.3 only works with Win95, 98 and NT but is MUCH more up-to-date. Take your pick! To download either just click on the spinning disk opposite. You will need a program called WinZip to download it (click on the WinZip icon opposite to download it). STE V.2.2 is about 1.36 megs in size, while STE V.2.3 is about 2.05 megs and they both contain the main help file.

Download the STE v2.2 (WIN 3.1, 95, 98, NT)

Download the STE v2.3 (WIN95, 98, NT)













Comments / Submissions




I am always happy to hear from anyone who has tried the Explorer. This way I know that people are actually using it. If you have any comments, suggestions, ideas for the next version, please let me know. If you have found some really cool Trek material that you would like to see in the next version, just send it as an attachment in your e-mail message --- I will not promise anything, but all submissions will be read, and considered carefully.

Send your comments



Misc.....



A humour page will be appearing here soon, in the mean time please check out these links....

  • Star Trek: Explorer Home - Star Trek: Explorer's Main Page

  • Star Base 101 - The other site that STE is shared with - packed with Star Trek downloadables, reviews, sounds, epi guides!

  • Winzip - A great file compression utility

  • Data's Positronic Brain

  • Data Uses Contractions

  • The Next Generation: Did You Know?



    This site was created by Bob Yewchuck and is maintained and hosted by James Hicks