Andra KOM-möten från denna tid
Saturday 1986-05-17 19.12.59INFO-IBMPC mailing list
(Text 103254) 85-05-05 14.00 Jacob Palme QZ Name: INFO-IBMPC mailing list This conference will receive messages from the ARPANET mailing list "Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA". This is a mailing list for exchange of experience on the IBM PC personal computer. To ensure that your entries into the list will be forwarded to the American mailing list, send your entries not only to the COM conference "INFO-IBMPC mailing list" but also to the external COM name "Info-IBMPC @ USC-ISIB.ARPA".
(Text 103254)INFO-IBMPC mailing list Name: INFO-IBMPC mailing list Number: Conference 511 Creation time: 84-12-13 18.39 Organizer: Michael Evans S-E-Banken # links to object: 235 Object: Text 173948 Type: Open PPN: 3427,3121 Number of members: 119 INFO-IBMPC mailing list has the following members: Last present Unseen Name 85-12-07 12.06 127 Jacob Palme QZ 84-12-13 19.02 235 QZ Computer Centre 84-12-13 19.02 235 FOA organisation 84-12-13 19.02 235 NADA employees 86-03-31 03.08 38 Sven Olofsson QZ ********* ***** 199 Per Lindberg QZ 86-05-11 22.14 1 Michael Evans S-E-Banken 86-01-11 20.21 60 Leif Wahlberg SAS 86-05-07 02.27 46 Mats Ohlin FOA2 85-10-03 17.36 102 Uul Haanstra SARA ********* ***** 215 Richard Friedman PSR ********* ***** 188 Paul van Binst 86-04-07 13.15 74 Tomas Lindgren FOA3 85-09-20 14.08 135 Gunilla Nordstr|m QZ 86-01-14 06.26 56 -KPJ Jaakkola QZ private (@QZCOM) ********* ***** 28 Torgny Tholerus QZ 86-04-27 16.47 13 Petri Kutvonen Univ. of Helsinki 85-05-10 22.07 170 G|ran Agerberg HLR/BBDO AB ********* ***** 217 Michel E Debar DECUS ********* ***** 216 James McLellan ********* ***** 61 Pekka Kyt|laakso HYLK 86-05-11 14.58 1 Nils Qwerin Statskontoret 86-05-05 18.33 4 Bengt Bengtsson LiTH 86-05-15 21.07 1 Lewis Taylor FFE 86-03-29 15.01 21 Birgitta Oeberg QZ 86-05-13 04.07 1 Dennis Mennerdahl 86-05-17 12.34 PETER STAHL ABC-KLUBBEN 86-05-14 22.49 39 COM archiving program 86-05-16 18.51 27 Hans E Renstr|m FOA 4 86-04-29 18.53 7 Kjell Ohlson 85-07-18 01.13 137 G|ran Wallberg QZ 86-04-04 07.38 61 Johan Lundstrom STOCC ********* ***** 121 Jan Norden 86-03-05 11.28 79 Jan Sel`n 86-05-15 17.00 39 Juha Koivisto HUTCC 85-06-02 23.02 158 Osmund Paulsen A/S NEVI 85-06-10 20.20 204 Lars-]ke Larsson Cybis Elektronik & Data AB ********* ***** 175 Rob Armstrong AUCC 85-09-17 23.48 169 bo ehk stocc 86-05-08 16.47 4 H}kan Gadler 85-08-10 23.28 123 Janne Larsson ABC-klubben 85-04-29 21.15 212 Erik Wallin 86-05-12 23.48 1 Peter Bergfeldt abc-klubben 85-05-13 01.25 172 Erik Fichtelius STOCC 85-05-28 19.13 184 Peter Siklosi 86-05-04 22.21 4 Olle Jaernefors KTH 86-05-11 17.05 1 Jan Flodin ********* ***** 214 Siegfried Michael Schoberth KFA ********* ***** 213 Pasquale d'Erasmo CSATA 86-05-03 16.31 54 Bo Kagstrom University of Umea (Bo K}gstr|m Ume}) 86-01-12 01.56 56 Christer Lindh 86-03-25 00.06 25 Mats Forsenberg STOCC 85-05-28 05.26 212 CURT LIND UNIV. OF OREGON 86-01-13 23.12 100 Mats Ekelund Datatronic ********* ***** 78 Matts Kallioniemi QZ 85-11-07 10.37 145 Domenico Rotondi CSATA 85-06-12 00.04 204 KURT ERIKSSON NCR 86-05-13 08.10 1 Georges Rousseau University of Brussels 85-06-14 19.13 191 Berith Demo QZ (Berith Sannebring) 85-06-13 20.21 204 Mikael T|rnkvist STOCC 86-05-12 15.28 1 Henric \stmark FOA2 85-07-17 14.01 172 Jan Berglund 85-07-23 15.43 175 Lena Ramerfelt QZ 86-04-29 13.11 11 Xavier Xantico (=Jacob Palme) 86-04-14 21.51 18 janne larsson ITT-Scanips 85-08-22 22.07 183 MIKAEL LIDEN ABC 85-08-26 18.49 126 Jost Krieger RUB 86-05-16 19.33 39 Rudolf Valder Univ. of Dusseldorf 85-11-07 22.19 82 Bj|rn Svensson CODE AB 85-10-08 10.06 166 povl skaalum adm. dep. 86-03-04 17.58 79 Edward af Geijerstam 85-09-12 13.36 116 Bengt Thylander FRN 85-09-04 13.09 169 A. C. Cotton Univ. of Southampton 86-05-14 21.34 1 Bengt Wendel (Wenco AB) STOCC 86-03-03 01.02 35 Transcript maker for UNISOFT AB 86-05-17 09.40 Dan Bellander S-E-Banken 85-10-21 23.36 153 Bj|rn Rundl|f 86-05-17 09.09 christer modin ics 86-05-16 22.22 Leif Wahlberg STOCC 86-01-01 21.26 116 anders westberg mkv/ka4 86-01-14 14.35 109 Bengt Walerud KIRSTEIN/WALERUD 85-11-24 13.54 235 Group Personal computers hardware and software 85-11-24 13.55 235 Group USA corresponding conferences (mailing lists) 85-12-02 22.44 74 Stefan Westman 86-02-09 23.08 77 G|ran Husman 85-12-05 23.23 126 Kurt Wassberg 85-12-05 12.51 129 Heikki Apiola Univ. Support div/Finnish State comp. Centre 86-05-04 10.40 4 Martin Lundberg 85-12-09 20.02 125 G\RAN KROOK 85-12-11 15.08 73 Simo Jokela (Kone) 86-03-18 13.55 80 Thomas Adriaansen 86-02-07 23.04 41 Urban S|lving ABC-klubben" 85-12-15 18.31 83 Bertil Hagnell STOCC ********* ***** 67 Kent Filen ********* ***** 111 Pieter Donche Antwerpen 86-04-28 12.32 56 Ann Demo QZ (Ann-Sofi Jonasson) 86-05-07 00.58 4 Johan Backlund FOA221 86-01-27 18.44 69 Hannu Kulokari 86-05-14 23.09 1 Bruno Walter MESA Konsult 86-03-15 12.04 35 Bo Kullmar ABC-Club 86-04-16 11.10 48 Bjorn Bertelsen KOINOR 86-05-11 15.04 1 Kent Ericsson 86-02-20 15.11 85 Ola Lindblom Electrolux AB 86-05-16 15.11 \rjan Leringe 86-05-08 00.25 24 Bj|rn Gustafsson QZ 86-05-11 13.51 1 Paul-Andre PAYS (Ecole des Mines SAINT-ETIENNE) 86-03-19 13.53 54 Lars Richter Asea AB 86-03-09 21.54 82 Andres Kaarik 86-04-20 00.18 15 Rune Larsson BENiMA AB 86-02-19 21.22 35 --Cary Karp STOCC 86-03-02 01.26 35 Urban Sundstrom STOCC/KTH ********* ***** Hans Eberding 86-03-28 04.38 21 LEIF \STLING TRANS-BUS AB 86-03-27 21.15 33 Cary Karp SU 86-05-10 01.39 2 Jukka Kiviniemi WSOY 86-05-13 11.55 14 Stefan Levander ]bo Akademi 86-03-19 14.27 72 Per-]ke Olsson Chalmers-V 86-05-11 11.28 1 Olle E Johansson 86-04-01 17.35 65 Bosse Inerfeldt AB VOLVO 86-04-17 16.15 52 Birgitta Lagnell AB VOLVO 86-05-16 20.34 42 Bengt Forsgren Televerket 86-04-04 11.42 74 ulf lunden h8 conor info ab 86-04-04 21.04 73 Ralph Luddeckens N-Control AB 86-05-17 17.33 26 Mats J Hammarstedt STOCC 86-05-16 16.04 MICHAEL BENEDICKS 86-04-10 22.23 71 Fredrik Knoop 86-04-17 17.49 39 thomas gustavsson sind ********* ***** 15 Anders Sandberg STOCC 86-05-12 00.53 1 Tommy Riboe 86-04-30 15.48 54 Manuel Medina ********* ***** 51 Kristina Gustafsson FOA2 86-05-09 17.20 43 Ulf Ergander KI 86-05-16 18.38 41 Lars Ohman EPOC
(Text 149673) 86-01-31 05.01 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <193> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-01-31 05.01 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <184> -- Received: 86-01-31 06.07 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-01-31 05.01 Marked by somebody. Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #16 %Original date: 30 Jan 1986 12:52:41 PST. TF: DSKD:794927.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 37925 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 31 Jan 86 01:51 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 30-Jan-1986 17:38:15-est Date: 30 Jan 1986 12:52:41 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #16 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 30 January 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 16 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: PC RT (3 msgs) AT Speedup (3 msgs) PC Speedup TallTree JLASER Board (2 msgs) Tektronix 4010 Emulator (2 msgs) Anchor Modem Problems (2 msgs) DOS vs. Direct Screen Writes (2 msgs) 7 cents per Kb Procomm B for the IBM PC and compatibles under MS-DOS. Dos 3.1 Environment size patch Clarification on GREP.C LOTUS Specs Different versions of ARC PC Ltd. AT Query Battery backed up memory MS Compatible Driver Wanted for Logitech Mouse Bad Reset Disk Optimizers....not too good File I/O from resident programs More MIX "C" notes LS.LBR INT09 Side Effect ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Jan 86 20:31:12 EST From: kevin@harvard.HARVARD.EDU (Kevin Crowston) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: RT and XNS Does anyone know if the RT's version of BSD 4.2 includes support for the XNS protocols? Can anyone describe its networking capabilities in more detail? Kevin Crowston UUCP: {seismo,ut-sally}!harvard!kevin MIT Sloan School of Management ARPA: kevin@xv.mit.edu or kevin@harvard.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 86 15:55:19 pst From: amd!ubvax!skip@SUN.ARPA (Skip Addison Jr) To: amd!sun!ucbvax!info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: RT networking and my mistake Hopefully this will get out before too much damage is done. Apparently there were two operating system released for the RT PC. One that I was referring to in my submission is the Academic Information Systems. It is a 4.2 bsd derivative and is sold to academic units only. Someone mentioned CMU's Andrew software. This may be that. ACIS does support Ethernet and Token Ring networks. It does not support the PC Network Adapter from IBM. The other operating system I don't have information on, but apparently it was developed by those folks that brought us PC/IX. It is originally a Sys V derivative with enhancements. (I love Unix, I really do! I just can't figure what it is. :-) It does support the PC Network Adapter and apparently not the others. My incorrect statement was that the RT PC does not support the PC Network Adapter. It depends on which flavor of Unix you're running. Sorry for the confusion. -- Skip Addison {lll-crg, decwrl}!amdcad!cae780!ubvax!skip ------------------------------ Date: 29-Jan-1986 1340 From: mitton%olorin.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM (Dave Mitton) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: IBM PC Network support on PC-RT RE: Skip Addison's comments on no support of the PC Network adapter. I beg to differ with him, but the information given in issue #9 is straight from the IBM announcement, section 186-006, page 6. Dave Mitton. ------------------------------ Date: 28 Jan 86 13:05:35 PST (Tuesday) Subject: Heat Sink for PC AT running at 9 MHz From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.Arpa cc: ibmpc^.ES@Xerox.COM I recently sped up my PC AT to 9.7 MHz, and I installed a heat sink, using heat sink compound to attach the heat sink to the CPU. I use my AT "tower" fashion, so that in theory the heat sink could slide off the CPU into the disk controller. Is the heat sink compound also an effective adhesive? If not, can you recommend an adhesive that can be removed without traces, in case I have to take the CPU back to the dealer for service? Phil Burton Xerox Corporation ------------------------------ Date: 28 Jan 86 13:06:07 PST (Tuesday) Subject: Ronsco 5 Speed Clock Switch for AT From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.Arpa I just received and installed the Ronsco "Five Speed" clock switch in my AT. The unit has a jack that plugs into the AT's crystal socket, which leads to a five position rotary switch that select the various crystals. The crystals and rotary switch mounted are on a flat plate that mounts in the AT's "maintenance panel" on the rear of the CPU, to the left, as viewed from the front. The crystals and switch are enclosed in a rubber jacket, which I have not removed. Installation was quick, less than fifteen minutes, not counting uncabling and recabling my system, with clear instructions. The actual speeds vary somewhat from the nominal speeds: Nominal Actual* 10 10.6 9 9.7 8 8.1 6 6.0 4 3.9 All speeds determined by the Norton Utility "si", with the standard 6 MHz showing a 5.7x rating relative to the PC. [The Norton "si" benchmark is notoriously deceptive! --Ed.] The rotary switch is not firm enough in its settings. It is apparently possible to get an intermediate speed setting if the switch contacts two crystals at the same time. At 10.7 MHz, the system would boot up only when it was cold. Otherwise, it failed the Power On Self Test before the keyboard test was complete. The memory tests were apparantly completed, but the keyboard LED's never lit. Once warm, the system would not accept keyboard input at 10.6 MHz. At 9.7 MHz, I was able to use all my input/output devices without any changes in operations. At 3.9 MHz, games are decently slow. However, the system bleeps several times during POST, and the "Press F1 to continue" message appears. Also, my EGA is apparently not initialized properly, and initially displays output in 40 column mode. (I use mode to restore co80.) Ronsco recommends against switching speeds while the system is running. My limited experience suggests it works between 6 and 8 MHz, otherwise not. I usually power down the system to change speeds. (Can anyone recommend a hardware reset switch that would be as effective?) My configuration consists of a model 068, my own third party hard disk and half-high 360 KB floppy disk, AST card with 1.128 MB, parallel port, two serial ports, and a game port. Also, an EGA with the EG Display. I have a Hayes modem, a serial Diablo printer running at 9600 baud (which share COM1 with a Y cable), a parallel Epson printer, and COM2 reserved for a serial mouse. Overall, I'd give this product a good minus, because of the mediocre quality of the rotary switch. If readers are interested in getting this product, they better hurry. Ronsco's real business is vertical market software, and they produced this device initially as an accommodation for the AT customers, then decided to market the product, then finally decided NOT to continue marketing it. Telephone support was very good. Ronsco is in Monee, IL, at 312 534 1303. I bought this switch, instead of simply installing a faster crystal, so that my kids could play games. At 6 MHz, the AT is too fast for any time-sensitive game written for the PC. Philip Burton Xerox Corporation ------------------------------ Date: 28 Jan 86 13:08:12 PST (Tuesday) Subject: Switching speeds on PC AT From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.Arpa cc: ibmpc^.ES@Xerox.COM I recently got a speed switch for my PC AT, and proper procedure for switching speeds is to power down the system. Would a hardware reset switch be as effective? Which one is recommended, and at what price? I don't need any extra features. Phil Burton Xerox Corporation ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Jan 86 22:12:05 PST From: iverson%cory@BERKELEY.EDU (Tim Iverson) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Overthruster PC Speedup Query In the Feb. 1986 issue of PC Tech Journal, tucked way in the back, I found an add for a kit to increase the PC clock speed to 7.38Mhz. The product is called The Overthruster and is produced by Data Management Systems. Now, the question: How is this done? General answers and gueses are apreciated, but I would kill for a detailed explanation (with lots of big words and chip numbers). After all, I would like to do this myself without spending $300. Thanks, Tim Iverson. (iverson@cory.berkeley.edu) ------------------------------ From: <bang!root@nosc.ARPA> Date: Sat, 25 Jan 86 02:33:48 PST To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Talltree JLASER board An add on board for the Talltree JRAM3 and JRAM-3AT 2mb RAM board, is their JLASER add on. This allows a PC or AT to send full page 300 dpi graphics at high speed to ANY Canon laser engine (Apple Laser Writer, HP LaserJet et al.) However, I'm looking for software to support it. Nothing actually seems available now. Rumors that a version of Fontrix and Printrix will work do not seem to be confirmed by local software dealers. Another rumor is that a company called Le Beau has a program that will take any DOS or WordStar text file and return a printed document in any of 32 fonts and any point size up to and including a single character per page at 300 dpi is encouraging, but I can't find the company. Sigh. The JLASER board concept is great, it entirely bypasses the intelligence (and limitations) of the various Canon engine laser printers allowing the PC (you) to create full page hi res pictures and text and then sending them directly to the engine at high speed. I don't know what the memory limitations of the Apple LaserWriter are, but the HP is capable of only 1/4 page of 300 dpi graphics (the laserJet+ can do 1/2 page) and it takes a while to print. The JLASER uses 1mb of the 2mb RAM board and includes a hi-speed parallel interface for the printer. The board and interface are co-resident with the original interface and do not interfere with normal use. A good start I hope. Now if I could only find software.. Bret Marquis (sdcsvax, ihnp4) bang!bam bam@NOSC.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jan 1986 12:38:18 PST Subject: Re: Talltree JLASER board From: Billy Brackenridge <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: <bang!root@NOSC.ARPA> I spoke with Ed Thompson of Tall Tree. He informs me that Jlaser is selling well and many have joined the band wagon. He claims Jlaser memory isn't limited to 1MB as your article implies I think the limit is 8MB as you can run it from several JRAM boards. Here is the list they gave me of software companies with announced products. Le Beau makes Le Print 800-532-2844 Data Transforms makes Fontrix and Printrix The dragons in the Tall Tree ads seeen in PC week were made with this. (303)832-1501 Softcraft has a version of their popular Fancifont (619)944-0151 Financial decisions makes large scale (mainframe) corporate accounting systems. They are using Jlaser to print state and local corporate tax forms. They really don't make PC products per se (Their software costs around 10K). They digitise the forms rather than generate them from software. (818)706-2000 Personal Tex has a tex implementation (415) 388-8853 Jlaser only works with the JRAM-3 and JRAM-3-AT boards. These boards conform to the Intel expanded memory spec as well as Tall Tree's own memory scheme. While not printing the memory can be used for any of the normal purposes. I understand that the switches and jumpers are a real rats nest and Tall Tree's documentation has never been up to the standards of AST or IBM, but their technical help line have always been extremely competent. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29-JAN-1986 17:44 EST From: <LEONARDRG%VTVAX5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB> Subject: Tektronix 4010 Emulation We've got a public domain Tektronix 4010 emulator here at Virginia Tech that was written in-house. It supports the full 4010 protocol including GIN mode. It features picture file capture, on-line help and keyboard maps, hardware break key, snoop mode, and many other things. It takes up 13KB disk space (that's 13KB) including the picture file manager. We have used it running all PLOT-10 software, SAS/Graph, etc. on our VM/CMS and VAX/VMS systems. A version that includes VT100 (ANSI) emulation and other features is available with documentation by mail for $39.95. If you are interested in either version of TekTERM, let me know. Greg Sherman ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29-JAN-1986 23:20 EST From: <LEONARDRG%VTVAX3.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: Re: Tektronix 4010 Emulation I'd like to release the source but the communication modules and 4010 parser are the basis for the commercial version (which includes VT100 emulation). Also, it's about 100KB of 8086/88 assembler. But because I know this type of program is highly useful in a university environment, I am making the 4010 package available for distribution with NO strings whatsoever.. no donations, etc. Our computing center here at VA Tech supports the program and provides documentation (which is also available on disk). Anyone who is interested can let me know and I'm happy to make arrangements. And in case anyone needs to know, the program requires a PC with 64KB, color/graphics monitor and adapter, an asynch card and modem, and at one disk drive. The AT is supported, but the PCJr is not. Most BIOS compatible machines (Compaq, Leading Edge) have been reported to do fine, as well as some compatible graphics cards (Paradise, Everex). I admit my motivation in giving away TekTERM 4010 is to sell the VT100 version, but in no way is TekTERM 4010 an incomplete or poorly featured program. Let me know if you want any more information. Greg Sherman ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 86 10:39 GMT From: ghicks @ KOREA-EMH Subject: Anchor modem problems To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib I am the proud owner (not so proud??) of an Anchor Communications Mark VI (it might be a 300B ) internal modem. I really don't know since it was given to me. Supposedly, the modem is capable of the following protocols: Bell 103 and 202, CCITT V21 and V23. One BASIC program was included. This program has the following problems: a. I can't filter characters (ie. nulls) nor can I program function keys. b. If I want to use a capture buffer, it must be initialized prior to making a connection. If the number I want to dial is busy (and here in Korea, the IMP/TAC numbers are usually quite busy during the daytime) I must re-initialize the buffer before each attempt to dial the number. c. The program uses timing loops in INTERPRETED basic to determine pulse or tone spacing/duration. This means that I had best not compile the program or the timing loops are messed up. I know the following things about the modem: a. Ports are at 03F8H - 03FFH (IRQ 4) for COM1: and 02F8H - 02FFH for COM2: (normal, I believe); b. Since the program is poorly documented, I think the registers are named as follows: TXB (Transmit buffer) - 03FBh MCR (Modem Control Register) - 03FCh, LSR (????? status register) - 03FDh, MSR (Modem Status Register) - 03FEh, TDR (Transmit Data Register??) - 03FFh c. I believe the MODEM chip is a WD8250PL-00 (a 40 pin DIP). It might be an 8519 (a 28 pin DIP). d. The COMx: port is opened as "COM2:BAUD,PARITY,BITS,STOP,CD" (a normal DOS port request.) Modem input/output is via this handle. My request: Does anyone know of a better program that will work with this modem?? Or does anyone know where I can get more documentation for the modem? Thanks in advance. Gregory Hicks GHICKS@KOREA-EMH (or JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH) PS. I can't seem to get the 202 mode working. Any ideas? Or is the problem that interpreted Basic isn't fast enough? ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 1986 10:21:27 PST Subject: Re: Anchor modem problems From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: ghicks@KOREA-EMH.ARPA cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Sounds to me like a standard PC internal modem, in terms of the registers, etc. I've got an Anchor Automation (is this the same?) Volksmodem 1200 which works fine with VDTE. I would imagine it would work also with most other terminal emulation or comm programs. You might try some of the free comm programs in the Info-IBMPC library. As to the 202 modem, do you have a host computer to talk to which does 202? Bell 202 is very rare these days (212 is the standard) and the only use I've seen of it recently is in amateur packet radio. Dick Gillmann ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 86 22:32:12 pst From: minshall%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU (Greg Minshall) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: DOS vs. direct screen writes Cc: gts%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU Hi. I'm a novice in the PC arena, but I am sorely tempted to complain about the so-called "write_string" sub-code of the INT 10H BIOS entry point (I don't even know how to call things, sigh). This routine generates at least one, if not two, INT 10H's per character being moved into the video ram. I haven't measured how fast this is really running on my AT, but I doubt it goes more than about 19K bits per second. If I just do a REPZ MOVSW, the update is essentially instantaneous. (So, I just measured the rates. INT 10H runs at about 59 Kilobits/second; REPZ MOVSW runs at about 5.12 Megabits/second.) Am I right? Given that I need instantaneous updates (not 19K bits), what do I do? Can I just copy some of the BIOS code (for locking out things - as in the scroll_up function, which seems to do things right), and run that, and assume that it will run everywhere? Thanks. Greg Minshall ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jan 1986 14:46:45 PST To: minshall%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU (Greg Minshall) Subject: DOS vs. direct screen writes From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Cc: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Yes, your analysis of the video display choices is valid. If you go thru DOS, it will be compatible with all MS-DOS computers, but relatively slow, especially if you're doing full screen updates. If you go direct to the regen buffers, it will be fast but compatible only with IBM PC clones. Don't forget to do the vertical retrace boogie with the color/graphics adaptor or you'll wind up in "snowy mode". Dick Gillmann ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 86 16:38:06 PST From: walton%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: 7 cents per Kb To: info-ibmpc%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu cc: caltech%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu From the February 1986 issue of PC Tech Journal: "The shocker of the show [COMDEX] was the announcement from TheSys of an add-in memory board holding 8 Mb of RAM. Actually, the board has 12 Mb on it; 4 Mb are used for ECC [error correction--NOT just detection]. Fully populated, this board costs $800. And it is EMS-compatible. Want more? It is CMOS. Not content? TheSys also introduced a 16MB solid-state hard disk--a box full of RAM with your choice of disk interface. Buy the unit, plug it into your hard- disk controller, and away you go with a hard disk that boasts an average access time of 10 microseconds (about 8,000 times faster than the XT hard disk). Again, it is CMOS and can be backed up with batteries." As a side note, it would cost us a minimum of $16,000 to upgrade our 5-year-old VAX 780 from 4 to 8 Mb of memory--40 times more per megabyte. Steve Walton Caltech Solar Astronomy walton%deimos@hamlet.caltech.edu swalton@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Jan 86 02:36:13 EST From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Procomm Inno Frencken asks about Procomm. I don't use it but I do have the latest version. Let me know if you want it for the INFO-IBMPC library. --Jim [Yes! Please send the source code. --Ed.] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1986 11:39:37 -0100 From: mcvax!steven@seismo.CSS.GOV (Steven Pemberton) To: info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.arpa Subject: B for the IBM PC and compatibles under MS-DOS. B FOR THE IBM PC AND COMPATIBLES UNDER MS-DOS. (This B is unrelated to the predecessor of C: B is a working title. The language will get its final name, ABC, when the language is frozen.) Summary There is now a first implementation of B available for the IBM PC and compatibles under MS-DOS, alongside the existing implementation for Unix. It is available for the cost of the media: $35 US, or Dfl. 100. Details of the implementation and an order form are at the end of this article. What is B? B is a new interactive programming language and environment that is as simple as Basic to learn, offers the structure of C and Pascal, but thanks to its high-level data-types is very powerful and convenient to use. DATA-TYPES It has 2 basic data-types: numbers and texts (=strings), and 3 composite data-types: compounds, lists and tables. o Numbers are unbounded, like all data-types in B, and are kept exact if possible (even with division); o Texts can be joined, repeated, trimmed; o Compounds are like records, or structures, but without field-names; o Lists are sorted sequences of values of any one type (numbers, texts, lists...); o Tables are generalised arrays: both indexes and elements may be of any type. COMMANDS The usual structured commands are available: IF, WHILE, etc. You can define your own commands and functions. Functions can return values of any type. ENVIRONMENT B is both a language and an environment. There is a structured editor that knows about B which you use the whole time that you are using B. It suggests possible command completions, so for instance, if you type a W, it suggests the command WRITE, which you can accept by typing a tab. It also supplies such things as closing brackets automatically. EXAMPLES The best way to appreciate the power and simplicity of B is to see some examples, and 2 are given below. For more details see "An Overview of the B programming Language" by Leo Geurts, in SIGPLAN December 1982, and "Description of B" by Lambert Meertens and Steven Pemberton, SIGPLAN February 1985.) Imagine you want to maintain a list of phone numbers. You start off with an empty list (>>> is the prompt from B): >>> PUT {} IN tel and add a few numbers >>> PUT 4138 IN tel["Frank"] >>> PUT 4071 IN tel["Leo"] >>> PUT 4141 IN tel["Lambert"] Now you can look up individual numbers: >>> WRITE tel["Leo"] 4071 or even write the whole table: >>> WRITE tel {["Frank"]: 4138; ["Lambert"]: 4141; ["Leo"]: 4071} (note they're sorted on the names). You can access the list of 'keys' (the indexes): >>> WRITE keys tel {"Frank"; "Lambert"; "Leo"} and so you can write the table neatly: >>> FOR name IN keys tel: WRITE name, ":", tel[name] / Frank: 4138 Lambert: 4141 Leo: 4071 It is easy to discover who has a particular number: >>> IF SOME name IN keys tel HAS tel[name]=4141: WRITE name Lambert But if you do this often it is easier to create the inverse table: >>> PUT {} IN let >>> FOR name IN keys tel: PUT name IN let[tel[name]] >>> WRITE let[4141] Lambert >>> WRITE let {[4071]: "Leo"; [4138]: "Frank"; [4141]: "Lambert} Example 2: a cross reference generator. (This example would need more than 100 lines of Pascal or C.) HOW'TO INDEX text: PUT {} IN xtab FOR line'no IN keys text: TREAT'LINE OUTPUT TREAT'LINE: PUT text[line'no] IN line WHILE line>"": TREAT'WORD TREAT'WORD: GET'WORD IF word>"": SAVE'WORD GET'WORD: PUT "" IN word WHILE line>"" AND NOT alpha: PUT line@2 IN line WHILE line>"" AND alpha: PUT word^line|1, line@2 IN word, line alpha: REPORT line|1 in {"a".."z"} OR line|1 in {"A".."Z"} SAVE'WORD: IF word not'in keys xtab: PUT {} IN xtab[word] INSERT line'no IN xtab[word] OUTPUT: FOR word IN keys xtab: WRITE word<<10 FOR line IN xtab[word]: WRITE line>>4, " " WRITE / THE IMPLEMENTATION o Requires at least 384K bytes to run, though there is a restricted version without the built-in editor that runs in 256K. o Runs under MS-DOS 2.0 or higher. o Configurable for different size screens, or to use the ANSI screen driver, for compatibles with incompatible BIOS. o Editing operations can be bound to the keys of your choice. o Comes on a single 5.25" or 3.5" diskette. Apricot format also available. o It is not copy protected. But: o It is not a production version: it is not fast, but it is fun! WHAT YOU GET Apart from the floppy, you get a book introducing B, how to use the system, and giving a complete description of the language, and a quick reference guide. HOW TO ORDER Fill in the details below, and send them with a cheque or money order for $35 US or Dfl. 100 (to cover cost of media, postage, etc.) payable to Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam to: B Group, PC Distribution Informatics/AA CWI POB 4079 1009 AB Amsterdam The Netherlands Name: Organisation: Address: Country: Telephone: Network address: Type of machine(s): Required media [ ] 5.25" double-sided, double density floppy [ ] 3.5" double-sided floppy Required version [ ] Full implementation (at least 384K bytes) [ ] Small version (256K bytes) Signature and date: ------------------------------ Date: Wed 29 Jan 86 09:01:41-CST From: Pete Galvin <CC.GALVIN@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> Subject: Dos 3.1 Environment size patch To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Here it is, snarfed from a recent issue of the Boston Computer Society's PC REPORT: Debug Command.Com: xxxx:0D11 0A change the 0A to 1E for a 544 byte environment or 3C for a 1K size. Then of course do a 'W' command to save the new version. --Pete ------------------------------ Date: Wednesday, 29 January 1986 11:32:56 EST From: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Clarification on GREP.C The version of GREP.C I submitted contains, as I indicated, calls on the Blaise Computing CTOOLS library. This includes the use of the <direct.h> file which is part of their library. Anyone who wants to expand the code to "run native" using some DOS gate may do so; the problem is that most DOS gate code is not portable across C compilers. Since I felt no loss in generality by using the Blaise package, and most of the necessary logic changes I made in this area are necessary, I felt this to be an improvement over the no-wildcards version that was there. The dsrfirst and dsrnext calls are translations of the DOS calls, and the struct used is based on the DOS documentation. Ideally, someone will now build on my contribution and produce a fully-native version, or produce a <direct.h> and dsrfirst/dsrnext package. I cannot, because I have already read the Blaise copyrighted code and any such effort could be construed as releasing proprietary information. joe ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jan 86 09:46:00 PST From: ALEX WOO <wu@ames-aero> Subject: LOTUS Specs To: info-ibmpc-request <info-ibmpc-request@isib> Dennis Korbel here at NASA Ames called LOTUS and checked on those LOTUS internal specs that I sent you. They are released to the public domain, but they are copyrighted so that you don't modify them. Basically if the documents are released without modification then LOTUS OK's it. Alex. [OK, this is now available in the file [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>LOTUS123.FILE-FORMAT -- ed.] ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jan 1986 11:55:24 PST Subject: Different versions of ARC From: Koji Okazaki <swg.Koji@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Hello. It has recently come to my attention that there may be some incompatibilities between some versions of the public domain archiver program called ARC. The specific versions in question are ARC430.COM, ARC450.COM, and ARC500.COM. As we are starting to get more program submissions in ARC format, it is important that we know what the differences are between the three aforementioned versions, and the degrees of compatibility between them. Some users have already said that they couldn't successfully de-archive the programs they ftp'ed from us, perhaps due to the possibility that they were archived in one version and de-archived in another. Help will be appreciated! ------------------------------ Date: Wed 29 Jan 86 15:48:35-PST From: Steve Dennett <DENNETT@SRI-NIC.ARPA> Subject: PC Ltd. AT Query To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA There have been several messages over the last few months requesting info on the PC's Limited AT clone. I'd like to know if anyone has at this point actually bought and used one, and what their experience with it has been. Thanks mucho! Steve Dennett dennett@sri-nic.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Jan 86 15:48:14 PST From: Matthew J Weinstein <matt@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> To: info-ibmpc-request@isib Subject: Battery backed up memory A company called ``SEMIDISK'' makes battery backed up memory. $595/512k. It's in some of the mags. - Matt ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Jan 86 19:09:55 PST From: mccluskey@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA Subject: Microsoft Compatible Driver Wanted for Logitech Mouse To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I'm using a couple of AT's equipped with Logitech mice that came with the $6000 Futurenet Schematic capture system, and I'd like to use these same mice with Microsoft software such as PC-Paintbrush, etc... Could someone post me the phone number of Logitech so I can call them up and beg them for a driver? Futurenet is no help at all, and I seriously doubt we will ever buy anything from them again. I've ordered a schematic drawing package from Omation, in Texas, and it looks like a very nice system for a reasonable (relative to Futurenet) $495. A review will follow when it arrives. P.S. I went to the L.A. computer swap meet and what they say is true! An 8 slot motherboard with a V-20, boot rom, and 640K capable (0K installed) for a mere $115 !!! Still, the supply of EGA compatible graphics boards is not yet comparable to the plethora of color and hercules boards displayed. John McCluskey @ JPL-VLSI.ARPA ( or is it JPLLSI ??? ) ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 1986 10:47:05-EST From: mlsmith@NADC To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Bad Reset Recently I have been unable to reset the IBM-PC/AT I have with a <ctrl> <alt> <del>. I have to power down to get it running again. The symptoms I get are "Invalid drive specification" when it seeks the autoexec file and ANSI.SYS on the hard disk. I also used to load the mouse driver, but have removed it from the config.sys file. I load from A: the following files: CONFIG.SYS: break = on device = c:\dos\ansi.sys buffers = 50 files = 15 AUTOEXEC.BAT: [The contents of this are saved in [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>AUTOEXEC.BIG -- by the way, this is by far the longest autoexec file I have ever seen, over 200 lines! --Ed.] Does anyone have a clue of what is going on? {DOS is 3.1} ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 08:34:48 est From: allegra!phri!greenber@seismo.CSS.GOV (Ross Greenberg) Subject: Disk Optimizers....not too good To: allegra!seismo!usc-isib.arpa!info-ibmpc In respose to a request regarding information regarding Disk Optimizers: I'm not too impressed. They perform exactly as advertised, but with the following (important) caveat: They all seem to throw the empty disk space in one large chunk at the end of the (physical) disk. Soft Logic's program also alphabetizes the directory, and throws all of a directory's clusters together. So, when I do a "COPY /c/myprog.c /c/myprog.old, the poor disk has a lot of work to do, going from the directory and FAT, to the the actual data area, to the empty space at the *other* end of the disk, and back. Lots of seek time. Reads are pretty quick, but writes actually become slower. Fix-by: create a huge file in your most commonly used directory, run the optimizer, then delete the huge file, leaving a gorgeous chunk of contigious space right where you need it. I think the disk optimizer companies should re-release their products when it puts all the empty space in the center of the disk. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 08:47:51 est From: allegra!phri!greenber@seismo.CSS.GOV (Ross Greenberg) Subject: File I/O from resident programs To: allegra!seismo!usc-isib.arpa!info-ibmpc Regarding opening up a file when you are terminate-and-stay-resident: WARNING PROFESSOR ROBINSON! WARNING! Be very careful when you attempt this. Many an FAT has been eaten for lunch when I first tried doing it. Two ways that work like a charm: 1) Take over interrupt 0x28. This interrupt gets called by DOS while its waiting for a key to be hit. Whenever it does get called (your program should not be time critical, btw, as this routine is never called from CPU intensive tasks), it is safe to do with DOS what you will. (Except for certain interruptions, such as Search First and Search Next, which either you'll screw-up for the foreground task, or they'll screw-up for you.) 2) Get the Critical Section Flag by issuing an int 21, with ah=0x34. This returns a pointer to a flag in ES:BX. When this flag is NULL, *and interrupts on on!*, it is safe to play DOS games. Unless you are the last program to take over the interrupt, don't trust the flag word: many "fine" programs like SideKick do not give you a true copy of the flag word on the stack, but rather give a simple "pushf" *after* interrupts are turned off. (Grumble...jeez!) Happy Hackin' ------------------------------ Date: Thu 30 Jan 86 09:35:52-PST From: Jackie <Burhans%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA> Subject: More MIX "C" notes To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: howald%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA Two more notes on the MIX C compiler: There is indeed a #define MACRO feature and a /*$LISTMACRO*/ compiler option to expand macros during compilation. The linker creates very small .COM files, but they must be used with a runtime support file called RUNTIME.OVY, which has to reside on the same disk or in the same directory as the .COM file. You can, however, patch the linker to look for the overlay file on another drive or directory, in which case all linked files will share the path direction to RUNTIME.OVY. You can also use the linker to "build" an executable file with the runtime support in it. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 10:07:57 PST From: prandt!reynolds@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Don Reynolds) To: amelia!EB%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU%XX.LCS.MIT@EDU.ARPA, reynolds@AMES-NAS.ARPA Subject: Re: LS.LBR Cc: amelia!info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.ARPA I will put a copy of it in our public directory on our ARPA node, ames-nas.arpa. It is a 4.2 bsd VAX which supports ftp login anonymous with any (non-null) password. I will put it in two subdirectories with Kermit, using image mode (kermit -is) for the executable in subdirectory /bin; and ascii mode for the documentation and source listings (for the folks at Info-IBMPC). Happy snarfing! Best, Don ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 14:10 EST From: Elefante@RADC-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: INT09 Side Effect To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Anybody know if the keyboard interrupt routine (INT09) leaves the byte value sent to the I/O port in tact after using it, i.e., can it be read again by subsequent code if another kb interrupt hasn't arrived to clobber it? ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 150166) 86-02-03 13.38 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <194> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-03 13.38 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <185> -- Received: 86-02-03 19.17 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-03 13.38 Marked by somebody. Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #17 %Original date: 1 Feb 1986 22:11:45 PST. TF: DSKD:801239.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 26410 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 2 Feb 86 11:39 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 02-Feb-1986 02:13:05-est Date: 1 Feb 1986 22:11:45 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #17 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 1 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 17 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: PC RT is slow Public Domain Emacs Wanted MAX editor Vertical Retrace Boogie (2 msgs) AT XENIX vs Ungerman Bass Adhesive for your heat sink Re: Anchor modem Experience with the Proprinter PROCOMM and PIBTERM Tall Tree Jlaser & Soft Craft Fancy Font Differences between old and new AT BIOS Re: PC-DOS 3.1 Environment Size ARC versions: compatible downward but not upward Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal Microsoft Assembler problem and solution Review of Prolog_V+ Query: Interleave factors WordPerfect and LaserJet Problem 8085 Cross-assembler Wanted Query: GCLISP & PC/XT Extended Memory Boards PCjr Expansion Query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 10:35:03 est From: Scott Guthery <sguthery%slb-doll.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: INFO-IBMPC@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: PC RT is slow I recently took the RT out for a spin and didn't feel any of the speed that is claimed for the machine. In fact it felt down right soggy. The 600K lines of code that Big Blue added to make Unix idiot proof take a MIP off the top. Furthermore, the mouse is handled in software BY EACH PROCESS so if you have some stuff in the backgound the mouse cursor hops and jumps rather than glides as you move the mouse. I.e. you see the Unix scheduler on the screen! AIX should join PC/IX in the penalty box. How can one get AIS? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 19:44:23 EST From: "Paul E. Hoffman" <PAULH@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU> To: info-ibmpc-request@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Public Domain Emacs Wanted I want to find out about two public domain EMACS' that are supposedly available (mini-EMACS and SCAMI). Is there a direct way of getting this information? Thanks, and if you want to communicate by analog (speaking), my tele is 415/644-0433. >>Paul Hoffman ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Feb 86 03:09:38 PST From: larry@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA Subject: MAX editor To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa About 8 months ago I got a binary copy of a freeware editor call MAX, a micro-Emacs. I find myself using it more and more, because it provides 95% of what I need outside of word processing. It's small (16K obj + 16K help file) and absolutely the fastest software I've ever seen on a PC. It has problems and limitations but the tradeoffs for me are on the plus side. For instance, when I go to GNU Emacs on a Sun or Gosling Emacs on VMS I don't have to go to Underthruster Drive. Now I want to bite the bullet, pay up for what I've got, and buy the source as well. Unfortunately...I don't know the phone or address of the author, Ivo Welch, residing in New York state someplace. Anyone out there know? Also, I'd appreciate any comments on the latest version. (Mine is 1.01 with a 1984 copyright notice.) Larry @ jpl-vlsi ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 18:42 CST From: SMiller@HI-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Vertical Retrace Boogie Query To: Gillmann@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I saw your message in the INFO-IBMPC digest that mentioned the CGA and the ``Vertical retrace boogie'' that was required to avoid the nasty snow on the monitor when accessing the hardware directly. Could you elaborate on how to dance with the CGA, the steps required (and maybe a code example?) etc. so I can get rid of the snow and get on with my application... Thanks. Scott Miller SMiller at HI-Multics ------------------------------ Date: 1 Feb 1986 11:34:44 PST Subject: Re: Vertical Retrace Boogie From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: SMiller@HI-MULTICS.ARPA cc: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA If you just write directly to the regen buffers for the color/graphics adaptor, you will get snow all over your display (snowy mode). The snow can be avoided by the following means: 1. Do this only for the CGA, not the monochrome. 2. Vertical retrace occurs when the scanning electron beam of the monitor reaches the bottom of the screen. It must then go back to the top and this takes a small amount of time. 3. Wait for vertical retrace to begin. 4. Turn off video display (blank the screen). 5. Now do your direct writes to the regen buffers. 6. Turn the video display back on. The exact code for this can be found in the Tech Ref Manual BIOS listing for the video display function INT 10H. The above procedure for avoiding snowy mode causes the screen to flicker somewhat, as it does for example when you do a long "DIR" listing on a CGA equipped PC -- but this is much preferable to snowy mode. Dick Gillmann ------------------------------ Date: Thu 30 Jan 86 12:41:02-PST From: William Pearson <PEARSON@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: AT XENIX vs Ungerman Bass To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I have recently started using XENIX on my IBM PC/AT. The two serial ports are connected to a Hayes Smartmodem and a Ungerman-Bass Net/One LAN port. The LAN port is configured for a terminal, since I often use the PC as a smart terminal, but this seems to preclude its use as a dial-in port under XENIX. When I enable the LAN port under XENIX XENIX sends the "login:" message which the LAN echos and back and forth forever, so the LAN port is always busy and cannot be dialed into. I would appreciate help from anyone who has solved this problem without changing the LAN port to the host mode, where it cannot be used to dial out. Bill Pearson ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 17:10 PST From: Dave Platt <Dave-Platt%LADC@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA> To: INFO-IBMPC <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: Adhesive for your heat sink I wouldn't trust the heatsink grease. Instead, I'd suggest laying a narrow bead of silicon adhesive ("RTV") OVER the mounting feet of the heatsink... don't put it between the heatsink and the chip (or whatever), but instead lay a bead of it around the edges of the heatsink. There are some very nice high-temperature silicon adhesives; they are goopy when applied, become firm but flexible when they cure (1-12 hours), and can generally be peeled away cleanly, leaving no residue. I've used off-the-shelf clear RTV adhesive for mounting electronic components for years (any decent hardware or auto-supply store will have a tube for less than five bucks); if you're concerned about the heat, then you could try the silicon-based "form-a-gasket" available at auto-supply shops... it'll handle temperatures above the boiling point of water, and is made to peel away cleanly for replacement. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 17:15 PST From: Dave Platt <Dave-Platt%LADC@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: Re: Anchor modem 202 mode? Bleah. That's a half-duplex protocol, I believe... it's completely incompatible with the Bell 212 protocol that most PCs and networks support. I believe that the same may be true for one of the V protocols that you mentioned... it looks to me as if your modem is not capable of running full-duplex at any speed greater than 300 baud (Bell 103). Given the way that the prices for 212-compatible modem cards has come down over the past couple of years, I'd strongly suggest that you consider retiring your current card and buying one that has the following characteristics: (1) It speaks both 103 [300 baud] and 212 [1200 bps] protocols; (2) it has good noise filtration [adaptive equalization is VERY nice, if you can find it], and (3) it uses the command set popularized by Hayes, and supported by LOTS of people. You can almost certainly find a card of this variety for under $350 these days (and likely lots less), and it will give you much greater satisfaction than the one you're using now. Also... you might want to consider shelling out the additional couple of hundred $$ for a modem that has 300, 1200 and 2400 full-duplex support. You'll have the option of operating at 2400 baud (and thus cutting file-transfer time, phone bills, and sometimes your CompuServe bill also). In addition, 2400-baud modems always have adaptive equalization (I *think* all of them do), which works much better than fixed equalization... so, a 2400-baud modem operating at 1200 baud (in Bell 212 mode) will generally work better than a 1200-baud-only modem operating in the same mode... since most 1200-baud modems have fixed equalization. ------------------------------ Date: 30 Jan 1986 18:42:59 PST Subject: Experience with the Proprinter From: Bill Mann <MANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I've seen the Byte magazine review of the Proprinter by Rich Malloy. I agree with most of his reactions, which are rather lukewarm, but after using my Proprinter for a while I give it much worse grades than Rich does. The machine is simply underdesigned. For one thing the whole paper-drive mechanism is aligned by two little plastic clips gripping a shiny metal rod. With all the noise and vibration, they drift, and the printer goes into paper-crunching mode. It seems to happen about every 10 pages. It's silly to walk out of the room with the thing printing, because before you get back it will be stuffing little shreds into its guts. Another piece of underdesign is the lack of ribbon guides. Quite frequently the paper drags the ribbon up on top of the print head, making it necessary to handle the ribbon and mess the current page before reprinting. Inserting a page of letterhead or an envelope will generally throw the ribbon up as well. (The lack of ribbon guides also allows the ribbon to rest on the paper when not printing. And it always leaves a spot overnight.) It's also annoying that even though the machine has been out for many months, new software that I buy can't handle it. (Malloy's article seems to suggest that using Epson MX-80 settings will work, but it hasn't worked for me with Sideways or Lotus123. Local PC experts suggest ordering upgrades for everything.) As an Epson look-alike, it's hard to justify. Malloy says "If you will not be using the (front) slot much, I suggest you look around at other dot-matrix printers." I suggest you look around even if you really wanted to use the slot a lot. Bill Mann ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 18:10 EST From: "George Barbanis, Heldenprogrammer" <BARBANIS%umass-cs.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: PROCOMM and PIBTERM The PROCOMM package can be found on many PC bulletin boards (I got it from the local BBS - (413)549-1501 - for free). From the same BBS I got another communications package called PIBTERM which had a MUCH better VT100 emulation mode (PROCOMM's VT100 emulation, for instance, couldn't get EMACS right, whereas PIBTERM worked fine). Hope that helps, George Barbanis UMass - Amherst ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 09:59:14 CST From: fenchel@rsch.wisc.edu (Bob Fenchel) To: brackenridge@isib Subject: Tall Tree Jlaser & Soft Craft Fancy Font ReSent-To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA The Jlaser is pretty good with Canon engines. We have adapted both Fancy Font and Fancy Word to use the Jlaser and Jram and can print a full page with multiple fonts etc. is just under 1 minute using an IBM AT and JRAM-AT. (it can take MUCH longer to use the graphics mode on the HP w/o jlaser). Please note that our phone number is 800 351-0400 (608 257-3300). Bob [Fancy Font is a troff like program which allows any normal word processor or editor to print documents using fonts. Fancy Word adds their font library as an extention to Microsoft Word. I guess that with the addition of the Fancy Word, Microsoft Word can support the Jlaser interface. -WAB] ------------------------------ Date: 31 Jan 86 09:15:21 PST (Friday) Subject: Differences between old and new AT BIOS From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.Arpa Has anyone done a comparison of the old and new AT BIOS to see if there are any other changes besides the infamous speed check and support for additional drive type via the CMOS configuration memory? Some possibilities: Burn your own BIOS chips to bypass the speed check, if you have a new AT. Burn your own BIOS chips, to add non-standard drive types, if you have an old AT. Phil Burton Xerox Corp. ------------------------------ From: connery%bnrmtv.UUCP@BRL Subject: Re: PC-DOS 3.1 Environment size Date: Mon, 27-Jan-86 09:45:13 PST Actually the line in CONFIG.SYS should look something like: SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /P /E:20 where the options are respectively: 1) Where to load the initial copy of COMMAND.COM 2) Where to get subsequent copies 3) Make these changes permanent 4) Environment size, in number of paragraphs. The default is 10 but anything between 10 and 62 will work. values outside that are ignored. Also, there's apparently (I got this info off compuserve) another switch /D which causes AUTOEXEC.BAT not to be executed, if you care. Glenn ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.csnet-relay@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA From: kwan%mhuxa.btl.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA Date: Fri, 31 Jan EST 1986 13:13 Subject: Bar code readers Does anyone have experience with bar code readers (hard- and soft-ware) on IBM PC? We have a few TimeWand's from Videx for reading bar codes. However, they are not for *interactive* processing, i.e., bar codes are read offline first into a wand, then the data are fed into the PC later. Pointers to where to find bar code readers will be useful. Choi Kwan ATT Bell Labs (201) 582-5727 "mhuxa!kwan"@btl.csnet ihnp4!mhuxa!kwan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 19:22:58 EST From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: ARC versions: compatible downward but not upward Koji Okazaki points out that there are incompatibility problems with ARC files. The best source for information is the documentation that System Enhancement Associates provides with the program. In general, however, they have been guaranteeing upward compatibility but have not been able to maintain downward compatibility. In their own words, ARC 5.0 can still read archives created by earlier versions of ARC, but once again it creates archives which older versions cannot read. Since every version brings considerable enhancements, developers are understandably anxious to use the newest versions immediately. This creates problems for those who do not have the latest version. To reduce the confusion, we should do two things: 1) Developers should specify the version of ARC that they have used. 2) Everyone should avail him/her/selves of the latest version as soon as possible. The first step is straightforward as long as there is some medium external to the ARC file for expressing requirements. Unfortunately, many bulletin boards allow for only 40 character descriptions, and there is not enough room for a description of requirements. Since ARC is rapidly becoming a standard, we might consider a convention of ending program descriptions with strings such as "ARC5.0". In any case, developers must find some means of letting people know how to unpackage their products. The second step--getting the latest version--is a little more complicated. Still, if people know what version of ARC they need, they will at least know that they cannot unwrap the package until the proper version appears. Developers might consider delaying the use of a version until it has had some time to circulate. Hope this helps. Let me know if you need ARC 5.0. The documentation contains a detailed version history, so I will not repeat it here. --Jim ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 17:50:50 PST From: David_T._Price%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal I have been working on a Turbo Pascal routine to call the DOS function 4B (Load and Execute Program) from within a Turbo program. After a fair amount of fiddling around, and cursing Microsoft documentation, I've almost got it working. The only problem occurs when I attempt to load the DOS COMMAND processor from my invoking program. Assuming it is on the boot drive (A:), and the default drive is the boot drive, then I get a mysterious error message: Specified COMMAND search directory bad but COMMAND is loaded correctly and works. If I attempt to load it from a logged drive other than the boot drive, then I get the same error message, but (not very surprisingly) COMMAND is not loaded. This error message is not mentioned in my copy of the DOS 2.11 user's manual, and it's not in the Programmer's Reference Manual either as far as I know. Could anyone explain what the error message means (maybe someone in the vicinity of Bellvue WA?) and what I should do about it, if anything. Thanks, Dave. ------------------------------ From: frank%sagan.UUCP@BRL Subject: Microsoft Assembler problem and solution Date: Tue, 28-Jan-86 17:17:07 PST phil@kcl-cs.UUCP writes: >I think that the following should assemble without problems: >PUBLIC foo >foo PROC NEAR > mov [si],OFFSET bar >foo ENDP > >bar PROC NEAR >bar ENDP >All of this being in the code segment of course. The error message from MASM >is: > error 35: Operand must have size >This happens with both V3.0 and V4.0 of MASM. Is this a bug and how do I get >around it? The assembler first converts the "OFFSET bar" into a (relative) constant, thus forgetting its type (size). This confuses the opcode generator, which doesn't know if SI is pointing to a byte- or word-sized data. Thus MASM complains. The only work-around I found was: mov [si],Word Ptr (OFFSET bar) which looks funny, but assembles correctly. The parentheses are necessary, as: mov [si],Word Ptr OFFSET bar again confuses the assembler. The fact that the compiler outputs this code is probably a case of premature optimization (the coder missed one of the cases). I usually see compilers output something like: mov ax,OFFSET bar mov [si],ax which is one more byte but one less clock (on an 8088). ...Frank Whaley, MicroPro Product Development UUCP: {decvax!decwrl | ucbvax}!dual! {hplabs | glacier}!well! seismo!lll-crg! ihnp4!ptsfa! pyramid!micropro!sagan!frank ARPA: micropro!sagan!frank@lll-crg.ARPA "I'm told there are better programs [than WordStar], but I'm also told there are better alphabets." --William F. Buckley Jr. ------------------------------ From: dcgoricanec%watnot.UUCP@BRL Subject: Review of Prolog_V+ Date: Tue, 28-Jan-86 14:18:39 PST I have used prolog_v+ (plvp) for 4 months in a professional evaluation sense for a major Canadian employer. For 99.95 US Chalcedony Software will mail a box containing : one (1) handsome red-clad professional-looking manual; one (1) 360-kb diskette containing an AMAZING prolog interpreter one (1) licensing agreement; Plvp supplies IBM PC (and clone) dependent graphics predicates such as : setdot, getdot, drwln and scrnrl (for rolling screen window), exciting predicates for any prolog, as well as comprehensive dos calls from within plvp, as well as ability to load c, pascal, dbase3, etc. stuff below plvp as a coresident routine, as well as 8087 support (as coresident routine), as well as 64-bit floating point reals, as well as editor support for user's choice, as well as 90% Clocksin + Mellish compatibility, with full comp. availiable by simply adding some predicates to the plvp library (prolog.lib) file, as well as ample demo routines on disk, as well as the best and most descriptive prolog manual i have ever seen, allowing anybody over 16 years old to learn prolog in a single day. bug report : all of the 100+ predicates that I have tested work . PLVP is an interpreter,a compiler would be nice. There are 2 bugs : 1. Division by a real number in interval [0.0,.999999) will not work. (Divide by zero error ?) My patch involved inserting the following predicate for multiplicative inverse in prolog.lib : inv(X,Y) :- A = 1000000, Y is A / (X * A). ( if I remember correctly. ) 2. Operators are handled inconsistently sometimes, but there are obvious solutions avoiding problems. ie. *,/ are treated differently than +,- " user-defined. typically, op(50,yfx,^)? These are inconsequential difficulties since I have a plvp+ symdiff program similar to C + M but with the full CRC table of differentiation formulae which runs v-e-r-y smoothly . In summary, PLVP is a usefully feature-packed ,C + M standard, well-documented language with only two bugs which you can patch easily. There is no telephone support, but you can always mail me. :-) The major advantage of plvp is the price : 99.95 US . Don't buy the stripped down plv for 69.95 because $ 30 is cheap for all the bells and whistles provided in plvp. PLVP works on clones very well also. :-) BUY IT ! It remains to be seen if MPROLOG Compiler for PC (mega-expensive) conquers the business market, but plvp may be destined for a significant educational role due to its cheap price and superior primary and tertiary documentation. The author is in no way affiliated with Chalcedony Software nor MPROLOG, and will only accept positive liability for this review . ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 86 21:58:16 est From: Chris Schmandt <geek@MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU> To: INFO-IBMPC@ISIB.ARPA Subject: Query: Interleave factors I have read with interest many references to interleave factors lately. Now it is my turn to deal with it, and I am confused. I am replacing a fried 10Mb disk from an XT with a 20 Mb disk. I suspect I want to use a different interleave factor, but have no idea where one even specifies an interleave factor to Dos (I am using 2.0). Or is it something that gets stuck in the new Rom for the disk controller? Thanks a lot if anyone can clarify this for me. chris ------------------------------ Date: Thu 30 Jan 86 20:08:49-PST From: HOWALD%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA Subject: WordPerfect and LaserJet Problem To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA We are experiencing difficulties trying to get WordPerfect (4.1) and the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printer to print in boldface. The printer prints boldface correctly when we use the cartridge fonts, but not when we use the internal "courier" font (under- lining is o.k.). The setup string *IS+ correct according to the printer manual. It looks like a bug in the software. Has anyone else had this difficulty and can provide a solution? Thanks in advance! James Howald howald@usc-ecld ------------------------------ Date: 31 January 86 09:13-PST From: DEP%SLACVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: 8085 Cross-assembler Wanted We're looking for an 8085 assembler that runs on an IBM PC. Has anyone heard of such a thing? Don Pelton, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford, Calif. Bitnet: DEP@SLACVM Arpa: DEP%SLACVM.BITNET@wiscvm.ARPA Usenet: ihnp4!ptsfa!well!dep 415-856-8032 (home) 415-854-3300 ext. 2901 (work) ------------------------------ Date: Fri 31 Jan 86 13:17:25-PST From: Ted Markowitz <G.TJM@SU-SCORE.ARPA> Subject: Query: GCLISP & PC/XT Extended Memory Boards To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Excuse me if this has has been asked before, but has anyone been able to get GCLISP (Golden Common) to use extended memory on an XT? I seem to remember a message about it. Any pointers would be appreciated. --ted ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jan 86 13:48:57 EST From: Michael Camilletti (CSD) <cptcam@AMSAA.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: PCjr Expansion Query I have the same questions as jim@maryland.arpa. 1. Identify the pin-out of the 16 pin connector on the serial connector. 2. Any recommended add-on drive kits? I've only found J&M Systems@ $295. 3. 128k RAM expansion hidden costs? What do I need besides the board? What do I need to know to install it? Microsoft offers a board at $145. Is it any good? Many thanks! CPTCAM@AMSAA.ARPA ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 151583) 86-02-10 14.31 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <195> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-10 14.31 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <186> -- Received: 86-02-10 19.32 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-10 14.31 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #18 %Original date: 6 Feb 1986 22:42:03 PST. TF: DSKD:822214.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 17085 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 10 Feb 86 11:40 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 07-Feb-1986 08:47:03-est Date: 6 Feb 1986 22:42:03 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #18 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 6 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 18 This Week's Editor: Richard Nelson Today's Topics: Brief Test of Victor SpeedPac 286 Fast Xtals in AT / Sidekick Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal (2 msgs) PCjr to VAX 11/780 Query PCjr Serial Connector Wordperfect 4.1 and HP Laserjet (2 msgs) Sluggish Hard Disc Burroughs Terminal Emulator Renaming Subdirectories Directories as Data Files Query Plotting Overhead Transparencies Query Faster Xtals in Compaq 286 Query Hard Disk Optimizer Query "Screen Machine" Recommendations Request Word Processor for Russian Query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 2-Feb-86 16:12:32 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Brief Test of Victor SpeedPac 286 To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA, ud-ibmpc@louie.udel.EDU CC: farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU I recently purchased for testing a Victor SpeedPac 286. The ordering people were very pleasant, the unit came RIGHT away and all seems very good. The unit is short board with a umbilical cord that plugs into the 8088 socket. It has a 8k cache and a 7.5 80286 and can hold a 80287 (5 or 8). The construction was very good with even a big heat sink. I tested it using the ARC 5 File achieve program with a 80k compressed file in ramdisk. I ran the "test" option which has to de squeeze the text to check for validity. (it uses Lempel-Zev coding scheme. Run times are as follows: AT (9mh with 150 nano memory) 30 sec PC with SpeedPac 39 Zenith 148 (4.77 mh)= PC 118 (note this is the same as the PC without SpeedPac) Zenith 148 (8mh) 72 Seems that speedpac is a reasonable way to speed up an old PC at a reasonable price ($595). Dave ------------------------------ From: davidsen@ge-crd.ARPA Subject: Fast Xtals in AT / Sidekick Date: Sat, 1-Feb-86 12:39:48 PST I would encourage anyone who has a problem with the floppy drives and a fast clock to look at all the sources of the problem carefully before slowing down. I had some of these problems (9 MHz) and tried some patches and stuff without much luck. I finally found that Sidekick was the cause (or at least part of the problem), since taking it out turned hard failures into perfect operation. Since Sidekick also craps up the operation of DOS functions 6 and 7 (direct read), I'm not too unhappy taking it out. To prove that it does this, write a program with DEBUG doing: a100 mov ah,7 int 21 g=100,104 With Sidekick out, the values of ALL keys are passed back to the program. With Sidekick, ^P toggles the printer, ^S stops output, ^Q starts output, and ^C kills the program. Nobody ever used those keys in an editor, huh? Borland gets by this in their editor by bypassing the DOS completely and going to the hardware. This is acceptable in a program for the PC, but making DOS fail is not! -bill davidsen ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 09:04:52 est From: allegra!phri!greenber@seismo.CSS.GOV (Ross Greenberg) Subject: Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal Regarding calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal: I've gotten the same error message from Lattice. I discovered what caused the problem in Lattice, chances are the same thing caused it in Turbo. SWITCHAR=- When Lattice calls command.com, it appends a '/c' to the string. If you have SWITCHAR=- (or any other character), then you're trying to execute a program called "COMMAND/", which is a tough one to create or parse! :-) The dumb code doesn't checkint 0x21, ah = 0x37 to determine or set the switch character. Specs: al = 0, return current SWITCHAR in dl, al = 1, set SWITCHAR as specified in dl al = 2, return device available byte in dl al = 3, set device available byte as specified in dl if al = 2 and dl = 0, then I/O to devices should be done through" /dev/device (/dev/con, /dev/prn, etc.) DOS 2.x allows you to specify SWITCHAR=- in CONFIG.SYS, DOS 3.x doesn't. For DOS 3.x, a little program utilizing the above calls can set it the way you desire. ------------------------------ To: hplabs!INFO-IBMPC%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 10:53:52 PST From: Arvind Kumar <hpcea!kumar@hplabs.ARPA> Subject: Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal >Subject: Calling EXEC from Turbo Pascal > >The only problem occurs when I attempt to load the DOS >COMMAND processor from my invoking program. Assuming it is >on the boot drive (A:), and the default drive is the boot >drive, then I get a mysterious error message: > > Specified COMMAND search directory bad > My semi-intelligent guess is that somehow the PATH variable in the environment is getting clobbered. Memory allocation in DOS and on the 8086 being what it is, this is not impossible to do. The latest issue of Programmer's Journal has an entire article devoted to this (written by yours truly). With the set of procedures described in the article, I did not run into the problem you are having, so you might want to take a look at it. Arvind Kumar kumar@hplabs@csnet ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 11:01:14 EST From: Michael Camilletti (CSD) <cptcam@AMSAA.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA cc: cptcam@AMSAA.ARPA Subject: PCjr to VAX 11/780 Query My organization is planning to provide me with a Racal Vadic model #VA3451 to use with my IBM PCjr for access to the mainframe. There is a lack of good information about how to accomplish this. Our particular need is to determine the additional hardware, firmware and/or software requirements this will entail. The system manager does not have the details on the IBM side of the connection to assist in the set-up. We think we can fabricate the DB25 connector to the PCjr's serial connector if we can identify the pin out configuration. We are unsure of any other hardware restrictions there might be. Also, is there a particular firmware or software application needed to communicate once the hardware is hooked up. We have access to PC Talk. Finally, when all this hook-up is accomplished what communications limits will we face. Can we expect to download information to a floppy on the micro? Can we send files from the micro to the mainframe? Maybe what we need is a good reference manual. As you can guess, we are initiates to the micro-mainframe operation. Any help is appreciated. Thanks. CPTCAM@AMSAA.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 23:16 pst From: "tomaschke greg%b.mfenet"@LLL-MFE.ARPA Subject: PCjr Serial Connector To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa In regards to the questions about the pin-out of the 16-pin serial connector on the PCjr-- The following material is taken from pages 2-129 and 2-134, ("Serial Port"), and 3-89 thru 3-90 ("Serial Devices Cable") of the IBM Technical Reference Manual for the PCjr. As you are looking at the back of the Jr, the 16-pin connecter is labeled as follows A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 (I think this is right. There is some ambiguity in the diagram on p3-89) The pin specification is A1 not used A2 Data Terminal Ready A3 Request to Send A4 Transmit Data A5 Carrier Detect A6 Data Set Ready A7 Clear to Send A8 Receive Data B1 Shield Ground B2 Signal Ground B3-B8 Signal Ground (not used) According to the diagram on p3-90, the correct connection to a 25-pin connector is A2 - 20 A3 - 4 A4 - 2 A5 - 8 A6 - 6 A7 - 5 A8 - 3 B1 - 1 B2 - 7 Hope this helps. Greg. Tomaschke%ccc@lll-mfe.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 09:56:12 PST From: Brian_McCashin%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Using Laserjet with Wordperfect My understanding is that the Internal Courier font has no Bold or Italic characters. You need the courier font cartridge to get bold face. Underlining doesn't need a stress change. Brian McCashin%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA [This is correct. All you get with a vanilla LaserJet is plain Courier in portrait and landscape modes. Additional character sets require font cartridges. -ed] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Feb 1986 12:46 MTN From: Kelly McDonald <KCM%BYUADMIN.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Wordperfect 4.1 and HP Laserjet To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> cc: <HOWALD%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA> Following is a message I received from someone on our campus that seems to have had the same problem. ====================================================================== Received: by BYUADMIN (Mailer X1.23) id 2815; Fri, 24 Jan 86 13:26:17 MTN Date: Fri, 24-JAN-1986 13:24 MST Sender: (CTSHHH@BYUVAX) via List Processor <LISTSERV@BYUADMIN> Reply-to: Distribution List <PCSHARE@BYUADMIN> From: <CTSHHH@BYUVAX> Subject: Bold LaserJet Courier with WordPerfect To: KELLY MCDONALD <KCM@BYUADMIN> (Distribution: PCSHARE) Hi! I am out here; I just forgot to read my mail lately. There are two ways you can get bold Courier on the Laser Jet. 1) Get the cartridge which has the italic and bold Courier fonts, or 2) get WordPerfect to do it for you with "shadow printing." To make WordPerfect do shadow printing, run the PRINTER program (on the Learning disk) and select option 3 (printer definitions). Edit the definition for HP Laserjet A (Courier 10). Pick option 5 (superscript/subscript/underline/bold), then delete any codes under line 9 and line A (bold on, bold off). When WordPerfect sees that there is no printer code to do bolding, it will shadow print. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 11:30:54 PST From: Jim Carter <jimc@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> To: wilkins@fas.ri.cmu.edu.ARPA CC: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Sluggish Hard Disc In a recent PC digest, wilkins@fas.ri.cmu.edu.ARPA writes: > ...Why might my hard disc have gotten so slow? Maybe it's getting fragmented. It's quick to access sectors in their natural order, but if they are spread all over the disc it's much slower. DOS allo- cates the first vacant sector, then when that fills it gives the then-first vacant sector, ad nauseum. So if your disc had a lot of little files, and you deleted them, and then wrote a .EXE file, it would end up strung all over creation and would load slowly. Other scenarios also produce fragmentation. Several programs are on the market for making hard disc files contiguous. I have used "Disk Optimizer" by SoftLogic Solutions, 530 Chestnut St, Manchester, NH 03101. James F. Carter (213) 206-1306 UCLA-SEASnet; 2567 Boelter Hall; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA 90024 UUCP:...!{ihnp4,ucbvax,{hao!cepu}}!ucla-cs!jimc ARPA:jimc@locus.UCLA.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 16:41 EST From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Burroughs Terminal Emulator To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Well, this may be too late, but: I saw a Burroughs emulator at a Sperry site. It was running on their AT clone. Try: Southern Computer Systems Attn. David McKay 2732 7th Ave. South Birmingham, AL. 35233 (205)251-2985 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 86 22:55 CST From: Wilkinson@HI-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Renaming Subdirectories To: MATHES%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU cc: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA The easiest way that I have found under PC-DOS 3.0 on my XT is with the NAME command in BASICA direct mode: NAME "\dirpath\subdir" AS "\dirpath\newdir" You can also MOVE a file from one dir to another as in: NAME "\dirpath\file" AS "\newdir\file" OR rename a file as in: NAME "\dirpath\file" AS "\dirpath\newname" An combinations thereof. Richard {Wilkinson@HI-MULTICS} ------------------------------ Date: 01 Feb 86 15:16 CDT From: David_R_Linn%VANDERBILT.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: "Info-IBMPC Digest" <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: Directories as Data Files Query I need some help reading MSDOS 2+ directories as data files. I'm working in Microsoft C Version 3 but will use 8086 assembler if I must. David R Linn@Vanderbilt.MAILNET LINNDR@VUEngVAX.BITNET David Linn P.O. 3241-B Vanderbilt Nashville, TN 37235 ------------------------------ Date: 3 Feb 1986 (Monday) 1707-EDT From: LINDA BOHNSACK <BOHNSA@wharton-10.ARPA> Subject: Plotting Overhead Transparencies Query To: info-ibmpc%isib@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA I am interested in a software package (cheap to about $300) which is capable of producing overhead transparencies on a plotter. I have an IBM XT and I am willing to purchase a plotter (two pens). Does anyone have any suggestions? Sincerely, Linda Bohnsack ------------------------------ Date: Mon 3 Feb 86 16:37:49-PST From: Bob Knight <KNIGHT@SRI-NIC.ARPA> Subject: Faster Xtals in Compaq 286 Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA With all the discussion about faster crystals in ATs, I have yet to see such discussion regarding Compaq Portable 286s. Has anybody tried it? Is it feasible...so on and so forth. For various reasons, primarily convenience (we do a fair amount of field work, and a portable is MUCH easier to move than a conventional machine), we're probably going to buy a Portable 286. Any comments pro or con from people on this group? Thanks, Bob ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 04 Feb 86 06:43:49 cet To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: 10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Hard Disk Optimizer Query I am looking for a Public Domain Hard Disk Optimizer program. My first choice would be for some source code that is fully debugged. However, if someone out there is working on this sort of thing currently, I would be willing to help with development in exchange for its use. For those of you who don't know, a Hard Disk Optimizer is designed to rearrange the files of your HD so that all the clusters assigned to each are contiguous, and files within a directory follow each other physically on the disk. It cuts down on the time to read a single file, as well as the seek time when reading different files in the same directory. Please reply by direct E-mail, as I am not receiving info-ibmpc at this time. Thanks in advance, Eric Schneider 10409813@wsuvm1.BITNET or eric@wsu.CSNET ------------------------------ Date: Tue 4 Feb 86 13:39:47-PST From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@SU-SUSHI.ARPA> Subject: "Screen Machine" Recommendations Request To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA A "screen machine", as far as I can tell, is a program that allows you to prototype a (usually frame-based) program quickly. Some of them produce a file which can be re-"executed", which in this case means that you can proceed automatically through the sequence of frames (screens) that you have designed. Some of these programs actually produce working code; I've seen one that produces Turbo Pascal code from your specifications. I'm looking for a screen machine which supports the EGA card, i.e. that operates in high-resolution mode. I'm not very particular about whether or not it produces code -- I just want something that will allow me to prototype and link together a sequence of screens. Any recommendations? Thanks, Marvin ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1986 12:55:14 EDT From: FAC0395%UOFT01.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Joe Feustle) Subject: Word Processor for Russian Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Can anyone recommend a word processor for the PC that will handle Russian? Thanks. ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 151667) 86-02-10 17.11 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <196> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-10 17.11 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <187> -- Received: 86-02-10 19.32 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-10 17.11 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #19 %Original date: 7 Feb 1986 23:48:00 PST. TF: DSKD:822237.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 25110 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 10 Feb 86 11:53 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 08-Feb-1986 03:38:38-est Date: 7 Feb 1986 23:48:00 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #19 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 8 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 19 This Week's Editor: Richard Nelson Today's Topics: ARC - Freeware File Compression AT 1.2Mb Drive Failure Not Maxell Media UNIX|STAT Ordering Information More About the PC RT (Than You Ever Wanted to Know...) Beware of 'MVDIR.BAT' (& all self-documenting code) Microsoft Quick-Basic 1.00 Known Bugs Undocumented Microsoft LINK Option: /E Microsoft Assembler Alsys Ada on AT Windows with Mouse; Norton Editor The CHMOD Woes XTREE Review Plotting Overhead Transparencies Hard Disk Optimizer AT to VAX Serial Problem XENIX outb() Function Not Found Parallel Transfer Rate of AT Query Columbia BIOS ROM Query Film Digitizing Query DBASE III+ Query Digitizing Tablets Query Apple Laserwriter with MS-DOS Query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 7 Feb 1986 17:33:53 PST Subject: ARC - Freeware File Compression From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA We will shortly be getting a new version of Hack for our lending library. For those that may have forgotten Hack is sort of a super Rogue (a screen oriented adventure game). I understand from Tim Iverson (iverson%cory@BERKELEY) the source code is some 280K. Koji will let the world know when we have transferred the files. The only reason I mention this before the fact is that we are getting the file in ARC format. I have seen several messages in the digest discussing differences between ARC 5.0 format and ARC 4.0 format. I didn't know what these messages were referring to until now. ARC is a freeware program from System Enhancement Associates which compresses files of any kind (by one of four compression techniques) and stores the compressed files in one large archive file. It is just the ticket for something like Hack which involves dozens of files and hundreds of thousands of characters. If anyone is interested in this program, I have placed the file ARC500.DOC in our info-ibmpc lending library. INFO-IBMPC still maintains its policy of not distributing freeware, and all program submissions must be in clear text source code. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Feb 86 8:50:37 EST From: "Lawrence D. Sher" <sher@BBNJ.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: AT 1.2Mb Drive Failure Not Maxell Media In Vol. 4 Issue 105 of this Digest (14-Sep-85), I reported that 2 of 10 Maxell floppies (high capacity type MD2-HD for the PC AT) had failed. After two more failed, I tried the Dysan equivalent, whereupon one of those failed. I called Maxell and explained what had happened on the chance that they would see some self-interest in understanding the problem. They were extra-ordinarily helpful, and I must say that were every company half as helpful, we would have a much more serene Digest to read. Witness: They offered to send two of my failed diskettes to their lab for detailed examination. I sent the diskettes and (after a month) they replied with a telephoned, then a written(!!!), report including micrographs and oscilloscope tracings. The report shows that the head of my seldom-used IBM high-density diskette drive is canted so as to scratch track 0 into track heaven. The two failed samples (one Maxell, one Dysan) show identical scratches on the 200x photographs. There are several lessons for us all: 1. A new diskette drive can have an insidious diskette-killing disease. 2. Media failures should not automatically be blamed on a "bad batch". 3. Maxell has shown itself to be a paragon of an end-user-oriented company. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Feb 86 10:01:36 est From: "Bennett E. Todd III" <ecsvax!bet%mcnc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: UNIX|STAT Ordering Information Turns out the announcement of the availability of UNIX|STAT for MS-DOS went out early in November of 1985, and I cannot find machine-readable for it anywhere, so I will just retype the crucial information: Requirements to run UNIX|STAT: MS-DOS at least 96K RAM floppy drives Of course, more memory and a hard disk make things (substantially) nicer to use, but isn't that always the case? Send a check or money order for $15 in US funds (no personal notes or invoices) made out to Gary Perlman. Include the return mailing address in *exactly* the following format: Gary Perlman School of Information Technology Wang Institute of Graduate Studies Tyngsboro, MA 01879 USA Distribution is via US Mail *only*. You can also write him for more information. -Bennett Todd Bennett Todd -- Duke Computation Center, Durham, NC 27706-7756; (919) 684-3695 UUCP: ...{decvax,seismo,philabs,ihnp4,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!duccpc!bet ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Feb 86 22:03:21 est From: "John R. Levine, P.O.Box 349, Cambridge MA 02238-0349 (617-494-1400)" <ima!johnl%cca-unix.arpa@cca-unix.arpa> Subject: More About the PC RT (Than You Ever Wanted to Know...) To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa.ima!net.micro.pc@cca-unix.arpa I just got a copy of the PC RT "technology book" which contains 157 pages all about the RT's hardware and software, including the VRM and AIX but not 4.2BSD. Order SA23-1057, "IBM RT Personal Computer Technology" from your local IBM branch office. John Levine, ima!johnl, Levine@YALE ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 06 Feb 86 02:46:28 EST From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Beware of 'MVDIR.BAT' (& all self-documenting code) Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #15 (01/28/86) carried a notice that gave directions for moving "an entire directory." The procedure involves creating a 'MVDIR.BAT', which invokes the public domain 'MV.DIR' (presumably the one by Harry G. McGavran, Jr., version 3.00). While I'm sure that the author of the notice has had lots of success with this technique, one of my colleagues destroyed our hard disk directory on the first try. Don't ask me how. All files were moved into one directory, which ended up with bad links--an error message that I have never seen before. When I restored the original directory structure, I ended up with cross-linked files and truncated entries. I restored a couple of the files but lost a directory. CHKDSK recovered a lot of chains that were unrecognizable, of course. Finally, I can't boot off the disk. I found that COMMAND.COM was degraded and restored that. Still no help. It will be quicker to just reformat the damned thing and start from scratch. So far, 'MVDIR.BAT' has cost me two hours. If I'm lucky, I can get everything set up again in another two hours, plus diddling this and that for several weeks. I hope no one else has shared this experience, and I am writing in the hope that no one else will. Finally, I have to say that I am not pleased to find an uncommented, unexplained BAT file in INFO-IBMPC. I don't have the time to work through it to figure out what it is supposed to do, and I am sure as hell not going to try it out. I suppose that the author might feel that the code is "self-documenting"; well, that is why I would never have tried the damned thing in the first place. Unfortunately, my colleague is not a programmer and has not been taught to recognize and revile something that is not well-thought out. For those who do not have technical backgrounds, I strongly encourage that you do not try out public domain software unless you understand how it works or have had it "certified" by a local expert. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Feb 86 05:50:30 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Microsoft Quick-Basic 1.00 Known Bugs List of Known Bugs in Microsoft Quick-Basic Compiler Ver 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------------ I currently have Microsoft Quick-Basic Compiler 1.00 in my possession, and have placed an order for Microsoft Quick-Basic 2.00 with JMG International. I found the following bugs in Ver 1.00 and would like to know if they have been fixed: o BASCOM /C:size accepted, but not documented. Does it work? o BASCOM /V checks each STATEMENT for events. Docs say /V checks each LINE o BASCOM /W does not allow ON KEY GOSUB/ON COM GOSUB/... etc. at run-time o BREAK sent to (opened) COM1: or COM2: makes QUICK-BASIC program to crash Please reply to this message... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Feb 86 06:07:10 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Undocumented Microsoft LINK Option: /E There exists an undocumented(?) switch to Microsoft LINK.EXE ver 3.XX, which will cause an automatic compaction during binding. This process will eliminate storage for uninitialized arrays from the .EXE file produced by the linker, reducing the .EXE file size by up to 300 percent! To use this feature, specify the /E option to the command line, eg LINK myprog/E; should work. For example, PCKERMIT.EXE ver 2.27 was 80K when linked normally but shrunk down to 33K when linked with the /E option... ------------------------------ From: dob%ihmax.UUCP@brl Subject: Microsoft Assembler Date: Sat, 1-Feb-86 06:41:31 PST ReSent-Date: 6 Feb 1986 14:18:37 PST ReSent-From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA > >I think that the following should assemble without problems: > >PUBLIC foo > >foo PROC NEAR > > mov [si],OFFSET bar > >foo ENDP ... > > error 35: Operand must have size > > The only work-around I found was: > mov [si],Word Ptr (OFFSET bar) > which looks funny, but assembles correctly. The parentheses are > necessary, as: ... Won't this work? mov word ptr [si],OFFSET bar Daniel M. O'Brien (ihnp4!ihmax!dob) AT&T Bell Laboratories IH 4A-257, x 4782 Naperville-Wheaton Road Naperville, IL 60566 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Feb 86 14:37:52 PST From: larry@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA Subject: Alsys Ada on AT To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa I received info on a full-Ada compiler for the PC-AT today. Alsys Inc. is the vendor. It's headed by Jean Ichbiach, the Ada design-team leader. The compiler looks very interesting; I intend to give it a close look at the SIGAda/AdaJUG conference the last week of this month in L.A. Alsys says they will be demoing their AT, Sun, and possibly Apollo versions of the compiler. The host is an AT with a hard disk, DOS 3.x, and at least 512K of memory. The compiler comes with a ~3 MB memory board that fits in a full slot. You run under PC-DOS, using your own editor to create source files. Source files are stored in a library created and maintained by an Alsys-proprietary library manager. You could, of course, edit your files on an XT or any other system that creates ASCII files you could copy to your AT. Possibly even the library manager would run on an XT or PC compatible. Compilation, however, has to be done on the AT. The Alsys linker binds into the load module a run-time executive which handles dynamic memory allocation/freeing. If you want to create programs which do parallel processing with Ada tasks, you would bind a larger alternate run-time executive which also implements tasking . The resulting module will run on a PC or compatible under MS-DOS 2.x. If you want to do any floating point the target must also have an 8087/80287 chip. No mention is made of a symbolic debugger of any kind, a serious lack if there really is none. If the target is an AT with more than 512K of memory you can have it run in virtual mode (this is NOT virtual memory, of course, but the 16 MByte direct memory addressing feature of the 80286). There's no need to recompile to have your program run in real or virtual mode; I assume this is a linker option. Alsys claims the object code is about as compact and fast as C code and give a few benchmarks to support that. The size of the run-time executive isn't given, however. My guess is that the executable is probably a good deal bulkier than the C executable if it does parallel processing, due to the tasking part of the alternate run-time exec. (The dynamic-memory management code in the executive should be comparable to the C code in size.) Alsys says they'll soon pre-validate the AT compiler system under the Ada verification suite 1.6 as a preliminary to getting an official validation from DoD. They say the total cost including the ~3MB memory will be under $3000. If the compile and execution speed and load-module size isn't too bad, my section will probably buy a copy. That combined with Alsys' computer-aided instruction "Lessons on Ada" ought to make a good educational tool. After the conference I'll pass on any interesting info. Larry @ JPL-VLSI.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Feb 86 08:22:38 PST From: walton%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: Windows with Mouse; Norton Editor To: info-ibmpc@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu I just got a Microsoft Mouse for use with Windows and my Zenith Z-151. I have seen the future of DOS, and it is good (to misquote PC magazine). I have come to agree with those who have said that Windows without a mouse is not a good thing. Windows with a mouse is rapidly becoming indispensable to me. Now that a means exists for making any program RAM-resident, perhaps we can hope to see Borland Lightning for Windows... On another topic--I just ordered my copy of The Norton Editor. It was reviewed positively in PC magazine, saying essentially the ads were correct--namely it is fast, great for Pascal and C, and can do simple word processing. PC griped a bit about the fairly limited printer support, but whatta ya want for 50 bucks? I would be interested in corresponding with other users of this editor on tricks and customization. Steve Walton walton%deimos@hamlet.cit.edu swalton@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: 6 Feb 1986 02:59:43 PST Subject: The CHMOD Woes From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA CHMOD (PC-DOS interrupt function 43H) negligently trashes register AX on a non-error return from subfunction 00H (Get File Attributes). My DOS Technical Reference says "AX Error codes if carry flag set". I interpreted that to mean no change if carry flag not set. I was wrong. Craig Milo Rogers ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Feb 86 08:22:15 PST From: walton%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: XTREE Review To: INFO-IBMPC@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu [Forwarded for Art Chodos, who is not on the ARPAnet.] "I am not on the network but I do read the PCINFO documents put out on PCPUBLIC by Educational Computing. [Submitter's note: there is an AT running Xenix on campus which is our central repository for PD software, FreeWare, and ShareWare.] In PCINFO8 there were a lot of comments about writing programs to change file attributes and rename subdirectories. An extremely powerful, inexpensive program exists which does all that and more and it seems to me that it would save a lot of people considerable effort. The program is XTREE by Executive Systems, 15300 Ventura Blvd., Suite 305, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 800-634-5545 or 818-990-3457 $49.95 list. It allows you to see the tree structure of your disk and examine the files within directories or subdirectories or it will show you ALL the files on your disk. Files may be sorted by name, date, size, or extension. Directories and subdirectories may be created, deleted or renamed. File display can include attributes, date of creation, size, and so on. Attributes can be changed. Files can be tagged so that only tagged files will be acted upon. DOS can be run from within XTREE. I could not get along without it. I would appreciate it if you could make this information available on the network. I have no connection with Executive Systems--I'm just a satisfied user." Steve Walton walton%deimos@hamlet.cit.edu swalton@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ From: Roy Stehle <stehle@sri-tsc> Date: 7 Feb 1986 0838-PST (Friday) To: Bohnsa@wharton-10 Cc: Info-Ibmpc@usc-isib, Stehle@sri-tsc Subject: Plotting Overhead Transparencies Advanced Graphics Software offers SlideWrite. I have tried it with an HP plotter and found it to be a fairly good product. They can provide you with a trial disk (which is how I tried it). If you get the trial disk, you will probably get a coupon worth $30 off the list price of $225. They offer a 30 day money back guarantee. SlideWrite offers: 2 Fonts (Modern, Roman) 3 Weights (Light, Medium, Bold) 5 Sizes (Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Giant) 4 Styles (Italic, Color, Underline, Outline) 4 Symbols (Dot, Box, Triangle, Checkmark) 4 Rules (Dotted, Thin, Medium, Heavy) Graphics (Boxes, Circles, Arrows, etc) What You See Is What You Get Contact: Advanced Graphics Software Inc. 333 W. Maude Avenue, Suite 105 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 (408) 749-8620 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Feb 86 13:10:13 cst From: knutson@huey.UTEXAS.EDU (Jim Knutson) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Hard Disk Optimizer About the cheapest optimizer you can get is the BACKUP/RESTORE programs. Just backup your hard disk, zero it out and restore all the files. They will all have contiguous allocations. This, however, does not move the most frequently accessed files together (to reduce seek time) but then I don't know of any optimizers that do this automatically either. Jim Knutson ARPA: knutson@ngp.UTEXAS.EDU UUCP: {ihnp4,seismo,kpno,ctvax}!ut-sally!ut-ngp!knutson Phone: (512) 471-3241 ------------------------------ Date: 7 Feb 1986 09:30-EST Subject: AT to VAX Serial Problem From: MHARRIS@A.BBN.COM To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Cc: jpg@SRN-VAX.BBN.COM, MHarris@A.BBN.COM Perhaps there's something I don't understand (likely), and perhaps this has already been discussed here (although I don't recall seeing it), but: I have a vanilla AT with AST Advantage card (2 serial ports) and need to make a serial line connection directly (not via modem) to a vanilla Vax 750. Until recently, I've had this connection running successfully by converting to current-loop at the Vax end and converting back to EIA at the AT end. But I just moved the AT closer to the Vax and removed the current-loop stuff; now it doesn't work. On poking around with a 'scope, I discovered that the AT serial card is putting out 0 to +6 volt signal levels; the RS232 standard calls for something like -3 to +3 volt levels. The current-loop converters were being friendly and making the right thing happen, but apparently the Vax serial port hardware won't deal with it. So: 1. Do I understand correctly what's going on? 2. Same problem if I use IBM serial/parallel adapters? 3. Any solution other than going back to current-loop? Many thanks. -- Michael Harris MHarris @ BBNA BBN Labs 617-497-3794 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Feb 86 11:02:58 est From: rochester!kodak!gardos@seismo.CSS.GOV (tom gardos) Subject: XENIX outb() Function Not Found To: rochester!seismo!usc-isib.arpa!info-ibmpc@seismo.CSS.GOV I am trying to write a device driver in C for the IBM PC AT running XENIX. The program requires use of the functions out() and outb(), however the C compiler cannot find them. Has anyone had this problem? Does anyone know where the functions are defined? Please respond by mail and I will summarize the responses. Thanks. Tom Gardos ------------------------------ Date: 5 Feb 86 15:00:45 PST (Wednesday) From: mwilliams.es@Xerox.COM Subject: Parallel Transfer Rate of AT Query To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> cc: mwilliams.es@Xerox.COM Hello, I am looking for the data transmission rate for the IBM AT when running in parallel mode. I am not interested in its burst rate but the rate for a document > 20,000 bytes. If anyone knows, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanx Mitch ------------------------------ From: bwong2%amovax.uucp@UCI.EDU To: ucivax!INFO-IBMPC%USC-ISIB@amovax Subject: Columbia BIOS ROM Query Date: 05 Feb 86 15:46:54 PST (Wed) A friend of mine happens to have a Columbia computer. He wanted to upgrade the system to the new version of WordPerfect but was unable to do so because he can only run an old version of DOS because he has a outdated BIOS ROM. Does anyone know of a compatible ROM that he could buy? I thought that a company called Phoenix sold one but then again I am not sure. Many Tanks. Bradley Wong UUCP: ucbvax!ucivax!amovax!bwong2 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1986 12:26 EST From: Reggie Aurora <AURORA%SBBIOVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: <info-ibmpc%usc-isib@wiscvm.arpa> Subject: Film Digitizing Query Hello: We are interested in setting up a scanning/digitizing system from which we can obtain intensity and positional (X,Y coordinates) off film negatives. Any one who has set up a system that uses a video camera or alternatively a scanner type of system and can provide us with information or specifications, would be of great help. If this is of sufficient interest to other netlanders I will post to the network. Thanx Much! -- Reggie. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 06 Feb 86 14:00:10 CST From: C449499%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Randy Davis) To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: DBASE III+ Query Has anybody seen an actual working copy of this new 'wonderful' update? Is it really worth shelling out another $100? If all I get is the speeded up indexing time, I might as well buy QuickIndex by Fox & Geller. Randy Davis University of Missouri - Columbia ------------------------------ Date: Thu 6 Feb 86 21:25:13-PST From: Brian Reilly <CON.REILLY@SU-GSB-HOW.ARPA> Subject: Digitizing Tablets Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA A friend of mine is interested in purchasing a digitizing tablet for his IBM-XT. If anyone has any experience with such products, or can recommend one, please send me a note and I will forward it on to him. I'm not on this list, so please send directly to me. Thanks. - Brian Reilly con.reilly@su-gsb-how.arpa ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.csnet-relay From: tcr@mhuxi.btl Date: Fri 7 Feb EST 1986 09:39 Subject: Apple Laserwriter with MS-DOS Query We are obtaining a Apple Laserwriter and would like to be able to use it with both the Macintosh and with MS-DOS. Switching from one to another electrically is no problem, but what we need is a printer driver for MS-DOS. If it could be used to print simple ASCII text, that would be good. If it could emulate a printer like the Diablo, that would be even better. Has this been done before and if not, any suggestions? Tom Russell AT & T Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ (201) 582-7578 Usenet: ihnp4!mhuxi!tcr CSnet: tcr.mhuxi@btl ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 152655) 86-02-12 23.51 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <197> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-12 23.51 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <188> -- Received: 86-02-13 00.40 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-12 23.51 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #20 %Original date: 11 Feb 1986 18:18:58 PST. TF: DSKD:827582.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 46980 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 12 Feb 86 12:49 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 12-Feb-1986 00:27:16-est Date: 11 Feb 1986 18:18:58 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #20 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 11 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 20 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: Hard Disk Interleaves PC Clones Query XENIX and 30MB Seagate Alsys Ada on AT Installing Interrupt Handlers in Turbo Pascal 2.0B (MS-DOS version) MAX Editor Dead Terminal Caused Backlog A Different Experience with the Proprinter Proprinter GKS driver Dbase III+ Undocumented Microsoft LINK option: /E ARC5.12 IS NOW AVAILABLE Renaming Subdirectories Beware of 'MVDIR.BAT' (& all self-documenting code) MVDIR.BAT New Files Available at SIMTEL20 Rename Directories, Moving Files, & Disk Optimizing Disk Optimizers DOS vs. Direct Screen Writes DOS vs. direct screen writes Terminal and PC at Once? Alternate Shell Program Russian (and French) Word Processors MS Mouse Protecting the Hard Disk Heads on an XT Symdeb 4.0 -- Stack trace? Hotel Front Desk Package Wanted Product Evaluation: Classic 286 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: allyn@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Allyn Fratkin) Date: 11 February 1986 1630-PST (Tuesday) Subject: Hard Disk Interleaves I have read with interest the discussions about the interleave factors on hard disks. But I still have a few questions. I work with 4 PC/ATs and 4 PC/XTs. All of these use the standard IBM disk controllers. We have a mixture of disks: CMI and Seagate for the ATs and Seagate and IMI for the XTs. Are some or all of these disks likely to be suffering from a bad interleave factor? How do I check the interleave of a disk, and how can I change it if I don't like it? Thank you. Allyn Fratkin allyn@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu UCSD EMU/Pascal Project or U.C. San Diego {ucbvax, decvax, ihnp4}!sdcsvax!allyn [This question has been asked before but never answered. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 04 Feb 86 18:10 EST From: GKN3M2%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: PC Clones Query I would be interested in hearing from those people who have purchased PC/PC-XT clones. Specifically, how compatible are they? Is there sufficient support from the dealer? How much did it cost? Feel free to include any general comments on the 'feel' of the machine. Evan Bauman ARPANET -- gkn3m2%irishmvs.bitnet@wiscvm.arpa BITNET -- gkn3m2@irishmvs ------------------------------ Date: Fri 7 Feb 86 18:46:29-PST From: William Pearson <PEARSON@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: XENIX and 30MB Seagate I recently purchased a 30MB Seagate drive for my PC/AT (drive type 8), which installed with no problems under DOS3.1. I now use the original IBM 20MB drive with XENIX, and the 30MB drive with DOS, but I would like to reverse the configuration. I have Robin Cutshaw's patches to correct the XENIX disk parameter tables, but it is not clear to me how many changes must be made to the distribution/installation floppy. I am unable to run "fd /etc/badtrack" because the 30MB drive keeps seeking to track 0 after checking the first 520 tracks (at least that's what it sounds like) and as a result I get a "Bad signature (B66D)" message when I boot XENIX, which does not seem to hurt anything. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has set up IBM XENIX for the AT to boot from a non-standard drive. Bill Pearson Dept. of Biochemistry U. of Virginia (804) 924-2818 ------------------------------ To: INFO-IBMPC@usc-isib.ARPA, INFO-Ada@usc-isif.ARPA Subject: Alsys Ada on AT Date: 08 Feb 86 11:02:08 EST (Sat) From: Bob Munck <munck@mitre-bedford.ARPA> I too have been looking into this, and have set aside the money in my budget. I'm told by an Alsys source that they have pre-validated the compiler running on a VAX and compiling to a PC or AT. (Pre-validation is the point where the vendor has run all of the validation tests and is satisfied that his compiler passes, such that he is willing to risk the significant cost of calling in the government validation team to run the tests officially.) The source felt that they were within a week or so of pre-validating the AT host compiler, and mentioned in passing that the RAM board they supply with the compiler is more likely to be 4M than 3. That'll take my AT to 7.5M. I've been coding in Modula-2 until now, using the Logitech compiler and a Final Word II editor reprogrammed to "know" Modula-2. To switch to Ada, I need a set of Final Word macros for it. Has anyone done this? Anyone want to help? (The Modula-2 macros took about four evenings to write, and Ada has quite a few more statements and reserved words.) -- Bob Munck, MITRE (...!linus!munck.UUCP) (Munck at MITRE-Bedford.ARPA) ------------------------------ To: info-pascal@BRL-VOC.ARPA cc: "J. Eliot B. Moss" <EBM@mit-xx.ARPA>, James Dugal <DugalJP%usl.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Installing Interrupt Handlers in Turbo Pascal 2.0B (MS-DOS version) Date: 08 Feb 86 01:11:47 PST (Sat) From: Alastair Milne <milne@uci-icse.ARPA> [Apologies to non Turbo Hamsters for this long message. The discussion of Interrupt handlers is meaningless without the code examples, so despite our policy of not including long code examples in the digest, it seemed the right thing to do in this case. -wab] Ages ago now I posted a general request for information about installing user-written interrupt handlers in Turbo Pascal, MS-DOS version. Eliot Moss kindly sent me hardcopy of a terminal emulator package in Turbo which installs a handler for auxiliary serial port AUX:. However, at the time I was unable to coax what I thought were the relevant sections to behave for me. Since that time I have had reason to do some similar work in 8088 assembly, which led me to discover some small but very important details, and also to a better understanding of Eliot's package. Finally, last night, I successfully raised an interrupt for a routine in my program installed as in interrupt handler, which worked, returned successfully to the program, and apparently left the system intact. Two major points: 1. In every routine, Turbo apparently places some code ahead of the first user instruction, making it impossible immediately to install inline code to save all the registers, as MUST be done in an interrupt handler. The routine itself cannot therefore be installed directly as the handler. 2. The interrupt controller chip, the 8259, must be programmed to allow your interrupt, which is done by sending a mask value to port 21H. The particular mask value depends on the interrupt you are servicing. Also, the interrupt servicer should inform the 8259 when servicing has finished. This is done by sending another mask to port 20H. NOTE: if you want to assign the the two words of any intersegment pointer individually, instead of by using the function Ptr, remember that the offset is in the FIRST word, the segment base in the SECOND. This is contrary to the <seg>:<offseg> notation commonly used. "Ptr" handles this automatically. Eliot's technique, which seems to work just fine, is to place in a data structure the sequence of instructions needed to save all the registers, and call as a far routine the actual handler. The handler will finish with a far return, and the rest of the data structure will restore all registers, and return from interrupt. The advantage here is that Turbo doesn't interfere with the contents of a data structure, so the handler begins and ends with exactly the code one specifies. Finally, one simply assigns into the interrupt vector the pointer to the structure. An example of code to do this: *************** program lookatinterrupts; {I can't stand looking at streams of numbers, especially in hex, and especially when they are doing something important: } const pushax = $50; popax = $58; pushbx = $53; popbx = $5B; pushcx = $51; popcx = $59; pushdx = $52; popdx = $5A; pushsi = $56; popsi = $5E; pushdi = $57; popdi = $5F; pushES = $06; popES = $07; pushDS = $1E; popDS = $1F; pushCS = $0E; pushBP = $55; popBP = $5D; callL = $9A; { long (intersegment) call} IRet = $CF; { return from interrupt: LAST instruction of handler} StI = $FB; { Set Interrupt flag: allow interrupts to be raised. interrupt flag is automatically reset when the handler is called.} type array11 = packed array[1..11] of byte; {Must be adjusted to exactly the number of bytes the initialising instructions need.} array10 = packed array[1..10] of byte; {Likewise for terminating instructions.} RoutinePtr = ^byte; {actually, pointer to anything will do.} CallerRec = record SaveAllAndCallServicer: array11; ServicerAddr: RoutinePtr; RestoreAllAndIRET: array10; end; { A "CallerRec" is in fact a routine. All the components MUST be directly contiguous, and allocated in this order. Particularly, ServicerAddr is the argument to the far call which is the last instruction of the previous field. } { Declare as constants the stream of bytes comprising the interrupt's initialisation, long call, and termination: } const ServicerInit: array11 = (pushAX, pushBX, pushCX, pushDX, {save all gnrl. reg.s} pushSI, pushDI, pushES, pushDS, pushCS, popDS, { set DS to CS} callL); { call the servicer, whose address must immediately follow this byte. } ServicerTermnt: array10 = (popDS, popES, popDI, popSI, popDX, popCX, popBX, popAX, StI, {re-enable interrupts before leaving} IRet); {finally, return from interrupt} var PrntScrnAddr: RoutinePtr; {to save the pointer to the true print screen servicer. Fail to restore this, and you will only be able to print the screen after rebooting. } { Declare the interrupt vector as what it is: 256 routine pointers starting at address 0:0 : } IntrVector: array[0..255] of RoutinePtr absolute 0:0; { Provide callers for, in this case, 2 interrupt handlers: } PrntCaller, MyCaller: CallerRec; procedure myscreenprinter; { A substitute routine to serve as an example of substituting for an existing interrupt handler. THE ORIGINAL MUST BE RESTORED, or you will lose all screen-printing service. NOTE: NO parameters are possible, either on the stack or in registers. The program MUST NOT DIRECTLY CALL THIS ROUTINE.} begin writeln('screen would now be printed.'); port[$20] := $10; {DON'T TRUST THIS MASK VALUE. It caused me no problems on the Sanyo MBC-550, but that's not compatible enough with IBM's and their imitators for a strong argument. } inline( $8b/$e5/ {mov sp, bp} $5d/ {pop bp} $cb); {retl} end; procedure myhandler; { A very simply demonstration interrupt handler, to make some previously unserved interrupt give a response when raised. The CallL instruction in MyCaller calls this. NOTE AGAIN: NO parameters; the program MUST NOT DIRECTLY CALL THIS ROUTINE.} begin (**)writeln('in interrupt handler.'); port[$20] := $20; { Announce to the 8259 that the interrupt is over. Since the particular mask value that announces this depends on which interrupt is being served, the OUT instruction for this is not built into the handler termination code. $20 works is the completion mask for interrupt 12} {Make sure that the routine uses a long, or far, return, to match the long call instruction that called it. Restore SP and BP just as Turbo's code would, if the routine were going to use it. } inline( $8b/$e5/ {mov sp, bp} $5d/ {pop bp} $cb); {retl} end; procedure installhandler( IntrNum: byte; var Caller: CallerRec; RoutineAddr: integer); { Sets up the callerrec Caller to call the routine whose offset is RoutineAddr when interrupt IntrNum is raised. Although this form does not do so, ideally interrupts should be disabled whenever the interrupt vector is modified, and restored only when all changes are finished. Disaster could occur if something raised the interrupt while the address in the vector was only partly changed.} begin { Fill in the initialisation field of the record with the instructions already declared as a constant: } Caller.SaveAllAndCallServicer := ServicerInit; { Likewise for the termination code: } Caller.RestoreAllAndIRET := ServicerTermnt; { Fill in the intersegment address of the CALLL instruction which is the last byte in the initialisation code. The pointer to the routine consists of the code segment base, and the routine's offset in CS: } Caller.ServicerAddr := ptr( CSeg, RoutineAddr ); { Fill in entry IntrNum of the interrupt vector with the address of the CallerRec (NOT the handler routine itself). Its pointer is the Data seg (NOT the code seg.), and its offset into the data seg: } IntrVector[IntrNum] := ptr( DSeg, ofs(Caller) ); { NOTE: pointer is put into vector only AFTER what it points to is ready to handle an interrupt. } end; begin . . . { EXAMPLES OF INSTALLING INTERRUPT HANDLERS: } { Install the routine MyHandler as the servicer for interrupt 12: } InstallHandler(12, MyCaller, ofs(MyHandler)); { When superceding existing handlers, BE SURE TO SAVE THEM to be restored before the program exits. Otherwise, you'll find yourself missing possibly vital services until you next reboot. } PrntScrnAddr := IntrVector[5]; InstallHandler(5, PrntCaller, ofs(MyScreenPrinter) ); { Let the 8259 controller know that interrupt 12 is now supported and active:} port[$21] := port[$21] and not $10; . . . IntrVector[5] := PrntScrnAddr; {RESTORE pre-existing handler. } . . . end. *************** Nobody's favourite coding, but it works. Eliot also supplied two small procedures Enable and Disable to allow and prevent interrupts, respectively. I have omitted them here to keep things from getting completely out of hand. They consist simply of InLine calls using the STI and CLI instructions. Alastair Milne PS. I'm sure that by now, Eliot, James, and anybody else who wanted this information is certain that I've forgotten all about it, and that Eliot at least is quite irritated, since I told him I would pass his information on long ago. I hope they will accept my apologies for the long delay. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Feb 86 14:30 EST From: "Roger A. Roach" <Roach@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA> Subject: MAX Editor I got a copy of MAX 1.01 (and SCR) from: Mr. Ivo A. Welch Columbia College East Campus New York, NY 10027 At the time, Mr. Welsh was available as UI.IVO@CU20B. The cost was $15 for educational uses, $30 for commercial. Since it seemed that the authors were students, I am not sure what their present address would be. There was some reference information included on the disks, but I could not find any other address. ------------------------------ Date: 8 Feb 1986 18:02:56 PST Subject: Dead Terminal Caused Backlog From: Koji Okazaki <swg.Koji@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Howdy. My terminal's been dead for the last couple of weeks.... hence, I haven't been able to read my mail recently. Now you all know why I haven't been answering your messages to me. Will be operational within a week. Thanks in advance for being patient. Koji Info-IBMPC program submissions... ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8-Feb-86 18:17:31 EDT From: Manny Farber <manny%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: A Different Experience with the Proprinter My experiences with the IBM Proprinter have been notably more positive than those reported in an earlier Info-IBMPC. While there are some things I don't like about it, I have not had any problems with paper feeding; quite to the contrary, it has been exceptional in this area. The paper can also be ripped off right along the perforation, with no wastage. The construction is rather sturdy and the single sheet feeder is handy, although I don't use it much. The print speed (200 cps) is relatively fast (or at least average), and the NLQ mode produces very clear, easy-to-read characters that don't have serifs. It also prints all 256 IBM display characters. Now the bad parts: it's relatively expensive, unless you can get a discount; the output is much more wavy than an Epson's; and it doesn't have italics built in. I have overcome the problem with italics by trapping the output from PROLOAD (a font loader/editor available on CompuServe) and putting it in a file, which I copy to the printer with the /B option. This allows it to be put in a batch file. With Microsoft Word, for italics one can send the codes (in the PRD) file to switch into the download character set; in the end, it's transparent. (If anyone wants details or source code [for the trap routine], drop me a line.) Manny (manny@louie.udel.edu) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Feb 86 12:03:12 PST From: Jim Carter <jimc@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> Subject: Proprinter GKS driver You've all been waiting for the driver for the IBM 4201 Proprinter in IBM's GKS. Guess what? You had it all along. vdiprgra.sys (for the standard graphic printer) works on the Proprinter also IF you turn on switch 6, auto CR after LF. Switches are under the cover at the left rear of the machine. Auto CR has no effect on most other software -- unless your program does a LF and expects to end up in the middle of the line. This was tested on "circut.exe", the GKS demo program that has a print feature, and on some locally written software. I have heard that a simi- lar maneuver also works on IBM-compatible Epson printers. My boss pulled this in from a bboard. James F. Carter (213) 206-1306 UCLA-SEASnet; 2567 Boelter Hall; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA 90024 UUCP:...!{ihnp4,ucbvax,{hao!cepu}}!ucla-cs!jimc ARPA:jimc@locus.UCLA.EDU [Cross-posted in net.graphics] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Feb 86 21:51 EST From: Yedidyah Langsam <YDLBC%CUNYVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Dbase III+ The $100 upgrade fee for Dbase III+ is in my opinion worth it. Firstly, they completely redid the Assist interface. Secondly, there is a new type of file which keeps track of which indexes go with which file and allows you to set up a "view" of how you wish your files to be opened without having to open each index and file independently. This feature is in itself worth the update. Thirdly, there is the matter of the network support, which if you need it is great. A full review appeared in last months issue of Data Base Advisor, and is well worth reading. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 9 Feb 86 20:13:17 CST From: nather@ASTRO.UTEXAS.EDU (Ed Nather) Subject: Undocumented Microsoft LINK option: /E The option does not exist in MS Link versions 3.00 and 3.01; it seems to have been added to version 3.02. I tried it out on a long program and it works, but the exepack utility that comes with Microsoft languages works better -- the size reduction was 2X greater than with link /E. Maybe that's why its undocumented ... Ed Nather Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin {allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather nather@astro.UTEXAS.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 9 Feb 86 20:36:47 pst From: Richard Hallett <hallett%instr.selkirk.bcc.cdn%ubc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY> Subject: ARC5.12 IS NOW AVAILABLE [Info-IBMPC is not distributing ARC or ARC format files or for that matter any binary format files. Discussion is fine but please don't ask us to send it to you. -wab] 8 Feb 86 EIBEN, MSDOS:ARC51.COM .. a truly 'boots-trapping ARC' - beware, You need roughly double the space of ARC51.COM to get the 'hidden ARC-files' de-arced. From: REFUGE::PORTER 7-FEB-1986 16:39 Subj: New version of ARC - V5.12 in a "package" Bernie, Just happened to be checking up on SEAboard, and spotted a new version of the now famous ARC utility - V5.12. This one comes with its own unique form of "packaging" - a "self-unpacking" archive! It is no longer necessary to have any "other" file compression utilities to unpack an ARC kit! The new "self-unpacking" archive file is named ARC51.COM, to unpack the ARC software you just run it like any other .COM image and it proceeds to unpack an archive contained within the .COM file as follows: ARC51.COM contents: ARC.EXE Version 5.12 executable ARC.DOC Version 5.12 docset ARC.TXT ARC product description only one caveat - when you run ARC51.COM to unpack the kit, the file must be in your MSDOS "current default directory". On another topic: There is now a new version of Fido - V11R, I will try to upload a copy to LSMVAX as soon as possible. Regards, KhP Kevin R. Porter Sysop of WayStar Fido - (617)-481-7147 in Marlborough, Mass. ------------------------------ Date: Mon 10 Feb 86 08:12:41-CST From: Clifford A. Wilkes <CC.Wilkes@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> Subject: Renaming Subdirectories To: MATHES%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Department: Computation Center - A20/R20 staff The "Duke Language Toolkit" is a set of programs to describe and install different character sets on IBM PC's with the EGA. I've used it and found it easy to understand and describing a character set, while time consuming, is not difficult. The major drawbacks are its support of few printers at present and the fact that it will not work on my Sperry. For more information on the the "Duke Language Toolkit" you should contact Jeffrey William Gillette at Duke University. His e-mail address is: DYBBUK%TUCCVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU. I hope this helps. <@> ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 86 14:25:14 EST From: Kenneth Van Camp -FSAC- <kvancamp@ardc> Subject: Beware of 'MVDIR.BAT' (& all self-documenting code) James H. Coombs writes on Feb 6: >So far, 'MVDIR.BAT' has cost me two hours. If I'm lucky, I can get >everything set up again in another two hours, plus diddling this and >that for several weeks. I hope no one else has shared this experience, >and I am writing in the hope that no one else will. > >Finally, I have to say that I am not pleased to find an uncommented, >unexplained BAT file in INFO-IBMPC. I guess this must be refering to my MVDIR.BAT, since I think I was the only one who submitted a BAT file of that name to the request for directory rename utilities. However my version was definitely NOT undocumented. True there was not documentation within the BAT file itself; but my accompanying letter provided thorough (I think) guidelines for its usage. My mistake was probably in separating the batch file listing from the rest of the message by a line with many dashes that said <CUT HERE> in the middle to show where the BAT file began and ended. When the info-ibmpc digest arrived at my mailbox, I undigestified it. The undigestify program thought the dashes were message separators and hence the BAT file came out looking totally undocumented. All I had to do was read the messages before and after it to get the total picture. Perhaps your undigestify program did the same, or even lost the other two parts completely. To summarize, the documentation pointed out that the current directory should be the directory you want to move, and the parameter to MVDIR should provide the full path of the destination directory. There were also instructions to create two supporting files, \TMP\CD.MKB and \TMP\RMDIR.MKB. My guess is that your friend didn't create these files, or didn't create them properly, resulting in the improper construction of the CMMDS.BAT file from within MVDIR. In retrospect, I probably should have made it so MVDIR.BAT created its own supporting files every time it is run, for the public release version -- to avoid this kind of problem. Of course I don't do that in my own version because it slows things down and seems like a waste of computer time. It still seems like a very slim possibility that this could have caused your friend's problems. MVDIR.BAT was *really* a very simple program; most of the work was provided by the public domain MV.EXE; are you sure your version of that is working OK? If you really want to know for sure (and if you have the stomach to look into this any further), check and see if you have a file called CMMDS.BAT on your hard disk. If so, let me know what it contains and maybe we can figure out what happened. One of the worst things about MS/DOS is the poor support for error checking in BAT files; ERRORLEVELs are not set from most DOS commands. I'm really looking forward to hearing from more people on the net about PCUNIX. Hopefully this system provides some REAL script files, like Unix. --Ken Van Camp <kvancamp@ARDC.ARPA> ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Feb 86 8:42:54 EST From: Kenneth Van Camp -FSAC- <kvancamp@ardc> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: MVDIR.BAT To those who were wondering what MV.EXE program I was using in my MVDIR.BAT, I would like to clear up the confusion. This was NOT the program written by Harry McGavran (also called MV.EXE); it was written by Chuck Forsberg and was gotten from Volume 068 of the Simtel20 archives -- not from USC-ISIB. I don't know if it was MV.EXE that caused the problems, but probably the easiest solution is to use McGavran's program instead of Forsberg's. (McGavran's automatically renames directories, as well as files.) The only problem is that McGavran won't release the source and USC won't keep anything but source. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1986 13:28 MST From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARPA> To: hans@OSLO-VAX.ARPA (Hans A. ]lien) Subject: New Files Available at SIMTEL20 Hello again Keith, Why have so many of the files in PCDOS: been removed lately? Will they be replaced by new versions, are the programs already available in other PD: directories, or whatever? Maybe some of the programs can't be distributed, even for private use? I would especially like to have access to the ARC500*.* file archiver. Thanks for any help! Hans We have created a new directory PD:<MSDOS> here at SIMTEL20. It has several subdirectories, one of which has ARC500.EXE and DQC, and the latest versions of LU, SQ and USQ. For a complete list of available files FTP the file PD:<MSDOS>MSDOS.CRCLST which will be periodically updated as new files are added. --Keith ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 86 12:15:33 PST From: prandt!reynolds@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Don Reynolds) To: amelia!info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Rename Directories, Moving Files, & Disk Optimizing This note is in response to several messages on disk utilities for renaming subdirectories, moving files, and optimizing the hard disk. I have had good luck with the PACKDISK Utilities from SoftPatch P.O. Box 11455 San Francisco, CA 94101 (415) 777-2993 PACKDISK eliminates file fragmentation, unallocated space, reintegrates lost clusters into the available space, packs the root directory and subdirectories and frees subdirectory trailing clusters (but could trash hard-disk installations of some software) DELDIR deletes subdirectory, its files and subdirectories NAMEDIR renames a subdirectory TRANSDIR transfers a subdirectory, its files & subdirectories to another directory LISTFRAG lists fragmented files in the drive PARK parks disk before power off Softpatch's PACKDISK Utilities contains NAMEDIR.COM, which apparently renames directories with no problems. But it is suggested that software "installed" on the hard disk be "uninstalled" before packing (or re-formatting) the disk. After re-formatting, I have heard it suggested to MKDIR the most used subdirectories first, for fastest access. Is that fact or fiction? The message from Coombs in Info-IBMPC Digest, Vol. 5, Issue 19 should raise a caution flag and suggest you backup your hard disk before reorganization. Best, Don ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Feb 86 11:45:45 PST From: walton%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Message-Id: <860211114545.00g@Deimos> Subject: Disk Optimizers To: info-ibmpc@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu There are two conceptually different products on the market for hard disk optimization. One is the "make all current files contiguous" type, which makes access to these files very fast but has the disadvantage of being both temporary and placing all new files at the end of the disk, making many cross-disk seeks necessary to create new files. The other type is, or would be, a disk caching utility--a RAM-resident program which would hold in memory the most recently accessed sectors on the disk and return the copy in memory rather than going to the disk if possible. All computers larger than IBM PC's use disk caching, and some PC-clones do as well. For example, the ITT Xtra-XP (80286-based XT compatible) uses a disk program which gets AT-class performance on average out of an XT-class hard disk (85 msec track-to-track access time). Also, I believe MS-DOS does hold the current FAT in memory. At least one product exists which is supposed to do this disk caching; I saw the ad in PC magazine within the last few months, but can't find it again. The tip-off was the ad said "Uses Expanded Memory if present." PC had a disk caching utility a while back, but it only used a 64K cache (too small for even a 10 MB hard disk) and was optimized for floppy disks. I recommend it to two-floppy owners, but it wasted 64K of memory on my hard disk system. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 86 14:31:49 PST From: kegel%Romeo@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: DOS vs. Direct Screen Writes Minshall- DOS writes to the screen are slow for two reasons: 1. stdout is normally in 'cooked' mode, in which DOS makes one call to the device driver for each character output. 2. ANSI.SYS stacks the registers for each char output, and makes one or two BIOS calls per character output, to boot! Both of these can be fixed. 1. Any handle can be set to 'raw' mode with dos function 44h. In raw mode, DOS passes all read and write requests directly to the device driver, cutting the per-character overhead to zero. 2. ANSI.SYS can be rewritten to write directly to screen memory, and to avoid stacking the registers. I'm not sure if anyone else has redone ANSI.SYS, but I took a shot at it, and would be happy to put my sources up. It is radically faster. One test program I wrote- a file viewer- redraws the screen in less than a tenth of a second. I think even the most hardcore advocate of direct machine access would be satisfied with the performance an efficient device driver gives DOS. - Daniel Kegel [Woof Woof Send it to us Daniel! -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 86 23:46:20 pst From: minshall%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU (Greg Minshall) To: kegel%Romeo@hamlet.caltech.edu Subject: DOS vs. direct screen writes Very well. However, in my test case, I was invoking INT 10H myself. So (to my very limited understanding) NO DOS, NO ANSI.SYS. And, I was still unhappy. Again, with this approach, one gets some 50 K bits/second to the screen. But, I want some number of megatbits/second. Or, am I wrong? I would, though, love to see a much faster ANSI.SYS. Greg Minshall ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1986 22:15 PLT From: George Cross <FACCROSS%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Terminal and PC at Once? I have two serial ports on a PC and a terminal (VT 100). Is there a DOS multitasking product that will let me connect the terminal to one of the ports, a modem to another, and then dial out from the terminal while still using the main PC console? Perhaps Double DOS - run a background CTTY to COM1, dial out on COM2, etc. ---- George [The COM_PKG2.ASM in supports two serial ports simultaneously. You could use this package to implement this application -wab] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - George R. Cross cross@wsu.CSNET Computer Science Department cross%wsu@csnet-relay.ARPA Washington State University faccross@wsuvm1.BITNET Pullman, WA 99164-1210 (509)-335-6319/6636 Acknowledge-To: George Cross <FACCROSS@WSUVM1> ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Feb 86 22:35:26 cet To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: 10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Alternate Shell Program I am interested in writing an alternate command processor to run under MS-DOS rather than command.com. I welcome any input from those of you who have experience in this area. I am looking to implement a shell similar to those found under UN*X. One initial question I have is whether or not my shell has to be a .COM file? Please send comments directly to me, and I will summarize to the net in a couple weeks when I know what such a project entails. Thank you, Eric Schneider 10409813@wsuvm1.BITNET or eric@wsu.CSNET [Try PC-Toolbox from Wendin. It looks like this is exactly what you are looking for. Perhaps some users of this package can help you out. Of course we have most Unix utilities in our program library. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Feb 86 01:40:21 pst From: ttidca!ttihwe!cole@rand-unix.ARPA To: ttidca!randvax!info-ibmpc@isib Subject: Russian (and French) Word Processors Cc: cole@rand-unix.ARPA I asked an associate (a fellow by the name of Potashnik) about word processors for Russian, and he gave me the name of one company who makes one. The company is called Economic Insights, of Rockville, MD, phone (301) 258-5235. Their product uses a Quadvue display board, generates output only for Diablo 630 and Epson LQ-1500 printers, and costs $595. That's all I know about them (I don't speak or write Russian and never heard of the company until now). On a (remotely) related subject, another friend who is a big fan of Microsoft Word is in the process of getting a French version of MW. It is apparently only available in France, however. He talked to Microsoft in Canada and they have a French-Canadian version, but it is said to be significantly different from the French version. I don't know if there are any other versions out there for other languages, although I doubt they have a Russian version. If they did you might have to order it from the USSR and pay for it in rubles, anyway. Randy Cole Citicorp-TTI ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10-Feb-86 20:44:59 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: MS Mouse For those who have MS Bus mice which stop working when the clock is raised, the new bus mouse and its rev D card works fine at 9 mh. Hmmm. WOnder why they fixed it. Also FANSI and MS Word/ PCPAINT just do not agree. Dave ------------------------------ Date: 11 Feb 86 07:34 EST From: Jim Moore <moore@ncsc> Subject: Protecting the Hard Disk Heads on an XT There has been a lot written in PC Mag, PC Tech Journal, and (I think) this space concerning the parking of hard disk heads to protect the disk. I'm no longer sure that's a good idea: I'd been using SHIPDISK.COM, which comes with the Diagnostics Disk, to retract the heads every afternoon after work, because my XT sits on the floor on a stand, a particularly vulnerable position. The last time I ran it, the heads moved back, then went wild. I had to re-partition the disk and reformat. Fun. Now the only thing I do is turn the power off and take my chances.... jim ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Feb 86 11:38 EST From: LBrenkus@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Symdeb 4.0 -- Stack trace? The new version of the excellent symbolic debugger SYMDEB (included at no extra charge with the Macro Assembler v 4.0) includes several new options. The most intriguing is a new command K which the "help screen" (? option) identifies as a "stack trace". Unfortunately, the manual says nothing about it. Anyone know what it does? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Feb 86 11:59:17 pst From: Ron Smith <ron%garfield.mun.cdn%ubc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Message-Id: <38:ron@garfield.mun.cdn> Subject: Hotel Front Desk Package Wanted I am searching for a Hotel/motel front desk package that will run on an IBM PCXT or compatable. Tha package will be used by students in the Hospitality Program here at Holland College to familiarize them with software they will find in the industry. If anyone can recommend a package please give me the package name, producer and/or supplier name and address. A brief description would also be appreciated. My mailbox name is <ron@garfield.mun.cdn>. Postal address is Ron Smith Holland College Weymouth Street Charlottetown, P.E.I. Canada, C1A 4Z1 Telephone is (902) 566-9670 Many thanks for any suggestions I may recieve. ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 11 February 1986 16:16:49 EST From: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu Subject: Product Evaluation: Classic 286 As you may be aware from reading earlier postings, I have been interested for some time in upgrading our PC and XT to AT-class performance. I have evaluated several boards, most of which were rejected just based on specs or price. One low-cost board (Titan Technologies) simply didn't perform as advertised (SI 1.8x faster, benchmark 1.2x faster as opposed to a promised "2.5 to 4"). I have finally located a board which solves our problem. It may not be the only such board, but I'm somewhat tired of looking, it works, and I'm using it. The board is the Classic Technology 286 Speed-Pak. The board is a 286 chip and the usual connector into the 8088 slot. Installation was reasonably straightforward in our XT. First, the 8088 is removed. However, unlike most boards, you don't throw the chip away, you plug it into a socket on the chip. With the flip of a switch, you can then change from 80286 operation to 8088 operation. The device is not strictly AT compatible. For example, its memory extension above 1Mb is their own proprietary scheme, which they are not releasing specs of. It is clearly not compatible with VDISK extended memory. The board itself contains 1Mb of memory, but the upper banks of RAM are used to hold a copy of the ROM BIOS so that the BIOS runs with a 16 bit memory path. Extended memory (Intel/Lotus spec) is supposed to work with this board, although with only an 8-bit path. They have a 2.5MB upgrade, but it only runs with their multitasking software, and they are not currently supporting ramdisks with their memory upgrade. Their ramdisk software didn't install in anything approximating the documented way (in fact, I couldn't get it to install at all) and apparently you can only add ramdisks with their software where you would have had floppies (so, for example, you have to configure the XT motherboard to say there is a B: drive to get a B: ramdisk!). When I called them up to ask about this, they said "oh, yeah, there's a bug" and sent me new software which I haven't tried. There was also a bug in their installation instructions. They supply a little 40pin DIP header with three capacitors, which is to be inserted in the 8087 slot if the 8087 is not used (the board has a provision for an 80287 also). The instructions say "insert the dip header with the notch towards the back of the computer". Fine, except the header is totally symmetric. Not even a pin 1 marking. Fortunately, I knew that the three capacitors which were connected to a corner pin must obviously be to ground, so plugged it in so that pin 20 (ground) was where the common line to the three capacitors went. Not everyone would have known this. The board also doesn't have a built-in clock/calendar. Fortunately, we have one on our multifuction XT memory board (which now serves only as a serial port and clock). The goal was not AT compatibility, but XT compatibility with AT speed. Since this was of more interest to me than AT compatibility, I feel no loss. The Norton SI command says the performance is 7.0 times a PC, and our benchmark (I/O and compute intensive) ran in 25 minutes instead of 82 minutes. The difference is obviously the disk I/O limitation (80 ms seek), since it runs in 18 minutes on my AT with the faster drive (30ms seek), but only 5.0 on the SI yardstick. I have had no failures running any program we normally use. We also successfully ran FASTBACK in the 80286 mode to restore files to a new 32Mb disk we installed, so serious BIOS and device hacking still works. There have been no disk problems or other problems of timing. Performance of screen editors such as Epsilon is impressive, since it runs more towards the 7.0 factor. Unfortunately our best measure was big file searches, which are also disk intensive; they seem to run 3-4 times faster. One nice feature of the 8088 "downgrade" switch is that we could switch processors and run the same tests again to see what the performance is like. A little experimentation showed that switching processors makes the machine go catatonic; they should be switched only when the power is off. My housemate, who was envious of the performance of my AT, is now extremely pleased. We even bought some little "custom hot rod" flames to put on the machine to show it is a "hot" job. I am sufficiently happy with this product that we have ordered a second one for our PC. The original price was about $1200, but rumor has it that they have dropped the price by $150 in the last week or so. Because we have ordered the second one within 30 days of the evaluation copy the first one also comes in at the lower price, whose exact value I will know when the second one arrives in a week or two. Adding two AT-performance for $2000 is not a bad investment at all. I hope someday they produce real ramdisk software that allows the creation of D:, E:, etc. drives in extended 16-bit memory. This will substantially improve the performance (for example, I use ramdisk on my AT for Epsilon swap space). Being able to put the dBASEIII .dbf and .ndx file for our major application into ramdisk for the report generation would also be a big win. The company didn't seem much interested in this aspect, nor with releasing the specs to customers, which was a bit of a turn off, but I'm hoping they will finally wise up and either provide useful software or provide the necessary specs. If anyone knows of a cheap Intel/Lotus compatible board or source for something of that form, I'm interested. ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 152928) 86-02-13 18.43 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <198> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-13 18.43 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <189> -- Received: 86-02-13 19.27 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-13 18.43 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V4 #21 %Original date: 12 Feb 1986 17:12:49 PST. TF: DSKD:830697.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 17760 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 13 Feb 86 17:20 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 12-Feb-1986 21:47:31-est Date: 12 Feb 1986 17:12:49 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V4 #21 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 12 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 21 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: Review of "Schmeme" Lisp AT&T PC 6300 Expansion Now How About Specs for 1-2-3 Device Drivers? SHELL, Modula2 Software Development System Fansi Console and Shell from Dr. Dobbs Turbo Board Comparison? monochrome monitor query Removing non-DOS Partitions from AT Disk LINK Option /E vs EXEPACK PC-DOS 3.1 and "echo off" CGA: 2 More Palettes in Medium Res Re: File truncation under PC-DOS Co-Processor Board Inquiry WordPerfect and the LaserJet CHMOD Woes ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue 11 Feb 86 22:38:38-CST From: Rob Pettengill <CAD.PETTENGILL@MCC.ARPA> Subject: Review of "Schmeme" Lisp I recently purchased an implementation of the Scheme dialect of lisp for my PC. I am familiar with GC Lisp, IQ Lisp, and Mu Lisp for the PC. I use Lambdas and 3600s with ZetaLisp at work. TI PC Scheme is a very complete implementation of scheme for the IBM and TI personal computers and compatibles. It combines high speed code execution, a good debugging and editing environment, and very low cost. The Language: * Adheres faithfully to the Scheme standard. * Has true lexical scoping. * Prodedures and environments are first class data objects. * Is properly tail recursive - there is no penalty compared to iteration. * Includes window and graphics extensions. The Environment: * An incremental optimizing compiler (not native 8086 code) * Top level read-compile-print loop. * Interactive debugger allows run time error recovery. * A minimal Emacs-like full screen editor with a scheme mode featuring parethesis matching and auto indenting of lisp code. * An execute DOS command or "push" to DOS capability - this is only practical with a hard disk because of the swap file PCS writes. * A DOS based Fast Load file format object file conversion utility. * A fast 2 stage garbage collector. First Impressions: Scheme seems to be much better sized to a PC class machine than the other standard dialects of lisp because of its simplicity. The TI implementation appears to be very solid and complete. The compiled code that it produces (with debugging switches off) is 2 to 5 times faster than the other PC lisps that I have used. With the full screen editor loaded (there is also a structure editor) there seems to be plenty of room for my code in a 640k PC. TI recommends 320k or 512k with the editor loaded. The documentation is of professional quality (about 390 pages), but not tutorial. Abelson and Sussman^2's "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" is a very good companion for learning scheme as well as the art and science of programming in general. My favorite quick benchmark - (define (test n) (do ((i 0 (1+ i)) (r () (cons i r))) ((>= i n) r))) runs (test 10000) in less than 10 seconds with the editor loaded - of course it takes a couple of minutes to print out the ten thousand element list that results. The main lack I find is that the source code for the system is not included - one gets used to that in good lisp environments. I have hit only a couple of minor glitches, that are probably pilot error, so far. Since the system is compiled with debugging switches off it is hard to get much useful information about the system from the dubugger. Based on my brief, but very positive experience with TI PC scheme and its very low price of $95 - I recommend it to anyone interested in a PC based lisp. You can order from Texas Instruments at 1-800-TI-PARTS. (Standard disclaimers about personal opinions and having no commercial interest in the product ...) Rob Pettengill ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Feb 86 05:56:59 cet From: 10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: AT&T PC 6300 Expansion I have an AT&T PC 6300 and would be interested to hear from other owners concerning expansion. I am looking into an expanded memory board, and I believe AT&T makes one which would take advantage of the 16-bit data bus. Does anyone have any experience with this product? I would also like to find out about other boards for the AT&T which take advantage of the 8086's 16-bits. (Graphics, ports, etc.) On an unrelated note, does anyone have a screen dump routine for the TOSHIBA P1340? I have FRIEZE (comes w/PC PAINTBRUSH) and it seems to support as many printers as any, and it does not support the P1340. I have written (not entirely successfully) my own driver, but would most insterested in seeing what others have done. Ultimately, I would like to be able to dump AT&T 640x400 monochrome, but would settle for a routine which expects a CGA. Thanks, Eric Schneider 10409813@wsuvm1.BITNET or eric@wsu.CSNET ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Feb 86 05:17 ??? From: LBAFRIN%clemson.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA Subject: Now How About Specs for 1-2-3 Device Drivers? Plaudits to the kind soul who contributed the 1-2-3 worksheet file format specification to the Info-IBMPC archives. Would it also be possible to obtain for the archives a copy of whatever specs Lotus may have for writing 1-2-3 device drivers? Just wondering... -- Larry Afrin Dept. of Computer Science Clemson University ================================ Please send replies, if any, to: lbafrin@clemson.csnet or lbafrin%eureka@clemson.csnet or, as a last resort, any reasonable-looking string with "lbafrin", "eureka", and "clemson" in it (And I'm told that Usenet fans can try ihnp4!seismo!clemson.CSNET!lbafrin) I disclaim everything anybody ever said about anything. ------------------------------ Date: Feb 10 1986 From: Hermann Willers <G95%DHDURZ2.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: SHELL, Modula2 Software Development System 1. Did anyone try successfully to put COMMAND.COM into an other directory than the root ? I tried, but the SHELL command in CONFIG.SYS did'nt work. "missing or defective command interpreter" (or so) was the message. My system is an Olivetti M24, MSDOS 2.11, version to support 720 K drives (M24 = AT&T 6300). Does it under these conditions always fail or did I miss something too obvious ? 2. Does anyone know, if the M2SDS has nice features like INLINE (as Turbo-P.), interruptcalls, the capability of executing as an interrupt service routine, include files (optional), including EXTERNAL code, absolute variables, short: the things one wouldn't want to miss in T.P. Please reply directly to me, since I see only someone else's copy of INFO-IBMPC and this is VERY irregular. Thanks in advance for your time and effort ! Hermann Willers G95@DHDURZ2.BITNET Heidelberg, FRG ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Feb 86 13:30 EST From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Fansi Console and Shell from Dr. Dobbs To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Message-ID: <860212183030.376476@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA> For the person who wanted a faster ANSI driver, there is FANSI-CONSOLE, which is shareware of some sort. Not freeware, but not expensive either. Try Hersey Micro Consulting (or "no Smoking Software"?) in Ann Arbor, MI. For the person who wanted to create a shell to replace COMMAND.COM, try looking at last month's and this month's Doctor Dobbs Journal. They claim to have a disk available, with source code (MS-C) and executable shell. Try DDJ in Palo Alto, CA. Brian ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Feb 86 13:32 EST From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Turbo Board Comparison? Can someone with a Victor plug-into-socket board estimate the speed-up via Norton tests? I recall that the most recent message about it described mostly installation stuff. Joe Newcomer's note about his turbo card and an advertisement from Victor sparked my interest. Brian ------------------------------ Date: 12 Feb 1986 12:09:49 PST Subject: monochrome monitor query From: Laurence I. Press <SWG.LPRESS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Does anyone know a source for schematics and parts for the IBM monochrome monitor? Thanks, Larry Press ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12-FEB-1986 12:31 PST From: Mike Iglesias <MIGLESIAS%UCIVMS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Removing non-DOS Partitions from AT Disk We have an AT w/20mb hard disk. We had a copy of PC/IX on loan about a year ago, and we tried to install it, but for some reason that I can't remember right now, it didn't work. We don't have PC/IX anymore, and we want to get rid of the PC/IX partition on the hard disk so we can have a 20mb DOS partition again. I've tried using FDISK to remove the PC/IX partition with no success. Is there a way to get rid of the PC/IX partition without having PC/IX? Thanks, Mike Iglesias University of California, Irvine ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Feb 86 04:14:42 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: LINK Option /E vs EXEPACK By comparing the sizes of the (packed) files generated from LINK ver 3.02 and the /E option with the size of the .EXE file manually packed with the (scarce and infrequently distributed) utility EXEPACK, I have come to the conclusion that LINK ver 3.02 option /E generates EXACTLY the same size file as manually running EXEPACK on a regular .EXE file output by LINK... Since LINK is easy to get, whereas EXEPACK is only distributed with an (expensive) subset of Microsoft packages, I heartily recommend using LINK and /E. Also, the LINK with /E does not involve the hassle of intermediate files, and appears to bind at the same rate as LINK without /E. There is only one slight problem with packed files, namely SYMDEBUG does not know how to use them. In reality this is no problem, you link without /E while developing and then release the final product packed. Also, in higher level languages (such as Quick-Basic), who cares about the Symbolic Debugger, anyway... While on the topic of Quick-Basic, when is Microsoft going to improve their manual so as to mention that you have to link to GWCOM.OBJ to get the serial I/O ports to work, and what the file SMALLERR.OBJ is good for? It would also be nice if the /V and /W switches to BASCOM worked as the manual said they did. (/V works like /W is supposed to, /W produces junk) Also, a BREAK or a FRAMING ERROR to the serial I/O port crashes Quick-Basic ------------------------------ From: 2212msr%whuts.UUCP@BRL Subject: PC-DOS 3.1 and "echo off" Date: Tue, 4-Feb-86 10:15:45 PST nather@astro.utexas.edu writes: "For several reasons (none very good) I'd like to use PC-DOS 3.1, but not at the expense of bat-chatter. If anyone knows how to patch the 3.x command.com so it runs .bat files silently, please send it to me, or post it to the net. The patch for 2.x I am using does not work on 3.x (*sigh*). I have a kludge that erases the "echo off" which is echoed when the batch command "echo off" is executed, but it is irritating after getting used to the real thing." This patch changes echo default to echo off (DOS 3.1 only!). debug command.com -e 1967<cr> xxxx:1967 01.00<cr> -w <cr> writing xxxx bytes -q<cr> Max S. Robin AT&T Bell Laboratories Rm. 3E-318A Whippany, NJ 07981 201-386-6865 email:whuxg!2212msr ------------------------------ From: farren%well.UUCP@brl Subject: CGA: 2 More Palettes in Medium Res Date: Sun, 9-Feb-86 10:44:51 PST jan@looking.UUCP (Jan Gray) writes: "From the documentation I've seen, there are only two medium res colour palettes, one with black, red, green, yellow, and the other black, magenta, cyan, white. However, Turbo Pascal can set another two palettes with "high intensity" colours. How is this done? The BIOS Video Set Palette call doesn't seem to be able to set palette 2 or 3. Is there a BIOS call to do this? Is there a (much less portable) IO address to poke?" You can get the high-intensity palette by setting the background color to a high-intensity color (Probably black, that's usually the most common choice). To do this, you use the normal BIOS call, INT 10H, with AH set to 0BH, BH set to zero, and BL set to 8 (high intensity black). Likewise, if BL is set to zero, you will get the low-intensity pallette. Mike Farren uucp: {your favorite backbone site}!hplabs!well!farren Fido: Sci-Fido, Fidonode 125/84, (415)655-0667 ------------------------------ From: rde@ukc.ac.uk Subject: Re: File truncation under PC-DOS Date: Tue, 4-Feb-86 01:08:02 PST bright@dataio.UUCP writes: "Anyone out there know a way to truncate a file to 'n' bytes in length without going in and directly manipulating the FAT? I need a method that is well-behaved." Use function 42H (seek) to move the file pointer to the place you want the file truncated. Then use function 40H (write) with a count of zero (CX=0). This comes from the MS-DOS Programmer's Manual so it ought (!) to be well behaved. Hope this helps. Bob Eager rde@ukc.UUCP rde@ukc ...!mcvax!ukc!rde Phone: +44 227 66822 ext 7589 ------------------------------ Date: Wednesday, 12 Feb 1986 13:15:20-PST From: watson%akov04.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM Subject: Co-Processor Board Inquiry I would like to find out what a co-processor is and how it works. I have requested information from suppliers that advertize such products in the trade magazines but all I get is hype on their products. I would like to know does the co-processor and system processor compute concurrently? How do the processors communicate, do (all, most, some, none) of the popular software work on the co-processor? How does the user control the 2 processors? Are there (one, two, several, many) different types of co-processors? Which one is best? etc, etc, etc. If you are privy to this information, I would very much appreciate hearing from you. I will try to summarize the responses for other curious and/or confused souls out there with the same interests. Thank in advance. Rick Watson ------------------------------ Date: 12 Feb 1986 16:24:43 PST Subject: Co-Processor Board Inquiry From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: watson%akov04.DEC@DECWRL.DEC.COM A co-processor as defined by Intel is a chip nearly pin for pin identical to the processor chip. In the case of the PC/XT the main processor chip is an Intel 8088 and the floating point co-processor chip is an Intel 8087. When the main processor issues a special instruction the co-processor is informed that the next few following bytes are instructions for the co-processor to perform. Currently there are two co-processor chips made by Intel. The 8087 does fast floating point arithmetic, the other is a special chip that aids in implementation of stand alone word processors. Intelwill soon announce a third co-processor chip that will speed up graphics for PC applications. There are also co-processor boards available for the PC. I suspect this is what you were asking about and relabeled your query accordingly. Some co-processor boards use the Intel family chips to run DOS faster than a PC or AT. Others contain 68000s or National 320XX chips and run various flavors of Unix. The subject is indeed confusing as no standard has emerged in this area. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Feb 86 16:27 CST From: XASSHOR%UCHIMVS1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: WordPerfect and the LaserJet The reason WordPerfect will sometimes not print boldface on the LaserJet even though there is a bold font available is this: WordPerfect assumes that there is one printer command string for turning on boldface. On the LaserJet there is both a primary font and a secondary font available, and the command strings for working with them are slightly different. By default, WordPerfect sends the string for boldfacing the primary font. The fixes are obvious. -- Melinda Shore University of Chicago Computation Center ...!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!shor XASSHOR@UChicago.Bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1986 19:56 EST From: LENOIL@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU To: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: CHMOD CHMOD (PC-DOS interrupt function 43H) negligently trashes register AX on a non-error return from subfunction 00H (Get File) Not negligent at all. The DOS technical manual explicitly states (somewhere) that AX is never preserved by an INT 21. ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 153328) 86-02-15 12.16 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <199> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-15 12.16 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <190> -- Received: 86-02-15 19.15 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-15 12.16 Subject: Info-IBMPC-Digest V5 #22 %Original date: 14 Feb 1986 18:57:47 PST. TF: DSKD:835292.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 27850 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 15 Feb 86 11:24 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 14-Feb-1986 22:45:35-est Date: 14 Feb 1986 18:57:47 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC-Digest V5 #22 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 14 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 22 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: Hard Disk Interleaves Xenix 1.0 + Hercules + Princeton + vi = headache Memory Board Query UNIX|STAT Announcement MIDI Interfaces Xenix on 30Mb Rodine Disk fopen() under XENIX/DOS on PC-AT Request Info on Micro-PROLOG 1.2 MB Drive on PC/XT Link/E Option IBM System/36PC New ANSI Driver WordStar 2000 Inquiry SAVVY PC 5 Mb Cartridge Drives Info-IBMPC Submission Quick Basic Woes System Buffer Pool Writer's Workbench for PC-DOS Query Expanding Old PC Motherboards Where is ARC50.COM? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Feb 86 16:21 PST From: GEORGEBURKITT.ES@Xerox.COM Subject: Hard Disk Interleaves The interleave function exists because some controllers cannot buffer adjacent sector READs in real time. They read one sector, then transfer the data out; while the data is being transferred, the disk is still spinning past the adjacent sector. By the time the controller is ready to handle a second sector, the head is ready to read a sector some ways around the track. The controller knows this, so it originally placed the "second" sector the same distance around the track. The interleave factor is the number of sectors which the controller skips between "acjacent" sectors. It also is the number of revolutions the disk must make to read an entire track. Since it is a FORMAT function, it must be done at the initial formatting....usually by the dealer before delivery. There are a number of non-IBM reformat programs around, but I don't know them by name. [Does anybody have any specific programs that will format a disk with higher interleave factor? -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Feb 86 19:20:08 pst From: David Robinson <ia-sun2!david@csvax.caltech.edu> Subject: Xenix 1.0 + Hercules + Princeton + vi = headache I have just installed Xenix 1.0 on an IBM PC/AT that has a Hercules color card with a Princeton monitor. When I use vi, everytime I insert a character, delete a character, or delete a line the screen flashes. This is literally giving me a headache. Is there an easy fix to this or do I need to hack up the /etc/termcap entry? Any suggestions/fixes are more than welcome! ------------------------------ Date: 12 February 86 22:14-PST From: from: DEP%SLACVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Memory Board Query Date: 12 February 1986, 22:13:21 PST Anyone out there have strong opinions about reliable and economical memory boards for the IBM PC (non AT)? We have been using mostly AST boards here, but I'm curious to know what other people recommend? *-------------------------------------------------------------------* * Don Pelton, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford, Calif. * * Bitnet: DEP@SLACVM Arpa: DEP%SLACVM.BITNET@wiscvm.ARPA * * Usenet: ihnp4!ptsfa!well!dep * * 415-856-8032 (home) 415-854-3300 ext. 2901 (work) * *-------------------------------------------------------------------* [I like Tall Tree -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Feb 86 10:04:28 est From: "Bennett E. Todd III" <ecsvax!bet%mcnc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: UNIX|STAT Announcement What follows is an announcement of a new version (5.2) of my UNIX|STAT package of data manipulation and analysis programs for UNIX and MSDOS. The UNIX version is finished, and the MSDOS version will be ready as soon as we get around to compiling them, certainly by March 1, 1986. UNIX|STAT continues to be distributed on tape for $20 and floppies for $15, and you can make free copies for non-profit use. If you do data analysis on UNIX or MSDOS, its worth reading on. For People Who Are Familiar With UNIX|STAT: So what's new from the old version? To me the main changes are: a. contab (new program) for contingency tables and chi-square b. probdist (new and replacement program) for random number generation, and probability to/from statistic conversion for uniform, normal, chi-square, t, and F distributions. c. on-line help built into most programs: -L print program limits -O print program options -V print program version number d. ranksort (new program) to rank order data within columns e. on-line manual entries will be available on MSDOS, so: g. I am no longer distributing free printed documentation. f. there is brand new documentation (a big handbook) for 5.2 There are several new features added to old programs, to take up slack for programs I am no longer distributing (io, vincent, trans, dataplot). I hope to rid myself of this compulsion to write new UNIX|STAT programs, so I intend to avoid adding to the package for at least six months. This should be the best version around for a while. The long description follows, and it includes ordering information. Due to the number of calls I have received, and had to return, I will no longer be returning calls about the package. If you must call, leave your name and address and I'll send you a paper copy of exactly what follows. And don't forget, send me your addresses in the form they will appear on a mailing label, or I will let your request gather dust for weeks rather than try to decipher letter-head. Foreign requesters: please tell me what country you are writing from; I am still wondering where Flatzen-Hozen is. UNIX|STAT 5.2 DATA MANIPULATION & ANALYSIS PROGRAMS FOR UNIX and MSDOS UNIX|STAT is a set of over 20 data manipulation and analysis programs developed at the University of California, San Diego and at the Wang Institute of Graduate Studies by Gary Perlman. The programs are designed with the UNIX philosophy that individual programs should be designed as tools that do one task well and produce output suitable for input via pipes to other programs. Interactive use is supported in the command line interpreter which also provides a programming language for complex analyses. Typical usage involves a pipeline of transformations of data followed by input to an analysis program, summarized schematically by: INPUT DATA | TRANSFORM | ANALYSIS | OUTPUT RESULTS Functionality often built into statistical packages (e.g., graphics and sorting) is not re-invented in UNIX|STAT which delegates such responsibility to standard tools. DATA MANIPULATION PROGRAMS: abut join data files colex column extraction dm column oriented data manipulator maketrix create matrix type file from free-form file perm randomly permute lines in a file probdist probability distribution functions ranksort rank order columns repeat repeat a pattern or file reverse reverse lines, columns, and characters series print a series of numbers transpose transpose matrix type file validata verify data file consistency DATA ANALYSIS PROGRAMS: anova multi-factor analysis of variance calc interactive algebraic modeling calculator contab contingency tables and chi-square desc descriptions histograms, frequency tables dprime signal detection d' and beta calculations oneway one-way anova and t-test and error-bar plots pair paired data statistics, regression, plots regress multivariate linear regression stats report summary statistics ts time series analysis and plots FEATURES: easy to use (negligible training period) simple input formats (free format field oriented) used in pipelines with other UNIX or MSDOS utilities (sort, print) flexible data manipulation data validation (range and type checking) full documentation (manual entries, tutorials) extensible (many modular C functions) efficient (less than a few seconds per analysis) small enough for micros runs on any UNIX System (V6, V7, 2.8BSD, 4BSD, System V, etc.) runs on MSDOS 2.0 and 3.0 with 96K (IBM PC, Wang PC, AT&T PC, etc.) liberal copyright (can't be distributed for gain) in use at more than 400 UNIX sites for six years CHANGES FOR RELEASE 5.0 (March 1985): reworked to increase portability, reliability, usability most commands now use a standard option parser (getopt) all calculations now done in double precision improved error messages regress now does a partial correlation analysis colex and trans added as alternative to dm better approximations to F-ratios efficiency of I/O improved most programs ported to MSDOS improved random number seeding on UNIX standard exit status (0) on successful runs version control added CHANGES FOR RELEASE 5.1 (November 1985): several minor bugs removed the full package was ported to MSDOS CHANGES FOR RELEASE 5.2 (January 1986): 5 probability distributions with random number generation crosstabs and chi-square program on-line help in most programs plotting options added to paired data program anova program more robust error bar plots, unweighted means solution in oneway program better support for residual plotting in regress UNIX|STAT Handbook and new manual entries on-line manuals on MSDOS AVAILABILITY AND ORDERING INFORMATION: The programs are distributed under a liberal copyright. The software (program code, executable code, and on-line documentation) can be distributed freely, provided there is no material gain. All rights are reserved on the printed documentation. All prices include delivery and should be prepaid US funds to G. Perlman. UNIX Version of UNIX|STAT: Price: $20 Contents: Program (C language) & Manual (troff) Source Files Format: 600 foot half inch 9 track mag tape, 1600 bpi tar format MSDOS Version of UNIX|STAT: Price: $15 Contents: Preformatted Manuals and Executables Format: 2S/2D MSDOS 5.25 inch floppy diskettes Handbook: Price: $10 Contents: Examples, Conventions, Reference Materials, CALC & DM Manuals Format: Printed Manual (~70 pages) Printed Manual Entries: Price: $5 Contents: Typeset Versions of Manual Entries, Reference Sheets Format: Printed Manual (~30 pages) CONTACT: Gary Perlman Wang Institute of Graduate Studies Tyng Road Tyngsboro, MA 01879 USA (617) 649-9731 UUCP: decvax!wanginst!perlman CSNET: perlman@wanginst NOTES: UNIX|STAT is unsupported, though known bugs have been removed. UNIX|STAT may not be distributed for profit. UNIX is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories. UNIX|STAT is NOT a product of any company or organization. -- Gary Perlman Wang Institute Tyngsboro, MA 01879 (617) 649-9731 UUCP: decvax!wanginst!perlman CSNET: perlman@wanginst -------------------------------------------------------------- -Bennett Bennett Todd -- Duke Computation Center, Durham, NC 27706-7756; (919) 684-3695 UUCP: ...{decvax,seismo,philabs,ihnp4,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!duccpc!bet ------------------------------ Date: 12 Feb 86 23:41:34 EST From: John Duimovich <John_Duimovich%CARLETON.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: MIDI Interfaces We have people here doing a music/computer interfacing project using an IBM-PC equipped with the Roland MPU-401 and corresponding interface board. Does anyone out there have any information on : 1) Available MIDI software / documentation for the IBM-PC 2) Documentation for Oberheim System Exclusive Messages, and associated protocol. This is really important ! 3) Is there a MIDI BBoard/Mail Groups on the Net (or anywhere else !) ? 4) Documentation on the Roland MPU-401. Anyone out there used it ? Problems ? As this is a specialized topic please reply directly to me and I'll summarize to the net. Thanks in advance John Duimovich John_Duimovich@Carleton.BITNET PP147363@Carleton.BITNET if your mailer can't handle > 8 character names. ------------------------------ Date: 13 Feb 1986 09:56-EST Subject: Xenix on 30Mb Rodine Disk From: MHARRIS@A.BBN.COM I have been trying to install Xenix on an AT with 30Mb Rodine disk without success. I tried Robin Cutshaw's patches; they caused my installation floppy to trash itself. Mr. Cutshaw very kindly sent me the patched code on floppy; it doesn't work. I'm told there are "official" IBM patches now; does anyone know if this is so, and how to get them (local dealers feign ignorance)? Any help would be appreciated (my project is constrained to IBM issued Xenix, so SCO is not a possibility). Thanks. -- Michael Harris BBN Labs 617-497-3794 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Feb 86 09:25:20 est From: Kevin Sullivan <kjs%tufts.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: fopen() under XENIX/DOS on PC-AT I developed a program under XENIX and used the -dos option on the compiler to produce a file executable under DOS. The fopen() call returns an absurd value, however, when the memory model is specified to be Large. The program runs under XENIX and under DOS unless memory model LArge. 1) has anyone seen this problem, do you know a fix? 2) does anyone know how to get IBM to respond to this kind of problem? Please mail directly to me as I am not on the PC list. Thanks much. Kevin Sullivan Tufts University kjs%tufts@CSNET-RELAY ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Feb 86 12:10 EST From: Deba Patnaik <DEBA%UMDC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Request Info on Micro-PROLOG How much does it cost ? Who distributes the software ? Are there any other PROLOG interpreters or compilers ? ------------------------------ Date: 13 Feb 86 10:13:41 PST (Thursday) Subject: 1.2 MB Drive on PC/XT From: Kadifa.osbunorth@Xerox.COM I am interested in the possibility of using a 1.2 MB high-density floppy drive as an additional drive on an XT. Naturally, the XT BIOS doesn't support the high-density drive, but I would like to know if there exist any MS-DOS drivers for the 1.2 MB drive. Abdo. [Tall Tree in Palo Alto makes hardware & software to support 1.2MB drives -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Feb 86 14:36:52 CST From: CHENJCL%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Link/E Option Microsoft's newest version of the macro assembler documents the /e (Execpack option). Masm ver 4 (i think) around page 55. More trivia. Up to and including pc-dos version 3.0 allowed basic to rename directories (using NAME "?old" AS "?new"). Pc-dos version 3.1 flags this 'error'. Oh well. john lewis ------------------------------ Date: Thursday, 13 Feb 1986 14:26:57-PST From: waters%viking.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM Subject: IBM System/36PC I just opened up a copy of Datamation and saw an advertisement from IBM for a "System/36PC". What is this???? There is a picture of an IBM PC with two floppy drives, monochrome monitor, and keyboard. Next to the PC is a vertical mount chassis system which has a single half-height drive and looks like a PC/AT. The price? -- $5995! This includes "a 256K, 40MB System/36 Processor". The ad says that it is available from participating Authorized IBM PC dealers, Value Added Dealers, and IBM Product Centers. When was this announced? Did it just get lost in the RT/PC announcement? Lester Waters WATERS%VIKING.DEC@DECWRL.COM (ARPA) ...!decvax!dec-rhea!dec-viking!waters (UUCP) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Feb 86 18:27:23 PST From: kegel%Juliet.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: New ANSI Driver Hi, folks. Here's my console driver: NANSI.CAT Nansi.sys is a console driver which understands ANSI control nansi.doc sequences. It has several advantages over ANSI.SYS (the driver setraw.cat supplied with DOS): 1. It supports new escape sequences (see nansi.doc). 2. It provides MUCH faster output under certain conditions. 3. It supports the 43-line mode of the EGA. 4. The darned bell is now 1/4 second instead of 1/2 second. See the file setraw.doc for Macro Assembler, Lattice C, and Microsoft C routines for entering and leaving raw mode. <kegel%Juliet.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu> 2/14/86 So let me know what y'all think. - Daniel Kegel [These files have been added to our program library. It would be very nice if someone could combine this with the work done for terminal emulation ------------------------------ Date: 14 Feb 86 03:47 GMT From: ghicks @ KOREA-EMH Subject: WordStar 2000 Inquiry Having just purchased an EPSON FX-80 printer, I wanted to try and get our office copy of WordStar 2000 to work with it... I installed the printer as directed, but couldn't find a way to get the right printer selected. The one that came closest wasthe MX-80... But I can't do proportional spacing from WordStar.. Any ideas on how to 'patch' (or change the PRINTERS.DB file) to allow WS2000 to understand this printer?? Thanks Greg Hicks ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Feb 86 22:23 CST From: Greenwald@HI-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: SAVVY PC Does anyone have any experience with SAVVY PC. (put out by Savvy Corp. in Albuquerque, N.M.). It is advertised as a Database Manager, Extensible Programming Language, and pattern recognition driven Retriever. In addition, it is a virtual system - permitting you to run programs whose size is limited only by disk space, allows for 10,000 concurrently open files, has embedded telecommunications, .... And all of this for $49 !!! ------------------------------ Date: 14 Feb 1986 02:20:34 EST From: BALLGOOD@USC-ISI.ARPA Subject: 5 Mb Cartridge Drives Does anyone know if on a system (GRid) using MS-DOS with a 10MB hard disk composed of 2 5MB cartridges, a contiguous file greater than 5 MB (say 6.5MB) be built by a data base program? Specifically, R-Base 5000, Dbase III or Oracle. Anyone willing to share any experience with the GRiD and large database systems , please let me know,]]Thanks Bob Allgood ------------------------------ Date: Friday, 14 Feb 1986 07:09:19-PST From: watson%akov04.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM Subject: Info-IBMPC Submission I have just replaced the 8088-2 CPU in my PC Designs FD-1000 with a V20 chip and would like to report the differences noted. My configuration is: PC Designs FD-1000 system (8 Mhz clock) 512 K 150 ns system ram 2 M AST Rampage board (128 K used to bring system memory to 640 K) (remainder used as ram disk) The following are comparison timings done before and after the installation of the V20 chip: Norton SI index 1.7 2.9 BENCHA (Interrupt Response) 1.21 1.04 BENCHB (Interrupt Kernel benchmark) 4.39 4.18 BENCHE (String Search benchmark) 6.32 4.83 BENCHF (Bit Manipulation Instructions) 6.70 6.26 BENCHH (Linked List Insertion) 4.40 4.18 BENCHI (Quicksort) 7.14 5.99 BENCHK (Bit Matrix Transpose benchmark) 18.23 16.03 IEEE Micro (2/81) Digital Filter Benchmark 13.68 8.24 Compilation of 8454 line Turbo Pascal Program 159.00 156.00 DeARC 19 'Crunched' Pascal Sources Files (ARC V5.2) 226.63 220.41 ARC the same 19 files (Crunched) 112.37 109.03 * All benchmarks were run from and used files exclusively from ram disk. The numbers represent time in seconds except the Norton SI which is a relative index. The BENCH? and Filter Benchmark were obtained from a BBS and are designed to highlight the V20 performance. The V20 has some additional instructions to aid in bit manipulations. The table above indicates the timings with the V20 running 8088 object code. BENCHF and BENCHK also report timings using the enhanced instructions which are: BENCHF 3.85 BENCHK 10.93 These times are much improved over the 8088 however, the object code is not compatible with the 8088. All in all I can't notice any difference while doing normal operations on the system. (normal operations include program development using C, Turbo Pascal, and MASM). So far, I haven't found any program that was 'broken' by the V20. If I do, I will go back to running the 8088 and chalk up the $25 spent on the V20 to experience. Rick Watson ------------------------------ Date: Fri 14 Feb 86 08:53:06-PST From: Bob Knight <KNIGHT@SRI-NIC.ARPA> Subject: Quick Basic Woes On the subject of Quick Basic, I had a private conversation which I enclose in this message. If there's anyone else who's run into problems, please send documentation to me. Date: Thu 13 Feb 86 14:21:01-PST From: Bob Knight <KNIGHT@SRI-NIC.ARPA> Subject: Quick Basic. To: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Hi - In the latest INFO-IBMPC digest, you spoke of problems you've encountered with Quick-Basic. I'm writing an application in it, unfortunately, and have run into problems with PC hangs that I feel were the fault of Quick-Basic, and directly related to comm ports, since I'm working over a radio link. Your message was truncated, but the last line said something regarding this. In addition, I've had random lossage (and I MEAN random) regarding string space corrupts, out of memory errors and the like. Considering the time constraints I'm under on this project, and the apparent ignorance on Microsoft's part of these problems, I'm looking for people who've run into them and can perhaps offer some workarounds... If I had more time, I'd have the luxury of using something that was more stable. Thanks much for any assistance given, Bob ------- Date: Thu, 13 Feb 86 18:53:38 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: KNIGHT@SRI-NIC.ARPA Subject: Quick Basic. I have devised the following procedures which make BASIC usable (1) Use BASICA interpreter instead of Quick-Basic where possible (2) Have the ON ERROR GOTO a statement which consists of RUN Don't bother with sophisticated error handling, or Quick-Basic will incur another I/O error before it has finished processing the last I/O error. This will drive it nuts... (3) Manually examine the COM line status register for BREAK and FRAMING errors (the ones that crash Quick-Basic). Refrain from opening files on COM until you have manually (thru OUT) cleared these bits. (4) Microsoft Quick-Basic is guaranteed to crash on the following o The guy sending thru COM device changes baud rate suddenly... o The guy sending thru COM device hits break. (it breaks...) ------- End of enclosure ------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Feb 86 08:53:03 PST From: Jim Carter <jimc@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> Subject: System Buffer Pool In PC digest V5#20, Walton%Deimos@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu writes about disc optimizers and points out that disc "access" can be speeded up a lot if disc sectors are cached in core; he mentions several products that take care of this. Standard PC-DOS v3.1 (and v3.0, the manual says) has a system buffer pool too. The default number of sectors in the cache is 2 (3 for an AT) but you can expand it to 99 (=~50K) with the "buffers" command in config.sys. All drives share the same cache. James F. Carter (213) 206-1306 UCLA-SEASnet; 2567 Boelter Hall; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA 90024 UUCP:...!{ihnp4,ucbvax,{hao!cepu}}!ucla-cs!jimc ARPA:jimc@locus.UCLA.EDU ------------------------------ Date: 14 Feb 1986 09:47:39 PST Subject: Writer's Workbench for PC-DOS Query From: Richard Nelson <SWG.NELSON@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Writer's Workbench is a text preparation tool available on Unix. Is there a version of it (or something like it) available on PC-DOS machines? Thanks, /richard ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Feb 86 13:25:23 est From: parrish@EDN-VAX.ARPA (Jimmy Parrish) Subject: Expanding Old PC Motherboards Does anyone know of a method of expanding the motherboard memory of early IBM-PCs. These early machines were limited to 64K ( 36 16K x 1 chips) memory on the motherboard. Any source for advice or parts would be appreciated. Please reply directly to PARRISH@EDN-VAX.ARPAPA . THANKS IN ADVANCE ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Feb 86 15:52:17 PST From: cameron@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA Subject: Where is ARC50.COM? Gentlemen, I noticed that <INFO-IBMPC> has the file ARC50.DOC which is the documentation for the lastest version of the archiving utility ARC. I was wondering: is the latest version of ARC on ARPAnet somewhere? Thanks, -Jonathan Cameron (CAMERON @ JPL-VLSI) [Does anybody want to be the "Official" net depositary of the latest version of ARC. If so I will put your address in our ARC.DOC file. -wab] ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 154054) 86-02-18 23.34 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <200> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-18 23.34 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <191> -- Received: 86-02-19 00.40 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-02-18 23.34 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #23 %Original date: 17 Feb 1986 22:55:07 PST. TF: DSKD:844341.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 15395 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 18 Feb 86 22:15 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 18-Feb-1986 02:32:11-est Date: 17 Feb 1986 22:55:07 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #23 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, 17 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 23 This Week's Editor: Eliot Moore <Elmo@USC-ISIB> Today's Topics: Memory Boards Memory Boards, Wordstar 2000 Apple LaserWriter and MSDOS Writer's Workbench Clones Transparencies for IBM Color Jetprinter Smartworks Floppy problems with 10 MHz AT Public Domain Calculator Query Digital Camera Recorders Query Digitized Speech Systems Query Unix Query 'True' Basic Query Programming a modem with Turbo-Pascal ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 15 Feb 86 00:13:17 EST From: Chris Schmandt <geek@MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Memory Boards Cc: DEP%SLACVM.BITNET@wiscvm In response to the query about memory boards: I am using JRAM 3 with 2Mb and planning to get more of them. Their ramdisk and speedy diskcopy is the best I've seen, full of switches for hackers to customize. Source included! And hard to beat the price! I know everyone is probably sick of Billy tooting Tall Tree's horn, but theirs has been an impressive performance. As for disk caching: I've had some use of an intelligent cacher called "Lightning". As opposed to straight caching, they do some clever read- aheads. It can actually a more effective use of memory space than a ramdisk, IF you don't have enough ramdisk for all your frequently accessed files. A while ago I referred to the Tecmar Megafunction board as "vapor". To correct that, it exists. It is overpriced and poorly documented, and their software barely acceptable, but it is a VERY packed multi-function card. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Feb 1986 10:36-EST Subject: Memory Boards, Wordstar 2000 From: DEVCTR@USC-ISID.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA It has been my experience that Word Star, no matter what form or version, never has or does support matrix printers very well. In earlier versions, I had to reconfigure through the installation routine, control codes that were compatible with the particular matrix printer. However, Word Star has not included enough vacant command control spaces or any "hooks" to add any. Some folks at NOSC have written print driver routines using BASIC but I would recommend PASCAL. And I would specifically recom- mend the BORLAND TURBO-87 or BORLAND TURBO versions (I found TURBO-87 slightly faster). Regarding the utility RAM boards--Tall Tree is our favorite through a selection process but we have not (and I havn't either) evaluated one since it is in the mail somewhere. However, an article concerning the Tall Tree JRAM-2 memory board (less all the other utilities like clock etc) is included in the March '85 PC World Magazine on page 167. If you can not find or do not have easy access to the article, it is short, and I can include it as a message. One thing the article points out is that the driver named JETDRIVE has two versions. The first version is 2.40 while the more recent is version 2.75. For owners of the old version, they can get the newer version for 20 bucks while others can get the whole new driver for 60 bucks. The source for the JETDRIVE package is Tall Tree at their CAL address. The version 2.75 allows the user to configure more than one RAM disk in the JRAM-2 board. The article says up to four. Also, unique to Tll Tree's JRAM-2 and JETDRIVE VER.2.75, the user can reboot without loosing JETDRIVE. In addition, JETDRIVE, in some cases, is faster than SUPERDIVE by AST Research. I am not sure whether Tall Tree uses EMS or EEMS and if this is a problem, the prospective buyer should investigate whether there is a potential problem Fred ------------------------------ Date: Sat 15 Feb 86 11:59:04-EST From: Barbara H. Liskov <LISKOV@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Apple LaserWriter and MSDOS In response to Tom Russell's query in info-ibmpc about sharing a Laserwriter between Macs and IBMPCs: We just got a Laserwriter at work and are struggling with the same problem. The Macs, using Appletalk are connected to the Appletalk connector and an IBMPC is connected to the RS-232 connector. For ibm use, we physically move the rear switch from the Appletalk to either the special position for Diablo 630 emulation at 9600 bps or the 9600 bps position for Postscript applications. In the latter position we use GEMDRAW or a simple ASCII listing program (with selection of one normal and one bold font), that I wrote. I'd be happy to sent that program to info-ibmpc, but it is very limited. Note that it is not necessary to power down the Laserwriter when the switch position is changed. If there is a way to switch between Macs and IBM users electronically, I'd like to hear about it. I've heard that there is an IBM to Appletalk connection, but I do not know if that is real and whether there is any useful IBM software to support it. I've seen ads for a number of laser software utilities for the HP laser printer from the ibm pc, but none for Postscript. I would appreciate hearing about any useful ones. Nate Liskov ------- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Feb 86 16:55:47 EST From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Writer's Workbench Clones Richard Nelson asks about Writer's Workbench for PC-DOS machines. At last count, there were two: Grammatik and Punctuation & Style. At one point, Grammatik was taken off the market (according to the rumors), but then I saw a review a few months ago. In any case, both of these programs are worthless as far as I am concerned. Don't listen to the reviewers in the glossies though; they think everything is useful ("if you need a program that _____, then ____ just might be for you"). The biggest problem with all available grammar checkers, including WWB, is that they flag every occurrence of words and phrases that are commonly misused. I find them to be a waste of time. In the end, the knowledgeable user encounters excessive flagging, and the "ignorant" user is left to determine whether or not there really is an error. I recognize that there are a number of programs in the WWB system, not just flagging of commonly misused words/phrases; but, so far as I know, the rest of the system has not been cloned. And I have to say that those readibility indexes (Flesch, Fog, whatever) are among the most embarrassing products of academia. There are a number of intelligent systems in the works, and I recommend that you wait until these are available. For a good summary, see Gary B. Alexander, "Computer Aids for Authors and Editors," *Seybold Report*, Feb. 13, 1984 (pp. 3-21?). Although this article is two years old now, there has been no news of major developments since then. For the record, I am a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in English. I have a Ph.D. in English and an A.M. in Linguistics. I have also worked extensively on one of the systems that Alexander discusses. I speak for myself, however, and have nothing to gain by the success of one system over another. I do, however, have a lot to gain by the success of one or more systems that do what we really need; not only would such a system significantly reduce the mechanics of proofreading my own composition, it would reduce the low-level errors in my students' papers. It's about time that we put these machines to work, don't you think? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1986 17:20:18 EST From: NEVRH%NERVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Transparencies for IBM Color Jetprinter As far as I have been able to find, IBM is the only source of transparencies that are reliable for the Jetprinter. I have tried the kind intended for use with the 749/750 plotter (about the same price, but we already have the supply path established) and the Jetprinter ink does not spread evenly on this surface. I have tried plain acetate sheets with the same result, only worse. I have tried drafting film (both glossy and matte). The ink beaded up on the glossy stuff and did not spread evenly on the matte surface. I am on the lookout for surfaces that I haven't tried yet and I'll let you know if I ever I find something that works and is also less expensive. As far as being hard to get, the only problems I found were getting our purchasing people to do a PO. As soon as I had the PO number, I called IBM Direct and the transparencies were here two days later (it took two days because I called very late in the afternoon). I would think it ought to be the next day in Delaware. I would like to hear if you find any other potential good materials for transparencies. Virginia Hetrick Northeast Regional Data Center University of Florida Gainesville, Florida 32611 NEVRH@NERVM.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 17 February 86 09:21-EDT To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: CSCON102%UOFT02.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Alan Smith) Subject: Smartworks Does anyone out there know how to make a safe-keeping backup copy of a program called Smartworks? The program is used in drawing/creating printed-circuit boards using an IBM-PC. I have tried Copywrite and CopyII PC these will not produce a working backup of the program. I can not directly send mail on BITnet but I receive mail from the network...Send any ideas/(programs?) to CSCON102@UOFT02.BITNET (My account at the University of Toledo). Thank you Alan. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Feb 86 02:48:11 EST From: "Paul L. Kelley" <PLK@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: Floppy problems with 10 MHz AT To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA My 10 MHz AT has a significant rate of access failures for the 1.2 Mbyte floppy drive (no problem with the 360 Kbyte drive). Retry works, but is not particularly pleasant. I thought the "Change Diskette Parameter Table's motor startup delay" code recently sent to INFO-IBMPC by Glenn Connery (connery%bnrmtv.UUCP at BRL.ARPA) might solve the problem. Not so, no matter what I set the startup constant to be. I did verify that the original constant was 8. Apparently there is another timing loop (I suspect the seek track routine) that needs a bigger constant. Is there a better idea out there? Paul Kelley (PLK@MIT-MC) ------------------------------ Date: Mon 17 Feb 86 10:33:23-PST From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@SU-SUSHI.ARPA> Subject: Public Domain Calculator Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I'm looking for a public domain calculator that runs on the PC/XT/AT. I'd like it to be a Macintosh-like "desk accessory" if possible; I want to call it from within a program I'm writing to do occasional calculations. I think a simple 4-function (with memory) model would suffice. If possible, I'd like the source code as well; ideally, I could modify it to work with the EGA/Enhanced Color Display setup (i.e. in high resolution mode), if it doesn't already. Any ideas? Thanks, Marvin (ZAUDERER@SU-SUSHI.ARPA) ------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Feb 86 07:57:34 pst From: Neal Holtz <holtz%cascade.carleton.cdn%ubc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Digital Camera Recorders Query [Note: the following message is forwarded for John, whose BITNET host is being difficult...] I'm interested in purchasing a 4K digital camera recorder. Anyone had any experience with the camera made by Matrix Corp? Are there any other reasonably priced units out there? Thanks John Przybytek <John_Przybytek@carleton.bitnet> ------------------------------ From: greenber%phri.UUCP@BRL.ARPA Subject: Digitized Speech Systems Query Date: Thu, 13-Feb-86 11:39:49 PST I'm in need of any and all information regarding voice boards for operation on a IBM AT (or compatible). I've heard of the WATSON board, and this might come close to my needs, but you might know better: 1. Ability to answer the phone. 2. Good to excellent voice quality 3. Ability to register Touch-Tone Frequencies 4. Ability to run a number of "scripts", of unknown (but large) length (maybe 5 minutes of voice?) 5. Excellent response time (<5 seconds after TT hit) 6. It would be nice if it could use expanded and extended memory up to the limit of the AT (to avoid Disk I/O as much as possible) 7. Reasonable price (<$10K) If you know of any boards, or have further information regarding such boards, please *MAIL* to me, and I'll summerize as required. Thanks! ross m. greenberg ihnp4!allegra!phri!sysdes!greenber ------------------------------ Date: Saturday, 15 Feb 1986 16:05:55-PST From: shapiro%kim.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Unix Query Does anyone know of a UNix look alike os for the IBM PC that is in the public domain? I just bought a 20 meg hard disk, and can't wait to graduate from PC Dos to Unix. If there is nothing in the public domain, what is the best value from the multitude of Unix implementations for the PC? A licensed implementation is preferable, but not if it is outrageously expensive! Thanks ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Feb 86 12:45:10 CST From: MATHES%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: 'True' Basic Query To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Does anybody know of a good compiler for True Basic (Addison Wesely). Elias Saab ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1986 17:31 CST From: Nigel Salway <SALWAY%UREGINA1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Programming a modem with Turbo-Pascal To: <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> I am interested to know if anyone has a reference that shows how to write a ter minal emulator in Turbo-Pascal. I am running Turbo-Pascal under DOS 2.1 on an P C-AT with a Hayes Smartmodem 1200 attached to COM1. The language seems to indic ate that COM1 can be accessed as a file called Aux but I have not been able to get any code to work. The farthest I have got is to get 1 character echoed from the modem and then it hangs, not even responding to CTRL - C. Nigel Salway (SALWAY@UREGINA1) ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160258) 86-03-24 05.07 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <201> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.07 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <192> -- Received: 86-03-24 06.07 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.07 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #36 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:49 PST. TF: DSKD:931196.MAI %FROM: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 14935 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Mar 86 01:26 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 18:52:25-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 21-Mar-86 13:44:59 Date: 21 Mar 1986 13:44:59 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #36 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:49 PST ReSent-From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 21 March 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 36 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: DOS 3.2 (yawn) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DATE 860318 TITLE IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER DISK OPERATING SYSTEM VERSION 3.2 AND IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER BASIC REFERENCE VERSION 3.2 AVAILABLE OVERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS o Is upwardly compatible from IBM Personal Computer DOS 3.1. (DOS 3.1 and DOS 2.1 are still available.) o Supports IBM Token-Ring Network. o Supports all members of the IBM Personal Computer family. o Provides a new command (REPLACE) to replace all occurrences of a file on a disk. This facilitates installation of new versions of DOS or application programs. o Provides a new command (XCOPY) to allow copying of files from more than one subdirectory where the source and target drives are of different densities, making complete or periodic backups easier. o Removes default drive capability on FORMAT. When the FORMAT command is executed, the drive letter must be specified, helping to prevent accidental reformatting of a disk or diskette. o Provides for label checking when a fixed disk is formatted. FORMAT will not proceed until the volume label is entered correctly by the user, providing an extra check to avoid accidentally reformatting a fixed disk. o Enhances several existing DOS commands to provide greater usability and better error recovery. o BASIC has been enhanced to include the following: - OPEN statement now includes support for the IBM PC Network and IBM Token-Ring Network. - Extended Graphics Adapter support is provided for enhanced modes via the PALETTE, PALETTE USING, and COLOR statements. - DOS extended error support is now provided. DESCRIPTION IBM Personal Computer DOS Version 3.2 provides the required support for an application program to interface with IBM Personal Computer hardware. It supports all members of the IBM Personal Computer family. DOS allows the user to manage files on a disk or diskette (display directories, rename files, copy files and so on). DOS also permits the user to start an application consisting of one or more programs linked together into a single load module. IBM Personal Computer DOS Version 3.2 includes a BASIC Language Interpreter Version 3.2 (described in the separately available BASIC Reference Version 3.2). DOS Version 3.2 also provides a line editor and debug utility programs to aid in program development. A linker program is provided to convert language compiler relocatable modules to executable load modules. New commands are provided to support copying of files in more than one subdirectory and to allow referral of a physical device as multiple drive letters. TECHINFO TECHNICAL INFORMATION SPECIFIED OPERATING ENVIRONMENT HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: An IBM PCjr, IBM Personal Computer, IBM Personal Computer XT, IBM Portable Personal Computer, or IBM PersonalComputer AT are required. Memory requirements are: o IBM PCjr - 128Kb o IBM Personal Computer - 96Kb (128Kb recommended for fixed disk) o IBM Personal Computer XT - 128Kb o IBM Portable Personal Computer - 256Kb o IBM Personal Computer AT - 256Kb Diskette drive requirements include at least one of the following: o 360Kb diskette drive o 1.2Mb diskette drive Display and adapter are required as appropriate. HARDWARE PERIPHERALS: The following have been tested for compatibility with DOS 3.2 and operate as described in their documentation: o IBM Token-Ring PC Adapter and Cable o IBM 5841 1200 bps Modem o IBM Personal Computer 1200 bps Modem o IBM Personal Computer 3278/79 Emulation Adapter o IBM 5201 Quietwriter (R) Printer Model 1 o IBM 5201 Quietwriter (R) Printer Model 2 o IBM 5216 Wheelprinter o IBM 5223 Wheelprinter E Model 1 o IBM 3852 Color Jetprinter Model 2 o IBM 4201 Proprinter o IBM 3812 Pageprinter o System/36 PC 5364 Model 1 o System/36 PC 5364 Model 2 o Enhanced 5250 Emulation Version 2.1 Installation Convenience Kit o Enhanced Display Station Emulation Adapter Kit o System/36 PC Model 21 o System/36 PC Model 22 o 3270-PC with 3270-PC Control Program Versions 1.22 and 2.1 o 3270 Personal Computer AT with 3270-PC Control Program Version 2.1 o IBM Personal Computer AT/370 Option Kit o IBM 7371 Color Plotter o IBM 7372 Color Plotter o IBM Voice Communications Adapter Option COMPATIBILITY: IBM Personal Computer DOS Version 3.2 is an upwardly compatible enhancement to DOS 3.1 and contains maintenance updates to DOS 3.1. DOS 3.1 is still available. DOS 3.2 provides support for the IBM Token-Ring Network. Because the storage requirements are 8Kb greater than DOS 3.1 (44Kb versus 36Kb), some programs may not fit in the same size machine. In such instances, a program may be divided into smaller segments, or more memory may be added to the system unit. o DOS environment area can now be reserved: A new option of the SHELL command allows this area to be expanded to 32Kb. This allows the user to specify more extensive PATH commands, PROMPT commands, and SET commands without running out of environment space. o FORMAT: The FORMAT Command now requires the user to specify the drive letter; it no longer uses the current drive as the default. When formatting a fixed disk, the FORMAT command requires the user to specify the Volume ID of the disk. A warning message is also displayed, indicating that all data on the fixed disk will be lost if the user chooses to proceed with the formatting. o REPLACE: A new command, REPLACE, is provided to replace all occurrences of a file on a disk. o SELECT: The SELECT command has been enhanced to provide additional flexibility. o XCOPY: A new command, XCOPY, has been added to allow the user to copy files in more than one subdirectory. Options allow prompting for selective copying of files, verify after write, copying of lower level directories even when empty, copying of files modified after a specified date, and copying of archived files only (with or without modifying the archive bit). XCOPY can be performed where the source and target drives are of different densities. o Utilization of the BIOS parameter block: The BIOS parameter block is used to obtain media-type information to remove dependence on the File Allocation Table ID for the media-type information. o I/O control subfunctions: DOS 3.2 implements subfunctions that enhance device independence. These subfunctions allow querying and changing of device parameters as well as logical device support. These subfunctions are: - Get device parameters - Set device parameters - Read track on logical drive - Write track on logical drive - Format and verify track on logical drive - Verify track on logical drive - Get logical device number (determine if a device has more than one letter) - Set logical device number (suppress diskette change request messages) IBM Personal Computer DOS 3.2 is an upwardly compatible enhancement to DOS 2.1 and contains maintenance updates to DOS 2.1. DOS 3.2 requires a minimum of 44Kb of user memory. DOS 2.1 requires 24Kb.Because DOS 3.2 storage is 20Kb greater, some programs may not fit in the same size machine. In these cases, a program may be divided into smaller segments, or more memory may be added to the system unit. In addition to those described above, DOS 3.2 contains the following enhancements: o Optional file sharing: Applies on a file basis; provides full range of sharing possibilities. o Block locking: Provides the ability to restrict access to all or part of a file when the file is opened in a shared mode. o Support for IBM PC Network/IBM Token-Ring Network: Allows addition of the IBM PC Network programs. These programs are available separately and require appropriate network hardware. o Background print: Modified version of DOS 2.1 Print, which now supports path specifications and an internal programming interface. o Additional interrupt 21H functions: Additional function calls provide enhanced file management and support for the IBM PC Network environment. o Enhanced error recovery: Additional error reporting facilities to enhance support in the IBM PC Network environment. o Support for IBM Personal Computer AT: 1.2Mb diskette drives, non-volatile timer, larger fixed disk (size = 20Mb versus 10Mb for DOS 2.1). o BASIC Interpreter: Support IBM Personal Computer Enhanced Graphics Adapter, IBM PC Network, IBM Token-Ring Network, and DOS Extended Error facilities. BASIC Reference Version 3.2 contains a more detailed description of the changes. o VDISK: RAM disk. Allows use of part of storage for a virtual disk; supports extended memory (above 1MB) on IBM Personal Computer AT for virtual disk. o Large linker: Supports up to 1Mb o SUBST: Substitute string. o JOIN: Splicing of directories. APPLICATION PROGRAMS: The following licensed programs have been tested for compatibility with DOS 3.2 and operate as described in their program documentation: [List of programs deleted in interests of brevity. All programs were IBM products. Other usless stuff deleted as well. -ed] PACKAGING: IBM Personal Computer DOS Version 3.2 resides on two diskettes (6280057). The first diskette contains DOS; the second contains the Linker, Debug, EXE2BIN, sample device driver listings, and the BASIC sample programs. The following are included in the program package: o IBM Personal Computer Disk Operating System User's Guide (Version 3.2) o IBM Personal Computer Disk Operating System Reference (Version 3.2) o IBM Personal Computer Disk Operating System Quick Reference Card (Version 3.2) A brochure and postage-paid response card for a free copy of "The Directory," the catalog of personally developed software for IBM Personal Computers are also included. An update to the IBM Personal Computer DOS Technical Reference includes information on DOS 3.2 and will be sent automatically to registered users via the Update Information Service. This service provides updates to this manual until 60 days after the manual has been withdrawn from marketing. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: The IBM Personal Computer Assistance Center (PCAC) will provide assistance to eligible IBM customers. ORDERING ORDERING INFORMATION BASIC Reference Version 3.2 can be ordered as feature 0075 of 5150 - MNL and is not available at discount. Orders for any quantity may be taken by NCMD/SWMD marketing representatives. Orders for quantities less than 20 may be taken by the IBM Product Centers. Each Product Center will accept and process orders within its trading area. CHARGES, TERMS, AND CONDITIONS CHARGES Part Feature One-Time Description Number Number Charge IBM Personal Computer 6280057 0057 $95 DOS Version 3.2 BASIC Reference 6280075 0075 45 Version 3.2 TERMS AND CONDITIONS WARRANTY: Program - No, the provisions of the IBM Program License Agreement apply. ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160259) 86-03-24 05.08 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <202> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.08 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <193> -- Received: 86-03-24 06.07 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.08 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #24 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:10 PST. TF: DSKD:931203.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 17060 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Mar 86 01:30 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 18:53:14-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 19-Feb-86 20:58:13 Date: 19 Feb 1986 20:58:13 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #24 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:10 PST ReSent-From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 19 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 24 This Week's Editor: Eliot Moore <Elmo@USC-ISIB> Today's Topics: Administravia - Erroneous Publication PC Clones Finding bad blocks on disks ARC50.COM Micro-Prolog Distributor PCs and Macs Connect to LaserWriter Multiple Serial Ports Query Windows for RT Query Rogue River, where are U ??? Literacy Software Query QNX Query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 Feb 1986 18:10:42 PST Subject: Administravia - Erroneous Publication From: Eliot Moore <SWG.ELMO@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA In Digest V5 #23 a message regarding Smartworks with reference to defeating copy-protection mechanisms was mistakenly published. Info-IBMPC does not endorse, support, or condone the use of products to defeat copy-protection, and as such will not carry any dialogue on the subject. Regards, Elmo ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Feb 86 11:57:26 est From: ulysses!ihnp4!pur-ee!sgh@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (No Taste, Better Filling.) To: WISCVM.WISC.EDU!GKN3M2@IRISHMVS.BITNET, pur-ee!info-ibmpc Subject: PC Clones I own a Heath/Zenith 158, an XT clone. Compared to the XTs at work, which I unfortunately had the need to dig inside, the Zenith (or Heathkit) looks and feels like a much better engineered machine. The EMI/RFI levels are far better, the screen never "snows", the CPU card is separate and removable from the chassis, there are 3 more slots, and the power supply is 168 watts standard (I operate 2 floppies and one hard at the same time, with all slots filled). The ROM BIOS does not include BASIC, but rather Zenith felt that the user would prefer to have a diagnostics menu and disassembler instead. I have NEVER had trouble running any PC program; but Zenith does provide two DOS utilities that will make the extended BIOS operate just like IBMs. The ROM monitor program is directly accessable either at power-up, or by the <alternate><control><insert> key combination. Upon power-up, the machine is ready to boot the disk in 3-5 seconds (compared to IBM's 10-20). The MS DOS does NOT include BASIC, getting away from IBM's idea of a home "personal" computeer, and more user/programmer/business computer. The DOS instead includes many useful utilities, such as search-for-a-string-in-a-file, search-for-a-file, convert-tabs-to-spaces, display-an-extended-sorted-directory, etc. The programmer's tool kit even includes one of the best screen editors that I have ever used (I regularly use EMACS, VI, SE, and score of others). The tool kit also includes a COMPLETE on-disk listing of ALL of the BIOS, as well as VDISK.SYS and ANSI.SYS (so that you can modify them yourself), plus version 4 of the macro-assembler. The documentation for the operating system has been totally rewritten by Zenith, and comes in binders twice to three times as thick as IBM's, with full explainations and examples. The video card has dip-switches to make the card emulate either IBM's color graphics card, monochrome card, or the EGRA. Outputs include RGB and com- posite video (B/W) with absolutely NO snow. True to Zenith's reputation, the composite video output displays a TRUE gray-scale on a monchrome monitor, even taking into account IBM's BROWN. I have found that Flight Simulator looks better in color mode when I use it one my monochrome monitor than in its monochrome mode. The floppy controller card can operate 4 drives directly, even though there is only room to mount two in the machine (since they would require power anyway, an external chassis would be perfect). All slots are full length slots, a total of nine of them (one for the CPU card, eight for the rest of the system). The keyboard is faster, smoother, with larger key-caps than IBM's, although it still uses the standard IBM layout (except the the large L-shaped <return> key). The whole keyboard is faster, and runs with a separate programmable processor, that has a key-repeat that speeds-up the longer that you hold a key down, and learns to adjust to your typing. The key-click is generated by the keyboard processor, and can be shut-off (<alternate><escape> combination). The NUM-LOCK and CAPS-LOCK keys both have LEDs in them to show what status they are in. During the summer, I used my Zenith keyboard on my employer's XTs with no problems, but with better output. The machine itself, when purchase under the Heath version, includes HUGE service manuals, that make repairs and service as easy for the layman as riding a bicycle. It comes in two full-size 3-inch binders, with everything that you would want to know. The documentation for the machine and the DOS are so clear and precise, that I got more knowledge of the IBMs at work after reading Zenith's documentation, than I did when I had read IBM's documentation. From the rumors that I heard (no validation), Zenith paid some good bucks acquire some propreitary knowledge from IBM, apparently only in the interest of making there machine as compatible as possible. Zenith has re-engineered the whole system, and did a fine job of making a machine more IBM compatible than IBM themselves. The machine was designed to incorporate the state-of- the-art equipment and software available. Zenith also markets a version of Microsoft's Xenix (called Zenix?), and CPM. I have used Kaypros, Compacts, and even Zenith's Z200 machine, and found that they are for more inter- changable in many enviroments, that even IBM isn't (thats what I mean when I say they are MORE compatible than IBM themselves). Note too, that the Z150 series are the ONLY non-IBM machines allowed to call themselves an IBM XT in the ROM code (a one-byte identification). It took Zenith 4 years (1985) to come up with there clone for the XT (they had an 8088 machine, the H/Z 100 in 1980), but as far as I can tell, they corrected as many of the complaints people had of the IBM, and still be compatible, as they could. I am a EE student here at Purdue University, as it only took two days of looking at the documentation and the PC boards in both the XTs at work, and the Zenith to appreciate the Heath Engineers in St. Joe, Michigan, and all the fine work they put into their machine. The IBMs at work have had break-down, service, and dealer support problems, my Zenith has only had one CPU problem (I didn't solder the kit well enough), and Zenith directly and openly supports every machine they make directly, with separate lines for software, DOS, and hardware. Remember, if no one else has told you, Zenith's Z100 machine is a better piece of architecture than the IBM XT is; even though both with use MS DOS and use the 8088 processor -- I hae been able to do more with my roommate's S100 bus Z100 than I can with my IBM compatible. Like I have said, I have used many IBM type machines (the school used to buy Leading Edges), and fell that in the IBM XT class, the Zenith 158 is the way to go. By the way, if you are looking for an IBM AT class machine, the new Kaypro is the way to go -- they are only ones allowed to identify themselves as an IBM AT in ROM. Also note, Zenith's 148 looks and acts an awful lot like Compact's machine, and even identifies itself as such -- any clue where the money went here? I am sorry if this is long, but I wanted you to get a GOOD look at what I am talking about when I say that the Zenith is the machine that you want to go for. - sgh ------------------------------ Date: Wed 19 Feb 86 12:36:27-PST From: Ted Shapin <BEC.SHAPIN@USC-ECL.ARPA> Subject: Finding bad blocks on disks To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Phone: (714)961-3393; Mail:Beckman Instruments, Inc. Mail-addr: 2500 Harbor Blvd., X-11, Fullerton CA 92634 I had the following experience with the 20 meg IBM supplied hard disks (not CMI) on two brand new AT systems. I ran into I/O errors reading files for an application on one system. Running the advanced diagnostics flagged the same tracks written on the sticker on the hard disk. Running chkdsk did not pick up any bad tracks. Running Tom Jennings SCAV30 (scavenge program) found some ADDITIONAL bad blocks and locked them out. Then running CHKDSK a second time, converted these bad blocks to files, FILEnnn.CHK, which I left so those blocks wouldn't be allocated by DOS. The second system showed the same type of thing. SCAV30 showed bad blocks that were not picked up by either the advanced diagnostics or CHKDSK. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Feb 86 13:15:43 EST From: Kenneth Van Camp -FSAC- <kvancamp@ardc> To: cameron@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: ARC50.COM ARC50.DOC is on the Simtel20 archives, as well as the executable. --Ken Van Camp <kvancamp@ARDC.ARPA> [Please be specific when mentioning files on simtel20, as to include the directory name. It is not inherently obvious, nor is it necessarily easy to determine. Thanks. -elmo] ------------------------------ Date: 18 Feb 86 08:47:00 EST From: "DYMOND, KEN" <dymond@nbs-vms.ARPA> Subject: Micro-Prolog Distributor To: "info-ibmpc" <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa> Reply-To: "DYMOND, KEN" <dymond@nbs-vms.ARPA> Re: Deba Patnaik's 2/13/86 query on Micro-Prolog Try Programming Logic Systems, Inc. 31 Crescent Dr. Milford, Conn. 06460 (203) 877-7988 ------ ------------------------------ Date: 18 Feb 86 14:59 EDT From: (Gary Chapman) <CHAPMAN@NYU-ACF7.ARPA> To: <info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: PCs and Macs Connect to LaserWriter Organization: New York University/Academic Computing Facility Systems Group Office: Rm 318, Warren Weaver Hall, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences Address: 251 Mercer Street, NY, NY 10012 Work-Phone: (212) 460-7160 or (212) 460-7181 Network-Address(es): Chapman@NYU, or ...!{siesmo,allegra}!cmcl2!chapman At the NYU Microcomputer Laboratory, we have played with PC-MacBridge installed on a standard PC AT. PC-MacBridge (from Tangent Technologies, 5720 Peachtree Parkway, Suite 100, Norcross, Georgia 30092, 404-662-0366) is a combination of a short board and software which puts a PC on an AppleTalk network. We have two Macs, one Mac XL, the PC AT, and a LaserWriter networked together. The chief use for PC-MacBridge is to allow one to print on the LaserWriter, although if one is willing to buy Macintosh mail software (I forget the name of the package), one can theoretically have mail capabilities between work- stations on the network. The software included with PC-MacBridge allows one to print documents from several popular word processing programs, including WordStar and Multimate. One can easily set things up to print plain ASCII files. I have to say that we have been rather disappointed with PC-MacBridge, given its cost of $595. Two major problems have surfaced: (1) PC-MacBridge seems to fail miserably most of the time when trying to print files greater than 32K in length. The files I have tried to print were converted by PC-MacBridge into PostScript files, so the original size of the text files were rather less than 32K. (2) We have on many occasions experienced PC-MacBridge interferring with the actions of Macintoshes on the network which are in the process of printing when we give the command for PC-MacBridge to print. At least once, PC-MacBridge's actions resulting in a Macintosh being "kicked off the network". More typically, if a Mac is printing, say, a ten page document, and then we give the command for the PC AT to print, the printer will not complete the Mac's document before allowing the PC AT's document to begin printing. This is truly incredible, since all PC-MacBridge has to do is wait until the LaserWriter is free. We have heard that they are "working on it"! Given that the release of the software we have is V. 2.1, it is hard to justify such problems. Until such problems are fixed, caveat emptor. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Feb 86 22:41:00 est From: BACS Access <access%indiana.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: net.micro.pc%indiana.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA Subject: Multiple Serial Ports Cc: mod.computers.ibm-pc%indiana.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA, I am using a Zenith AT clone with Xenix and am interested in attaching several more serial ports. Has anyone had experience with the Quadram 5 serial port board or the AST FourPort/XN? They both look interesting. Other than that, does anyone know of an 8 port board or the like that isn't too incredibly high priced? *thanks Robert Cole iuvax!access (usenet) access@iubacs (bitnet) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Feb 86 14:51:50 pst From: young@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Bruce Young) To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Windows for RT We need a windowing package for the IBM RT/PC running UNIX system V. Our caveat is the package must support the original IBM pc enhanced graphics card, rather than the new RT/PC graphics card. All rational suggestions are appreciated. Broadcast your reply or mail directly to: young@AMES-NAS ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Feb 86 15:25:36 cet To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: C0%DDAESA10.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Rogue River, where are U ??? Hello, I saw a product today that I would like very much to purchase, but from where ???. It is the SPF/PC editor from "Rogue River Software". This version, 01.70 did not yet have macros, but it did say they would be available in version 2. Can anyone help with an address or even better a telephone number, please no 800 numbers, we can't access those from across the water. For anyone who spends there working day using ISPF/PFD this is the editor to use. Many thanks, Dick ------------------------------ Date: 18 February 86 09:41-PST From: DEP%SLACVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Don Pelton) To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Literacy Software Query This is a query from a teacher participant in the EDUCATIONAL conference on the WELL. Please reply to me and I will pass on the information. "I have another question to pose to anyone (I was about to say listening!) reading.... Are you aware of any micro software (IBM or Apple) written for ADULTS who are learning to read and write. I promised my gang at Project Read (part of the California Literary Project part of a nationally funded literacy push right now) that I would ask. Seems there is a puddle of software for CHILDREN newly gaining literacy but it is very inappropriate for our adult illiterates. The Menlo Park library where my group is based has various types of Apple and IBM micros that we could start using with our students but, sigh, we need some software. Any and all ideas and information would be appreciated." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Feb 86 03:46:47 -0100 From: Tom Ivar Helbekkmo <helbekkmo%vax.runit.unit.uninett@nta-vax.arpa> To: <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA> Subject: QNX Query Does anyone out there have any experience with the QNX operating system for the IBM PC? It seems to be a multi-user, multi-tasking, networking, UNIX-inspired system - but having only looked at a demo diskette I happened upon, I know very little about it except that the demo looks nice! :-) QNX is made by: Quantum Software Systems Ltd. P.O. box 5318, Station "F" Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2C 3H5 Any information and comments regarding both the QNX operating system and Quantum Software Systems in general will be appreciated! Tom Ivar Helbekkmo, <helbekkmo%vax.runit.unit.uninett@nta-vax.arpa>. ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160261) 86-03-24 05.10 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <203> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.10 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <194> -- Received: 86-03-24 06.07 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.10 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #25 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:12 PST. TF: DSKD:931212.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 18300 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Mar 86 01:35 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 18:53:55-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 20-Feb-86 21:34:57 Date: 20 Feb 1986 21:34:57 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #25 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:12 PST ReSent-From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 20 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 25 This Week's Editor: Eliot Moore <Elmo@USC-ISIB> Today's Topics: ARC50 (sic) and Being Specific IP/TCP NRC & MIT NANSI's Beep AST 4 port vs 8 port card on Xenix PC/AT Multiple Serial Ports MS Word, Mouse, and Hercules IBM Monochrome Display Adjustment Query IBM Compatible Presentation Graphics Diablo <=> Lotus on Wang PC Apple/IBM conversions... Compaq Noise, dBase III+ WANG WP PC Emulator Board Query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Feb 86 09:04:30 PST From: prandt!tweten@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Dave Tweten) To: amelia!Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: ARC50 (sic) and Being Specific How's this for specific? pd:<msdos.arc-lbr>arc500.dqc pd:<msdos.arc-lbr>arc500.exe Be sure to use "tenex" mode because they're both binary files, and simtel20 is a 36-bit machine. The "q" in "arc500.dqc" means the file is compressed with the "SQ" program. That is available in the "pd:<msdos.sq-usq>" directory. ------------------------------ Date: 20 Feb 1986 13:19:34 PST Subject: IP/TCP NRC & MIT From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: braCKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA Many have asked about IP/TCP implementations for the PC. I recently completed an application based on the IP/TCP code from Network Research Corp. (NRC) of Oxnard CA. Last November we purchased the Fusion software package from NRC for $750. We also acquired a 3Com 3C505 Ethernet interface for another $1100. I can't recommend spending this much money just to hook a user PC to the net, but as our application was to act as a server the cost seemed justified. I understand the NRC software will work with the cheaper Ethernet interfaces, but as I have no experience in this area I can't comment. I think $750 is a lot of money for PC software and NRC seems unwilling to negotiate price, but in some respects they are the only game in town so I guess it is a sellers market. The delivered user code comes with an FTP and a Telnet. The FTP works fine. It looks just like a Unix FTP and includes lots of commands most essentially multiple get and put. I have no complaints here. The Telnet works but it uses ANSI.SYS to provide VT100 emulation. I have yet to try the new NANSI.SYS code we recently released in our INFO-IBMPC library. When this is combined with ScrollMate and I suspect the Telnet will decent. The biggest problem with the user code is that host tables must be kept in a file on the local disk. The NRC code doesn't know how to access either the old style name servers or the new style domain servers. If you try to open a FTP or telnet connection to ISIB you must have the exact spelling of the name in your local host table file. Of course in our application as a server this wasn't a problem. We bought the Fusion package as it was advertised to be a flexible programmable generalized IP/TCP package. The package was billed as Berkeley Unix source code (user level) compatible. This didn't exactly thrill me as the Berkeley Unix interface is just plain demented. Certainly the programmers at NRC didn't choose this interface. It must have been a marketing decision. Sometime in the far distant future they hope to implement a rational user interface in addition to the Berkeley interface, but for the time being we have to live with "the standard". (It ought to be possible to do an implementation of the SUN distributed file system on top of this interface. If anybody ports this please let me know.) Before we purchased this code we received warnings from others on the net that this code was a sham and didn't work as advertised. This proved to be true. As of last November NRC was selling a Lattice C version of their Fusion package. Internally they were using a Microsoft C version under Xenix. The Microsoft C version is Berkeley compatible and works. The Lattice C version is neither compatible nor well documented nor to the best of my abilities to determine functional. I assume NRC will soon be shipping the Microsoft C version of the Fusion package. If you have the previous version beat them into sending you the new Microsoft code! This isn't a reimplementation of the Berkeley code. There are lots of business suit types around NRC and I assume this includes lawyers. Disregarding legal the reasons, this code must run under Xenix, various flavors of Unix, VMS, DOS, and who knows what else. Of course the same code also supports Xerox protocols, and your friendly NRC salesman will promise you any protocol/hardware combination you can dream up as long as you are willing to throw money. I pity the poor programmers who have to support all this from one common body of code. The user documentation seemed real sparse until someone from NRC pointed out that it might be instructive if I got my hands on some Berkeley Unix documentation and read it (Thank you local Unix Geeks for the help here!). The NRC DOS MIcrosoft C library contains most everything Microsoft left out of their libraries that a Berkeley Unix hacker might want when porting code to the PC. I don't know if the documentation people at NRC are just behind or there are some legal reasons, but you have to use the DOS LIB program or read your Berkeley manuals to get a list of the functions. The long and short of it is that after a few dozen phone calls and nearly as many trips to Oxnard we got the Microsoft C large model code working. It is closely compatible with Berkeley Unix, and our application code worked nearly right out of the box. One can plan and build sophisticated network applications around this code. NRC has an excellent reputation for technical support. Even the salesmen are helpful after the sale has been made! Why didn't we use John Romkey's MIT code for free? We have used this code here at ISI for several applications. This application was written in Pascal, assembler, and large model C. With the debugger loaded it swamps a 704K AT. Thank you Gordon Letwin! We are able to combine all these Microsoft languages. Storage allocation works from the same heap and the I/O routines are all compatible. Dale Chase and I had previously written applications based on the MIT package where extra modules had to be called as resident pseudo device drivers in order to get around the MIT package's inability to link with anything not written at MIT. Romkey's code has many good points. I am forcing his hand, but I think it unfair to talk about NRC's IP/TCP implementation without mentioning that Romkey has rewritten his IP/TCP code in Microsoft C and will be marketing it shortly. I am sure John will do a better job of improving and supporting his code than the numerous others who are reselling his public domain code. I hope INFO-IBMPC will become a forum for discussing these various IP/TCP implementations. NRC's code met my needs for this last project. Hopefully for us consumers, IP/TCP implementations will become like other commercial products such as editors, word processors, and spreadsheets. The NRC code is very different from John's and each implementation is suitable for different applications. I think it healthy that in order to join the net we don't have to have some standard configuration shoved down our throats by Washington planners and can choose our IP/TCP implementation. Network Research's phone Number in Oxnard California is (805)485-2700 ------------------------------ Date: 20 Feb 1986 00:21:10 PST Subject: NANSI's Beep From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA There is a bug in the timing code used by the BEEP routine in NANSI, the ANSI.SYS replacement which was recently submitted to the Info-IBMPC library. If the addition of the beep period to the BIOS low timer word results in an overflow, the beep will be supressed. Suitable replacement code would be: mov bx, timer_low mov cx, -1 beeplp: mov ax, timer_low sub ax, bx cmp ax, cs:beep_len jg beepover loop beeplp beepover: Craig Milo Rogers ------------------------------ From: Herm Fischer <hermix!fischer@rand-unix.ARPA> Reply-To: HFischer@ada20 To: access%indiana.csnet@csnet-relay, info-ibmpc@isib.arpa Subject: AST 4 port vs 8 port card on Xenix PC/AT Date: Thu Feb 20 11:20:17 1986 I have been using an American Micronics (AMI) 8 port serial card with PC/AT Xenix, and prior to that I've used the AST 4 port serial card with Xenix. My experiences with the two are that both cards seem to be well constructed hardware, but AMI seems far more responsive on driver support than AST. The AMI card is supported by both IBM's Xenix (which I still use) and SCO's Xenix. Microport (which supplies a Unix V.2 for the AT) apparently also will support the AMI card. The AST card is only supported on IBM's (not SCO's) Xenix as far as I can tell. With the AST card I occasionally (once every two weeks or so) had the driver and/or hardware lock up. Re-booting would not solve this problem; I would have to halt and cycle power on the AT. Secondly, with the AST card, one cannot share the interrupt level with other devices. (Xenix supports having multiple devices, such as a streamer tape and printer, on the same interrupt level. AST claims there is a hardware error which prevents this with their card.) The AMI card has neither locked up nor bungled interrupts (yet). Eight is more useful than 4 ports (see my configuration, below). Finally, the driver they supply for IBM Xenix is apparently more efficient, in terms of software system overhead, than AST's. If you run a cat to a terminal and measure system overhead, it is significantly lower with the AMI driver. (I have not run this test on SCO Xenix.) Pricewise, AMI appears a better deal. Local dealers seem to want about $500 for the AST 4-port. AMI claims a retail price of $575 for their 8-port, but most dealers provide significant discounts on their products. (AMI's phone number is 714/261-2428). My AT, running at 14.3 MHz, has 1.664 MB memory, the AMI 8 port card, an EGA console, 3 Wyse 50 local terminals, 2 dial-in ports (on com1 and com2), a LaserJet, a Bell Technologies streamer, and a serial mouse. Herm Fischer {ihnp4, decvax}!hermix!fischer or HFischer@ada20 ------------------------------ From: bierma@nprdc.arpa (Larry Bierma) Date: 20 February 1986 1301-PST (Thursday) To: access%indiana.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA Subject: Multiple Serial Ports Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib I have an eight-port serial board running under XENIX in my PC-AT. It works just fine. It is the "Hostess" board from: Control Systems 2855 Anthony Lane Mineapolis, MN 55481 (612) 789-2421 The sell both a four port ($495) and an eight port ($695) board, and drivers for XENIX (4-port, 8-port, or two 8-port boards supported). --Larry ARPA: bierma@nprdc.arpa UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!sdics!nprdc!bierma PSTN: (619) 225-2161 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 86 13:35:51 PST From: walton%Deimos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: MS Word, Mouse, and Hercules To: info-ibmpc%Deimos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Reply-To: walton%Deimos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu I am having a problem with Microsoft Word when used with a Microsoft Mouse and a Hercules card in a Zenith Z-151 PC. Basically, the mouse pointer is garbage--a series of 7 blobs of pixels spaced across the screen. I believe that the problem is that the MS Mouse driver is failing to determine the presence of a Hercules card, and is generating a pointer for a CGA instead. Word itself successfully determines automatically that I have a Hercules card, and works fine. I also have Microsoft Windows on the same system, and its mouse pointer is fine. I'd like to hear from anyone who is using a MS Mouse with Word and a Hercules card in any PC, especially if you had problems getting it to work and particularly if you know how to patch the MS Mouse driver to force it to generate Hercules graphics pointers. Steve Walton Caltech Solar Astronomy ------------------------------ Date: Thu 20 Feb 86 20:32:01-CST From: AI.BUNDA@R20.UTEXAS.EDU Subject: IBM Monochrome Display Adjustment Query To: info-ibmpc@R20.UTEXAS.EDU My IBM monochrome display's vertical hold has gone bananas. Of course, the only adjustments on the outside of the case are the brightness/contrast, and there are "no user or field serviceable components inside". Does anyone know if this is a fixable problem, (i.e. a pot inside I can tweak), or should I do as my product center kindly suggests and trash it? (!) Thanks..../John Bunda UT-Austin ------------------------------ Date: 19 FEB 86 15:22-CST From: MCDONALD%UMKCVAX1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: IBM Compatible Presentation Graphics PC user, I have a user who wants a presentation graphics package for an IBM compatible. He thinks all he needs is bar charts, pie charts and line graphics. Wants it in color. Seen any recent comparisons?? Also, know any good graphic printers?? Probably won't want to spend to much on either. Thanks, -GaryM. BITNET contact UMKCVAXn (n=1, 3) Univ. of Mo. at K.C. ps. As I am not a subscriber to this digest, please reply to MCDONALD @ UMKCVAX1 . BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 19 Feb 1986 05:59:27 EST Subject: Diablo <=> Lotus on Wang PC From: ABN.20E-27@USC-ISID.ARPA To: Info-IBMPC Just a note of interest -- I wonder if some user out there would possibly be familiar with LOTUS 1-2-3 enough to inform me of how (if possible which I feel should be) to get LOTUS to communicate with my DIABLO printer. I am using a WANG PC-005A/AB, interfaced with the WANG PC-PMo12/AB Daisywheel Printer. When asked to print even a straight spreadwheet the system locks up. I have no problem printing Multiplan, therefore why no LOTUS? I am curious about this querk and would really enjoy hearing something back. It would be a shame not to bea able to use the printer while in LOTUS. I do use other 'backdoor' methods of getting printouts from LOTUS spreadsheets, but no where near to the extent of what Lotus is capable of. WAY TO BE ----- Kurt A. Neumaier Reply: ABN.20E-27 -------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 19 Feb 86 10:37 GMT From: ghicks @ KOREA-EMH Subject: Apple/IBM conversions... To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib CC: jusmag-dt @ KOREA-EMH After many years of being a squeaky wheel, our sponsor has finally allowed us to purchase IBM compatable computers under the Navy/Air Force contract. Now we have a problem... We have a fairly large data base, developed under PFS:File for the Apple, that I do not relish re-entering for the IBM compatable. Does anyone know of a program that can convert from Apple disk format to IBM disk format?? I could just 'print' the files under PFS:report to the serial port and have the IBM input them, but don't really want to have to do this.. Is there a better way? pPreferably one that doesn't cost too much?? Gregory Hicks (Ghicks@Korea-EMH) ------------------------------ Date: 19 Feb 86 14:33 EST From: McCliman@DDN2.ARPA Subject: Compaq Noise, dBase III+ To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib.arpa Several months ago I purchased three compaq 286 machines (compaq's at equivalent) and have been very happy with all three. However, one of them has recently developed an intermittant high pitched squeal. I have torn the entire machine apart and it is not the fan, drives, power supply or anything else I could test. I if it is coming from the board under the power supply. If anybody has encountered this problem or has any suggestions... Also, on an unrelated topic, has anybody actually encountered the new 'plus' version of dbaseiii? I am curious if it does what ashton-tate says it does. also, does it have as many bugs as dbaseiii v1.0 & 1.1 did. tia. fred. ------------------------------ Date: Tue 18 Feb 86 14:39:45-PST From: Steve Dennett <DENNETT@SRI-NIC.ARPA> Subject: WANG WP PC Emulator Board Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Some time ago I read somewhere about a plug in board (?) that allowed a Wang dedicated word processor to run IBM PC software. I'm looking for any information on this device, and would also like to hear the experiences of anyone who has actually used the beast. Thanks. Steve Dennett dennett@sri-nic.arpa ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160262) 86-03-24 05.11 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <204> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.11 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <195> -- Received: 86-03-24 06.07 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.11 Marked by somebody. Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #26 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:14 PST. TF: DSKD:931220.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 15800 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Mar 86 01:39 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 18:54:30-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 21-Feb-86 17:56:30 Date: 21 Feb 1986 17:56:29 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #26 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:14 PST ReSent-From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 22 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 26 This Week's Editor: Eliot Moore <Elmo@USC-ISIB> Today's Topics: Genius VHR (2 Messages) ARC5xx Removing Non-DOS Partition on AT LINK /E vs EXEPACK Update Interrupt Handlers in Turbo (V5 #20) Floppy Access Problem on 10 MHz AT Diablo <=> Lotus on Wang PC MS-DOS Find First File/Find Next File functions Max Files Open Multitasking a la TopView Query Color & Mono Cards in AT Public Domain Backup Program Wanted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu 20 Feb 86 23:54:46-PST From: Richard Pattis <PATTIS@WASHINGTON.ARPA> Subject: Genius VHR To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I am seriously considering buying a Genius VHR for my AT system. This monitor, discussed in PC Mag's "Best of 85" article (page 112, Vol 5 No 1) supposedly crisply displays 66 lines x 80 columns in portrait mode. It has 730 pixels across by 1004 pixels down. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find one installed locally, such that I could actually see it and try it out. I am interested in hearing of anyone owning such a monitor, or anyone owning or knowing of a similar product. Mostly, I want to use the bigger screen for editing (with Epsilon) and previewing TeX output. I'll appreciate any pointers. Richard Pattis ------------------------------ Date: 21 Feb 1986 12:52:25 PST Subject: Re: Genius VHR From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Richard Pattis <PATTIS@WASHINGTON.ARPA>, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, mockAPETRIS@USC-ISIB.ARPA In-Reply-To: <12185063836.21.PATTIS@WASHINGTON.ARPA> I have one of the Genius VHRs. I have mixed opinions about it. The large screen is good for editing, terminal emulation, etc. I haven't written or acquired any software to use the graphics plane yet. The BIOS-replacement supplied with the monitor was very buggy, and I've never received a fixed version or the sources so I could fix it myself, even though I've asked them and been promised results three times. The worst problem that I've encountered is heat. The controller board and monitor use an awful lot of power; my office is noticeably warmer than it was before I installed the Genius in my AT. Furtheremore, the board is heat sensitive. When we've had complete air conditioning failures the whole screen will go crazy. When we have partial failures perhaps one or two characters, in certain columns, will have some flickering bits. Another problem I've noticed is that occasionally when editing with Epsilon the whole screen will go blank. Everything will reappear when I hit the next keystroke. I don't know whether Epsilon or the Genius is at fault here. I've written my own programs to initialize the Genius (set its mode bits, clear the screen, etc) because the ones supplied with the monitor/controller didn't do it the way I wanted. In white-on-black mode the image is pretty crisp and flicker-free. There's a problem with the brightness and contrast controls... it's hard to get the intensity level up high enough. Furthermore, I think there was an intensity problem with software that uses inverse video (or something like that), but I haven't tried that in a while. Based on my experience I would not recomment this display. I would consider changing my mind if the manufacturer provided better customer support. Craig Milo Rogers ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Feb 86 18:34:55 -0100 From: hans@oslo-vax (Hans A. ]lien) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: ARC5xx For the last few days, ARC on SIMTEL20 has been PD:<MSDOS.ARC-LBR>ARC51.COM.1 This is a special "programme" containing both ARC.EXE and ARC.DOC (of v.5.10). About 90K altogether, packed into a file of 58,880 bytes. Make sure to unpack by running ARC51.COM in your current directory. The accompanying .DOC file states the availability of the source code, but nothing is said on distribution policy of sources AND/OR .ARC file format descriptions. I am interested in both, and maybe other programmes (like DEARC.PAS) being able to unpack .ARC5 archives. Please send your info to INFO-IBMPC, or maybe better, directly to me, and I will summarize for the Digest. Tnx! Hans P.s.: Maybe ARC52.COM has become available by the time this reaches you, but that's ok, isn't it? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Feb 86 11:13:39 PST From: Nicholas B. Mason <mason%cod@nosc.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Removing Non-DOS Partition on AT In V5 #21 of the digest someone wrote in that they were trying to remove a non-dos partition from their PC-AT harddisk (a PC-IX partition I think). I had a similar problem. To remove the non-dos partition they need to use the "Advanced Diagonstics for the IBM Personal Computer AT" diagonstic disk version 2.01 or later. On this disk there is a routine that will reformat the hard disk. After this is done you have to use "fdisk" and the dos "format". The disk can now be used for dos. Note that the diagonstics disk that comes with the AT does not do the above. You must have the advanced diagonstics. Nick Mason NOSC San Diego , CA ihnp4 \ akgua \ decvax ------------------!sdcsvax!noscvax!mason dcdwest / ucbvax / ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 86 14:43:18 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: LINK /E vs EXEPACK update... Just took delivery of my Microsoft MASM 4.00 update today. It appears that the new EXEPACK.EXE ver 4.00 supplied with this MASM is more efficient than the EXEPACK.EXE ver ?.?? supplied with my Microsoft "C" version 3.00, and yes, the (NEW) utility EXEPACK.EXE ver 4.00 produces smaller files than the LINK option /E does. It appears that the LINK option /E packs files the same way as the old EXEPACK.EXE which was distributed with Microsoft "C" version 3.00 As an aside, the new EXEPACK.EXE ver 4.00 supplied with the MASM 4.00 will successfully pack many .EXE files that the old EXEPACK.EXE failed to pack correctly... My apologies for the previous message... ------------------------------ From: mcvax!ukc!jmh@seismo.CSS.GOV Date: Tue, 18 Feb 86 13:47:21 GMT To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Interrupt Handlers in Turbo (V5 #20) A few comments on Alastair Milne's interesting article on Turbo interrupts from V5 #20. I don't claim to be a Turbo/8086 guru, so please be kind if this is all a load of old cobblers. All comments apply to Turbo 3.01A. 1. Turbo does indeed place a prelude in front of the first user instruction in each procedure. This procedure is concerned soley with saving the old stack frame pointer and setting up a new stack frame, and for a procedure with no parameters and no local variables goes something like push bp ; Save old frame pointer mov bp,sp ; Mark start of new one push bp ; save new frame pointer jmp L1 ; jump around space for local ; typed constants L1: <start of your code> Should there be any local variables, SP is decremented to make way for them at L1 before your code is started. So you can (though see below) install interrupt handlers directly as hinted on p214 of the Turbo 3.0 manual. Additionally, if you load DS from a typed constant you can get at global variables. 2. It is only necessary to inform the 8259 of interrupts you wish to receive *which are generated by external hardware*. To handle interrupts generated by e.g. INT instructions the 8259 does not need to be involved. Oh, and it isn't necessary to re-enable interrupts before leaving an interrupt - the IRET will do that for you, as it pops the flags register to its previous state. A ghastly problem. The following applies to interrupt routines handling interrupts that occur from within MSDOS. I am chiefly thinking of external interrupts (e.g. those from the serial port - time-consuming sections of MSDOS enable interrupts for at least some of their duration), but I believe there may be INT instructions from within MSDOS that e.g. call screen print routines (INT 5 for IBM PCs). The problem is that when MSDOS is doing its stuff it switches to an internal stack which is VERY short on space. In fact it is so short on space that it is unwise to rely on it having room for anything more than the flags register and return address saved when the interrupt occurs. This, unfortunately, means that what you need to do is to switch to your own stack as the first thing your interrupt procedure does, and then save all the registers etc. Restore all registers on the way out and then switch back to the previous stack before doing the IRET. Nasty, innit ? Finally, note that procedures called from within interrupt procedures with the stack in an unexpected place must have their calls compiled with the K- switch to prevent Turbo assuming the stack has run into the heap and squealing accordingly. Persons interested in picking their way through unpleasant code are invited to mail me for a copy of a memory-resident INT ?? handler which uses interrupts from the serial chip to provide full-speed serial facilities. Jim ..!mcvax!ukc!jmh.UUCP ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 86 23:45:45 EST From: "Paul L. Kelley" <PLK@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: Floppy Access Problem on 10 MHz AT To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA A few days ago I reported that the "Change Diskette Parameter Table's motor startup delay" code sent to INFO-IBMPC by Glenn Connery (connery%bnrmtv.UUCP at BRL.ARPA) did not fix an access failure problem for the 1.2 Mbyte floppy on my 10 MHz AT. Several people suggested that I use FIXDSK.ASM from the INFO-IBMPC directory at USC-ISIB. I am happy to say that this has solved the problem. Paul Kelley (PLK@MIT-MC) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Feb 1986 19:51:38 EST From: DASG@USC-ISID.ARPA Subject: Diablo <=> Lotus on Wang PC To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, abn.20e-27@USC-ISID.ARPA cc: MEDCOM18@KOREA-EMH.ARPA Two reasons may be causing your hangup. With the Wang PC, Lotus uses its own PRINTER DRIVER and you have to insure that you have your printer configured properly in Lotus. You do this by going to the configuration menu in lotus thusly /WGDPI. For serial you select port 2 for lotus which throws you into serial mode and asks you for the baud rate--probably 1200. The other problem you may have is the parity setting. Lotus actually requires that your serial printer be set to a specific parity. Dont remember what that is right now but it is in the Lotus manual. You say the PM012 is a Diablo. Are you sure? We were were told the PM014 55cps daisy was also a Diablo but later came to find that it is is really a Data Products Printer which does not allow for parity changes.There is no way to compenstate with Lotus other than to save your file to a print file and print it from DOS or the Wang menu. By the way, the Local Wang reps here were astounded when they found that their "Diablo" PM014 was really a data products--a very heavy but otherwise good printer--albeit at least $1000 too expensive. Curious part of this is that Data Products apparently decided to at least use the Diablo printing mechanism since we have no problem with generic diablo ribbons. Hope this helps. If you need more info call me autovon 22-51633. --gary swallow DASG-AMZ, Pentagon ------------------------------ Date: Fri 21 Feb 86 00:06:52-EST From: Bard Bloom <BARD@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: MS-DOS Find First File/Find Next File functions To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I'm writing a directory editor (which is to SWEEP as a good screen editor is to EDLIN). I'm using DOS function calls 4E and 4F to read the directory (from Turbo Pascal). The program can read directories on Rainbows, but apparantly can't on IBM PC/AT's. Any ideas why not? Please reply to BARD @ XX.LSC.MIT.EDU if possible. Vasty thanks, Bard Bloom ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Feb 86 13:39:38 mst From: cib%f@LANL.ARPA (C.I. Browne) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Max Files Open I have just come across one of the DOS quirks which limits any process to opening 20 files. Not concurrently, but ever. To add insult to this limitation, DOS takes at least three off the top for itself, so that a program can only open (and close) 17 files. This fillip is rather a severe limitation on some text retrieval programs. NOTE: FILES, in the config.sys file, is not relevant to this situation. Can any dos wizard suggest a graceful way around this limitation? Thank you. cib@lanl.arpa cib@lanl.uucp ------------------------------ Date: Friday, 21 February 1986 15:50:57 EST From: Bob.Sproull@vlsi.cs.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Multitasking a la TopView Query Does anyone know of a multitasking executive for the PC that is like or (preferrably) emulates the multitasking features of TopView but is MUCH smaller. Multiplexing the display is NOT necessary. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: 20 Feb 86 14:01 PST From: Ghenis.pasa@Xerox.COM Subject: Color & Mono Cards in AT To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Is there supposed to be a problem in intalling both a monochrome and a color graphics adapter in a PC/AT? I know some software like Lotus 1-2-3 and DoubleDOS allow you to run with both types of displays and flip between the two or show different screens on each. However, I can't get it to work right. Is having both cards plugged in something you can only do on an XT? Any info will be appreciated. Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 86 10:18:09 EST From: John Shaver STEEP-TMAC 879-7602 <jshaver@apg-3> Subject: Public Domain Backup Program Wanted To: info-ibmpc@usc-isid Is there a Hard disk baskup program in the public domain which is easily reached by FTP? Thanks John ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160263) 86-03-24 05.12 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <205> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.12 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <196> -- Received: 86-03-24 06.07 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.12 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #27 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:15 PST. TF: DSKD:931228.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 14250 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Mar 86 01:44 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 18:55:21-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 23-Feb-86 11:51:44 Date: 23 Feb 1986 11:51:44 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #27 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:15 PST ReSent-From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 23 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 27 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: Updated Xenix PC/AT C Compiler Leading Edge Setup NANSI is a Snowy Mode Program CMR-ATTRIB.ASM added to Library SAVSCR11.ASM added to Library CRC2.PAS added to Library IBM Mono vertical hold Source for SPF/PC How to Print the Screen from Basic Undocumented switches in LINK Query: Date and Time from Turbo Pascal Problems locking bad sectors on AT hard drives Interface to Videodisk Player Wanted Wordstar Locations Wanted Extended vs. Expanded Memory Query Three Queries ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Herm Fischer <hermix!fischer@rand-unix.ARPA> Reply-To: HFischer@ada20 To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa Subject: Updated Xenix PC/AT C Compiler Date: Sat Feb 22 21:10:17 1986 The latest Microsoft update to the Xenix C compiler just about fixes up the Large Model. Gasp! Finally! It sure is nice to be able to rely on large model programs without hunting for compiler bugs... (I found one problem with the optimizer generating bad code, but that was obscure, avoided by dropping the -O flag, and so far hasn't recurred in other programs. Register variables seem to finally work. A far cry from having to hack middle model to allocate large data segments last December...) Look for the set of Microsoft update disks dated 12/31/85. I understand they were sent out to the OEMs and DIAL customers. Your Xenix source should be able to provide them. (Other things fixed: shared memory; large malloc (32K-64K) seems to work now; a huge model seems to generate code but some link modules are missing (compiler flag -Mh); the way the kernel allocates internal memory is different now (may affect custom driver code), and a few others.) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Feb 86 13:34:00 EST From: <doug@ari-hq1> Subject: Leading Edge Setup To: info-ibmpc <info-ibmpc@usc-isid> I ordered a Leading Edge "M" through the mail. When it arrived I set it according to the instructions, except the instructions didn't tell how to install the monitor card. No problem, except that once installed I couldn't get anything on the screen. I reseated the card, tried it in several different slots, even read the instructions. No joy. Finally, about midnight, an image of a dip switch bubbled up from some deep recess of my mind. Certainly not from the installation documation - I finally found them mentioned in the Technical Specs, about page 178. Those switches were set, quite logically, to null, since the monitor card was not installed at the factory. MORAL: It's not the device that's faulty - more likely it's the documentation. ------------------------------ From: chapman%miro@BERKELEY.EDU (Brent Chapman) To: kegel@juliet.caltech.edu Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: NANSI is a Snowy Mode Program Date: 21 Feb 86 16:17:33 PST (Fri) I snagged your NANSI driver from the INFO-IBMPC library. I like it so far, but I have one problem with it: It thoroughly snows my screen. Any ideas for a fix? I have an AT with a CGA. Thanks! Brent Chapman chapman@miro.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Date: 21 Feb 1986 20:47:21 PST Subject: CMR-ATTRIB.ASM added to Library From: Eliot Moore <SWG.ELMO@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA CMR-ATTRIB.ASM Modified attrib.asm to twiddle archive bit. I also made a couple of other minor changes. I changed the command parser to make '.*' the default when the file name extension is not specified. I changed the command parser to accept ";" as a delimiter. I changed the command parser to accept multiple attributes. In the case of incompatible attributes the last one wins. The user should be aware that there are some other differences between this program and the dos 3.10 attrib command. The dos attrib command lists the entire drive and path when listing files, while this program lists only as much of the path as the user specified. Original program was written by Bob Eager, Herne Bay, England. Craig Milo <Rogers@Isi> 3-Feb-86 ------------------------------ Date: 21 Feb 1986 21:26:10 PST Subject: SAVSCR11.ASM added to Library From: Eliot Moore <SWG.ELMO@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA SAVSCR.ASM Is a resident program to write text displayed on a screen to disk. Version 1.1 adds support for the EGA board. Ted Shapin <Bec.Shapin@ECL> 11 Feb 86 ------------------------------ Date: 21 Feb 1986 22:15:59 PST Subject: CRC2.PAS added to Library From: Eliot Moore <SWG.ELMO@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA CRC2.PAS A collection of documented routines to calculate CRC's written for Turbo pascal, inspired by CRC.PAS David Dantowitz <dantowitz%eagle1@decwrl.dec.com> Feb 86 ------------------------------ Date: 22 Feb 1986 02:39:07 EST Subject: IBM Mono vertical hold From: Franklin Antonio <QUALCOMM@USC-ISID.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Someone asked recently if IBM Mono displays had a vertical hold adjustment. Yes. Several pots inside. VR401 -- Vertical Hold VR402 -- Vertical Size VR403 -- Vertical Linearity Pretty simple circuitry. Schematic is in the IBMPC technical reference manual. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Feb 86 20:28 EST From: Yedidyah Langsam <YDLBC%CUNYVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Source for SPF/PC To: <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To the individual who was looking for the source of SPF/PC: Command Technology Corporation 1900 Mountain Boulevard Oakland, California 94611 415-339-3530 telex: 509330 ------------------------------ From: todd%trsvax.UUCP@BRL.ARPA Subject: How to Print the Screen from Basic Date: Tue, 11-Feb-86 15:12:00 PST To print the screen from BASIC, a short assembly language program will do the trick. The assembly language routine is embedded in a string, and should work with any MS-DOS BASIC. To use it, just say GOSUB 900. 900 ' Dump screen using INT 5 910 A$ = CHR$(&HCD) + CHR$(&H5) ' int 5 instruction 920 A$ = A$ + CHR$(&HCB) ' far return instruction 930 ENTRY!=PEEK(VARPTR(A$)+1)+256*PEEK(VARPTR(A$)+2) 940 CALL ENTRY! 950 RETURN This information has been provided by an individual. ... canonical disclaimer ... Todd Milburn Tandy Corp. ------------------------------ From: rde@ukc.ac.uk Subject: Undocumented switches in LINK Date: Wed, 12-Feb-86 16:54:17 PST Some people may have seen the article about the /E switch in LINK although it may not have come to this newsgroup. Not quite sure where it came from, but basically it said that there was an undocumented switch in LINK, the /E switch (actually, that's the minimum abbreviation; its full name is EXEPACK). Apparently it does much the same job as the EXEPACK utility that comes with version 4 of the assembler; it compresses uninitialised data areas and grafts in a bit of code to expand them again at run time. Sure makes a difference on some files! For example, version 2.27 of MS-Kermit shrinks (the .EXE file that is) from 84K to 35K approx (but then there are some enormous data areas for screen saving). Version 2.28 of MS-Kermit claims space dynamically so the saving won't be as dramatic. The time taken to do the expansion at the start of execution is a *lot* less than the time taken to load 50K of zeros off a floppy. This switch is not present in version 3.00 of the linker (came with the 3.00 assembler) but it is in version 3.02 of the linker (came with version 1.0 of QuickBasic). Incidentally, both 3.00 and 3.02 have a handy switch called /HELP (abbreviation at least /HE) which just summarises switches and exits. There is also a /WINDOWS switch; no idea what it does though. Bob Eager rde@ukc.UUCP rde@ukc ...!mcvax!ukc!rde Phone: +44 227 66822 ext 7589 ------------------------------ Date: 18 Feb 1986 05:57-PST Subject: Query: Date and Time from Turbo Pascal From: BSCHAAR@USC-ISIF.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA How do I get the date and time from within a Turbo Pascal program? Is there a function call, or do I have to use some embedded assembly code? Please provide me some code, or a pointer to a PC Digest (volume and issue) where I can find it. Thanks. Brian Schaar ------------------------------ From: chapman%miro@BERKELEY.EDU (Brent Chapman) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Problems locking bad sectors on AT hard drives Date: 21 Feb 86 16:20:33 PST (Fri) I use an AT, with a 20M disk, running DOS 3.10. I have been experiencing problems with DOS's handling of bad clusters on the disk. PC-TOOLS showed two bad clusters on the disk when it was formatted, before any files were copied onto it. Now, however, it appears that DOS has allocated right over the top of one of those two bad clusters. Has anyone had any experience with this type of problem? Can anyone suggest any solutions? I'd like to be able to mark these clusters in some way and prevent DOS from allocating them. I could simply create a file that is made up of these two bad clusters, then hide the file, but when I did a backup/restore, that would because the file would be restored to an arbitrary position on the disk, and something else would be written over those bad clusters. Any other ideas? Thanks! Brent Chapman chapman@miro.berkeley.edu ucbvax!miro!chapman ------------------------------ Date: 21 February 86 19:30-PST From: PHMWJ%SLACVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Interface to Videodisk Player Wanted Does anyone know about ways to use a PC to control a videodisk player? A friend in the drama department here at Stanford is trying to put together a catalog for his collection of slides in the form of a database on a PC (probably an IBM AT), and it would be nice to be able to display the pictures on a videodisk machine under control of the program on the computer. I assume that this will require a physical link of some sort and software on the computer, but my knowledge of videodisk players is limited to that required to get one to play Empire Strikes Back. If you send information to me directly, I will be happy to summarize for the net. Thanks in advance. Pat McAllister on BITNET: PHMWJ@SLACVM on ARPANET: PHMWJ%SLACVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: 22 Feb 86 03:20 GMT From: oli2146 @ KOREA-EMH Subject: Wordstar Locations Wanted To: Info-IBMPC @ USC-ISIB.ARPA Looking for the source code locations for the delay defaults used by WordStar Ver 3.3. Thanks in advance Mark H. Meaders "From the Land of the Morning Calm" and the mid-afternoon madness... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1986 22:29:45 EST From: Mark Harris Perlman <6108070%PUCC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Extended vs. Expanded Memory Query Can anyone out there relate experiences using extended and expanded memory on the AT in both a dos and XENIX environment? I know that XENIX requires extended memory, but what about DesQview and Windows? Also, will the Intel Above Board AT support both extended and expanded memory? Thanks in advance. --Mark Perlman 6108070@PUCC.BITNET (Many of the above words are trademarks of many companies). ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Feb 86 14:04:48 PST From: Doug Lind <entropy!lind@uw-beaver.arpa> To: INFO-IBMPC@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Three Queries 1. Does anyone know of a package of Turbo Pascal scientific programs, like the NAG library? It should handle standard problems (differential equations, numerical integration, matrix operations, etc.), use complex numbers, be available in source code, and it would be nice to support Hercules card graphics, like the Turbo Graphix Toolbox. 2. The Norton NU program bombs out on my Zenith 158 with a message about the program being out of memory (used on a hard disk with about 6 MB of files; works fine on the second hard disk). Is there a public domain Unerase program to recover erased files similar to Norton's? 3. DoubleDos crashes on my Z158; the problem seems to be with the keyboard buffer. Has anyone successfully run DoubleDos on a Zenith, either at 4.77Mhz or 8Mhz? It crashes on mine at either speed. DoubleDos is working on the problem, and seems to think the problem is in the keyboard hardware of the Zenith. Any information on these would be much appreciated. Doug Lind, Univ. of Wash. Math. Dept. uw-beaver!entropy!lind ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160267) 86-03-24 05.13 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <206> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.13 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <197> -- Received: 86-03-24 06.07 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.13 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #30 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:40 PST. TF: DSKD:931235.MAI %FROM: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 47715 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Mar 86 01:47 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 18:58:58-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 6-Mar-86 12:44:15 Date: 6 Mar 1986 12:44:15 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #30 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:40 PST ReSent-From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 6 March 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 30 This Week's Editor: Richard Nelson Today's Topics: Toshiba Lap-Top T1100 DESQview Version 1.2 TECO Editor Project Fixup Disks for IBM Products Zenith Gets New Government PC Contract Prolog Menuing and Full-Screen Prompting Writer's Workbench Clones Chiwriter TRS Model 100 to XT Interface Mega Board Parallel I/O Dot Matrix Printhead Maintenance Serial Ports (2 msgs) Microsoft C V3.0 Options Benchmark (2 msgs) AT Xenix Device Driver Problem SORT Program Problem: German DOS 3.0 MS Windows w/ Smartmodem 2400 Problem Microsoft C read() Problem DOS Task Termination Return Code in C Problem WYSIWYG Page Setup Query EMACS like editor query Postscript Applications Query Analog Circuit Analysis Programs Query PCUnix by Wendin Query Microport System V Unix(tm) for PC/AT Query Priam Drives on AT, Wait State on AT Queries Leading Edge Mod M Clock Query MS-DOS 2.xx Terminal-Driver Sources Query Capturing Print Output from dBase III Query FFT Boards, Frame-Grabber Hardware Queries Accelerator Boards and Compaq Portable Query AT&T PC6300 Format Command and Color Display Problem SAVVY PC Query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 Mar 86 10:20:17 EST From: Ih@louie.udel.EDU To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA cc: ih@louie.udel.EDU Subject: Toshiba Lap-Top T1100 I have been looking, for some time, for a PC compatible Lap-Top which is functionally adequate (512+ K, modem, one disk drive), convenient (small, light, reasonable battery life, readable screen) and reasonably priced (less than $2,000). I believe many of us are also waiting for such a machine. When I heard about the Toshiba T1100, I called them immediately. It took more than two weeks to get a single sheet of specifications. They don't take orders and you must order it from a local dealer. I called many places. Most of them didn't know about the machine and did not want to be bothered with it. Finally The Data Place, Inc. (Newark, De. 302-366-0801) agreed to order one for me (not enthusiastically initially). Surprisingly we got the machine and an external 5 in. drive in three weeks. After having seen it, we are pretty excited. Now The Date Place has a couple in stock. I have been playing around with it for a week. It is in a very nice package, about 12x12x2.75 in. and 9 lb. It comes with 512 k, one built-in 3.5 in. drive, a parallel port, a RGB and an external disk drive port, and Toshiba/MS DOS 2.11 operation system. Optional accessories are an internal multi-function card with clock and 300 baud modem which can be turned off when not in use to save battery, an external 5.5, an external 3.5 in. drive, and a short board to be plugged in a PC so that the T1100 can directly access the PC's 5 in. drive. The 3.5 in. disk can be formated for 720k or 360k. The latter is electronically equivalent to an IBM 5.5 in. disk. If you are looking for a truly compatible and portable Lap-Top, this could be it. When I connected the external 5.5 in. drive to it, so far all the popular programs I have tried worked except some minor problems with Sidekick. You can even transfer Flight Simulator, Lode Runner, etc. from the 5 in. to the 3 in. disk and run them. The LCD screen is the best I have seen. It is more readable than the TAVA Triumph, Tandy 200 and DG One. It is much less sensitive to light conditions. You can also connect a color monitor directly to it and switch between the LCD and the color monitor by flipping a switch at the back. The built-in 3 in. drive is drive A and the external drive B. They can be interchanged by flipping a switch so that many protected program can run directly from A. The built-in rechargeable battery lasts for seven hours for normal use. The AC adapter is only 1.75x2x3 (less than 1 lb) with a single output of +18 v. If the battery is completely run down, it is recommended that you charge the battery for five minutes by plugging in the AC adapter with computer off. Apparently the computer is still running on the battery even the AC adapter is plugged in. The battery charging reduces to a trickle when the computer is on. Therefore the AC adapter can be connected and disconnected at well without interrupting the computer. I have not tried the multi-function card and the short board. Apparently they are not yet available (at least not in quantity). The modem software compatibility and direct PC disk operations remain to be tested. The Toshiba' 5 in. external drive can also be used as an extra drive for the PC. Overall I am pleased with this little machine. I have shown it to many of my colleagues and they all seemed im- pressed with it. Charles Ih, Univ. of Delaware. 302-451-8173. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Mar 86 07:44:42 PST (Tuesday) From: Eldridge.ES@Xerox.COM Subject: DESQview Version 1.2 To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Message-ID: <860304-074455-2166@Xerox> For the past few months Quarterdeck Office Systems in Santa Monica, CA has been shipping version 1.2 of their DESQview multitasking software. The additional features of DESQview V1.2 are: 1. Support for expanded memory boards. V1.2 is compatible with Lotus/Intel/Microsoft EMS boards (i.e., AboveBoard) and with AST/Quadram/Ashton-Tate Enhanced EMS board (i.e., RAMpage!, in fact DESQview comes free with the RAMpage! board). Using AboveBoard, DESQview allows you to run concurrently several programs that use the expanded memory. With the RAMpage! you can also run up to nine 545K programs concurrently. 2. Support for Hercules graphics card. 3. New installation files for programs such as Lotus 1-2-3 Rel 2, Sidekick, GEM Desktop, etc. 4. Bug fixes and minor improvements. One area of improvement is the handling of 40 char-mode screens. One of the nice features is the ability to run Lotus 123 in a small window. This makes it possible to view two separate spreadsheets simultaneously. A handy feature when you need to compare or transfer data between spreadsheets. A memory status program is included so that you can see how much memory you have free at any time and also what the largest chunk of contiguous memory is. If you are a DESQview V1.0 owner, then the update is $19.95 (plus tax where applicable). If you purchased DESQview V1.0 after November 15, 1985, then the update is free. DESQview V1.2 can be purchased at discount software houses for about $65. If you need multitasking, then DESQview V1.2 is the program to have. George (Eldridge.es@Xerox.com) Disclaimer: My only affiliation with Quarterdeck Office Systems is that I am a satisfied customer. Many of the names used in this note are trademarked by someone. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 86 09:41:10 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: TECO Editor Project I have used the context editor TECO since my youth, and am in the process of writing a (stripped-down) version in Microsoft "C" to run on the IBM-PC This would be public domain software. Anyone interested in this project? ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@isib Subject: Fixup Disks for IBM Products Date: Mon, 03 Mar 86 19:37:14 -0500 From: jcmorris@mitre.ARPA With a singular lack of fanfare, IBM is from time to time releasing machine-readable fixup diskettes for some of its logo products. Although some of the recently-released products have included registration cards which could be filled in (or out; why do "fill in" and "fill out" both fit in this sentence?) and sent to Big Blue, nobody seems to have been notified about the existence of these repair kits unless they squawk loudly. After making very loud noises to the local C'land I was told that there were no such disks available and that the Dealer Hotline had never heard of such things except from the PC WEEK report. After quoting an entry from PCSHARE the C'land rep again asked the DSC people who finally admitted that there were such beasties. Any owner of the related IBM-logo product should be able to get a copy from an authorized IBM sales site. No printed documentation came with any of these diskettes. One floppy is supposed to fix problems with the COBOL compiler. Since I use COBOL only as a bad example, I didn't get it and have no idea what it does. The second floppy contains a replacement for BACKUP.COM for DOS 3.0 and 3.1; this probably fixes the problems which cause unusable backup files to be created. The file is BACKUP.COM, dated 11-1-85, with 6212 bytes. The third fix floppy is for the BASIC compiler version 2. Unlike the one reported in PC WEEK, this floppy does not include a README.TXT file so I haven't any direct method of finding out what it supposedly does. The files on it are all dated 27 January, which is more recent than the ones reported in the PC WEEK article. Some of the programs on the floppy produce release flags: BASRUN20 (IBM level 2.02; usoft level 5.62); BASCOM (IBM 2.00); LINK (2.30). Does anyone in Netland know of any other IBM-provided fix disks? Joe Morris (jcmorris@mitre) ------------------------------ Date: 3 Mar 1986 12:29:09 CST Subject: Zenith Gets New Government PC Contract From: HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM.ARPA To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Announcement: On Friday, 28 February 1986, a contract was signed between the government and Zenith Data Systems to provide an estimated 90,000 microcomputers over three years to the Air Force, Navy, Army, and Defense Logistics Agency. This contract replaces the original Z-120 contract, which expired for systems on 2 Feb and dies completely in October. GSA mandated the recompetition when we totally underestimated the quantities for the Z-120. Our specifications called for three classes of machine...a pc-type, a pc-xt type, and a pc-at type. What we have on contract are three varieties of AT-type machine, the Z-248, running at 8MHz with no wait states. Included in this message is a list of most of the contract line items (CLINs) along with a brief description and prices. This is a heads-up for those of you who can order from this contract....for the others, an indication of what you can get with enough buying power and a good set of specs. To those who say that this contract was wired for ZDS, I cheerfully respond that it's difficult NOT to award to excellent equipment, particularly when it is also 'reasonably' priced. Doug Huneycutt Air Force Small Computer Program Management Office CLIN 1 Z-248 w/512K RAM, 2 360K floppies, 8MHZ, no wait $1103.00 CLIN 2, Z-248 w/512K RAM, 1 360K floppy, 20M winchester $1534.00 CLIN 3, Z-248 w/1.1M RAM, 1 360K floppy, 20M winchester $1658.00 Each system above includes: 1 serial/parallel card (Asynch), 1 serial/ parallel card (Synch), 1 enhanced graphics adapter, DOS 3.1, Microsoft Windows, and assorted other goodies. CLIN 4AA, 640K RAM expansion $ 120.00 CLIN 4AB, 2 Meg RAM expansion $ 240.00 CLIN 6AA, 20 Meg winchester upgrade $ 302.00 CLIN 7, MPI AFP-45 dual mode printer $ 528.00 CLIN 8AA, cut sheet feeder for MPI $ 207.00 CLIN 9, Diablo C-150 color ink jet $ 802.00 CLIN 10, Plotter (8 pen, self-capping Western Graphtec) $ 929.00 CLIN 11, 640x350 color monitor $ 302.00 CLIN 12, High res monochrome monitor $ 116.00 CLIN 13, Digitazer pad $ 293.00 CLIN 14AA, Power Converter (220-240-->120) $ 55.00 CLIN 14AB, Surge supressor $ 30.00 CLIN 15, 300/1200/2400 baud modem $ 158.00 CLIN 16, Tape backup unit $ 478.00 CLIN 17, 80287 8MHz math coprocessor $ 143.00 CLIN 18, Microsoft BASIC compiler $ 46.00 CLIN 19, Microsoft COBOL compiler $ 15.00 CLIN 20, Microsoft Assembler $ 9.00 CLIN 21, Microsoft FORTRAN compiler $ 13.00 CLIN 22, Microsoft PASCAL compiler $ 16.00 CLIN 23, Computer Innovations C compiler $ 100.00 CLIN 24AA, Wordstar Professional $ 130.00 CLIN 24AB, Multimate $ 148.00 CLIN 25AA, dBase III $ 355.00 CLIN 25AB, Condor III $ 72.00 CLIN 25AC, dBase II $ 239.00 CLIN 26, Microstat $ 75.00 CLIN 27, Supercalc III $ 76.00 CLIN 28, Graftalk (updated for presentation) $ 81.00 CLIN 29, CadKey, mechanical engineering CAD $ 239.00 CLIN 30, TimeLine (project management) $ 53.00 CLIN 31, Enable integrated software package $ 87.00 CLIN 32AA, CXI Connectware 3278/9 Coax system $ 422.00 CLIN 32AB, 3780+ IBM Terminal emulation (RS-232) $ 96.00 CLIN 32AC, VT100 emulator (DEC-20 connection) $ 33.00 CLIN 32AD, Honeywell VIP emulator $ 156.00 CLIN 32AF, Sperry systems terminal emulator $ 121.00 CLIN 32AG, Burroughs TD832 emulator $ 136.00 CLIN 32AH, Z-319 card (Z-120 emulator) $ 175.00 CLIN 35AA, CAI (Intro to microcomputers) $ 11.00 CLIN 35AB, CAI (Supercalc III) $ 23.00 CLIN 35AC, CAI (Condor III) $ 42.00 CLIN 35AD, CAI (Microstat) $ 5.00 CLIN 35AE, CAI (TimeLine) $ 14.00 CLIN 35AF, CAI (dBase II) $ 36.00 CLIN 35AG, CAI (dBase III) $ 23.00 CLIN 35AH, CAI (Multimate) $ 23.00 CLIN 35AJ, CAI (Graftalk) $ 6.00 CLIN 35AK, CAI (CadKey) $ 73.00 CLIN 35AL, CAI (Enable) $ 7.00 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Mar 86 09:09:34 pst From: jhass%ucbiris@BERKELEY.EDU To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Prolog Reply to inquiry about PC Prologs: There are two major Prologs on the PC. Lotus/Arity Prolog sells for $800 and is copy-protected. Borland has just announced Turbo Prolog. It will sell for about $99 and ship in about two months. Borland claims it is about ten times faster than Arity's. All of the Prologs except Borland's are surveyed in the Feb. 86 issue of ACM Sigplan Notices. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Mar 86 14:48:22 EST From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Menuing and Full-Screen Prompting > I would like to find a general purpose menu package. This would be a > set of routines to which I hand a title string and a group of selection > strings and which hands me back the index of the selection. It would > operate by reading the arrow keys and/or a number typed by the user to > select the item. It should probably highlight the selections as the > cursor is moved around among them. > > Also, a routine to collect a text string from the user, in the context > of the above menus. Other functions like help strings for each > selection, and screen attribute/color control would be nice, too. Roundhill's Panel provides the sort of menuing and full-screen prompting that you want. The ads give a pretty good sense of the features available. Mailorder houses are selling it for around $240 right now, but you might want to check around for someone who has it in stock; it took me three months to get my copy. I have had the program for several weeks and have very mixed feelings about it. If you are not too fussy, you can follow the demo programs and have something pretty powerful running in just a few hours. My first response was: "You can do all of THAT with just a hundred lines [of C]?" I am fussy, however, and am now beginning to wonder when I will stop writing routines to replace the ones that came with the package. Although they provide the source for validation of characters, lines, and fields, they do not provide the source for the standard driver functions and some of the low-level interface. I was not satisfied, for example, by the fact that the insert key simply inserts a single blank character instead of inititiating an insert mode. Similarly, the destructive backspace replaces the destroyed character with a blank instead of shifting the remainder of the line one position left. The other major problem for me was that a carriage return does not normally terminate a read. Since my program runs on a 3081 as well (using DMS/CMS), I need the carriage return to interrupt the read and return control to the application so that I can display a new panel, give messages, or terminate prompting and go to work (i.e., I need a common interface). On top of this, Panel does not enable one to define more than 14 function keys without doing a special dance. My next step is to start doing my own keystroke processing. For a simple application, 14 might be fine, but those keys go quickly when you start providing lots of functions and binding them to Alt-A, Alt-D, etc. Two more problems: 1) In my experience, the executable is at least 40K, even for simple programs (although I have a program with two panels and lots of error checking that drives six other programs and takes only 50K.) 2) The documentation is incomplete and poorly organized. Hackers can deal with it, but others will be lost if they can't just take the program as is. The authors rely much too much on the sample programs and the library source. For the most part, their code is well documented (internally), but we still need good external documentation. Without realizing the seriousness of it, they confess that they decided not to provide an index to the documentation because that would slow things up. On the plus side: 1) One can rely on most of the low-level screen handling, such as the definition and writing of attribute bytes. 2) They provide a program that enables the purchaser to "tailor" the environment fairly reasonably--remapping keys, defining cursor size, etc. 3) They have been very thoughtful about portability, even to the extent of worrying over the HP150 and touch screens. 4) They provide some direct-write routines if you want super fast screen updating. (But watch out for conflicts with YTERM.) 5) The sort of menuing that was asked about comes with the program and operates satisfactorily. 6) Finally, if worse comes to worse, one can use their system as a model for developing one's own screen handler. The system is basically intelligent. There is not as much isolation between the application and the screen handler as something like DMS/CMS provides, and this can cause some confusion; but the design is basically sound. In sum, Panel is good for novices who have simple applications and hackers who have simple to intermediate applications. For complicated applications, be prepared to do a lot of customizing and to toss all but the panel generation editor and low-level routines. One way to go for full-screen prompting is windowing. If you are interested in windows, I would take a close look at Windows for C and Windows for Data. Below is a more comprehensive list. Perhaps others can provide info. Screen Genie, 70, Nostradamus. SunScreen, 99, TecWare. Library source included, $199? ZVIEW, 245, Data Management. View Manager, 275, Blaise Computing. Library source for $150. Panel, 295, Roundhill. Library source included free. Windows for Data, 295, Vermont Creative. There may be some reasonable utility libraries as well. If people will send me info about these packages and others, I will summarize and submit. Please note that the quoted prices were taken from ads and SHOULD be full retail. One company, however, lists SunScreen with source at 299 instead of 199, so who knows? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Mar 86 15:08:36 EST From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Writer's Workbench Clones In my previous notice on Writer's Workbench clones, I mentioned Grammatik and Punctuation & Style. Here are two more programs that appear to be in the same genre: PC-Style, by ButtonWare RightWriter, by Decisionware I hope to see these programs in the near future and will provide a summary when I do. Or perhaps someone has experience with them? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Mar 86 20:46:22 EST From: Eric_B._Arnold%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: Dave%SCU%Panda@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA, Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Chiwriter In response to your query about the relative merits of Chiwriter and T3, I can offer an opinion about Chiwriter as a very satisfied user, but I know nothing about T3. The price of Chiwriter may be deceptive; its author is a graduate student in mathematics at the University of Michigan who under- stands the need for good, affordable software, and who wrote Chiwriter to fill a need that wasn't met by the technical-wordprocessing packages available at the time (late1984-1985). I don't know exactly what he had available, but everything that I have heard of he knew and found lacking. His primary interest, as I understand it, was to be able to have on-screen editing of mathematical and technical symbols imbedded in text, to be output on dot- matrix printers, and designed such that department secretaries as well as mathematicians could learn to use it easily. I think it meets these goals admirably. It is on the primitive side as word processors go, and has room for polishing in a number of areas, but it works well and is superb for its intended purpose. The user has available up to ten fonts which can be selected with two keystrokes; single characters from non-current fonts can be included with one extra keystroke, and one can have unlimited superscript and subscript lines, with half-line spacing between them so that actual overlap of symbols is possible. A font designer is included, and makes it relatively easy to obtain any desired symbol or combination of symbols. The fonts that come with it are Roman, Italic, Bold, Small, Script, Gothic, Greek, Symbol, and two math symbol fonts. It can handle around 70 pages of text in a PC with 640K of RAM. It prints best with printers such as the Toshiba 1340 family with 24-pin printheads, but I am quite pleased with the performance that I get with my Gemini-10X. I use it extensively in my own work (physics) for preparing lecture notes and material for publication. I understand that the author is working on a version which will work with a laser printer. I have successfully created a font for drawing electronic circuits, and it is spectacular when combined with the various text fonts for labelling the various components! A trial version is available for a nominal fee from the author or free from some public sources. A copy and/or more information should be available from: Horstmann Software Design P.O. Box 4544 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 I have no financial interest in the sale of this product. --Eric B. Arnold Dept. of Natural Sciences University of Michigan--Dearborn 48128 EBA%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: 3 Mar 86 18:20 GMT From: meaders @ korea-emh Subject: TRS Model 100 to XT Interface To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib.arpa CC: pz @ mit-vax Ref your inquiry about Model 100: Although I am not familiar with the the 100, I have used a software package which will allow you to use your XT as a "multi-user" system. I have used an Apple, Commodore, Zenith 100 and several other machines to remotely access my base system from as far as 100 miles at speeds from 300 baud to 19.2 KBPS. The package is called MultiLink. It is advertised in many of the PC magazines along {_with a program called LAN Link. Mark Meaders from "The Land of the Morning Calm" ------------------------------ Date: 3 Mar 86 18:20 GMT From: meaders @ korea-emh Subject: Mega Board To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib.arpa Information on the Mega Board can be gotten from "The Big Blue Seed" an assembly guide and parts list by Raymond Kosmic, NuScope Associates, PO Box 742, Stn B Willowdale, Ontario, M2K 2R1, Canada. Mark Meaders from "The Land of the Morning Calm" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Mar 86 11:11:50 pst From: ttidca!ttihwe!cole@rand-unix.ARPA To: ttidca!randvax!dowens@a.bbn.com, ttidca!randvax!info-ibmpc@isib Subject: Parallel I/O Cc: cole@rand-unix.ARPA You can certainly use a IBM-type parallel printer port for general purpose I/O, but you have to be careful. IBM-type parallel printer ports use an LS374 tri-state octal latch to drive the 8 data lines, but it is always enabled for output (i.e., the -OE signal on Pin 1 is tied permanently to ground). So the external device cannot drive the the 8 data lines itself, and there is a specific warning in the Tech Ref manual that says "It is essential that the external device not try to pull these pins to ground". Why IBM did it this way heaven only knows. There is a simple solution, however. You can cut the trace that ties Pin 1 on the LS374 to ground and tie Pin 1 on the LS374 to Pin 15 on the LS174, which is an unused output which is controlled by Bit 5 in the command register (3BE, 37A, or 27A, depending whether the parallel port is LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3). Then you can use Bit 5 to enable the LS374 or put it in the high impedance state so you can read your external device. I'm not sure offhand whether this affects normal printer operation. It depends on what DOS does when it finds this printer port on bootup and how the printer code works. The fact that DOS mucks with the port on startup may cause some problems with your external logic. What I did to get around this (and avoid messing with my IBM or AST cards) was to buy a cheap ($30) printer board, which has the advantage that you can jumper the starting address to locations where DOS won't find it (and which hopefully don't conflict with anything else, of course). Randy Cole Citicorp-TTI ttidca!ttihwe!cole@rand-unix ------------------------------ Date: 5 Mar 86 12:29 PST From: Ghenis.pasa@Xerox.COM Subject: Dot Matrix Printhead Maintenance To: LIN@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU cc: info-cpm@AMSAA.ARPA, info-micro@brl-vgr.ARPA, INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA >Anyone know how to tell if a dot-matrix print head needs replacement? >I've has an Epson FX-80 head for about 6 M characters, and the print >quality is going down (tops of letters like "h" and "l" are not coming >out). Am I due for a change? What's a good price on print heads? Before you throw away your print head, try wiping the pins with alcohol. This will remove any ink residue (picked up from the ribbon) that might be jamming some of the pins. This has worked very well for me in the past on my NEC 8023. Another thing to check is the little tin ribbon guide, which is also a "mask"; if it is slightly out of line it will block either the upper or lower pins, producing incomplete characters. Good luck! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 02 Mar 86 08:58:39 EST From: IJDG400%INDYCMS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Serial Ports Query I need information on connecting three serial ports to an MS-DOS PC. As far as I can tell two serial ports are the limit. Has anyone tried connecting three or more serial ports to a PC? Thanks Jim Griffin IJDG400@INDYCMS.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 3 Mar 1986 11:13:07 PST Subject: Serial Ports From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: IJDG400%INDYCMS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA You might try calling Mike Kolsy at American Micronics in Irvine CA. (714)261-2428 They make a board with 8 serial ports. I know they have Xenix drivers and I helped them get started writing a DOS driver. I don't know if they have made any progress. Their board includes an extra status register which tells which of the 8 UARTS caused the interrupt. All the UART status registers are contiguous in I/O space. Switches select the base address. Any of the several async packages in the INFO-IBMPC library could be adapted to use with this board. ------------------------------ From: Paul Fishwick <Fishwick%upenn.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Microsoft C V3.0 Options Benchmark Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Date: Sun, 2 Mar 86 13:31 EST Has anyone done any benchmarks on the code generated from using the options /G0, /G1, or /G2 under Microsoft's C V3.0 ? /G0 -> generates 8086/88 instructions /G1 -> generates 80186/88 instructions /G2 -> generates 80286 instructions Thanks.. -paul ------------------------------ Date: 3 Mar 1986 11:16:14 PST Subject: Microsoft C V3.0 Options Benchmark From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Paul Fishwick <Fishwick%upenn.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I haven't done benchmarks, but I have noticed they don't use the push immediate instruction. When pushing a constant they move it to AX then push AX. I would assume the newer push immediate instruction would result in faster smaller code. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1986 13:18 O From: Guy Sirton <MLSIRTON%WEIZMANN.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: AT Xenix Device Driver Problem To: info-ibmpc <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa> I am having problems writing a device driver in XENIX (V1.0 running on a regular PC-AT) and I'm wondering if any of you can help me... The problems are: 1) Accessing storage (for memory-mapped devices). I overcame this problem by defining a 'far' pointer but I am wondering if there is any built-in kernel routine to do it. 2) Creating the new kernel. When I type 'make' in /usr/sys/conf I get the following result: ld: Unresolved extrenals: __stkgro in file(s): /lib/Mlibc.a(~_chkstk.o) __Syspc in file(s): /lib/Mlibc.a(exit.o) __syscal in file(s): /lib/Mlibc.a(exit.o) *** Error code 1 Stop. 3) Poor documentation. The documentation at the lowest level is really poor some routines (such as seterror() ) are mentioned but not explained and I'm pretty sure (by 'string'ing lib_io and the kernel) that there are routines that aren't even mentioned. The index is also in a very poor state... Anyone who can help me in these problems and/or has a list of un-documented routines please mail me back. Guy ------------------------------ Date: 03-MAR-86 15:15 MEZ To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: M70B%CBEBDA3T.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (F.Buetikofer, Help desk UNI Bern) Subject: SORT Program Problem: German DOS 3.0 We tried to sort an ASCII file, containing a list of german names (the name contains german umlauts). The result of sorting did not correspond to our expectations. According to the DOS manual, the european characters 80H-AFH are collated with the ASCII characters A-Z. And this is wrong. I try to explain it with an example: +-----------+ +-----------+ |P@ar | SORT |Baar | * First two items correct, because |Paar | ---> |B@ar | order was correct in the source! |Baar | |P@ar | * Second two items wrong, because |B@ar | |Paar | @ is collated with a, but should +-----------+ +-----------+ be after a. Where @ stands for a german a umlaut (84H) Is anybody out there, who has a solution to our problem ?? Thanks, Fritz Buetikofer Help desk of the Uni Bern (Switzerland) BITNET or ARPA: M70B@CBEBDA3T.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 3 Mar 86 19:00 GMT From: ch-mkmc @ KOREA-EMH Subject: MS Windows w/ Smartmodem 2400 Problem To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib.arpa i am having trouble getting the terminal program in windows to recognize my hayes smartmodem 2400. the led's on the front of the modem flicker on and off as though the modem is trying to initialize itself but then the following message appears "cannot communicate with the modem". at the same time that the modem is trying to initialize itself a small window on the screen displays the message "waiting for answer" and is counting down the seconds(in my case it starts at 30 sec and then the cannot communicate message appears at 28 sec). i have tried using both 300 and 1200 baud and have tried varying the various settings in the program but to no avail. when i use the autodial feature of the cardfile program the modem works fine. any help would be greatly appreciated since i am across the water and can't just pick up the phone and call microsoft. thanks tom robertson ch-mkmc@korea-emh ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Mar 86 22:24:13 est From: romkey@BORAX.LCS.MIT.EDU (John Romkey) To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa Subject: Microsoft C read() Problem I've just experienced some marginal behavior with the read() call in the Microsoft C library. The read() call seems to read the number of bytes you request, and then return the number that were actually stored after doing CR LF to LF compression in O_TEXT mode. This leads it to return a smaller value than the number of bytes you asked for. I suspect there is a fair amount of code out there that this might break. Many programs seem to interpret this as an end of file indication. Be forewarned... - john romkey ftp software ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 86 14:08:17 PST From: Jim Carter <jimc@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: DOS Task Termination Return Code in C Problem PC-DOS task termination is driving me up the wall. I merely want to give a return code on exit from a program. The library's "exit" subroutine, when tested, fails to return its argument. I load subcode 4Ch in AH, the return code in AL, and do int 21h. The resulting code is zero or negative. In fact, I tried loading every register in the machine. Here is the code (IBM "C", (c) Microsoft): /* ZILCH.C -- Test exit codes*/ #include <stdio.h> #include <dos.h> void regd(msg, regs) { /*Register dump routine*/ } main(an, av) /*Obvious declarations omitted for brevity*/ { union REGS regs; sscanf(av[1], "%x", &res); regs.h.ah = 0x4c; /*Program termination code*/ regs.h.al = res; regs.x.bx = 0x101 * res; /*And the same for cx,dx,si,di*/ regd("Initial values:", regs); /*Values were as expected*/ intdos(®s, ®s); /*Does int 21h */ regd("Damn, it returned.", regs); /*No, it didn't return*/ } zilch %1 Batch file to run the above if errorlevel 2 echo >=2 This wasn't echoed if errorlevel 4 echo >=4 Neither was this -- ever. I disassembled _exit (called by exit) and found that it merely puts the argument into al and does int 21h/4c, as above. What's going on? Has anyone been able to make this work? James F. Carter (213) 206-1306 UCLA-SEASnet; 2567 Boelter Hall; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA 90024 UUCP:...!{ihnp4,ucbvax,{hao!cepu}}!ucla-cs!jimc ARPA:jimc@locus.UCLA.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Mar 86 1:37 EST From: irfan ahmad <ECO10125%BOSTONU.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: WYSIWYG Page Setup Query To: info-ibmpc <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> I would like to get some info on programs that can be used for creating newsletters or other in-house magazines. Something which uses the Hercules Graphics Card and displays the exact stuff that will be printed (What You See Is What You Get). Ideally I should be able to get a draft printout on an Epson FX printer and the final version on the Apple Laser Printer. Any information on this will be appreciated. Irfan Ahmad ECO10125 BOSTONU ------------------------------ Date: 3 Mar 1986 0913-PST (Monday) From: Danny Abramovitch <danny@su-isl.arpa> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Cc: Subject: EMACS like editor query I am in the market for an EMACS like editor. I have seen a lot of discussion about Epsilon, I know that there is a version of PC-EMACS, and I have used Mince. I have also seen something about freeware (MAX, SCAMI, mini-EMACS). Does anyone have a decent cost/performance comparison of any or all of these packages. Any ordering information would also be helpful. Thanks in advance, Danny ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Mar 86 10:37 pst From: "pugh jon%e.mfenet"@LLL-MFE.ARPA Subject: Postscript Applications Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I am looking for information from anyone who is using an Apple Laserwriter or other Postscript printer with a PC. I need some software to drive it. Are there any packages that will take text files and twist them into shape or only special purpose applications? Any information would be helpful. Please respond to me, as I am not on the digest. Jon Pugh pugh%mfe@lll-mfe.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Mon 03 Mar 1986 13:50:38 EST From: <DIGITS@LL.ARPA> Subject: Analog Circuit Analysis Programs Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I am looking for information on analog circuit emulators for the IBM-PC. are there any circuit analysis programs out there that work similar to SPICE and that will do transient circuit analysis? ANY information I can get would be very helpful. So far the only program I have seen that even comes close is one call MICRO-CAP II. Thanks in advance Lou DiPalma MIT/LINCOLN LABS Wood St. , Lexington, Ma. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Mar 86 07:21 GMT From: ch-mkmc @ KOREA-EMH Subject: PCUnix by Wendin Query To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib.arpa I was wondering if anyone has received a copy of PCUnix by Wendin? The last word I had was that it was supposed to be released the week of 17 Feb. 86. Does anyone know if it was in fact released or if not what the new projected release date is? Several of us fellows across the water are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our copies. It would help to know if we should make a mad dash to the mailbox everyday or just sit back and wait (heaven forbid). thanks tom robertson ch-mkmc@korea-emh ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Mar 86 17:45:20 PST From: maddox@renoir.berkeley.edu (William Maddox) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Microport System V Unix(tm) for PC/AT Query Has anyone used this product? I am planning to upgrade my IBM Xenix 3.0 to System V, and would like to know how the Microport SysV compares to SCO Xenix V. In particular, how robust is it? How does the performance compare? Please reply via mail, and if I get any interesting replies, I will summarize to the net. William Maddox maddox@renoir.berkeley.edu ucbvax!renoir!maddox (415) 642-4611 ------------------------------ Date: 1 Mar 86 16:37 EDT From: (Gary Chapman) <CHAPMAN@NYU-ACF7.ARPA> To: <info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: Priam Drives on AT, Wait State on AT Queries I am thinking of acquiring an IBM PC/AT with a Priam 60 megabyte drive, and plan to run DRI's Concurrent operating system. Does anyone have experience with the Priam drives on ATs and/or comments about Concurrent? Also, I have read in Byte (special IBM issue) that "IBM has provided a special line called the zero wait state (OWS) signal on the bus to suppress the wait states. This is useful if you have high-speed memory and an expansion card that supports this signal". Does anyone have experience with such hardware? -- Gary Chapman (NYU ACF Microcomputer Laboratory) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Mar 86 01:17:48 EST From: "Robert L. Plouffe" <PLOUFF@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: Leading Edge Mod M Clock Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Has anyone hacked a clock setting utility for the Model M so that the battery backed-up clock updates the DOS date/time when using PCDOS 3.1? If so, would appreciate a pointer to public domain access of same. Please respond directly to me. as PLOUFF at MIT-MC. Else I guess I will habe to do it myself. ------------------------------ Date: March 04, 1986, 10:40 CET To: <info-kermit@CU20B> FROM: <#D15%DDATHD21.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Cc: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB> Subject: MS-DOS 2.xx Terminal-Driver Sources Query Hi, Is there anybody out there in the PC-world who can send me the assembler sources for a MS-DOS 2.xx foreign-terminal-driver. I'm specially interested in the source of KEYBGR.COM (German Keyboard), but any other version will do quite well. Please respond directly to me, because I'm not a member of this list. My network address is as follows: BITNET: <XBR2D96D@DDATHD21.BITNET> Thanks a lot in advance Martin Knoblauch TH-Darmstadt, D-6100 Darmstadt, West Germany EARN/BITNET: #D15 at DDATHD21 (the number sign is really part of my UID) <D96D@DDATHD21.BITNET> <XBR2D96D@DDATHD21.BITNET> ------------------------------ Date: 4 Mar 86 07:27 EST From: Stephen Mahan <steve@ncsc> Subject: Capturing Print Output from dBase III Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib A friend of mine is working on a Dbase III applications package and in order to make the software more robust he wants to save all output to the printer to a disk file and them dump it using the DOS print command. Is there a way to redefine the printer port (COM 1) as a disk file? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Stephen Mahan steve@ncsc ------------------------------ Date: 4 Mar 86 16:31:05 PST (Tuesday) From: Ready.pa@Xerox.COM Subject: FFT Boards, Frame-Grabber Hardware Queries To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: Ready.pa@Xerox.COM I need to run lots of FFTs really fast on a PC-AT. Is there any form of hardware FFT hardware available other than Systolic Systems, or alternatively a single board array processor that sits on the AT bus? My application would require a 512 X 512 X 16 bit word FFT. Also, does anyone have experience with framegrabber hardware on the AT. Steve Ready Xerox PARC ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 86 13:09 MST From: Steve Herbst <Herbst@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA> Subject: Accelerator Boards and Compaq Portable Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Classic Technology says its 286 Speedpak doesn't work on the Compaq portable because the latter uses the 8086 processor instead of the 8088. Victor says its SpeedPac 286 doesn't work on the Compaq portable because the cord is incompatible somehow with the main board (they didn't mention the processor). One of their customers is currently evaluating how to change the product to make it Compaq compatible. Anybody know of an accelerator board known to work on Compaq's? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 86 15:51:49 pst From: Alan S. Nobunaga <nobunaga%marlin@nosc.ARPA> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: AT&T PC6300 Format Command and Color Display Problem We have two AT&T PC6300's with AT&T color displays. Whenever we run the AT&T MS-DOS format command from either the hard disk or floppy, after it responds that the format is complete, the display gets snowy, the characters change to a larger print, and the left margin is now in the center of the screen. What we usually do is reboot or use the cls command and the screen returns to normal. Does anyone know what is causing this and how to fix this? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. Alan Nobunaga Naval Ocean Systems Center Milnet: nobunaga@NOSC.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Mar 86 15:45 PST From: Louise Callejo <Louise-Callejo%LADC@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: SAVVY PC Query I just received some mailorder literature regarding a Database Manager, a Language Tutorial, a Retriever and a Spreadsheet--all for about $100. The Retriever uses pattern recognition to make a stab at interpreting a request that is only partially defined. The SAVVY people start off their letter by wondering why people are buying DBase and Lotus for so much more money when they could buy all their products for a fraction of the price. I'm kind of wondering about that too, so if anyone has experience with these products, let's hear about it. Louise ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160268) 86-03-24 05.15 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <207> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.15 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <198> -- Received: 86-03-24 06.07 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.15 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #31 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:42 PST. TF: DSKD:931257.MAI %FROM: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 47025 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Mar 86 02:00 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 19:00:42-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 9-Mar-86 16:19:57 Date: 9 Mar 1986 16:19:56 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #31 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:42 PST ReSent-From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, 9 March 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 31 This Week's Editor: Phyllis O'Neil Today's Topics: IP/TCP NRC & MIT DBase III, printers, and LPTX (5 messages) Microsoft C V 3.0 and Phoenix Linker PLINK86 V 1.30 MS C 3.0 Large model struct assign code generation BUG Optimizer for DeSmet C compiler `C` sources & MS-DOS implementation of MIT teco editor Wish list for Microsoft C compiler Emacs-like editor (2 messages) Queuing System Simulation Software Query FFT Boards, Frame-Grabber Hardware FSCRC contract... Incremental File Backup Utilities Turbo Prolog DOS Termination Priam Drives on AT, Wait State on AT Limits on files open: concurrent and lifetime. LSPELL added to Library Dirlib Package added to Library Kermit 2.28 jrd/5b + Turbo Lightning /G0 and /G1 benchmarks NANSI (2 messages) Today's Queries: Turbo's 64K Limitation Query Compaq Deskpro and NEC V30 Query Qubie Modem Problem Lotus 1-2-3 Version 1 vs. Version 2 Query GEM Draw Problem ICOM R71A Radio Receiver to PC Query CMS Hard Disk, IBM Proprinter, Write & Spell Query Ctags for MS-DOS wanted Character ROMS Query Serial printer on PCjr Query Real-time PC operating systems query Serial ports query Graphics query Clearing the screen query Alternate Character Sets Query Program chaining query Wang PC "Open Architecture" package query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: March 9, 1986 From: Richard Gillmann (Gillmann@ISIB) To: Info-IBMPC@ISIB Subject: New Editor We would like to welcome Phyllis O'Neil of the Aerospace Corporation as a new editor of Info-IBMPC Digest. Phyllis can be reached at oneil@aerospace.arpa. Richard ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Mar 86 01:25:43 est From: romkey@BORAX.LCS.MIT.EDU (John Romkey) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: IP/TCP NRC & MIT Well, it seems about time that I posted something as a followup to Billy Brackenridge's message about NRC's TCP/IP and my code. I've just been incredibly busy the last couple of weeks; keeping a small company going is very time consuming. I've never used NRC's code, but a number of the problems Billy pointed out with it (terminal emulation, host name resolution) have been fixed for a long time in the MIT PC/IP code. Now I'm taking the MIT PC/IP code and selling it myself, after having spent several years developing it. A couple of other companies seem to be selling an older version of the MIT code: Spartacus and Wollongong, for those who are interested in knowing. The new implementation of PC/IP is going to correct (hopefully) many of the problems with it that I've seen over the past few years but haven't, for one reason or another, been able to correct. For instance, there are a number of new applications: FTP, rlogin, rsh, rexec, rcp, rwho. The terminal emulator has been 'fixed' so that it will work on a greater variety of display hardware, but still be fairly fast (PC/IP's had lots of problems on non-IBM displays). And it's now written in Microsoft C - it compiles faster on my AT than it did at MIT on a VAX 11/750. There will also be a set of programming libraries available with both the native PC/IP programming interface, and the demented 4.2BSD programming interface in them so that people can write their own applications. The new code is marketed by FTP Software, Inc., of Cambridge, MA. Our address is: FTP Software, Inc. PO Box 150 Kendall Square Branch Boston, MA 02142 (617) 497-5066 Odd, the Post Office Box is actually located in Cambridge, but its address is in Boston... That's all I'll say for now about the product; I don't want to get into advertising on the net. If anyone has questions about it, feel free to ask me. Billy also suggested that we use INFO-IBMPC as a forum for discussing TCP/IP implementations. Here's a list of all the available implementations that I know of for the PC. A * means it's not commercially supported: Excelan (requires their hardware) FTP Software PC/TCP *MIT PC/IP NRC Fusion Spartacus KNET/PC Wollongong WIN/PC CMU and Stanford have done some additional work to MIT PC/IP that they are making available to others, at least to academic sites. There are others who have done work too, I'm just not sure that they're distributing it. So there seem to be about three strains of TCP/IP for the PC here: Excelan's, which I know little about save that it's mostly on their outboard processor; MIT's; and NRC's. Anybody know of any other TCP/IPs for the PC? Want to describe what's in these packages, your experiences with them? I'd also be interested in hearing what some people think would be useful new protocols to implement. Most of the current TCP/IP implementations implement the 'standard DARPA protocol suite': telnet, FTP, *maybe* SMTP, and some random protocols. The problem is, these protocols were all designed for use by somewhat sophisticated users on mainframes, and they're fine for that. But sharing files between PC's using FTP is simply gross. So we have network filesystems nowadays (yes, the reasoning does *not* quite follow...) What other sorts of applications would be useful? I could see having a dictionary server on a CD ROM based machine. It would be nice to have some sophisticated printer spooling and user database (so that you can get some info on *who* is using the PC - what's their favorite color?) protocols built on top of TCP/IP. Dave Clark once suggested a protocol that took me a while to digest. He suggested implementing a program that allows you to basically telnet to a PC from another machine - and get to use to see the graphics display on your local bitmapped display. That way you could access some of the more interesting software on the PC from your bigger and better personal workstation without having to rewrite it for the workstation. I finally decided it was a somewhat neat idea. Perhaps this kind of discussion would not be appropriate for INFO-IBMPC. I don't think it quite fits into the way the TCP-IP list works, either. If so, we could always start up a new list elsewhere if enough people were interested. John Romkey romkey@borax.lcs.mit.edu President, FTP Software Disclaimer? What disclaimer? I'm hardly unbiased... ------------------------------ To: Info-IBMPC@usc-isib Subject: Problems with lptx.asm Date: 06 Mar 86 17:19:20 EST (Thu) From: opus@athena.MIT.EDU I just recently downloaded the LPTX.ASM program from the library, and tried assembling it with Microsoft MASM 3.0. The resulting .COM program refuses to work correctly. The first time I tried to run the program, it printed up the banner, and then froze the machine, forcing a cold boot. I experimented in debug, and successfully managed to trace my way through it without a problem. This led me to believe that the program was interfering with one of my resident programs/drivers. On a hunch, I removed NANSI.SYS from my config.sys file, and re-booted. Wonder of wonders, it worked! Now, question number 1 is: Which program is giving me the problems, LPTX or NANSI? Unfortunately, this was not my only problem with LPTX. After running it, and redirecting lpt1: to the default file, I tried typing DIR > PRN, to test the program. The machine halted, and I had to warm boot. I examined the LPTX1.LST in the root directory, and noted that it contained 512 bytes. I tried printing a smaller file, and the program worked correctly. Now my question is: why doesn't LPTX work with data larger than 512 bytes? Thanks in advance for the help. David Jedlinsky opus@athena.mit.edu [Are you running DOS 3.1? -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Thu 6 Mar 86 20:37:16-PST From: David John Buerger <D.Buerger%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: Re: LPTX To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA In response to Steven Mahan's request for some way to output from dBase III to a disk file, I've successfully used a public domain software program called LPTX. This program allows one to define parallel output to any disk file of your choice. You may then detoggle this command and continue output to your printer. Unfortunately, it only seems to work under DOS 3.1; I tried repeatedly to make it work with DOS 2.1 and it didn't work. David J. Buerger Director, PC Center Santa Clara University Dave%SCU%Panda@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Friday, 7 March 1986 13:46:05 EST From: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: DBASE III output-->printer DBASE III works under some fairly serious delusions, not the least of which is that all PCs have printers and "print" means "send to the physical printer device". This is of course worsened by the inability of DOS to do even the most primitive redirection of logical devices. My solution in DBASE III is to totally ingore anything in the manual with the word "print" attached, and use the "set alternate" mechanism to direct output to a file. The use of "set alternate" is not obvious, but once you know this is the mechanism, HOW to use it is fairly straightforward. set talk off is a good mode to work in. Using the set alternate method, anything printed on the screen goes to a file, so most of the reports can be redirected this way. joe ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 07 Mar 86 13:09:14 EST From: ST602556%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: dBASE III output In reply to the query about changing COM1 to be a file in order to spool dBASE output to the disk instead of the printer: Every dBASE output command that I know of provides a method of sending the output to a disk file rather than the printer. See the SET ALTERNATE and SET DEVICE commands and various options of the LIST and DISPLAY commands. Eric Wolf ST602556 @ BROWNVM.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 9 Mar 1986 15:54-EST Subject: Re Capturing Print Output from Dbase III From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA To: steve@NCSC.ARPA Cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Steve, I routinely use LPTX (LPTX.ASM, available via anonymous ftp from INFO-IBMPC archives at USC-ISIB.ARPA). I do NOT work with Dbase II or III, so cannot guarantee LPTX will work with that program .. but it appears to work with everything else I've tried. Price is right too. Regards, David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID ------------------------------ Date: 9 MAR 86 00:00-AST From: IU%DACTH51.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Microsoft C V 3.0 and Phoenix Linker PLINK86 V 1.30 Two friends of mine are working on a comprehensive word processor using the above C compiler from Microsoft. Due to the size they have to split the program into overlays and thus have to use PLINK V 1.30. Unfortunately they get an error message regarding the object record type 8E What we like to know is: Is there a new version of PLINK available which supports MS-C 3.0 FULLY ? Specifically does it support the object record type 8EH fully? The German vendor expects them to pay about 300 $ without beeing able to tell them wether it does support MS-C or not. They told me the latest available version here in Germany was 1.48. Any help would be greatly appreciated. (Either to info-ibmpc or to IU%DACTH51.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA or IU%DACTH51.BITNET@psuvax1.UUCP) el (Eberhard W. Lisse) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Mar 86 18:23:22 PST From: Matthew J Weinstein <matt@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> To: info-ibmpc-request@isib Subject: MS C 3.0 Large model struct assign code generation BUG There are a number of known bugs in MS C 3.0 struct/double assignments. I found this one yesterday; given the following conditions: 1) you are generating large model code 2) you use ONE register variable in your function 3) you use that register variable to index a pointer to a struct 4) you are performing structure assignment of an element of that structure which is not the first elt of the structure If all of the above are true, the generated code contains two LEAs that are mis-ordered. Code that exercises the bug (try cc -S): ----- slash here ----- struct a1 {char foo[6];}; struct a2 {int bar; struct a1 elt;}; struct a2 *broken; struct a2 okay[]; Broken() { register i; struct a1 wrong; struct a2 *me_too = broken; wrong = broken[i].elt; /* broken */ wrong = me_too[i].elt; /* broken */ wrong = okay[i].elt; /* WORKS */ } ----- and here ----- No fix forthcoming from Microsoft. - Matt ------------------------------ Date: Fri 7 Mar 86 14:38:35-PST From: Carl Fussell <CARL%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: optimizer for DeSmet C compiler To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA For those of you using the DeSmet C compiler... I've written a public-domain optimizer that is available from the C-Ware Fido Bulletin Board (143/9) at (408)-720-8197. The file is stored in the IBM PC file area under the name O88-V207.ARC (version 2.07 of O88). The ARC file contains three files: O88.DOC - The documentation file O88.EXE - O88 optimized by O88 for execution on an 8088 O88.V20 - O88 optimized by O88 for execution on a NEC V20. (rename O88.V20 to O88.EXE before use.) The optimizer automatically senses whether an 8088 or V20 is installed, and optimizes for the corresponding instruction set. Either mode can be forced by a command line argument. The V20 instructions that are used are all 80188 instructions, and so the optimizer is also useful for people with AT's. In general, it will remove 5-10% of the instructions (10-20% if the 80188 instruction set is used), and simplify ~5% of those that remain. One user said that the optimizer is better than that offered with MicroSoft's compiler. The optimizer is free for the taking. Enjoy! Dan Lewis Key Software Products ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Mar 86 04:19:46 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: `C` sources & MS-DOS implementation of MIT teco editor I am in the process of translating the MIT context editor TECO into standard Microsoft (UNIX) "C", and have a preliminary release of this editor available in both "C" source and (MS-DOS) executable form which is public domain, and can be downloaded at any time from the following 2400 baud RBBS bulletin boards shown (no user validation required) RBBS PoCo.............604-464-7693 RBBS Smokey Mountain..604-462-8753 These versions will be updated if I can continue with my project... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Mar 86 08:39:56 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Wish list for Microsoft C compiler It would be nice if Microsofts "C" compiler ver 3.0 was enhanced by (1) Improving the optimizer such that string constants are folded. Currently the following "C" statements PRINTF("\nThis string is stored twice by Microsoft `C`"); PRINTF("\nThis string is stored twice by Microsoft `C`"); causes the string constant to be replicated, wasting space. (2) Increasing the module size that the optimizer will handle before warning: function `xxxxxx` too large for post-optimizer [0] (3) Lowering the price sufficiently so as to become industry standard ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Mar 86 09:18:10 est From: T. J. Brando <brando%linus@mitre-bedford.ARPA> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: RE: emacs-like editor I've been using an editor called BRIEF on an AT running PC-DOS 3.1 for about 4 months. I didn't realize until a couple of weeks ago that it's an emacs clone. When I did realize it I immediately switched from vi to emacs on the vax at work, and I'm in pig heaven! BRIEF uses ctrl-keys for movement commands and alt-keys for other commands. It supports multiple buffers, multiple files, and multiple windows. The key bindings of existing functions can be changed, and macros can be written in lisp-like format using most of the existing functions. In fact, the editor comes with a large number of user-contributed macros that were the winners in a contest the company sponsored. For more information on BRIEF, contact Solution Systems 335 Washington Street Norwell, MA 02061 Sorry I don't know how much it costs. Thom linus!brando@MITRE-BEDFORD.{ARPA,BITNET,CSNET} {allegra,decvax,ihnp4,philabs}!linus!brando.UUCP ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 07 Mar 86 13:01:58 EST From: ST602556%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Emacs-like editor BRIEF, published by Solution Systems in Massachusetts, is a totally reconfigurable editor which is very much in the EMACS vein. Although it doesn't really start out too EMACS-like, you could very easily remap the keys and write a few macros so that it would be just like EMACS. I first used it last summer and within hours of getting it I was writing small macros. I don't use it heavily, but find it more than powerful and fast enough for the things I do. Eric Wolf ST602556@BROWNVM.BITNET P.S. - Although BRIEF's authors are friends of mine, I in no way profit from its sales. ------------------------------ From: op987!jsm@seismo.CSS.GOV To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Queuing System Simulation Software Query Date: Thu Mar 6 08:16:51 1986 Has anybody seen a PC/XT or PC/AT package of simulation software that is useful for queuing-system simulation. Something like GPSS would be ideal, but anything close might wrok as well. The application involves modeling the queuing behavior of information management systems in which each node can be thought of as a single or multi-server queuing system. Can anybody help? Jim McMichael UUCP: seismo.css.gov!op987!jsm ------------------------------ Date: 7 Mar 1986 12:04:52 PST Subject: Re: FFT Boards, Frame-Grabber Hardware From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Ready.pa@XEROX.COM cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA We built a system based on the Imaging technology frame grabber and our TMS320 signal processor board. The board was built for speech processing, but we used the fast multiply to do cosine transform based image compression. Warner Frei sells this board along with a very nice mouse/window driven image processing system. He has FFTs running on the Marinco array processing board that will meet your needs. The Marinco board does floating point. I don't think 16 bit word is wide enough for 512x512 FFTs starting with 8 bit image data. Warner Frei (213)452-1730 ------------------------------ Date: 7 Mar 1986 14:15:13 CST Subject: FSCRC contract... From: HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM.ARPA To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA In response to a general flood of info requests, this is a shotgun initial response. To those of you with no interest, I'm sorry to abuse your systems. The new contract (Z-248s) is not a GSA contract. Rather, its a requirements contract administered by the Air Force Computer Acquisition Center (AFCAC). AFCAC is copying the contract, and will be sending copies to all affected contracting offices. Check with you contracting office if in doubt. For those of you in the Air Force, your MAJCOM/SOA small computer technical center (SCTC) can assist you. By the way, two items I forgot to mention. First, the delegation of procurement authority has been modified to include all of the Department of Defense. Second, the systems come with a one (1) year warranty. Doug ------------------------------ Date: 7 Mar 86 13:27:48 PST (Friday) Subject: Incremental File Backup Utilities From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.Arpa A recent Digest article referred to IBU, an incremental backup utility, available for ftp from SIMTEL20. According to IBU's documentation, it determines files qualifying for backup by examining file dates and times on source and destination. If the source has a later date and time, then the file is marked for backup. (IBU also has options for overriding these selections.) Why not take the more straightforward of using the ARC bit? Consider the following: I have a system with a hard disk, and I organize my work by application area, each in a separate subdirectory. I also back up my work to floppy including full directory path. For some applications, I have only a few files, and I can back up on one floppy, or even share a floppy with another application. However, some applications have megabytes of files, and the backup spans multiple floppies. A date comparison method won't work automatically. Any pointers to backup utilities that use the ARC bit? Ideally, the utility is written in C and scans all subdirectories, not just the working directory. Phil Burton, Xerox Corp. ------------------------------ From: Tim Finin <Tim%upenn.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: turbo prolog To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Date: Fri, 7 Mar 86 08:42 EST Someone gave me a copy of a news item from Electronic Engineering Times of March 3rd which describes a Prolog compiler for PCs that Borland International (of Turbo Pascal fame) is releasing on April 15th. According to the note, the price will be $99. Borland claims that it was clocked at 100K lips on an IBM-PC and 300K lips on an AT! (The benchmark used was described as "a single rule benchmark"). The dialect is described as "a superset of Clocksin and Mellish". The system appears to include an incremental compiler, screen editor, support for windowing, a module capability, sound primitives and color graphics primitives. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Mar 86 11:39:11 est From: ucdavis!lll-crg!seismo!cmcl2!phri!greenber@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Ross Greenberg) To: ucdavis!info-ibmpc Subject: Re: DOS Termination Regarding the DOS Termination problem from a program in C. The program as listed should correctly set the termination code.... and then, when you fall off the end of main, a new termination code is generated by main (_main?). Try simply putting: exit(code); at the end of the routine, or try this after setting your exit code: regset.x.ax = 0; intdos(®set, ®set); which will cause your code to exit immediately, without any of the stuff a the end of main being called. ross ross m. greenberg ihnp4!allegra!phri!sysdes!greenber [phri rarely makes a guest-account user a spokesperson. Especially not me.] ------------------------------ To: Gary Chapman <CHAPMAN@nyu-acf7.ARPA> cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Re: Priam Drives on AT, Wait State on AT Date: Fri, 07 Mar 86 08:56:11 -0500 From: Dan Grim <grim@huey.udel.EDU> I have had the Priam 60MB drive installed in my AT for about two weeks. It works quite well with one reservation. The software supplied with the drive uses a non-standard partitioning scheme to take full advantage of the size of the drive. Although they configure the AT for a type 12 drive (which has 855 cylinders), the Priam drive actually has 981 cylinders. They use an installable disk driver under DOS to access the extra area. Since I am running both DOS and Xenix on my AT I am currently using the 60MB drive as a standard type 12 (50MB) drive. If you only use DOS this will cause you no problem. Dan ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 08 Mar 86 18:45:20 EST From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Limits on files open: concurrent and lifetime. A number of people have asked recently about the maximum number of files that a program may open. Since no one else has picked up the ball, I will offer what little I know about this. 1) The DOS manual states that no program can have more than 20 files open concurrently. This includes such files as stdio and stderr. Using the C fopen() function, I bomb out on the 16th file. 2) Some people have said that the limit is not 20 files CONCURRENTLY but 20 files during the execution of a program. Using standard C routines, I was able to open, write to, and close 40 files sequentially. 3) I tried a couple of editors. One could open only 15 files; the other opened 23 and appeared to be ready for many more. There were no indications that the second editor was paging files to disk. Clearly, there is some limit on the number of files that may be open concurrently, and no apparent (or documented) limit on the number that may be open during a complete run. Furthermore, there are techniques to get by the limit on the number of files open concurrently. Apparently, the 20 file limit came with DOS 2.0 and the use of file handles instead of control blocks. I tried using interrupt 21 function 0x0f to open files with fcbs but had no luck. I imagine that I was making some simple error, however, because this is the way fileio was handled before DOS 2.0. Conclusions: 1) An inability to open more than 20 files during the run of a program must have to do with some quirk/bug in either the compiler/interpreter that one is using or in DOS 3.xx. (I was using 2.0.) Will someone with DOS 3.xx check this out? 2) Programmers have been able to get around the 20 concurrent files limit, probably by using fcbs. This may be as simple as using the "archaic" libraries of compilers that support DOS 1.xx. If one does not have such a compiler, try using the DOS macros for fcbs. In the worst case, one could use direct reads and writes, but it is probably not necessary to give up that much of OS services. For more info, see the DOS manual, the Technical Reference, and the Programmer's Guide to MS-DOS. ------------------------------ Date: 21 Feb 86 20:58:00 PST From: Eliot Moore <Swg.Elmo@USC-ISIB.Arpa> To: info-ibmpc Subject: LSPELL added to Library LSPELL 0.93 LSPELL.PAS LSPELL is a TEST version of a simple but useful document LSPELL.DOC speller based on Borland International's Turbo Lightning. Christopher J. Dunford The Cove Software Group 10057-2 Windstream Drive Columbia, MD 21044 (301) 992-9371 CompuServe 76703,2002 12/10/85 ------------------------------ Date: 8 Mar 1986 23:40:31 PST Subject: Dirlib Package added to Library From: Eliot Moore <SWG.ELMO@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA dirlib.intro Dirlib is the "dirlib" package implemented for dirlib.c Microsoft-C. Matt@Ucla-Locus, 25-Feb-86. dirlib.h testdir.c ------------------------------ Date: 9 Mar 86 06:58:33 EST From: Davidann <DZimmerman@BLUE.RUTGERS.EDU> Subject: Kermit 2.28 jrd/5b + Turbo Lightning To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I've noticed problems also with the combination of Kermit and Lightning. Normally, Lightning is pretty well behaved, and even with the smallest dictionary in memory (RAM1), it doesn't beep unless a word looks adequately strange. Since I started running it with jrd/5b, though, it has been beeping on little words like "the" and "my", which is totally out of character. If I then do a word check, Lightning tells me the word is correct without accessing the disk, which means #1: the word was already in memory, and #2: if it was in memory, Lightning shouldn't have beeped. I should mention that Lightning was running fine with my previous version of Kermit (2.28 jrd/2). David P. Zimmerman, Rutgers University Arpa: DZimmerman@Blue Uucp: {seismo, allegra, ihnp4}!topaz!dpz ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7-Mar-86 10:37:28 PST From: ihnp4!pelican!pete@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Pete Carah) Subject: /G0 and /G1 benchmarks To: Fishwick%upenn.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa >Has anyone done any benchmarks on the code generated from using the >options /G0, /G1, or /G2 under Microsoft's C V3.0 ? I have run (on a NEC V20, not a 186) the Dhrystone benchmark using both the G0 and G1 options, with and without /Oxxx, and with and without the REGISTER as given in the dhrystone header. G1 does speed things up. Note that this benchmark is very call-intensive, simulating an ADA environment with highly-structured, small routines. Here is my letter to the dhrystone keeper giving the results. I also ran it on the definicon board (rather impressive). Note that the times differring by 1 second are not particularly significant due to the time() granularity of 1 second. The number listed alone or before seconds is "dhrystones/sec" (= 50000/seconds). I include some of the other times that came with the benchmark for reference: no reg reg * IBM PC/XT 8088-4.77Mhz VENIX/86 2.0 cc 297 324 * VAX 11/750 - VMS VAX-11 C 2.0 958 1091 * Sun2/120 68010-10Mhz Sun 4.2BSD cc 1136 1219 * PDP 11/70 - UNIX 5.2 cc 1162 1250 * IBM PC/AT 80286-7.5Mhz VENIX/86 2.1 cc 1190 1315 * * VAX 11/780 - UNIX 5.2 cc 1515 1562 I ran dhrystone on my PC in various combinations of compile options, and got the following results: PC (not XT) 4.77 MHz NEC V20 (not 8088), MSDOS 3.1, Microsoft C v.3.00 This compiler does support enums and structure assigns. I used small model for all of these (2-byte pointers). no regs, no optimize, no 186 instructions: 387 129 secs no regs, no optimize, 186 instructions: 393 127 secs no regs, -Ot, no 186 instructions: 387 no regs, -Ot, 186 instructions: 393 regs, no optimize, no 186 instructions: 420 119 secs regs, no optimize, 186 instructions: 427 117 secs regs, -Ot, no 186 instructions: 416 120 secs regs, -Ot, 186 instructions: 427 117 secs Apparently the -Ot option did nothing and enabling the 80186 instruction set improved things by a couple of percent. Same PC, DSI-32 board, 10 Mhz 32032, using the Definicon (Green Hills) C: This compiler supports enums and structure assigns. The base system was MSDOS 3.1 The runtime version was loader: 2.14v; 32io: 2.1 No wait states: Definicon 32032, no regs, no optimize: 1282 39 secs Definicon 32032, no regs, optimize 1: 1250 40 secs Definicon 32032, regs, no optimize: 1315 38 secs Definicon 32032, regs, optimize 1: 1282 39 secs 1 wait state: (my 2MB upgrade was slightly flaky with none) Definicon 32032, no regs, no optimize 1190 42 secs Definicon 32032, no regs, optimize 1190 42 secs Definicon 32032, regs, no optimize 1250 40 secs Definicon 32032, regs, optimize 1190 42 secs (!) A different PC, 8088, 4.77 MHz PC-IX, cc: (cron and update were left running, with no crontab activity) no regs 271 regs 294 -- Pete ...{ihnp4, scgvaxd, vortex}!pelican!pete ------------------------------ Date: 3 Mar 86 13:43 EST From: Jim Moore <moore@ncsc> Subject: NANSI Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Is NANSI available anywhere as executable rather than source? I don't have Microsoft's MASM 3.0, and apparently that's what I need for the current stuff available in ISIB (NANSI.LBR). Thanks for any information jim [NANSI is the new ANSI.SYS replacement from Daniel Kegel of Cal Tech -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 5 Mar 1986 13:52:33 PST Subject: NANSI From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Jim Moore <moore@NCSC.ARPA> cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA There were some modifications to the code receintly that allow it to assemble under MASM 1.00. We won't support binary, but somebody else on the net might. ------------------------------ Date: Tue 4 Mar 86 14:06:21-PST From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@SU-SUSHI.ARPA> Subject: Turbo's 64K Limitation Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I'm interested in getting around Turbo Pascal's 64K code/64K data limitations. I know about the "chain" and "execute" calls; does anyone have any experience with other methods, e.g. commercial products which extend Turbo? Thanks for your help. -- Marvin Zauderer E-Mail: Zauderer@SU-SUSHI.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 86 23:29:31 pst From: Marc Caminetsky <marc%uofm-uts.cdn%ubc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Compaq Deskpro and NEC V30 Query I have just purchased a COMPAQ deskpro and was thinking about poping in the NEC V30 chip to replace my 8086. I have many friends who have replace there 8088 with a V20 in their IBMPC and have met with a vast improvment in speed. Firstly, can you put the V30 in the DESKPRO and secondly has anyone done it? If so what kind of speed improvments is it giving? Thanks in advance, Marc Caminetsky. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Mar 86 23:29:42 pst From: Marc Caminetsky <marc%uofm-uts.cdn%ubc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Qubie Modem Problem I have a Qubie 1200 baud internal for my Compaq Deskpro, It works fine Usually, in fact I am using it now. BUT..... I have tried to logon to a certain BBS that uses a multitek 2400 baud modem. When I dial, I connect, hear the host modem at 2400 baud, it then switches to 1200 baud and then nothing happens. The QUBIE just sits there and does nothing. It will not respond to the Multitek carrier. Has anyone else had this problem with there qubie's? Is there some way via the AT commands that I can rectify this problem? Other than this particular BBS the modem works fine....I should also mention that a friend uses a HAYES 1200 and has NO prob. Thanks in advance Marc Caminetsky. ------------------------------ Date: 6 Mar 86 09:10 GMT From: oli2146 @ KOREA-EMH Subject: Lotus 1-2-3 Ver 1 vs. Ver 2 Query To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib.arpa Can anyone send me or direct me to a comparison of Lotus 1-2-3 Version 1 and version 2? Thanks in advance.... Mark Meaders "Fm the Land of the Morning Calm...." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Mar 86 12:23 EST From: Mandell@DOCKMASTER.ARPA Subject: GEM Draw Problem To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISI.ARPA I saw a demo of GEM draw last week. The use of the shift home combination to select the movement of objects(open hand) seemed to be very unreliable. It requires a simultaneous momentary push othe two keys and only works a small portion of the time. Has anyone seen this problem? is there a fix? Does a similar problem occur with a mouse? Dick Mandell ------------------------------ Date: Thursday, 6 Mar 1986 09:04:00 PST From: (Dave Gomberg) <GOMBERG@UCSFVM.BITNET> To: info-ibmpc at USC-ISIB Subject: ICOM R71A Radio Receiver to PC Query Has anyone succeeded in connecting an IBM PC to the "computer" interface of this beast? [This is a ham radio receiver with a serial interface that allows selection of frequency etc. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Mar 86 15:41 EST From: TRK%OAK.SAINET.MFENET@LLL-MFE.ARPA Subject: CMS Hard Disk, IBM Proprinter, Write & Spell Query To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.Arpa My father is in the market for an XT system for his club for keeping track of names & addresses, sending out letters etc. He is not a computer person and neither are the people who will be using it. What he is looking at is an XT with a 20 meg CMS hard disk, an IBM proprinter, and a Write & Spell word processor. I have never used anything by CMS and I am not familliar with the printer or the word processor either. I was hoping that some of you out there might be able to tell me if you have had any good/bad experiences with these things so I can tell my father whether to go ahead and get it or keep looking for something better. I would certainly appreciate any help anyone could offer. You can send replies to Info-IBMPC or: TRK%OAK.SAInet.MFEnet@LLL-MFE.Arpa Thanks in advance, --Tracy ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Mar 86 16:15:25 CST From: frank@db.wisc.edu (Dan Frank) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Ctags for MS-DOS wanted Does anyone know of a public domain ctags program for MS-DOS? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Mar 86 01:32:07 EST From: Jacob Moskowitz <JMSK@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: Character ROMS Query To: Info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I am very urgently looking for alternate ROM's to plug in place of the one on a PC to give me more greek characters and more math symbols. A companion ROM for the printer would be nice, but I can download those. I've been told that there is an EPROM equivalent for the PC character ROM, but I have been unable to find a vendor that sells anything like what I want. The reason I can't use any of the numerous "scientific/math" WP pgm's is that I need to use these fonts in my existing sfw, ThinkTank in particular, and I sure don't need those foreign characters nor the smiling faces, etc. Any help any of you can give me on this would be greatly appreciated. Jake Moskowitz CBS, NYU Physics ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Mar 86 12:42:38 pst From: calma!thompson@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Sheldon Thompson) To: ucbvax!info-ibmpc Subject: Serial printer on PCjr Query I desparately need help! I am attempting to access the serial port on the IBM PCjr to use a serial printer. The tech manual seems to be unavailable in this area. Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance, Sheldon Thompson Calma Company UUCP: ...{ucbvax,sun,csd-gould}!calma!thompson ARPA: calma!thompson!ucbvax.ARPA Disclaimer: I'm sure much of the above is trademarked. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Mar 86 13:51:46 PST From: atm%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: Real-time PC operating systems query Has anyone any experience with the various real-time operating systems for the PC, either full-featured ones such as RTOS (derived from iRMX86) or bare kernels such as VRTX? In particular, has anyone spliced an Ethernet protocol server (e.g. TCP/IP) into one of these? Alan Moffet Caltech Astronomy ATM%deimos@cit-hamlet.arpa ATM%deimos@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Fri 7 Mar 86 14:53:07-PST From: STEINBERGER@SRI-KL.ARPA Subject: serial ports query To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I am using IBM professional fortran and need to control 2 serial ports. I have ordered a product called "No Limit" from MEF ENVIRONMENTAL in Austin, TX (800) 562- 9700. They claim that their software will allow access to both ports, including using interrupt driven communication. Has anyone used this or a similar product? Any advice or comments would be welcome. Thanks. Ric Steinberger STEINBERGER@SRI-KL (415) 859-4300 [There are a couple of programs in the INFO-IBMPC library that do this. -ed] ------------------------------ Date: Sat 8 Mar 86 13:36:10-PST From: Carl Fussell <CARL%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: graphics query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Does anyone have an assembler routine that can be interfaced with the Professional FORTRAN to run the EGA board on the IBM AT using a monochrome monitor??? I've written some code that allows me to turn pixons on and off, but I was also looking for some assembler routines that will allow me to display characters and graphics (Mode F) simultaneously. I've also been hacking at some code to allow the user to define an alternate character set, but have had some trouble interpretting the limited documentation. If anyone has any assembler routines that do this and can be interfaced with the Professional FORTRAN package, I'd like to hear from you. Thanks, Stephen J. Hager (hager%SCU%Panda@Sumex-Aim.Arpa) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 08 Mar 86 18:53:59 EST From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Clearing the screen query What is the best way to clear the screen when running the color monitor? The call in my C library wipes out the attribute bytes. I believe that this is a call to the BIOS video services. As I understand it, one can print an ANSI.SYS command string to clear the screen, but this requires the installation of ANSI.SYS. If possible, I would like to make no assumptions about the environment. There must be some generic way to clear the screen (better than printing 25 blank lines). ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Mar 86 19:50:13 EST From: Jacob Moskowitz <JMSK@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: Alternate Character Sets Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISI.ARPA I just posted a message requesting help on replacing the standard character ROM, in particular with one adding to the limited number of greek/math symbols. Since then, a friend told me that STSC sells an APL compiler that changes some of the characters to APL characters, WITHOUT replacing the ROM, suggesting that there's a way to do this by software. Does anyone know whether this is true ? Does the IBM-PC download the character ROM into RAM, or does DOS have to be patched to allow intercepting of interrupts, or something ? I'm obviously ignorant of this stuff and will be very grateful for any assistance anyone out there can offer. Thanks. Jake Moskowitz ------------------------------ Date: 9 Mar 86 21:10:52 +0100 From: XBR1YD14%DDATHD21.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (YD14@BR1.THDNET) Subject: Program chaining query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib I have some FORTRAN programs that should invoke each other, so that only one program is resident in memory at any time. There is a DOS-call in version 3.x of DOS, but I don't like it because it seems to create some kind of subprocess and the "calling" program stays in memory. (In the CP/M-80 version of my program I'm using the FCHAIN subroutine in the F80's library.) I'd appreciate any hints. If ever possible, I'd like to use DOS Version 2.11. Thank you Reinhard Goeth (Techn. Univ. of Darmstadt) BITNET: XBR1YD14@DDATHD21 ARPA: XBR1YD14%DDATHD21.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU ------------------------------ Date: 9 Mar 1986 15:59-EST Subject: Wang PC "Open Architecture" package query From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Has anyone seen or worked with the "Open Architecture" package (or some such name) obtainable (for much bucks) from Wang for their PC? It supposedly has technical information about the buss, BIOS, interrupts, and all the secret ways it is NOT compatible with most anything. They blindsided us when we bought the boxes .. I'd rather not have any more unpleasant surprises if I buy this supposed equivalent to "Norton's Programmers Guide" for the Wang PCs. Thanks in advance, David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160269) 86-03-24 05.16 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <208> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.16 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <199> -- Received: 86-03-24 06.07 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 05.16 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #32 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:43 PST. TF: DSKD:931277.MAI %FROM: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 22060 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Mar 86 02:11 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 19:02:30-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 10-Mar-86 19:02:38 Date: 10 Mar 1986 19:02:38 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #32 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:43 PST ReSent-From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Monday, March 10, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 32 This Week's Editor: Phyllis O'Neil Today's Topics: LPTX Alternate Character Sets Clearing the Screen (2 messages) Re: Microsoft C Compiler Wish List FORTRAN to C query Redistributing INFO-IBMPC RE: AT&T PC6300 Color Display NEC V30 in a Compaq Deskpro SAVVY Turbo Pascal's 64K Limitation Today's Queries: Help with FTP between PC and VM Help needed with device driver INTERRUPT ROUTINES--QUERY Discrete simulation languages query .OBJ file format query Sort and German DOS 3.x query PC's Limited AT Query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Mar 86 16:15:09 est From: Mike Ciaraldi <ciaraldi@rochester.arpa> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: LPTX Problems (more details) I downloaded LPTX a few weeks ago from the ARPA archives, and found it works partially. My first problem was not knowing that it had to be processed by EXE2BIN. At first I thought the "No Stack Segment" message from LINK was an actual error. Once I got that figured out, it would actually run. Results: Under DOS 2.1 it seems to work fine for me. This is on a standard IBM PC with Color Graphics Adapter and dual floppies. I tried several different things, such as copying a file to PRN, using printer echo (ctrl-P), etc., and they all seemed OK. I was NOT using any other memory-resident programs. Under DOS 3.1, it worked all right for printer echo and other commands that didn't require disk use. When I tried to do a DIR > PRN or a DIR with printer echo, the first 512 bytes would go into the printer file, then the whole system would lock up. Repeating, other ways of producing printer output (e.g. from a BASIC program) that did not use the disk caused no trouble. So, it would appear that there is a conflict when DOS is trying to handle two disk requests simultaneously, one producing the data and one receiving it. Looking through the code, I see that there is a place where the author saves away the system stack, explaining in a comment that this gets around the restriction against doing#zDOS calls from inside an interrupt handle. The comment makes reference to the DOS 2.1 reference manual. So, my suspicion is that something changed between DOS versions, and LPTX does not take that into account. I hope someone else with more experience than I can figure out how to fix this, as LPTX seems very handy. Mike Ciaraldi ciaraldi@rochester seismo!rochester!ciaraldi ------------------------------ To: jmsk@mc.lcs.mit.edu Cc: info-ibmpc@isib Subject: Alternate Character Sets Date: Sun, 09 Mar 86 23:07:23 -0500 From: jcmorris@mitre.ARPA In your posting of 8 March you asked about the STSC handling of the special character sets used in its APL product. The STSC APL*PLUS/PC package can work with all three standard IBM CRT interfaces (mono, CGA, and EGA). The special PROM is required with the monochrome adapter; it's recommended but not mandatory with the CGA, and cannot be used with the EGA. (There are also several different PROM's for use with other manufacturers' boards.) Assuming that one of the IBM boards is being used, the no-PROM approach uses the techniques shown in the standard IBM documentation. You don't say in your note which CRT adapter you're using. If it's the IBM mono or CGA, both boards use the same PROM. I've not actually done it, but it doesn't look to be too difficult to figure out the addressing scheme and design your own character set if you've got access to a PROM burner. The EGA uses proprietary chips and doesn't have a socketed PROM to be replaced. The IBM manuals show how to specify your own character set for the CGA and EGA. There is no way to avoid a special PROM if you're using the monochrome adapter. Joe Morris (jcmorris@mitre) ------------------------------ Date: Mon 10 Mar 86 12:42:35-CST From: Pete Galvin <CC.GALVIN@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> Subject: Re: Clearing the screen To: JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU cc: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I believe the best method is one described in the IBM Tech. Ref. It is simply a call to the bios video routines scroll function. Tell it to scroll 25 lines, and the screen is cleared. Sorry I don't have the numbers in front of me... --Pete ------------------------------ Date: 10 Mar 1986 11:01:27 PST Subject: Re: Clearing the screen From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Pete Galvin <CC.GALVIN@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> cc: JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU, INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I agree that the BIOS call is the best bet. Most MS-DOS machines have a mode that will emulate the IBM BIOS to that extent. The only way to clear the screen that does not depend on ANSI.SYS nor on the IBM BIOS is to write 25 linefeeds to the screen. And even this won't be compatible with displays with more than 25 lines, like the EGA in some modes. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 86 09:55:22 CST From: nather@ASTRO.UTEXAS.EDU (Ed Nather) To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Re: Microsoft C Compiler Wish List >From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA >It would be nice if Microsofts "C" compiler ver 3.0 was enhanced by > > (1) Improving the optimizer such that string constants are folded. > Currently the following "C" statements > > PRINTF("\nThis string is stored twice by Microsoft `C`"); > PRINTF("\nThis string is stored twice by Microsoft `C`"); > > causes the string constant to be replicated, wasting space. I don't think they can do that ... the C langauge allows you to write to a string constant and change its value, so each one must be unique. While there is no way to address the one in your example, it is a special case which the compiler would have to identify. And if it were identical to one that you *could* address ... > (2) Increasing the module size that the optimizer will handle before > > warning: function `xxxxxx` too large for post-optimizer [0] That one should be easy. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 86 13:51:47 CST From: fenchel@rsch.wisc.edu (Bob Fenchel) To: info-ibmpc@isib Subject: FORTRAN to C query Anyone have, or know of a program that can do a reasonable job translating from FORTRAN to C? ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Redistributing INFO-IBMPC Date: Mon, 03 Mar 86 16:07:23 -0500 From: Craig Partridge <craig@loki.bbn.com> A few weeks ago a note went out to this list which, among other things, expressed some annoyance at those of us who run CSNET for not offering redistribution facilities for mail digests like INFO-IBMPC. We at CSNET view this as a somewhat unfortunate situation -- we like to see ourselves as helping the research community, yet in this particular situation our hands are tied. I've included parts of the original message below with an explanation of why we are unable to help out. I hope this will give people a better sense of why the problem exists. > Date: 19 Jan 1986 13:34:50 PST > Subject: New Year's Resolutions > From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> > To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA > The editors of INFO-IBMPC met last week. Several changes have taken > place. > > [much text deleted] > We are unresolved as to what to do about sending back digests and > library files to unconnected networks. We never have responded to > requests from usenet hosts unless they were closely connected to th > arpanet, and we are getting increasingly fed up with sending things > via mail to csnet and bitnet. The only reason these nets don't have file > access to our archives is because the political administrators of > these networks are unwilling to implement gateways that can handle > file transfer. I fail to see why we should have to send files as mail > because the users of these connected networks are unwilling or unable > to put pressure on the administrators of their nets to allow them > file access to ARPA hosts. In the mean time some requests will get > answered and others won't depending on the mood of who is editing at > the moment. This sounds harsh but only reflects the reality of the > last year or so as requests have grown beyond our capability to handle > them. We'd love to offer file access to ARPA hosts. In fact we at CSNET had plans to implement (indeed had started work on) a mail interface to the FTP protocol. But when we mentioned this idea to various parties involved in running the DDN we were told that we could not offer mail oriented FTP. Apparently FTP is involved in a large fraction of the security incidents on the DDN, and if we made FTP available to a larger community (i.e. those people who can reach the Internet via mail), the security problems and concerns could become much more serious. > > If someone had a mail based server that could automaticly respond to > these requests, this could solve the problem for the short term. > > [more deletions ] Such programs exist. Both CSNET and BITNET have information servers that are capable of automatically handling requests via mail. Other versions exists on the UUCP network. MOSIS (at ISI) also offers this capability. We (at CSNET) are, however, in no position to start archiving all of the various mailing lists that our members are interested in (we just don't have enough processing and disk resources to handle this much data). As I've said, we'd like to help out, and we are not unaware of this problem. If we find a solution at our end you'll be the first to know. insert Craig Partridge CSNET Technical Staff craig@sh.cs.net (for the daring) or craig@csnet-sh.arpa I stand by my statements that the reason csnet subscribers can't get FTP access to our files and archives is political not technical. If "the various parties involved in running the DDN" really believe FTP access to the ARPANET is a security breach there is something seriously wrong with the DDN. I am sure there is some appropriate mailing list to discuss whatever politics may be involved in this decision, but this isn't the one. I spoke with the MOSIS people and their software is too specific to MOSIS to work for INFO-IBMPC. In the mean time there is a program called netlib that runs on unix that allows people to fetch files from libraries via net mail. I'd like to get that up running. I don't speak unix and don't want to do it personally but would be glad to give assistance to any volunteers. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 10 MAR 86 14:32-N From: INNO%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: RE: AT&T PC6300 Color Display I have an Olivetti M24 with a color monitor. It has almost the same hardware as the AT&T 6300. I recognized the problem of the color monitor. I had the problem too, when I was running the product SUPERKEY. When I tried to exit the same problem occurred: a snowy display and the left margin in the center of the screen. I didn't have the problem when I booted from an original IBM PC-DOS V2.00 floppy. For the rest I never have problems with my color monitor, even if I run some graphics color demos for the IBM-PC. Inno Frencken Computing Centre Agricultural University Hollandseweg 1 6706 KN Wageningen The Netherlands phone: 08370-83875 EARN-id: INNO EARN-node: HWALHW5 ------------------------------ Date: Mon 10 Mar 1986 12:39:11 EST From: <SAGE@LL.ARPA> Subject: NEC V30 in a Compaq Deskpro To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib I am running my Deskpro Model 4 with an NEC V30 chip in it. The Norton utility performance index doubled, indicating that some instructions now run twice as fast as before. I ran one benchmark using a compute-bound PMATE text-editing macro and found a speed improvement of about 10-15%. My hard disk seems to run noticeably faster. The one problem I have had is with the tape backup. Things seem to go too fast for it! I solved the problem by switching the computer to its low-speed clock when making the tape backups. ------------------------------ Date: Mon 10 Mar 86 10:24:47-PST From: CRESWELL@SRI-AI.ARPA Subject: SAVVY To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I purchased Savvy about 6 months ago and have used it for database applications for medium sized files. It is easy to use...seems to do all I want it to...though I'm not using it for extremely exotic purposes. Purchased it through the mail for a good deal....installed in my PC hard disk and had it up and running in about an hour. The little instruction books are well written. The manual, like most manuals, is "ok" if you really need to delve into the guts of things altho' I've found that the menus/user books have provided most everything I need. ------------------------------ Date: 10 Mar 86 10:58:53 PST (Monday) From: Eldridge.ES@Xerox.COM Subject: Turbo Pascal's 64K Limitation To: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@SU-SUSHI.ARPA> cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, Eldridge.ES@Xerox.COM It is true that Turbo Pascal is limited to 64K of code space and 64K of static data space, but this is not really a problem. To get around the code space limitation, Turbo Pascal provides an overlay facility. Chaining can also be used where appropriate. The 64K limitation on the data space applies only to static data structures. If you use dynamic data structures, then you have access to all available memory in the machine. Dynamic data structures are allocated off of the heap. There is a limitation of 65521 bytes for a single dynamic variable. I have heard that Nostradamus software offers a utility that extends the code and data space range of Turbo Pascal, but I have no experience with it. George (Eldridge.es@Xerox.com) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 86 10:28:07 cet Subject: Help with FTP between PC and VM From: UZR500%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU I am developing a FTP-program running on the IBM-PC (every version). Our PC has a coax kable and neither IRMA nor AST-PCOX card for emulation and FTP from/to our IBM/370 host under VM/CMS. At the moment we would need some information exchange with other people who have the same problems or who have already written such a program,no matter in which programming language it has been written. We have several programs which are solving our problem. But every is too slow or it does not run exactly. We have problems in compiling BASICA-pro= grams with the IBM-BASIC-COMPILER and with the QUICK-BASIC-COMPILER. At the end of our list,writing this program in TURBO-PASCAL brings some other problems,too.So,if there is someone who has the same pro= blem or better who has already solved it,I would like to correspond with him in order to solve it. Thank you very much. Sincerely yours Thorsten Glattki Glattki, Thorsten 0228/73-2747 UZR500 at DBNRHRZ1 RHRZ Universitaet Bonn Zimmer 003 Wegelerstrasse 4 D-5300 Bonn 1 Ferderal Republic of Germany (West Germany) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 86 03:11 EST From: Paul Schauble <Schauble@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA> Subject: Help needed with device driver To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I am attempting to write a device driver for a slightly strange disk and have run into a problem. The disk is different from a standard PC disk in that it uses a 2K byte sector size. I know that DOS has some procedure for dealing with other sector sizes: I have previously seen device drivers that use other than 512 byte sectors. However, when I try to load my driver, it gets the message "Sector size too large in driver.sys". Does anyone know if anything special is needed to set the sector size that DOS uses? Or, just exactly what is the problem here? Thanks, Paul ------------------------------ Date: 10 MAR 86 10:48-N From: DOMMELEN%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: INTERRUPT ROUTINES--QUERY Has anyone in this audience a routine which does the following: 1. Generates a timer interrupt and calls a routine e.g. each second. 2. Can be locked into the system, so keeps interrupting when a FORTRAN program runs. 3. Maybe can do something like the ON KEY .. GOSUB functions of GWBASIC. I'm asking this for a custumor who is working with an Olivetti M21 and wants to write his program in Microsoft FORTRAN. Probably these routines should be made in MASM, which is available also. Any suggestions are welcome. Wim van Dommelen, Computer Centre Agricultural University, Wageningen Holland. DOMMELEN@HWALHW5.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Monday, 10 March 1986 13:57:55 EST From: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Discrete simulation languages query (I'm asking this for a friend) Are there any discrete system simulation languages (the last one I used was Simula) available for the PC. He needs to simulate a system with lots of discrete servers (neg. exp. arrival and service times) with setup and "latency" considerations. Graphics output nice but not required. A self-contained system is desired; native language is C (he has no Fortran, so Fortran-based preprocessor simulator things will not work). joe ------------------------------ Date: Monday, 10 March 1986 14:00:48 EST From: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: .OBJ file format query (for another friend) I know someone who wishes to port his favorite compiler to the PC. Ideally, he'd like to write .obj files directly instead of invoking the assembler. The .OBJ file format is rather obscure and the Intel document hasn't helped us much. Does anyone have a public domain or small $ .OBJ-file-writer? Desire is to support the equivalent of Lattice's S,P,D and L models. I don't have time to get involved in this deeply so am looking for ways to help. joe ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 86 15:59:36 PST From: kegel%Juliet.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: Sort and German DOS 3.x query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa, m70b%cbebda3t.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.edu The stated problem is, why does SORT seem to ignore the umlaut on letters? Sort is presumably using the generalized mechanism provided by DOS for resolving ordering of ascii characters. The DOS function call "Get/set country information" allows you to get or set the address of the subroutine used to order characters. Although the documentation in the DOS 3.0 Technical Reference manual does not specify what exactly the subroutine does, tracing thru it with DEBUG reveals that it is something like the following: translate proc far push bx ; save caller's register mov bx, offset value_table ; get address of our order-value table xlat cs:[bx] ; replace char in AL with its order value pop bx ret translate endp value_table db 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ; and so on The value_table used by DOS simply assigns the value 'A' to all letter A's regardless of case or accent. To replace the default character-ordering subroutine, you would need to write a small program which would set the address of the your subroutine, then terminate and remain resident. Warning: the above example subroutine is typed from memory, and may be incorrect; you will have to trace thru the default subroutine to make sure. Have fun, and good luck! - Daniel Kegel 1-60 Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91126 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 86 01:34:41 EST From: "Keith F. Lynch" <KFL@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: PC's Limited AT Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Does anyone have any info on the PC's Limited AT compatible? Is it any good? How can it be so much cheaper than the competition? ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160292) 86-03-24 12.16 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <209> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 12.16 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <200> -- Received: 86-03-24 19.11 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 12.16 Marked by somebody. Subject: INFO-IBMPC DIGEST V5 #33 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:45 PST. TF: DSKD:932240.MAI %FROM: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 38445 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Mar 86 11:00 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 19:03:42-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 12-Mar-86 19:49:35 Date: 12 Mar 1986 19:49:35 PST Subject: INFO-IBMPC DIGEST V5 #33 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:45 PST ReSent-From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, March 12, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 33 This Week's Editor: Phyllis O'Neil Today's Topics: Accelerator Boards and Compaq Portable Limits on Files Open Fast Turbo Screen Writing Grammatik and Rightwriter BRIEF Arity Prolog Sector Size Newsroom Program German DOS and SORT .OBJ File Format EXEPACK Breaks Programs NEC V30 vs V20 in Compaq Deskpro Device Drivers and Sector Size MAX Availability RE: Queuing Simulation on IBM PC/XT/AT SAVVY PC Turbo Pascal Clearing the Screen Microsoft C compiler and strings Microsoft C V 3.0 and Phoenix Linker PLINK86 V 1.30 MS-C Re: Microsoft "C" Compiler Wish List Today's Queries: UCSD PASCAL on IBM-PC Query Overlay linkers Query 8087 Library for DeSmet C Compiler Query BRIEF Programmer's Editor--Macros Request What are Those Error Codes? 25 Top Utilities Request Looking for Paradox Database Users Irma Boards Query Logitech Modula-2 Compiler Review Requested Turbo Pascal Query DESQview Query HP Vectra vs IBM PC/AT Jove Query Graphics-Cursor on EGA Query AT&T 6300 Hard Disk Query Installing Xenix on Compaq Query ------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Mar 86 18:41:39 EST From: Walter Bender <walter@MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: RE: Accelerator Boards and Compaq Portable Cc: blue@MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU The PC-elevATor 286 from Applied Reasoning Corp. works in Compaq portables, DeskPros, and even PC-ATs. It comes in 8, 10, and 12.5 MHz models, with optional 5 or 8 MHz 80287 co-processor, and up to 2 MB of no wait-state RAM. Their software includes RAM Disk and EMS / Above Board support. Applied Reasoning Corporation 765 Concord Avenue Cambridge, Mass. 02138 (617) 492-0700 Yr. obt. svt., P.D.Pathe Javelin Software Corp. (blue@media-lab.mit.edu) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 86 15:10:45 pst From: psivax!friesen (Stanley Friesen) Subject: Limits on Files Open Organization: Pacesetter Systems Inc., Sylmar, CA James H Coombs writes: >1) The DOS manual states that no program can have more than 20 files >open concurrently. This includes such files as stdio and stderr. Using >the C fopen() function, I bomb out on the 16th file. The manual is correct as far as *DOS* is concerned. The limit with fopen() is internal to *stdio*. The standard implementation of the stdio library only allocates 16 FILE structures for use by the library, so even though DOS permits more, stdio doesn't. Use open() or its equivalent to get at the DOS file handles instead of fopen(). Or else recompile the stdio library(if you have the source) to use 20 FILE structures. > >2) Some people have said that the limit is not 20 files CONCURRENTLY but >20 files during the execution of a program. As far as I know there is no sequential limit at all. Sarima (Stanley Friesen) UUCP: {ttidca|ihnp4|sdcrdcf|quad1|nrcvax|bellcore|logico}!psivax!friesen ARPA: ttidca!psivax!friesen@rand-unix.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1986 21:06 CST From: Dean Hoyt <NU068450%NDSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Fast Turbo Screen Writing To: <info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA> >From: Bard Bloom <BARD@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> >Subject: Generic Fast Screen I/O Query >How does one write quickly to the IBM PC's screen from Turbo Pascal? >I have a generic MSDOS version of Turbo, running on a very incompatible >Rainbow; I'm trying to write a program that will run on IBMs as well. >I also need to know how to set video attributes, at least underlined, >bold, and reverse video. > Thanks, I work on Zenith PC's that the school has. The memory for the color screen is at $B000:$F000. The memory for the mono screen is at $B000:$0000. I define an array of integer that is the size of the screen memory and then write into this array. This method bypasses both DOS and BIOS. Type a_screen = array [1..25,1..80] of integer; Var color_screen : a_screen absolute $B000:$F000; mono_screen : a_screen absolute $B000:$0000; temp_screen : a_screen; begin { code to build picture or text in temp screen } color_screen = temp_screen; { copy temp screen onto real screen } { more code } temp_screen = color_screen; { save current contents of screen } { display help screen } color_screen = temp_screen; { restore screen } end; As for attributes I only have experience with a color screen. As you can see the screen array is of type integer. The upper byte of an integer contains attribute bits, the lower byte contains the ascii character to display. Blink Back color Bright Fore color ASCII char ---------------------------------------------------- l x l x x x l x l x x x l x x x x x x x x l ---------------------------------------------------- Hi byte low byte I would just play around with the attribute bits and see what comes up on the screen. oh in the array it is Y,X so a gotoxy(15,10); write ('A'); would place an A in the lower byte of the screen array at location 10,15 so to get it you could use the statement, Value := color_screen[10,15]; I hope that this helps. I have found that with this type of screen I/O you can not see the writes to the screen, the picture just appears. Dean Hoyt NU068450 @ NDSUVM1 ------------------------------ Date: 11 Mar 1986 01:34:23 EST Subject: Grammatik and Rightwriter From: Norman Lyons <LYONSN@USC-ISI.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I use both Rightwriter and Grammatik and I thought I would comment on the capabilities of the two packages. I read about 30 Master's theses a year, and all theses are submitted to these two packages first. Working together, they handle almost all of the nit-picking editing chores. The two packages are actually complementary. Grammatik flags wordy phrases, archaic phrases, and other such problems. It has an extensive dictionary of its own, and the user can easily create his own phrase dictionary using an ASCII editor. Two passes are required with Grammatik. One pass flags problems in the document itself. Another pass prints out suggestions for changes separately from the document. Rightwriter is a much more sophisticated package. It examines sentence structure, flags passive voice, long sentences, complex sentences, and some types of grammatical errors. It also computes a fog index and a list of unusual words. It's a very useful package for streamlining prose. One has to be careful about its suggestions, however. If taken too literally, it can result in a "me Tarzan--you Jane" style of prose. It "rewards" short sentences and active voice with a low fog index. Since I use both of these programs together, I have written a pair of C routines and some BAT files that work both Grammatik and Rightwriter comments into the document in a single format. These programs can run in unattended mode. It requires about 20 minutes to do a complete check on a 100-page thesis. I can contribute these programs to INFO-IBMPC if anybody is interested. Disclaimer: I have no interest in either of these companies except as a reasonably satisfied user. ------------------------------ From: chapman%miro@BERKELEY.EDU (Brent Chapman) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: "ENVSIZE.EXE" (included with BRIEF editor) patches COMMAND.COM Date: 10 Mar 86 23:53:44 PST (Mon) The program "ENVSIZE.EXE" that is included with the BRIEF Programmer's Editor successfully increases the environment size, but it does it by patching your COMMAND.COM file. Now, while in and of itself, this is not necessarily a bad thing, this little "feature" is not noticeably (if at all) mentioned in any of the documentation... I don't know about you, but I prefer to know in advance when something is going to go poking around in my critical files... Just thought I'd warn everyone else. Brent Chapman chapman@miro.berkeley.edu ucbvax!miro!chapman ------------------------------ Date: 11 Mar 86 09:34:00 EST From: "DESILVA, ERIC" <desilva@nbs-vms.ARPA> Subjectt: Arity Prolog To: "info-ibmpc" <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa> I was catching up on my mail and happened to notice a message about Arity Prolog. We just got version 4.0 and it is no longer copy pro- tected. For the $800, you also get the Arity Prolog Compiler which runs about 10-20 times as fast as the interpreted stuff (Can Borland beat that?). There is a review of a bunch of Prolog interpreters in the Jan '86 PC Tech Journal for more info and benchmarks (LIPS Logical inferences per second !?!) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 86 13:30:02 PST From: Dana Myers <bilbo.dana@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> To: Schauble@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA CC: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Sector Size Too Large MS-DOS determines the size of the largest sector it will have to deal with during boot time by examing the sector sizes in use by the disk driver in IO.SYS. For most PCs, this is 512 bytes. Once DOS figures this out, it creates the buffer pool which consists of a number of structures fixed in size, the size being the largest sector size plus a small amount for a header. Unfortunately, if you want a larger sector size you have to do something tricky, like modify your IO.SYS source (you do have source to IO.SYS, don't you?) or mess with IO.SYS somehow to make DOS believe a larger sector is in use (don't ask exactly how, it qualifies as black magic). You could also block and deblock the 2k sectors into 512 byte sectors... Note that having a large sector size (which means large buffers) will reduce the amount of memory available to applications for a given number of buffers. 25 buffers is a reasonable number; this is about 13k of 512 byte sectors but more like 53k of 2k byte sectors... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 86 13:44:54 EST From: mr <ihnp4!inuxc!isrnix!mr@seismo.CSS.GOV> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Newsroom Program > I would like to get some info on programs that can be used for creating newsletters or other in-house magazines. Something which uses the Hercules Graphics Card and displays the exact stuff that will be printed (What You See Is What You Get). Ideally I should be able to get a draft printout on an Epson FX printer and the final version on the Apple Laser Printer. Any information on this will be appreciated. Irfan Ahmad ECO10125 BOSTONU > You might check into Springboard's "Newsroom" program ($25). With the program, you get some 200-odd pieces of "clip art" that can be modified to your liking. (sure, the clip art is a little hokey, but you can get either volume 1 or volume 2 of their more sophisticated clip-art. add $19. volume 2 is the business clip art which allows the design and production of many, many graphs, charts, logos, piecharts, you name it.) Either volume touts over 500 pieces of clip art. With a color/graphics monitor, you're able to design your own "photos" which, if you like, can be laid out pixel by pixel; anywhere on your page. There's 6 "departments" in the newsroom: the photo lab where you design your own "photos;" the printing press; the wire service where pc's running "newsroom" can talk to one another via modem; banner department where the masthead is created; the copydesk where text is written; and the layout where it all comes together. mice/joysticks are welcome but not necessary. It is fully compatible with most dot-matrix printers (esp. with epson's) and what you see, is what gets printed (wysiwgp!). .^. michael regoli /|\ ...ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!isrnix!mr '|!|` <mr@isrnix.UUCP> ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 86 13:52:32 PST From: kegel%tybalt.caltech.edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu To: m70b%cbebda3t.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.edu Subject: German DOS and SORT > How do I get SORT to sort letters with umlauts correctly? In an earlier letter, I reasoned that SORT used the DOS facility for building a character sorting weight table. As it happens, the SORT that comes with DOS 3.1 (and probably DOS 3.0, as well) contains its own sorting weight table, which will have to be modified. The new sorting weight table will (like the old one) be the identity function for characters below 65 (upper-case A). Since I don't know in what order you want to put the various accents, I can't give you an exact table; but here's how to construct one: Write down the alphabet (including accented letters) in the desired order. Number each letter, starting with 65 for A and a (both cases get same number). The number next to each letter is its sorting weight table entry. Now sort the list by ASCII code number, and fill gaps (which mostly hold block graphics characters) with numbers higher than the weight generated for Z. You should have 191 entries, one for each code from 65 to 255. Finally, convert the weights into hexadecimal (ugh). Here's how to use DEBUG to find and change SORT's weight table (this will only be understandable if you already know DEBUG): 1. Make a copy of SORT.EXE under a different extension, e.g. copy sort.exe sort.bin 2. Locate the case map table within sort.bin: DEBUG SORT.BIN -RCX ; How long is the file? 0680 ; Now we know how long to search -S 100 L 0680 0 1 2 3 4 5 ; Search for start of case map table xxxx:0592 ; Now we know offset of table -H 592 41 ; Find where letter A starts sum=05d3 difference=0551 ; it starts at 5d3 -Q ; back to DOS (The above numbers are examples) 3. Make a file called Script with your 192-entry hex weight table as follows. (Let's say the first 4 entries of your table are 41h, 48h, 49h, 50h, and the last 4 entries are a3h, a4h, a5h, a6h.) f 5D3 L F 41 48 49 50 etc.... f 5E2 L 10 ... ... f 682 L 10 .... a3 a4 a5 a6 w q 4. Run debug on sort.bin with Script: debug sort.bin < Script 5. Copy sort.bin to newsort.exe, and try it out. 6. If it does not sort correctly, change the file Script, and go back to step 4. Again, good luck. - Daniel Kegel ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 86 14:12:44 PST From: kegel%Juliet.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: .OBJ File Format To: joe.newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa The Microsoft .obj file format is pretty obscure, and is slightly different from the Intel .obj file format (a clean subset, I think). I was able to write a .obj file writer by intensive study of the issue of IBM PC Tech Ref Journal (?October 1985?) that explained the format, and by examinging the output of very, very simple MASM runs. The only thing the article doesnt mention is that, although indices usually are coded into 1 byte, the high bit is a "next byte is low 8 bits" flag, allowing more than 255 external symbols (for instance). There is also a document available mail-order from Microsoft, the MS-DOS Programmer's Reference, which (i am told) also describes the format. - Daniel Kegel ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 86 16:31:58 PST From: Matthew J Weinstein <matt@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@isib Subject: EXEPACK Breaks Programs EXEPACK v 4.00 and previous are known to break programs. No specific causes or solutions. EXEPACK broke a 220k program in obscure ways the other day... MS has no new version at this point; no word if they are working on it. The /E option of LINK is known to break programs too. I don't use it. - Matt ------- UUCP: {ucbvax,ihnp4,randvax,trwrb!trwspp,ism780}!ucla-cs!matt ARPA: matt@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11-Mar-86 08:34:56 PST From: scgvaxd!pelican!pete@csvax.caltech.edu (Pete Carah) Subject: NEC V30 vs V20 in Compaq Deskpro To: marc%uofm-uts.cdn%ubc.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa A friend and I have put a V30 in a deskpro, and find that the time to compile and assemble a large ms-pascal/assembly program was reduced from 25 to 19 minutes, where the time in a PC went from 38 to 37 minutes when a V20 was installed. In other words, the V30 improves a deskpro more than a V20 improves a PC, at least for MS-pascal and the assembler. -- Pete [I suspect the NEC V20 is choked by the 8 bit data path and spends more time waiting for memory -wab] {scgvaxd, ihnp4, vortex}!pelican!pete ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11-Mar-86 08:58:06 PST From: scgvaxd!pelican!pete@csvax.caltech.edu (Pete Carah) Subject: Device Drivers and Sector Size To: schauble@mit-multics.arpa Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa DOS gets its idea of sector size for buffer allocation from the BPB of the first block device driver loaded. Since this is the one that comes with DOS, you are kind of stuck without a patch. Several people manage to get around this to increase the allowable disk size over 32MB. It should be possible to sneak around in the DOS.COM data area and fix the problem at the time of loading a driver, but I don't know what side effects there might be, and code to do it would not work on another version of DOS. One side effect of having a buffer size over 512 bytes is that the buffer area uses a lot of memory and (in your case) 3/4 of it wouldn't get used while floppy or normal hard disk sectors were bufferred. Another way to handle the problem is to translate all requests to/from "virtual" 512-byte sectors in your driver. That isn't too hard but it would require an internal buffer to handle partial sector requests, and if the cluster size were smaller than 2K you would get some thrashing. This scheme has the disadvantage of not increasing the allowable device size over 32MB, though you can always allow more than one DOS partition (my disk driver does, and allows up to 128 MB in a drive, in 4 virtual devices). -- Pete {scgvaxd, ihnp4, vortex}!pelican!pete ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 86 23:56:17 PST From: larry@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA Subject: MAX Availability To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa In answer to several queries, I got my copy of MAX (a microEMACS) from UTEXAS-20.ARPA from <CC.GALVIN.PUBLIC>MAX.LBR... Larry @ jpl-vlsi ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Cc: tektronix!stever%tektronix.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA Subject: RE: Queuing Simulation on IBM PC/XT/AT Date: 10 Mar 86 19:08:52 PST (Mon) From: stever%tektronix.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA consider evaluating SIMAN, it is a cross between GPSS and GASP/SLAM. Systems MOdeling Corporation Calder Square P.O. Box 10074 State College, Pennsylvania 16805-0074 (814)-238-5919 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Mar 86 08:24:05 est From: Scott Guthery <sguthery%slb-doll.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: SAVVY PC I use SAVVY PC for a coupld of little databases I ride herd on and find it quite useful. It has a funky model of computation (tasks kinda) and the AI component is very A but all in all for $49 I'm a happy customer. I also wonder why you'd spend more. There's nothing I've wanted to do that SAVVY PC can't handle (probably a comment on my imagination or needs). It allows full-fledged programming which means you can simulate a Turning machine if you have to. I recommend you pay the extra $30 and get the hardcopy documentation cause there's lots of it and you'd waste at least $0 worth of your own time and paper printing it all out. ------------------------------ Date: Tue 11 Mar 86 21:14:14-EST From: Doctor I & III & V <WESALUM.A-LIAO-85@KLA.WESLYN> Subject: Turbo Pascal To: INFO-IBMPC%USC-ISIB.ARPA@VAX.WESLYN About Turbo Pascal: As far as I know the 64K program space limitation is still in effect on Version 3.xx. This is not true, however, for dynamically allocating variables off the heap. He and I managed to allocate something close to 200K on his machine (he has a 256K IBM PC). Warning to all, however, about using Turbo's version of linked lists: If you're not careful you, referencing a NIL pointer can be REAL dangerous. It turns out that, at best, reading data via a NIL pointer will only return garbage. However, writing to a "variable" will hang your machine (and possibly worse). It turns out that Turbo sets the NIL pointer as an address in REAL LOW Memory (i.e. the DOS area). So writing thru a TURBO NIL pointer down in that area isn't really a recommended thing to do. In fact, Turbo really doesn't tell you if you try to dereference a NIL pointer. Fortunately, I talked to Borland and they said they finally fixed the problem (I'll believe it when I see it). "NIL", they said, "doesn't do that nonsense anymore". This is as of 6 weeks ago. So I assume a new version of Turbo Pascal is out on the market. Hope this info helps.... - drew liao ------------------------------ Date: Tue 11 Mar 86 21:25:37-EST From: Doctor I & III & V <WESALUM.A-LIAO-85@KLA.WESLYN> Subject: Clearing the Screen To: INFO-IBMPC%USC-ISIB.ARPA@VAX.WESLYN RE: To GALVIN@R20.UTEXAS,JAZBO%BROWN The following is the code to clear the screen and leave the cursor in the top left-hand corner: ;The following was written to interface with MS-Pascal. I wrote this ;code for an IBM monocrhome monitor. It makes use of the DOS 2.00 ;BIOS routines. PLEASE NOTE THE DOS Version! ; ;HOMCLR Clears the screen of garbage and moves cursor to top left ; corner of the screen, and leaves the cursor there. ; Called from MSPascal as: PROCEDURE HomClr;EXTERN; HOMCLR PROC FAR PUSH BP ;Set for frame pointer MOV BP,SP XOR CX,CX ;Top left corner of screen MOV DX,24*256+79 ;Bottom right corner of screen XOR AL,AL ;We want all lines moved up MOV BH,7 ;Want white on black attribute MOV AH,6 ;Select scroll screen up (CLR) INT 10H ;Go do it XOR DX,DX ;Where do we want cursor? XOR BH,BH ;Current active screen MOV AH,2 ;Select move cursor function (HOM) INT 10H ;Go do it POP BP ;Restore original base ptr RET ;Return to MSPASCAL program address HOMCLR ENDP Hope it helps. - drew liao ------- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 86 13:18:39 PST From: Dana Myers <bilbo.dana@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> To: Ya-akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA CC: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Microsoft C compiler and strings On page 181 of "The C Programming Language" by K and R, in section 2.5, it is stated that "All strings, even when written identically, are distinct.". KR offered the only standard for C compilers for a long time and a lot of programs exist which make assumptions about the uniqueness of strings. Even though ANSI is hard at work on a standard for C compilers, etc., I don't think this can change. AT one time I used Lattice C a lot, and it would perform constant folding of strings, which made some programs non-portable to Lattice C. I don't know if the newest versions of lattice C still do this. Dana ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1986 18:59 EST From: LENOIL@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU To: IU%DACTH51.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Microsoft C V 3.0 and Phoenix Linker PLINK86 V 1.30 > Two friends of mine are working on a comprehensive word processor using the above C compiler from Microsoft. Due to the size they have to split the program into overlays and thus have to use PLINK V 1.30. > I'm fairly certain that the newest LINK from Microsoft supports overlays. ------------------------------ Date: 12 MAR 86 11:39-AST From: IU%DACTH51.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: MS-C Re: My question about the Microsoft C compiler 3.0 and the Phoenix Linker 1.30 in INFO-IBMPC 5 31 I forgot to mention that the reason to use PLINK86 is the need for hierarchical overlays, which the Microsoft linker doesn't support. Sorry, el (Eberhard W. Lisse) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Mar 86 17:03:14 PST From: Jim Carter <jimc@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Re: Microsoft "C" Compiler Wish List In Info-IBMPC Digest v5 vol32, Ed Nather writes about folding string literals. The current draft standard for "C", X3J11/85-138, says in sec. C.1.4, that different copies of the same string literal need not be distinct, and that string literals may not be modified. James F. Carter (213) 206-1306 UCLA-SEASnet; 2567 Boelter Hall; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA 90024 UUCP:...!{ihnp4,ucbvax,{hao!cepu}}!ucla-cs!jimc ARPA:jimc@locus.UCLA.EDU ------------------------------ Date: 10 Mar 86 21:09:56 +0100 From: XBR1YD22%DDATHD21.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (YD22@BR1.THDNET) Subject: UCSD PASCAL on IBM-PC Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Hi folks, I have an application program written in UCSD-PASCAL and currently running on an Apple ][ computer. I'd like to transfer the program to an IBM-PC or compatible computer. So I am looking for a PASCAL compiler that is similar to the UCSD PASCAL and runs on the PC. I'm not very keen on 100 % compa- tibility, but I'd like to get e.g. the string built in functions/procedures and the like. Please respond to me, so we don't clog up the net. If there's any interest, I'll summarize to the network. Thank you very much Ralf Bayer Computing Center @ the Technical University of Darmstadt, West Germany Arpanet address: xbr1yd22%ddathd21.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.EDU (personal mail) BITNET address: xbr1yd22 @ ddathd21 (no NETDATA format) #d22 @ ddathd21 ( NETDATA format, beware of the Number sign, it's part of the USERID) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 86 22:10:52 EST From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Overlay linkers Query Could someone give a summary (or a reference to one) of overlay linkers: what they are, why use them, and which ones are good/bad? I have an application that could consist of 10+ separate programs, each loaded at the appropriate time by a system call. Unfortunately, four of the routines attempt to load as much data into RAM as possible and then have to "page" out to disk. If I can avoid giving up 60K or so to the driver, then I will have that much more room for data. Also, one of the programs uses many of the same routines as the driver, and I would hate to give up RAM to duplicate versions of some fairly complex routines. The answer seems to be to use an overlay linker. Are there linkers reliable enough to sacrifice the modularity of separate programs, or am I better off giving up the RAM? Thanks. --Jim ------------------------------ Date: Mon 10 Mar 86 22:23:56-PST From: D.LEWIS%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA Subject: 8087 Library for DeSmet C Compiler Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I've noticed that the 8087 run-time library for the DeSmet C compiler occassionally places *TWO* (as opposed to one) WAIT instruction directly in front of an 8087 instruction, even some that only reference the 8087 internal stack. Does anyone know why more than 1 WAIT might be needed? Also, does anyone know the code fragment that will determine if an 8087 is installed? Thanks in advance! Dan Lewis Dept. of EECS Univ. of Santa Clara Santa Clara, CA 95053 ------------------------------ From: chapman%miro@BERKELEY.EDU (Brent Chapman) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: BRIEF Programmer's Editor--Macros Request Date: 10 Mar 86 23:44:54 PST (Mon) I've just started using BRIEF lately, and absolutely love it. I was wondering if any other users of the system might have some useful macros they'd be willing to share? If you'll send them to me, after the smoke clears, I'll summarize them all in one post to Info-IBMPC. Send anything that YOU find useful; you never know when someone else might actually agree with you... Brent Chapman chapman@miro.berkeley.edu ucbvax!miro!chapman ------------------------------ Date: 11 Mar 86 07:53 GMT From: meaders @ KOREA-EMH Subject: What are Those Error Codes? To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib.arpa Can someone fill me in on what a parity check 68000 (s) is? Same 60000, 48000, 64000, 48000 etc. Thanks in advance Mark Meaders "From the Land of the Morning Calm..... and Mid Afternoon Madness" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 Mar 86 22:44:16 est From: ucdavis!lll-crg!seismo!cmcl2!phri!greenber@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Ross Greenberg) Subject: 25 Top Utilities Request Organization: Public Health Research Inst. (NY, NY) As part of a book I've been asked to write, I'm looking for the top 25 Utility programs for the IBM-PC. Everybody as their favorites, I'm sure, and so I'd like to ask you to forward to me a list of *your* favorites. Both Public Domain, and Commercial programs are fine. If you could give a (very) brief description of what they do, and where I can get them, I'd appreciate it immensely. Please mail them to me, and I'll eventually summarize, analyze and whateverels-irize. Thanks! ------ ross m. greenberg ihnp4!allegra!phri!sysdes!greenber [phri rarely makes a guest-account user a spokesperson. Especially not me.] ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 11 March 1986 10:25:07 EST From: Chuck.Weinstock@a.sei.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Looking for Paradox Database Users Are there any other users of Paradox out there? This is the best database system that I've found for the PC. I'd like to talk to other users to share experiences. Chuck ------------------------------ Date: Tue Mar 11 11:53:39 1986 From: jperry@sri-unix To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Irma Boards Query Does anyone out there have experience using Irma boards to emulate IBM terminals when connected to an IBM mainframe? Does anyone out there know what the known software/hardware problems are with this board and whether the error rates are high/low/medium? Any and all experiences/ rumors/innuendos about this product will be appreciated. I am doing research for a group which may purchase many such boards and since they are about $1200 a pop, they want to know that they are spending their money wisely. John Perry SRI International ------------------------------ Date: 11 Mar 86 14:50:00 EST From: "INFO1::ELDER" <elder%info1.decnet@wpafb-info2.ARPA> Subject: Logitech Modula-2 Compiler Review Requested To: "info-ibmpc" <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA> Could anyone who has used the Logitech Modula-2 compiler provide a review. Is it a complete implementation of Modula-2? I heard the compiler is now selling for $89 so I am interested. Thanks in advance. Greg Elder elder@wpafb-info1 ------ ------------------------------ From: "JAMES P FERRILL" <ferrill@eglin-vax> Subject: Turbo Pascal Query To: "info-ibmpc" <info-ibmpc@usc-isib> I have been working on a program that writes output to the printer using the standard Writeln routine. In working with this program which does a good bit of screen formatting I discovered that if the printer was off-line when the Writeln(Lst,foobar) statement came along I got the familiar DOS message Printer Fault. Abort, Retry, Ignore or something similar. I then tried to use the {$I-} Writeln(Lst,foobar) {$I+}; construct but still get the DOS error message on the screen. Is there a way to turn this message off or at least catch it? It sure does mess up my screen that has been formatted for screen I/O. Any help would be appreciated. Paul Ferrill ferrill@eglin-vax.arpa ------ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10-Mar-86 19:09:13 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: DESQview Query To: ud-ibmpc%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU, info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@louie.udel.EDU CC: lauren%rand-unix.arpa@louie.udel.EDU I have been having a ball running DEQview on my At with UULINK in the background and everything else (well almost) in the forground. Only serious pain I have seen and it may be just the sparse documentation is that when it starts up a partition it puts the path as it existed before DESQview got control but NOT the sets that were made. That is a BIG pain. Anyone know a trick. Much nicer than Double DOS ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 86 19:36:40 pst From: consult%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU (CS Consulting) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: HP Vectra vs IBM PC/AT Cc: arch@renoir.berkeley.edu Arch Turner <arch%renoir@Berkeley.EDU> would like an answer to the following: #1- Do you know anything about the HP Vectra as an alternative to the IBM PC AT? Someone in Mexico City called, asking the question, and in a moment of weakness I promised to call him back. Thanks, Arch Turner, CSSG Staff 467 Evans, 2-1319 arch@renoir Bill Wells consult%opal@Berkeley.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Mar 86 01:13:57 cst From: cmkuo@im4u.utexas.edu (Chin-Ming Kuo) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Cc: cmkuo@im4u.utexas.edu Subject: Jove Query Could you tell em where can I get a complete set of JOVE running on msdos machine ? I think object code is prefered cause I don't have too many tools. Thanks . C.M. Kuo ARPA:cmkuo@im4u.utexas.edu UUCP:....!ut-sally!im4u!cmkuo Ics.cmkuo@r20.utexas.edu ------------------------------ Date: 12 Mar 86 10:29:07 +0100 From: XBR1D36K%DDATHD21.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (D36K@BR1.THDNET) Subject: Graphics-Cursor on EGA Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Does anybody know any way to produce a Graphics-Cursor on the EGA? What I need is a FORTAN-callable Routine. Is there any DOS-Interrupt, to handle this purpose? Gunther Hartmann Technical Univ. Darmstadt West-Germany Bitnet: D86V@DDATHD21.BITNET ------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Mar 86 07:56:53 pst From: Gerry Key <key%tetra@nosc.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: AT&T 6300 Hard Disk Query Anyone have any recommendations for a 30 Mb external hard disk (< 40 ms), controller, and streaming tape combo for either an AT&T 6300 or Xerox PC? --Gerry Key key@nosc.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Mar 86 16:58:19 CST From: frank@db.wisc.edu (Dan Frank) Received: by db.wisc.edu; Wed, 12 Mar 86 16:58:19 CST To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Installing Xenix on Compaq Query IBM Xenix has the nifty limitation that it only installs on 20 MB IBM hard disks. Does anyone know a way to install it on non-standard hard disks such as the 30 Mb. disk used in the Compaq? -- Dan Frank (frank@db.wisc.edu) -------
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(Text 160297) 86-03-24 12.20 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <210> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 12.20 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <201> -- Received: 86-03-24 19.11 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-24 12.20 Marked by somebody. Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #34 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:47 PST. TF: DSKD:932259.MAI %FROM: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 32880 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Mar 86 11:10 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 19:05:08-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 15-Mar-86 20:14:50 Date: 15 Mar 1986 20:14:50 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #34 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:47 PST ReSent-From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 15 March 86 Volume 5: Issue 34 This Week's Editor: Phyllis O'Neil Today's Topics: Norton SYSINFO Genius VHR Display Re: Top 25 Utilities TECO EDITOR Clearing the Screen Re: Installing Xenix on Compaq Query DOS 3.1 ASMB (Another Silly Microsoft Bug) [2 messages] MASM 4.0-- ASMB (Another Silly Micrsoft Bug) WINDOWS and Hayes 2400 interface to videodisk player More PC/BLUE Volumes Available Re: Sector Size Re: INTERRUPT HANDLERS IN TURBO Re: IRMA Boards Re: C ISPF-like Dialog Management Program Wanted Today's Queries: Textile Design Grammatik and Rightwriter Living C Wishlist / MAX (EMACS-like Public Domain Editor) & SCR PC Implementations of TeX Microsoft Fortran Turbo Pascal DMA transfers on a PC XENIX, nroff, neqn & Epson Printers Wang PC Problems WD Hard Disk Condition Code 40 Turbo Pascal Screen Clearing DOS 3.0 and Old COMPAQs IBM BASIC Compiler 2.0 Query -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: dewar@nyu-acf2.arpa Received: by nyu-acf2.arpa; Wed, 12 Mar 86 21:27:17 est To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Norton SYSINFO This information has appeared before, but undoubtedly needs repeating every now and then (and I hope editors of PC, PC Week, PC World etc. are listening). The Norton SYSINFO test is a particularly bad choice of benchmark, clearly based on insufficient familiarity with the chip family. It is heavily biased by the multiply/divide time, which is (a) easy to speed up substantially (as is done on the NEC chips and 80286 and (b) not particularly relevant for real world tests. In general SYSINFO can only be used in a valid manner to compare two implementations of the same chip. Results in other cases are likely to be misleading. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Mar 86 21:35:37 est From: dewar@nyu-acf2.arpa To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Genius VHR Display I have one of these displays and I am very pleased with it. I get 66 lines by 80 characters of very sharp text (better than the IBM Monochrome) on a pleasing blank on white presentation. I do find that the attribute 0F (high intensity) is more suitable than 07 (normal) for general use. The comment which appeared here about insufficient contrast probably results from using the 07 attribute. I have had no trouble with heat (and my AT is very full - SMD Disk controller, Atron Probe, PC Network card (a hot card itself!), tape backup card, 4Meg memory board ..) I have the windows driver and it works nicely, although the typical fonts used by Windows Write are a little small to read with comfort. I can confirm that there is a glitch which sometimes causes a transitory incorrect screen display, always cleared by any keystroke at all, and not happening enough to be annoying. I have no problems with the BIOS, although I have only rarely used IBM compatibility (25 line) mode. The only slight glitch in the BIOS is that the bell is not sounded when the BEL character is written with write TTY. All in all an excellent product. I cannot imagine putting up with a 25 line screen ever again! I do wish that more products knew about 66 lines (A Pox on IBM for not putting in a BIOS call to get the number of lines -- the only way I know to do it is to write line feeds until the screeen scrolls). The really nice thing about this display, which makes it far superior to the high res displays on many workstations such as Sun etc, is that it has a character generator for normal use (ther 750 x 1000 pixel graphics is or'ed with the character generator display for maximum flexibility). This character generator is completely compatible with the normal IBM mono interface except that more lines are present. It took me all of 15 minutes to modify the editor of my utilities package so that it properly supports 66 line mode when run on this monitor. ------------------------------ Date: Wed 12 Mar 86 22:59:38-PST From: Jackie <Burhans%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA> Subject: Re: Top 25 Utilities To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Some obvious ones: 1. The NORTON Utilities: best categorized as disk managers{_; my favorite and most used ones a) unerase files b) allow me to look at files in hex mode (even in EBCDIC!) c) sort my directories, d) find files on my hard disk and e) tell me the size of my files and whether I have enough room on a diskette to copy these files. 2. Sidekick--or it would be one of my favorites if it didn't interfere with my other software--maybe when they develop a standard for resident programs... 3. Sideways--prints files (especially) spreadsheets sideways on a dot-matrix printer. 4. BAC--a public domain program for copying modified files to backup diskettes. 5. ARC--for archiving files; I really like this one--it squeezes files and saves multiple files in one archive file. Great for long-term backups and saving space on diskettes which I pay for out of my own pocket. ------------------------------ Date: 13 MAR 86 09:51-N From: DOMMELEN%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: TECO EDITOR Dear Ya'akov_Miles, I'm interested in your teco project, being a stucked teco-user on DEC mainframes and cursing MS for not providing a good editor. I would like to try/test etc. your preliminary version, but..... I'm not able to download the files I need. We're connected to BITNET, if you see any chance to send me e.g. the C source file, I would be most grateful. I will report bugs, problems, suggestions or fixes as soon as possible. MS-C is available. Wim van Dommelen, Computer Centre Agricultural University, Wageningen Holland. DOMMELEN@HWALHW5.BITNET I'm sending this to INFO-IBMPC after 10 tries mailing it to you directly and recieving everything back from the Mailnet-Master at MIT-MULTICS.ARPA I tried YA-AKOV_MILES, YAAKOV_MILES etc., none worked. It's the accent which is filtered out somewhere. Do you have an alternative adress ? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 86 01:25:05 PST From: dgb%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: Clearing the Screen To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA To the person who was concerned with clearing the screen via a scroll, to my mind that is indeed the easiest way to go. Be warned, however, that the display attributes are replicated from the bottom line all up the screen. (I can't remember if it will make vertical attribute stripes or not, or simply force the entire screen to say, the last characters attributes. You'll have to experiment and see.) I'm far away from my references at the moment, but I can't remember a good implementation independant way of determining screen size. I guess that you just have to drive a table lookup off of the video mode, which you can get from the BIOS. This isn't bombproof, but should work for most reasonably close compatables. ------------------------------ From: Herm Fischer <hermix!fischer@rand-unix.ARPA> To: frank@db.wisc.edu Subject: Re: Installing Xenix on Compaq Query Cc: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa Date: Wed Mar 12 23:46:08 1986 Dan Frank writes that ``IBM Xenix has the nifty limitatin that it only installs on 20 MB IBM hard disks.'' I, and most other Xenix users I know of, are using Xenix on different disks. Most folks are using disks between 70 and 85 MB. There was an update by IBM (5/85) to make these disks work properly. There were also instructions on the net on how to patch unupdated IBM Xenix... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 86 10:03:44 est From: dewar@nyu-acf2.arpa To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: DOS 3.1 ASMB (Another Silly Microsoft Bug) (except they think this one is a feature!) The trace flag (TF) is used in some debuggers for single stepping. There are cases in DOS 3.1 (this is a new bug, DOS 3.0 worked fine), where DOS turns off the trace flag on returning from INT 21H. You certainly might suppose that preserving the control flags is the expected behaviour, but Microsoft in response to a question on this subject claims they have never promised to preserve the TF setting. Since Microsoft has also never promised to preserve the IF setting, it seems that to be safe we should perhaps do STI after every INT 21H call, because if the Kat is right, DOS 3.2 is arriving on 3/16, and who knows? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 86 09:53:40 est From: dewar@nyu-acf2.arpa To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: DOS 3.1 ASMB (Another Silly Microsoft Bug) The /E option of the linker should generate an EXE file which is logically equivalent to the uncompressed EXE file. The current version however results in AX being clobbered. AX on entry to an EXE file has a definite meaning (it indicates drive validity for the parameteres), thus it should be passed through to the uncompressed image. Given this one very obvious violation of the interface rules, there may be others, I have not bothered to investigate further (I was looking to see why /E files blew up in a particular case). Disclaimer: I certainly have **NO** connection with Microsoft, but I did write the Realia SpaceMaker program which does a similar sort of thing to the EXEPACK option (but needless to say does not have this particular ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 86 09:59:12 est From: dewar@nyu-acf2.arpa To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: MASM 4.0-- ASMB (Another Silly Micrsoft Bug) MASM Version 4.0 is still pretty much of a mess semantically and has many bugs, some of which are new with this version. The Intel assembler has rediculously complicated semantics (especially with respect to GROUPS, frame/target reloc- ation etc.), and many people do not understand these semantics, as is clear from messages in this forum previously. The combination of these complex semantics plus an incomplete understanding of them reflected in the MASM implementation is plain diabolical! Well end of flame, now here is a particular bug which cost another few hours the other day: A EQU WORD PTR [BP+4] ; typical definition for variable in stack frame . . MOV AX,OFFSET A This instruction generates no error message, but the OFFSET is ignored and a move from memory (instead of a move immediate) is generated. There is no simple way around this, except some cludge like: OFFSET_A EQU 4 A EQU WORD PTR [BP+OFFSET_A] . MOV AX,OFFSET_A AARCGH! [This same bug has been mentioned here a few times before. I've personally quit using the OFFSET operator -- it's just not reliable. Instead of MOV AX,OFFSET A use LEA AX,A which so far hasn't failed me. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 86 18:56:52 est From: morrell@mitre.ARPA (James Morrell) To: INFO-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: WINDOWS and Hayes 2400 Microsoft acknowledges that there is a problem with the WINDOWS TERMINAL dialing out with a HAYES 2400. They offer a fix, but they caution that it may not work and it doesn't. They suspect (as do I) that the problem is with TERMINAL.EXE software, not just Hayes 2400 setup. They said that when they can get their hands on a 2400, they will fix the problem. This should be "soon", they say. ------------------------------ Date: 13 March 86 23:05-PST From: PHMWJ%SLACVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: interface to videodisk player My thanks to everyone who provided information in response to my earlier query (about Feb. 23). It appears that enabling a PC to control a videodisk player will be easier than I thought. Apparently 'industrial strength' players all have built-in serial ports or separate controller boxes with serial ports, so I need only provide serial output from the PC. Several Pioneer players were mentioned, the model LD-6000 several times, and so were players from Sony, Hitachi, and Panasonic. The programming problem will thus reduce to figuring out the command set of the target player and providing a set of routines (callable by the program which handles the database queries) to send them out via the serial port. Anyone want to bet that videodisk player documentation is no better than computer documentation? Pat McAllister on BITNET: PHMWJ@SLACVM on ARPANET: PHMWJ%SLACVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1986 00:49 MST From: "Frank J. Wancho" <WANCHO@SIMTEL20.ARPA> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, INFO-HZ100@RADC-TOPS20.ARPA Cc: INFO-CPM@AMSAA.ARPA, INFO-MICRO@BRL.ARPA Subject: More PC/BLUE Volumes Available Another batch of PC/BLUE volumes arrived yesterday and are now available in PD:<PC-BLUE.VOL176> through PD:<PC-BLUE.VOL187>, plus a new PD:<PC-BLUE.VOL000>, which includes a new PCBLUE.CAT in reverse order, all on SIMTEL20, of course. All of our so-called "public domain" collections are provided as-is and made available to the entire Internet community with access to DDN via ANONYMOUS FTP. --Frank ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Mar 86 09:40 PST From: GEORGEBURKITT.ES@Xerox.COM Subject: Re: Sector Size To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA >MS-DOS determines the size of the largest sector it will have to deal >with during boot time by examing the sector sizes in use by the disk >driver in IO.SYS. For most PCs, this is 512 bytes. Unless there is something I missed, the problem of too-large sectors can be cured by re-formatting the "weird" drive. This requires the expensive version of the Diagnostics ($150); or a call to your local dealer/service man. ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa, mcvax!ukc!jmh@seismo.css.gov Subject: Re: INTERRUPT HANDLERS IN TURBO (V5 #20) Date: 14 Mar 86 02:30:39 PST (Fri) From: Alastair Milne <milne@ICSE.UCI.EDU> Your message was by no means old cobblers to me. I congratulate you on the extent of your knowledge. I certainly wasn't able to find out as much. > push bp ; Save old frame pointer > mov bp,sp ; Mark start of new one > push bp ; save new frame pointer > jmp L1 ; jump around space for local > ; typed constants > L1: <start of your code> I'm afraid I don't see from your paragraph #1 how it's possible to install a Turbo routine directly as an interrupt servicer. The fact that one at least of the registers is changed before any of them are preserved is enough to prevent its being an interrupt servicer, since the code executing at the time of the interrupt would have bp and sp changed behind its back, which is easily enough to destroy its functioning completely. That, at least, is how it seems to me. Am I overlooking something? (There is actually something I can think of, but I am not convinced, and I'll keep it to myself until I am). > 2. It is only necessary to inform the 8259 of interrupts you wish > to receive *which are generated by external hardware*. I don't suppose you would know what the appropriate mask values for it are, or, more generally, where one would find a reference on programming it? > ...I believe there may be INT instructions from within > MSDOS that e.g. call screen print routines (INT 5 for IBM PCs). I'm certain of it. Try using DEBUG to follow a few of the pointers in the interrupt vector, then disassemble the routines they point to. I think you'll find they include a few INT instructions. Besides, what if hardware events occur while DOS routines are executing? This is a ghastly problem indeed. In other words, any interrupt servicer which does not create for itself a nice roomy stack elsewhere in memory may be inviting disaster if its interrupt is raised during a call to take a crack at amending the servicer's initialisation code to use Thanks a lot, Alastair Milne ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Mar 86 18:27:00 est From: Mark D. Freeman <mdf@ohio-state.ARPA> Subject: Re: IRMA Boards To: info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.arpa Before sinking money into IRMA Boards, I strongly suggest you look at CXI's products. They are reputed to be better, faster, smaller, cheaper, etc. and add features to IRMA's offerings. They sell hardware and software, and they even started selling thier software to IRMA owners, so that IRMA boards can have some of the extras CXI offers, such as supporting local printers as 327X IBM emulators, etc. One supplier I know of that sells to end users is: AK Technology (soon to be a net site, if I can get their Columbus, OH Convergent VMiniFrame running) (614) 764-0 I do have sregards to CXI products. (Teresa is their CXI expert.) Happy hunting! ------------------------------ From: <dual!gatech!akgua!opus!ki4pv!tanner@ucbvax.berkeley.edu> To: Info-IBMPC@usc-isib.arpa Date: Tue Mar 11 12:00:56 1986 Subject: Re: C In response to the question about starting new programme without retaining current programme in memory: (1) the C compiler routines generally known collectively as "exec" will do what you want in various flavours. (2) routines known as "spawn" appears to invoke dos function x4B and take a flag of 0, 1, or 2 to wait for child to finish, overlay parent ("exec") or run concurrently. Note that the option to run both concurrently is not actually implemented! spawn family names are spawnv, spawnl, &c. as in execv &c. This information is from ms-c and ms-dos manuals. The name of the "spawn" family will likely vary if you use other C compilers. The routines seem to work, retaining parent as requested. Obviously the concurrent operation flag is .RFE until there is a multi-tasking ms-dos. tanner andrews, systems compudata south, deland ...{ihnp4!hropus decvax!ucf-cs}!ki4pv!tanner ------------------------------ From: mcvax!dutesta!robvh@seismo.CSS.GOV ( ) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: ISPF-like Dialog Management Program Wanted As an (addicted) user of ISPF (Interactive System Productivity Facility) running under IBM MVS/TSO and VM/CMS, I have grown fond of the facilities offered by the dialog management functions of this program. These functions include: - Screen handling: Menus, Selection panels, Data entry panels, - Variable handling: Conversion, Communication between panels and programs, Validity tests and error messages during data entry, Profile of variables between sessions, - Tables: A linear array of linear structures, best compared to SAS datasets, each row in a tables may be accessed individually and within each row separate variables are available, With a table display one ore more rows may be selected for processing, - File tailoring: Generation of an output file, in which variables are substituted, lines can be generated depending on a condition, and tabels may be processed with simple loop control, - Debugging: traces and brakepoints available on function call or on variable access, - Language support: Functions can be invoked from programming languages like FORTRAN, PL/1, Pascal, Assembler, and from command languages like CLIST, EXEC and REXX (comparable with shell scripts or .COM files) with similar conventions and facilities. Has anyone run across an IBM-PC version of ISPF that supports the dialog management functions? I've had a brief look at PC/SPF, but this one "only" implements the outward appearance (editor, utilities, command entry) and not the dialog interface (your own program calling ISPF functions). Even in the UNIX world I have not found a program with facilities comparable to those offered by ISPF, and I would heartily recommend that anyone designing a dialog manager would first have a look at ISPF. Rob van Hoboken Delft University of Technology dept. of Electrical Engineering Mekelweg 4, room 9.23 PO Box 5031, 2600 GA Delft Netherlands telephone: +31 15 786251 UUCP: ..!mcvax!dutesta!robvh ------------------------------ Date: Wed 12 Mar 86 22:35:33-PST From: Jackie <Burhans%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA> Subject: Query: Textile Design To: info-pc@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: burhans%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA I am asking this for a non-networked friend: I have a friend in the textile industry who is looking for computer software/hardware combination to do textile/clothing design work. She would like to be able to design and possibly print textile patterns easily and to "freehand" draw clothing patterns (possibly using a Koala pad type interface). She is not a computer person and would like something with a friendly interface, somewhat along the lines of MacPaint--but in color. The question then: does anyone know of specialized software designed specifically for this kind of task and/or can anyone suggest possible choices of hardware and software to achieve this? Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 86 11:12:05 EST From: Ih@louie.udel.EDU To: lyonsn@usc-isib.ARPA, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Grammatik and Rightwriter Query I am interested in the C routtines for combining these two programs. I have used the Rightwriter a couple times and found it very mechanical. Where can I buy the Grammatik and how much? Thanks for your help. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 86 12:40:25 est From: phunter@nswc-wo.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Living C Query Cc: jcavall, phunter To any helful soul on the net: Can anyone direct me to a US supplier of the Living C interpreter from a British company called Living Software? Their ad in February's Byte impressed me, but the company in Florida listed in the ad either doesn't exist or dosen't handle it. Either way, the 800 number in the ad got me nowhere. I need a US supplier because I work for the government and foreign suppliers are frowned upon. As an aside, does anyone have any experience with this product and care to comment on it? For that matter, is there another product that is better as a learning tools? Thanks Paul Hunter (phunter@nswc-wo) ------------------------------ Date: Thu 13 Mar 86 11:19:59-CST From: Ivo Welch <W1.WELCH@CHIP.UChicago> Subject: Wishlist / MAX (EMACS-like Public Domain Editor) & SCR To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I have just managed to regain access to INFO-IBMPC. So I have missed quite a number of messages. I am now trying to find two programs: - One is on top of my MSC wishlist: a good C source code debugger. Does anyone have recommendations? - The second refers to one of my recent acquisitions of a Hercules Graphics Card lookalike (which seems to work perfectly). Is there some (public-domain?) program that intercepts (IBM color card) graphics accesses and translates them into Hercules equivalents? Furthermore, I have just submitted Jens' and my Public-Domain EMACS-clone MAX (which is still faster than anything else), and a version of a SCRIBE-look-alike--both with source--for inclusion into the INFO-IBMPC library. Anyone please feel free to ... [Just got the copy of MAX/SCR. Turns out it's NOT public domain. It is copyrighted and comes with a license agreement and a request for funds -- so it is in fact freeware/shareware. "Public domain" is a legal term meaning "not copyrighted". -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 86 14:55 PST To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa From: Don Worth (213) 825-7408 or 825-9445 <CSMIDDW@UCLA-CCN.ARPA> Subject: PC implementations of TeX Query I'd be interested in someone who has used TeX on micros and minis comment on the trade-offs of speed. I'm currently using TeX on a Sun mini, and i like it reasonably well, but it's no jackrabbit performer in that environment either. Does anybody have experience with both environments, so they could give a relative assessment of the speed of operation? Sean Boisen, boisen!beaune@locus.ucla.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu Mar 13 16:42:34 1986 From: jperry@sri-unix To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Microsoft Fortran Query Does anyone know if Microsoft Fortran (most recent version) is a FULL or PARTIAL implementation of FORTRAN '77? If it is partial, I would appreciate a list of the items omitted from the full standard. A reply ASAP would be greatly appreciated. John Perry SRI International ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 86 20:15:09 cet To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: CHADM1%UCONNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Turbo Pascal Query Could someone tell me how to get a directory listing from a running (compiled) TURBO PASCAL program on the IBM PC? Is there an assembler routine that can be imbedded in the source code? Is there a DOS routine one can hook to? Thanks. Carl David ------------------------------ Date: 13 Mar 86 10:51:24 PST (Thursday) Subject: DMA transfers on a PC From: Wax.OsbuSouth@Xerox.COM To: Info-IBMPC-request@usc-isib.Arpa Has anyone any pointers/code that allows a program to do DMA tranfers on the PC. My main use for this is to read or write to disk while doing other computing. DOS forces you to wait for the I/O completion before returning. Allan Wax ARPA: Wax.OsbuSouth@Xerox.COM ------------------------------ Date: Thu 13 Mar 86 17:44:41-PST From: D.SMOLARSKI%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA Subject: XENIX, nroff, neqn & Epson Printers Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: unix-wizards@BRL.ARPA Recently some code from Tom Tkacik (Univ Virginia) appeared on net.sources along with code from Bruce Townsend to compile an NROFF/EQN table for an EPSON (compatible) printer enabling someone to utilize the math word processing capability of UNIX with a small printer. Has anyone gotten this code to work with the standard IBM (Microsoft) XENIX? If so, how? When I try, the resulting table (TABEPSON) in /usr/lib/term is unlike the Microsoft supplied tables, and is rejected at run-time by nroff. Microsoft seemingly strips the headers from the compiled modules, leaving a file which is a "data" file (when the file is checked with the Berkeley UNIX "file" command). Does anyone know of any other code available (free or commercial) which will enable someone to use the Unix/XENIX nroff/eqn/tbl math text formatting system with an Epson (compatible) printer? I been hacking and asking questions for nearly 6 months, but so far no luck. Please reply directly. Thanks in advance. Dennis Smolarski SJ Santa Clara University (D.SMOLARSKI%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA) ------------------------------ Date: 14 MAR 86 08:40-N From: INFOEARN%HLERUL5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Wang PC Problems Does anyone know why the WANG PC doesn't run "normal" packages like MS DOS 3.1, Turbo Pascal, Wordstar, The IBM Personal Editor (just to name a few packages I tried). I always get an error "Invalid/Unrecognized Interrupt" or the PC just freezes up. Any suggestions are welcome. Marc Chang Sing Pang BITNET: SINGPANG@HLERUL5 ARPANET: SINGPANG%HLERUL5.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA [The Wang PC never claimed to be IBM PC compatible as far as I know. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Mar 86 01:28:36 est From: Glenn Jordan <ecsvax!trent%mcnc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: WD Hard Disk Condition Code 40 Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Help. I recently purchased an NEC 20-meg hard disk with a Western Digital controller card for my XT clone. I set it up and formatted it using the WD lowlevel format program on the card's ROM, and then created a DOS partition with FDISK, and then Formatted it for DOS using FORMAT.... All this worked fine. I used it like this for a week, and then one evening it refused to boot from disk and went into ROM basic instead.... I proceeded to try to reformat it from the card's ROM again, but got an "error ------- condition code 40" returned. Bad system tracks or some other major disk failure, I guessed, blindly. Anyway, I got a new Hard Disk, and tried to format it last night, but the exact same error showed, and still no C: drive.... I guess the WD controller card is dead in some way, and will receive another Friday, but could someone tell me what the error #40 is trying to tell me....? This is a WX2 rom copywrite 1985, entered from C800:5 Thanks, Glenn (trent@ecsvax) ------------------------------ Date: Fri 14 Mar 1986 09:18:29 EST From: <SS@LL.ARPA> Subject: XT/370 Speedup Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Does anyone have any information as to if an IBM XT/370 can be run with a clock faster then 4.77MHz ( and if such a speed up would work in 8088 mode, 370 mode, or both) (In particular would the Micospeed Fast88 product described in the March 11 PC Week work?) ----- please Thanks in advance S. Scharf SS@LL ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 86 15:59 MST From: Jameson@UNCA-MULTICS.MAILNET Subject: Turbo Pascal Screen Clearing Query To: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB> Does anyone know of a patch which will stop Turbo Pascal programs from clearing the screen before they run, and possibly from leaving the cursor at the bottom of the screen afterward? Many thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Mar 86 15:49:13 EST From: "Steven T. Kirsch" <SK@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: DOS 3.0 and Old COMPAQs Query To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA When doing DOS copy operations or other floppy operations, the original COMPAQ portables sometimes hang (requiring a power-cycle). I have noticed this problem on all our original portables, but not on the PC or the Deskpro. Have other people had these problems? We are also running a 3COM ethernet, but we even have the problem without the ethernet software. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Mar 86 20:04:34 est From: Mark D. Freeman <mdf@ohio-state.ARPA> Subject: IBM BASIC Compiler 2.0 Query To: info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.arpa I am interested in finding out what the differences are between the first 2.0 and the patched version available through it's dealers. It seems that they fixed some things and broke others. A personal aside: I have tried mailing to Mr. Video (brown@nicmad) and never got a reply, nor any indication that the mail system didn't send properly. He has mailed to me in response to my postings, so I know we are connected somehow. If you are reading this, please drop me a line. End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160540) 86-03-25 23.18 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <211> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-25 23.18 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <202> -- Received: 86-03-26 01.01 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-25 23.18 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #37 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:52 PST. TF: DSKD:935989.MAI %FROM: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 46790 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 25 Mar 86 21:19 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 19:08:01-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 21-Mar-86 16:24:14 Date: 21 Mar 1986 16:24:14 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #37 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:47:52 PST ReSent-From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 21 January 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 37 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: Emacs-style Editors: Epsilon Wins PROINDEX Index Program TOC/Index for WordStar Experiences with Cache Programs on the AT PC/IX Users Survey EGA and Display Write TEMPEST LAN Problem (4 Msgs) "Mobius" and "LanLink" Query IP/TCP More Corrections Regarding AK Technology MS C 3.0 Compiler Bugs Device Drivers and Windows & Running Symphony under Windows When is a Clone a Clone MASM OFFSET Bug (2 Msgs) Program List Fast Cards VDISK Source Listing Documents FAT Interrupt Handlers in Turbo (V5 #20) Today's Queries: FTP Between PC and VM/CMS (2 Msgs) WordPerfect & Epson Proprinter Emulation BSR Board DAVONG multi-function bd. Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200 Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200 Automated PC-->Mainframe Sessions Info on MS Mouse Driver for Xenix Changing Cluster Size Microsoft Mouse and Print Spoolers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 17:18:30 +0200 From: enea!tut!jty@seismo.CSS.GOV (Jyrki Yli-Nokari) Subject: Emacs-style Editors: Epsilon Wins I use EPSILON from the Lugaru software regularly and I'm EXTREMELY pleased with it!! I once tried BRIEF but was unable to operate it without the manual and gave up. I've used, first Gosling-emacs and afterwards GNU-emacs extensively. Now that I have access to a pc, I do all my editing in it with epsilon. The major point is that I've never read the manual, since it is very much emacs-compatible. It has concurrent processes, multi windows and you can even have COMMAND.COM in a window (this is the REAL command line editor!!!!). It's also very fast! My version is 2.04, and they have released version 3, which is said to be a lot better. My only arguments are that the beast doesn't support non-american keyboards and you have to do an extensive keyboard remapping. Secondly, the pc-window (sidekick-like utility) doesn't work with it when editing, but is back when you exit the epsilon. Summa Summarum: It's $195 and well worth it! Check out the Lugaru's ad in the latest Dr. Dobbs Journal. The Address is: Lugaru Software Ltd. 5740 Darlington rd. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 (412) 421-5911 jty@tut.UUCP ! I know all about FORTH. Jyrki Yli-Nokari ! I saw a TV-program about it once Tampere University of Technology ! (I also love Carl Barks) Computer Systems Laboratory ! N 61 26' E 23 50' ! +358 31 162590, home +358 31 531999 ! Disclaimer: I don't have any personal or financial contacts with the Lugaru software except as a pleased customer. [I spoke with Todd Doucet of Lugaru this week. He informs me version 3.06?? is in beta test. This version can be configured to run such that it passes characters through to various resident "pop-up" style programs. It should be able to run with any of these style machines or Generic MS-DOS machines. The new version also allows EEL programmers direct access to the INT function. ISI also recently acquired a site license for Epsilon. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 18 Mar 1986 17:23-EST Sender: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA Subject: PROINDEX Index Program From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA Cc: Ghenis.pasa@XEROX.COM I just snarfed PROINDEX.DOC from the PC-BLUE volume 175 at SIMTEL20. Haven't downloaded or run the program yet, but documentation indicates it might be a good one. Basically you create a list (separate ASCII file) of the words/phrases you wish indexed. The indexer then works thru the target file and creates the index (to disk file or printer). Also an interactive mode, plus various switches you can set for case-sensitive, etc. Not like the CP/M indexer I used quite often, where you must actually enter specific control characters within the document for those segments you wish indexed. This never touches the original file. Might be worth your while to snarf the .DOC (price is right .. Freeware, but even with registration only $35 to $45). If you can't reach SIMTEL20 via ANONYMOUS FTP, yell and I'll EMail the .DOC to you. Usual disclaimers .. no financial interest (don't even know the guys). David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: 19 Mar 86 07:27 EST From: Mark Williams <mlw@ncsc> Subject: TOC/Index for WordStar RE: Table of Contents and Index generators for WordStar: In the not too distant past, the WordStar Professional package for CP/M machines included a MicroPro TOC/Indexer called StarIndex. It worked fairly well as I recall, and I would expect it to be included in MS-DOS releases, too. I don't remember all the details about its operation and capabilities, but it made a suitable point of departure. Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18-Mar-86 20:05:10 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Experiences with Cache Programs on the AT I have been trying various disk cachers on my AT. I am running a 9 mh unit with 3.5 mbytes. I have run Lightning and VCACHE (Golden Bow Systems San Diego). Lightning is claimed to work with the expanded memory boards (the Intel-Lotus etc) (which I don't have). It works well with normal PC 640 memory space but the cache is rather small. It does not work nor do they plan to have it work with the extended memory of the AT. VCACHE works with all three memory configurations and thus is the only one that works well for me. Both seem the same technology and VCACHE is cheaper and better (at least for ATs). Minor bug in VCACHE. It seems not to work with no ramdisk (at least for me). So I set up a 512k ramdisk and a 1.7meg cache. REAL WINNER I get 85 % cache hits on the average with what I run. Dave [Farber does it faster! -ed] ------------------------------ From: allyn@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Allyn Fratkin) Date: 18 March 1986 1902-PST (Tuesday) Subject: PC/IX Users Survey Does anyone out there still run PC/IX at all? I know it never really became popular, and I was just wondering how many PC/IX systems are really out there. thanks in advance. Allyn Fratkin allyn@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu UCSD EMU/Pascal Project or U.C. San Diego {ucbvax, decvax, ihnp4}!sdcsvax!allyn [Please send replies to Allyn not us. I am sure he will summarize. -ed] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1986 23:44 EST From: Mike Kramer <MMKBC%CUNYVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: EGA and Display Write To: jim moore <moore@ncsc.arpa> > From: Jim Moore <moore@ncsc> This is really frustrating. Both PC Mag and Software Digest's Ratings News- letter say that DW3 can do ON-SCREEN underlining and boldfacing. Now, IBM Tech Support says, yep, that's true, but.... The guy I spoke to is using a Mono Display and can do on-screen u-ing and says I should be able to do the same with an EGA w/64K on board. He just can't tell me how. > From extensive experience with DW3 and various monitors/display cards, here seems to be the lowdown: The default colors of Dw3 text is green on black. On a CGA with color monitor, bold text appears as bright green, and underlined text appears in the color brown. As far as I know, there is NO way to get true underline in DW3 on a color monitor. The same applies to DW3 when used with an EGA. EXCEPT for the following: When DW3 has been informed that the user is utilizing an EGA- (using the DW3USER command -- see the manual p. 23-10 and the "mode" parameter of the DW3PG command in the DW3.BAT file). then the alternate character set is loaded into the EGA which provides a wealth of technical and mathematical symbols (WYSIWYG). Unfortunately, in IBM's infinite wisdom, when you enable the alternate character set, you must sacrifice the ability to display highlighted text (the "bright color" attribute bit on the EGA and the "alternate character" attribute bit are one in the same). Therefore, DW3 bold text on an EGA is not displayed differently than the regular text. Underscored text is still brown. Bold text is not displayed differently on the EGA, but a printer that will support bold will still bold the text. It is beyond me why they couldn't at least highlight bold in a different color (e.g. yellow) when the alt char set is enabled! As an aside, DW3, an EGA and a Quietwriter or Pageprinter makes a great technical writing system! Michael Kramer (MMKBC@CUNYVM.BITNET) Brooklyn College Physics Dept. ------------------------------ Date: 19 Mar 86 11:46 EST From: JHodges @ DDN2.ARPA Subject: TEMPEST LAN Problem To: tcp-ip @ sri-nic.arpa, info-ibmpc @ usc-isib.arpa I have a problem that I'm hoping someone out there can help me with. I have a user who has a large number of TEMPESTed Zenith PCs (IBM-compatible types) who wishes to connect these PCs to a secure LAN (Fiber Optic based). He wishes also to implement the usual file-sharing capabilities and remote logins associated with LANs. The problem is that the user has been told that, if he opens the PCs to work on them, any and all maintenance agreements go out the window and (supposedly) Zenith is not willing to renegotiate a new maintenance agreement. Also opening the PCs violates the TEMPEST certification. Further complicating matters, the customer is not willing to use a third-party maintenance group. Now, having said all of that, does anybody out there know of any software which might allow the connection of the PCs to the LAN via the PC's RS232 port, and also implement/allow file sharing? Are there any other solutions which might be feasible (such as an Thanks in advance for your help! Jim Hodges ------------------------------ Date: 20 Mar 1986 16:43:57 CST Subject: TEMPEST LAN Problem From: DSDC-SDT2@GUNTER-ADAM.ARPA To: jhodges@DDN2.ARPA Being the TEMPEST Officer here I can appreciate your user's problem. If I were a vendor I would not want a user to open my Tempest box. In response to your question about alternatives, I talked to our LAN people here and they gave me some literature on a product called EasyLAN Office Network. This product claims: EasyLAN shares printers, disk drives, and infor; easy to justify - less than $100 per PC; Easy to install; easy to operate; performs in the background. PC's are connected by EasyLAN cables plugged directly into your PC's standard serial comm port. Can be used with digital PBX's as well as modems and dial-up lines. All comm operations are protected by optional passwords and disk access restrictions. Will operate on a PC with an individual copy of EasyLAN, 128K memory, a serial port, and DOS 2.0 or above. It seems to be in the cables only, no special black-box attachment. They don't say anything about fiber optics. Their address is: SERVER TECHNOLOGY, Inc. 1095 Duane, S107 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 1-800/835-1515, in Calif call 408/738-8377 This product is described in the latest MIS Weekly newspaper, which is at home. Our LAN folks are also going to get me more info on another product tomorrow, and will post it to the net as soon as I look at it. ********** STANDARD DISCLAIMER ********** Cheers.... Walt ------- ------------------------------ Date: 20 Mar 1986 22:24-EST Subject: TEMPEST LAN From: CERF@USC-ISI.ARPA To: JHodges@DDN2.ARPA Jim, shot in the dark: SYTEK makes a lot of RS-232 S-XX (product number which I forget) interfaces for its broad-band LAN. It is conceivable that they can help - but if the LAN is not SYTEK's, I dunno... Putting a Tempest CARD into a Tempest cage does NOT mean the result is TEMPEST. Why not have Zenith evaluate/inspect/test the card? Someone will have to run TEMPEST certification all over with the card installed, in any case, before you could reasonably expect approval to work in that new mode. Vint Cerf ------------------------------ Date: 20 Mar 86 12:43 EST From: JHodges @ DDN2.ARPA Subject: "Mobius" and "LanLink" Query I was wondering if anybody has had any experience in using/installing either "Mobius" or "LanLink". "Mobius" claims to enable a virtually invisible link between PCs and VAXes, and to allow the PCs to share the VAX's memory/programs/peripherals etc. "LanLink" claims to implement a LAN without any special Hardware and to achieve data rates of around 100kbps. Anybody know anything about either of these? Jim Hodges [Sounds dubious to me. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 01:54:42 est From: romkey@BORAX.LCS.MIT.EDU (John Romkey) To: JHodges@DDN2.ARPA Cc: tcp-ip@sri-nic.arpa, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: TEMPEST LAN problem FTP Software will be doing a SLIP (Serial Line IP) driver for its TCP/IP product, which includes the standard Darpa protocols and also the Berkeley Unix protocols. There is already a SLIP driver for 4.2 and Suns, from rick@seismo. SLIP is currently used for point-to-point links between Unix systems. Once the PC SLIP is done, you'll be able to also use it to connect a number of PC's to a VAX or Sun via serial lines and have the VAX or Sun gateway packets between the PC's and any other networks it was on. FTP Software's address is: FTP Software, Inc. PO Box 150 Kendall Square Branch Boston, MA 02142 phone (617) 868-4878. - john romkey late of MIT now of ftp software Biased? Of course I'm biased... [A 9600 baud serial line solution would be fine for remote logins, but as a remote disk server it will be too slow. Symphony takes up about 256K of disk space. Assuming no overhead for error checking or retransmission it would take about 4.5 minutes to load Symphony over a serial line. This would be an intolerable delay. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 12:08:28 pst From: minshall%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU (Greg Minshall) To: tcp-ip@sri-nic.arpa Subject: IP/TCP The University of California at Berkeley issued an RFQ towards the end of last year. The RFQ asked for a combination of hardware and software which would allow: 1. PC-net programs to run on ethernet, using TCP-IP protocols. 2. FTP and TELNET. 3. Programmatic interface to the TCP-IP-link level (and UDP), for writing custom applications. 4. Assurances that the product bid would, in some unspecified time, become a commercial product. The RFQ was sent to a number of companies. The responses were evaluated, and the contract was given to Ungermann-Bass. The Ungermann-Bass product (which is NOT a commercial product at this time) puts TCP-IP on board, is NETBIOS compatible (so, the IBM PC networking software runs on top of it), comes with user FTP, and allows us to port our own 4.2 applications over (it is interesting, though not surprising given our location, that we have worked hard to try to get an interface that allows for the 4.2 networking calls to work as in the 4.2 manual. I'm not a bigot about how great they are; I just think they are a [somewhat malleable] standard). Of course, this is a new TCP implementation. That means that certain algorithms which impact the efficiency of the protocol are unlikely to be optimal this early in its life. On the other hand, the University's RFQ requested a 20KBytes/second FTP file transfer rate, and the product we are currently using out performs that (to put the requested number in perspective, unloaded Vax 750's seem capable of doing about 60 KBytes/ second, while an IBM 3081 using a DACU does barely 20 KBytes/second [though there is more to the 3081/DACU performance than just this miserable number]). The product we currently run does host name to host number translation via static tables. There has been considerable discussion within Ungermann-Bass and within the University about the "right" way to do the name lookups. Basically, the question here is whether to use an IEN116 name server or the new Domain Name Server. The final product delivered to the University will support one of these protocols. This final product should be delivered within the next few months. My hope, certainly, is that this will become a commercial product very soon. I believe this to be Ungermann-Bass's intention, too, but you'd have to talk with Ungermann-Bass marketing people about this. The University's interest in this becoming a commercial product has to do with our desire to have a good vendor support for the product. One-of-a-kinds don't have that kind of support; real live products may. My one comment on other TCP-IP packages I've noticed so far is that NETBIOS compatibility is a large, missing feature. I worry a bit that many of us say "foo" to IBM PC networking, but that many of our end users (say small, non-computer oriented departments) are going to see many of the PC networking features as being very useful. It is also true that allowing NETBIOS compatibility allows us to NOT develop the function that PC networking already provides (remote disk access, etc.). Of course, one problem in NETBIOS support is that it is hard to imagine two vendors mappings of PC Networking -> TCP/UDP/IP to be compatible. We would hope, vainly I'm sure, that there would be some meeting of the minds between the various developers on this. Greg Minshall minshall@berkeley.edu minshall@ucbcmsa.bitnet (415)642-0530 [I have been talking with a lot of network vendors recently these same issues seen to crop up again and again -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Mar 86 16:09:53 est From: Mark D. Freeman <mdf@ohio-state.ARPA> Subject: More Corrections Regarding AK Technology The following is what was in the 5-35 digest: [AK Tech makes the IRMA replacement board and software for IRMA cards. -ed] Unfortunately, it is a bad edit on what I sent. CXI makes boards that are alternatives to IRMA boards, as well as making software that enables IRMA owners to have more features and higher performance without upgrading hard- ware. AK Technologies Corporation is a distributor/dealer of CXI products, not their manufacturer. Sorry that this has become so complicated. [I goofed I don't know much about these boards. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Mar 86 14:03:17 PST From: Matthew J Weinstein <matt@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> Subject: MS C 3.0 Compiler Bugs 1) Using strict type checking modes -W2 and -W3 can cause bad code to be generated. MS acknowledged the problem, but has no fix. They recommend using -W1 for real code generation, and -W2 or -W3 for 'lint'ing only. 2) The large model 'qsort' library has had a tendency to loop in some circumstances. MS has not acknowledged this as a problem. I believe it to be caused by bad code generation during optimization (see below). 3) -O (optimize) may generate code that fails in limited circumstances (such as some address arithmetic above $8000). I have not gotten an answer from MS about this one. - Matt ------------------------------ From: microsof!gaben@uw-beaver.arpa Message-Id: <8603192300.AA14867@uw-beaver.arpa> Subject: Device Drivers and Windows & Running Symphony under Windows Date: Wed Mar 19 10:24:16 1986 Microsoft is currently working with a large number of device manufacturers to help them write device drivers for Windows. Microsoft will rarely if ever be writing device drivers itself in the future. As device drivers are returned to Microsoft by the device manufacturer, we will put them through our QA group, and when they pass they will be distributed to our OEM and Retail product support groups. We are currently considering putting together a device drivers disk, but we have no schedule or commitments for such a disk. Barring disk space or other considerations, we will try to include all the drivers we can QA in the next retail release of Windows, for which we also have no announced release date. Contact our retail product support group if you need to have a device driver that wasn't in our retail release, and if they have it, they will send you a copy. Also device drivers are posted on the Windows RoundTable on GEnie, the new General Electric Information Services network. If you are interested in writing a device driver, send a letter describing the device and your intentions to: Gabe L. Newell Windows Program Manager Microsoft 16011 NE 36th Way Box 97017 Redmond, WA 98073-9717 Retail Product Support can be reached at (206) 882-8089. There was a query on what patch would be needed to run Symphony under Windows. Symphony will run without modification under Windows. Since Symphony modifies memory and the keyboard interrupt, Windows reduces itself to a 4K stub, and allows Symphony to be run to completion. You can do screen grabs from Symphony, but you can not switch back into Windows from Symphony until you exit, when Windows will reinstall itself. If you have any other problems running Symphony under Windows, please contact our Product Support Group at the above number. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Mar 86 9:08:18 EST From: Steven Segletes <steven@BRL-TBD.ARPA> Subject: When is a Clone a Clone Some recent talk on the net about Wang PCs raises questions in my mind about clone compatibility. Am I to believe that most (if not all) clone ROMs do not have INT 10H compatibility? Does anyone know which ROMs do or do not have such compatibility? Steven Segletes <steven@brl.arpa> U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066 [A PC without INT 10H compatibility is not a clone. It might be a "MS-DOS" compatible machine, but not a PC clone. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Mar 86 19:07:46 est From: dewar@nyu-acf2.arpa To: GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: MASM OFFSET Bug But you certainly agree that if you have: a equ [bp+4] lea bx,a You will not get a 4 in bx, which is what I wanted! I didn't want the effective address of a, which in any case OFFSET could not even be expected to provide. Here is the issue with groups: ; suppose G is a group composed of S1,S2,S3 assume ds:G ; assume variable v is in S2 mov ax,offset V ; gives offset relative to start of S2 mov ax,offset (G:V) ; gives offset relative to start of G mov ax,offset (S1:V) ; gives offset relative to S1 (may fail in LINK) lea ax,V ;gives offset relative to start of G (because of ASSUME) Usually what you want is the offset relative to the start of the group G, hence your comment that LEA generally works. On the other hand, you might think that mov ax,offset V was not working if you got something else, but this would be unfair to Microsoft since they indeed should give something else (namely the offset from G) when you do this. I am quite prepared to believe that mov ax,offset (G:V) would not fix the problem as it should. Incidentally this sort of thing is documented clearly in the Intel ASM manual, but not at all in the Microsoft manual. I am always amazed that people manage to get ASM programs working given the combination: Horrible complicated Intel Semantics + Incompetent implementation and interpretation of said semantics by Microsoft + Misunderstandings and confusion on the part of the programmer !! Doing an exactly Intel compatible assembler is really hard (I know, I did one for the Vax). However, Microsoft is inexcusably far from the target. Their handling of EQU's for example as text substitution macros causes all kinds of subtle incompatibilities (there are many cases where putting parentheses round the EQU expression changes the assembled code -- Gee just like C!) ------------------------------ Date: 18 Mar 1986 10:33:08 PST Subject: MASM OFFSET Bug From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: dewar@NYU-ACF2.ARPA Thanks for your informative message. My problems with OFFSET usually occurred when I had separate assemblies, as in your S1,S2,S3 example but not formal GROUPs -- just segments with the same name. I have one example where cmp ax,offset foo failed, but mov bx,offset foo cmp ax,bx worked ok! In all cases the problem was that I got the offset relative to the separate assembly, unaffected by the linker. You're right that lea ax,[bp+4] is different from mov ax,offset [bp+4]. Do you have the document number for the Intel assembler manual? I'd like to get a copy. Dick Gillmann ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Mar 86 16:15:50 est From: dewar@nyu-acf2.arpa To: GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA, dewar@NYU-ACF2.ARPA Subject: MASM OFFSET Bug I will try to get that document number for you. Incidentally the bug you mention with cmp ax,offset foo had to do with an earlier bug in MASM. The difficulty was that MASM was testing to see if an offset was short enough to use the 1 byte offset. They forgot to include in this test the test for whether the offset was relocatable. For the MOV OFFSET, there is no one byte offset form, so it worked OK. This particular bug has been fixed, so now your CMP OFFSET example should work fine. I was bitten by this many times with MASM V1.0 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Mar 86 10:07:46 pst From: gould9!ronb@nosc.ARPA (Ron Belanger @ CACI) Organization: CACI, Inc. -- La Jolla Xuucp-Path: {ihnp4,cbosgd,pyramid,sdcsvax}!gould9!ronb Xarpa-Path: gould9!ronb@nosc To: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu Joe, There is a discrete simulation language available for the PC. SIMSCRIPT II.5, the same simulation language which runs on your favorite mainframe is available for PC, XT and AT machines. It is self-contained and can be used as a general purpose language, so it's not necessary to dip into other languages. The current version supports limited graphics (histograms built with characters). The release which is due out shortly supports graphics and animation as well. CACI, our company, sells SIMSCRIPT II.5. Call 619-457-9681 if you have any questions and ask for Rick Crawford. Ron ------------------------------ Date: 20 Mar 1986 14:19:57 PST Subject: Program List From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, swg.koji@USC-ISIB.ARPA I've made an abbreviated version of the Program-library.list. The new list is called PROGRAM.LST and it is in a one line per program format. It is accessible with FTP from the Arpanet. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20-Mar-86 21:07:53 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Fast Cards I ran two "benchmarks" on three machines. 1. A IBM XT with the Classic 286 card 2. An IBM PC with the Victor 286 card 3. A Zenith 148 at 4.77 mh 4. A zenith 148 at 8 mh 5. An IBM AT at 18 mh crystal Two tests were run. They were: 1. Drystone 2. A Speed test supplied by Classic that did a lot of memory references and log calculations ( no 287 87 etc) Answers Test 1 2 machine 1 1282 14.33 sec 2 1041 15.22 3 373 4 632 16.72 5 1388 10.89 If anyone can make sense out of that!! The Classic lists for 1100 and sells to univ for 800 The Victor lists for 595. The 18 hm crystal is 1.95 ------------------------------ Date: 21 Mar 86 02:56 GMT From: ghicks @ KOREA-EMH Subject: VDISK Source Listing Documents FAT In reply to the query from Daniel Briggs query re: format equivalent within a program, the supplemental program diskette from IBM that comes from DOS 3.1 has a listing of VDISK.SYS on it. It shows how to set up a FAT, BOOT RRECORRD and DIRECTORY. Might be able to help... Gregory Hicks GHICKS@KOREA-EMH ------------------------------ From: mcvax!ukc!jmh@seismo.CSS.GOV Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 11:24:02 GMT To: milne <milne@icse.uci.edu> Subject: Interrupt handlers in Turbo (V5 #20) > I'm afraid I don't see from your paragraph #1 how it's possible to install a Turbo routine directly as an interrupt servicer. > Apologies if I didn't make myself clear. If you need to swap stacks for the reasons below, then you do of course have to try a different tack. Iff it is OK to use the existing stack (i.e if the interrupt is only called by user code with plenty of stack space) then you can use (again, this is for Turbo 3.0 - I have no way of knowing if it works on earlier versions) procedure foo ; .... begin { push ax, bx, cx, dx, si, di, ds, es } inline ( $50/$53/$51/$52/$56/$57/$1E/$06 ) ; ... { pop es, ds, di, si, dx, cx, bx, ax } { mov sp,bp ; pop bp ; iret } inline ( $07/$1F/$5F/$5E/$5A/$59/$5B/$58/$8B/$E5/$5D/$CF ) end ; and install addr(foo) into the vector. See p214 of the Turbo 3.0 manual. Addr(foo) points to the start of the procedure prelude, which saves BP on the stack and then places a copy of SP into BP, marking the start of the procedure stack frame. MOV SP,BP at the end restores SP to this point, POP BP recovers the saved value of BP, and IRET returns from the interrupt - i.e this is the normal Turbo postlude with RET replaced by IRET. >> 2. It is only necessary to inform the 8259 of interrupts you wish >> to receive *which are generated by external hardware*. > > I don't suppose you would know what the appropriate mask values for it are, > or, more generally, where one would find a reference on programming it? For the serial ports COM1 and COM2, which operate through IRQ 4 and IRQ 3 respectively, to enable their interrupts in the 8259 you need to clear the corresponding bit at Port[$21] e.g. Port[$21] := Port[$21] and $F7 ; { Enable IRQ 3 } Port[$21] := Port[$21] or 8 ; { Disable IRQ 3 } For further information, the book I used (the only one I had available) was "Microcomputer Systems : The 8086/8088 family. Architecture, Programming, Design", Liu & Gibson, Prentice-Hall 1984. It's rather turgid, and not IBM PC specific. I've just found in the library "Interfacing to the IBM PC", Lewis C Eggebrecht, Howard W Sams & Co 1983, which on a cursory inspection seems to be somewhat easier to read and is PC specific. > .... In other words, any interrupt servicer > which does not create for itself a nice roomy stack elsewhere in memory > may be inviting disaster if its interrupt is raised during a call > to a DOS service routine. I had no idea of this. Would anybody care > to take a crack at amending the servicer's initialization code to use > such a stack? <Discrete cough> As it happens, I revised the way I was handling interrupts considerably in the light of your article, and included just this. With comments there's some 225 lines in the relevant file, so I won't post it to info-ibmpc (unless requested) but mail it to you. Good luck, Jim Hague jmh@ukc.UUCP ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 15:06:16 cet To: BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: UZR500%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: FTP Between PC and VM/CMS The computer center of the University of Bonn (called RHRZ Bonn ) has an IBM/370 with VM/CMS as OS. Our IBM-PCs must also work as terminals. for FTPing from diskette to the CMS host. But our PCs have no IRMA cards and they have no AST-PCOX cards. And they have no other cards like this. The PCs are connected with a protocol converter by using a coaxial cable The protocol converter is the only alternative to be connected with the CMS host if we don't want to buy expensive cards like IRMA or AST-PCOX or others. The coaxial cable from the PC to the protocol converter uses the V.24 (RS232) of the PC. So I began to develop such a FTP program to solve this. Now we have several programs working with the V.24 . These programs are written in TURBO-PASCAL (V.3.01A) or in IBM-BASICA. But we have our problems in developing this FTP program: 1) Our BASICA program runs under the interpreter,but it is very slow. So I tried to compile it with the IBM BASIC COMPILER V.1.0 . First I got some error because of wrong handling (I forget the compiler options needed for communication). But now I get an error when compiling the program. Before I got the error when running the program. Now I had a look to my program. Then I only compiled the following line and got exactly the same error : 60 OPEN "com1:9600,e,7,1,pe" as #1 : '...any comment Three weeks ago I got the IBM BASIC COMPILER V.2.0 and then the same story. At the same time I got the QUICKBASIC COMPILER from MICROSOFT.There I got my problems when linking the necessary library for communica- tion. This is the BCOM10.LIB library. Can one help me in compiling this program. If you really know how to work with these @#&%*$ +! compilers please tell me that and you can get the whole program from me in order to try to compile it. But a little warning : I'm not logged on all the days and nights. So I answer you some days later. 2) When writing our program in TURBO-PASCAL we found out that installing the BASICA line open"com1:9600,e,7,1,pe'"as#1 (port = COM1,9600 baud, 7 data bits 1 stop bits,parity even) in TURBO is not very easy.I know that one can do this by using MODE. But our program is written for people who are not experts in using computers. So we want that it is installed automatically by our program. I know that one has to use the declaration cpureg = RECORD ax,bx,cx,dx,bp,si,ds,es,flags : INTEGER END; and that one has to set cpureg.dx := $0000; for COM1 and cpureg.ax := $00A6; for 2400 baud,no parity,2 stop bits,7 data bits := $00E6; for 9600 baud,no parity,2 stop bits,7 data bits := $00FE; for 9600 baud, parity,2 stop bits,7 data bits But there are still unsolved problems when doing this. Did anyone al- ready write such a program and could this person help me ? Perhaps today my letter is more detailed and one can understand me bet- ter. Please send all information to : Thorsten Glattki +49 228 73-2747 <UZR500@DBNRHRZ1.BITNET> RHRZ Uni Bonn Zimmer 003 Wegelerstrasse 4 D-5300 Bonn 1 Federal Republic of Germany (West-Germany) Thanks a lot in advance. Thorsten ------------------------------ Date: 21 Mar 1986 10:45:32 PST Subject: FTP Between PC and VM/CMS From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: UZR500%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Well that is quite a specific message. Sorry to inform you but communications support is very weak from BASIC and even Turbo Pascal. DOS provides very little support for serial communications. It is necessary to write your own machine language level serial I/O support as the DOS routines provide no buffering. Unless your low level routines buffer the incoming characters you will lose incoming characters when the PC is busy writing to the disk. Even the standard DOS bell routine ties up the processor so long that characters will be lost at 9600 baud if your PC is beeping at you! Fortunately this code was done in 1982 at MIT and they have placed in the public domain. I will send a copy of this code in a following message. Unfortunately this requires the Microsoft Assembler, but as the code has been debugged you shouldn't have any problem getting it running. Also you will have to read the section in the BASIC compiler manual on how to link to assembly language routines and modify the code so it can be called by BASIC. The more difficult question is what to send in order to communicate with your protocol converter. I have never seen such a device so I can't help you here, but I believe the people at Columbia University have versions of Kermit that can deal with protocol converters. I will forward your message on to them and would be happy to act as a mail forwarding agent if you can't get the kermit files directly via BITNET. I will also run your plea in the digest as somebody else might be able to answer your BASIC and Turbo Pascal questions. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Mar 86 21:40:27 PST From: larry@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA Subject: WordPerfect & Epson Proprinter Emulation We have an AT with WordPerfect 4.1 on it and want to use the nifty line-drawing feature. However, some weird things happen when we set the Epson 286 to Proprinter mode. (1) Subscripts and superscripts won't work. (2) When WP is exited, the Epson is set into near-letter-quality mode. Any idea how to fix this? Or even why this happens? Two of us have independently studied the Epson manual and the WordPerfect Printer customizing utility, and haven't figured it out yet? Larry @ jpl-vlsi.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Mar 86 17:03:14 est From: Scott Guthery <sguthery%slb-doll.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: BSR Board BSR is a remote control standard that uses AC lines and $15 modules from Radio Shack for controlling things like lights, radios, clocks, blenders, or any other AC plug-in device. Does anyone know of a BSR controller board for the PC? I'd like JUST BSR and not a lot of A/D and D/A extras. Thanks, Scott ------------------------------ Subject: DAVONG multi-function bd. Date: 20 Mar 86 09:17:15 PST (Thu) From: arms@sri-spam I have an expansion bd from the now defunct DAVONG Corp. I inherited it with a used COLUMBIA (PC compatible). It works fine for the 256K memory expansion (for which part I have documentation). It also has a parallel and a serial port (for which part I have *NO* documentation) and it is interfering with my built-in Com1 serial port on which I have a modem. Query: Does anyone have a similar DAVONG bd for which one might possess the description of the two DIP switch packs settings relevant to the two comm ports? I still need to use the memory on this bd as the COLUMBIA's resident is only 128K and a newly acquired AST SIXPACK PLUS (used of course) contains 384K. 512K is nice but I want *more*. Thanks very much for any oncoming assistance. Tom Arms <arms@sri-spam> ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Mar 86 23:21:29 EST From: Robbit%UMass.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Rob Kaplowitz) Subject: Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200 Presently, I have a Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200 connected to my PC compatible, however I've been unable to get it to work properly using Crosstalk XVI V3.5 & V3.6. As a test, I hooked up a Hayes smartmodem to the same Comm port and it worked flawlessly. I have played around with the DIP switches on the Volksmodem but nothing seems to work. Any suggestions???? Rob <Robbit%UMass.bitnet@wiscvm.arpa> ------------------------------ Date: 20 Mar 1986 11:50:59 PST Subject: Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200 From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Robbit%UMass.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Rob Kaplowitz) I bought one of those Volksmodem 1200s myself. First off, it's NOT Hayes compatible, though it does have a subset of the Hayes commands. I've been able to use it with VDTE by modifying my Hayes command files to fit the subset. I suspect that Crosstalk is assuming a Hayes modem and having trouble as a result. The Volksmodem works OK, it's cheap, but be prepared to do your own modem commands. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Mar 86 18:27:39 EST From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Automated PC-->Mainframe Sessions Greetings! We have people interested in conducting unattended sessions between an IBM PC and a 3081. Ideally, they would be able to connect, download mail, terminate the session, process the mail, and then reconnect and upload the results. Even when an operator is present, they would like to have the process as automated as possible. Has anyone experimented with something like this. The natural place to start, I would expect, is PROCOMM or PIBTERM, which have SCRIPT facilities and KERMIT file transfer (at least PROCOMM does). We are reluctant to get them started on one of these programs unless we have indications that the results will be satisfactory and reliable. Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks. --Jim P.S. We are running 7171s, so asynchronous file transfer is "no" problem. ------------------------------ From: hermix!stan@rand-unix.ARPA To: randvax!info-ibmpc%ISIB@ECLB Subject: Info on MS Mouse Driver for Xenix Date: Thu Mar 20 14:37:00 1986 I have just purchased a Microsoft Mouse version 5.0. Unfortunately, the programming information included with the mouse is confined to MS-DOS. Has anyone either the technical information on how the mouse communicates via the serial port, or even better, has someone developed a program/driver written in C to interface Xenix to the mouse? As usual, Thanks in advance. Stan Stead UUCP: {ihnp4|decvax}!hermix!stan ARPA: hermix!stan@randvax BELL: (213) 206-6238 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Mar 86 00:06:44 EST From: Dean Carpenter <ST701979%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Changing Cluster Size In the latest issue of PC-WORLD there is a method of diddling the BPB when formatting the XT's 10 meg hard disk to give a cluster size of just 2K. Has anyone tried this yet ? What sort of difference does it make ? Could the same method be used to make a 1K cluster size without totally wiping out performance ? Thanks. Dean Carpenter ST701979@BROWNVM.bitnet PS. the article is on page 341 of the April 1986 issue ------------------------------ Date: Fri 21 Mar 86 05:56:39-PST From: Tony Brand <BRAND@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: Microsoft Mouse and Print Spoolers * This is the 3rd time I've tried to upload this file from my * * PC. Qmodem 2.0 has a nasty timing bug in it. Now the bug has * * fixed with Qmodem 2.0C. * I've just set up my Zenith 200 with 2 30Mbyte drives, AST Advantage, Quadram EGA+ (actually a full length Video 7 board relabelled, because Quadram says they've been delayed in shipping the half height board pictured in ads because it uses surface mounted IC technology). I've ordered but not received a Cannon Laser printer which I'm going to use with a Tall Tree J-Ram board and laser interface. I've also got a Microsoft mouse. So that's where I'm at. 1. Does anyone know of a source for Microsoft Mouse definition files for using the mouse with the programs below? SuperKey, SuperCalc3, WordPerfect, SideKick 2. How does the Microsoft mouse identify when an application, which it has the menus for, is loaded? Is there a tech manual for the mouse? 3. I bought an optical mouse for a friend and its driver allowed the mouse to emulate the cursor pad under all programs. Can I make the Microsoft mouse do that? I've used SuperSpl, the resident print spooler supplied with AST 6-paks on all IBM PCs. I just got the print spooler from Quadram and that's much slicker because it has a window which one can call up with one key combo (mine is Alt Left shift) and then one can flush the buffer or pause it. It does seem to be slower than SuperSpl when spooling however. It works with Sidekick and Superkey present. Anyway I think the Quadboard is as good as the AST 6-paks I've been buying previously. Ok, that's enough for now, usual disclaimers on all the above. I'm not on the info-pc lists so please send replies, if any, to brand@sumex-aim.arpa Tony Brand, Trenton State College Voice : (609)-771-3013 ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160541) 86-03-25 23.19 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <212> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-25 23.19 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <203> -- Received: 86-03-26 01.01 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-25 23.19 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #28 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:17 PST. TF: DSKD:936013.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 39175 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 25 Mar 86 21:32 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 19:21:17-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 27-Feb-86 14:46:28 Date: 27 Feb 1986 14:46:28 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #28 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:17 PST ReSent-From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, 27 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 28 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: Time and Date from Turbo Pascal (4 msgs) Kermit+Lightning = Rubbish NANSI.ASM (2 msgs) Connecting to NBI Machines (2 msgs) QUICK-BASIC Comm Files Experience with QNX Operating System Thanks to MicroSoft Compiling Really Large Programs With Microsoft C V3.0 Color & Mono Cards in AT FAT City Blues - and how I fixed my hard disk ProComm Re: Lotus printer problem More SIG/M and PC/BLUE Volumes Available Today's Queries: QuicKey.asm Wanted Microsoft MASM Assembler Wish List Problem with 27 Lines on the EGA Cluster Size Query Prolog Query TRS Model 100 to IBM XT Connection Wanted XT-clone motherboard query Color Attribute Query Problem with MS-DOS command line length Intel 80186 Assembler Query Query: PCnet <--> 3Com Ethershare "Gateway" Window Package for Xenix Wanted dBASE File Format Query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 23 Feb 1986 22:09-EST Subject: Turbo Date/Time Code From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, bschaar@USC-ISIF.ARPA The request was for pointers to articles (or code) on date-time manipulation in Turbol Pascal. DEC-MARLBLRO (aka MARKET) has some excellent routines (for generic MS-DOS systems, supposedly) in the following files, available via ANONYMOUS FTP: TURBO:D_T_MANI.LBR TURBO:DATETIME.LBR Source code, of course, in squeezed files within a standard .LBR file. I'll be sending the requestor some extracts of documentation separately. Regards, David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: 24 Feb 86 12:25 PST From: Ghenis.pasa@Xerox.COM Subject: Date and Time from Turbo Pascal To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA To get date and time from Turbo Pascal, use the MSDOS function to execute the appropriate BDOS call. If you have Turbo 3.0 or later, on the distribution diskette there is a file called DOSFCALL.DOC which has the source for precisely this function. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Feb 86 19:26:56 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Time of Day Function for Turbo Pascal Function Secnds:Real; { This function returns the seconds past midnight as Real number Input None Output Secnds Seconds past midnight as a Real number Strategy (1) Call DOS to get the time (2) Convert to floating point seconds past midnight } Type Result=Record Ax,Bx,Cx,Dx,Bp,Si,Di,Ds,Es,Flags:Integer; End; Var Sys:Result; Begin SYS.AX:=$2C00 { AH is get time }; Intr($21,Sys); If Odd(Sys.Flags) then Begin Writeln('Error getting the time'); Halt; End; Secnds:=Lo(SYS.DX)/100.+Hi(SYS.DX)+60.*(Lo(SYS.CX)+60.*Hi(SYS.CX)); End; ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Feb 86 09:11 EST From: MKATZ%UMDA.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Time and Date from Turbo Pascal To: BSCHAAR@USC-ISIF.ARPA, INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I saw a message on VMBBOARD@WEIZMANN asking about Time and Date from Turbo Pascal. I have used Bdos calls from Turbo in CPM86 to get the date and time. No assembly language is needed. In MS-DOS the procedure should be similar. Set up the registers like it says in the Turbo manual (you have to declare a record for it). For date do an interrupt 21h (there is a Turbo function to do interrupts but I don't have the manual here so I am not sure what it is called - probably Intr) with AH (thats the high byte of AX) = 2Ah. For For time AH = 2Ch. Date is returned as CX = year, DH = month, DL - day. Time is returned as CH = hours, CL = minutes, DH = seconds, DL = 1/100 seconds. This should all work the first time, however I have found more than a few typos in the Assembly book I am using so I can't guarantee it. Manasseh Katz ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 86 00:21:05 -0100 From: gaffney@nta-vax.arpa (Patrick Gaffney CMI) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Kermit+Lightning = Rubbish When I use kermit to download a file to my PC that is running Turbo Lightning the resultant file contains rubbish. If I remove Lightning and repeat the process the file is ok. Has anyone else encountered this effect? Pat Gaffney ------------------------------ Date: 23 Feb 1986 15:22:56 CST Subject: Re: Snowy Mode with NANSI.ASM From: HUNEYCUTT@GUNTER-ADAM.ARPA I'd suggest an 'extended' mode-set sequence to allow the programmer to set the NANSI driver for two different kinds of CGA...those that snow and those that don't. To avoid snow on some cards (like IBM's), you have to put in some code to test the retrace status..if the card is retracing (and the signal therefore blanked), you can update the screen memory. If not, and you update screen memory anyway, you'll get snow because of conflicting access to video RAM. Newer designs (such as on the ZDS Z-15x and 2xx machines) do this checking in the video interrupt handler code or in the hardware of the card itself. If you check retraces on the newer style card, you'll unnecessarily slow down screen displays (but be guaranteed of no snow!). I realize that adding 'nonstandard' sequences is a nasty thing to do in a standard environment, but this is one case I feel the user should be given the option. Doug [This is the joy of access to source code. This seems like a perfect case for a conditional assembly. Any volunteers? -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Tue 25 Feb 86 14:30:35-EST From: Paul G. Weiss <PGW@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: DOS Console Handling Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I have uploaded NANSI from the program library and it raises some questions about DOS console buffering that I hope some DOS maven can answer. I noticed that when raw mode is turned on there is no processing of escape sequences or tabs if I used the DOS write function call to STDOUT. My question is how do device drivers, buffering, int 29h, raw mode and BIOS teletype interface all work together? In light of this, what is the difference between using DOS function calls 3f and 40 to do console I/O and using the console-specific calls. ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 25 February 1986 13:26:19 EST From: Paul.Birkel@k.cs.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Query: Exchanging files with an NBI Machine Here's an interesting problem. I need to exchange files with an NBI Word Processing "machine". Don't ask me why anyone would actually buy one of these beasts instead of a CHEAPER (!) PC-AT or CP/M machine, but here's the situation. They have one or two 5 1/4 inch floppies, no hard disk, are probably 8 bit machines, and drive a multiple port letter-quality printer. We've been told that to connect another brand machine to one of the "extra" LQP ports will void the warrenty. Heaven forbid! The better solution would be able to read/write to NBI disks, if possible. Since there are the appropriate software packages to transfer between CP/M formats and PC-DOS formats, it would be nice to do the same with the NBI format. And seemingly reasonable, too. Although our current machine is a CP/M, we have access to a PC-AT as a potential intermediary. The question is, how to get from one of them to the NBI? Assuming that files are ASCII (am I assuming too much?), and that a standard floppy controller chip is used, this should be possible. Unfortunately, NBI has been very unhelpful (as you can gather from the above comment). I guess they just want to sell more of their machines rather than to talk with the rest of the world. Can anyone help me with additional information, technical data, a word of advice, solace? Also, if you know of any other forums than info-cpm and info-ibmpc in which such a question could be addressed would you please direct this message there? My sincere thanks. paul.birkel@A.CS.CMU.EDU (412) 268-3074 Carnegie-Mellon University Dept. of Computer Science Pittsburgh, PA 15213 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Feb 86 08:09:15 -0500 From: Jeff Edelheit <edelheit@mitre.ARPA> To: paul.birkel@cmu-cs-k.ARPA Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPAC, info-cpm@amsaa.ARPA Subject: Re: Connecting to NBI Machines Paul - We use a lot of NBIs here. My first comment is that they do not talk very well to anything! There is a Canadian company (the name escapes me at the moment) that manufactures a box that hooks-up to your PC/AT. This box has, if I remember right, one 8" drive & one 5 1/4 drive. You put their conversion floppy into the AT and your source/destination floppies in and the conversion box attempts to translate from one wp disk to the other. It will also do a wp to ascii conversion. The big problem is that this box & software supposedly costs BIG $$$ ($7k+). For the money, though, it is supposed to work well. If you want to go that route, get back to me and I'll try to dig-up some details. The "cheap" way to go is to connect a pc to the NBI's serial port and "transmit" or "receive" documents from/to the NBI. We have found the fastest speed that really works is 4800 bps. Generally, the screen shows a loss of characters, but the characters really do show up. If you transfer a document from the NBI, anything that is underscored gets transferred as just the underscores. (It looks like NBI handles underscoring by typing the word, backspacing and underlining.) Our search for a file transfer protocol for the NBI was unsuccessful. BTW, the VT100 emulator for the NBI doesn't work if you try to use it going into a UNIX host and want to do vi. NBI's response was "Yes, we know of that problem; no, we're not going to fix it; and you should realize that our VT100 emulator doesn't do anything really sophisticated like true cursor addressing." One more thing. NBI makes a board for the PC that allows you to do NBI word processing on an IBM PC. Perhaps that will allow you to read NBI disks on the PC. Since I don't have one of those boards, I can't really tell you much. Maybe NBI can (ha!) Regards, Jeff Edelheit (edelheit@mitre) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Feb 86 12:55:34 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: QUICK-BASIC Comm Files Excerpts from a Local BBS From: BILL ANGUS Date: 23-Feb-1986 11:55:36 I understand from the people at microsoft that the feature which allows one to open COM1 as if it were a file, will only work if the com1 port does not receive a ctrl break character from the remote station which may be communicating via this com1 port. The woman at Microsoft who explained the problem to me said that DOS interupt 14h which is used by the basic compiler to facilitate the opening of communications, does a continuous check for ctrl break. If ctrl break is encountered, then the program attempts to halt (!) processing. She also referred me to the book PROGRAMMING THE IBMPC by NORTON (which I don't have unfortunately). MY QUESTION IS... Does anybody out there know if the following is the easiest way to prevent <ctrl break> from getting through and crashing my program? 1) open com1 .... 2) execute a com off command 3) whenever input output is desired, check for a character from the remote user at the com port using the inp function.... 4) if a character is sent and if it is ctrl break, then disallow it else pass the character along to an input buffer in the program..... From: SYSOP Date: 23-Feb-1986 12:31:03 From the description of the bug by Bill Angus, I would recommend that you write an Assembler procedure for Quick-Basic which grabs the contents of INT 14h (ie saves the four bytes at 0:50h and loads its entry there) and then proceeds to clear the error bits out of the COM1 status at port 3FDh, before passing control onto the BIOS com INT 14h handler, by PUSHing the four bytes (saved from 0:50h) on the stack, then IRET. This will guarantee that the BIOS never sees a communications error! ------------------------------ Date: 23 February 1986, 14:36:02 EST From: Peter Allsop (Chemical Eng., UofW) <ALLSOP%WATACS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Experience with QNX Operating System This is in response to a recent query by Tom Helbekkmo concerning the QNX operating system. I have been using QNX on an IBM-PC (576K RAM, 5M Davong, 1 floppy) for 4 or 5 years (I started with a pre-release version), and on a DEC Rainbow for about 2 years (off and on). The majority of my work involves real time process control, were speed and efficiency at run time are more important than ease of software development. I am not a Unix expert, nor any other kind for that matter, and cannot comment on how Unix-like QNX is (Quantum claims 4.something compatibility). Neither do I have any experience with the networked version of QNX, although I have a few friends who use (and like) it. Weigh my comments accordingly. >>> The Operating System: Basically I am very satisfied with the operating system, now that I know how to use it. The user is given a great deal of control over the environment, and the device interface proceedures are very easy to use (eg: much better than Venix on the Pro-350). A number of useful (to me) utilities are included, such as: -Device independant graphics utilities, which allow you to define your own devices after writing (and compiling) the program. -User tasks can "adopt" devices, effectively replacing the device administrator for that device. -Define your own memory resident shared libraries. -Intertask signalling and message handling proceedures. -The basic utilities to allow the user to manage resources independantly of the OS (semiphores, etc). -An auto-answer modem control program, so you can sign on from home. -Drivers for several different hard disks, and a RAM disk utility. -A windows handling routine, allowing up to 4 windows on the console. -A full screen editor that makes XEDIT on VM/CMS (KEDIT on IBM-PC) look sick, both in speed and power. -A whole bunch of other stuff that I rarely (never) use. These allow system accounting, debugging, and ??. The C compiler is very standard, and comes in two flavors: shared library math (SLM) and inline 8087 math (IM). The SLM uses one of two memory resident shared libraries (both supplied), one using the 8087 and the other ignoring it. The advantage of this version is that you can move programs between computers without having to worry about an 8087, but it is *slow*. The IM version generates (you guessed it) inline 8087 code, and is about 10 fold faster than the shared lib 8087 version. I think that Quantum is going to merge the two compilers, the user supplying a compiler flag to select SLM or IM. The code generated by the IM C compiler (the one I use) is very efficient. I rarely get even a 2 fold speed increase when I re-code in assembler, and most of my software involves a lots of iteration! In fact I don't even bother using assembler any more, unless it is a very heavily used math routine. There are several other QNX compilers available, including BASIC, Pascal, and Fortran (I think). Quantum claims that you can mix (link) program segments coded in different languages together, but I've only used C. There are also several "extras" available, including a word processor, a spellin checker, a database manager, and a utility which allows a DOS program to run under QNX. QNX does have a few drawbacks. My major complaint is that the manuals don't have an index!! This isn't a great hassle once you get to know them, but in the interm ... it's hell! Another annoyance is the size of the system itself, you only get about 40K of user space out of a 256K machine! Finally, the C compiler (at least) will only allow 64K of code and 64K of data. This doesn't bother me, since I can always request a chunk of memory from the OS and manage it myself (utilities are provided), but if you don't want to ... >>> The Company (Quantum): This is were QNX falls down the most. Quantum is a technically oriented company, and they aren't too swift at marketing. This means that they tend to be a bit slow on delivery, and don't understand user's complaints about the manuals (see above). Their technical support, however, is excellent. Quantum includes two types of support with every system: a telephone hotline and an on-line update service. The hotline puts you in touch with a systems programmer, who has access to a duplicate of your OS. (Quantum maintains an on- line database which tells them which version of each module you have). I find these people very helpful, and their turn around on OS fixes is rarely greater than 24 hr. Even better, though, is the on-line update system. The on-line update system allows you to phone Quantum and sign-on to their database system. This system maintains bug reports, explanatory notes (eg: recovering erased files), current versions of the OS and utilities, and a mail system. Using this you can download system updates directly over the phone, or submit questions/bug reports with examples. They are even talking about connecting this to DATAPAC (thus TYMENET, ...). The update service is so good, in fact, that I can almost forgive them their manual! Peter Allsop <ALLSOP@WATACS.BITNET> Dept. of Chemical Engineering University of Waterloo (The usual disclamers: I have no connection with Quantum except as a (usually) satisfied user. The opinions expressed above are those of the author, and do not (necessarily) reflect the opinion of the Department, the University, or anyone else with any authority.) ------------------------------ Date: Sat 22 Feb 86 15:56:31-PST From: Bob Knight <KNIGHT@SRI-NIC.ARPA> Subject: Thanks to MicroSoft To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I want to express my thanks to the following people at MicroSoft: Dan Newell, Cindy K, and Lori Zeebe Through INFO-IBMPC, Dan knew of my problems with Quick Basic and passed them to Cindy. Cindy apprised me of the availability of version 1.02 to registered owners. Lori expedited my receipt of same today. Having downloaded my application to New Mexico, preliminary results indicate that 1.02 has fixed our problems. It is rare that one finds such quick response to a customer problem in a (relatively) large corporation. I find it gratifying to find same in Microsoft. I wish them every success in the future. Bob Knight ------------------------------ From: cramer%kontron.UUCP@BRL.ARPA Subject: Compiling Really Large Programs With Microsoft C V3.0 Date: Thu, 20-Feb-86 11:25:33 PST This is a helpful hint to those of you building really big programs on the IBM using Microsoft C V3.0. We have a large piece of C that we are developing simultaneously on a VAX and IBM AT -- roughly 40,000 lines of C, all linked together, no overlays. Unlike a lot of commercial products, our program has very large quantities of static data. (Your average spreadsheet has know problem gobbling up to and beyond 640K, but most of the memory is allocated -- not static.) If you don't read the Microsoft C manual in excruciating detail, you would think that compiling in large model (/AL on the command line) would be adequate for the largest program that will fit into the address space. Not so! From section 8.1.1.2 of the Microsoft C Compiler User's Guide: All segments with the same group name must fit into a single physical segment, which is up to 64K bytes long. This allows all segments in a group to be accessed through the same segment register. The Microsoft C compiler defines one group named DGROUP. The NULL, _DATA, CONST, BSS, c_common, and STACK segments are grouped together in the data group, called DGROUP. This allows the compiler to generate code for accessing data in each of these segments without constantly loading the segment values or using many segment overrides on instructions. DGROUP is addressed using the DS or SS segment register. DS and SS always contain the same value except when the "u" or "w" option of the /A option is used. As you can see by table 8.1 that follows in the same manual, even a large model program will try to put all the global and static data into one group, and that one group will be entirely in a 64K segment. The symptom is "fixup overflow near <address> in segment <name> in <file>.OBJ(<file>) offset <offset>" messages from the linker. The section quoted above might tempt you to use an option like /Alfu to allocate different segments for the stack and the data segments. In fact, this is what I tried first, and for reasons that are not immediately obvious, our program stopped dead in its track, looping endlessly. What does work is to use the options /AL and /Gt. From section 7.12 of the User's Guide: /Gt [<n>] By default, the compiler allocates all static and global data items to the default data segment. The /Gt option causes all data items greater than <n> bytes to be allocated to a new data segment. The effect is to create separate segments AND GROUPS for each module's static and global data. This doubtless requires more setting of segment registers -- but I can't see any obvious slowing of our program after recompiling with the /Gt option. One other item: a very large program will quickly exceed 128 segments, which is the default number of segments the Microsoft Linker likes to work with. Use the /SEGMENTS:<nbr> option on the link to deal with this. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Feb 1986 13:31:48-EST From: mlsmith@NADC To: Ghenis.pasa@Xerox.COM, info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB Subject: Color & Mono Cards in AT I have had both an IBM Monochrome and Color Graphics Adapter plugged in for about four months on an AT. I do not use either of the programs you mentioned. Despite appearances of simultaneous operation, the AT only talks to one display at a time.I use the monochrome display as a menu tablet, and then go to the color monitor for my programs. This leaves the menu up. More elaborate schemes are certainly possible. Two Adapters of the same type _is_ a problem, but I'm not sure about the EGA. Does anyone know if you can have two EGA's one in Monochrome mode and one in Color mode? ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: FAT City Blues - and how I fixed my hard disk Date: Tue, 25 Feb 86 12:32:50 -0500 From: Mark Colan <mtc@ATHENA.MIT.EDU> I sent a report a few weeks ago about having trashed my hard disk AGAIN, and how I suspected that it was a software problem, not a hardware problem. I had been working with a large model Lattice C program, and tried to use an invalid pointer. Since DOS has no memory protection, it is possible to write over DOS, and whenever I do this, it always seems to be the disk driver database I hit. The disk failed badly after one particular execution of a program with a bad pointer, and I deduced that I had written over the driver in such a way that instead of writing a data block into a file, it wrote it in a random, and particularly wrong, block on the disk. The symptom was a lot of trashed files, and CHKDSK barfed badly. Various raw disk manipulation tools hung or refused to run. I ran the Advanced Diagnostics, Conditional Format, and it started from track 305, rather than the expected 610. When the diagnostics completed, it complained that there was less than 10 MB useable on the hard disk. The theory was that there was a place on the disk that told the world, even Adv Diags, about the disk, and that Formatting did not touch that area. Setup correctly identified the disk as Type 2, and the interleave was correctly set to 3, yet I had only a 10 MB disk. I tried to delete and restore the DOS partition, but after the DOS format, DOS thought it was a 10MB disk. It worked, but missing half the capacity. That theory seems to have been proven correct. I was able to restore my hard disk to relative normalcy by using the "Change Interleave Factor" function on the "Format Menu" of the hard disk diagnostics. The interleave factor is normally set to 3; I instructed the program to "change" it to 3. My guess was that it might, as a side effect, reinitialize other disk characteristics in the correct way. It worked! The Advanced Diagnostics Conditional Format now counts down from track 610, which means I again have a 20 Mb disk. Interesting that at least some of the problems I formerly attributed to bad hard disks on the AT were in fact software problems that resulted of the missing memory protection in DOS. Mark Colan MIT Project Athena ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Feb 86 08:44:44 CST From: C346595%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Bruce Barkelew) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: ProComm PIL Software Systems PO Box 1471 Columbia, MO 65201 (314) 449-9401 I am the co-author of the communications program ProComm. I noticed our program mentioned here, so I thought I would let you know some more information. ProComm is a user supported product. We have just released version 2.2 (02/21/86). Version 2.2 has many improvements and additions. We now emulate 10 popular async terminals. The VT-100 emulation has been greatly improved. We support XMODEM, YMODEM, TELINK, MODEM7 and KERMIT file transfer protocols. Our KERMIT implementation has been completely re-coded from the ground up, and now supports all the latest features such as data compression, file attributes, and the new Sliding Window (full duplex) extension. Our script command language has been expanded also. ProComm runs under MS-DOS 2.0 or greater, and requires 128k of RAM. We a 24 hour support BBS running at (314) 449- 9401. The latest version is always available there. I don't mean this to sound like a commercial, but I saw messages here inquiring about us, so I thought I would supply the information. I can be reached at the above address or at C346595 at UMCVMB. -Bruce Barkelew ------------------------------ Date: 26 Feb 1986 13:18:30 EST Subject: Re: Lotus printer problem From: ABN.20E-27@USC-ISID.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA In regards to GARY SWALLOW's response to the problem of LOTUS and the inherent ability to talk to the WANG PM012 DIABLO type impact printer, I thank you! I did finaly get ahold of the LOTUS Tech rep and they were not the most reassuring of supporters. The end result of that phone call was that LOTUS prefers to talk at 300 baud not 1200, it needs 8 bits set on, no parity with one stop bit. This done they still didn't seem real positive of the results as the informed me that if that didn't work to delete the serial driver. All said and done it didn't have any new results in any form! BLEAH- My next idea is to think about changing the config.sys (shell=) to better talk to the system with LOTUS. I really would be greatful for further help on both getting the printer to work with LOTUS through switch changes and/or optimizing the config.sys file. THIS LOTUS vs PM012 (DIABLO) IS BEATING ME SEVERELY AROUND THE HEAD AND SHOULDERS. Reply: KURT A. NEUMAIER ABN.20E-27 FT BRAGG, NC ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1986 23:51 MST From: "Frank J. Wancho" <WANCHO@SIMTEL20.ARPA> To: INFO-CPM@AMSAA.ARPA, INFO-MICRO@BRL.ARPA Cc: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, INFO-HZ100@RADC-TOPS20.ARPA Subject: More SIG/M and PC/BLUE volumes available SIG/M volumes 210 to 251 are now available in PD:<SIGM.VOLnnn>. PD:<SIGM.VOL000> and PD:<SIGM>SIGM.CRCLST have also been updated. PC/BLUE volumes 125 to 175 are now available in PD:<PC-BLUE.VOLnnn>. PD:<PC-BLUE.VOL000> and PD:<PC-BLUE>PC-BLUE.CRCLST have also been updated. All files were uploaded using MEX for the SIG/M disks and MEX-PC for the PC/BLUE disks. Check your CRC values against our list in the *.CRCLST files. For the PC/BLUE files, use CRCK4.COM. The CRCs of the files in the PC-BLUE directories should match our values regardless of whether you use MODEM or KERMIT protocols to download the files. The CRCs of the ASCII files may not necessarily match, but should be correct copies nonetheless. If any files appear trashed, be sure to check the file type in the CRCLST file to make sure you are not trying to display a binary file as if it were ASCII, especially on other TOPS-20, TENEX, or ITS mainframes. If the file is truly trashed, please let me know and I will get correct copies re-uploaded. --Frank ------------------------------ Date: 24 Feb 1986 15:49:11 PST Subject: QuicKey.asm From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA The March 11 PC Magazine has published a program called program called quickey.asm this speeds up the typomatic on the PC keyboard. If anyone has downloaded the .ASM source files, would you please send it to us. I'd like it for the library. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Feb 86 10:41:38 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Microsoft MASM Assembler Wish List Wish List for Microsoft MASM Assembler ______________________________________ (1) Provide an option to allow for "worst-case" resolution of undefined forward references in pass 1, dealing with them the same way in pass 2. Although specifying this option would generate bigger code, it sure would speed programming, and avoid those annoying "PHASE ERRORS" in pass 2 (see page 95 of MASM 4.0 reference manual) (2) Provide an option which DISABLES STRONG TYPING for MEMORY OPERANDS. It seems that 30% of my code contains the PTR override operator. (see page 83 of MASM 4.0 reference manual) (3) Provide an option to shell CREF.EXE from MASM automatically. (see page 31 in MASM 4.0 user`s guide) (4) Allow KEYWORDS in MACRO calls, for example GET_TIME MACRO HOURS=A,MINUTES=B,SECONDS=C,HUNDREDTHS=D MOV AH,2Ch INT 21h .IFNB <A> MOV BYTE PTR A,CH .ENDC .IFNB <B> MOV BYTE PTR B,CL .ENDC .IFNB <C> MOV BYTE PTR C,DH .ENDC .IFNB <D> MOV BYTE PTR D,DL .ENDC GET_TIME ENDM (see page 121 and 108 in MASM 4.0 reference manual) (5) Allow definition of LOCAL symbols outside of MACROS. Ideally these local symbols would be "remembered" only within a given procedure. For example FOO PROC NEAR 10$: JCXZ 20$ LOOP 10$ 20$: FOO ENDP BAR PROC NEAR 10$: LOOP 10$ BAR ENDP would be legal, and not result in "Redefinition of Symbol" errors. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Feb 86 09:09:40 PST From: Lawrence_Anthony_Smith%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Problem with 27 Lines on the EGA I am having difficulty in displaying 27 lines of character data instead of the normal 25 lines. I am using a PC/AT with the Enhanced Graphics Adaptor (EGA). I'm writing the program in Microsoft Assembler V3.0. Does anyone have any useful ideas about how to go about this task? Lawrence Anthony Smith%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TRIUMF, U.B.C ------------------------------ Date: Sun 23 Feb 86 22:27-EST From: Ed Barton <EB%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: Cluster Size Query To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I have a poorly documented generic PC-compatible with a 20meg hard disk. Unfortunately, disk space is allocated in 8K blocks leading to a great deal of wasted space. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can explain what I can do to reduce the allocation size (and who doesn't mind explaining it). Please reply to EB%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC; thanks. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Feb 1986 04:57-PST Subject: Prolog Query From: BSCHAAR@USC-ISIF.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA A friend of mine needs a pointer to the developer's name, address, and phone number of Prolog. Also, any pointers to available sources for Prolog on the IBM PC/XT. Thanks. Brian Schaar ------------------------------ Date: Mon 24 Feb 86 11:50:06-EST From: Thomas.Finholt@C.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: TRS Model 100 to IBM XT Connection Wanted To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I am interested in software that allows me to use the XT hard disk as a remote disk for a TRS Model 100 portable computer. Thanks! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Feb 86 16:10:32 pst From: Ivan Reid <ivan%dac.triumf.cdn%ubc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: XT-clone motherboard query A friend recently acquired a Megaboard-type motherboard for an XT clone. The board is silk-screened with IC identification, but came without a circuit diagram. The only identification is 'MBE-XT'. Any help in tracking down the manufacturer or a circuit diagram would be greatly appreciated. Ivan Reid, TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Feb 86 10:56:54 est From: John Pezaris <pz@mit-vax> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Color Attribute Query The recent discussions on setting colors have brought back an old query I was never able to resolve: is there any way to *read* (not write) the current attribute that dos will use in writing to the screen? Clearly, this information must be kept within dos, and is accessible through some venues, for ansi.sys and various other packages are able to modify it. However, I have not seen any hooks for retrieving the information. - John Pezaris (pz@mit-vax) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Feb 86 16:08:34 EST From: Andy Adler <andya@bbnccp.ARPA> Subject: Problem with MS-DOS command line length To: Info-IBMPC@usc-isib.arpa I am having problems with the MS-DOS limitation on command line length. The version of the MS C compiler that comes in the Windows Toolkit combines p0.exe and p1.exe into one new p1.exe. Thus the command line for the new p1.exe gets long since it receives switches for "two programs". If I want to keep my include files in more than one directory the multiple -I switches will overflow the command line. I can work around the problem by keeping all my includes in one directory with a relatively short path. However, this is not the REAL solution. Is there any way to lengthen the command line length limit? Has anyone come up with a better work around for this problem? Thanks, Andy Adler BBN Communcations. ------------------------------ Date: 25 Feb 86 11:27:56 PST (Tuesday) Subject: Intel 80186 Assembler Query From: Kadifa.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.Arpa I need some pointers for an Intel 80186 compatible assembler, linker, locater written in C. This needs to understand Intel Macros and other assembly operations, and I am not looking for a Microsoft assembler. Abdo Kadifa Xerox US Mail: 2400 Geng Rd Palo Alto, CA 94303 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Feb 86 02:14:02 est From: tom allebrandi <edison!ta2%virginia.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Query: PCnet <--> 3Com Ethershare "Gateway" We are currently installing a 3Com EtherShare network between our AT's and our VAXCluster. We are also looking at a printer that only hangs off of PCnet (the new IBM pageprinter). Does anyone know if there is a good way to nail PCnet and EtherShare together? Current plan is that the VAX is our 3Com server - we won't have a PC based server in the EtherShare net. If we have to - we will put in a PC based 3Com server and run the pageprinter off of it. Tom #-} ta2@edison.uucp edison!ta2%virginia@csnet-relay.arpa (804) 978-5566 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Feb 86 10:52:41 est From: mjgold@mitre-bedford.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Window Package for Xenix Wanted Does anybody out there possess any knowledge about a window package that will run on the IBM PC/AT under the XENIX operating system. I am aware of the packages that will run under DOS such as Microsoft's WINDOWS but I am unaware of any software windows packages for UNIX on the AT. Any Help would be greatly appreciated. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Feb 86 16:31 CST From: "Mark L. Ahlstrom" <Ahlstrom@HI-MULTICS.ARPA> Subject: dBASE File Format Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Can anyone point me to a reference that clearly describes the internal file formats used for dBASE II and dBASE III "dbf" files. I am interested in being able to have a program that writes files that can be read as dBASE database files. Thanks, Mark ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 160542) 86-03-25 23.21 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <213> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-25 23.21 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <204> -- Received: 86-03-26 01.01 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-25 23.21 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #29 %Original date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:19 PST. TF: DSKD:936033.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 22850 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 25 Mar 86 21:43 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 22-Mar-1986 19:22:21-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 28-Feb-86 22:20:50 Date: 28 Feb 1986 22:20:50 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #29 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 22 Mar 1986 15:51:19 PST ReSent-From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, 28 February 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 29 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: dBase File Format (3 msgs) Date & Time in Turbo Pascal (2 msgs) DG One Comm. Ports (2 msgs) PC/AT Xenix "C" Compiler Huge Model MASM Segment Override Detection Kermit and Turbo Lightning Public Domain Backup Program RS Model 100 <--> IBM XT Connecting to NBI Machines Screen Attributes Today's Queries: Parallel I/O Query Can a process open more than 20 files? Chi-Writer & T3 Query Questions about 132 Column Displays ITT Xtra XP Info Wanted Zenith Z-150 Speedup Query General Purpose Menu Package Wanted Generic Fast Screen I/O Query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 27 Feb 1986 21:09:39 EST From: DASG@USC-ISID.ARPA Subject: dBase File Format To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, Ahlstrom@HI-MULTICS.ARPA > Can anyone point me to a reference that clearly describes the internal > file formats used for dBASE II and dBASE III "dbf" files. I am > interested in being able to have a program that writes files the > be read as dBASE database files. I downloaded the following information from the COMPUSERVE Ashton Tate SIG on 20 FEB 86. I think this will answer most of your question. Sorry, but did not download the dBASE II structure information. --Gary Swallow DASG-AMZ, The Pentagon AV 225-1633, Comm (202) 695-1633 [Info stored in [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>DBASE.FILE-FORMAT. -Ed.] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Feb 86 11:54:08 EST From: John Shaver STEEP-TMAC 879-7602 <jshaver@apg-3> Subject: dbase 3 files To: info-ibmpc@usc-isid The following information is courtesy of Scott Mueller of Palatine IL who teaches a mean DBASE III Course. [Info stored in [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>DBASE.FILE-FORMAT. -Ed.] ------------------------------ Date: 28 Feb 1986 23:58:58 EST From: DASG@USC-ISID.ARPA Subject: dBase II File Structure To: Ahlstrom@HI-MULTICS.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Here is the rest of the information requested on dBaseII file structure. It was downloaded from the Ashton Tate Forum portion of Compuserve today. Hope this additional information will be of assistance. [Info stored in [ISIB]<INFO-IBMPC>DBASE.FILE-FORMAT. -Ed.] ------------------------------ Date: Fri 28 Feb 86 02:03:04-EST From: Barbara H. Liskov <LISKOV@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: Date/Time in Turbo Pascal To: info-ibmpc-request@USC-ISIB.ARPA In respons to the request by bschaar@usc-isif, I am including the program SHOWDATE.PAS which prints out the date and time and day of the week. Nate Liskov [SHOWDATE.PAS has been added to the Info-IBMPC library. -ed.] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Feb 86 00:36:34 EST From: Howard_Chu%UB-MTS%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa Subject: Date & Time from Turbo Pascal This is a listing of the DOC files included on the Turbo distribution disks... They are also listed in the back of the Turbo manual... The Interrupt routine returns the time, and the example with MsDos returns the date. Both could easily be achieved with just the MsDos procedure though. {* The following program uses the Intr function in Turbo to get the time. Registers have to be set correctly according to the DOS technical reference manual before the function is called. The program simply returns the time in a string at the top of the screen.*} program TimeInterrupt; type TimeString = string[8]; function time: TimeString; type regpack = record ax,bx,cx,dx,bp,di,si,ds,es,flags: integer; end; var recpack: regpack; {assign record} ah,al,ch,cl,dh: byte; hour,min,sec: string[2]; begin ah := $2c; {initialize correct registers} with recpack do begin ax := ah shl 8 + al; end; intr($21,recpack); {call interrupt} with recpack do begin str(cx shr 8,hour); {convert to string} str(cx mod 256,min); { " } str(dx shr 8,sec); { " } end; time := hour+':'+min+':'+sec; end; begin writeln(time); end. (This is the file Dosfcall.Doc) {* The following program uses the MsDos command in Turbo to retrieve the system date. This is achieved via DOS function call 42 (or 2A hex). The function call is placed in the AH register according to the technical reference manual. *} program GetDate; type DateStr = string[10]; function Date: DateStr; type regpack = record ax,bx,cx,dx,bp,si,ds,es,flags: integer; end; var recpack: regpack; {record for MsDos call} month,day: string[2]; year: string[4]; dx,cx: integer; begin with recpack do begin ax := $2a shl 8; end; MsDos(recpack); { call function } with recpack do begin str(cx,year); {convert to string} str(dx mod 256,day); { " } str(dx shr 8,month); { " } end; date := month+'/'+day+'/'+year; end; begin writeln(date); end. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Feb 86 04:24:27 cst From: cmkuo@im4u.utexas.edu (Chin-Ming Kuo) To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB Subject: Data General One Comm. Software Query Our department just got 150 units of Data General one PC from Data General Corp and the main purpose of those PCs is for faculty and grad students use as terminals. The problem is although DG people claim the 100% compatibility with IBM PC, we still can not find a suitable terminal emulation program for our DG one. But other software is fully compatible (like Lotus). Could you help us resolve this problem? Any information will be appreciated! C.M. Kuo ARPA:cmkuo@im4u.utexas.edu UUCP:....!ut-sally!im4u!cmkuo Ics.cmkuo@r20.utexas.edu ------------------------------ Date: 28 Feb 1986 11:47:23 PST Subject: Re: Data General One Comm. Software Query From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: cmkuo@IM4U.UTEXAS.EDU (Chin-Ming Kuo) cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA The Data General One uses the 8251 UART chip for RS232. This chip is said to be superior to the 8250 used in the IBM PC, but it's apparently not compatible with the 8250. Dick Gillmann ------------------------------ From: Herm Fischer <hermix!fischer@rand-unix.ARPA> Reply-To: HFischer@ada20 To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa Subject: PC/AT Xenix "C" Compiler Huge Model Date: Fri Feb 28 00:35:41 1986 Experimenting with the huge model provision in the latest Xenix C compiler release, I find that in order to link programs successfully, you have to first kludge a program which defines the constant __AHSHIFT as 3. I made a routine memh.s as follows: PUBLIC __AHSHIFT __AHSHIFT EQU 3 END and compiled it with as. You then put memh.o on your cc line, such as "cc -Mh memh.o myprog.c". It appears that the only way to make huge arrays is to declare them stat- ically; I do not know how to malloc them (because malloc is only given an unsigned integer size request, and in large model, the maximum malloc is now about 65500). It appears furthermore that you can make huge arrays in small and medium model programs (which makes code for regular arrays much more efficient). You put the word huge before the name of the array, such as: long huge myarray[100000]; or before the * on a pointer reference: long huge * pointbig; Of course, the indices for such arrays need to be long (I guess that should be obvious). And you need to compile a small model program with a huge static and huge pointers as "cc -M2es memh.o myprog.c". And you need to endure warning messages about having multiple data segments in non-large programs (unless you make your program huge or large). Hand checking a large number of test cases, generated code seems good. I haven't pushed for bugs yet. pointer++ on huge properly handles crossings of the segment boundaries, but I have no idea what system subroutines will do with strings crossing such boundaries! (don't expect miracles) I also worry about nonaligned data on segment boundaries (a long with one half in either segment). With all the precautionary warnings, this still is a fantastic addition to Xenix, being able to have enormous single data structures, even if there are restrictions and things to watch out for! And to be able to have them in small/medium model makes my day. (Hoping I won't find any severe bugs later.) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Feb 86 11:13:28 pst From: tweten@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Dave Tweten) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: MASM Segment Override Detection Before the Info-IBMPC source library acquired its MASM include file to generate NEC V20 extended instructions, I had been working on one of my own. It was targetted for MASM 3.0 (first version to include the 8018[68] instruction set extensions, which are shared by the V20). After trying the library version, and concluding that it didn't work very well, I continued work on my own. There is now one remaining serious problem to overcome before I'm satisfied with my macros: I haven't been able, in all addressing modes, to detect segment overrides in instructions which generate memory references. The code shown below detects and handles overrides when the instruction's offset field is two bytes long, but it generates bad code if there are zero or 1 bytes of offset and a segment override. A short offset results from an indexed and/or base-register reference with an explicit override. Implicit overrides (which result from relocatable references) do not cause the problem, because they always generate two-byte relocatable offsets. _genmem MACRO opcod,arg1,arg2,arg3 ;; Internal: generates memory refs. LOCAL memref,nxtbyt .XCREF memref,nxtbyt memref: lock inc arg1 arg2 arg3 nxtbyt: org memref IF nxtbyt-memref GT 5 ;; Allow for segment override bytes. inc arg1 arg2 arg3 org memref+1 inc arg1 arg2 arg3 org memref+1 ENDIF db 0fh, opcod org nxtbyt ENDM Does anyone have a flash of insight on how segment overrides can be detected for memory reference instructions with zero or one byte(s) of offset? I'd be eternally grateful. And, oh yes, naturally I'll contribute the macro file to the Info-IBMPC library when I'm satisfied with it. ------------------------------ Date: Fri 28 Feb 86 19:12:39-PST From: HOWALD%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA Subject: Re: Kermit and Turbo Lightning To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I have sent files with Kermit and Turbo Lightning with no problem. However, perhaps you should try changing the Turbo Lightning environment to the "K" choice ("Modem Communications") and see if that works. James Howald ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Feb 86 12:22:28 EST From: John Shaver STEEP-TMAC 879-7602 <jshaver@apg-3> Subject: Re: Public Domain Backup Program To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Forwarded from Kenneth Van Camp <kvancamp@ardc>: Here's a copy of a piece of the (I think) current pc-blue.crc file: MICRO:<PC-BLUE.VOL104> -CATALOG.104.2 ASCII 1792 3E2DH IBU.COM.1 BINARY 9344 923BH IBU.DOC.1 BINARY 71296 C3EEH IBUREAD.DOC.1 BINARY 3712 9D23H IBU is Incremental Backup Utility ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Feb 86 03:14:23 EST From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: RS Model 100 <--> IBM XT > I am interested in software that allows me to use the XT hard disk > as a remote disk for a TRS Model 100 portable computer. I have not heard of anything that enables one to use a PC drive as if it were an external drive for the Model 100. Sigea Systems, however, has a very nice package for transferring files at 9600 baud, optionally with XMODEM. Sigea Systems, Inc. 19 Pelham Road Weston, MA 02193 (617) 647-1098 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Feb 86 08:02:55 pst From: Gerry Key <key%tetra@nosc.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Re: Connecting to NBI Machines Re Jeff Edelheit's reply to Paul Birkel's inquiry about converting NBI disks, the Canadian company that makes the conversion box is: Keyword Office Technologies, Inc. 2816 11th Street NE Calgary, Alberta, T2E 7S7 (800) 227-1817 x825A Both US offices I have for them are on the West Coast: 649 Mission at New Montgomery San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 543-5426 Contact: Deborah McAfee 2047 E. Hamilton Ave. San Jose, CA 95125 (408) 371-7770 The list price I have for the Keyword 7000 is $7996 (US). --Gerry (key@nosc.arpa) ------------------------------ Date: 27 Feb 1986 23:49-EST Subject: Screen Attributes From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, pz@MIT-VAX.ARPA >From: John Pezaris <pz@mit-vax> >The recent discussions on setting colors have brought back an old query >I was never able to resolve: is there any way to *read* (not write) the >current attribute that dos will use in writing to the screen? >Clearly, this information must be kept within dos, and is accessible >through some venues, for ansi.sys and various other packages are able >to modify it. However, I have not seen any hooks for retrieving the >information. Peter Norton's Programmers Guide to the IBM PC states (in reference to reserved memory locations at the base of memory): "465 (one byte). This byte contains the CRT mode setting. 466 (one byte). This byte contains the color-palette mask bit setting." However, in my monochrome PC clone (PC-DOS 3.1), poking new values into either of these locations makes no change in screen appearance at the DOS command level. The IBM Technical Reference Manual, page 5-32, confirms the CRT mode setting is stored in the Video Display Data ARea at 0065H, and the pallette value at 0066H. Poking new values there make no change either! The Reference Manual, page 5-80, shows how the ROM BIOS gets that CRT mode byte, uses it to offset in a table of mode sets, and saves the produced table byte to the video port. Page 5-81 indicates the ROM BIOS also reads the CRT mode byte when setting up the Overscan Register for 640x200 graphics. Page 5-83 indicates the ROM BIOS uses the CRT Pallette byte to set background and foreground values (using the low bits per Norton's, pages 76-83). So ... yes, the current screen attribute values appear to be kept in accessible memory. Unfortunately (maybe my mono system, or just guessing at the wrong "magic numbers"), I can't make any changes to screen attributes by changing those memory locations. I thought I recalled something about screen mode or attributes being tucked away in the Program Segment Prefix (PSP) (the first 256 bytes of a .COM file), but can't find anything on that. This doesn't exactly answer the question as to how DOS finds and keeps those attributes .. but since DOS uses the ROM BIOS so regularly anyway... Hope you can make something of these pickings. David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: 27 Feb 1986 18:08-EST Subject: Parallel I/O Query From: Dave Owens <dowens@bbna.arpa> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I have a 64k static RAM which I would like to read in a byte serial fasshion thru the parallel printer port. The circuit out lines are shown below: ------ 8 data pins ----- RAM ------ address clock --- PC printer port ------ Read/Write ------ ------ Ground ---------- It's a very primitive device and the idea is that when I plug it in to my PC, I wish to send a pulse to the R/W and put it in the write state. The first word will then appear on the data lines which will then be read into a buffer at which time the PC will send a pulse to the address clock which will increment the counter and send the next word to the PC. Are there any packages available to do this, or should I massage the data some more in hardware and send it thru the COM port. Which is the best way to go. Any suggestions appreciated. Dave Owens dowens@A.BBN.COM.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Thu 27 Feb 86 16:00:52-PST From: Yitzhak Birk <FAT.BIRK@SU-SIERRA.ARPA> Subject: Can a process open more than 20 files? To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Is it possible to enable a single process to open more than 20 files? If so, how? (I am using DOS 3.1 both on an XT and on an AT) birk@sierra.stanford.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu 27 Feb 86 15:47:50-PST From: David John Buerger <D.Buerger%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: Chi-Writer & T3 Query To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I'm interested in impressions from those who might have used either of these technical word processors. Apparently Chi-Writer is quite inexpensive as compared to T3. Is it worth paying more for T3? Dave Buerger Director, PC Center Santa Clara University Dave%SCU%Panda@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA ------------------------------ 28-Feb-86 04:20:15-PST,753;000000000011 Date: 27 Feb 86 15:32:17 PST (Thursday) Subject: Questions about 132 Column Displays From: LaBerge.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.Arpa I am looking for a way to display more than 132 characters on my IBM PC/XT. I know that TSENG Labs and Genoa Systems make boards that allow 132 column character display. Genoa supplies a driver for LOTUS 1-2-3. My questions are: -Will I need a driver for each software package that I use, or is there a generic driver that will support multiple programs? -Is there anyway to display more than 80 col. without a special board? -Is there anyway to display more than 80 col. with a special board, but without special drivers? If so, what are some of the packages? Thanks in Advance ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1986 10:54 O From: Henry Nussbacher <Vshank%Weizmann.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: ITT Xtra XP Info Wanted To: <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA> I have just recently bought the ITT Xtra XP and would like to hear from users who have used it and can point out any incompatiblities between it and the IBM XT. It supposedly runs 3x as fast as the XT but can be slowed down to XT speed. Also, if you know of any published articles on this box please send me the references. Thanks, Hank ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Feb 86 10:52:18 EST From: Praveen Kumar <phaedrus@eneevax.umd.edu> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Zenith Z-150 Speedup Query I would like to speed up my Dad's Z-150 and came up with the following strategy: 1) Buy the NEC 8MHz 8088 emulator 2) Buy the corresponding faster clock crystal 3) Buy faster memory chips Install all of these things and my Z-150 should be faster, right? Well, that is my question. Will it work and will it really be faster? Will it break anything? I am not much of a hardware whiz so, any suggestions comments etc. would be greatly appreciated. praveen ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Feb 86 12:09:14 EST From: Bob Clements <clements@bbnccq.ARPA> Subject: General Purpose Menu Package Wanted To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I would like to find a general purpose menu package. This would be a set of routines to which I hand a title string and a group of selection strings and which hands me back the index of the selection. It would operate by reading the arrow keys and/or a number typed by the user to select the item. It should probably highlight the selections as the cursor is moved around among them. Also, a routine to collect a text string from the user, in the context of the above menus. Other functions like help strings for each selection, and screen attribute/color control would be nice, too. My mental model of this package is something like the TOPS-20 COMND function, but screen-oriented rather than line oriented. Surely you don't all sit down and write these routines from scratch every time you put together a new application. Do you buy such a thing? Have you written one you could submit to the library? Ideally, I'd like one for Microsoft C V3, but of course anything would be helpful as a starting point. Comments and suggestions welcomed. Thanks. /Rcc ARPA: CLEMENTS@BBN Usenet: {ihnp4, decvax, linus, ...}!bbncca!clements ------------------------------ Date: Fri 28 Feb 86 14:16:53-EST From: Bard Bloom <BARD@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: Generic Fast Screen I/O Query To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA How does one write quickly to the IBM PC's screen from Turbo Pascal? I have a generic MSDOS version of Turbo, running on a very incompatible Rainbow; I'm trying to write a program that will run on IBMs as well. I also need to know how to set video attributes, at least underlined, bold, and reverse video. Thanks, BARD @ XX.LCS.MIT.EDU ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 161236) 86-03-27 23.33 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <214> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-27 23.33 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <207> -- Received: 86-03-28 00.37 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-27 23.33 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #38 %Original date: 26 Mar 1986 21:53:45 PST. TF: DSKD:941998.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 31630 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 27 Mar 86 22:20 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 27-Mar-1986 01:53:29-est Date: 26 Mar 1986 21:53:45 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #38 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 26 March 86 Volume 5: Issue 38 This Week's Editor: Eliot Moore <Elmo@USC-ISIB> Today's Topics: Intel Assembler Reference Manuals (2 Messages) StarIndex Communications from PCjr (2 Messages) BSR X-10 Controller Nansi Bug #2 Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200 "Mobius" and "LanLink" Ctags for MS-DOS "C" Debugger Automated PC-->Mainframe Sessions Procomm vs. Pibterm for Kermit and Scripts Literals in Lattice C 3.0 Fortran to C Cross-Compiler EGA underscoring limitations Today's Queries: IBMPC and ISSCO Graphics (LINKAGRAF) COMPAQ Hard Disk Query DBMS Query C sources for Unix lex DHRYSTONE Benchmark in Pascal Disk Reorganizer Pert Charts PC-DOS and/or Turbo Pascal Bug Personnel Software Fontasy Font Format Help with CI C86 Preprocessor Gray Scale Video Board ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 24 Mar 1986 13:16:23 PST Subject: Intel Assembler Reference Manuals From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Gillmann@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 24 Mar 1986 13:35:46 PST ReSent-From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Here are some possible order codes. I don't know which "DOS" Intel is referring to: ASM 186 Assembly Language Reference Manual for DOS Systems 122436-001 $18.00 ASM 86 Assembly Language Reference Manual 122332-001 $15.00 ASM 86 Assembly Language Reference Manual for iRMX 122347-001 $42.00 ASM 286 Assembly Language Reference Manual for iRMX Systems 122672-001 $42.00 After reviewing the order forme in more detail, I believe that "DOS" means MS-DOS. You probably want to order one of the iRMX manuals to be certain of getting the pure Intel product. Craig Milo Rogers ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Mar 86 20:02:57 EST From: Chris Schmandt <geek@MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU> Subject: Intel Assembler Reference Manuals Cc: gillmann@USC-ISIB.ARPA The Intel MASM manual I have and swear by is: MCS-86 Assembly Language Reference Manual Order number: 9800640A This is a 1978 version. Except for a few slight differences with Microsoft (e.g. a far return is RETF to Intel, but just RET in a far proc to Microsoft) this manual is invaluable. The Microsoft manual tells you the opcodes, and not much else. chris ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Mar 86 22:09 EST From: MKATZ%UMDB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: StarIndex To: MLW@NCSW, INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I am using an Altos 586 with MPM-86 which is supposed to run nearly all CPM-86 programs. I bought WordStar professional and WordStar, MailMerge, and SpellStar work fine. Unfortunately, StarIndex doesn't work. I don't know why it would be any less compatible than the rest of the package but it is. Anyway, I haven't had a need for it yet, and when I find a need I will probably right a little CB-86 program to do exactly what I need. Actually, the dealer I bought the package from wasn't ever able to get firm answers from MicroPro as to what would work and what wouldn't so I guess three out of four isn't bad. Speaking of WordStar, on a PC I would probably use something else if given a choice, but with my Altos I use a WYSE 100 terminal with a WordStar prom. The WS prom turns the terminal into the perfect WS machine. Block moves, arrow keys, scroll keys, ins, del, page up/down, set tab, line erase, line del, line insert, find, replace, done, exit, header, footer, boldface, underline,... nearly every normal WS function has an easy to remember key (the arrows, etc are obvious, 16 keys on top have labels on the 25th line, hit shift and the labels change...) In short, its like having a dedicated word processor, and it would be impossible on a regular PC because the keyboard isn't as good. Manasseh Katz ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Mar 86 10:49:10 EST From: Michael Camilletti (CSD) <cptcam@AMSAA.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA cc: cptcam@AMSAA.ARPA, pierson@AMSAA.ARPA Subject: Communications from PCjr I use a PCjr enhanced to 640K, 2 drives, Racore driver and a Racal-Vadic 3451 modem. I have been unable to invoke PROCOMM or HOST-III software with this configuration. The programs were received through public domain distribution and indicate no physical or logical damage when DOS CHKDSK is run. I have been able to use them on a PC-XT. Is there some hardware/firmware characteristic in the PCjr that prevents these programs from working? Can this be overcome without too much hacking? I have PC-TALK V available to me if it is the only default in public domain. Suggestions, comments and hints are appreciated. CPTCAM@AMSAA.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: 23 Mar 1986 10:39:44 PST Subject: Communications from PCjr From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Michael Camilletti (CSD) <cptcam@AMSAA.ARPA> cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, pierson@AMSAA.ARPA The comm ports on the PCjr work differently than on the PC. They use the same UART chip, but there is different baud rate divisor and if you want an external modem, it has to be on COM2 because of the internal modem assigned to COM1. It's easy enough for a program to sense that it's running on a PCjr and act accordingly. VDTE (the HP terminal emulator that my company sells) does this. The COM_PKG2 in the Info-IBMPC library also handles the junior. A quick and easy solution is to the use comm program built into the PCJr's ROM, but it's not very good. Dick Gillmann Inner Loop Software ------------------------------ Date: Monday, 24 March 1986 13:23:20 EST From: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: BSR X-10 controller DAK industries had, in one of their recent catalogs, a BSR controller that accepted RS232 serial line data. I've ordered it, but it hasn't arrived yet. It comes with one of those rather silly programs that displays rooms of your house on a color graphics display; I've used it on a Radio Shack Color Computer and it is difficult to use, very non-intuitive, and won't let you make arbitrary assignments (you have to use up all 16 controllers in the "A" house code before you can use any in the "B" house code, which is stupid). I expect to write my own support software, even if I have to reverse engineer the damn thing. Note that this controller has the property that it has its own local clock so that if you download on/off sequences to it you no longer need to have the computer running it; it operates entirely offline. Of course if you want to do really hairy stuff it has "immediate" on/off capability but then you have to leave the computer connected and operating. joe ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Mar 86 12:34:27 PST From: kegel%Juliet.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: Nansi Bug #2 Horrible Nansi bug #2 Symptom: When using raw mode, console output turns to garbage. Just like last week's, this bug is only apparant when using RAW mode, resides in the file NANSI.ASM, and was created by someone/something that thought he/she/it was helping. The original (and correct under MASM 3.0) code reads les si,[BX+0Eh] ; ES:SI = input/output buffer addr The code that is now on USC-ISIB reads les si,cs:req_ptr+0Eh ; change for MASM 1.0 compatibility Unfortunately, BX is equal to the contents of cs:req_ptr, not its address; so this is wrong. The reason they didn't catch it during testing is that DOS always uses INT 29 to write to CON unless you are in RAW mode. I suggest that anyone who modifies NANSI use the program VIEW.COM as part of their test suite; it exercizes raw mode, insert & delete line, and cursor position reporting. VIEW.COM is in file nansi_demo.cat at romeo.caltech.edu. (Maybe it's the type of [bx+0eh] that MASM 1.0 chokes on, in which case les si, dword ptr [bx+0eh] ; explicit type casting might fix the problem. Since I don't have MASM 1.0, I can't check this.) - Daniel Kegel [Sorry about this. MASM 1.0 has caused me much misery. From now on INFO-IBMPC official policy is that we won't support MASM 1.0 Kludges. I have removed the offending line from the archive nansi.cat -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Mar 86 19:54:56 MST From: halff@utah-cs.arpa (Henry M. Halff) To: Robbit%UMass.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu Subject: Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200 Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa > From: Robbit%UMass.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Rob Kaplowitz) > > Presently, I have a Anchor Automation Volksmodem 1200 connected to my > PC compatible, however I've been unable to get it to work properly using > Crosstalk XVI V3.5 & V3.6. As a test, I hooked up a Hayes smartmodem > to the same Comm port and it worked flawlessly. I have played around > with the DIP switches on the Volksmodem but nothing seems to work. I'm using Crosstalk XVI (3.6) and a Volksmodem 1200 to put this on the reply on the net. Both of the DIP switches should be set on (down). The Volksmodem is a bit subject to noise, but it has a pretty full subset of the Hayes commands, so you shouldn't have any trouble using it with Crosstalk. About the only thing you might miss is the lack of a BREAK facility. Try checking out the modem in direct mode to make sure you haven't got a broken modem on your hands. hh ------------------------------ Date: 25 MAR 86 22:30-N From: INNO%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: "Mobius" and "LanLink" I used MOBIUS on a Rainbow-100 (it should be available for IBM too). It worked really virtually, i.e. you use the VAX as one big disc, without knowing that it is a VAX. You can split that disk up into several devices (from A to P). You also can PRINT a file on the VAX-lineprinter as if it were directly connected to your PC. But therefore there are two big disadvantages: - to copy files from a PC-device to the VAX-device goes rather slow (I worked at 4800 baud). - it's impossible to run a PC program from this VAX-device. The manual says that a future release would see to that. Hope this will do, Inno Frencken Computing Centre Agricultural University Hollandseweg 1 6706 KN Wageningen The Netherlands phone: 08370-83875 EARN-id: INNO EARN-node: HWALHW5 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Mar 86 10:11:32 cst From: knutson@huey.UTEXAS.EDU (Jim Knutson) To: frank@db.wisc.edu, info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Ctags for MS-DOS I believe the Gnu Emacs version of ctags is public domain but I can't really say for sure. It is located in /u2/emacs/dist/etags.c (I think) on PREP.MIT.EDU. Here is the copyright notice from the program: /* Tags file maker to go with GNUmacs Copyright (C) 1984 Richard M. Stallman and Ken Arnold This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty. No author or distributor accepts responsibility to anyone for the consequences of using it or for whether it serves any particular purpose or works at all, unless he says so in writing. Permission is granted to anyone to distribute verbatim copies of this program's source code as received, in any medium, provided that the copyright notice, the nonwarraty notice above and this permission notice are preserved, and that the distributor grants the recipient all rights for further redistribution as permitted by this notice, and informs him of these rights. Permission is granted to distribute modified versions of this program's source code, or of portions of it, under the above conditions, plus the conditions that all changed files carry prominent notices stating who last changed them and that the derived material, including anything packaged together with it and conceptually functioning as a modification of it rather than an application of it, is in its entirety subject to a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to distribute this program (verbatim or as modified) in compiled or executable form, provided verbatim redistribution is permitted as stated above for source code, and A. it is accompanied by the corresponding machine-readable source code, under the above conditions, or B. it is accompanied by a written offer, with no time limit, to distribute the corresponding machine-readable source code, under the above conditions, to any one, in return for reimbursement of the cost of distribution. Verbatim redistribution of the written offer must be permitted. Or, C. it is distributed by someone who received only the compiled or executable form, and is accompanied by a copy of the written offer of source code which he received along with it. Permission is granted to distribute this program (verbatim or as modified) in executable form as part of a larger system provided that the source code for this program, including any modifications used, is also distributed or offered as stated in the preceding paragraph. In other words, you are welcome to use, share and improve this program. You are forbidden to forbid anyone else to use, share and improve what you give them. Help stamp out software-hoarding! */ His Emacs also carries this Copyright notice. Jim Knutson ARPA: knutson@ngp.UTEXAS.EDU UUCP: {ihnp4,seismo,kpno,ctvax}!ut-sally!ut-ngp!knutson Phone: (512) 471-3241 ------------------------------ Organization: The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: "C" Debugger Date: Sat, 22 Mar 86 16:04:30 -0500 From: James R. Van Zandt <jrv@mitre-bedford.ARPA> Ivo Welch <W1.WELCH@CHIP.UChicago> writes: > I have just managed to regain access to INFO-IBMPC. So I have missed > quite a number of messages. I am now trying to find two programs: > - One is on top of my MSC wishlist: a good C source code > debugger. Does anyone have recommendations? I'm quite happy with the debugger that you can get from CWARE for use with their DeSmet C compiler. It lets you set breakpoints, inspect the source code (it automatically prints the nearby part of the source code when you hit a breakpoint), inspect variable values, and evaluate expressions. On an IBM PC, you can ask it to save the screen so the program and debugger outputs aren't mingled (a feature I can add for my Z-100, but haven't needed yet). The compiler itself and the editor that comes with it are good, too. - Jim Van Zandt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Mar 86 09:20 PST To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: Mr. LAN <csdctgb@UCLA-CCN.ARPA> Subject: Automated PC-->Mainframe Sessions (Vol 5: Is 37) Communications programs are poping up like weeds these days. I for one have used: 'Procomm, Pibterm, Kermit, X-Talk, Access, Yterm, IBM Async (maybe I should have left that one out), as well as several others. However an end seems near. With this program, I have created a very tailored environment for myself. It has all the features a serious communications guru would want + many more. As to the 3081 request, I would be happy to donate my script, which does the following: o Looks in my script directory for up to 9 files and if found o Does an autologon to our 3090 running TSO o Starts up TSO-Kermit Version 1.0 o Uploads all mail files using YAM Kermit (I put the 'From:', 'To:', and ... fields in the PC file) (However, we have a great mail system) by Pete Nielsen o Posts that Mail o Checks for any Inbound Mail, if found: - Starts up TSO-Kermit - Downloads all mail (This way I can use the in mail to create outbound mail) - Shows the amount of time required by the download. - Shows how much time it would have taken theoretically. (I must compute the line utilization factor) o Does an FTP of Public Domain from Several Arpa Hosts - (with an autologon of course) - Does a Kermit download to my PC when the FTP is finished. o More scripts projects in the works. As far as Protocol Converter support, installing Kermit for use with the 7171 (or Series 1) is on my list of things to do. For all those who think I'm going overboard with Uploads, Downloads, you're probably right! - Todd Booth / UCLA Data Communications Group arpa: csdctgb@UCLA-CCN.arpa bitnet: csdctgb@UCLA-MVS.bitnet uucp: ihnp4!UCLA-CS!Todd-Booth at&t: (213) 825-1933 xins fil d Date: Sun, 23 Mar 86 04:13:28 EST From: Edward_Vielmetti%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Procomm vs. Pibterm for Kermit and scripts From my experience with Procomm and Pibterm, I'd recommend Procomm v2.2. Procomm seems to be a much more stable product, with only 5 versions out so far that I know of; Pibterm has been through three major releases, but a score of minor releases. (The latest I collected was 3.23, which was probably an intermediate working version; as organizer of Michigan's public-domain and user-supported software archives, I can't afford to spend the energy hunting down every last change to the program, so I've stopped until it settles down.) Another factor that may be of interest is the availability of source code. Pibterm has it, Procomm doesn't. Procomm (2.2) has a state-of-the-art Kermit implementation, including Superkermit (with windowing). If your site has that installed too, then it could result in a speedup in file transfers. Pibterm Kermit didn't work with our MTS Kermit; make sure it works with yours. I know that the early Pibterm scripting was not always reliable. I plan on writing some Procomm scripts this summer once I have some time, and a rather brief glance at the facilities available (downloading, user prompting, timed execution, all that good stuff) makes it look like a winner. I really don't want to come down hard on Pibterm; it's a great collection of useful Turbo routines for doing all sorts of things. I just think that it's also a program that's pushed Turbo Pascal out to its limits, and that when all is said and done Procomm's a better bet. It's the primary program that I recommend for multiple-system communications. Edward Vielmetti University of Michigan Microcomputer Support Group (313) 763-8043 Edward_Vielmetti@UMich-MTS.Mailnet (ARPA via MIT-Multics) ------------------------------ Date: Monday, 24 March 1986 13:18:50 EST From: Joe.Newcomer@a.sei.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Literals in Lattice C 3.0 Lattice C 3.0 now defaults to making literal strings separate entities. There is an override switch on the compiler to cause them to pool so identical strings have the "old" Lattice 2.xx behavior. joe ------------------------------ From: ucdavis!lll-crg!seismo!enea!intrin!pl@ucbvax.berkeley.edu Date: Sat, 22 Mar 86 00:08:43 +0200 To: ucdavis!usc-isib.arpa!Info-IBMPC Subject: Fortran to C Cross-Compiler Hello, I saw the item 'Fortran to C crosscompiler' on the topics list, and would like to inform you about a product called 'C-77' which is at a late development phase here in Intrinsic Ltd: C-77 supports full ANSI FORTRAN-77 and MIL extensions plus most of the additions (those which do not depend on filesystem structure) made by Digital Equipment. Also all of the Hewlett-Packard Fortran additions are included. Output code is direct C a'la K&R and the more weird Fortran features (eg. some FORMATs and complex arithmetics) are added trough a Runtime Support Library. C-77 beta testing will be completed in July and the product will be available on both UNIX and VMS. For more complete information please contact Intrinsic Oy C-77 Support P.O. Box 20 33720 Tampere FINLAND Greetings: Petri Launiainen ...mcvax!tut!intrin@pl.UUCP ------------------------------ Date: Monday, 24 Mar 1986 10:04:45-PST From: decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-lews2!morse@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Bob Morse MLO5-2/B6 223-6720) To: brackenridge@usc-isib.arpa Subject: EGA underscoring limitations ReSent-Date: 26 Mar 1986 14:28:10 PST ReSent-From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Several recent notes have asked why various bits of software running with an EGA card in text mode with a color monitor cannot display underlined text. This is an EGA hardware limitation rather than the fault of the application software, and it applies to both CGA emulation mode (640 x 200 resolution) and high resolution mode (640 x 350). The restriction can be understood by looking at the attribute byte which accompanies each character position in text mode. For the monochrome adapter, the low-order three bits are 111 for normal text and 001 for underscored text. However, when the board is driving a color monitor, these three bits are interpreted as colors in the sequence (I think; I haven't a manual handy) RGB. Therefore, the 111 which produces normal "white" letters on a monochrome board also produces "white" on a color display by turning on all three colors. The 001 which produces an underscore on the monochrome board produces blue characters on a color display. The EGA extends this a bit by treating all four low-order bits of the attribute byte as a color index which selects one of sixteen colors stored in the color map for the foreground color (i.e. the color of the letter). The high four bits of the attribute byte select one of sixteen colors for the background color. With the attribute bits thus committed to selecting colors, there is none available to select an "underscore" attribute. Bob Morse ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Mar 86 11:36 EDT From: Jean Seeman <DJS%wfu.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: INFO-IBMPC%usc-isib.arpa@csnet-relay.arpa Subject: IBMPC and ISSCO Graphics (LINKAGRAF) We are using an IBMPCXT with an enhanced graphics adapter as a terminal connected to a Prime 750. We would like to use the ISSCO-supplied LINKAGRAF software to use the PC as a graphics device. We cannot seem to get LINKAGRAF installed properly, and ISSCO has difficulty trouble- shooting by phone. Has anyone out there successfully used LINKAGRAF with a Prime and an IBMPC????? Sure could use some help! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Mar 86 15:23 PST To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa From: "Don Worth (213) 825-7408 or 825-9445" <CSMIDDW@UCLA-CCN.ARPA> Subject: COMPAQ Hard Disk Query I'm planning to buy a compaq deskpro soon, and am trying to decide between a 20 or 30 MB hard disk. I've been given conflicting information about access speed and reliability, though. I'd appreciate some reliable information about the two devices. I'll be doing a fair amount of num- eric processing, so speed is a consideration (as is price!). Thanks Don Worth - UCLA (CSMIDDW@UCLAMVS) ------------------------------ From: Oded Maler <oded%wisdom.bitnet@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Date: Wed, 26 Mar 86 13:40:04 -0200 Subject: DBMS Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I'm looking for a software tool that will solve the following problem: I have a large amount of records with some fixed fields. The rest of each record is a free text sentence. Records should be retrieved according to the fixed fields or according to the appearence of some words in the free text. What I need is a good combination of a DBMS and an intelligent browse/ search system. The two extreme choices I can see are: 1) A DBMS (e.g. dBase3) which will retrieve efficiently according to keys, but not according to text. 2) A text editor with extensive search options. Does anybody know of a product on the PC (or AT) that matches these requirements? Oded Maler Dept. of Applied Math. Weizmann Inst. Rehovot, Israel. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 86 15:05:52 EST From: Edward_Vielmetti%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: C sources for Unix lex I am looking for sources for lex to run on a PC. Any pointers to bulletin boards, commercial programs, archives on Arpanet or usenet sites, or sources of anything similar would be appreciated. Respond directly and I will summarize to the net. Edward Vielmetti Computing Center Microcomputer Support Group Mailnet: emv@UMich-MTS Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Arpa: emv%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics ------------------------------ Date: 25 Mar 1986 22:59:48 PST Subject: DHRYSTONE Benchmark in Pascal From: Richard Nelson <SWG.NELSON@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Dhrystone is a synthetic benchmark introduced in the October 1984 Communications of the ACM. The CACM article lists the benchmark program in Ada, and mentions Pascal and C versions. I am interested in finding the Pascal version, and failing that, the C version. Does anyone have either of these to share with INFO-IBMPC? Thanks Richard ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 86 06:48:57 -0100 From: Tom Ivar Helbekkmo <helbekkmo%vax.runit.unit.uninett@nta-vax.arpa> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Disk Reorganizer Does anyone know of / have a program to reorganize your hard disk by moving clusters around to make files contiguous? Preferably the program should put the free space at the center of the disk I think - although this is just my own assumption... :-) Thanks! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 86 14:21:25 EST From: John Shaver STEEP-TMAC 879-7602 <jshaver@apg-3> Subject: Pert Charts To: info-ibmpc@usc-isid Cc: jshaver@apg-3 Is there a public domain Pert Chart or Bubble Chart program which is easily available? John ------------------------------ Date: 25 Mar 86 08:00:23 PST (Tuesday) From: Eldridge.es@Xerox.COM Subject: PC-DOS and/or Turbo Pascal bug To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: IBMPC^.es@Xerox.COM Apparently Turbo Pascal has trouble finding a file that is marked read-only. Does anyone have experience with this problem? Is it a characteristic of PC-DOS or of Turbo Pascal? George (Eldridge.es@Xerox.COM) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Mar 86 09:41:36 est From: Mark Cooperstein <ecsvax!mxc%mcnc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Personnel Software To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA We are looking for a personnel system for a public agency employing roughly 400 people. We need it to run on an IBM XT/AT or hard-disk PC clone. Cost is no object, however we are interested in a quality product that is supported by a reputable company. Our needs are immediate. Please respond via this network. Thanks in advance Mark Cooperstein NCSU School of Vet. Medicine Raleigh North Carolina ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1986 15:50 PLT From: George Cross <FACCROSS%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Fontasy Font Format To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Does anyone know the format of the font files on the ProSoft product Fontasy? I suppose I can figure it out experimentally, but maybe somebody already did. This program used to be known as Dotwriter. Thanks. ---- George - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - George R. Cross cross@wsu.CSNET Computer Science Department cross%wsu@csnet-relay.ARPA Washington State University faccross@wsuvm1.BITNET Pullman, WA 99164-1210 (509)-335-6319/6636 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Mar 86 08:02:26 PST From: walton%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: Help with CI C86 preprocessor To: info-c%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu, info-ibmpc%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Reply-To: walton%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Comment: The answer is 42 I have a fairly large program (ARC version 5.12 in fact) which I would like to port to my Amiga. Unfortunately, it is written for the Computer Innovations CI86 compiler and makes heavy use of a non-standard preprocessor (similar to the Unix m4(1)). Can anyone out there who owns the CI compiler either tell me a source for a PD program to handle these definitions, or email me a description of them so I can write one myself? I'd like to automate the translation in order to keep Amiga ARC up-to-date. Steve Walton ARPA: walton%deimos@hamlet.caltech.edu Caltech Solar Astronomy BITNET:swalton@caltech.bitnet Physics DECNET: DEIMOS::WALTON UUCP: your guess is as good as mine... ------------------------------ Date: 25 Mar 86 16:18:49 PST (Tuesday) From: Ready.pa@Xerox.COM Subject: Gray scale video board To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: XeroxInfoIBMPc^.es@Xerox.COM, Ready.pa@Xerox.COM I would like to know if there is a pc board and/or a monitor that is capable of displaying gray scale images in high resolution. I believe that a board to drive a b/w tv screen would work fine. Steve Ready, Xerox ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 161667) 86-03-30 12.07 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <215> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-30 12.07 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <208> -- Received: 86-03-30 19.12 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-03-30 12.07 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #39 %Original date: 29 Mar 1986 18:07:37 PST. TF: DSKD:948041.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 17905 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 30 Mar 86 11:39 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 29-Mar-1986 21:36:38-est Date: 29 Mar 1986 18:07:37 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #39 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, 29 March 86 Volume 5: Issue 39 This Week's Editor: Eliot Moore <Elmo@USC-ISIB> Today's Topics: Warning Re UToronto's Concurrent Euclid Need Compiler to Link or Chain to IBM Pascal (2 Messages) Drystone Benchmark Re: Disk Reorganizer - (Disk Optimizers). Surge Protectors Framework for DBMS + Free Text? Today's Queries: Combining Mailing Lists Mark William's "Let's C" "B" Programming Language & ANSI.SYS on a Zenith 100 SONY KV25XBR use with RGBI Computer Input Where is PROCOMM Wordstar V3.3 Patch Locations Graphics for AT + Xenix Broken Tecmar Hard Disk How do I Write a Background Printing Deamon Tools Wanted ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 29-Mar-86 08:56:47 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Warning Re UToronto's Concurrent Euclid To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@louie.udel.EDU CC: ud-ibmpc@louie.udel.EDU If you have just recieved a copy of the U or Toronto Concurrent Euclid ConEuc be very careful. I installed it as instructed on my IBM PC AT and started the demo compile. I interupted it since it looked strange. I then looked at my file system on my hard disk. It was destroyed!! Many files were cross linked, etc. Essentially unrecoverable. It was fine before I did the runs. Till I find out why from UT I personally would not touch the software execpt on floppies. Normally I would call them before sending such a note but since it is Saturday and I wanted to spare others the mess I now have... Dave ------------------------------ Date: 27 Mar 1986 15:47:56 PST Subject: Need compiler to link or chain to IBM Pascal From: Laurence I. Press <SWG.LPRESS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I have to write a program that communicates with an already-written IBM (Microsoft) Pascal program. It only has to be able to share a top-level menu and pass arguments by writing them in a disk file. I would prefer *not* to use IBM Pascal. Are there other Pascal or a modula 2 compiler that could either chain to or link with IBM Pascal? Thanks for any pointers, Larry Press ------------------------------ Date: 27 Mar 1986 16:32:24 PST Subject: Re: Need compiler to link or chain to IBM Pascal From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Laurence I. Press <SWG.LPRESS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> cc: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA In-Reply-To: (Message from "Laurence I. Press <SWG.LPRESS@USC-ISIB.ARPA>" of 27 Mar 1986 15:47:56 PST) If you have access to teh source you can recompile with version 3.2 or later of Microsoft Pascal. Then you can call it from Microsoft C. I'm not to sure from your message exactly what you are trying to avoid. ------------------------------ Date: 27 Mar 86 08:51:00 EST From: "DYMOND, KEN" <dymond@nbs-vms.ARPA> Subject: Drystone Benchmark The dhrystone benchmark is available in C from Jack Dongarra's netlib at Argonne Nat'l Lab. Put the following 2 lines in an electronic letter and mail to netlib@anl-mcs: send index send dhrystone from benchmark You will receive by return netmail the index for all the software in the netlib (and available by mail) as well as source code for the dhrystone. The index will point you to other libraries of items in the netlib. Ken Dymond ------ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Mar 86 15:55:53 est From: "David M. Kurtiak" <ecsvax!dmkdmk%mcnc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: helbekkmo%vax.runit.unit.uninett@nta-vax.ARPA, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Re: Disk Reorganizer - (Disk Optimizers). > Does anyone know / heard of a disk reorganizer? I use SoftLogic's Disk Optimizer, and am very satisfied with it. Thier support for their product is outstanding, and the package is also. They are located in Manchester, New Hampshire. Both the support lines and the order lines are toll free calls from anywhere in the US. > Preferably it would write the contigious files to the middle of the > disk. This is not how any of the disk optimizers I ever heard of work. They write them from the first track (outside) to the inner tracks in a contigious format. Also, something to consider, is that most disk optimizers will not touch hidden files. The reason for this is that if you tried optimizing a disk that has a copy-protected file on it, you might end up re-formatting the entire disk because the protection scheme really botches up the disk then. I would recommend an optimizer especially to those with hard disk systems that are looking to improve seek and I/O time. SoftLogic's optimizer also works on floppies, and does a fine job a both. If you have any questions about this package, just send e-mail. Note: I am *not* associated with SoftLogic in any way, but am just a very satisfied customer of both the disk optimizer and the DoubleDOS multi- tasking utility. --- David M. Kurtiak ulysses----\ UNC at Greensboro. Usenet: {decvax,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!dmkdmk siesmo/ BITNET: DMKDMK@ECSVAX ARPA/CSNET: dmkdmk!ecsvax%mcnc.csnet@csnet-relay ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Mar 86 10:46:09 est From: jcm@ORNL-MSR.ARPA (James A. Mullens) To: ECO10125%BOSTONU.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu, INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.arpa Subject: Surge Protectors A group of engineers here studied a variety of surge protectors. I ask one of the fellows what he recommended, and he said the Wire Tree Plus Networx. I'm not hardware savvy, so I can't add anything to his statement that "this is the one which really has everthing in it you need". (I should mention that they were investigating this problem in relation to nuclear attack). I do know that the Networx supplies surge protection for modem-to-phone line protection, which makes me feel better. I have a Networx and also 3 little $8 protectors from Radio Shack. These 3 protectors glow as long as they are still good, i.e., they haven't absorbed their limit of surges and become ineffective. These protectors have been installed for a year now, and shine as brightly as ever. It would be nice if info-ibmpc or another group on the net collected a message thread of advice and theory on surge protection, and put it into the archive. The topic tends to collect myths and fables. The ancient Greeks blamed the unseen gods for the troubles of men, while the modern engineer wonders what the gremlin Surge does silently to his machine. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Mar 86 17:54:28 EST From: Edward_Vielmetti%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, oded%wisdom.bitnet@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Framework for DBMS + free text? Oded, I've run into the same problem, namely trying to get fixed fields and free text in the same database. My current solution is a bit messy; I'm using PC-Outline (an outline processor) to keep the whole thing as structured text. That doesn't sound like a solution to your problem. What might work, however, is Framework II. This is not from personal experience with it (I wish Borland would buy them out so I could afford it!) but just by looking at some specs and from some idea of the architecture of the thing. As far as I can tell, a "record" in Framework (called a frame, maybe?) can contain a number of different entities, both free text and fixed fields. There's also a language (FRED) for manipulating it. I'd like to hear more about Framework from anyone using it (since version II came out, or old version I). It sounds like it fits my current needs rather nicely. Edward Vielmetti University of Michigan Microcomputer Support Group Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (313)763-8043 Edward_Vielmetti@UMich-MTS.Mailnet Edward_Vielmetti%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Mar 86 08:05:50 pst From: Gerry Key <key%tetra@nosc.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Combining Mailing Lists I need to combine several large (~2-5K names each) mailing lists into a single list with (hopefully) no duplicates. There will be some overlap between the lists. Where the overlap involves duplicate character strings (e.g., Kathy Dixon vs Kathy Dixon), I can detect the duplication with conventional database tools. What I need is a tool that will detect the Kathy Dixon vs Cathy Dixon vs Kathy Dickson situation. A program using one of the pattern matching algorithms (e.g., Soundex) may do the trick. The mailing lists are currently in dBASE III or R|BASE 5000 databases, so a utility that would run against these types of database files would be handy. Otherwise, I can unload the data to an ASCII file to look for duplicates and then reload the data. Any suggestions would be appreciated. --Gerry Key key@nosc.arpa ------------------------------ Date: 27 Mar 1986 12:55:41 EST Subject: Mark William's "Let's C" From: Glen Foster <GFoster@USC-ISI.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, info-c@BRL-SMOKE.ARPA Has anybody used subject product? If it lives up to its billing, it seems to be a bargain at $75.00 My initial questions: memory models supported?, 8087?, completeness of library?, does the "one-step" compile+link+assemble get in the way and/or can it be disabled? It claims "full Unix compatibility," any Unixoids using it on MS-DOS care to comment? Please reply to me and I'll summarize to the groups. Thanks in advance. Glen ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Mar 86 15:06:26 cst From: mac%ksuvax1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Myron Calhoun) Subject: "B" Programming Language & ANSI.SYS on a Zenith 100 I recently purchased a copy of the "B" programming language (no relation to the "C" language) and a handbook "For using B on: o Unix systems o IBM PC's and compatibles under DOS" from a company in the Netherlands. I am running MS-DOS 2.15 on a Zenith Z-100 (not the "100 PC", but just the plain "100") with plenty of memory, etc. The interactive installation procedure concluded that I need an ANSI.SYS driver. Where can I beg, borrow, buy, or steal such a driver? I'll even write one if necessary, if I can determine what is required. I receive info.ibm.pc only irregularly, so would prefer that answers come by phone (913-532-6350) or mail (c/o Computer Science Department, Nichols Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66502) [We sent Myron a copy of NANSI.SYS in hopes we might get back a version for the Z-100 -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 28 Mar 1986 15:56:42-EST From: prindle@NADC To: videotech@sri-csl Subject: SONY KV25XBR use with RGBI computer input Cc: info-ibmpc@isib, info-micro@brl Sony says I need a special interface box PC-701 (~$80.) to connect my KV25XBR monitor/receiver to an RGBI computer output such as from an IBM-PC or Commodore 128. The circuitry in the box is horrendous. Has anyone connected up an RGBI computer output to the KV25XBR without this box? I know it works with RGB analog since the INFO-AMIGA group has already printed a schematic for how to connect that up. I think Sony may be pulling a fast one here, especially since they said the PC-701 is back-ordered. (direct reply or reply to info-micro@brl or videotech@sri-csl) Thanks in advance, Frank Prindle Prindle@NADC.arpa ------------------------------ Date: 27 Mar 1986 07:58:44 CST Subject: Where is PROCOMM From: DSDC-SDT2@GUNTER-ADAM.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Was just reading about PROCOMM vs PIBTERM, and am interested in finding a copy of PROCOMM. Does anyone know where it is, and most importantly, is it public-domain. Many thanks in advance.. Walt DSDC-SDT2 @ GUNTER-ADAM ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Mar 86 16:41 CST To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: XASSHOR%UCHIMVS1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Wordstar V3.3 Patch Locations Does anybody have a list of patch addresses for the MS-DOS rendition of WordStar v3.3? I have such a list for CP/M WordStar; I assume that someone must have put one together for MS-DOS as well. Thanks, Melinda Shore University of Chicago Computation Center ...!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!shor XASSHOR@UCHIMVS1.Bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Mar 86 10:57:07 est From: Mike Ciaraldi <ciaraldi@rochester.arpa> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Graphics for AT + Xenix A friend of mine has a PC AT with IBM Color Graphics Adapter, math coprocessor, and 30 MB disk. He is running Xenix 1.0 from Microsoft/IBM. He also has a Hewlett-Packard 7448A plotter, which speaks HPGL. He is looking for graphics software for his system. This can include complete packages or subroutines. He would like to do charts and scientific graphics (he is in the Institute of Optics, so I suppose he wants to draw pictures of lenses and such). He checked a data base IBM has, but no luck. Microsoft sent him a directory of software that runs under Xenix, but all the companies he contacted said they didn't have versions for the AT. So, we are turning to the net for help. Please post responses or mail to me: Mike Ciaraldi ARPA: ciaraldi@rochester Usenet: seismo!rochester!ciaraldi ------------------------------ Date: 27 Mar 1986 15:57:34 PST Subject: Broken Tecmar hard disk From: Laurence I. Press <SWG.LPRESS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I have an old Tecmar 10-MB disk in a Tecmar expansion chassis. A while ago, it quit working (would not boot -- gave message that the controller was not in the system). The Tecmar folks have lent me a new drive, new Xebec controller, new interface, new ribbon cables etc. In other words, I've replaced all of the Tecmar stuff -- to no avail. I have tried this essentially rebuilt unit in two PCs with the same result -- "controller not in system". Does anyone have any experience with Tecmar expansion chassis or know someone who does? Larry Press ------------------------------ From: ucdavis!lll-crg!seismo!philabs!ttidca!ttidcb!vollmer@ucbvax.berkeley.edu Date: Tue, 25 Mar 86 14:34:08 est Organization: Transaction Technology, Inc. (CitiCorp), Santa Monica Subject: How do I Write a Background Printing Deamon I have a problem. I want to be able to write a background printer deamon for a PC running DOS 2.XX, which would drive the printer while I am doing something else (on the PC). I will be printing bit-mapped graphical images which I will generate on the fly, based upon data in a huge disk file. I know that if I put the generated data in a file I could use the PRINT command, but there is so much data being generated I don't want to put it out on disk. I know that PRINT must use 'blackmagic' to use DOS to read the file from disk while another program is running, but I don't know the undocumented specifics (which must be specific to only particular versions of dos). I would like to use a generic MS/PC DOS 2.XX version if possible, but if there are dependencies present I could change that requirement. If I knew about them. If anybody has: (1) information about how to create such a deamon (2) information about how to use dos from such a daemon (3) code for such a printer deamon (4) information about dependencies Please mail it to me. I will follow up to the net - if I receive requests. Thank you in advance. Jim R. Vollmer ######################################################################## Jim R. Vollmer Citicorp(+)TTI 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 (213) 450-9111, ext. 2617 {philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcb!ttihwe!vollmer {philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcb!vollmer [See the file INDOS.TXT in the <INFO-IBMPC> directory on ISIB. -ed] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Mar 86 11:57:18 MEZ To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: I1060301%DBSTU1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Tools Wanted Does anyone know whether programs COPYTREE and/or COMPTREE exist, functioning like DISKCOPY and DISKCOMP for directory trees ? They would make copying a whole directory and its subdirectories from one device to another much easier. Perhaps somebody has written a filter for the TREE command output. Another question: how (if at all) can I make .BAT files execute faster? Since there is no exit statement, a long jump to the end takes quite a long time if the file is longer than a certain something. Thanks for all responses. Please mail directly, I don't receive the digest. Michael G. I1060301@DBSTU1.BITNET ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
(Text 161667)
(Text 163026) 86-04-05 23.33 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <216> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-05 23.33 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <210> -- Received: 86-04-06 00.33 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-05 23.33 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #35 %Original date: 4 Apr 1986 17:13:30 PST. TF: DSKD:964096.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 37410 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 5 Apr 86 14:39 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 04-Apr-1986 20:21:52-est Mail-From: INFO-IBMPC created at 18-Mar-86 12:46:11 Date: 18 Mar 1986 12:46:11 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #35 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA ReSent-Date: 4 Apr 1986 17:13:30 PST ReSent-From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> ReSent-To: C511%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday 18 March 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 35 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: Correction to Turbo Pascal Fast Screen Write UCSD Pascal from Pecan Software High Performance w/o an AT! Turbo Pascal Screen Clearing Nansi Bug Fix & Binaries Available ClickArt Personal Publisher from T/Maker Correction to Address of AK Technology Microsoft C Bugs Directories from Turbo Pascal Directories from Turbo Pascal & Wang Compatibility Wang Compatibility MASM 4.0 OFFSET Bug (2 Msgs) Microsoft Fortran & F77 (2 Msgs) NBI to PC-DOS (and CP/M) Connections Turbo Pascal Colors XT/370 Speedup XENIX Updates Todays Queries: MS-Windows Drivers Pascal to C Translator Symphony & MSWindows DisplayWrite 3 EGA Support FORMAT Equivalent Within a Program (2 Msgs) Zenith PCs at Govt Contract Prices Xenix Device Driver Document Indexing Program BRIEF vs EPSILON ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1986 15:26 CST From: Dean Hoyt <NU068450%NDSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Correction to Turbo Pascal Fast Screen Write In the file that I sent you about writing to the screen quickly in turbo pascal I had the address wrong. They should have been for the mono screen $B000:$0000 for the color screen $B000:$8000 Please if possiable correct the file I sent you. If not then add a notice about this correction. Dean hoyt Bitnet address NU068450@NDSUVM1 Arpanet address NU068450%NDSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU where the wind chased the hills away. [We didn't catch this in time. The local archives have been updated. -ed] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Mar 86 22:19 EST From: Yedidyah Langsam <YDLBC%CUNYVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: UCSD Pascal from Pecan Software Pecan Software has released UCSD Pascal working under a DOS Hosted P-system. The compiler can produce either native code or P-code for the IBM PC. This DOS Hosted p-system seems to be fully compatible with DOS. It is a full implementation of Pascal. Since Pecan software simply developed (or re-released it) the DOS hosted version of the P-system without tampering with the compiler, it should be bug free and be compatible with APPLE UCSD Pascal. Pecan Software advertises heavily these days in Byte, PC WORLD and PC Magazine. I have no connection with them, other than having tried the system. The only incompatibility I have found is that it will not work when Borland Lightning is in memory. At $79. for the whole system, you can try it out.... ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Mar 86 22:20:09 cet From: 10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: High Performance w/o an AT! For those of you who might care... I put a NEC V30 in my AT&T PC 6300 this weekend. The NORTON SysInfo rating went from a mediocre 1.9 to a rather impressive 3.9! Overall performance (not just the mul/div that SI tests) is up about 20-30% based on a DHRYSTONE benchmark. Results of the benchmark went from 833 to 1086 dhrystones/sec. This is about the same performance as a 6Mhz PC/AT! Considering that the 8087 runs at 8Mhz and therefore outperforms the PC/AT on Floating Point operations I am extremely glad that I didn't spend an extra 2000 dollars or so for a "better" machine. Also get DESQview and simply love downloading with KERMIT in the background while doing real work in the foreground. This works quite well, and should promise to increase productivity significantly. Eric Schneider 10409813 @ WSUVM1 . BITNET eric @ wsu . CSNET ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Mar 86 12:39 EST From: MKATZ%UMDB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Turbo Pascal Screen Clearing From: Jameson@UNCA-MULTICS.MAILNET Does anyone know of a patch which will stop Turbo Pascal programs from clearing the screen before they run, and possibly from leaving the cursor at the bottom of the screen afterward? Many thanks. Turbo Pascal 3.0 no longer clears the screen at the beginning (2.0 did), but it still jumps to the bottom at the end. I suppose you could force it to exit without jumping to the bottom by closing all files and then calling DOS to exit instead of exiting normally through Turbo. Manasseh Katz ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Mar 86 00:36:32 PST From: kegel%Juliet.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: Nansi Bug Fix & Binaries Available To: cc.dlnash@a20.utexas.edu, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Two notes about Nansi: 1. Peter Lyman at JPL informs me that the Nansi source file nansi.asm had a TAB character in the device name field instead of five spaces; this makes the device name field the wrong length. The device loaded, but its name was CON\t%$#** or some such garbage; I think that INT 29 was installed properly, so it probably worked on single-character writes. the device chain for the device name, and would have fallen thru to the default CONsole driver! Talk about mysterious symptoms... The tab was inserted by an editor that thought it was doing me a favor, I suppose; anyway, this is a serious problem, and anyone who got the sources should change the line in nansi.asm that reads db 'CON ' ; (8 chars) to read db 'CON' ; (3 chars... db 5 dup (20h) ; ... and 5 blanks) to avoid future screwups. Somebody at ISIB should change their copy, too. (Congratulations to Peter for cracking this problem.) 2. I am posting a binary version of Nansi on my machine for people who don't have MASM. The three files are as follows: nansi_doc.cat - Documentation, examples, and Intel hex version of Nansi.sys. nansi_src.cat - Source code. nansi_demo.cat - Documentation and Intel hex code for view.com, a vi-like file viewer which demonstrates the full speed of nansi.sys. In case it matters, the files are on the local directory USERS:[ANONYMOUS]. You should log in using FTP to hamlet.caltech.edu with username anonymous and password ftp. (Hamlet and Juliet share file systems, but only Hamlet is supposed to be visible from Arpanet.) Finals-weekly yours, Daniel Kegel [NANSI.CAT has been updated. The tab character was there! -ed] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Mar 86 19:54:26 pst From: adobe!wff@decwrl (Ware and Freidenrich) Subject: ClickArt Personal Publisher from T/Maker A significantly more sophisticated (but not that much more expensive) program than Newsroom is ClickArt Personal Publisher from T/Maker Company in Mountain View, California. T/Maker is at 2115 Landings Drive, Mountain View, California 94043, (415) 962-0195. Personal Publisher is a WYSIWYG desktop publication tool that works with dot matrix, HP LaserJet, and Apple LaserWriter printers. T/Maker's popular ClickArt clip art files which have been reproduced on 5 1/4" media and can be read by Personal Publisher into a document. Carey Heckman ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Mar 86 13:17:14 est From: Mark D. Freeman <mdf@ohio-state.ARPA> Message-Id: <8603161817.AA09854@ohio-state.ARPA> Subject: Correction to Address of AK Technology Corrected version: AK Technologies Corporation Columbus, Ohio (614) 764-0737 I do have financial ties to this company, but not in regard to CXI products. [AK Tech makes the IRMA replacement board and software for IRMA cards. -ed] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Mar 86 12:44:27 PST From: Matthew J Weinstein <matt@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> Subject: Microsoft C Bugs It appears to be unsafe in general to declare a single 'register' variable in MS C large model in the presence of structure-valued functions. The following type of code will break for some values of STREXP[12]: struct any {...}; int IntValued(struct any); proc() { register i; ... if (IntValued(STREXP1) < IntValued(STREXP2)) { } } where STREXP[12] are structure valued expressions (such as StrucFunc() or (*(struct any *)"data")). Generally speaking, replacing the register declaration with an integer declaration fixes the problem. Microsoft has indicated that there will be no interim fix. - Matt ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Mar 86 12:44 EST From: MKATZ%UMDB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Directories from Turbo Pascal To: CHADM1%UCONNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU There is a Turbo Pascal kermit available from KERMSRV@CUVMA which includes a DIR routine for MS-DOS and for CPM-80 (I am working on one for CPM-86). The pertinent programs are in QKKER.PAS, look for SYSFUNC.PASMS in that. Manasseh Katz ------------------------------ Date: 16 Mar 1986 21:37-EST Sender: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA Subject: Directories from Turbo Pascal & Wang Compatibility From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA Could someone tell me how to get a directory listing from a running (compiled) TURBO PASCAL program on the IBM PC? Is there an assembler routine that can be imbedded in the source code? Is there a DOS routine one can hook to? Thanks. Carl David In MARKET's TURBOPAS directory: MSLIB.PAS -- several routines that use DOS interrupts, etc. Two include directory-related routines. (Since Carl David has an address outside the ARPA, I'll forward this code separately.) RDIR.ARC -- Haven't downloaded this, but it's directory related and should have appropriate procedures for MS-DOS. Does anyone know why the WANG PC doesn't run "normal" packages like MS DOS 3.1, Turbo Pascal, Wordstar, The IBM Personal Editor (just to name a few packages I tried). I always get an error "Invalid/Unrecognized Interrupt" or the PC just freezes up. Any suggestions are welcome. Marc Chang Sing Pang Compadre, Wangs were never claimed or sold as PC-compatible. For one thing, they don't implement Int 10H (all the PC video stuff)! You can't even just stuff bytes in video memory and expect something to appear .. gotta hit another interrupt to force a refresh! Heck, they don't even provide DEBUG with their usual menu systems. It also fires up with Interrupt error messages, but appears to run (kind of). I wouldn't even claim MS-DOS 2.0 "compatibility" for the Wangs since I've personally tried to run programs I've checked for pure MS-DOS 2.0 functions only .. and had them fail! I purchased a "generic" MS-DOS version of Turbo Pascal 3.0, and (thanks to some pointers from a kind NetLandian) managed to configure it to a peculiar "almost ANSI" terminal that was supposed to work with Wang PCs. I can now compile and run Turbo Pascal programs on a Wang PC (and still have them fairly presentable (if limited) on PC clones. But dumb dumb dumb Wang .. thought they'd learn from TI it doesn't pay to try a "closed architecture." David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Mar 86 10:52:26 EST From: Chris Schmandt <geek@MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU> Subject: Wang Compatibility Cc: singpang%hlerul5.bitnet@wiscvm.arpa The Wang is fairly DOS level compatible with the IBM, but definitely *not* BIOS compatible. Most likely your problem with "invalid interrupt" is that the software is using a Bios call like INT 10H to write directly to the screen. I've often considered writing my own version of the Bios screen driver for the Wang, not a formidable task, but never have the time. There is some Wang product, that I think includes a new display board, that allows full PC emulation. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Mar 86 10:50:39 est From: dewar@nyu-acf2.arpa Subject: MASM 4.0 OFFSET Bug In a recent message, I noted that OFFSET does not always work in MASM 4.0. The editor noted that you could use LEA instead. Three quick comments on this suggestion: First, least serious, LEA is slower than MOV immediate Secoond, in the example I had, LEA would not have worked, since I had BP indexing present. LEA would have included this indexing, OFFSET should have excluded it. Third, most subtle, at least in the Intel semantics, OFFSET and LEA are different in the presence of GROUPS. LEA will use the current ASSUME's to obtain the segment for the relocation target. OFFSET will always use the segment as the target relocation, unless you provide an explicit GROUP: override. I have no idea what microsoft does here, but beware! ------------------------------ Date: 17 Mar 1986 10:08:31 PST Subject: MASM 4.0 OFFSET Bug From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: dewar@NYU-ACF2.ARPA I certainly agree that it would be desirable to use OFFSET if it assembled correctly all the time. Using LEAs is just a work around, but it's never failed me yet. If someone could formulate rules for when it's safe to use OFFSET, that would be a big help. The way LEA works in the presence of GROUPs is consistent with the way Microsoft Pascal and C work, which is my main use of GROUPs. [The Microsoft assembler/linker has gotten better over the years. See some of the earliest INFO-IBMPC digests for horror stories. The OFFSET bugs have been particularly difficult to trace. Sometimes the linker catches an error other times it just generates wrong code. Dick had some modules that were stable for years, and when other code was added to the system suddenly the modules would go bad and always the OFFSET operator was at fault. Of course it never failed in simple test cases only when large multi segment links were involved. I gave up using macros back with MASM 1.0 and even though MASM 4.0 is much improved I still don't trust the assembler and try to keep my assembly programs short and simple. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Mar 86 13:20:29 cst From: pool@anl-mcs.ARPA (Pool) Subject: Microsoft Fortran & F77 The most current release of Microsoft Fortran is a rather poorly defined subset of F77. It is not easy to determine PRECISELY which features of F77 have been deleted by straightforware reading of the manuals. Jim Pool Numerical Algorithms Group ARPANET: pool@anl-mcs USENET: ihnp4!nag!pool ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Mar 86 10:28:36 EST From: Bernard_Tiffany%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Microsoft Fortran & F77 The latest Microsoft MS-DOS version (3.31) of FORTRAN implements the subset of FORTRAN 77 with extensions to the full set. The last time I've heard is that Microsoft is working on the full set as their Apple MacIntosh version of FORTRAN 77 does implement the full set. The following are FORTRAN 77 full set features not implemented in MS FORTRAN: (1) Comments cannot be followed by a continuation line. (2) The following statements are not yet available: CHARACTER*(*) statements (length specification is an asterisk) ENTRY statement SAVE statement without a list PRINT format, list READ format, list character statement functions (3) The forms UNIT= or FMT= cannot be used in READ or WRITE statements. These forms can be replaced by discarding "UNIT=" and "FMT=". A character array name may not be used as an unit identifier or a FORMAT parameter in these statements. (4) The edit descriptor Iw.m is not used in FORMAT statements. All other edit descriptors are implemented. (5) The OPEN statement cannot have STATUS='SCRATCH', STATUS= 'UNKNOWN', BLANK='ZERO', or BLANK='NULL'. To simulate the BLANK parameter, the format edit descriptor BZ or BN may be used. The UNIT parameter cannot be specified in the OPEN statement. (6) The CLOSE statement does not have UNIT and ERR parameters. (7) BACKSPACE, REWIND, and ENDFILE do not have UNIT, ERR, and IOSTAT parameters. (8) All lower bounds of an array must be equal to 1. (9) The DO variable cannot be REAL or DOUBLE PRECISION. (10) DATA statements cannot have implied DO's. (11) SUBROUTINE statements cannot have dummy arguments (expressed as *). (12) Expressions (other than constants or PARAMETER names) cannot be used in dimensions or lengths for CHARACTER statements. (13) Character concatenation operator // is not implemented but can be simulated using substrings. The character functions INDEX and LEN are not available. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Mar 86 15:56 EST From: Paul.Birkel@A.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: NBI to PC-DOS (and CP/M) Connections I've received a number of responses to my query last month, and made a number of phone calls. Here's what I found out: There are three and two-halves solutions to my problem. As you would expect, functionality is proportional to cost. The first solution, and the most cost-effective one, is a piece of software which NBI had Microsoft write about two years ago. It took a little while to figure this out, but it's called: OASys 4000SC MS-DOS Conversion Utility This assumes, of course, 5 1/4" disk drives. This package allows you to read and write such disks (DSDD - 48 tpi) plus it allows some mapping between WP tokens and ASCII characters. The mapping is limited but does take care of things like CR/LF, tabs, backspaces and form feeds so that your ASCII files will be in a readable "generic" form. There is no "format code/command mapping". It runs on all MS-DOS machines (NBI has their own clone, the 4100PC), and costs $200. One caveat on the AT is that you have a problem with the 96 tpi drive since the 4000SC is (typically, unless you have the "high capacity" drives) equipped with 48 tpi drives. The solution is to buy a second 48 tpi drive, about $100 additional plus your effort in installing it (easy). That totals $300 and buys you a simple, direct file transfer not dependent on physical proximity. For a CP/M'er use a similar transfer program (Media Master, Uniform, etc.) to go from CP/M to MS-DOS first. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any software supporting a direct CP/M to 4000SC route. Sigh. Solution one and one-half is a NBI card known as the M-400. It costs $700 and buys you a 68B00 (remember the Commodore PET?)-based co-processor running an early version of WP called "Docu-Writer". It also reads and writes NBI disks and resides on the PC bus. Although "Docu-Writer" is less powerful than WP, it offers the same interface as WP so that your word processing skills transfer easily. It runs in most (all?) PC/PC-XT clones. It DOES NOT run in the AT/AT-clones due to the higher system clock speed. It appears likely that it never will as NBI has other plans for AT owners. If you don't have an AT-type machine and you would like to leverage your WP skills then this card may be for you since you still get the MS-DOS conversion utility functionality discussed above. The other solution one and one-half, is a commercially available box for disk conversions: Keyword Office Technologies, Inc. 2816 11th Street NE Calgary, Alberta, T2E 7S7 (800) 227-1817 x825A Two US (West Coast) offices: 649 Mission at New Montgomery San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 543-5426 Contact: Deborah McAfee 2047 E. Hamilton Ave. San Jose, CA 95125 (408) 371-7770 The list price for the Keyword 7000 is $7996 (US). Solution number two is based on a serial link between the NBI and the target machine. This requires the NBI ASYNC/BISYNC Advanced Communications package which will run you $2500, plus the cost of an external modem and installation. All told you're touching $3,000. What you get is the ability to do terminal emulation-like things and serial file transfers. You also get a software package called TAILORS that lets you do very reasonable (but apparently not complete) mappings between the file formats on each end. You use your own word processor on the PC-DOS/MS-DOS or CP/M or what-have-you end and one of the commercially available communications packages. Of course you may need either two modems, or proximity in order to run a cable, but you get added flexibility. Like to take your dBase or 1-2-3 file and ship it over to the NBI to put into a document? Well, TAILORS is supposed to make that possible. But it's not cheap. Solution number three is the Rolls-Royce of systems; the System 64, or OASys. It'll run you upwards of $15,000 and more depending on configuration. What it buys you in this context is: 1) A star-organized LAN with a PC-DOS 8086 central processor, hard disk, and 6809-based channels. 2) Transparent file access from any "device" where "device" may be an NBI machine, or a PC-class machine, including file format conversions. 3) The ability to run WP through your PC-class machine (actually on the 6809 <I think>). You can even run WP from home over a dial-up line. This is only a brief description, but you get the general impression. Slick, but a rather expensive for my needs. This investigation has been an education for me. Although I still think that technically the 4000SC is not impressive for the price (one can go buy a PC plus a major word processing package for less), what you do get is hand-holding and a clear upgrade path: a networking solution. Although I won't pay that much for the hand-holding, many office automation managers will (and perhaps reasonably so). My problem in initial NBI contacts was probably due to too much knowledge and too little understanding of the NBI philosophy/market-place on my part. I've had many contacts with NBI personnel, and all have been pleasant and helpful, but it was a user of NBI equipment on this net that actually pointed me to the disk conversion solution. While I'll probably never buy NBI equipment, if I were responsible for automating a large word processing environment I'd certainly consider NBI, especially since they appear to be offering a reasonable LAN solution while IBM is still (basically) dithering. So . . . back to the beginning: Can anyone tell what the actual format of a 4000SC 5 1/4" floppy is so that I can roll my own CP/M conversion utility? Paul A. Birkel Dept. of Computer Science Carnegie-Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (412) 628-3074 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1986 17:53 EST From: Jim Ennis <JIM%UCF1VM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Turbo Pascal Colors To: info-ibmpc <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Hello, Can anyone tell me how to set the colors for the editor/envrionment in Turbo Pascal. I don't like the brown on black and I would appreciate any help in changing the colors. Thanks, Jim Ennis University of Central Florida JIM@UCF1VM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Mar 86 12:35:06 PST From: Bruce_A._Cowan%SFU.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: XT/370 Speedup I put a little module in my XT370 that runs the 8088 at about 6.7MHz instead of the normal 4.77. The 8088 runs fine, but the 370 part fails with the fast clock. The module I plugged in is potted in epoxy so I don't know exactly what it does, other than feed the 8088 a faster clock (and I don't have a PC/XT Tech reference to look at the schematic), but I'd guess that the processor clock also ends up on the CLK line on the bus and that the 370 card uses that for its processor clock. Since the AT/370 uses the same 370 processor chips, and it runs with a 6MHz clock, I'd guess that it ought to be possible to speed up the XT/370 at least that far. However, the CLK signal on the AT's bus is 6MHz with a 50% duty cycle, whereas on the PC it is 4.77MHz with a 33% duty cycle. So, 6MHz with 33% duty cycle might be outside the capabilities of the 370 processor chips. I'm planning to try changing my XT/370 to 7.16MHz with a 50% duty cycle as soon as I can get an 8MHz NEC V20. I'll let people know if that works. ------------------------------ Date: Tue 18 Mar 86 08:40:32-PST From: William Pearson <PEARSON@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: XENIX Updates There have been several questions lately on what IBM updates are available and how to use non-standard (non 20 Mbyte) hard disk drives with IBM PC/XENIX for the AT. Although I was able to get the disk installed without the IBM updates, I finally received them and they would certainly have made the process easier. There are two updated disks available from IBM (that I know of), I requested them through the IBM dealer I bought XENIX from (he was not able to find them until I gave him exact names) and received them from IBM PC Assistance Ctr/Zip 4409 1000 NW 51st Street Boca Raton, FL 33431 I received two disks, one dated 6/85 and titled: IBM Personal Computer Xenix 1.0 Soft Dev Sys Maintenance Diskette and one dated 9/12/85 titled: IBM PC XENIX INSTALLATION DISKETTE 1.01 9/12/85 850919A I was curious what had changed with the new installation diskette, so I checked the dates on the files, and found most changes dated 6/85 or 9/12/85. I have included a list of the modified files below. fd Jun 26 1985 bin Jun 25 1985 boot Jun 26 1985 etc Sep 12 1985 tmp Jun 24 1985 xenix Jun 25 1985 xenix.fd fd /bin Jun 26 1985 adb fd /etc Jun 24 1985 badtrack Jun 24 1985 boot1 Jun 24 1985 fd96boot0 Sep 12 1985 fdisk Jun 24 1985 hdboot0 Sep 12 1985 hdinfo Sep 12 1985 hdinit Sep 12 1985 mnttab Sep 12 1985 utmp Sep 12 1985 xinstall fd /dev Sep 12 1985 console Sep 12 1985 fd0 Sep 12 1985 fd096 Sep 12 1985 fd096ds15 Sep 12 1985 hd00 Sep 12 1985 hd0a Sep 12 1985 null Sep 12 1985 rhd00 Aug 30 1985 rhd0a Aug 30 1985 rhd10 Sep 12 1985 root Sep 12 1985 swap There are several other updates from Microsoft that IBM has apparently not yet distributed, which means they are virtually unavailable (the receptionist at Microsoft was very rude when I asked about them) including one dated 12/85 which provides the huge compiler model. But the Installation Disk 1.01 is the one you need for non-standard drives. Bill Pearson ------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Mar 86 23:13:01 PST From: kegel%Juliet.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: MS-Windows Drivers About Microsoft Windows: Microsoft only supports the IBM CGA and EGA graphics boards as of now (although I hear rumors of something great in the wind). Do any graphics board manufacturers, or graphics software houses, have Windows drivers for their products? (What I'm secretly hoping for is a 640x480 16 color board with a real palette and most of the Windows routines implemented in silicon...) - Daniel Kegel [As has been mentioned in recent digests the Genius display has a MS Windows driver. I spoke with the manufacturer in our unsuccessful attempt to get a working BIOS from them. At the time they were quite excited by the MS Windows drivers. I gather Microsoft developed the drivers even though the Genius isn't one of the "official" Microsoft supported devices. MSWindows already takes up enough distribution disks. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Mar 86 08:24:17 est From: Scott Guthery <sguthery%slb-doll.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Pascal to C Translator Does anyone know of a good Pascal to C translator for the PC? The operative word is `good'. Thanks, Scott ------------------------------ Date: 18 Mar 86 10:37-EST From: R.Rasulis <ext715%BOSTONU.bitnet@WISCVM.arpa> Subject: Symphony & MSWindows Has anyone had any luck running Symphony w/ MS Windows? It doesn't work using MS WIndows off the shelf, so you must have had to "fix" it. Please share your patch w/ me. Please reply directly to me *eom :- R.Rasulis -: ------------------------------ Date: 18 Mar 86 12:18 EST From: Jim Moore <moore@ncsc> Subject: DisplayWrite 3 EGA Support To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib I've tried this before with no response, but here goes again: If you use DisplayWrite X.XX with and EGA, how do you get ON-SCREEN underlining and boldfacing??? Any help is appreciated. [In a later message Jim Moore added that published reports claimed bold and underline was possible on the EGA, but he is only able to get colors. Unfortunately an editor crash lost this paragraph of text. -wab] Jim Naval Coastal Systems Center ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Mar 86 04:56:45 PST From: dgb%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu Subject: FORMAT Equivalent Within a Program Does anyone out there know exactly what is involved in doing the equivalent of a DOS FORMAT from within a running program? We have an application where is it advantageous to leave a program running for days at a time, acquiring radio spectra. The observers aren't too good about keeping a supply of formatted floppies around, and one of these days they're going to find themselves with a full memory of data, and no blank floppies to write it to. There is no other PC for many miles of the observatory, so this could potentially be a real problem. Since we need all the available RAM we've got, I'm rather loathe to set aside the 30K+ that I would need to spawn a new command interpreter to run FORMAT. I would much rather use a program overlay. Does anyone know exactly what is involved? 1) This routine would only need to operate on data floppies, so that I don't have to deal with getting a system set up. The drives in question are 'standard' D9 format. Ie. DSDD, 360K, 40 track, etc... 2) The BIOS can do the hard work of actually formatting the disk. The tricky part is going to be setting up all the DOS work areas such as the boot track, directory, FAT(s). 3) It will be running on a two floppy system, so I can cheat, and copy the boot track from the system disk. (I would prefer to avoid this, and might just store a copy of the boot track in memory, to avoid problems when running on the HD based development systems. Any better ideas?) 4) I have the usual refs for such things. DOS technical apendix, Tech Ref, Peter Norton's book, etc. I might be able to piece a workable routine from that, but I would be worried that some critical field wasn't getting initialized or something. I don't want to have data floppies floating around with 'bombs' in them from my homebrew format routine. I would really like to hear from someone who knows the subject! If it's too much of a hassle, I won't worry about it, and just renew my efforts to get our people to format the floppies when they buy them. But I just know that we're going to see trouble from this one day.... As usual, thanks in advance for any help. --Daniel Briggs dgb@DEImos.Caltech.Edu ------------------------------ Date: 16 Mar 1986 18:33:35 PST Subject: FORMAT Equivalent Within a Program From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: dgb%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@HAMLET.CALTECH.EDU The Tall Tree products for RAM disk emulation and the JFORMAT program all come with source code. It would be a good place to start looking to write such a routine. Tall Tree Systems (415) 964-1980 Tech Info (415) 964-1397 ------- ------------------------------ Date: 16 Mar 86 11:25:02 GMT From: brad @ DCA-EUR.ARPA Subject: Zenith PCs at Govt Contract Prices When Zenith had their first contract with the AF/Navy a couple of years ago for Z-100s, Government Employees Association (GEA) worked out an arrangement with Zenith to sell Z-100s to individuals connected with the Govt at the Contract Price. Question: Does anyone know if an organization, such as GEA, is working out a similar arrangement with Zenith for the new contract with the Miliary?? Those of us working for the Military in Stuttgart Germany are very interested. Brad ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1986 12:34 O From: Guy Sirton <MLSIRTON%WEIZMANN.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Xenix Device Driver I am having problems writing a device driver in XENIX (V1.0 running on a regular PC-AT). The problems are: 1) Accessing storage (for memory-mapped devices). I overcame this problem by defining a 'far' pointer but I am wondering if there is any built-in kernel routine to do it. 2) Creating the new kernel. When I type 'make' in /usr/sys/conf I get the following result: ld: Unresolved extrenals: __stkgro in file(s): /lib/Mlibc.a(~_chkstk.o) __Syspc in file(s): /lib/Mlibc.a(exit.o) __syscal in file(s): /lib/Mlibc.a(exit.o) *** Error code 1 Stop. 3) Poor documentation. The documentation at the lowest level is really poor some routines (such as seterror() ) are mentioned but not explained and I'm pretty sure (by 'string'ing lib_io and the kernel) that there are routines that aren't even mentioned. The index is also in a very poor state... Anyone who can help me in these problems and/or has a list of un-documented routines please mail me back. Guy ------------------------------ Date: 17 Mar 86 13:36 PST From: Ghenis.pasa@Xerox.COM Subject: Document Indexing Program What are the available programs for creating a table of contents and index for a WordStar document, both public domain and commercial? How capable and user-frienldy are they? Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Mar 86 10:43:14 pst From: George Cross <cross%wsu.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Full-Name: George Cross To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: BRIEF vs EPSILON I am trying to decide between BRIEF and EPSILON. Is there someone out there who has used both? The way I read it, BRIEF and EPSILON are emacs-like, fully customizable in Mock-Lisp (respectively Mock-C), but EPSILON supports a kind of multi-tasking so you can continue editing while compiling and BRIEF does not. What about performance? (Especially assuming a floppy-only system) ---- George - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - George R. Cross cross@wsu.CSNET Computer Science Department cross%wsu@csnet-relay.ARPA Washington State University faccross@wsuvm1.BITNET Pullman, WA 99164-1210 Phone: 509-335-6319 or 509-335-6636 [We still keep our version 2 epsilons around for running on floppy disks. While the newer versions run just as fast on a hard disk system the older is still useful when floppy disk space is at a premium. Even with a floppy only system for another $400 you can get a 2MB JRAM card and edit any sized file with either version. -wab] ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 163036) 86-04-05 23.40 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <217> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-05 23.40 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <211> -- Received: 86-04-06 00.33 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-05 23.40 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #41 %Original date: 4 Apr 1986 19:09:23 PST. TF: DSKD:964762.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 47030 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 5 Apr 86 14:44 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 04-Apr-1986 23:58:14-est Date: 4 Apr 1986 19:09:23 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #41 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, April 4, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 41 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: Ctrl-Alt-Del from Software (2 msgs) Rampage and Desqview (3 msgs) NO87 Environment Variable (2 msgs) Converting EBCDIC to ASCII Re: Text-oriented Databases Re: BSR Transmitter Underground WordStar Comm Programs on the PCjr Critical Error Handling in Epsilon Processes Re: Sigma Maximizer Board Faster BAT Files Teco Editor Available Installing Euclid EZ-VU ISPF-like Dialog Management Changing Cluster Size Soup up your IBM-PC with plug-in 8284A replacement Re: DOS 3.0 and Old COMPAQs Today's Queries: REGIS Graphics Query Orchid TinyTurbo-286 Query 3-D Graphics Capability Wanted X.PC Query Pert Chart Query Re: Hardware Reset Button Zenith Z-200 Overheating Problem Yet Another WordStar Patch Request CAEE Tools for Z-241 Wanted EGA Information Wanted Query: Reputation/knowledge of PC Designs XT/370 3277 Card Wanted WordPerfect Merge Query SCSI Host Interface Card Query Switcher equivalent for PC? Condominium Management Program Wanted Laser Plotting Query EGA/Mono Query IBM PC Network Tools Wanted 720K Disk Device Driver Wanted Peachtree Accounting Lockup Problem ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 12:44:02 EST From: Chris Schmandt <geek@MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Ctrl-Alt-Del from Software One more wrinkle to the boot-from-software query. FFFF:0 is the power on reset vector. A warm boot from the keyboard shares this vector. The warm boot avoids the memory check by first placing hex 1234 at location 40:72. A cold boot (from power cycle) will not have such a distinct pattern there! Note that if you have a hardware reset switch, you may save some memory checking time by sticking 1234 at 40:72 in your startup. Note: all values/addresses are hex. chris ------------------------------ Date: 01-Apr-1986 1749 From: mitton%beorn.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM (Dave Mitton) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Ctrl-Alt-Del from Software You should NOT use BIOS Interrupt 19H to reboot a PC. That interrupt is the DOS bootstrap only, and does not contain any code to reset any of the devices or interrupts. The following MASM code mimics the behavior of the Control-Alt-Del key, which you can figure out by reading the BIOS listings in the Tech Ref. Basically it plugs the magic number "1234H" into the proper BIOS location, and jumps to the Power-on-reset entry point. Dave Mitton. ; ; quicky program to reboot IBM PC ; .8086 BIOS_DATA SEGMENT AT 40H ORG 0072h RESET_FLAG DW ? BIOS_DATA ENDS BIOS_CODE SEGMENT AT 0FE00h ORG 1FF0h P_O_R LABEL FAR BIOS_CODE ENDS CODE SEGMENT ASSUME CS: CODE, DS: BIOS_DATA, SS: NOTHING, ES: NOTHING START: MOV AX, SEG BIOS_DATA MOV DS, AX MOV RESET_FLAG, 1234h JMP P_O_R CODE ENDS END START [Of course, this is specific to the IBM ROM. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 17:57:45 PST From: prandt!reynolds@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Don Reynolds) To: amelia!info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: AST RAMpage and DESQVIEW In response to Yedidyah Langsam's query about the AST RAMpage board, I installed the AST 2K RAMpage card on my PC/XT simply as a large RAM disk with the following CONFIG.SYS break=off files=10 device=remm.sys device=rex.sys 2048 device=fastdisk.sys /dir=256/m/extm/dl/dh I have not yet received the promised copy of DESQview (from a 3rd party, not from AST). Turbo Lightning runs better with its main dictionary in RAM. The Auto Proof mode "false alarm" rate seems to drop, but strangely not go to zero. The "check word at cursor" function did not appear to speed up much, either but I have not watched this closely. Back to RAMpage. My impression is that Turbo Lightning, and other memory resident programs will not use the extended or expanded memory unless designed to do so (like Lotus 1-2-3, version 2.0, Framework II, etc.). When DESQview arrives, I expect some problems with memory resident software--namely having to look for non-resident equivalents to put in one of the DESQview windows. If one must run a large set of memory-resident programs, I understand SoftLogic Solutions (makers of DoubleDOS and Disk Optimizer) now markets a program that functions like the Switcher program on the Macintosh (did I say a bad word?), though it allows multiple, independent, 640 Kbyte partitions. It does not page at all, but will swap partitions at user command. Thus any memory resident programs in different partitions cannot interfere because they are not loaded in the lower 640 Kbytes at one time. My impression is that DESQview will not swap out memory-resident programs. If you want to run a program that will not fit in what is left of your 640 Kbyte address space after the memory-residents are loaded, you are still out of luck. DESQview WILL let you keep several programs automatically swapping in and out of 640 Kbyte max. space, but I don't think it will do this with memory- residents like SideKick, ProKey, etc. If I've got this wrong will you experts please set me straight? Best, Don ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1986 18:22:29 EST From: Mark Harris Perlman <6108070%PUCC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Re: Desqview I have heard rumblings from a manufacturer of EMS protocol memory boards that Desqview will soon come out with a version that supports EMS as usable memory as opposed to a ramdrive. Hopefully, this will tide everyone over until MSDOS 4/5/? comes out. --Mark Perlman 6108070@PUCC.BITNET 6108070@PUCC%WISCVM.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Apr 86 19:33 EST From: Yedidyah Langsam <YDLBC%CUNYVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: RAMPAGE and Deskview To: <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> I have received alot of inquiries after I posted my last query concerning AST Rampage and DeskView. I received more questions than answers, so I'll summarize my intial reaction to the combination - with the usual disclaimers. In summary, I am quite pleased, so far nothing has crashed and all my usual software works. So far it seems compatible with all of my software. I am in fact right now, formatting a document in the background using WordStar and Lettrix, while simultaenously being logged on to the mainframe using IBM 3101 terminal emulator. Deskview is compatible with pctalk iii, azpc2, ibm3101, wordstar, lotus, all borland products, dbase iii, basica, dos, etc. On an ordinary PC 1, with a 2 M rampage board (2.6 Meg total) everything so far looks fine. The background tasks, slow down to a crawl, but the foreground task slows down imperceptably. So far so good! Keep me posted if you hear anything and I will do likewise I have organized my Rampage board with Deskview as follows: PC 1 system board - 64K AST Mega II Multifunction 512 64 K from Rampage - 64 ____ 640 K 1984K left over on Rampage - 1984 set asside 960K as extended memory for spoolers, vdisk, etc. leaves roughly 1 MEG for Deskview to use as expanded memory. - I then loaded all the programs above into Deskview and they seem to run as discussed above. When swapping is needed, Deskview first uses up the expanded memory, and then swaps environments to the vdisk (512K). If that also fills up (an unlikely situation,) then it finally goes and swaps to the hard disk. In addition, to the software above, I have the following memory resident programs sitting in my 640 space: astclock, superspl, monclk, monblk, capstate, lettrix,sidekick,prokey, lightning. I have placed the Lightning main dictionary on to the AST supplied vdisk program (fastdisk) which is sitting in the 960K extended memory, thus freeing up additional memory in the below 640K region. So far so good. I would appreciate hearing from others who have tried this combonation. One last comment, for those who have two monitors attached to their system, there seems no way to access both from within deskview. Once you have made you initial selection via the setup program, that is the monitor which must be used throughout the seesion. It won't even respond to a mode co80 command. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Apr 1986 23:00-PST From: isabel@uw-june.arpa Subject: MS Fortran and 80287 To: INFO-IBMPC@usc-isib.arpa Does anybody know how to patch the Microsoft FORTRAN compiler v. 3.2, or the resulting executable files, so that the presence of a 287 math co-processor is properly checked at run time? The check works well on a PC, but on an AT it seems the code always decides that there is a 287, even when one is not present. As a result the machine hangs, waiting for the 287 to respond. I bought the current version (3.31) because it has fixed the problem, but it is unusable to me right now because Microsoft has decided to change the memory model and my programs will no longer work. I wrote a finite element analysis package, which requires big arrays. To avoid having to create different versions for machines with different memory sizes (512K, 640K, ...) the programs check the available amount of memory in the machine at runtime and use it if needed. This is possible because in version 3.2 the named COMMON blocks are allocated after everything else and, therefore, the last one may be expanded to the top of the memory very easily. But now the last thing allocated is the stack, with the named COMMON blocks buried somewhere in the middle. Of course, to expand the stack is now a piece of cake, but what good does it do in FORTRAN? I suspect that Microsoft wants us to use FORTRAN the same way we would use C, which in my opinion is not the way to go. Their compiler still has many things missing from the 77 standard but they seem more interested in adding non-standard features (C strings, INTERFACE, Attributes (ALIAS, NEAR, HUGE...)) than in supporting the full ANSI standard. What a joke! Another thing that irks me is that their documentation still shows the old memory model (Section 10.3.2) and you don't discover the problems until you either look at the map provided by the linker or notice that a table in one of the appendices (A.11) contradicts the information presented in much more detail in the main text. In summary, I am most unhappy with this product and with the unprofessional attitude of Microsoft. Anybody looking for a FORTRAN 77 compiler should try to look elsewhere because Microsoft efforts to support the language do not seem very serious. Thanks in advance to anybody that may help me fixing the 287 bug. Fernando G. Loygorri [We've mentioned this several times, but here it comes again: If you are running on an AT and do not have an 80287 installed, before using MS Pascal or Fortran you must give the DOS command SET NO87=X. The Lahey F77 compiler is better, but it's more expensive and requires an 80287 chip. -rag] ------------------------------ From: lotto%lhasa.UUCP@harvard.HARVARD.EDU Date: 1 Apr 86 09:56 EST To: harvard!info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: NO87 switch Just an aside. Since the value of the environment variable NO87 is echoed to stdout, it is useful to set it to "8087 disabled" or something like that. Also, be sure that you do not have a program that has been compiled w/o the emulator library, since NO87 is meaningless if there is no alternative. Jerry Lotto (lotto@harvard.arpa) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 07:44 EST From: MKATZ%UMDB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Converting EBCDIC to ASCII To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA EBCDIC has two characters that print as backslashes. The Waterloo C compiler on the IBM here requires the one that isn't entered when you type in a backslash so to run any C program we have to go into XEDIT and ALTER all the backslashes. I don't remember which slash is which because I haven't done this in a couple months. I think the two codes are (hex) 4A and E0. Try ALTER 4A E0 * *. If that has no effect try ALTER E0 4A * *. Manasseh Katz ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 09:54:15 est From: ANDERSEN <sigurd%vax1.acs.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> To: INFO-IBMPC%usc-isib.arpa@louie.udel.EDU, oded%wisdom.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.EDU, ud-ibmpc@louie.udel.EDU Subject: Re: Text-oriented Databases I've looked into some programs that may do what you want. We (Academic Computing Services, University of Delaware) are seriously considering a site license from Pro/Tem Software (814 Tolman Drive, Stanford CA 94305) for Notebook II and Bibliography, two companion programs. Notebook II would do what you want. It's a database with variable length records. The user interface is straightforward. Files are limited by disk capacity more than by arbitrary numbers of characters or records in a file. List prices are $189 and $99, or $264 for both programs. You can find reviews in: NY Times, March 11, 1986, p. 23; PC World, January 1986; Personal Computing, December 1985; PC Magazine, Nov. 12, 1985, p. 249. The Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison MACC newsletter reviewed Note- book II and FYI 3000 ($395 from Software Marketing Associates, 4615 Bee Cave Road, Austin, TX 78746) in their Oct. 14, 1985 issue. PC Magazine reviewed four programs in their Aug. 20, 1985 issue (p. 137): ZyINDEX (ZyLAB Corp., versions for $145- $695); Office Correspondence Retrieval system (OCRS from IBM Entry Systems Division, $149); 4-1-1 (Summa Technologies, $149); and FYI 3000. InfoWorld (Aug. 19, 1985, p. 20) mentioned government interest in Zyindex, Text Bank/PC and Ask Sam. I've seen a demo of DayFlo (DayFlo Software, 17701 Mitchell Ave. N., Irvine, CA 92714 (714) 474-1364, a "limited time" offer for DayFlo AND ReportFlo (list $690) for $149) that was impressive. It needs a hard disk because the program is big, but is the most "free form" database I've ever seen. No two records in a database need have the same subset of fields. One last program that might fit your need is Sci-Mate from ISI (Institute for Scientific Information, 3501 Market St., Phila- delphia PA 19104 (215) 386-0100, $399 list qtty. 1), which has code to facilitate downloading bibliographic information from online databases. Looks impressive, if that is what you need. ------------------------------ Date: 1 Apr 1986 1340-EST (Tuesday) From: jrodrig@EDN-VAX.ARPA (Jose Rodriguez) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Re: BSR Transmitter If you can't find a ibm-pc board that acts as a BSR transmitter, you might want to look at two sources of transmitters that have an RS-232 interface: 1) DAK catalog was selling such (can't remember the name right now). 2) Heathkit has a build-it-yourself kit for around $100 that supposedly is somewhat fancy - programmable in some sort of BASIC-like language for controlling BSR modules. I have no experince with them (except that I plan to order the DAK one). Jose jrodrig@edn-vax p.s. I got DDJ c-shell for MSDOS so sometime soon I will post some review of it. One thing: it does not handle the DOS internal commands (i.e. dir, rename, del, etc.) so it is a little weird using it. Hard to be believe such little programs make such a difference. I think the way it works is that the guy selling the shell (for 49.95) sells a bunch if unix-like tools for another 49.95 -- a little of a con-job but...given that it includes source... Anyway I will try it out with my PopDOS utility. p.p.s. Nope its not pd nor shareware (the shell). In the other hand, the documentation says that if you got it already, you can order it from the writter and get the rest of the package. This middle ground between pd and copyright is really confusing. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Apr 86 13:27 EST To: dave%scu%panda@sumex-aim.arpa From: GKN3M2%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Underground WordStar CC: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa "Underground WordStar" by Ward Starr and Mel Murch may only be obtained directly from the authors. The address was listed in the 4/29 issue of PC magazine. For the benefit of the net: send $19.95 plus $2 for ship/hand. to Hard/Soft Press Box 1277R Riverdale, NY 10471 The usual disclaimers apply. ------------------------------ From: ulysses!mhuxm!salehi@ucbvax.berkeley.edu Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 16:17:55 est To: mhuxf!usc-isib.arpa!Info-IBMPC Subject: Comm Programs on the PCjr One easy way to run comm programs such as procomm on the pc jr is to run a program called COMSWAP.COM or SWAPCOM.COM first. This program is also available at many Bulletin boards. ------------------------------ Date: 1 Apr 86 16:10:11 PST From: DAVE@CIT-4341.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB, Epsilon@CIT-4341.ARPA Subject: Critical Error Handling in Epsilon Processes There is a problem with Epsilon 3.01 when running a process. If you do a DIR or CHKDSK from the process buffer, and the drive is not ready or gets an I/O error, it is possible that one of your other buffers will get trashed after you return from the "Abort, Retry, Ignore" message. This trashing takes the form of a line or two of garbage characters near the top of the file. This problem doesn't always show up - it seems to be dependent on your CONFIG.SYS and what resident programs you have loaded, but I've been able to consistently recreate it on both IBM and non-IBM machines under PC-DOS 2.0, 3.0 and MS-DOS 2.11 using the following procedure: 1. Boot an unmodified DOS without any AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS. 2. Fire up Epsilon with some file at least 20 or 30 lines long. 3. Start a process buffer (C-X C-M) and do a DIR A: or whatever to a drive that doesn't exist or has no diskette in the drive. Replay 'A'bort to the error message, and then switch back to your file. Surprise! The buffer itself is getting whacked - not the display memory. I haven't made any attempt to decode the trash characters, but it seems obviously related to the diskette error message (note that Epsilon is involved in this because the message appears in the prompt area, not the process buffer itself). I have written to Lugaru, but in the meantime I am much more careful about running programs within a process that might cause this error message. -Dave Lutz, Caltech Computer Science Dept. DAVE@CIT-4341.CALTECH.EDU (818) 356-6740 ------------------------------ From: crash!rgale@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 21:25:54 PST To: SHERIDAN@stl-host1.arpa Subject: Re: Sigma Maximizer Board Cc: INFO-IBMPC@usc-isib.arpa About a month ago, I replaced an AST SixPack with a Sigma Maximizer because I needed a second serial port. It works fine. It uses its own program for the clock/calendar, of course, but changing the affected line in my AUTOEXEC.BAT was the hardest part of the installation. I don't feel you need have any qualms about buying this board. -- Ryan Gale ARPA: crash!rgale@{ucsd, nosc} UUCP: {ihnp4, cbosgd, sdcsvax}!crash!rgale \___!man!rgale ------------------------------ Date: 2 Apr 1986 14:33:27-EST From: mlsmith@NADC To: I1060301@dbstu1.bitnet, @, wiscvm@NADC Subject: Faster BAT Files Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib I use DOS 3.1 and increasing the numbers of Buffers in the CONFIG.SYS file dramatically increases the speed of BAT files. Something like buffers=20 should be sufficient, but you can go up to buffers=99 if you don't run any big programs. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Apr 86 16:26:30 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Teco Editor Available Phone BBS (604) 738-7811 for `C` sources The TECO (TExt COntext) editor is a non-visual, character oriented editor which was developed at the Massachussets Institute of Technology in the late 1960s as part of a project in artificial intelligence. When fully implemented, TECO supports conditionals, branching, and forms its own unique programming language, in fact EMACs was originally written in TECO! My version is considerably simplified from full-blown TECO, but it still is very powerful, allowing the user to edit BINARY (ie .EXE) as well as simple ASCII files, changing the value of arbitrary bytes anywhere in the file. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 86 17:29:38 est From: Coneuc Repository <coneuc%toronto.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: elmo@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Installing Euclid In response to David Farber's message about Euclid installation trashing his hard disk: We have replied to Mr. Farber directly. We wish, however, to post a follow-up to his complaints. The product to which Mr. Farber was referring was CSRI's Concurrent Euclid compiler. Mr. Farber had received a free beta-test copy of the compiler for evaluation purposes. The installation process for the compiler consists of executing a program that does nothing more than copying files from the floppies onto the hard disk, and patching drive letter names into some of the copied files. Here at the Computer Systems Research Institute we have tested the installation on an IBM PC, a PC/XT, a PC/AT, an Eagle PC, a TI-PRO, a Tandy-1000 and a Tandy-2000. Using the same installation program, we have successfully distributed approximately 300 copies of our Turing and ConEuc compilers. On rare occasions (three, to be exact), people have receieved diskettes that had in some way become unreadable, but we have never encountered anything as major as the problem Mr. Farber described. We feel that the most likely explanations for Mr. Farber's problems are that either his hard disk was close to failing before, and the 1.2 MB of information being transferred by the installation program was enough to push it over the edge, or the compiler became corrupted in some way during the mailing or copying process. In either of these cases, the problem would not be specifically the fault of the compiler, but more a characteristic of the reliability of a PC class machine. We have written to Mr. Farber asking for more information on the incident. We still have full confidence in our products, and hope that Mr. Farbers experiences will not be taken out of proportion. Distribution Manager Computer Systems Research Institute University of Toronto ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Apr 86 09:58:19 pst From: C90630JG%WUVMD.BitNet@ucbvax.berkeley.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: EZ-VU ISPF-like Dialog Management IBM markets such a product in two versions. It is called EZ-VU; the second version is called EZ-VU II. Both are divided into a devolopment facility (product # 6410980) and a runtime facility (#6316969 feature 9232). These apply to the base version; I don't have the other available. Both provide a screen devolopment facility and a run-time product that communicates with an application. The differences are (taken from memory of the product announcement) 1)I supports BASIC, FORTRAN, PASCAL, and assembler. II adds C. All assume IBM compliers. For I enough information is made available to write your own language interface; I intend to, but haven't yet, so cannot definitely tell how it will go. 2)II has much enhanced windowing and screen management. 3)II generates screens that are compatable with mainframe ISPF; I dosen't. 4)II gets around some of I's many limitations about pool space, panel switching, communication, etc. 5)II casts $500 (devolopment facility) vs $150 for I. Each run-time liscence is $60. Hope this helps. Jonathan Goldberg C90630jg@WUVMD ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Apr 86 11:42:54 EST From: Dean Carpenter <ST701979%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: INFO1-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Changing Cluster Size This week I tried the cluster change procedure in the April issue of PC-WORLD. Basically, it changes the cluster size on the IBM XT 10 meg hard disk from 4096 bytes to 2048, and increases the number of clusters from 2587 to 5163. The procedure is outlined below : 1. Backup all files 2. Boot the system with dos 3.1 and use fdisk to remove the old partition from the hard disk 3. Create a new partition (this installs the 3.1 BPB I think) 4. Format the disk - do NOT use /s or /v 5. Follow this debug script A>debug -L 0 n 0 1 where 0 = drive a ... 2 = drive c 3 = drive d -E 0D xxxx:000D 08.04 -E 16 xxxx:0016 08.15 -W 0 n 0 1 -Q 6. Format the disk again using /s (and /v if you want) The section being changed is the Bios Parameter Block. The 04 is the new number of sectors per cluster (instead of 8) but I'm not sure what the 15 is at location 0016. Does anyone know the full definition of the BPB? Results seem to be mixed ... Originally, chkdsk reported a total space of 10592256 bytes on disk with 1130496 available. After the cluster size change it now says 10571776 total space with 1887904 available. Why did total space go down by some 20K ? Anyway, I now have an extra 700K to play with and speed doesn't seem to have decreased by any noticable amount, except at the end of a dir listing when it reports bytes free - that seems to take an extra second. I can live with that ... When I restored the files from the Sysgen 10meg tape I got a LOT of little clusters that had to be retreived with chkdsk/f (1454 !!). The system seems to be fine and I have had no problems with any software as yet once those lost clusters were grabbed back. Any comments ? Dean ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Apr 86 20:13:28 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Soup up your IBM-PC with plug-in 8284A replacement I went to Trident Electronics on Friday and bought a module which plugs into the Intel 8284 timer chip socket, and which jacks up the processor clock from 4.7 to 6.8 megahertz, while leaving the peripheral clock untouched. The unit is easy to install, and offers a *super* 50% improvement in horsepower. You have to be careful that all your RAM and EPROMs are rated at 150 nanoseconds, or you will have problems. I discovered that my vendor had cut corners on the MFB-PC expansion board, and installed 300 nanosecond (!) 64k RAM chips. Most of the flakey crashes and i/o parity problems went away after I deselected the 64K bank of slow chips. Now my only problem is my BASIC which is in 2764 eproms at 250 nanoseconds. The eprom BASIC won't work no way, at 6.8 megahertz clock rate. Trident thoughtfully provides a blank i/o panel cover with a toggle to allow you to switch between 4.7 mHz (regular) and 6.8 mHz (Turbo) mode. You don't even have to turn off the MS-DOS system - it survives the speed change !. And, for those who are interested, *no* the clock does NOT run slow, nor does the serial port send at funny rates. I strongly endorse this module... Well worth it... 4122/14. Leigh Webber 15:54 Mon Mar 10/86 1 line What did the Trident gizmo cost? 4122/15. Bruce Cowan 16:36 Mon Mar 10/86 1 line Where is this Trident Electronics? 4122/16. Chany Chan (EESG, CHCH) 21:20 Mon Mar 10/86 7 lines Re 15: Trident is now called Concord Technology and is located at 47 W. Broadway (879-5012). Be very careful, as I have found there products to be of poor quality, as well as being quite close to infringing on copyright laws (if not)! Cheapest prices and quality. The module can be found around town for about $450 (don't know the price at Trident though). 4122/17. Dave Price 22:28 Mon Mar 10/86 (revised) 15 lines Trident (aka Concord Technology?) may not always be the cheapest. I went there to find out about the price of 41256 DRAMs and was quoted a somewhat reluctant $6.00 each. (They seemed less than enthusiastic when I said I wanted a total of 18!). However, Strachan Computers (1334 Main St, N. Vancouver) would sell OKI 150ns @ $47.88 per set of 9. Strachan is a neat store. Really easy going, friendly and keen to do business. I heartily recommend them, even though they are a bit off the beaten track. They also offer special prices for schools (their speciality), on pain of signing a declaration for FST exemption. I got the 41256's for $45 per set, which compares with the Product Centre charging $150.00 for two sets for a Zenith RAM upgrade. [I swear I have no connection with this store other than being a satisfied customer.] 4122/18. Ivan Reid (DMG) 23:41 Mon Mar 10/86 5 lines Tim Miles told me the cost was $45.00 @ Trident; I also have a colleague who bought 8 256K chips for his Multitech clone at $38 + tax from the Multitech distributors here - don't know their name offhand. Tim also said he had problems with 250 nS ROMs; I think he made the same remarks in an earlier response here... 4122/19. michael hui 09:55 Tue Mar 11/86 1 line 150 nS 41256 goes for $2.89 U.S. or lower, from the back of March's Byte. 4122/20. Dixon Low 22:39 Wed Mar 12/86 2 lines Could the Multitech dealer have been Cyber Videocom on Broadway as they do sell Multitech. 4122/21. Ivan Reid (DMG) 10:09 Thu Mar 13/86 2 lines I think that's them. They appear to be helpful & responsive to my friends' needs, but I have never dealt with them. 4122/22. Bruce MacDonald 10:56 Fri Mar 14/86 6 lines Beware of Trident! All reports are that products are of poor quality and service is abysmal. Apparently they regularily change their name to avoid lawsuits. I noticed that one of the companies which Apple is suing for copyright infringement is Trident and I have no doubts it is the same outfit. 4122/23. Ya'akov Miles 19:59 Thu Apr 3/86 23 lines I have now run my Multitech MPF-PC compatible for one month with the Concord "Black-Box". My observations are as follows: (1) The "Black_Box" performed as advertised, about 50% faster. (2) The floppy disk would not write with VERIFY ON, but there was no problem writing with VERIFY OFF. (3) The module had to be switched to low-speed to format floppies (4) I had to buy a set of 200 nanosecond 2764 EPROMS to replace the (slow) 250 nanosecond 2764 EPROMS containing interpreter (5) I had to get the 300 (!) nanosecond DRAMS replaced by faster 150 nanosecond DRAMS in the Multitech MFB-PC multifunction card This was done by Vendor (Cyber Videocom) as per our contract (6) The original Fly-by-night 8237A-5 DMA chip caused memory parity errors to occur after DMA operations. This problem was worse in high-speed mode but still present at low-speed(!) mode. The Vendor (Cyber Videocom) replaced this chip with an NEC 8237A-5 as part of the maintenance contract, and there have been no more problems with parity errors... ------------------------------ Date: 4 Apr 86 10:30:56 PST (Friday) From: Colvin.PA@Xerox.COM Subject: Re: DOS 3.0 and Old COMPAQs To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, SK@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU I had the same problem with my Compaq when using DOS 3.x, it would hang whenever I tried to do any floppy write operation. I recently bought a hard disk for my Compaq and could not get it to boot from the hard disk, so I poked around and discovered that I had an old version of BIOS that did not check for a hard disk (or an EGA for that matter). It turns out that I bought my Compaq back when it had the original PC compatible BIOS (instead of XT compatible BIOS). Anyway I went to a local dealer and got an upgrade ROM from Compaq and now have no problems with my hard disk or DOS 3.0. -- Craig ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 03:23 EST From: Paul Schauble <Schauble@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA> Subject: REGIS Graphics Query To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I recently acquired a copy of the Unix game EMPIRE, ported to the PC by some kind soul. One of the entries on its menu refers to REGIS graphics. Can anyone tell me what this refers to?? Thanks, Paul ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 07:56 EST From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Orchid TinyTurbo-286 Query To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Anybody gotten/used an Orchid TinyTurbo 286 yet? (That's the half-slot board you plug the 8088 into.) Opinions after having used it for the week or so you've had it? Brian ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 09:51 EST From: Deba Patnaik <DEBA%UMDC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: 3-D Graphics Capability Wanted To: INFO-IBMPC-REQUEST@USC-ISIB.ARPA Compatibility with BASIC programs is preferred. Source form will be great. I shall appreciate any pointers. deba ------------------------------ Date: 1 Apr 86 13:57:00 EST From: "DESILVA, ERIC" <desilva@nbs-vms.ARPA> Subject: X.PC Query To: "info-ibmpc" <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA> Does anyone have any information on X.PC protocol? I think it is supposed to be a file transfer protocol used on some BBS systems, and would like some information on the mechanics of the system--how and what error checking it does, etc. DeSilva@NBS-VMS ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 18:05:18 EST From: John Shaver STEEP-TMAC 879-7602 <jshaver@apg-3> Subject: Pert Chart Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isid Does someone know where I can get a public domain pert charting program? Thanks in Advance John ------------------------------ Date: 1 Apr 86 12:58:14 PST (Tuesday) Subject: Re: Hardware Reset Button From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.Arpa Does anyone know of a source for the power supply-to-motherboard power supply connectors for at AT? If I had those connectors, both male and female, then I'd build an "extension cord" with the reset circuit built in. I am not out of the one year warranty period on my AT. I've already replaced one power supply, and I may lose another one. So I'd rather not cut any power supply connector wires. Phil Burton Xerox Corp. 415 496 6514 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 22:05 EST From: "David S. Bakin" <Bakin@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA> Subject: Zenith Z-200 Overheating Problem To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA We recently acquired a Z-200 (AT clone), instantly installed a 4Mb Profit Systems Profit card (extended memory), powered it up, and were forced back from the desk by a heat shock wave. In fact, the system runs poorly and the extended memory RAM disk loses data within 15 minutes of power-up (measured via checksums on RAM disk files). We don't have this problem on any of our true blue ATs which have in addition to the 4Mb card a network card. The Zenith processor (on a card, not the motherboard) is hot enough to fry eggs (well, we haven't actually stuck a raw egg in there even though it is under warranty ...). SO ANYWAY what I'm trying to get around too: Is it just our Zenith Z-200? All Z-200s? Or only Z-200s with a Profit Systems 4Mb memory card? THANKS! -- Dave Bakin (Bakin -at mit-multics.arpa) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Apr 86 11:55 EST To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa From: GKN3M2%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Yet Another WordStar Patch Request While we're all trying to make WordStar a workable beast by patching it beyond recognition, does anyone know the patch for setting the drive where WS.COM looks for the overlay files WSOVLY1.OVR and WSMSGS.OVR? Specifically I would like to copy these files to a ramdisk and have WS.COM always look to the ramdisk for the overlays rather than the logged disk drive. This will allow WordStar to run entirely in RAM. ------------------------------ To: info-hz100@radc-tops20.ARPA, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: CAEE Tools for Z-241 Wanted Date: Wed, 02 Apr 86 13:12:12 -0500 From: tgw@mitre-bedford.ARPA I have a small laboratory and am in need of some Computer Aided Electrical Engineering (CAEE) tools to run on a Zenith Z-241, an IBM AT compatable. My principle interest is hardware design, therefore I principally need: schematic capture, logic simulation, netlist generation for wire-wrapping, and parts list generation. So far I've looked at the HP and Futurenet Systems. I'm very interested if anyone has any comments on those or other systems. Tim Wade tgw@mitre-bedford.milnet ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Apr 86 12:19:38 EST From: Steven Segletes <steven@BRL-TBD.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: EGA Information Wanted Can anyone recommend a good source of information (IBM published or otherwise) on the subject of addressing the EGA through ROM BIOS calls. Just by experimenting, I have found many of them compatible with the CGA calls, but another means of learning them might prove more expedient. Steven Segletes <steven@brl.arpa> U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory SLCBR-TB-W Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Apr 86 10:53:28 PST From: Rich Patterson <bilbo.rp@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Query: Reputation/knowledge of PC Designs I am trying to find out if any of you out there have had any experience with a company called PC Designs in Tulsa Oklahoma. They are marketing (selling) an AT compatiable at a pretty decent price. (PC WEEK March 18, 1986 pg. 66) Any information as to the reputation, service etc. of this company would be appreciated. You can reply directly to me and I will summarize. If I decide to purchase one then I will give a report on the product, performance etc. to info-ibmpc. Rich Patterson Logical: lcc.rp@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU lcc.rp@UCLA-CS {ucivax,trwrb}!lcc!rp {ihnp4,randvax,sdcrdcf,ucbvax,trwspp}!ucla-cs!lcc!rp ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Apr 86 10:23:18 PST From: Bruce_A._Cowan%SFU.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: XT/370 3277 Card Wanted The original PC XT/370s came with a 3277 adaptor card, while later ones and the AT/370 come with 3278 adaptors. I am looking for one of the 3277 cards, in working condition. Does anyone have one for sale? ------------------------------ Date: Wed 2 Apr 86 13:20:50-PST From: HOWALD%ECLD@USC-ECL.ARPA Subject: WordPerfect Merge Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Does anyone in Netland know of a way to instruct WordPerfect NOT to put in a blank line during a merge when the field information is blank? You can do this in WordStar, but I haven't found a similar feature in WordPerfect. Thanks in advance. James Howald ------------------------------ Date: Wed 2 Apr 86 13:44:31-PST From: Charles Garthwaite <CRG@WASHINGTON.ARPA> Subject: SCSI Host Interface Card Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA We are interested in hearing of SCSI host interface cards for the IBM-PC and AT buses. Second+ hand reports, rumors, as well as actual experience welcomed. Interested in full SCSI capability eventually but simple controller interesting for starter. Thank you very much. ------------------------------ Date: Wed 2 Apr 86 15:46:59-PST From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@SU-SUSHI.ARPA> Subject: Switcher equivalent for PC? To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA As I recall, Andy Herzfeld based his "Switcher" Macintosh program on a similar/related IBM-PC program. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks, Marvin ------------------------------ Date: Thu 3 Apr 86 13:55:21-EST From: Drew Anderson <Drew.Anderson@C.CS.CMU.EDU> Subject: Condominium Management Program Wanted To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Does anyone have a name of a company that makes a condominium management package? I would appreciate any pointers. Drew Anderson DDA@c.cs.cmu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Apr 86 12:18:11 PST From: Doug Lind <entropy!lind@uw-beaver.arpa> To: uw-beaver!info-ibmpc@ISIB Subject: Laser Plotting Query Are there software packages which make a laser printer (like an HP LaserJet Plus) into a high resolution plotter? Such a package should work with FORTRAN programs, much like some existing software uses a dot matrix printer. Any pointers or speciic references would be much appreciated. Doug Lind University of Washington Math. Dept. uw-beaver!entropy!lind ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3-Apr-86 21:05:32 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: EGA/Mono Query To: ud-ibmpc@louie.udel.EDU CC: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@louie.udel.EDU I have an mono adopter and a enhanced color card. I set the switch inside the AT to color and the damn thing still wants to use the mono as the primary device. Any ideas? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Apr 86 20:56:56 CST From: magelli@a.CS.UIUC.EDU (Paul Magelli) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: IBM PC Network Tools Wanted I am being development of 'network specific' market simulation program on a network of IBM PC XT's on an IBM PC Network (with an IBM PC AT as a server). I am look for a set of assembly language routines that provide Network Control Block (NCB) control, name support, and session support (virtual circuit & datagram) to a high level programming language (preferably C). I have looked around and have been surprised to find how little software is available to support network development (not that that's anything new). Does anyone know of such a set of routines available public domain or commercially? Thanks in advance!!!!! Paul Magelli magelli@a.cs.uiuc.edu University of Illinois magelli@uiuc.csnet Dept. of Computer Science uiucdcs!magelli 1206 W. Green, Rm. 160 Urbana, IL 61801 ------------------------------ Date: Fri 4 Apr 86 00:49:01-EST From: Sangho Yoon <ID.YOON@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: 720K Disk Device Driver Wanted To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Does anyone know of a device driver, public domain or otherwise, that supports the 80 tpi drive with 720K of storage formatted? I would appreciate any help. Thanks -Sangho Yoon ------------------------------ Date: 4 Apr 1986 10:09-EST Subject: Peachtree Accounting Lockup Problem From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I have a business user running the IBM Peachtree Accounting software package (don't have the version handy) on an XT. Runs just fine month after month, and then suddenly locks up at a "selection" prompt. Nothing'll break it (Ctrl Break, Ctrl Alt Del, etc.). Last time, they turned it off, turned it back on, and made lots of entries, and I had some lovely blasted data files to unscramble. This time, I supervised by phone while they shut down, restarted, and did a CHKDSK. Came up with non-contiguous blocks on several files (as expected after who knows what disk buffered data failed to be posted, open files, etc.). Did the CHKDSK /F and all the errors went away, but still don't trust those files, so we're gonna RESTORE from last night. Any ideas/experience with this particular package as to similar lockups? This software is ALL the system is ever used for, but never reports any memory errors, disk errors, etc. Problem can't be associated with power surges, etc. Plenty of memory which tests out OK with other diagnostics I've tried. It IS running a Turbo board of some sort (forget the trade name .. a 6 MHz 8086 as I recall .. can find out if significant). Sporatic things like this drive me crazy. Thanks in advance. Please respond directly to me (wild guesses are quite all right) unless the net expresses a general interest. Regards, David Kirschbaum ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 164705) 86-04-17 01.08 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <218> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-17 01.08 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <212> -- Received: 86-04-17 06.41 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-17 01.08 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #43 %Original date: 13 Apr 1986 13:15:32 PST. TF: DSKD:993846.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA % % Info-IBMPC Digest Sunday, April 13, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 43 This Week's Editor: Phyllis O'Neil Today's Queries: Printing APL Characters EGA Interface to TV Bad Clusters on Hard Disk Interleave Factors NROFF DOS 3.2 Questions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 08 Apr 86 00:17:15 CST From: C321724%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Ferrin Harrison) To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Printing APL Characters I think I saw an assembler program to identify the ROM of an AT, in an issue of Info-IBMPC, between 5 and 9. I cannot find it, and would appreciate a copy, with a description of its use in detection of the timing loop. According to the manuals, an IBM 3179 G terminal can print through an IBM Color Jetprinter. If an expansion unit is used, the terminal should print through an IBM Color Plotter. I hope this blindly prints the contents of the screen, without involving equipment beyond the terminal. If so, on site printing of APL and APL2 characters should be no problem! If not, perhaps a character set could be downloaded. Any hints on printing APL from a 3179 G terminal will be appreciated. Thanks. C321724@UMCVMB (BITNET) phone 314 442 7504 Ferrin Harrison University of Missouri Math Sciences, Statistics Columbia, MO 65211 ------------------------------ Date: Tue 8 Apr 86 09:53:50-PST From: Ed Pattermann <PATTERMANN@SU-SCORE.ARPA> Subject: Need info on IBM EGA for TV interface To: info-ibmpc-request@USC-ISIB.ARPA I need to interface an IBM EGA card to either a SONY 25XBR TV via the RGB interface, or to a projection television. I have seen companies such as Microsoft accomplish the latter at Comdex, but nobody could tell me how they did it. Does anyone know of any products that allow EGA -> SONY RGB, or EGA -> PROJ TV? Any ideas or places to look? Thanks, -- Ed ------------------------------ Date: apr 11 1986 To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> From: Hermann Willers <G95%DHDURZ2.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Bad clusters (tracks,..) on (AT-) hard disks. Is everyone sure that there is no Alternate Track assignment on their hard disks? Such a mechanism should eliminate many problems and might even settle some of the concerned questions. If this hint doesn't solve any problem: is there a user of an 20M hard disk on a PC or XT running under DOS 3.x who has the problem that DOS allocates over bad clusters ? If there is a problem it should be sort of equidistributed among the users of DOS 3.x and 20 M hard disks. Please reply directly to my BITNET address. Hermann Willers <G95@DHDURZ2.BITNET> ------------------------------ Date: apr 11 1986 To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> From: Hermann Willers <G95%DHDURZ2.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Proposal on Finding Out Interleave Factors On how to find out IF's, the hardware architecture and function manual of the Olivetti M24/M21 says there is a check track controller command. Its opcode is x'10', its operands are logical unit number, cylinder, head, and the interleave factor. It doesn't return directly anything, but one can issue the request sense command and interpret its results. One bit pattern means: unexpected track format. So if one encounters this pattern, the interleave factor is wrong. Since it is 1..16 and only one IF gives a good result, one should be ready with testing rather quickly. This, however, can be guaranteed for only in the case of an Olivetti (or AT&T) controller and a harddisk supplied by either of them. Since the Olivetti is quite compatible to the IBM, one might find some commands like these also in the IBM manuals. I'm sorry to say I didn't test this procedure since I don't have a hard disk. Good luck ! Hermann Willers <G95@DHDURZ2.BITNET> PS. Contact me in case you need the exact data on the controller commands. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Apr 86 11:37:09 cst From: merworth@ngp.UTEXAS.EDU (Boyd Merworth) Subject: nroff on an IBM-PC? To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA I have a very unusual request. At least it may be. Does anyone know if there exists an nroff that will run on an IBM-PC Model 5154? Pointers to even rumors will be appreciated. Since I use an AT&T 7300 pc, I'm rather groping in the dark here. Please reply direct. I'll summarize if I get enough (any) responses. Thanks. ------------- Boyd Merworth The University of Texas at Austin, Computation Center, Austin, TX 78712 ARPA: merworth@ngp.UTEXAS.EDU UUCP: {ihnp4,allegra,seismo}!ut-sally!ut-ngp!merworth {...}!ut-ngp!dstar1!merworth "Better an old hat than a cold head." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11-Apr-86 20:13:08 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: DOS 3.2 Questions To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@louie.udel.EDU Anyone have a manual for DOS 3.2 who will tell me how to: 1. Set up a bigger environment. /E does not work right anymore 2. How driver.sys is set up. ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 164991) 86-04-17 07.23 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <219> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-17 07.23 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <213> -- Received: 86-04-17 19.33 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-17 07.23 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #42 %Original date: 10 Apr 1986 23:17:46 PST. TF: DSKD:994027.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 47310 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 17 Apr 86 00:40 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 11-Apr-1986 03:34:03-est Date: 10 Apr 1986 23:17:46 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #42 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, April 11, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 42 This Week's Editor: Richard Nelson Today's Topics: Text of IBM Announcements <INFO-IBMPC> Library Announcements (3 msgs) Freeware Available Fast-88 Speed Up Kit For PC & XT ASCII vs. EBCDIC character set Fortran to C revisited Instant Recall Text Dbms Today's Questions & Answers: REGIS Graphics EGA Issues (3 msgs) Video Card Shading & Avocado GrayScaler (2 msgs) ACCUTAX 86 Tax Program Problems PC Curses Query MacCharlie Some questions re new IBM PC announcements lint query Red River Technology's AT board for the PC Looking for Backgammon Player/Tutor program AT Serial/Parallel Card Pinout Query Query: Information on the Leading Edge PC Finite Element Programs Huge DOS / Memory Expansion Query AT/370 performance query, SDLC ports query Matrix Spreadsheets Dutch IBM-PC User's Group DESQview (2 msgs) XLISP 1.6 for Z-100 De Smet C and other C Compilers Another request for 720K on the PC/AT tcp/ip on Xenix AT with 3Com board AT Memory Query ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 9 Apr 1986 14:34:06 PST Subject: Text of IBM Announcements From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA As we no longer have the IBM net connection we no longer get text of recent IBM announcements. Does anybody have online the tech spec for the new portable or AT? ------------------------------ Date: Tue 8 Apr 86 18:33:37-EST From: Bruce Hillyer <BRUCE@CS.COLUMBIA.EDU> Subject: DATES.TUR an Appointment Calendar Program To: info-ibmpc-request@USC-ISIB.ARPA I am submitting a turbo pascal program that maintains a file of 1 line memos - a simple appointment calendar. When run, the program displays calendars on the top half of the screen, and memos on the bottom. The three files are dates.hlp, dates.tur (the program), and zstring.tur (an included file of routines for null-terminated strings). -B. [DATES.HLP and DATES.TUR are added to our list of programs. DATES.TUR contains the zstring routines. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu 3 Apr 86 10:40:18-EST From: Bruce Hillyer <BRUCE@CS.COLUMBIA.EDU> Subject: EVAL.PAS and LOCAL.E in <INFO-IBMPC> Library I am submitting two items to the info-ibmpc library. The first is a command-line arithmetic evaluator called eval. I wrote it in Microsoft Pascal by modifying the public domain code (see the included comment) from the spreadsheet distributed with Turbo Pascal. The second is a collection of routines that I wrote in eel for Epsilon. -Bruce. [EVAL.PAS and EVAL.HLP can be found in the info-ibmpc directory. This sure beats dropping into basic for a quick calculation! The EEL routines LOCAL.E and LOCAL.HLP can be found in the <info-ibmpc.eel> directory. The LOCAL.HLP file should be added to the Epsilon on line documentation. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 5 Apr 1986 18:03:30 PST Subject: The <INFO-IBMPC> Librarian is Out. From: Koji Okazaki <swg.Koji@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: Koji@USC-ISIB.ARPA Hello to all you digestive systems: I have been "gone" for several months due to several factors, one being 2 terminals which both "died" on me. Now, although my terminal is finally up, I must regretfully say that I will not be able to resume my function as Info-IBMPC public domain programs librarian, due to a busy school schedule, until late June. So, for the next several months, please send all program submissions and program inquiries directly to Info-IBMPC, rather than to me (if you have not been doing so already). Thanqueue... See you people in a few months! Koji ------------------------------ Date: Sat 5 Apr 86 13:42:36-CST From: Pete Galvin <CC.GALVIN@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> Subject: Freeware Available To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISID.ARPA I've moved several more programs into my public area for ARPAnet snarfing. Included are PC-FILE III v4, TDEBUG (turbo pascal SOURCE debugger), and QMODEM v2.0E (with script files). For a full listing of the files available, nab the file [R20.UTEXAS.EDU]<CC.GALVIN.PUBLIC>FILES.DIR. The programs themselves are in the same directory. Anonymous logins are allowed. Enjoy, Pete ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Apr 86 18:24:07 pst From: voder!kontron!cramer@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Clayton Cramer) Subject: Fast-88 Speed Up Kit For PC & XT To: voder!usc-isib.arpa!info-ibmpc I recently purchased a kit for my home PC called *Fast88* from a Fremont company called MicroSpeed. This kit provides a substantial performance improvement for the IBM PC, XT, and *some* of the PC clones at a very cost-effective price. Contents of the Kit The kit includes: an 8 Mhz 8088; a board containing 6.1, 6.7, and 7.4 Mhz 8284A clock chips; an external switch for switching from 4.77 Mhz (the normal PC/XT speed) to the jumper selectable high speed, and a "hard reset" button that is effectively equivalent to switching the power on and off; and a few pieces of mounting hardware to locate the board on the back of the PC/XT system unit (this is *not* a board that plugs into the mother board. What It Is Supposed To Do The instructions claim that 6.1 Mhz can be used on just about all PCs, 6.7 Mhz on all systems with 200 nanosecond memory, and 7.4 Mhz on all systems with 150 nanosecond memory. (Standard speed of the PC is 4.77 Mhz.) What Happened When I Installed It In My System To begin with, I have an antique IBM PC -- 16K RAM chips on the mother board, and a five digit serial number. However, all the RAM in my system is either 200 nanosecond or 150 nanosecond. Installation is pretty easy, and the documentation is quite clear. It took about fifteen minutes to install. At 6.1 Mhz my PC worked perfectly. At 6.7 Mhz (a speed that should have worked) the memory was untrustworthy -- everything worked for a few minutes, then characters started to change in a mildly random manner. Finally the system locked up. At 7.4 Mhz it didn't work at all. I called technical support at MicroSpeed, and the person I talked to indicated that the problem was probably my DMA controller chip (8237A). As he explained the type of failure this chip is prone to, I realized that non-reproducible memory problems that I've had with my PC for the last several months were probably caused by the DMA controller chip as well. (Unfortunately, the chip is soldered into the motherboard on my PC, and is therefore not easily replaced.) Performance Even at 6.1 Mhz, the performance improvement is dramatic. A stopwatch isn't necessary to see the improvement -- just about any program you run is clearly faster. The first test I ran was to load in a book I'm writing into the Volkswriter Deluxe word processor. At 4.77 Mhz it takes 192 seconds. At 6.1 Mhz it takes 150 seconds. (About 28% better.) The second test was to compile and link a C program with the Microsoft C compiler. At 4.77 Mhz it took 159 seconds. At 6.1, 130 seconds. (A 22% improvement.) The third test was running the CHKDSK command of PC-DOS. This went from 14.5 to 12.7 seconds. (A 14% improvement.) The fourth test was executing the PC-DOS command TYPE README.DOC. This reduced from 16.6 to 12.7 seconds. (A 31% improvement.) The fifth test was scrolling through a small file using Volkswriter Deluxe. This went from 3.1 to 2.4 seconds. (A 29% improvement.) Things That Don't Work MicroSpeed warns that the PC-DOS FORMAT and DISKCOPY programs and certain types of copy protection schemes will not work correctly at higher speeds. In my limited testing, I have not found any programs that don't work. However, the *Fast88* kit allows you to change from the standard speed to the higher speed and back *while programs are running*, so you don't have to reboot the system if you need to use a program that only runs at 4.77 Mhz. Cost $129 from MicroSpeed; I bought from Fry's Electronics in Sunnyvale and saved $10. I have no financial interest in MicroSpeed -- I wish I did. ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: ASCII vs. EBCDIC character set Date: Mon, 07 Apr 86 19:36:55 -0500 From: jcmorris@mitre.ARPA Two recent issues of the Digest (40 and 41) have included discussions related to EBCDIC-ASCII translations. While the following isn't a full analysis of the problem, it may shed some light on the subject. The problem has its roots in the fact that the ASCII and EBCDIC character sets each contain characters not present in the other. Further, keyboards designed for the EBCDIC character set generally excludes several characters which are defined in both standards and thus in effect exclude them from the "working standard" EBCDIC. The fun starts when a user wants to transfer a text file from a system using one character set standard to one using the other. Fortunately, the majority of the characters normally used are common between ASCII and EBCDIC. This includes the 52 alpha characters (upper and lower case) the digits, and most of the special characters. Unfortunately, modern programming and system languages have begun to make use of these special characters (especially the backslash) and the decisions made long ago are coming back to haunt us. Most FTP's which support file transfer between EBCDIC and ASCII environments make innocuous translations where there isn't an absolute equivalence between The translation between ASCII and EBCDIC characters is benign in most cases. As an example, most FTP's will translate the EBCDIC vertical bar (X'4F') into the ASCII broken bar (X'7C') and back. There is no ambiguity here, since EBCDIC doesn't include a broken bar and ASCII doesn't have the vertical bar. (Actually, there is an EBCDIC broken bar -- X'6A' -- but I've never seen it used except as decoration.) The other sticking point in the translation tables has been the EBCDIC "cent sign", which is completely absent in the ASCII set. Someone long ago decided to translate that character (X'4A') to the ASCII backslash. The common EBCDIC terminal at the time -- the IBM 3277 display -- didn't include the backslash on the popular keyboards but did include the cent sign, so the mapping was logical: a user editing a file which would be sent to an ASCII environment could create backslashes even though they weren't on the keytops. The Big Blue introduced the 3278 terminals which had backslashes, and the stage is set for problems. ------------------------------ From: ucdavis!lll-crg!seismo!enea!intrin!pl@ucbvax.berkeley.edu Date: Tue, 8 Apr 86 23:01:26 +0200 To: ucdavis!usc-isib.arpa!Info-IBMPC Subject: Fortran to C revisited Hello, I saw the item 'Fortran to C cross compiler' on the topics list, and would like to inform you about a product called 'C-77' which is at a late development phase here in Intrinsic Ltd: C-77 supports full ANSI FORTRAN-77 and MIL extensions plus most of the additions (those which do not depend on file system structure) made by Digital Equipment. Also all of the Hewlett-Packard Fortran additions are included. Output code is direct C a` la K&R and the more weird Fortran features (eg. some FORMATs and complex arithmetics) are added trough a Runtime Support Library. C-77 beta testing is scheduled to be completed in July and the product will be available on both UNIX and VMS. For more complete information please contact Intrinsic Oy C-77 Support P.O. Box 20 33720 Tampere FINLAND Greetings: Petri Launiainen ...mcvax!tut!pl@intrin.UUCP ------------------------------ From: Edward_Vielmetti%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Instant Recall Text Dbms Instant Recall is a fascinating free text database program. For one thing, it's memory resident (groan--another memory resident program to fight for limited space) and that might be a disadvantage if it were designed for real structured applications. Instant Recall (do I call it IR or Instant? grrr) is nicely suited for gather random scraps of notes or thoughts or feelings and squirreling them away. This trial version allows you 80K of notes, organized as one single file. Each record is a "note-card" of sorts, on which you can write just about anything you please in any form you like. (The thing is set up as just one big field per record, it seems.) Searching through the records is accomplished by the FIND command (^F); if you don't want to see all the 34 records it brings up, you can NARROW the search (^N) with additional keys. All the words are indexed. I'd say it's part of the new wave of software in the "packrat metaphor." All this business about desktops has long disappointed us who have lots of junk on the floor. With IR, it looks like it might just be possible to save away all those scraps of thoughts and recover them in reusable form. Interesting product. Available from: Precept 3790 El Camino Real, suite 173 Palo Alto, CA 94306 (415) 598-2481 They ask $65, which includes a version that will handle 2M files, a printed manual, phone support, and a 1 year newsletter subscription. The phone number given appears to be just an order desk. It's shareware, too, by the way. I can't post binaries anywhere; it's up on the Wipcus BBS (313) 663-1835, Gene Plantz's BBS in Chicago, and probably many others. Edward Vielmetti Microcomputer Support Group University of Michigan (313) 747-3744 emv%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.ARPA ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa, Paul Schauble <Schauble@mit-multics.arpa> Subject: REGIS Graphics Date: 06 Apr 86 02:55:23 PST (Sun) From: Alastair Milne <milne@ICSE.UCI.EDU> "REGIS" is "REmote Graphics Instruction Set", a set of instructions in the form of printable ASCII commands to be sent by a host machine to another machine running the REGIS interpreter. I have used it on the DEC GIGI, and as far as I know, it is a registered DEC trademark. In my setup, I sent the instructions from a host microcomputer over a 7-bit serial line. It has provision for line-drawing, arc-drawing, shading, area fill, setting of patterns, etc.; furthermore, the parameters for a giving drawing command (line draw, fill, etc.) can be specified "locally" to that command, without affecting the machine's default settings. Parameters include drawing colour, drawing logic, line pattern, fill pattern, and more. It has capacity for tracing execution and for creating and executing macros. It has been 2 or 3 years since I used it, so my memory of it is rather distant. If you're interested, I suggest you contact DEC. Hope this helps, Alastair Milne ------------------------------ Date: Apr 7 1986 To: Info-IBMPC <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> From: Hermann Willers <G95%DHDURZ2.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: How to avoid snowy mode on the CGA in Turbo-Pascal Some time ago several people asked, how one could use fast output to the display memory of the CGA without getting "snow" all over the screen. Here's one solution for the purist, INLINE-hating, Turbo-Pascal programmer. I didn't measure the speed increase, but now I don't wait any more for the screen to be updated. procedure lineout(tempstring : str80;row,col : integer); var l,video_addr,v_offs : integer; {videobase contains the address of the video display memory} {$b000 for mono, $b800 for cga} {videopg is the current video page (0-3) for the cga} {monochrome is boolean, bb is byte} {video_attr is byte, contains the video attribute for the string to be output} {this routine is part of a larger program and is tested} {I hope the brackets get through ebcdic filtering} begin if monochrome then video_addr := videobase else video_addr := videobase + videopg shl 8; video_addr := video_addr + (row-1)*10;v_offs := (col-1) shl 1; if not monochrome then begin inline($fa); {cli - that much inline should be allowed} repeat bb := port[$3da] and 9; {get retrace bits} until bb = 0; {retrace is vertical} port[$3d8] := $21; {blank the screen} end; for l := 1 to length(tempstring) do begin {output} mem[video_addr:v_offs] := ord(tempstring[l]);v_offs := v_offs+1; mem[video_addr:v_offs] := video_attr;v_offs := v_offs+1; end; if not monochrome then begin port[$3d8] := $29; {80 by 25, video enable, blink enable} inline($fb); {sti - if you want to use your keyboard} end; end; Has anyone, by the way, heard of a coprocessor by NEC substituting the 8087 ? If my info is correct, its designation is uPD 72091 FPP. Price to be expected (as I have heard rumors) in the $20-30 region. If anyone knows more than this, please let me know (to my BITNET address, please !) and notify the net. Hermann Willers <G95@DHDURZ2.BITNET> ------------------------------ From: ima!johnl@bbncca Date: Wed Apr 9 17:47:21 1986 To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Dave Farber's EGA question He asked how you tell it that the color screen on the EGA is his primary screen, rather than his mono screen. Leave the switch inside the AT set to say that there is a mono screen, since there is one. Run the setup program on the diagnostics disk and you'll find one of the questions that it asks is which screen you want to use as the primary one. John Levine, ima!johnl or Levine@YALE.EDU ------------------------------ From: hermix!stan@rand-unix.ARPA To: randvax!info-ibmpc%ISIB@ECLB Subject: EGA Info Date: Sat Apr 5 12:05:22 1986 There were several questions re: IBM EGA. steven@BRL-TBD.ARPA asked about an IBM publication documenting the EGA. It does exist and is found in the Tech Reference for Personal Computer Options Your IBM Product Center normally has a copy and it runs $150. In it is other information regarding the PC network, etc , etc. There is a full ROM listing of the EGA interrupts. Enclosed at the end is a summary of some of the EGA interrupts from a past posting. farber%pcpon.pc.udel.edu@LOUIE.UDEL.ARPA was having problems with both a mono and a ega card in the same system. He wanted the ega card as the default card. Table 2, pg 20 of the EGA Installation Instructions list the switch settings for the EGA/ mono combo with EGA being the Primary Adapter. SW1 SW2 SW3 SW4 EGA MODE On Off Off O Color 40x25 Off Off Off O Color 80X25 On On On Off Enhanced Color - Normal Color Mode Off On On Off Enhanced Color - Enhanced Color Mode Finally there is a switch in the AT which is found between the 80287 socket and the power connections to the mother board. It is a single switch. If the EGA is the only display in the system, it must be pushed towards the front of the system unit. If you have multiple displays, switching it towards the back of the system unit selects the mono as the primary display. Pushing it forward makes the EGA the primary display. The following summary came from Bruce_Cowan%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS about a year ago. Here are some very brief instructions for the BIOS interface for the enhanced graphics adaptor. No guarantees about accuracy. Hope they are of some use. I haven't figured out most of them. Parenthesized comments indicate some things I have found out. I'd like any more information anyone comes up with. EGA extensions to ROM BIOS INT 10H. (AH)=0 Set mode (AL) 0-7 as before (7 is now user selectable) D graphics 320x200 on color (5153) monitor E graphics 640x200 F graphics 640x350 on monochrome monitor 10 graphics 640x350 on 5154 monitor All above have graphics memory at A000:0. If you use one of the old modes, the memory appears at the standard address for the old adaptors (B000:0 or B800:0). (AH)=10 Set palette registers (AL)=0 Set individual palette register BL = palette register to set, BH = value to set (AL)=1 Set overscan register BH = value to set (AL)=2 Set all palette registers and overscan ES:DX points to a 17 byte table bytes 0-15 are the palette values, respectively byte 16 is the overscan value (AL)=3 Toggle intensify/blinking bit BL - 0 enable intensify BL - 1 enable blinking (AH)=11 Character generator routine Note: This call will initiate a mode set. (AL)=00 User alpha load ES:BP - pointer to user table CX - count to store DX - character offset into table BL - block to load BH - number of bytes per character (AL)=01 ROM monochrome set BL - block to load (AL)=02 ROM 8x8 double dot BL - block to load (AL)=03 Set block specifier BL - char gen block specifier D3-D2 attr bit 3 one, char gen 0-3 D1-D0 attr bit 3 zero, char gen 0-3 Note: When using AL=03, a function call AX=1000H, BX=0712H is recommended to set the color planes resulting in 512 characters and 8 consistent colors. Note: The following interface (AL=1x) is similar in function to (AL=0x) except that: - page 0 must be active - points (bytes/char) will be recalculated - rows will be calculated from the following: int (200 or 350) / points - 1 - CRT_LEN will be calculated from: (rows+1)*CRT_COLS*2 - the CRTC will be reprogrammed as follows: R09H = points - 1 max scan line (only done in mode 7) R0AH = points - 2 cursor start R0BH = 0 cursor end R12H = (rows+1)*points-1 vert disp end R14H = points underline loc The above register calculations must be close to the original table values or undetermined results will occur. Note: The following interface is designed to be called only immediately after a mode set. Failure to adhere to this practice may cause undetermined results. (AL)=10 User alpha load ES:BP - pointer to user table CX - count to store DX - character offset into table BL - block to load BH - number of bytes per character (AL)=11 ROM monochrome set BL - block to load (AL)=12 ROM 8x8 double dot BL - block to load (this gives 43 lines in char mode) Note: The following interface is designed to be called only immediately after a mode set. Failure to adhere to this practice may cause undetermined results. (AL)=20 User graphics chars INT 01FH (8x8) ES:BP - pointer to user table (AL)=21 User graphics chars ES:BP - pointer to user table CX - points (bytes/char) BL - row specifier BL = 0 user DL - rows BL = 1 14 (0EH) BL = 2 25 BL = 3 43 (AL)=22 ROM 8x14 set BL - row specifier (AL)=23 ROM 8x8 double dot BL - row specifier (this seems wrong, use BL=# rows) (AL)=30 Information CX - points DL - rows BH - 0 return current INT 1FH ptr ES:BP - ptr to table BH - 1 return current INT 44H ptr ES:BP - ptr to table BH - 2 return ROM 8x14 ptr ES:BP - ptr to table BH - 3 return ROM double dot ES:BP - ptr to table BH - 4 return ROM double dot (top) ES:BP - ptr to table BH - 5 return ROM alpha alternate 9x14 ES:BP - ptr to table (AH)=12 Alternate select (BL)=10 Return EGA information BH = 0 - color mode in effect = 1 - monochrome mode in effect BL = memory value 0 0 - 064K 0 1 - 128K 1 0 - 192K 1 1 - 256K CH = feature bits CL = switch setting (BL)=20 Select alternate print screen routine (AH)=13 Write string This is the same as documented in the PC/AT Technical Reference BIOS listing (but is new for non ATs). ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Apr 86 12:58:07 est From: jpp@ORNL-MSR.ARPA (J. L. Patton) To: steven@BRL-TBD.ARPA Subject: EGA References Cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Steven, The following are good references for the EGA. However, the Seminar Proceedings from IBM is excellent. Good Luck! Hoffman, Thomas V. Graphic Enhancement. PC TECH JOURNAL, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 58-71. IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER SEMINAR PROCEEDINGS. Vol. 2, No. 11-1, May 1985. IBM Corporation. Publication Code G320-9318-01. Enhanced Graphics Adapter Addendum. TECHNICAL REFERENCE: OPTIONS AND ADAPTERS. IBM Corporation. October 1984. Norton, Peter. PROGRAMMER'S GUIDE TO THE IBM PC. Microsoft Press, Bellevue, WA. 1985. The Seminar Proceedings is a freebie from IBM in individual quantities. Reply to: jpp@ornl-msr.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Saturday, 5 Apr 1986 14:45:50-PST From: fulton%donner.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM (Cathy Fulton -- CXO Technical Training) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA, fulton%donner.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM Subject: Video Card Advice Wanted I am about to receive as my home computer the following system: - Zenith Z-200 (AT compatible) with 1.2M floppy drive - 30M Seagate full-height internal hard drive - Zenith ZVM-1240 high res monochrome monitor (DB9, TTL) I need suggestions from those of you who have experience with various video cards. My requirements are the following: 1) Hercules high res monochrome compatible 2) DB9 TTL interface 3) Able to translate signals intended for the IBM CGA into appropriate signals for my Zenith monitor 4) All video modes software selectable I have perused several PC-oriented magazines for an extensive review of video cards, but have found none. In reading the ads for various cards (Tecmar Graphics Master, Paradise, Everex, Persyst, etc.), I am led to believe that each card is the greatest thing since sliced bread. What I need is input from experienced users who can tell me how compatible a given video card is with, say, programs written with a Hercules monochrome software driver. A card may provide great looking output, but if few programs incorporate software drivers for it, it's pretty useless (kind of like the present state of the enhanced mode of the EGA card). Regarding point 3) above, I have seen advertised several cards which supposedly convert signals intended for the CGA into 16 shades of gray for TTL monitors. Does anyone have experience with such a card? Thanks in advance. - Cathy Fulton uucp: ...decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-comet!fulton ARPA: fulton%comet.DEC@decwrl ------------------------------ Date: Mon 7 Apr 86 20:07:12-CST From: Pete Galvin <CC.GALVIN@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> Subject: Avocado GrayScaler To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Tired of having a composite monitor that rude programs cause to display garbage by writing color text to?!? Well, I was. Bought a GrayScaler from Avocado computing in California, based on an ad (and 30-day money-back guarantee) in a pack of cards from BYTE. After a month, it finally arrived (the company told me on the phone that that were backlogged). It plugs into the RGB connector on the Color/ Graphics adapter, and converts that output to a composite signal, changing the colors into appropriate shades of gray. The only hard part was connecting a wire to the light-pen port on the C/G board to give the thing a 5V power supply. Works like a charm. I could be crazy, but I think it makes regular text look clearer and sharper too. At $60 it's a little overpriced for the function it provides, in my opinion, but at least I can read the output from all programs. It's a nice alternative to spending $200 for a Hercules compatible board with gray shades. Glad to provide more information to those who are interested. Not associated with the company in any way, and don't even know very many people in California. --Pete ------------------------------ Date: Sun 6 Apr 86 21:53-EST From: Ed Barton <EB%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: ACCUTAX 86 Tax Program Problems To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I'm sure this is irrelevant because you all did your taxes on January 1, but I'd like to forewarn anyone who might be tempted to use the ACCUTAX 86 tax preparation software created by "AccuSoft" and distributed in PC-BLUE volume #180. This user-supported program (registration fee $35) looks very nice and convenient; it has informative help screens and convenient methods for entering data and moving between related tax forms; at first glance it appears to be just the thing to help out with the arithmetic and worksheet cross-referencing that's involved in doing the 1040 and related forms. The problem is that it doesn't get the right answers. For instance, it insisted on changing some of the amounts on my W-2 form by one cent, suggesting that the authors may have committed the well-known sin of attempting to use floating point in financial software. More seriously, it computed the tax properly on a friend's tax return, but on my return it made a serious error in consulting the tax tables, ultimately telling me I had an $800-plus refund coming when in fact I owed the IRS an additional $95. Avoid it, unless you've got a craving for audits. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Apr 86 00:35:32 PST From: cwilson%cory@BERKELEY.EDU (Wilson Choi) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: PC Curses Query Does anyone have a public domain implementation of the Unix screen updating and cursor movement package Curses? I would like to port some Unix programs which use Curses over to the PC. Thanks! Wilson Choi ARPA: cwilson@cory.berkeley.edu UUCP: ...!ucbvax!cory!cwilson ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Apr 86 12:25:38 EST From: Chris Schmandt <geek@MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: MacCharlie I am getting involved in evaluation of something called MacCharlie that you've probably seen advertised. It is a combination of hardware and software that makes your Macintosh look/act like a PC (keyboard extension hardware, etc. etc.). Now, I am not sure how much anyone would *want* such a beast, but my query is for reports from anyone who might have used it. If there's any real interest, I'll summarize and add my own observations when I have a chance to make them. chris ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5-Apr-86 11:05:45 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Some questions re new IBM PC announcements To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@louie.udel.EDU CC: ud-ibmpc@louie.udel.EDU The new PC/AT seems to have a specification for 150ns memory chips even though the clock runs at 8mhz. What is the ramification for total throughput? Are they blessing a faster clock for the model 99? ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: lint query Date: Sat, 05 Apr 86 18:18:47 -0500 From: James R. Van Zandt <jrv@mitre-bedford.ARPA> I'm aware of four lint-type programs for checking C code on an MS-DOS machine: PC-LINT Tecware $ 99 PC-Lint Gimpel Software $139 Pre-C Phoenix Computer Products Corp. $395 Lint Wizard Systems Software, Inc. $450 (bundled with compiler) Can anyone report experience with these, or point to published reviews? - Jim Van Zandt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Apr 86 09:26:06 PST From: Mitchell Yee <GA.MAY@SU-Forsythe.ARPA> To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Red River Technology's AT board for the PC Query: Has anyone tried out or heard anything about Red River Technology's replacement mother board for the PC that supposedly upgrades performance to an AT? Any info would be appreciated. I don't regularly read the bboard, so responses should be sent to GA.MAY@FORSYTHE.ARPA or GA.MAY@STANFORD.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 8 April 1986, 14:23-CST From: Laurence Brevard <Brevard@MCC.ARPA> Subject: Looking for Backgammon Player/Tutor program To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@MCC.ARPA, mcc-micro@MCC.ARPA CC: brevard@MCC.ARPA A friend asked me if I knew of any PC program/game that he could use to polish up his backgammon strategy. Ideally this program would be as much a tutor as a game. I know of at least one bridge playing program based on a rule set and inference engine that can not only play but can be asked to explain the reasoning behind its moves. If anyone knows of such a thing for backgammon (or any backgammon playing program at all), please contact me via: arpanet: brevard@mcc.arpa or call (512) 834-3567 w. or (512) 266-2165 h. NOTE: while a public domain or shareware program would be nice, we would be willing to pay a not-too-outrageous amount for a decent program. Thanks, Laurence Brevard MCC VLSI CAD Program, Austin, Texas ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Apr 86 14:14 EST To: info-ibmpc@usc-isi.arpa From: CF4A8X%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: AT Serial/Parallel Card Pinout Query We are looking for the pinout configuration for the parallel/serial card of an IBM PC/AT. We do not have access to either the technical reference manual or the hardware service manual. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Mark D. Eggers BITNET cf4a8x@irishmvs ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Apr 86 16:57 ??? From: "Perry Schmidt (SKACSL::SCHMIDT)" <SCHMIDT%ti-eg.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Query: Information on the Leading Edge PC I'd like to get some info on the Leading Edge PC. Just some general info as to how it performs, easy to use, compatibility to the IBM, graphics, etc. I know nothing about this machine except I can get a very good price on one though a student discount. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks Perry Schmidt ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Apr 86 11:59:50 EST From: Lorraine_G._Olson%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Finite Element Programs I would like to hear from anyone who is writing finite element codes for the IBM PC or other microcomputers. We could probably trade lots of useful information! Lorraine Olson Dept. of Mech. ENg. University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Lori Olson%Umich-MTS ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Apr 86 20:14:37 EST From: Dean Carpenter <ST701979%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Huge DOS / Memory Expansion Query Has anyone ever heard of a company called ALL COMPUTERS INC. in Toronto ? They make a memory expansion/multifunction card that sports a Memory Management Unit that gives you a 1 Meg DOS ! You can add up to 9 more megabytes of memory and use it as a ram disk or run multiple programs concurrently, each in it's own 1M space. It conforms to the Lotus/Intel/ Microsoft EMS spec, but does not in itself use bank switching. The blurb I have on the card makes it look extremely enticing - $995.00 with 1 meg, clock/calendar and variable address serial port. It can be configured in umpteen million different ways, allocating memory for main memory, extended memory, expanded memory, ramdisk etc. Does anyone out there actually own one of these beasts or has seen one in operation ? Thanks - Dean [Why not get twice the memory from Tall Tree and save a couple of hundred $$ -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Apr 9 1986 To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> From: Hermann Willers <G95%DHDURZ2.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: AT/370 performance query, SDLC ports query 1. A realistic benchmark (not SI) of the 6 MHz IBM-AT shows a relative performance of 2.6 to the PC. The same benchmark on an AT (6 MHz) equipped with /370 card and AT-specific (so I'm told) terminal emulation card and 3278 emulator program loaded gives a relative performance of 2.2. Does anyone know a reason ? The PC with emulation card and emulator loaded gives a performance of 1.0 (as it should). 2. With said configuration (AT + terminal emulation) the file transfer AT to the host does not work. Some software is several months overdue. Now the users want to write their own file transfer program until the (hopefully) better program comes. Does anyone know the ports of the SDLC adaptor and what they do ? Any hints or pointers will be appreciated. Please reply directly to Hermann Willers <G95@DHDURZ2.BITNET> Thanks a lot for your time & effort. ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Matrix Spreadsheets Date: Wed, 09 Apr 86 07:54:36 -0500 From: James R. Van Zandt <jrv@mitre-bedford.ARPA> It's occurred to me that a spreadsheet would be a natural way to perform matrix operations. I realize that matrix addition, multiplication, and even the solution of linear systems can be done with a standard spreadsheet, but has anyone implemented these operations properly? What I have in mind is a way to name rectangular regions and define operations using those names. (Anyone interested in implementing this should study the HP-15C calculator, which has named matrices and even handles _complex_ matrix operations.) - Jim Van Zandt ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Apr 86 22:21:39 GMT From: <mcvax!dutesta!marek@seismo.CSS.GOV> Subject: Dutch IBM-PC User's Group Organisation: University of Technology, Electrical department Delft, The Netherlands. Does a local, Dutch, IBM-PC user group exist? How can I get in touch with them? Many thanks in advance. Marek Druzdzel (mcvax!dutesta!marek) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Apr 86 20:40 MST From: RStallworthy%pco@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: DESQview and the (lack of) PATH command. There has been quite a bit of hype about DESQview lately, but there has been no mention of the deficiency of the path facility. I find this somewhat peculiar, as I would find the absence of this feature a setback. So, has this feature been provided at some later release, or am I somehow misinformed as to its absence? To clarify, it is my understanding that each running program (or partition or window, or view, or whatever it is called) will work only so long as all of the programs that it requires are found within the current directory for that program, i. e. the path as specified by the path command will not be searched. Richard Stallworthy <RStallworthy%pco@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA> ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Apr 86 10:29 EST To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa From: GKN3M2%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: DesqView under MS Windows After all this talk of comparing DesqView to MS Windows, has anyone found out that you CAN run Desqview under Windows as a full- screen application. It doesn't leave much for other applications but all the color reappears that is absent from Windows (in RGB). It's probably not a good idea to do any serious work in this configuration as the possibility of a MAJOR system crash (big red switch) is high. MS Windows will not run under DesqView, however. On the subject of color windows, the option to have them may be nice, but I much prefer good old white on black, black on white, or possibly blue on white. The myriad of colors that DesqView throws at you when you have several windows open can make yours eyes spin in opposite directions after too long. Fortunately, DesqView gives you the option of changing the patterns. After all, one really doesn't need a worksheet dressed up like Sonny Crockett. Evan Bauman U. of Notre Dame ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Apr 86 18:03 EST From: "Eric J. Swenson" <Swenson@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA> Subject: XLISP 1.6 for Z-100 To: info-hz100@RADC-TOPS20.ARPA, info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I keep hearing rumors that someone is going to make XLISP 1.6 available on the net. Is someone going to substantiate those rumors? Also, would someone be willing to generate an .EXE file for the Z-100 and make it available on the ARPAnet via ftp? I tried to use the XLISP.EXE file in the program library for the IBM-PC and I get wild interrupts on my Z-100. I suspect this is because the C runtime library is doing IBM-PC BIOS I/O. If someone could compile this on a Z-100, then the .EXE should be usable. I cannot perform the compilation myself since I only have Lattice C. (The version of the .EXE file in the program library is older than 1.6, as well). ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 86 12:02:26 CST From: munnari!augean.oz!mpope@seismo.CSS.GOV (Michael T Pope) To: munnari!seismo!info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.arpa Subject: De Smet C and other C Compilers Gday, I'm looking for information on De Smet C, specifically memory models supported, size, library and language "completeness", and comments on performance. If some other compiler is clearly superior, let me know! This weeks reported mail addresses include Michael T Pope ACSnet mpope@augean.oz Dept. Elec. & Electronic Eng. CSNET mpope@augean.oz U. of Adelaide ARPA mpope%augean.oz@seismo South Australia UUCP seismo!munnari!augean.oz!mpope BITNET mpope%augean.oz@CSNET-RELAY ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 86 03:21:17 PST From: eps%EQL.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu (Eric P. Scott) Subject: Another request for 720K on the PC/AT To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I too want to be able to read/write 720K diskettes on the PC/AT; the hardware isn't going to have any problem, but for some reason the BIOS doesn't support it (gee, I *wonder* why). 1) Does anyone have something that will fiddle with the BIOS tables and state information to support this? 2) I want /dev/[r]fd#96ds9 for XENIX!!! (I want to be able to exchange tar volumes with a Heurikon Minibox that only supports 720K format--the temporary workaround is to write track 0 only on a 360K and use a different floppy for each 9K!) 3) If there existed a "transparent" 720K package for MS-DOS, I could get twice as much on low-cost media; the special HD floppies just aren't worth it (besides not being supported on non-IBM equipment). -=EPS=- ------------------------------ Date: 10 Apr 86 12:27:00 EST From: "BARKLEY, JOHN" <barkley@nbs-vms.ARPA> Subject: tcp/ip on Xenix AT with 3Com board? To: "info-ibmpc" <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA> Anyone know of an implementation of tcp/ip for Xenix on an AT with a 3Com board? thanks in advance <barkley@nbs> ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 86 12:40 EST From: LBAFRIN%clemson.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: AT Memory Query Is it possible to use 256K RAM chips on the PC/AT's motherboard? A tech at a local computer store tells me that the address lines are set up so that you can *only* install piggybacked 128K chips on the motherboard. This seems kind of weird to me since even a mere PC can take 256K chips. We currently have an AT with 2 of the 4 banks filled with from-the-factory piggybacked 128K chips, for a total of 256K. We want to fill out the motherboard to 512K, but we want to know whether to buy 256K chips at a good price from somebody like Microprocessors Unlimited, or do we have to buy the piggybacked 128K chips from IBM? Thanks in advance for any help... -- Larry Afrin Dept. of Computer Science Clemson University Please send replies, if any, to: lbafrin@clemson.csnet or lbafrin%eureka@clemson.csnet or, as a last resort, any reasonable-looking string with "lbafrin", "eureka", and "clemson" in it (And I'm told that Usenet fans can try ihnp4!seismo!clemson.CSNET!lbafrin) I disclaim everything anybody ever said about anything. ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 165317) 86-04-17 23.57 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <220> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-17 23.57 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <214> -- Received: 86-04-18 00.44 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-17 23.57 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest, Vol. 5 #44 %Original date: 16 Apr 1986 21:15:49 PST. TF: DSKD:995486.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA % % Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, April 16, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 44 This Week's Editor: Phyllis O'Neil Today's Topic: Lotus to dBase III to WordPerfect Merge ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed 16 Apr 86 14:38:39-PST From: David John Buerger <D.Buerger%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: Lotus 1-2-3 to dBase III to WordPerfect Merge To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: dave%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA, j.celoni%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA To the editor: we recently went through much grief discovering some of the undocumented requirements in translating a HUGE Lotus 1-2-3 database worksheet into dBase III, and then into WordPerfect 4.1 secondary merge format. I thought some of the Digest's readers might find this information useful. I realize this file is three pages long, but if you think it has general applicability, feel free to share it. David J. Buerger Director, PC Center Santa Clara University Dave%SCU%Panda@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA TRANSLATING DATA FROM LOTUS TO DBASE III TO WORDPERFECT David J. Buerger Santa Clara University PC Center April 16, 1986 Following is a discussion on how to translate Lotus 1-2-3 files (either version 1A or ver. 2) into dBase III format, then into WordPerfect 4.1 merge format. It is assumed that the reader have a basic working knowledge of elementary commands in all three of these packages. LOTUS 1-2-3 TO DBASE III Lotus files are easily translated into dBase III format by using the Lotus TRANSLATE facility. This is executed from the Lotus main access menu. You will find Release 2 easier to use, for it will translate both 1A and 2 files into either dBase II or dBase III files; version 1A only translates 1A files into dBase II. Before you can translate 1-2-3 files, the data must be in true "data base" format. That is, row 1 must contain only field names, and corresponding data must reside on row 2 through row n. NOTE: Field names must be valid dBase field names (upper or lower case letters, numbers may be embedded but cannot begin a field name, underscore, name no longer than 10 characters, etc.) if your file is to translate correctly. NOTE: Every field in the first record (row two) must either contain data or be formatted; this format will be translated for the entire database, regardless of the content of subsequent records. An undocumented limitation of this procedure involves the width of your Lotus data file. If the file is wider than 256 characters, it will not translate. If this is the case, you must count the characters per field, and create named ranges no wider than 256 characters; each named range must extend down to the bottom of your data matrix. After entering the translate facility, you will be prompted for the type of file to be translated (e.g. Lotus 1-2-3 1A), and the type of the destination format desired (e.g. dBase III). After this, you must give the name of the source file, then a new name for the destination file. Following this, you will be asked whether you want to translate the entire worksheet, or a named range. If you had to create multiple named ranges due to an extraordinarily wide worksheet, type the name of the first named range to translate that segment. You will need to repeat the entire translate process as many times as you have different named ranges. You probably should name the destination file the same as your named range so as not to create confusion after the translation is completed. Note that the newly created dBase file will have a different extender (.DBF) than the Lotus file (.WKS). DBASE III FIXUP WORK Normally the translated dBase file will be immediately ready to work with, or translate to WordPerfect. However, if you had to split your Lotus file into different ranges prior to translation, you'll first need to JOIN the different dBase files into one (as was the original Lotus worksheet file). The dBase JOIN command is very powerful, but not very well documented in dBase literature. Following are the steps you must follow to properly join two or more .DBF files which together should form what was formerly in one Lotus worksheet file. 1. MODIfy STRUcture on each new .DBF file such that each has a new common link field. In other words, add a new field (should go in front of field #1 in each newly translated .DBF file); this field should be NUMERIC, five spaces wide. Call this field RECNO (for "record number"). 2. Replace each RECNO field with the respective record number. This must be done in each file. Here's the dBase command: .REPLACE ALL recno WITH recno() 3. Suppose, for example you translated three different Lotus range names into three new dBase files: RANGE1.DBF, RANGE2.DBF, and RANGE3.DBF. Issue the following commands: .SELECT 1 .USE range1 .SELECT 2 .USE range2 .SELECT 3 .USE range3 .SELECT 1 .JOIN WITH range2 TO temp FOR recno = range2->recno .USE temp .JOIN WITH range3 TO mastfile FOR recno = range3->recno 4. After step 3 is completed, MASTFILE.DBF will contain all three ranges properly combined into one file (a mirror image of what originally was in the one Lotus worksheet file). You can now delete TEMP.DBF, RANGE1.DBF, RANGE2.DBF, and RANGE3.DBF. Spot check your data in MASTFILE.DBF to make sure everything passed through properly, however, before you delete these files. 5. In the event you wish to change the type of dBase data field to something different (e.g. numeric to character), yet retain the same data in that field, follow the following steps: .USE datafile .COPY TO tempdata DELIMITED .COPY STRUCTURE TO tempstrc .USE .USE tempstrc .MODIFY STRUCTURE Make your change(s) to the temporary file's structure (different data type). .APPEND FROM tempdata DELIMITED Verify that TEMPSTRC.DBF contains both the restructured data types as well as all the old data. .USE .DELETE FILE tempdata.dbf .DELETE FILE datafile.dbf .RENAME FILE tempstrc.dbf TO datafile.dbf DATAFILE.DBF should now contain all old data with new field structures. DBASE III TO WORDPERFECT MERGE FILES The WordPerfect 4.1 CONVERT program (found on the Learn disk) will convert dBase III files into WordPerfect merge format in a couple of steps. Before running CONVERT, you must make one change to your dBase file: MODIfy STRUCture of the file such that a new field is added to the end of the database. This new field should be a character field, width being one character. The purpose of this extra field is to properly format the new merge file such that records are separated from each other by a Merge E (^E). After making this small change, follow these steps: 1. Type CONVERT at the DOS prompt to start the conversion. You will have to then enter the name of the file to be converted, as well as a new file name for the resulting merge file. 2. Choose option 7 from the menu (MailMerge). 3. When prompted to enter field delimiters, type {34}{44} [return] 4. When prompted to enter record delimiters, type {13}{10} [return] 5. When prompted to enter characters to be stripped, type {34}{44} [return] 6. The conversion will take a moment, then return you to the DOS prompt when completed. The bracketed numbers you type in steps 3 - 5 correspond to ASCII decimal equivalents of the quote mark (34), comma (44), and carriage return/line feed (13,10). Fields are delimted with both a comma and quote mark to ensure that fields with blank data, as well as fields with commas in them are translated correctly. The resulting secondary merge file will now be ready to merge into a WordPerfect primary merge file. It also may be sorted using the WordPerfect SORT routines accessed via the Control-F9 command. ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 166795) 86-04-24 01.13 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <221> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-24 01.13 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <215> -- Received: 86-04-24 06.26 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-24 01.13 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest, Vol. 5, Issue 45 %Original date: 19 Apr 1986 17:42:43 PST. TF: DSKD:012429.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 33015 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 23 Apr 86 19:09 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 19-Apr-1986 22:00:33-est Date: 19 Apr 1986 17:42:43 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest, Vol. 5, Issue 45 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, April 19, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 45 This Week's Editor: Phyllis O'Neil Today's Topics: re: Maximum Number of Files Open Turbo Interrupt Handler Code Observations on the IBM PC Speedup Kit re: REGIS Graphics More PD Programs Available MacCharlie C Software--CTERP MS-DOS Kermit 2.29 is Even Closer to Being Ready PC-elevATor Board Results Network Server Problems? Disk Reorganizer/Optimizer; Bug in PC-DOS 2.x PROCOMM Ver. 2.3 Modem Program Now Available Today's Queries: Floppy Disk Questions Smalltalk VT100 Emulator PC/AT/Serial/Parallel Card Pin Configuration Mulitple Comm Lines for XT or AT NEC Numeric Coprocessor Replacement Leading Edge Model M VDisk Trashes User Interrupts? (long message) Hard Drives and Chassis Creating Own Character Sets FAT Problems ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Apr 86 20:27 MST From: RStallworthy%pco@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Re: Max Files Open (from C.I. Browne) To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: cib%f@LANL.ARPA (C.I. Browne) > I have just come across one of the DOS quirks which limits any process > limitation, DOS takes at least three off the top for itself, so that > a program can only open (and close) 17 files. This fillip is rather a > severe limitation on some text retrieval programs. > NOTE: FILES, in the config.sys file, is not relevant to this situation. > Can any dos wizard suggest a graceful way around this limitation? This information is incorrect. I have seen programs that have no difficulty in openning and reading many more than 20 files. However, since I once thought I had encountered the problem stated, until I discovered my error, I will add my two cents worth. The problem is, quite simply, that files are being openned and left open. In my particular case, I was using Turbo Pascal, and I used the "exist" function that Borland publishes in their manual. This function determines that a file exists by openning the file (called reset in pascal, so it kind of looks more innocent to those of us with backgrounds in other languages where an open without a close would stick out...). There is a bug in the function as Borland has published it, because, if the file exists, then the function has openned the file, but does not close the file. After you check for the existence of 20 files (or less) you can then open no more files. Richard Stallworthy <RStallworthy%pco@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA> ------------------------------ From: mcvax!ukc!jmh@seismo.CSS.GOV Date: Thu, 10 Apr 86 12:05:27 BST To: info-ibmpc-request <info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.arpa> Subject: Turbo Interrupt Handler Code I've had several requests for the Turbo interrupt handler installation code I mentioned a few weeks back, and I've been having increasing difficulty constructing return addresses. So, at the suggestion of several correspondents, I'm sending the code to you. It provides two procedures which allow the installation and removal of ordinary Turbo procedures as interrupt handlers. Optionally the interrupt handler may use its own internal stack and chain the old interrupt vector on exit. Procedures dealing with external interrupts will need to handle the 8259 interrupt controller themselves. Since writing the code below I have sorted out more or less how to do this, and should there be any interest I'll put together a summary of what to do. Jim Hague jmh@ukc.uucp [This is in the library as INTERRUPT-HANDLER.PAS. -pmo] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Apr 86 10:34:20 PST From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Observations on IBM-PC speed up kit I have purchased a speed-up kit (potted in black epoxy) similar to the one described in Issue 42 of your Digest. The unit plugs in place of the 8284A timer chip, and appears to provide a 6.8 meg processor clock (CLK88) signal while maintaining the same 2.38 mHz peripheral clock (PCLK) to the system timer and the same 14.318 mHz oscillator (OSC) signal to the I/O channel. This ensures that the time-of-day clock will not run fast, that serial interface adaptors will maintain the correct baud rate, and that the video controllers will still work. The unit comes with a switch to go back to the IBM-mandated 4.77 meg standard (slow) CLK88 signal for copy-molested software. My observations are as follows: (1) Like Clayton Cramer (voder!kontron!cramer@ucbvax.berkeley.edu) I had trouble with my 8237A-5 dma chip, by AMD electronics. In my case, the AMD chip was marginal even at 4.77 mHz, causing intermittent parity errors on i/o channel RAM after dma activity. Replacing this chip with a (socketed) NEC 8237A-5 cured my problem. I strongly urge that early versions of the 8237A-5 chip be replaced, apparently early versions of 8237A-5 are defective, with one DMA channel inoperative, which can cause FASTBACK and other software to fail... (2) I replaced my 5 mHz Intel 8088 with an 8 mHz NEC uPD 70108-8 ("V20") at the same time, for an additional 10% - 20% speed improvement, even though the original 5 mHz Intel 8088-5 worked at 6.8 mHz... (3) There appeared to be no problem with chips overheating, and my PC has run like a charm since. I only wish that my vendor had not potted it in epoxy, else I would try a faster crystal to see how much beyond 6.8 mHz I could push my computer... (4) Only copy-molested software (like "Flight Simulator"), and floppy disk formats require the slow (4.77 mHz) speed. As far as I am concerned, if the copy-molested software won't run at high speed, then that is the vendor's problem - I won't put up with the snails pace of 4.77 mHz Ya'akov N. Miles (id=tryn%ubc.mailnet@mits-multics) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Apr 86 14:47 EST To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: CML5A9%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Re: REGIS Graphics REGIS is DECs standard graphics description protocol (similar to Teks, but more verbose) that is used by VT125s and GIGIs(RIP) to draw graphics. Since EMPIRE was ported from unix, it obviously drew graphics on terminals that supported REGIS. -Tom Dowdy ------------------------------ Date: Sun 13 Apr 86 20:07:05-CST From: Pete Galvin <CC.GALVIN@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> Subject: More PD programs available To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I've moved several more programs into my public area for ARPAnet snarfing. Included are PC-FILE III v4, TDEBUG (turbo pascal SOURCE debugger), and QMODEM v2.0E (with script files). For a full listing of the files available, nab the file [R20.UTEXAS.EDU]<CC.GALVIN.PUBLIC>FILES.DIR. The programs themselves are in the same directory. Anonymous logins are allowed. Enjoy, Pete ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Apr 86 21:43:30 EST From: Chris Schmandt <geek@MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: MacCharlie A couple of issues ago I posted a request for info about MacCharlie. None was forthcoming, but I have had an evaluation version for the last several days and after an extensive pounding on it can report that it is, indeed, what it claims to be, i.e. totally IBM-PC compatible in IBM monochrome display adapter terms (no graphics, no CGA). Basically, Mac Charlie is a box that you attach to the serial port of your Macintosh (the Imagewriter port), some software for the Mac, a ROM version of PC Bios in the box, and a vanilla DOS disk and manual. The box has an 8088 and is (except for display, keyboard, and printer port) identical in every respect to a PC. Versions of DOS from 1.0 to 3.1 all work without fail. The software uses the Mac screen and keyboard for i/o to the PC. The keyboard is effectively hardware (interrupt level) compatible with the PC, so Epsilon, etc. work. The screen emulation bascally copies the screen to the Mac, so, again, Epsilon and others which write directly to the screen work. This display update is about 2.5X slower than on a PC, though. The parallel printer port is emulated in hardware, AND translation is performed on printer output to make the Imagewriter emulate an IBM graphics printer. Perhaps a minor bug here, but a complete emulation, including bit-map graphics. I couldn't say more without revealing how it works, which I can't. This box does total PC emulation, should you desire to turn your Mac into a PC. Also has file transfer utilities, AND comes with a connector for an expansion chasis. From the later, I booted off the hard disk and used nice devices like our Interlan ether boards running Romkey's latest TCP/IP software. This isn't an advertisement; I've never liked Macs very much and don't see why one would want this beasty, but I sure was impressed by the level of compatibility its makers (Dayna in Salt Lake City) provided! chris ------------------------------ From: gulvin@radc-lonex (James Gulvin, Lt, USAF) To: INFO-IBMPC@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: C Software--CTERP Date: Mon Apr 14 09:56:18 1986 Re: CTERP, a "C" interpreter offered by Gimpel Software. I have the CI-C86 variant and am extremely satisfied. My present project consists of 20 some modules totaling about five thousand lines. C86 produces a 47K .exe file. CTERP is handling this fine and at present leaves me about 190K in my 640K PC environment. In other words, I've still got lots of room to expand the program. For those of you who are interested in time comparisons, here's a couple( assume everything is on my RAM disk already). To compile all the modules via C86 and link takes 17 minutes using a batch file. CTERP takes about 45 seconds. Inserting a print statement for debugging, recompiling the changed module, then linking takes about 5 minutes with C86. Five seconds in CTERP and the results are on the screen. In the past month with CTERP I've written and tested as much code as I used to in an entire summer with C86. CTERP works!! CTERP provides extensive error reporting also. As my program grows, so does the chance that I'll improperly type cast a routine I've already defined in another module. CTERP keeps me staight, which is especially helpful towards the end of a session when the sun is beginning to rise. I have C86 version 2.30D and CTERP version 2.14. The only incompatability I've found so far is that C86 converts all globals to UPPER case (CTERP doesn't) because that's what good old MASM does. Now that MASM has a switch to allow case sensitive variables, maybe C86 will follow. ------------------------------ Date: Tue 15 Apr 86 14:25:17-EST From: Frank da Cruz <SY.FDC@CU20B.COLUMBIA.EDU> Subject: MS-DOS Kermit 2.29 Is Even Closer To Being Ready To: Info-Kermit@CU20B.COLUMBIA.EDU, Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: jrd@USU Joe Doupnik's latest prerelease of MS-DOS Kermit 2.29 is available for evaluation. It is called "2.28 jrd/5g 13 April 85". It has been tested by us on the IBM PC family and compatibles (not including the new PC Convertible, which is probably NOT compatible), the DEC Rainbow, and the HP-150, and by Ron Blanford at the University of Washington on the NEC APC, and also on the Intel RMX system by Jack Bryans at Cal State. Aside from fixes for the bugs that have been reported in earlier prereleases, 5g includes dynamic memory sizing in the IBM PC version -- it uses whatever memory is available for scrolling memory, rather than requiring that a certain amount be available, so that it can fit in smaller memories, like on the PCjr (does anyone have a real PCjr to test this on?). It also has a new screen-dump feature (again, on the IBM version only), activated by <esc-char>F. In case you have missed earlier postings about this new release, it also incorporates nearly complete VT102 terminal emulation for the IBM PC family, and full DOS 2.0 compatibility (a full DOS path can be used in any file specification). The .BOO file for the IBM version is available on CU20B via anonymous FTP as KER:MSJRD5G.BOO, and it is (or should be) also available on BITnet from KERMSRV as CUVMA as MSJRD5G BOO. The other versions are available on CU20B only, via FTP, in the directory <KERMIT-MS>. BOO files have been built for the Rainbow (MSVRB1.BOO) and the HP-150 (MSVHP1.BOO). The <KERMIT-MS> directory also contains 8-bit binary .EXE files for these versions. The new documentation is not ready yet, but use of "?" in commands will produce menus whenever needed. The operation of the new version on the other IBM-PC-Incompatibles supported by previous releases of MS-DOS Kermit has not been tested; these include: MSVAP3 NEC APC 3 MSVAPR ACT Apricot MSVDM2 DECmate-II or III with MS-DOS option MSVEZP Z100 with EZPC board MSVHPX HP 110, Portable MSVM24 Olivetti M24 MSVMBC Sanyo MBC MSVTIP Texas Instruments Professional MSVV90 Victor 9000/Sirius 1 MSVWNG Wang PC MSVZ10 Z100 If you have one of these PCs, and can make an FTP or DECnet connection to CU20B, or you are directly on BITnet, and you're willing to try out the new release on your system, please send a note to Info-Kermit-Request (or simply Kermit) at CU20B, and we'll get the necessary files to you. You should be able to mail directly to CU20B from both the Internet and BITnet. Those versions that have not been tested within the next week or two will be distributed with the old .BOO files until positive reports are received. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 15:06 MST From: Steve Herbst <Herbst@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA> Subject: PC-elevATor Board Results To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA I am very impressed with Applied Reasoning's 8MHz PCelevATor accelerator board. Using it and the associated RAMDISK software now in Beta-test, Lattice C compiling is 4.5 times as fast and linking is 7.25 times as fast as an 8086 running at 4.7MHz (mine is a Compaq portable). If you include the time it takes to copy files to and from the RAMDISK drive, the factors are more like 4.1 and 6.4. Here are some actual figures for compiling a large module (about 70K source) and for linking all 175 modules totalling 250K. OPERATION 8086 80286 80286/RAMDISK FACTOR --------- ---- ----- ------------- ------ Compile/1 284 sec 119 sec 70 sec 4 Compile/2 202 sec 55 sec 37 sec 5.5 Link 703 sec 407 sec 97 sec 7.25 I've experienced no problems at all with the board or the software. I bought the version of the board with 2 MB of RAM on it, one for DOS and PC-elevATor software, the other available for RAMDISK, disk cache, print spooler, and "above board" application memory. In addition, the software can access the "downstairs" memory of your old CPU board. Altogether, I am able to create a RAMDISK of about 1350K. One thing to note is that the RAMDISK drive's root directory, like any root directory under DOS, has an upper limit of 150 or so entries. When you try to exceed this number, you get "File not created". Create a subdirectory and put everything in there. PC-elevATor available from: Applied Reasoning Corporation 765 Concord Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 Contact Rose Robinson 617-492-0700 ------------------------------ Date: 15 Apr 1986 14:15:46 PST Subject: Network Server Problems? From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA An article in the 14 Apr 86 issue of Network World describes a problem with 80286-based Ethernet file servers. The problem occurs when the server machine is used locally while simultaneously serving network requests. The system locks up when disk and keyboard interrupts occur concurrently. According to the article, 3Com Corp. has a patch to some part of the BIOS which prevents system lockup. Another network vendor, Novell Inc., is also reported to have a patch available. Craig Milo Rogers ------------------------------ DATE: 16 Apr 86 13:15:00 UT To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> FROM: <U015415%HNYKUN22.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Disk Reorganizer/Optimizer & Bug in PC-DOS 2.x Just sent *REFORMAT* to Free Program Library at INFO-IBMPC. It reorganizes disks and diskettes. It was developed on an OLIVETTI M24, but also tested on an IBM PC/XT. I recommend making a backup of your fixed disks before running the program, at least for a period of time until all 'hidden bugs' are found. It was tested on several 10 Mbyte disks and lots of floppies. It should also reorganise a 20 Mbyte disk, in fact all disks that can be used under MS or PC DOS 2.xx. (NOT disks with 'extended FAT' like under DOS 3.xx on the PC/AT). I do not have access, however to a 20 Mbyte disk, so let me know if it works. Since the program moves all files, uninstall or backup protected software before running the program! There are four files you should download. REFORMAT.DOC, REFORMAT.PAS INT25.ASM, INT26.ASM. Instructions about compiling, assembling etc. are in REFORMAT.DOC. When writing the program I found a bug in PC-DOS 2.10 that does not show in MS-DOS. When issuing an INT25h (random sector read) and the direction flag is not cleared, INT25h does not perform the read, but does also not set the carry flag which it is supposed to do after an error has occured. Clearing the direction flag before issuing INT25h solves the problem. It took me a long, long time to find out why my program refused to read sectors at random. Doeg, Jos Wennmacker Universitair Rekencentrum Geert Grooteplein Zuid 41 NL-6525 GA Nijmegen The Netherlands. ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 15 April 1986 09:33-MST From: Steve Noland <NOLAND@USC-ISI.ARPA> To: KPETERSEN@SIMTEL20.ARPA Subject: PROCOMM Ver. 2.3 Modem Program Now Available ReSent-From: KPETERSEN@SIMTEL20.ARPA ReSent-To: Info-IBMPC at USC-ISIB ReSent-Date: Wed 16 Apr 1986 21:40-MST Just uploaded the latest version of PROCOMM (2.3) to SIMTEL20. This version supports KERMIT, XMODEM, YMODEM (with batch), etc..... CRCs as follows: Filename Type Bytes CRC Directory PD:<MSDOS.MODEM-UTIL> PROCOM23.ARC.1 BINARY 104448 7DF0H PRODOC23.ARC.1 BINARY 73600 C7AEH This version requires versions of ARC later than 5.0 to unpack. Regards, Steve Noland WA6KLC ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Apr 86 14:24:08 CST From: CCRJW%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Richard Winkel UMC Computing Services) To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Floppy Disk Questions Has anyone done any benchmarks with different floppy interleave factors? What is the standard interleave? Any improvement in floppy access time could be a boon to users without hard disks, and there should be no problems of incompatiblity, since the controller locates sectors via the id number stored with every sector. Also, does anyone know where dos keeps it's tables of disk format information? It appears that 10 or even more sectors can fit on a standard diskette track without sacrificing reliability. I'd like to see if microsoft's disk access algorithms are generalized enough to still work properly when the sectors/track byte is changed. (doubtful, I guess) One more question: why are there two copies of the FAT, when dos isn't smart enough to make use of the second copy if the first copy is bad? I recently had a crc error in the first copy of a FAT, and even though the second copy was readable, dos refused to touch the disk. I had to use DISK MECHANIC to first copy the disk elsewhere, then copied the second FAT into the first. Is there a better way? Thanks for any help! Rich Winkel ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Apr 86 19:04 AST From: <IUS%DACTH51.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> (1) Subject: Smalltalk for the IBM-PC To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Hi, Does anybody know whether there exists a SMALLTALK compiler for the IBM-PC? Thanks, el (Eberhard W. Lisse) ------------------------------ Date: 15 APR 86 18:15-N From: GLOOR%CSGHSG5A.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: VT100 emulator for IBM-PC I've been asked to look for a VT100 terminal emulator for our different IBM-PC/XT's, /AT's and compatibles. Does anybody know about a "real" VT100 emulator, which supports graphics rendition and beside the ANSI, also the (full set of) DEC private escape sequences. Thanks in advance. Peter Gloor, System Manager BITNET/EARN: GLOOR@CSGHSG5A Phone: ++41 71 22 24 60 St. Gall Graduate School for Business and Economics Hochschule St. Gallen, Informatikdienste, Dufourstrasse 50, CH-9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland (Europe) [There must be at least a hundred VT100 emulators on the market. PC Week did a survey a couple of weeks ago. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 07:37 EST To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa From: CF4A8X%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: PC/AT Serial/Parallel Card Pin Configuration A person here needs a cable made for the serial part of the serial/parallel card for the IBM PC/AT. Unfortunately, no one that I have been able to contact knows the pin configuration for this card. I imagine that the PC/AT hardware manual has this information, but I am unable to procure a manual. If anyone knows the pin configuration for the serial port of this card, I would appreciate the information. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 12:38:18 est From: mcgurrin@mitre.ARPA (Michael Mcgurrin) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Multiple Comm Lines for PC/XT or PC/AT We have been considering an application that would require a PC/XT or PC/AT to interface to about 30 or 40 low speed (approx. 300 baud) lines. The PC would poll the device at the end of each line for information. It would be desirable but not necessary to allow the devices at the other end to send messages (approx. 80 bytes) without being polled. Does anyone know of off-the-shelf interface cards or other means of handling this large number of lines? Thanks for any possible information! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 13:02:41 CST From: CCRJW%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Richard Winkel UMC Computing Services) To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: NEC numeric coprocessor (8087) replacement Is it being sold in the states yet? From what I've seen in PC-TECH Journal, the performance of the V20+NEC8087 is enough to justify getting the V20 in anticipation of the release of NEC's coprocessor. Apparently the V20 can distinguish between the NEC and Intel coprocessors and can make use of non-Intel enhancements in the V20 and NEC8087. Rich Winkel ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 12:57:32 CST From: CCRJW%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Richard Winkel UMC Computing Services) To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Leading Edge Model M question Does anyone have any experience with this machine? Note it's the model M, not D. From what I understand, this is the 16 bit (8086) version, while the model D is 8 bit (8088). I've heard a rumor that the M is a completely different machine which is nowhere near as 'IBM compalatable' as the model D. Does anyone know anything about it? Thanks for any help, Rich Winkel ------------------------------ Date: 15 Apr 1986 17:19:41 PST Subject: VDisk Trashes User Interrupts? From: Craig Milo Rogers <ROGERS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA The April 1986 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal carries a report on p. 116 that the VDisk driver trashes interrupts 0F0H through 0FFH on the IBM-PC/AT. Has anyone experienced this? The rest of this message is an overview of VDisk. If you don't wanna see it, please close your eyes. VDisk is a virtual disk driver. It simulates a high-speed disk(s) by using parts of main memory. On the IBM-PC/AT it can use the extended memory of an AT, which is not available to normal user programs. VDisk installs as a DOS driver. On a non-AT (or on an AT when you aren't using extended memory) VDisk reserves part of memory for its use, and transfers data between the reserved area and the I/O buffers that DOS tells it to read or write. On an AT using extended memory VDisk calls a special section of BIOS to do the transfer. As you may be aware, the BIOS for the IBM-PC/AT is a real mess. Certainly, its presentation in the Technical Reference for the Personal Computer AT wasn't intended to enhance IBM's reputation. There are all sorts of inter-module jumps, no index (public symbol to page number), and pages missing (there's an important part of module "Test 6" which is missing, between pages 5-76 and 5-77). But, I digress. Extended memory access is accomplished using INT 15H, AH=87H. INT 15 was originally Cassette I/O, but since almost no one used cassettes IBM decided to reuse this BIOS entry for new, AT and later functions. Function 87H takes as an argument a table of 80286 "protected mode" descriptors for the data to move. What is "protected mode"? Well, first you have to know about "real mode". The 80286 can operate in several modes. Real mode makes it look, for the most part, like a good old 8088... great for running your old IBM-PC software (with one major exception that I know of). However, in Real Mode you don't have access to the extended memory addressing. To get that, and lots of other nifty features, you have to tell the processor to go into protected mode. Another thing you might like to know: code which was designed to use interrupts on the older IBM PC's can run in real mode, but not in protected mode. So, you have to disable interrupts whenever you want to use protected mode with current software. If you stay in protected mode too long, you will, for instance, lose characters on a high-speed serial line (excessive interrupt latency). Anyway, the INT 15H, AH=87H ("Move Block") code enters protected mode and copies data to/from extended memory. Fine and dandy. There's one major problem, though. How do you get out of protected mode, and back into real mode, so you can continue executing your regular IBM PC software? There's only one way (documented) for the 80286 to leave protected mode and return to reality. You've gotta RESET the whole processor! How do you do this? The PBM-PC/AT does it by telling the 8042 (a microcomputer on the AT that helps handle the AT's keyboard) to RESET the 80286, which it does. The next question you're gonna ask (besides, why did I bother sending this message at all), is how do you tell a get-me-out-of-protected-mode RESET from a power-on-let's-get-going RESET? A byte in the clock chip's CMOS RAM is reserved for this purpose. Special values placed in this byte tell the AT's POST (power-on self-test) code to do special things, like jumping over to the Move Block code. Recapping, the Move Block code has just finished moving data and wants to return to real mode. It sets the special value into clock memory. It tells the 8042 to RESET the 80286. The 8042 obliges, and the 80286 enters POST. POST notices that this RESET was requested by the Move Block code, and jumps there. Finally, Move Block finishes restoring things, reenables interrupts, and returns to the requestor (VDisk). VDisk cleans up and returns to DOS. Actually, VDisk may need to make additional calls to Move Block before returning to DOS. Remember the excessive interrupt latency I mentioned above? To get around it you can tell VDisk to break long transfers into a series of short transfers. Of course, this adds a lot of overhead. Amazing that it all works, isn't it? It's even more amazing that it works quickly enough to be useful. Well, that's it. Those of you with your eyes closed can open them and start reading Info-IBMPC again. Craig Milo Rogers ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Apr 86 12:40:23 CST From: Dan Frank <frank@db.wisc.edu> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Hard Drives and Chassis I am looking to add or replace the hard drive on a Compaq Deskpro 286. I'd like some feedback from people who have purchased large capacity hard drives for the AT (or Compaq), in the following areas: 1) Any information on drives themselves: speed, quality, capacity, price, vendor. 2) Information on external chassis/power supplies in which these drives could be mounted. 3) Feasibility of using existing controller for second hard disk drive, bringing control and signal cabling out to the external drive. Can this be done? By large capacity, I mean >= 60 Mb. -- Dan Frank dan@caseus.wisc.edu (ARPA) ...uwvax!geowhiz!attpcrn!prairie!dan (UUCP) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Apr 86 15:43:15 EST From: conrad@lasspvax.tn.cornell.edu (Conrad Cady) id AA03565; Wed, 16 Apr 86 15:43:15 EST To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Creating My Own Character Sets Here's my problem. I have a wonderful(?) program I made in Turbo Pascal 2.0 which lets me make my own characters for the top 1/2 of the character set (chars 128-255). I would like to do 2 different things. 1) I would like to put this into the resident DOS, just the same as the GRAFTABL command does. How do I do that? (I know how to set the interrupt vector 1F(hex) to point to the character table. Basically, I need to know how to put the table into unreachable memory. Is this possible? 2) I would like to use my 128 characters as the *bottom* characters. (0-127) How do I go about doing this? Do I have to write a new BIOS routine? (Gag) 3) Is there any way to change the character set in text mode (as opposed to graphics mode)? Thanks very much! Conrad Cady, conrad@lasspvax.cornell.tn.edu 513 Clark Hall LASSP, Cornell U., Ithaca, NY 14853-2501 (607) 255-6065 ------------------------------ Date: 15 Apr 86 07:55 GMT From: ghicks @ KOREA-EMH Subject: FAT Problems To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib ... Something has been trashing the FATs on my floppies. Not all the time but frequently. When I try and use Norton Utilities to recover, it runs out of memory. It has been usually happening whenever I use WordStar 2000>. Symptoms are: The file I was editing is the only file on the disk, a <DIR> made up of graphic symbols shows up and I cannot recover. Both FATs are trashed and the old FAT usually shows up in the text file I was editing. Last week I was editing and something happened. The current FAT went bye-bye and the old FAT showed up. Any ideas? Is there a patch to DOS 3.1 I don't have? Thanks for listening to me belly-ache. Gregory Hicks GHICKS@KOREA-EMH ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 167128) 86-04-24 05.11 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <222> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-24 05.11 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <216> -- Received: 86-04-24 06.26 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-24 05.11 Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 %Original date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST. TF: DSKD:012696.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 51290 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Apr 86 03:36 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 23-Apr-1986 15:58:04-est Date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 22 April 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 46 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option Microsoft Pascal 3.32 BATQUES Clone ASK Floppy Saga Buffered IO Performance Multiuser DOS? (2 Msgs.) Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Tex from Digital Composition Systems PC/AT pinouts (again) Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Quad Density Drive Leading Edge Model M Vdisk Trashes Interrupts MacCharlie Smalltalk Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup Mail Orders VT-100 Emulators Today's Queries: List of BBOARDS wanted FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk Multiple Monitors Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 1200 Baud Modems Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted Bitnet Help Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master GW-Basic High Resolution Problem Undigesting Info-IBMPC HP110 Menus Okimate 20 Printer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Today is the 6 Month Anniversary of the announcement of the IBM Voice Communications option. As I have had one on order since 1 November 1985 I thought I would call my friendly IBM product center to find out what is going on. To refresh everybody's memory this card features a TMS-320 signal processor which acts both as a speech input/output device as well as a modem. This appears to be another case of "vapor hardware". I have worked in the computer speech field for the last 15 years and none of the people I have spoken with have been able to get their hands on this board. The boards have been demonstrated at several IBM open houses, but always with the IBM representative present and in all cases I have heard of the IBM representative has refused to let the interested party look at the board. (in these cases the interested parties have been potential competitors so you can't blame IBM) A few months ago PC Week was raving about the new "speech standard for PCs" introduced by IBM and how the world was all following into line, but so far the emperor has no clothes as far as I am concerned. In response to my phone call the friendly folks at the local product center acknowledged my order and noted that the part number in question was in "restricted supply" or some such IBMspeak. This means not only are they not selling this part, but they decline to state when or if the part will ever be in stock. Has anyone seen this card or know the story of what is going on here??? ------------------------------ Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: Microsoft Pascal 3.32 From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> We recently received Microsoft Pascal 3.2 as an update in the mail, but were unable to make it compile any of our existing programs. Sometimes it just hung the machine. Other times it printed out various messages indicating internal compiler errors. I advise avoiding this version of the Pascal Compiler! I wonder what is happening at Microsoft. Quality control must be slipping. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 00:55:37 cst From: Peter Wu <pwu@maccunix> Subject: BATQUES Clone ASK I have written a program similar to BATQUES which allows you to write interactive files in addition to batch files. Compared to BATQUES, this program has the following features: 1) easier to use; no need to lookup ASCII table 2) option to select case (in)sensitivity 3) can print ANY character (including '$' sign) in the prompt It is also written in assembly & also comes with a document. ASK.ASM and ASK.DOC have been added to the library. Peter Wu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 9:13:22 EST From: Steven Segletes <steven@BRL.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Floppy Saga A friend had some old (he claims 6 years) 5 1/4" floppies which he asked me to try to format on my 360KB floppy drive (his machine was giving him trouble, and he wasn't sure if it was his diskettes or his machine). These disks appeared to have been folded, spindled and mutilated. Through years of neglect, a crusty dust had coated everything. He assured me that all the disks had been subjected to equal quantities of abuse, as they were stored on the same floor of the same closet, etc. The results of the formatting tests are however interesting: 2 Dysan 104/1 35 Track (presumably SS/SD) failed completely on single sided format 2 Verbatim MD 525-10-18167 40 Track SS/DD failed completely on single sided format 3 Maxell MD1 SS (presumably SD) succeeded on double sided format, with 1 disk having 50K locked out sectors 1 disk having 20K locked out sectors 1 disk formatting perfectly Keep up the good work Maxell. Steven Segletes U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 06:30:43 PST From: dgb%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu (Daniel S. Briggs) Subject: Buffered IO Performance Can someone explain to me in nice simple terms just why Lattice 'C' output routines are so deucedly slow? (From what I have seen, I think it is a fairly common characteristic of most 'printfs' and company.) I have a 'C' program and an equivalent assembler program, both of which output a good many numbers and strings to the screen. Lattice C 2.15 Masm 4.0 buffered output to screen 31 s. -- unbuffered output to screen 15 s. 15 s. buffered output to file 5 s. -- unbuffered output to file 21 s. 22 s. direct screen write -- 5 s. The lattice routines used printf, and cprintf for the buffered and unbuffered output, respectively. The Masm program used the DOS print string function and BIOS write tty video interrupt respectively. What in the world is it doing in the buffered screen writes? Is it playing a game of cards with the interrupt controller chip or something? It looks like there is no good choice of output routines. We either settle for the glacial speed of buffered interactive output, and fast io redirection, or the reverse with the unbuffered functions. I can see no reason why buffering the output should cause such massive degradation of performance. Anyone else have any thoughts? --Daniel Briggs ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 22:00 EST From: Spiros Triantafyllopoulos <spiros%gmr.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Multiuser DOS? Hello! Probably it has been asked before, so please bear with us :-) Is there any software / hardware combo that will allow more than one user on the PC under MS-DOS (or PC-DOS)? I am considering an AT compatible, but need > 1 user at a time. Graphics compatibility is not important (i.e., mostly text stuff). I have heard of a company called KIMTRON or something close enough, but they look expensive and did not specify terminals they can use it with. If a software-only solution exists, it would be preferable. The second terminal is a good ole' VT100 w/AVO. I would appreciate comments regarding experiences with said hardware/software also. Thanks in advance Spiros Triantafyllopoulos GM Research Laboratories Warren, Michigan (Spiros@GMR.csnet) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 13:56 PST From: Ghenis.pasa@Xerox.COM Subject: Multiuser DOS? To: spiros%gmr.CSNet@CSNet-Relay.ARPA MULTILINK is a software product that will allow you to run multiuser, with dumb terminals hanging off of the serial ports. The catch is, as far as I know, you can only run programs with a TTY interface, no fancy video. If your program abides by DOS 3.1 file sharing conventions it can share files under Multilink too. Price is about $500. Disclaimer: I have no interest in or direct experience with MULTILINK. I am simply relaying information from ads. This information is not guaranteed to be true. Batteries not included. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Apr 86 13:54 EST From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report I received a TinyTurbo 286 board from Orchid two days ago. Having run some timing tests and general use tests, I can safely say that the performance improvement over my standard IBM PC is 100%. It's approximately twice as fast. Not three times as fast, as they imply. This assumes standard hard disk and floppy drives, and a mix of computing activities that has a fair amount of both screen and disk I/O. Specifically, I hand-timed the ARC program, and my Lattice C compilations for "data processing" activity, and FinalWord II for "interactive" (editor) and "data processing" (formatter) activity. I don't number-crunch, and I expect that if I did, I would notice a better performance improvement. One anomaly -- can anybody explain it? I was using Rational Systems' Instant-C, which is a 260K .EXE file. Although when it was in use, it was twice as fast at loading C programs and executing them, it took ***three times longer*** to *load* the program when running the 286 than when running the 8088! Is there some overhead imposed by the cache memory when there isn't locality of reference (stepping through memory loading a file for execution is very non-local), just as there is quickness on the 16-bit "bus" when there is locality? Sounds wrong. Then, perhaps there is some interaction such that my hard disk has to spin twice for every sector read with the faster CPU? Sounds wrong, too. Does anybody have any ideas or confirming experience with other programs or the Victor turbo card? Brian ------------------------------ Date: Sat 19 Apr 86 20:31:28-EST From: Evan Nelson <MCD.E-NELSON@KLA.WESLYN> Subject: Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Has anyone had any success with downloadable science fonts to an HP? I need a font for the HP LaserJet Plus that supports math, physics, and chemistry characters and symbols. Thanks in advance. - Evan Nelson NELSON@WESLYN.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 17:26:13 EST From: John Duimovich <John_Duimovich%CARLETON.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Tex from Digital Composition Systems Hi, We've just received at version of Tex that runs on our ATs. It came with a complete Tex, a Laser Printer and a ram card piggybacked to the laser card. It works !!! You just wouldn't believe that *real* Tex in coming out of your printer. Bye Bye MacWrite. It came from: Digital Composition Systems, Inc. 1717 West Northern Ave Suite 201 Phoenix, Arizona 85021 (602) 870-7666 The following is an extract from their brag sheet. Take it with a grain as it is come from the dudes who sell it. The real deal is the *price* WOW. Even a small department could afford it especially with the educational discount. Yes it works, was easy to install and looks great. Again, warning the following is from their sales people and I have not tested all the claims. The samples are great however and the scanner looks useful too. [Some but not enough Hyperbole eliminated! -ed] " STAR-Tex comes with the complete Computer Modern font family with 6 to 24 point sizes in regular, bold and slanted faces. In addition, many well known publishing typographic font faces are available on diskette from DCS. A variety of DCS boxes and shading extensions can be used to highlight and dress up documentation. Computer generated graphics in Plot 10 format can be included in the body of your text. This summer we will be adding support for AutoCad generated drawings allowing CAD/CAM drawings to be inserted into your documents. Using a 300 dpi scanner and pixel editor, also available through DCS, line art and pictorial illustrations can be captured, edited and placed into your technical documentation. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS DCS Controller (Raster Image Processor) - DVI Version 1.0 INTRODUCTION The STAR-Tex DCS Raster Image Processor is a 300 dpi laser output device designed for the TeX user community. The laser printer, controller and software are designed to operate in any IBM PC or AT computer system. The Computer Modern font family is supplied with the system as well as pixel and vector image merge and overlay. Option font families are available such as CompuGraphic Corporation Times, Futura, Triumvirate, Baskerville, Palacio, Stymie, Avante Garde. Point sizes are available from 6 to 36 point. Graphics features include PLOT10 vector file support, DataCopy pixel images, and a variety of quality screens, patterns, and different rule types are all supported through the ``SPECIAL'' command feature. Future releases will provide AutoCad DXF support with scaling for laser printer page sizes. Standard DVI (Device Independent Files) are supported. The DVI file format is produced by a number of PC and mainframe based TeX implementations. System requirements are DOS 3.1, 640k bytes RAM, and preferably an AT class PC with 20Mb of fixed disk storage. Users with more modest font and processing requirements can use a PC/XT with 10MB of storage Full screen preview with pan and zoom is provided at no additional charge with support for IBM color and Hercules graphics cards. DVIPRINT - DCS DVI Printer Driver and Preview program LISTING - Listing program for printing ASCII files AMxxx.150 through AMxxx.373 - CM Fonts User Manual DCS-Canon 8ppm laser printer with 2 mb controller card PC-Tex and LaTex with Manual 1.1 FEATURES The following features are supported with Version 1.0 release products. Full screen preview with pan and zoom. Single command line with options DataCopy image file merge with invert option Plot10 image file merge with scaling parameters. Insert at current X Y or overlay image on page options Odd, Even, or All pages output options Number of copies option Hand Feed option Legal, A4, B5, and letter paper size support Landscape or Portrait option Hoffset and Voffset option 20 cross hatch/screen patterns Begin and End page number options Prices: Educational Customers - 3600.00 (3200.00 in qty 10) Commercial Customers - 5900.00 (same as LaserWriter) " John Duimovich John_Duimovich@Carleton.BITNET ------------------------------ From: lotto%lhasa.UUCP@harvard.HARVARD.EDU Date: 20 Apr 86 11:13 EST Subject: PC/AT pinouts (again) The following has been requested so many times, here it is again. The gender refers to the cable connector, NOT the device. AT, 9 pin female: DCE, 25 pin male: DTE, 25 pin female: 1 CD <-- 8 CD | <-- 8 CD 2 receive <-- 3 transmit | <-- 2 transmit 3 transmit --> 2 receive | --> 3 receive 4 DTR --> 20 DTR | --> 6 DSR 5 ground -- 7 ground | -- 7 ground 6 DSR <-- 6 DSR | <-- 20 DTR 7 RTS --> 4 RTS | --> 5 CTS 8 CTS <-- 5 CTS | <-- 4 RTS 9 RI <-- 22 RI | <-- 22 RI Devices: PC/AT Modem or IBM PC Most terminals other computers This chart illustrates (AT to DCE) or (AT to DTE) cables, (DCE to DTE) is straight through. If hardware flow control is to be disabled, jumper pins 4, 6 and 8 together on the AT side. Gerald Lotto - Harvard Chemistry Dept. UUCP: {seismo,harpo,ihnp4,linus,allegra,ut-sally}!harvard!lhasa!lotto ARPA: lotto@harvard.EDU CSNET: lotto%harvard@csnet-relay [Thanks also to Fred Wamsley (uw-june!bcsaic!asymet!fred@uw-beaver) who also provided this information and Mark L. Williams who added the following comment: -wab] As an aside, and a small flame at IBM, be very careful with your adapter connections when working with parallel and serial connections, since their operating levels are different and attaching a serial device to a parallel port can cause device/port damage. This problem seldom arose before IBM's insistence on using a DB-25 connector for parallel connections, but can be a trap now. For instance, my printer buffer will accept data from parallel or serial comm lines and can drive serial or parallel printers, but all the connectors are the same. I'm sure everyone is careful enough to never get their wires crossed, but an extra word to the wise might be useful... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20-Apr-86 13:01:15 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Jim Ryan Fido 141/9 Patches for IBM PC-DOS 3.20 (adapted from Compuserve PC SIG) These patches were developed based on the file DOS31V2.PAT file distributed by the CompuServe PC-SIG. Most patches have been tested (except where noted). I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who originally developed these patches. I am grateful that they took the time to develop and distribute them. **************************************************************************** environment Size The patch for changing environment size in DOS 3.20 is as follows (original patch by Bob Morse) : DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 0D4F<cr> xxxx:0D4F 0A.3C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> (Use 1E for a 544 byte environment, 3C for a 1k environment) **************************************************************************** Automatic Installation of printer for DOS PRINT The patch to disable the printer port prompt in DOS PRINT is as follows: DEBUG PRINT.COM -E 190D<cr> xxxx:190D E8.90 D6.90 02.90<cr> -E 191f<cr> xxxx:191F CD.90 21.90<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> To change the default printer port (to something other than PRN), add the following command: -E 11C2 4 "LPT2" **************************************************************************** Disable automatic header in FIND.EXE output (UNTESTED) The FIND program puts an automatic header line in the output listing. To disable this feature, use the following patch: REN FIND.EXE FIND.XXX DEBUG FIND.XXX<cr> -E 0427<cr> -xxxx:0427 03:2C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> REN FIND.XXX FIND.EXE **************************************************************************** Permit more than 10 mismatches in COMP.COM (UNTESTED) The SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to permit 50 mismatches in COMP.COM . The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMP.COM -E 0AF3<cr> xxxx:0AF3 0A.32<cr> -E 0E09<cr> xxxx:0E09 31.35<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Echo Off Again, the SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files (probably my most favorite patch). The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM (to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files, enter the next two lines) -E 1B2C<cr> xxxx:1B2C 01.00<cr> (to make ECHO OFF the default in AUTOEXEC.BAT, enter the next two lines.) (This patch is courtesy of Calvin R. Shields of PC Magazine.) -E 115E<cr> xxxx:115E 03.02<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Allowing blank lines in batch files In earlier versions of DOS (2.xx), you could echo a blank line by using ECHO (spaces). This was removed in DOS 3.xx . The patch to enable blank lines in batch files in DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 3A88<cr> xxxx:3A88 E8.83 20.F9 00.02 74.72<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> This patch was originally developed by Calvin R. Shields from PC magazine. **************************************************************************** The rest of the patches for DOS 3.2 are the same as the one's used for DOS 3.10 . **************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Subject: Quad Density Drive Date: Sun, 20 Apr 86 14:36:41 -0500 From: jam@mitre-bedford.ARPA The Technical Reference Manual for my Leading Edge model M PClone states that the uPD765AC floppy disk controller can be used with 1.2MB quad density disk drives. Has anyone done this with a PC or PClone? The manual identifies the commands to specify the drive type to the controller, but there is no mention of driver or format software requirements. Is any special software required? if so, is it available? (I am running MS-DOS 2.11.) I have seen reasonably priced quad density drives advertised, of various brands. Some were specified as AT drives, and others were unspecified. What are the requirements, and what brands are best? If I could get 1.2MB on a disk for a reasonable cost it would greatly facilitate backing up the hard disk. I would appreciate any information on the subject. Joshua A. Morris jam@mitre-bedford.arpa [JFORMAT from Tall Tree supports Quad density drives with the standard controller. The drive lettering scheme is a bit bizarre. I used to run a Quad Drive back on my 16K PC in the DOS 1.1 days. I still run it with DOS 3.1 on this PC as it isn't worth the trouble to install a hard disk on this early serial number PC and I need the space!. See V1 #1 -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 14:07:00 PST From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA> Subject: Leading Edge Model M I know that there is going to be some variance of opinion concerning the Model-M. First, some statistics. It is not an 8086 machine but a fast (7.??) MHz 8088-2. It was manufactured in Japan by Mitsubishi (Sp?). The Model-M was identical to the computer marketed by Sperry as the Sperry-PC. In its basic configuration (256K, monochrome, 2 floppy, 1 centronics, 1 RS-232, onboard clock/timer with battery backup) it was a good deal at the $1499 Leading Edge was unloading it for. At 900 it is an absolute steal. I am currently writing this on a Model-M in my house in communication with our VAX via Hayes 1200B. I have not plugged any hardware into this computer that hasn't worked as it was supposed to with an IBM. All software that I have tried, works as it should for the IBM. My guess is that this is as compatible as any other PC without 'real' IBM BIOS ROMS. If you look at the overall construction of the computer, you would be impressed with the board layouts{in the Mitsubishi designed boards. The motherboard is a work of art and the memory expansion board (there is only 128K on the motherboard but LE provides a 512K expansion board with 128K hard soldered in place). This board is amazing in that there are circ-sockets (gold plated) for the memory expansion and the chips in place are all 150 Ns or better parts. The monochrome board I received with my Model-M was made by General Electric and is as good a monochrome clone as I have seen (No Herc Graphics, though). As I have stated, I have had no unexpected problems (or problems of any kind) with this computer and its been in demanding service for about 18 months now. I added a Hercules Clone card which works flawlessly, and I developed an Image Analysis System on it using a Tecmar Graphics Master Board in one of its more bizarre op modes. It got a 20 Meg hard drive about 6 months ago (purchased from Express Systems and it works fine. The machine is compatible with PC-DOS up to version 3.1 (this is what boots on the Hard Drive) although the MS-DOS which is provided with the machine is in many ways superior in that the COMMAND.COM file recoznises all the features on the motherboard (e.g clock, and sets them appropriately). The only drawback to this computer (and also applies to the Model-D as well as any short footprint computer) is its space for only 2 half height drives in the cabinet. I had to remove a floppy when I put in the hard drive. Now, adding streaming-tape will require an external unit. This is somewhat of a problem, but would be the same for a Model-D. Because of the faster speed of the CPU, the inclusion of mostly Mitsubishi parts (inclu floppies), as opposed to what I feel are inferior electronics indonesian in the Model-D, I would again purchase a Model-M over a model-D especially at the closeout price. Now, I know that there were some bad units to enter the country from Japan in late 1984 and early 1985 during the legal wars between Mitsubishi and Leading Edge. After the battle, all units I have encountered (Those that have ROM Version 2.11 or better, and a key tronic KB5150 kbd) have been fine. There were a few unhappy purchasers of some of the earlier machines. After talking with BCE representatives, I have been assured that the closeouts were all from the most recent vintage machines. I can recommend without reservation the purchase of a Model-M for any application which needs a machine in the PC/XT class with substantially more speed than the IBM. John Rossi III ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 16:29:45-PST From: Michael A. Haberler <HABERLER@SU-SIERRA.ARPA> Subject: Vdisk Trashes Interrupts I have encountered this problem, too; when I was copying files to the RAMdisk, and hit any key, the AT would lock up. The problem is insufficient stack space in the Vdisk program for the 'external memory I/O' (I love that expression). If you look at the Vdisk listing, somewhere before the external memory I/O Bios call a stack of 40 words is set up. This is too small. Instead of patching the .SYS file, I reverse-engineered the VDisk source from the listing, and increased the local stack to 100 words, assembled and linked it. This apparently cured the problem; I did not encounter this bug since. Michael Haberler [INFO-IBMPC can't publish Michael's patched version of vdisk as this would violate IBM's copyright protection. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 12:26:03-EST From: AD0R@TB.CC.CMU.EDU Subject: MacCharlie Here at CMU we have a 'Computer Skills Workshop' that all freshman are required to take, and they've been teaching the things on MacCharlie. A few observations: 1. The units really love to munch disks. I'm talking oxide erosion. 2. The speed difference can be damn near intolerable. 3. We haven't found them to be quite as compatible as was suggested. I'm sorry that I can't offer any specifics, but I haven't used them myself. Anthony A. Datri Carnegie Mellon University* (* a trademark of IBM, inc.) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 08:22 EST From: Mark Williams <mlw@ncsc> Subject: Smalltalk RE: Smalltalk on the PC...the August '85 issue of Computer Languages (Vol.2, No.8) contains an article entitled "Smalltalk Comes to the Micro" on page 27. It identifies a product call "Methods" from Digitalk, Inc. The product has been advertised regularly since then. An ad from the Feb, 86, CL says that it costs $250 with educational and dealer discounts available. Vendor data: Digitalk, Inc. 5200 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90045 (213)645-1082 Add'l info: "Methods operates on IBM PCs with 512K bytes RAM using MS-DOS or PC-DOS. Color and monochrome monitors are supported. No mouse is re- quired. A Smalltalk language manual and an environment guide are included." Also available is Objective-C, which is advertised as an object-oriented programming language. It apparently generates C source code. It's from Productivity Products International 27 Glen Road Sandy Hook, CT 06482 (203)426-1875 A known ad is in Dr. Dobbs Jnl., Dec., 85. Standard disclaimers... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Mon 21 Apr 86 09:01:16-PST From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@su-sushi.arpa> Subject: Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup In regards to my earlier posting: I've finally found a utility that allows me to do screen dumps from my Enhanced Graphics Adapter/Enhanced Color Display (640 by 350, 16 color) setup. "PC-Paintbrush", made by ZSoft (and marketed by Microsoft, I believe), comes with a utility called "Frieze". Frieze is installed automatically when you run PC_Paintbrush, and stays resident until you turn off your computer. It catches Shift-Prtsc key presses, displays a menu at the top of the screen, and allows you to save, print, size (etc.) all or part of any screen in any application, as far as I can tell. You can edit saved screens with PC-Paintbrush, of course. The programs support a large number of printers (~30) and graphics cards (~15). So far, it looks like a superior product. We bought the whole package for $98. Cheers, Marvin ------------------------------ From: gulvin@radc-lonex (James Gulvin, Lt, USAF) Subject: Mail Orders Date: Mon Apr 21 13:00:17 1986 Some kudos and some gotchas to various mail order houses. For kudos, list Logicsoft for support of their "we'll beat any advertised price" slogan and super fast service. I once received a video board the day after I ordered it! Add CompuMart in Dallas, TX for excellent after sale service. One phone call, a few minutes with the tech explaining how I isolated the faulty drive, and I had a new drive three days later! On the flip side, an advertised 1.5 MB memory expansion board from Conroy LaPointe couldn't be expanded above 384 KB. After several phone calls, letters, and months I finally was allowed to swap for another board and the difference in price. I spent awhile longer to recoup the restocking fee I was charged to rectify their mistake. And the outfit that brought me to write - Top Line Computer in Utah. I ordered a PC floppy drive and a printer cable on Feb 25th. The second week of March I switched my order to another (more expensive) floppy to avoid further shipping delays . No drive appeared and the fourth week of March I was told it had been shipped the previous week. Finally, I received an AT, not PC, drive. So, more phone calls, paying return shipping charges, and a promise of"we'll ship it tomorrow--next day air". April 11th- "shipped the right one yesterday". April 19th- "we can't seem to find your file". They were able to bill my credit card on Feb 25th though. As of April 21st you can sign me... Still Waiting ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 22:41:18 est From: m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA Organization: The MITRE Corp., Washington, D.C. Subject: VT-100 Emulators To: GLOOR%CSGHSG5A.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: Burgess Allison M15126 X7548 Dickenson W852 Subject: Re: VT100 emulator for IBM-PC >Does anybody know about a "real" VT100 emulator ... >[There must be at least a hundred VT100 emulators ... There are truly hordes of VT100 emulators. A couple years ago, though, I had a task to put a few of these products through some rather rigorous testing. Not a single one matched the VT100, sequence for reaction. You start, of course, with hardware incompatibility. To get 132 characters, special graphics characters, and double-width/double-height, you generally need a special card. The next stumbling block is character highlighting: the standard PC video cards don't support the combinations of bold, underscore, reverse video and highlighting that VT100 has. Again, the fix is usually hardware. Another "incompatibility" is the VT100 setup screens: do you *really* want to get the VT100's abysmal binary flag setup screens. If so, you're pretty much out of luck. The software vendors (perhaps rightly) insist on correcting this massive flaw in VT100 design -- usually with menus. Some menu structures are more understandable than others. I haven't seen any that copy the VT220's menus, though (as an example). Most of the VT100 emulators handle most sequence/responses properly, but the problems come in when you get to some of the more arcane sequence/ responses. For example, many emulators don't handle error conditions the same way the VT100 does, nor requests to "change character sets", or commands to perform resets and tests. Though these *shouldn't* make any difference, they occasionally do. For use with DEC's own ALL-IN-1, for example, your emulator better be *very* good. Like I said, I did these tests a few years ago, so the results are effectively meaningless, but none of the packages I tested matched the "standard" completely (even ignoring hardware problems) and there *are* substantive differences. Just for curiosity's sake: we found that VTERM came the closest to the VT100 in matching sequence/responses. Hope this helps. Burgess Allison <m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA> ------------------------------ From: tom@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Trevor O. McCarthy) To: info-modem7@simtel20.ARPA, info-modemxx@simtel20.ARPA, Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA. Phone: (617) 271-3084 Subject: List of BBOARDS wanted Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:39:23 -0500 HI: I am compiling a list of bulletin boards for a research project. I need direct information about (useful) bulletin boards, or, even better, where I can get directories of bulletin boards. DAK Inc, the video gadget people mention a book that has a list of over 400 available bulletin boards that is put out by some company somewhere; if anyone knows about such a book (or books) or any previous compilation of Bulletin Board information, I would certainly appreciate hearing about it. Please respond to me directly to save space on the net. I am not on all of these lists anyway. I will summarize the resulting input for those who are interested. Thanks, Trevor O. McCarthy The MITRE Corporation ------------------------------ From: calmasd!dko@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Dan O'Neill) Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:32:13 pst Subject: FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk I've been having some trouble with the 22-meg Winchester in my IBM and was hoping that you good people out there would have some insight into what could be wrong, how to test it, and possibly how to fix it. PC configuration: Power supply: 135w Fixed Disk controller: Data Terminal Corp. (DTC) Winchester drive: Mini-Scribe 1/2 height ~1 year old Installed boards: AST 6-pack, CGA, Maynard floppy controller The problem: Every couple of months an area of the FAT get trashed. Usually just one file, but that messes up the entire disk. Conditions: This happens whenever when I am compiling rather long programs in C, Pascal or Assembler. There seems to be no correlation between any of the crashes, other than the fact that the drive is performing many seeks. I'm using Desmet C, CI-86, turbo pascal and MS assembler.. nothing too extraordinary. I've checked everything I can think of, memory resident programs, power supply output, flaky software... I really don't know what else to look at. I've even filled up the disk with directories and files and ran some search routines and generally gave the disk a serious workout with no problems. Could it be the DTC controller? Anyone had any problems with these? How about Mini-Scribe? I have a friend with the same drive and he has had no problems. Thanks for all the help. Dan O'Neill - GE Calma R&D - 9805 Scranton Rd., San Diego 92121 UUCP: ...!sdcsvax!calmasd!dko ARPA: "calmasd!dko"@UCSD.ARPA VOICE: (619) 587-3112 "How about a little fire scarecrow?" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 00:12 EST From: Mark Woodruff <WOODRUFF%UCF1VM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple Monitors Does anyone know of a card that allows an application to run multiple (four in my case) color or monochrome monitors at the same time? I need to run different images on each of the monitors. Please reply directly to me, and I will post any results if needed. Regards, Mark ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 08:44 GMT From: JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH Subject:Diagnostic Error Code 102 Now: Does anyone know what an error code of 102 from the IBM Advanced Diagnostics means? Has something to do with the ROM on the system board but ... Thanking you all in advance. Gregory Hicks GHICKS@KOREA-EMH JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 02:21 PLT From: Eric Schneider <10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? What I would like to know is if any of you out there have written code which allows the definition of multiple partitions on a single hard disk. I know that programs like this are available from many manufacturers to allow the use of >32MB drives with DOS by splitting up the drive into multiple volumes. Do any of you have code which will do this? Please reply to: 10409813%wsuvm1@wiscvm.ARPA 10409813@wsuvm1.BITNET eric@wsu.CSNET ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 02:58:40 pst From: efrem@lbl-csam.ARPA (Efrem Lipkin [tourist]) Subject: Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC I am thinking of getting Lauren's implementation of the UUCP protocol on the PC. This is the only such implementation I know of. I am wondering if anyone out there has used the system and what they thought of it. It is expensive enough to make jumping blind frightening and I would appreciate hearing from any users either via the digest or directly. Thanks Efrem Lipkin efrem@lbl-csam ucbvax!lbl-csam!efrem ------------------------------ Date: Tue 22 Apr 1986 09:49:59 EST From: <SAGE@LL.ARPA> Subject: Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 I, too, have some questions about add-on hard disks for the Compaq Deskpro 286. I bought mine (don't ask why) without any hard disk at all. Consequently, I have neither the drive nor the controller. Since the IBM AT apparently always comes with a controller, one does not see many ads for hard disk controllers for AT-compatibles. Hence, I would like to add the following question to the ones from Dan Frank: What hard-disk controllers are available to put into a Compaq 286, and what do people think of them? Thanks. Jay Sage, MIT Lincoln Lab ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 11:48:02 EST From: Michael <Berman@RED.RUTGERS.EDU> Subject: 1200 Baud Modems My Qubie' modem has bit the dust and I need to replace it. I'm looking for a 1200 baud internal. PC Connection sells a Hayes (w/o software) for $289. I'd appreciate any suggestions as to: modems to buy; modems to avoid; places to shop for a good price. Please email directly to me (Berman@Rutgers) and I will summarize if I learn anything. ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 15 Apr 1986 12:01:59-PST From: watson%akov04.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted I am looking for a general purpose assembly language library containing high precision math functions, string manipulation and formatting functions, etc. Does anyone know where such a library can be obtained within the public domain? Thanks in advance. Rick Watson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 19:47:52 EST From: Dean Carpenter <ST701979%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Bitnet Help Does anyone know of any other software/information repositories of the same sort as the INFO-IBMPC one that is accessible from BITNET ? As yet we bitnet users don't have remote login capabilities to arpanet nodes so we can't ftp all the neat software available ... There are servers on bitnet (e.g macserve at bitnic) that have some stuff, but that's for the mac. I haven't yet found anything for the wondrous Itty Bitty Machines Corp PC, of which I am a proud owner. Can anyone help ? Thanks - Dean [ Back digests have been available for a long time on BITNET, but bitnet people don't seem to know about it. Others have tried to set up a similar service for the program library, but so far with no success. Following is from our file $FTP.DOC: We get more requests for files than we can handle. ACCESSING THE ARCHIVES FROM BITNET HOSTS ---------------------------------------- On BITNET, Info-IBMPC Digest is now loaded into a Spires database and are therefore searchable from anywhere as long as you can send RFC822 mail. If you are interested in using this service, send a piece of mail to: DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA or DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU and have as the first 3 lines of your file (case does not matter): help help arpanet help design The server will send back to you 3 help files describing how to use the internet server, how to search Arpanet digests and how the whole thing was designed. Read over the section on "Signup" carefully before making further use of the Database server. Presently, Info-IBMPC Digests are retained for a period of two months. The retention period is set for a short duration in order to see if Bitnic can handle the volume of data that needs to be stored in Spires. Example of search command: FIND TEXT UNIX (IN INFO-IBMPC TABLE would find all entries in Info-Ibmpc that contain the word UNIX. An entry is just the section within a "digested" digest that makes reference to the word UNIX. For further details read over the help files. (Thanks to Henry Nussbacher (Hank@Bitnic.Bitnet), Bitnet Development and Operations Center, for this information.) -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Apr 86 10:05:03 est From: sao@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Stephen A. Otruba) Full-Name: Stephen A. Otruba Organization: The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA Subject: Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master Help... Has anyone out there tried to use IBM Xenix 2.0 on an AT with a Tecmar Graphics Master or any other graphics card besides the basic IBM card? I've had trouble trying to run Xenix 1.0 with the Graphics Master and am trying to see if 2.0 may have a fix to my problem before I bother to upgrade. The problem I have encountered comes with displaying text using any command or program. The problem occurs every 102 lines after which a page of alternating normal and reverse video vertical lines will be displayed as Xenix scrolls up the screen. When the "garbage page" has scrolled to fill the screen, the next line displayed will return the screen to normal with the correct text being displayed where the garbage had been. As you can imagine this is irritating. This seems to be a problem in the way Xenix uses the card's screen memory. Xenix seems to use a nice "windowing" technique which works with the IBM cards but not the Tecmar card to result in a very fast screen update of "scrolled" text. Apparently Xenix display drivers directly manipulate the 6845 Graphics Display Controller (specifically registers R12 and R13) to shift the starting address of the screen display on a line by line basis to give the effect of scrolling text. The advantages of doing this are several. By moving the display window down in memory with each line of scroll (rather than text within the window up), the effect of scrolling can be achieved without actually moving any memory locations. (Writing to the screen produces "snow" especially when an entire screenful of text is moved(by DOS) to make room for new text at the bottom of a fixed position DOS screen). A problem occurs when Xenix reaches the bottom of the display card's memory. With the IBM card, setting the display window to a point almost to the end of the graphic board's 16k of memory will cause the display to wrap around and display the top of the screen from high (display card) memory and the bottom of the screen from low memory. Xenix handles this nicely by knowing when the 16ki point has been reached and then writing to low (screen) memory matching the hardware wraparound. This "trick" doesn't work with the Tecmar card, or probably any other card with more than 16k of display memory. The Tecmar card doesn't "wrap around" until the 32k point in memory and so displays garbage for the last 24 lines in Xenix's display space. When Xenix know's the display window is completely past the 16k point, it resets the window to low (screen) memory and thus displays text which was originally invisible to the Tecmar display. Are there any further insights into this problem out there? Has anyone tried Xenix 2.0 with this or a similar setup (maybe EGA)? Or maybe does anyone have a patch to Xenix to adapt to the Tecmar card or some sort of workaround short of reverting to the IBM basic card? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanx in advance... Steve Otruba < sao@mitre-bedford > ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 10:56-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: GW-Basic High Resolution Problem The GW-Basic command "SCREEN 3" invokes the 640*400 high resolution graphics. Basic programs compiled and linked with the Microsoft Quickbasic compiler are interrupted at this command as it is not IBM-compatible. The problem is how to prevent this interruption, when the basic program is compiled on a AT&T 6300 (Olivetti M24), which support the high resolution. Does anybody know this problem and the solution???????? Thanks in advance, Winfried Laane State University Groningen Holland, Europe LAANE@HGRRUG5 ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 11:11-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Undigesting Info-IBMPC I'm working at the consultation department of the computer center at the State University of Groningen, Holland. Info-IBMPC sends an overwhelming amount of interesting messages. Apart from myself there are a lot of people who are also interested in this news. My problem is how to redistribute the news to those interested so everyone need not subscribe to info-ibmpc. Is there a program to undigest the mail sent so I can distribute the news per subject. Or, How can I divide the mail into smaller mail parts, ready to be sent on. I'd be pleased if someone could send me the program, as I don't know how to FTP programs. Winfried Laane University Griningen Holland LAANE@HGRRUG5 [Todd Doucet of Lugaru has been working on some EEL code to undigestify digests. Perhaps this will get him moving again. If anyone has such code we will carry it in our library. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 13:14:07 PST From: William C. Marsh <bmarsh%cod@nosc.ARPA> Subject: HP110 Menus I'm currently working on some programs for the HP110 and Portable Plus computers, and I would like to provide my own menu selections when the user hits the 'menu' key on the keyboard. Does anyone out there know how to do this? Thanks. -- Bill Marsh, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA {arpa,mil}net: bmarsh@nosc uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!noscvax!bmarsh ------------------------------ Date: 21 APR 86 14:32-N From: DOMMELEN%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Okimate 20 Printer Has anybody in this audience any experience with an Okimate 20 printer ? It's new in Holland, specifications look very, very good. Should print b & w or color in 100 shades. (That's what the dealer says over the phone). All replies are welcome, I'll offer a summary to the net. Wim van Dommelen, Computer Center Agricultural University, Wageningen Holland. DOMMELEN@HWALHW5.BITNET ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 167402) 86-04-25 05.11 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <223> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-25 05.11 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <217> -- Received: 86-04-25 06.11 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-25 05.11 Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 %Original date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST. TF: DSKD:015417.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 51290 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 25 Apr 86 04:30 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 24-Apr-1986 01:11:51-est Date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 22 April 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 46 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option Microsoft Pascal 3.32 BATQUES Clone ASK Floppy Saga Buffered IO Performance Multiuser DOS? (2 Msgs.) Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Tex from Digital Composition Systems PC/AT pinouts (again) Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Quad Density Drive Leading Edge Model M Vdisk Trashes Interrupts MacCharlie Smalltalk Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup Mail Orders VT-100 Emulators Today's Queries: List of BBOARDS wanted FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk Multiple Monitors Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 1200 Baud Modems Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted Bitnet Help Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master GW-Basic High Resolution Problem Undigesting Info-IBMPC HP110 Menus Okimate 20 Printer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Today is the 6 Month Anniversary of the announcement of the IBM Voice Communications option. As I have had one on order since 1 November 1985 I thought I would call my friendly IBM product center to find out what is going on. To refresh everybody's memory this card features a TMS-320 signal processor which acts both as a speech input/output device as well as a modem. This appears to be another case of "vapor hardware". I have worked in the computer speech field for the last 15 years and none of the people I have spoken with have been able to get their hands on this board. The boards have been demonstrated at several IBM open houses, but always with the IBM representative present and in all cases I have heard of the IBM representative has refused to let the interested party look at the board. (in these cases the interested parties have been potential competitors so you can't blame IBM) A few months ago PC Week was raving about the new "speech standard for PCs" introduced by IBM and how the world was all following into line, but so far the emperor has no clothes as far as I am concerned. In response to my phone call the friendly folks at the local product center acknowledged my order and noted that the part number in question was in "restricted supply" or some such IBMspeak. This means not only are they not selling this part, but they decline to state when or if the part will ever be in stock. Has anyone seen this card or know the story of what is going on here??? ------------------------------ Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: Microsoft Pascal 3.32 From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> We recently received Microsoft Pascal 3.2 as an update in the mail, but were unable to make it compile any of our existing programs. Sometimes it just hung the machine. Other times it printed out various messages indicating internal compiler errors. I advise avoiding this version of the Pascal Compiler! I wonder what is happening at Microsoft. Quality control must be slipping. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 00:55:37 cst From: Peter Wu <pwu@maccunix> Subject: BATQUES Clone ASK I have written a program similar to BATQUES which allows you to write interactive files in addition to batch files. Compared to BATQUES, this program has the following features: 1) easier to use; no need to lookup ASCII table 2) option to select case (in)sensitivity 3) can print ANY character (including '$' sign) in the prompt It is also written in assembly & also comes with a document. ASK.ASM and ASK.DOC have been added to the library. Peter Wu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 9:13:22 EST From: Steven Segletes <steven@BRL.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Floppy Saga A friend had some old (he claims 6 years) 5 1/4" floppies which he asked me to try to format on my 360KB floppy drive (his machine was giving him trouble, and he wasn't sure if it was his diskettes or his machine). These disks appeared to have been folded, spindled and mutilated. Through years of neglect, a crusty dust had coated everything. He assured me that all the disks had been subjected to equal quantities of abuse, as they were stored on the same floor of the same closet, etc. The results of the formatting tests are however interesting: 2 Dysan 104/1 35 Track (presumably SS/SD) failed completely on single sided format 2 Verbatim MD 525-10-18167 40 Track SS/DD failed completely on single sided format 3 Maxell MD1 SS (presumably SD) succeeded on double sided format, with 1 disk having 50K locked out sectors 1 disk having 20K locked out sectors 1 disk formatting perfectly Keep up the good work Maxell. Steven Segletes U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 06:30:43 PST From: dgb%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu (Daniel S. Briggs) Subject: Buffered IO Performance Can someone explain to me in nice simple terms just why Lattice 'C' output routines are so deucedly slow? (From what I have seen, I think it is a fairly common characteristic of most 'printfs' and company.) I have a 'C' program and an equivalent assembler program, both of which output a good many numbers and strings to the screen. Lattice C 2.15 Masm 4.0 buffered output to screen 31 s. -- unbuffered output to screen 15 s. 15 s. buffered output to file 5 s. -- unbuffered output to file 21 s. 22 s. direct screen write -- 5 s. The lattice routines used printf, and cprintf for the buffered and unbuffered output, respectively. The Masm program used the DOS print string function and BIOS write tty video interrupt respectively. What in the world is it doing in the buffered screen writes? Is it playing a game of cards with the interrupt controller chip or something? It looks like there is no good choice of output routines. We either settle for the glacial speed of buffered interactive output, and fast io redirection, or the reverse with the unbuffered functions. I can see no reason why buffering the output should cause such massive degradation of performance. Anyone else have any thoughts? --Daniel Briggs ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 22:00 EST From: Spiros Triantafyllopoulos <spiros%gmr.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Multiuser DOS? Hello! Probably it has been asked before, so please bear with us :-) Is there any software / hardware combo that will allow more than one user on the PC under MS-DOS (or PC-DOS)? I am considering an AT compatible, but need > 1 user at a time. Graphics compatibility is not important (i.e., mostly text stuff). I have heard of a company called KIMTRON or something close enough, but they look expensive and did not specify terminals they can use it with. If a software-only solution exists, it would be preferable. The second terminal is a good ole' VT100 w/AVO. I would appreciate comments regarding experiences with said hardware/software also. Thanks in advance Spiros Triantafyllopoulos GM Research Laboratories Warren, Michigan (Spiros@GMR.csnet) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 13:56 PST From: Ghenis.pasa@Xerox.COM Subject: Multiuser DOS? To: spiros%gmr.CSNet@CSNet-Relay.ARPA MULTILINK is a software product that will allow you to run multiuser, with dumb terminals hanging off of the serial ports. The catch is, as far as I know, you can only run programs with a TTY interface, no fancy video. If your program abides by DOS 3.1 file sharing conventions it can share files under Multilink too. Price is about $500. Disclaimer: I have no interest in or direct experience with MULTILINK. I am simply relaying information from ads. This information is not guaranteed to be true. Batteries not included. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Apr 86 13:54 EST From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report I received a TinyTurbo 286 board from Orchid two days ago. Having run some timing tests and general use tests, I can safely say that the performance improvement over my standard IBM PC is 100%. It's approximately twice as fast. Not three times as fast, as they imply. This assumes standard hard disk and floppy drives, and a mix of computing activities that has a fair amount of both screen and disk I/O. Specifically, I hand-timed the ARC program, and my Lattice C compilations for "data processing" activity, and FinalWord II for "interactive" (editor) and "data processing" (formatter) activity. I don't number-crunch, and I expect that if I did, I would notice a better performance improvement. One anomaly -- can anybody explain it? I was using Rational Systems' Instant-C, which is a 260K .EXE file. Although when it was in use, it was twice as fast at loading C programs and executing them, it took ***three times longer*** to *load* the program when running the 286 than when running the 8088! Is there some overhead imposed by the cache memory when there isn't locality of reference (stepping through memory loading a file for execution is very non-local), just as there is quickness on the 16-bit "bus" when there is locality? Sounds wrong. Then, perhaps there is some interaction such that my hard disk has to spin twice for every sector read with the faster CPU? Sounds wrong, too. Does anybody have any ideas or confirming experience with other programs or the Victor turbo card? Brian ------------------------------ Date: Sat 19 Apr 86 20:31:28-EST From: Evan Nelson <MCD.E-NELSON@KLA.WESLYN> Subject: Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Has anyone had any success with downloadable science fonts to an HP? I need a font for the HP LaserJet Plus that supports math, physics, and chemistry characters and symbols. Thanks in advance. - Evan Nelson NELSON@WESLYN.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 17:26:13 EST From: John Duimovich <John_Duimovich%CARLETON.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Tex from Digital Composition Systems Hi, We've just received at version of Tex that runs on our ATs. It came with a complete Tex, a Laser Printer and a ram card piggybacked to the laser card. It works !!! You just wouldn't believe that *real* Tex in coming out of your printer. Bye Bye MacWrite. It came from: Digital Composition Systems, Inc. 1717 West Northern Ave Suite 201 Phoenix, Arizona 85021 (602) 870-7666 The following is an extract from their brag sheet. Take it with a grain as it is come from the dudes who sell it. The real deal is the *price* WOW. Even a small department could afford it especially with the educational discount. Yes it works, was easy to install and looks great. Again, warning the following is from their sales people and I have not tested all the claims. The samples are great however and the scanner looks useful too. [Some but not enough Hyperbole eliminated! -ed] " STAR-Tex comes with the complete Computer Modern font family with 6 to 24 point sizes in regular, bold and slanted faces. In addition, many well known publishing typographic font faces are available on diskette from DCS. A variety of DCS boxes and shading extensions can be used to highlight and dress up documentation. Computer generated graphics in Plot 10 format can be included in the body of your text. This summer we will be adding support for AutoCad generated drawings allowing CAD/CAM drawings to be inserted into your documents. Using a 300 dpi scanner and pixel editor, also available through DCS, line art and pictorial illustrations can be captured, edited and placed into your technical documentation. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS DCS Controller (Raster Image Processor) - DVI Version 1.0 INTRODUCTION The STAR-Tex DCS Raster Image Processor is a 300 dpi laser output device designed for the TeX user community. The laser printer, controller and software are designed to operate in any IBM PC or AT computer system. The Computer Modern font family is supplied with the system as well as pixel and vector image merge and overlay. Option font families are available such as CompuGraphic Corporation Times, Futura, Triumvirate, Baskerville, Palacio, Stymie, Avante Garde. Point sizes are available from 6 to 36 point. Graphics features include PLOT10 vector file support, DataCopy pixel images, and a variety of quality screens, patterns, and different rule types are all supported through the ``SPECIAL'' command feature. Future releases will provide AutoCad DXF support with scaling for laser printer page sizes. Standard DVI (Device Independent Files) are supported. The DVI file format is produced by a number of PC and mainframe based TeX implementations. System requirements are DOS 3.1, 640k bytes RAM, and preferably an AT class PC with 20Mb of fixed disk storage. Users with more modest font and processing requirements can use a PC/XT with 10MB of storage Full screen preview with pan and zoom is provided at no additional charge with support for IBM color and Hercules graphics cards. DVIPRINT - DCS DVI Printer Driver and Preview program LISTING - Listing program for printing ASCII files AMxxx.150 through AMxxx.373 - CM Fonts User Manual DCS-Canon 8ppm laser printer with 2 mb controller card PC-Tex and LaTex with Manual 1.1 FEATURES The following features are supported with Version 1.0 release products. Full screen preview with pan and zoom. Single command line with options DataCopy image file merge with invert option Plot10 image file merge with scaling parameters. Insert at current X Y or overlay image on page options Odd, Even, or All pages output options Number of copies option Hand Feed option Legal, A4, B5, and letter paper size support Landscape or Portrait option Hoffset and Voffset option 20 cross hatch/screen patterns Begin and End page number options Prices: Educational Customers - 3600.00 (3200.00 in qty 10) Commercial Customers - 5900.00 (same as LaserWriter) " John Duimovich John_Duimovich@Carleton.BITNET ------------------------------ From: lotto%lhasa.UUCP@harvard.HARVARD.EDU Date: 20 Apr 86 11:13 EST Subject: PC/AT pinouts (again) The following has been requested so many times, here it is again. The gender refers to the cable connector, NOT the device. AT, 9 pin female: DCE, 25 pin male: DTE, 25 pin female: 1 CD <-- 8 CD | <-- 8 CD 2 receive <-- 3 transmit | <-- 2 transmit 3 transmit --> 2 receive | --> 3 receive 4 DTR --> 20 DTR | --> 6 DSR 5 ground -- 7 ground | -- 7 ground 6 DSR <-- 6 DSR | <-- 20 DTR 7 RTS --> 4 RTS | --> 5 CTS 8 CTS <-- 5 CTS | <-- 4 RTS 9 RI <-- 22 RI | <-- 22 RI Devices: PC/AT Modem or IBM PC Most terminals other computers This chart illustrates (AT to DCE) or (AT to DTE) cables, (DCE to DTE) is straight through. If hardware flow control is to be disabled, jumper pins 4, 6 and 8 together on the AT side. Gerald Lotto - Harvard Chemistry Dept. UUCP: {seismo,harpo,ihnp4,linus,allegra,ut-sally}!harvard!lhasa!lotto ARPA: lotto@harvard.EDU CSNET: lotto%harvard@csnet-relay [Thanks also to Fred Wamsley (uw-june!bcsaic!asymet!fred@uw-beaver) who also provided this information and Mark L. Williams who added the following comment: -wab] As an aside, and a small flame at IBM, be very careful with your adapter connections when working with parallel and serial connections, since their operating levels are different and attaching a serial device to a parallel port can cause device/port damage. This problem seldom arose before IBM's insistence on using a DB-25 connector for parallel connections, but can be a trap now. For instance, my printer buffer will accept data from parallel or serial comm lines and can drive serial or parallel printers, but all the connectors are the same. I'm sure everyone is careful enough to never get their wires crossed, but an extra word to the wise might be useful... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20-Apr-86 13:01:15 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Jim Ryan Fido 141/9 Patches for IBM PC-DOS 3.20 (adapted from Compuserve PC SIG) These patches were developed based on the file DOS31V2.PAT file distributed by the CompuServe PC-SIG. Most patches have been tested (except where noted). I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who originally developed these patches. I am grateful that they took the time to develop and distribute them. **************************************************************************** environment Size The patch for changing environment size in DOS 3.20 is as follows (original patch by Bob Morse) : DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 0D4F<cr> xxxx:0D4F 0A.3C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> (Use 1E for a 544 byte environment, 3C for a 1k environment) **************************************************************************** Automatic Installation of printer for DOS PRINT The patch to disable the printer port prompt in DOS PRINT is as follows: DEBUG PRINT.COM -E 190D<cr> xxxx:190D E8.90 D6.90 02.90<cr> -E 191f<cr> xxxx:191F CD.90 21.90<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> To change the default printer port (to something other than PRN), add the following command: -E 11C2 4 "LPT2" **************************************************************************** Disable automatic header in FIND.EXE output (UNTESTED) The FIND program puts an automatic header line in the output listing. To disable this feature, use the following patch: REN FIND.EXE FIND.XXX DEBUG FIND.XXX<cr> -E 0427<cr> -xxxx:0427 03:2C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> REN FIND.XXX FIND.EXE **************************************************************************** Permit more than 10 mismatches in COMP.COM (UNTESTED) The SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to permit 50 mismatches in COMP.COM . The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMP.COM -E 0AF3<cr> xxxx:0AF3 0A.32<cr> -E 0E09<cr> xxxx:0E09 31.35<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Echo Off Again, the SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files (probably my most favorite patch). The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM (to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files, enter the next two lines) -E 1B2C<cr> xxxx:1B2C 01.00<cr> (to make ECHO OFF the default in AUTOEXEC.BAT, enter the next two lines.) (This patch is courtesy of Calvin R. Shields of PC Magazine.) -E 115E<cr> xxxx:115E 03.02<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Allowing blank lines in batch files In earlier versions of DOS (2.xx), you could echo a blank line by using ECHO (spaces). This was removed in DOS 3.xx . The patch to enable blank lines in batch files in DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 3A88<cr> xxxx:3A88 E8.83 20.F9 00.02 74.72<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> This patch was originally developed by Calvin R. Shields from PC magazine. **************************************************************************** The rest of the patches for DOS 3.2 are the same as the one's used for DOS 3.10 . **************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Subject: Quad Density Drive Date: Sun, 20 Apr 86 14:36:41 -0500 From: jam@mitre-bedford.ARPA The Technical Reference Manual for my Leading Edge model M PClone states that the uPD765AC floppy disk controller can be used with 1.2MB quad density disk drives. Has anyone done this with a PC or PClone? The manual identifies the commands to specify the drive type to the controller, but there is no mention of driver or format software requirements. Is any special software required? if so, is it available? (I am running MS-DOS 2.11.) I have seen reasonably priced quad density drives advertised, of various brands. Some were specified as AT drives, and others were unspecified. What are the requirements, and what brands are best? If I could get 1.2MB on a disk for a reasonable cost it would greatly facilitate backing up the hard disk. I would appreciate any information on the subject. Joshua A. Morris jam@mitre-bedford.arpa [JFORMAT from Tall Tree supports Quad density drives with the standard controller. The drive lettering scheme is a bit bizarre. I used to run a Quad Drive back on my 16K PC in the DOS 1.1 days. I still run it with DOS 3.1 on this PC as it isn't worth the trouble to install a hard disk on this early serial number PC and I need the space!. See V1 #1 -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 14:07:00 PST From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA> Subject: Leading Edge Model M I know that there is going to be some variance of opinion concerning the Model-M. First, some statistics. It is not an 8086 machine but a fast (7.??) MHz 8088-2. It was manufactured in Japan by Mitsubishi (Sp?). The Model-M was identical to the computer marketed by Sperry as the Sperry-PC. In its basic configuration (256K, monochrome, 2 floppy, 1 centronics, 1 RS-232, onboard clock/timer with battery backup) it was a good deal at the $1499 Leading Edge was unloading it for. At 900 it is an absolute steal. I am currently writing this on a Model-M in my house in communication with our VAX via Hayes 1200B. I have not plugged any hardware into this computer that hasn't worked as it was supposed to with an IBM. All software that I have tried, works as it should for the IBM. My guess is that this is as compatible as any other PC without 'real' IBM BIOS ROMS. If you look at the overall construction of the computer, you would be impressed with the board layouts{in the Mitsubishi designed boards. The motherboard is a work of art and the memory expansion board (there is only 128K on the motherboard but LE provides a 512K expansion board with 128K hard soldered in place). This board is amazing in that there are circ-sockets (gold plated) for the memory expansion and the chips in place are all 150 Ns or better parts. The monochrome board I received with my Model-M was made by General Electric and is as good a monochrome clone as I have seen (No Herc Graphics, though). As I have stated, I have had no unexpected problems (or problems of any kind) with this computer and its been in demanding service for about 18 months now. I added a Hercules Clone card which works flawlessly, and I developed an Image Analysis System on it using a Tecmar Graphics Master Board in one of its more bizarre op modes. It got a 20 Meg hard drive about 6 months ago (purchased from Express Systems and it works fine. The machine is compatible with PC-DOS up to version 3.1 (this is what boots on the Hard Drive) although the MS-DOS which is provided with the machine is in many ways superior in that the COMMAND.COM file recoznises all the features on the motherboard (e.g clock, and sets them appropriately). The only drawback to this computer (and also applies to the Model-D as well as any short footprint computer) is its space for only 2 half height drives in the cabinet. I had to remove a floppy when I put in the hard drive. Now, adding streaming-tape will require an external unit. This is somewhat of a problem, but would be the same for a Model-D. Because of the faster speed of the CPU, the inclusion of mostly Mitsubishi parts (inclu floppies), as opposed to what I feel are inferior electronics indonesian in the Model-D, I would again purchase a Model-M over a model-D especially at the closeout price. Now, I know that there were some bad units to enter the country from Japan in late 1984 and early 1985 during the legal wars between Mitsubishi and Leading Edge. After the battle, all units I have encountered (Those that have ROM Version 2.11 or better, and a key tronic KB5150 kbd) have been fine. There were a few unhappy purchasers of some of the earlier machines. After talking with BCE representatives, I have been assured that the closeouts were all from the most recent vintage machines. I can recommend without reservation the purchase of a Model-M for any application which needs a machine in the PC/XT class with substantially more speed than the IBM. John Rossi III ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 16:29:45-PST From: Michael A. Haberler <HABERLER@SU-SIERRA.ARPA> Subject: Vdisk Trashes Interrupts I have encountered this problem, too; when I was copying files to the RAMdisk, and hit any key, the AT would lock up. The problem is insufficient stack space in the Vdisk program for the 'external memory I/O' (I love that expression). If you look at the Vdisk listing, somewhere before the external memory I/O Bios call a stack of 40 words is set up. This is too small. Instead of patching the .SYS file, I reverse-engineered the VDisk source from the listing, and increased the local stack to 100 words, assembled and linked it. This apparently cured the problem; I did not encounter this bug since. Michael Haberler [INFO-IBMPC can't publish Michael's patched version of vdisk as this would violate IBM's copyright protection. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 12:26:03-EST From: AD0R@TB.CC.CMU.EDU Subject: MacCharlie Here at CMU we have a 'Computer Skills Workshop' that all freshman are required to take, and they've been teaching the things on MacCharlie. A few observations: 1. The units really love to munch disks. I'm talking oxide erosion. 2. The speed difference can be damn near intolerable. 3. We haven't found them to be quite as compatible as was suggested. I'm sorry that I can't offer any specifics, but I haven't used them myself. Anthony A. Datri Carnegie Mellon University* (* a trademark of IBM, inc.) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 08:22 EST From: Mark Williams <mlw@ncsc> Subject: Smalltalk RE: Smalltalk on the PC...the August '85 issue of Computer Languages (Vol.2, No.8) contains an article entitled "Smalltalk Comes to the Micro" on page 27. It identifies a product call "Methods" from Digitalk, Inc. The product has been advertised regularly since then. An ad from the Feb, 86, CL says that it costs $250 with educational and dealer discounts available. Vendor data: Digitalk, Inc. 5200 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90045 (213)645-1082 Add'l info: "Methods operates on IBM PCs with 512K bytes RAM using MS-DOS or PC-DOS. Color and monochrome monitors are supported. No mouse is re- quired. A Smalltalk language manual and an environment guide are included." Also available is Objective-C, which is advertised as an object-oriented programming language. It apparently generates C source code. It's from Productivity Products International 27 Glen Road Sandy Hook, CT 06482 (203)426-1875 A known ad is in Dr. Dobbs Jnl., Dec., 85. Standard disclaimers... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Mon 21 Apr 86 09:01:16-PST From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@su-sushi.arpa> Subject: Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup In regards to my earlier posting: I've finally found a utility that allows me to do screen dumps from my Enhanced Graphics Adapter/Enhanced Color Display (640 by 350, 16 color) setup. "PC-Paintbrush", made by ZSoft (and marketed by Microsoft, I believe), comes with a utility called "Frieze". Frieze is installed automatically when you run PC_Paintbrush, and stays resident until you turn off your computer. It catches Shift-Prtsc key presses, displays a menu at the top of the screen, and allows you to save, print, size (etc.) all or part of any screen in any application, as far as I can tell. You can edit saved screens with PC-Paintbrush, of course. The programs support a large number of printers (~30) and graphics cards (~15). So far, it looks like a superior product. We bought the whole package for $98. Cheers, Marvin ------------------------------ From: gulvin@radc-lonex (James Gulvin, Lt, USAF) Subject: Mail Orders Date: Mon Apr 21 13:00:17 1986 Some kudos and some gotchas to various mail order houses. For kudos, list Logicsoft for support of their "we'll beat any advertised price" slogan and super fast service. I once received a video board the day after I ordered it! Add CompuMart in Dallas, TX for excellent after sale service. One phone call, a few minutes with the tech explaining how I isolated the faulty drive, and I had a new drive three days later! On the flip side, an advertised 1.5 MB memory expansion board from Conroy LaPointe couldn't be expanded above 384 KB. After several phone calls, letters, and months I finally was allowed to swap for another board and the difference in price. I spent awhile longer to recoup the restocking fee I was charged to rectify their mistake. And the outfit that brought me to write - Top Line Computer in Utah. I ordered a PC floppy drive and a printer cable on Feb 25th. The second week of March I switched my order to another (more expensive) floppy to avoid further shipping delays . No drive appeared and the fourth week of March I was told it had been shipped the previous week. Finally, I received an AT, not PC, drive. So, more phone calls, paying return shipping charges, and a promise of"we'll ship it tomorrow--next day air". April 11th- "shipped the right one yesterday". April 19th- "we can't seem to find your file". They were able to bill my credit card on Feb 25th though. As of April 21st you can sign me... Still Waiting ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 22:41:18 est From: m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA Organization: The MITRE Corp., Washington, D.C. Subject: VT-100 Emulators To: GLOOR%CSGHSG5A.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: Burgess Allison M15126 X7548 Dickenson W852 Subject: Re: VT100 emulator for IBM-PC >Does anybody know about a "real" VT100 emulator ... >[There must be at least a hundred VT100 emulators ... There are truly hordes of VT100 emulators. A couple years ago, though, I had a task to put a few of these products through some rather rigorous testing. Not a single one matched the VT100, sequence for reaction. You start, of course, with hardware incompatibility. To get 132 characters, special graphics characters, and double-width/double-height, you generally need a special card. The next stumbling block is character highlighting: the standard PC video cards don't support the combinations of bold, underscore, reverse video and highlighting that VT100 has. Again, the fix is usually hardware. Another "incompatibility" is the VT100 setup screens: do you *really* want to get the VT100's abysmal binary flag setup screens. If so, you're pretty much out of luck. The software vendors (perhaps rightly) insist on correcting this massive flaw in VT100 design -- usually with menus. Some menu structures are more understandable than others. I haven't seen any that copy the VT220's menus, though (as an example). Most of the VT100 emulators handle most sequence/responses properly, but the problems come in when you get to some of the more arcane sequence/ responses. For example, many emulators don't handle error conditions the same way the VT100 does, nor requests to "change character sets", or commands to perform resets and tests. Though these *shouldn't* make any difference, they occasionally do. For use with DEC's own ALL-IN-1, for example, your emulator better be *very* good. Like I said, I did these tests a few years ago, so the results are effectively meaningless, but none of the packages I tested matched the "standard" completely (even ignoring hardware problems) and there *are* substantive differences. Just for curiosity's sake: we found that VTERM came the closest to the VT100 in matching sequence/responses. Hope this helps. Burgess Allison <m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA> ------------------------------ From: tom@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Trevor O. McCarthy) To: info-modem7@simtel20.ARPA, info-modemxx@simtel20.ARPA, Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA. Phone: (617) 271-3084 Subject: List of BBOARDS wanted Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:39:23 -0500 HI: I am compiling a list of bulletin boards for a research project. I need direct information about (useful) bulletin boards, or, even better, where I can get directories of bulletin boards. DAK Inc, the video gadget people mention a book that has a list of over 400 available bulletin boards that is put out by some company somewhere; if anyone knows about such a book (or books) or any previous compilation of Bulletin Board information, I would certainly appreciate hearing about it. Please respond to me directly to save space on the net. I am not on all of these lists anyway. I will summarize the resulting input for those who are interested. Thanks, Trevor O. McCarthy The MITRE Corporation ------------------------------ From: calmasd!dko@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Dan O'Neill) Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:32:13 pst Subject: FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk I've been having some trouble with the 22-meg Winchester in my IBM and was hoping that you good people out there would have some insight into what could be wrong, how to test it, and possibly how to fix it. PC configuration: Power supply: 135w Fixed Disk controller: Data Terminal Corp. (DTC) Winchester drive: Mini-Scribe 1/2 height ~1 year old Installed boards: AST 6-pack, CGA, Maynard floppy controller The problem: Every couple of months an area of the FAT get trashed. Usually just one file, but that messes up the entire disk. Conditions: This happens whenever when I am compiling rather long programs in C, Pascal or Assembler. There seems to be no correlation between any of the crashes, other than the fact that the drive is performing many seeks. I'm using Desmet C, CI-86, turbo pascal and MS assembler.. nothing too extraordinary. I've checked everything I can think of, memory resident programs, power supply output, flaky software... I really don't know what else to look at. I've even filled up the disk with directories and files and ran some search routines and generally gave the disk a serious workout with no problems. Could it be the DTC controller? Anyone had any problems with these? How about Mini-Scribe? I have a friend with the same drive and he has had no problems. Thanks for all the help. Dan O'Neill - GE Calma R&D - 9805 Scranton Rd., San Diego 92121 UUCP: ...!sdcsvax!calmasd!dko ARPA: "calmasd!dko"@UCSD.ARPA VOICE: (619) 587-3112 "How about a little fire scarecrow?" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 00:12 EST From: Mark Woodruff <WOODRUFF%UCF1VM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple Monitors Does anyone know of a card that allows an application to run multiple (four in my case) color or monochrome monitors at the same time? I need to run different images on each of the monitors. Please reply directly to me, and I will post any results if needed. Regards, Mark ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 08:44 GMT From: JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH Subject:Diagnostic Error Code 102 Now: Does anyone know what an error code of 102 from the IBM Advanced Diagnostics means? Has something to do with the ROM on the system board but ... Thanking you all in advance. Gregory Hicks GHICKS@KOREA-EMH JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 02:21 PLT From: Eric Schneider <10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? What I would like to know is if any of you out there have written code which allows the definition of multiple partitions on a single hard disk. I know that programs like this are available from many manufacturers to allow the use of >32MB drives with DOS by splitting up the drive into multiple volumes. Do any of you have code which will do this? Please reply to: 10409813%wsuvm1@wiscvm.ARPA 10409813@wsuvm1.BITNET eric@wsu.CSNET ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 02:58:40 pst From: efrem@lbl-csam.ARPA (Efrem Lipkin [tourist]) Subject: Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC I am thinking of getting Lauren's implementation of the UUCP protocol on the PC. This is the only such implementation I know of. I am wondering if anyone out there has used the system and what they thought of it. It is expensive enough to make jumping blind frightening and I would appreciate hearing from any users either via the digest or directly. Thanks Efrem Lipkin efrem@lbl-csam ucbvax!lbl-csam!efrem ------------------------------ Date: Tue 22 Apr 1986 09:49:59 EST From: <SAGE@LL.ARPA> Subject: Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 I, too, have some questions about add-on hard disks for the Compaq Deskpro 286. I bought mine (don't ask why) without any hard disk at all. Consequently, I have neither the drive nor the controller. Since the IBM AT apparently always comes with a controller, one does not see many ads for hard disk controllers for AT-compatibles. Hence, I would like to add the following question to the ones from Dan Frank: What hard-disk controllers are available to put into a Compaq 286, and what do people think of them? Thanks. Jay Sage, MIT Lincoln Lab ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 11:48:02 EST From: Michael <Berman@RED.RUTGERS.EDU> Subject: 1200 Baud Modems My Qubie' modem has bit the dust and I need to replace it. I'm looking for a 1200 baud internal. PC Connection sells a Hayes (w/o software) for $289. I'd appreciate any suggestions as to: modems to buy; modems to avoid; places to shop for a good price. Please email directly to me (Berman@Rutgers) and I will summarize if I learn anything. ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 15 Apr 1986 12:01:59-PST From: watson%akov04.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted I am looking for a general purpose assembly language library containing high precision math functions, string manipulation and formatting functions, etc. Does anyone know where such a library can be obtained within the public domain? Thanks in advance. Rick Watson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 19:47:52 EST From: Dean Carpenter <ST701979%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Bitnet Help Does anyone know of any other software/information repositories of the same sort as the INFO-IBMPC one that is accessible from BITNET ? As yet we bitnet users don't have remote login capabilities to arpanet nodes so we can't ftp all the neat software available ... There are servers on bitnet (e.g macserve at bitnic) that have some stuff, but that's for the mac. I haven't yet found anything for the wondrous Itty Bitty Machines Corp PC, of which I am a proud owner. Can anyone help ? Thanks - Dean [ Back digests have been available for a long time on BITNET, but bitnet people don't seem to know about it. Others have tried to set up a similar service for the program library, but so far with no success. Following is from our file $FTP.DOC: We get more requests for files than we can handle. ACCESSING THE ARCHIVES FROM BITNET HOSTS ---------------------------------------- On BITNET, Info-IBMPC Digest is now loaded into a Spires database and are therefore searchable from anywhere as long as you can send RFC822 mail. If you are interested in using this service, send a piece of mail to: DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA or DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU and have as the first 3 lines of your file (case does not matter): help help arpanet help design The server will send back to you 3 help files describing how to use the internet server, how to search Arpanet digests and how the whole thing was designed. Read over the section on "Signup" carefully before making further use of the Database server. Presently, Info-IBMPC Digests are retained for a period of two months. The retention period is set for a short duration in order to see if Bitnic can handle the volume of data that needs to be stored in Spires. Example of search command: FIND TEXT UNIX (IN INFO-IBMPC TABLE would find all entries in Info-Ibmpc that contain the word UNIX. An entry is just the section within a "digested" digest that makes reference to the word UNIX. For further details read over the help files. (Thanks to Henry Nussbacher (Hank@Bitnic.Bitnet), Bitnet Development and Operations Center, for this information.) -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Apr 86 10:05:03 est From: sao@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Stephen A. Otruba) Full-Name: Stephen A. Otruba Organization: The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA Subject: Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master Help... Has anyone out there tried to use IBM Xenix 2.0 on an AT with a Tecmar Graphics Master or any other graphics card besides the basic IBM card? I've had trouble trying to run Xenix 1.0 with the Graphics Master and am trying to see if 2.0 may have a fix to my problem before I bother to upgrade. The problem I have encountered comes with displaying text using any command or program. The problem occurs every 102 lines after which a page of alternating normal and reverse video vertical lines will be displayed as Xenix scrolls up the screen. When the "garbage page" has scrolled to fill the screen, the next line displayed will return the screen to normal with the correct text being displayed where the garbage had been. As you can imagine this is irritating. This seems to be a problem in the way Xenix uses the card's screen memory. Xenix seems to use a nice "windowing" technique which works with the IBM cards but not the Tecmar card to result in a very fast screen update of "scrolled" text. Apparently Xenix display drivers directly manipulate the 6845 Graphics Display Controller (specifically registers R12 and R13) to shift the starting address of the screen display on a line by line basis to give the effect of scrolling text. The advantages of doing this are several. By moving the display window down in memory with each line of scroll (rather than text within the window up), the effect of scrolling can be achieved without actually moving any memory locations. (Writing to the screen produces "snow" especially when an entire screenful of text is moved(by DOS) to make room for new text at the bottom of a fixed position DOS screen). A problem occurs when Xenix reaches the bottom of the display card's memory. With the IBM card, setting the display window to a point almost to the end of the graphic board's 16k of memory will cause the display to wrap around and display the top of the screen from high (display card) memory and the bottom of the screen from low memory. Xenix handles this nicely by knowing when the 16ki point has been reached and then writing to low (screen) memory matching the hardware wraparound. This "trick" doesn't work with the Tecmar card, or probably any other card with more than 16k of display memory. The Tecmar card doesn't "wrap around" until the 32k point in memory and so displays garbage for the last 24 lines in Xenix's display space. When Xenix know's the display window is completely past the 16k point, it resets the window to low (screen) memory and thus displays text which was originally invisible to the Tecmar display. Are there any further insights into this problem out there? Has anyone tried Xenix 2.0 with this or a similar setup (maybe EGA)? Or maybe does anyone have a patch to Xenix to adapt to the Tecmar card or some sort of workaround short of reverting to the IBM basic card? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanx in advance... Steve Otruba < sao@mitre-bedford > ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 10:56-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: GW-Basic High Resolution Problem The GW-Basic command "SCREEN 3" invokes the 640*400 high resolution graphics. Basic programs compiled and linked with the Microsoft Quickbasic compiler are interrupted at this command as it is not IBM-compatible. The problem is how to prevent this interruption, when the basic program is compiled on a AT&T 6300 (Olivetti M24), which support the high resolution. Does anybody know this problem and the solution???????? Thanks in advance, Winfried Laane State University Groningen Holland, Europe LAANE@HGRRUG5 ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 11:11-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Undigesting Info-IBMPC I'm working at the consultation department of the computer center at the State University of Groningen, Holland. Info-IBMPC sends an overwhelming amount of interesting messages. Apart from myself there are a lot of people who are also interested in this news. My problem is how to redistribute the news to those interested so everyone need not subscribe to info-ibmpc. Is there a program to undigest the mail sent so I can distribute the news per subject. Or, How can I divide the mail into smaller mail parts, ready to be sent on. I'd be pleased if someone could send me the program, as I don't know how to FTP programs. Winfried Laane University Griningen Holland LAANE@HGRRUG5 [Todd Doucet of Lugaru has been working on some EEL code to undigestify digests. Perhaps this will get him moving again. If anyone has such code we will carry it in our library. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 13:14:07 PST From: William C. Marsh <bmarsh%cod@nosc.ARPA> Subject: HP110 Menus I'm currently working on some programs for the HP110 and Portable Plus computers, and I would like to provide my own menu selections when the user hits the 'menu' key on the keyboard. Does anyone out there know how to do this? Thanks. -- Bill Marsh, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA {arpa,mil}net: bmarsh@nosc uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!noscvax!bmarsh ------------------------------ Date: 21 APR 86 14:32-N From: DOMMELEN%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Okimate 20 Printer Has anybody in this audience any experience with an Okimate 20 printer ? It's new in Holland, specifications look very, very good. Should print b & w or color in 100 shades. (That's what the dealer says over the phone). All replies are welcome, I'll offer a summary to the net. Wim van Dommelen, Computer Center Agricultural University, Wageningen Holland. DOMMELEN@HWALHW5.BITNET ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 167674) 86-04-26 00.01 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <224> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-26 00.01 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <218> -- Received: 86-04-26 00.40 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-26 00.01 Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 %Original date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST. TF: DSKD:015474.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 51290 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 25 Apr 86 05:01 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 24-Apr-1986 11:37:44-est Date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 22 April 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 46 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option Microsoft Pascal 3.32 BATQUES Clone ASK Floppy Saga Buffered IO Performance Multiuser DOS? (2 Msgs.) Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Tex from Digital Composition Systems PC/AT pinouts (again) Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Quad Density Drive Leading Edge Model M Vdisk Trashes Interrupts MacCharlie Smalltalk Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup Mail Orders VT-100 Emulators Today's Queries: List of BBOARDS wanted FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk Multiple Monitors Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 1200 Baud Modems Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted Bitnet Help Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master GW-Basic High Resolution Problem Undigesting Info-IBMPC HP110 Menus Okimate 20 Printer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Today is the 6 Month Anniversary of the announcement of the IBM Voice Communications option. As I have had one on order since 1 November 1985 I thought I would call my friendly IBM product center to find out what is going on. To refresh everybody's memory this card features a TMS-320 signal processor which acts both as a speech input/output device as well as a modem. This appears to be another case of "vapor hardware". I have worked in the computer speech field for the last 15 years and none of the people I have spoken with have been able to get their hands on this board. The boards have been demonstrated at several IBM open houses, but always with the IBM representative present and in all cases I have heard of the IBM representative has refused to let the interested party look at the board. (in these cases the interested parties have been potential competitors so you can't blame IBM) A few months ago PC Week was raving about the new "speech standard for PCs" introduced by IBM and how the world was all following into line, but so far the emperor has no clothes as far as I am concerned. In response to my phone call the friendly folks at the local product center acknowledged my order and noted that the part number in question was in "restricted supply" or some such IBMspeak. This means not only are they not selling this part, but they decline to state when or if the part will ever be in stock. Has anyone seen this card or know the story of what is going on here??? ------------------------------ Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: Microsoft Pascal 3.32 From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> We recently received Microsoft Pascal 3.2 as an update in the mail, but were unable to make it compile any of our existing programs. Sometimes it just hung the machine. Other times it printed out various messages indicating internal compiler errors. I advise avoiding this version of the Pascal Compiler! I wonder what is happening at Microsoft. Quality control must be slipping. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 00:55:37 cst From: Peter Wu <pwu@maccunix> Subject: BATQUES Clone ASK I have written a program similar to BATQUES which allows you to write interactive files in addition to batch files. Compared to BATQUES, this program has the following features: 1) easier to use; no need to lookup ASCII table 2) option to select case (in)sensitivity 3) can print ANY character (including '$' sign) in the prompt It is also written in assembly & also comes with a document. ASK.ASM and ASK.DOC have been added to the library. Peter Wu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 9:13:22 EST From: Steven Segletes <steven@BRL.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Floppy Saga A friend had some old (he claims 6 years) 5 1/4" floppies which he asked me to try to format on my 360KB floppy drive (his machine was giving him trouble, and he wasn't sure if it was his diskettes or his machine). These disks appeared to have been folded, spindled and mutilated. Through years of neglect, a crusty dust had coated everything. He assured me that all the disks had been subjected to equal quantities of abuse, as they were stored on the same floor of the same closet, etc. The results of the formatting tests are however interesting: 2 Dysan 104/1 35 Track (presumably SS/SD) failed completely on single sided format 2 Verbatim MD 525-10-18167 40 Track SS/DD failed completely on single sided format 3 Maxell MD1 SS (presumably SD) succeeded on double sided format, with 1 disk having 50K locked out sectors 1 disk having 20K locked out sectors 1 disk formatting perfectly Keep up the good work Maxell. Steven Segletes U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 06:30:43 PST From: dgb%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu (Daniel S. Briggs) Subject: Buffered IO Performance Can someone explain to me in nice simple terms just why Lattice 'C' output routines are so deucedly slow? (From what I have seen, I think it is a fairly common characteristic of most 'printfs' and company.) I have a 'C' program and an equivalent assembler program, both of which output a good many numbers and strings to the screen. Lattice C 2.15 Masm 4.0 buffered output to screen 31 s. -- unbuffered output to screen 15 s. 15 s. buffered output to file 5 s. -- unbuffered output to file 21 s. 22 s. direct screen write -- 5 s. The lattice routines used printf, and cprintf for the buffered and unbuffered output, respectively. The Masm program used the DOS print string function and BIOS write tty video interrupt respectively. What in the world is it doing in the buffered screen writes? Is it playing a game of cards with the interrupt controller chip or something? It looks like there is no good choice of output routines. We either settle for the glacial speed of buffered interactive output, and fast io redirection, or the reverse with the unbuffered functions. I can see no reason why buffering the output should cause such massive degradation of performance. Anyone else have any thoughts? --Daniel Briggs ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 22:00 EST From: Spiros Triantafyllopoulos <spiros%gmr.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Multiuser DOS? Hello! Probably it has been asked before, so please bear with us :-) Is there any software / hardware combo that will allow more than one user on the PC under MS-DOS (or PC-DOS)? I am considering an AT compatible, but need > 1 user at a time. Graphics compatibility is not important (i.e., mostly text stuff). I have heard of a company called KIMTRON or something close enough, but they look expensive and did not specify terminals they can use it with. If a software-only solution exists, it would be preferable. The second terminal is a good ole' VT100 w/AVO. I would appreciate comments regarding experiences with said hardware/software also. Thanks in advance Spiros Triantafyllopoulos GM Research Laboratories Warren, Michigan (Spiros@GMR.csnet) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 13:56 PST From: Ghenis.pasa@Xerox.COM Subject: Multiuser DOS? To: spiros%gmr.CSNet@CSNet-Relay.ARPA MULTILINK is a software product that will allow you to run multiuser, with dumb terminals hanging off of the serial ports. The catch is, as far as I know, you can only run programs with a TTY interface, no fancy video. If your program abides by DOS 3.1 file sharing conventions it can share files under Multilink too. Price is about $500. Disclaimer: I have no interest in or direct experience with MULTILINK. I am simply relaying information from ads. This information is not guaranteed to be true. Batteries not included. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Apr 86 13:54 EST From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report I received a TinyTurbo 286 board from Orchid two days ago. Having run some timing tests and general use tests, I can safely say that the performance improvement over my standard IBM PC is 100%. It's approximately twice as fast. Not three times as fast, as they imply. This assumes standard hard disk and floppy drives, and a mix of computing activities that has a fair amount of both screen and disk I/O. Specifically, I hand-timed the ARC program, and my Lattice C compilations for "data processing" activity, and FinalWord II for "interactive" (editor) and "data processing" (formatter) activity. I don't number-crunch, and I expect that if I did, I would notice a better performance improvement. One anomaly -- can anybody explain it? I was using Rational Systems' Instant-C, which is a 260K .EXE file. Although when it was in use, it was twice as fast at loading C programs and executing them, it took ***three times longer*** to *load* the program when running the 286 than when running the 8088! Is there some overhead imposed by the cache memory when there isn't locality of reference (stepping through memory loading a file for execution is very non-local), just as there is quickness on the 16-bit "bus" when there is locality? Sounds wrong. Then, perhaps there is some interaction such that my hard disk has to spin twice for every sector read with the faster CPU? Sounds wrong, too. Does anybody have any ideas or confirming experience with other programs or the Victor turbo card? Brian ------------------------------ Date: Sat 19 Apr 86 20:31:28-EST From: Evan Nelson <MCD.E-NELSON@KLA.WESLYN> Subject: Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Has anyone had any success with downloadable science fonts to an HP? I need a font for the HP LaserJet Plus that supports math, physics, and chemistry characters and symbols. Thanks in advance. - Evan Nelson NELSON@WESLYN.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 17:26:13 EST From: John Duimovich <John_Duimovich%CARLETON.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Tex from Digital Composition Systems Hi, We've just received at version of Tex that runs on our ATs. It came with a complete Tex, a Laser Printer and a ram card piggybacked to the laser card. It works !!! You just wouldn't believe that *real* Tex in coming out of your printer. Bye Bye MacWrite. It came from: Digital Composition Systems, Inc. 1717 West Northern Ave Suite 201 Phoenix, Arizona 85021 (602) 870-7666 The following is an extract from their brag sheet. Take it with a grain as it is come from the dudes who sell it. The real deal is the *price* WOW. Even a small department could afford it especially with the educational discount. Yes it works, was easy to install and looks great. Again, warning the following is from their sales people and I have not tested all the claims. The samples are great however and the scanner looks useful too. [Some but not enough Hyperbole eliminated! -ed] " STAR-Tex comes with the complete Computer Modern font family with 6 to 24 point sizes in regular, bold and slanted faces. In addition, many well known publishing typographic font faces are available on diskette from DCS. A variety of DCS boxes and shading extensions can be used to highlight and dress up documentation. Computer generated graphics in Plot 10 format can be included in the body of your text. This summer we will be adding support for AutoCad generated drawings allowing CAD/CAM drawings to be inserted into your documents. Using a 300 dpi scanner and pixel editor, also available through DCS, line art and pictorial illustrations can be captured, edited and placed into your technical documentation. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS DCS Controller (Raster Image Processor) - DVI Version 1.0 INTRODUCTION The STAR-Tex DCS Raster Image Processor is a 300 dpi laser output device designed for the TeX user community. The laser printer, controller and software are designed to operate in any IBM PC or AT computer system. The Computer Modern font family is supplied with the system as well as pixel and vector image merge and overlay. Option font families are available such as CompuGraphic Corporation Times, Futura, Triumvirate, Baskerville, Palacio, Stymie, Avante Garde. Point sizes are available from 6 to 36 point. Graphics features include PLOT10 vector file support, DataCopy pixel images, and a variety of quality screens, patterns, and different rule types are all supported through the ``SPECIAL'' command feature. Future releases will provide AutoCad DXF support with scaling for laser printer page sizes. Standard DVI (Device Independent Files) are supported. The DVI file format is produced by a number of PC and mainframe based TeX implementations. System requirements are DOS 3.1, 640k bytes RAM, and preferably an AT class PC with 20Mb of fixed disk storage. Users with more modest font and processing requirements can use a PC/XT with 10MB of storage Full screen preview with pan and zoom is provided at no additional charge with support for IBM color and Hercules graphics cards. DVIPRINT - DCS DVI Printer Driver and Preview program LISTING - Listing program for printing ASCII files AMxxx.150 through AMxxx.373 - CM Fonts User Manual DCS-Canon 8ppm laser printer with 2 mb controller card PC-Tex and LaTex with Manual 1.1 FEATURES The following features are supported with Version 1.0 release products. Full screen preview with pan and zoom. Single command line with options DataCopy image file merge with invert option Plot10 image file merge with scaling parameters. Insert at current X Y or overlay image on page options Odd, Even, or All pages output options Number of copies option Hand Feed option Legal, A4, B5, and letter paper size support Landscape or Portrait option Hoffset and Voffset option 20 cross hatch/screen patterns Begin and End page number options Prices: Educational Customers - 3600.00 (3200.00 in qty 10) Commercial Customers - 5900.00 (same as LaserWriter) " John Duimovich John_Duimovich@Carleton.BITNET ------------------------------ From: lotto%lhasa.UUCP@harvard.HARVARD.EDU Date: 20 Apr 86 11:13 EST Subject: PC/AT pinouts (again) The following has been requested so many times, here it is again. The gender refers to the cable connector, NOT the device. AT, 9 pin female: DCE, 25 pin male: DTE, 25 pin female: 1 CD <-- 8 CD | <-- 8 CD 2 receive <-- 3 transmit | <-- 2 transmit 3 transmit --> 2 receive | --> 3 receive 4 DTR --> 20 DTR | --> 6 DSR 5 ground -- 7 ground | -- 7 ground 6 DSR <-- 6 DSR | <-- 20 DTR 7 RTS --> 4 RTS | --> 5 CTS 8 CTS <-- 5 CTS | <-- 4 RTS 9 RI <-- 22 RI | <-- 22 RI Devices: PC/AT Modem or IBM PC Most terminals other computers This chart illustrates (AT to DCE) or (AT to DTE) cables, (DCE to DTE) is straight through. If hardware flow control is to be disabled, jumper pins 4, 6 and 8 together on the AT side. Gerald Lotto - Harvard Chemistry Dept. UUCP: {seismo,harpo,ihnp4,linus,allegra,ut-sally}!harvard!lhasa!lotto ARPA: lotto@harvard.EDU CSNET: lotto%harvard@csnet-relay [Thanks also to Fred Wamsley (uw-june!bcsaic!asymet!fred@uw-beaver) who also provided this information and Mark L. Williams who added the following comment: -wab] As an aside, and a small flame at IBM, be very careful with your adapter connections when working with parallel and serial connections, since their operating levels are different and attaching a serial device to a parallel port can cause device/port damage. This problem seldom arose before IBM's insistence on using a DB-25 connector for parallel connections, but can be a trap now. For instance, my printer buffer will accept data from parallel or serial comm lines and can drive serial or parallel printers, but all the connectors are the same. I'm sure everyone is careful enough to never get their wires crossed, but an extra word to the wise might be useful... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20-Apr-86 13:01:15 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Jim Ryan Fido 141/9 Patches for IBM PC-DOS 3.20 (adapted from Compuserve PC SIG) These patches were developed based on the file DOS31V2.PAT file distributed by the CompuServe PC-SIG. Most patches have been tested (except where noted). I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who originally developed these patches. I am grateful that they took the time to develop and distribute them. **************************************************************************** environment Size The patch for changing environment size in DOS 3.20 is as follows (original patch by Bob Morse) : DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 0D4F<cr> xxxx:0D4F 0A.3C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> (Use 1E for a 544 byte environment, 3C for a 1k environment) **************************************************************************** Automatic Installation of printer for DOS PRINT The patch to disable the printer port prompt in DOS PRINT is as follows: DEBUG PRINT.COM -E 190D<cr> xxxx:190D E8.90 D6.90 02.90<cr> -E 191f<cr> xxxx:191F CD.90 21.90<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> To change the default printer port (to something other than PRN), add the following command: -E 11C2 4 "LPT2" **************************************************************************** Disable automatic header in FIND.EXE output (UNTESTED) The FIND program puts an automatic header line in the output listing. To disable this feature, use the following patch: REN FIND.EXE FIND.XXX DEBUG FIND.XXX<cr> -E 0427<cr> -xxxx:0427 03:2C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> REN FIND.XXX FIND.EXE **************************************************************************** Permit more than 10 mismatches in COMP.COM (UNTESTED) The SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to permit 50 mismatches in COMP.COM . The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMP.COM -E 0AF3<cr> xxxx:0AF3 0A.32<cr> -E 0E09<cr> xxxx:0E09 31.35<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Echo Off Again, the SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files (probably my most favorite patch). The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM (to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files, enter the next two lines) -E 1B2C<cr> xxxx:1B2C 01.00<cr> (to make ECHO OFF the default in AUTOEXEC.BAT, enter the next two lines.) (This patch is courtesy of Calvin R. Shields of PC Magazine.) -E 115E<cr> xxxx:115E 03.02<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Allowing blank lines in batch files In earlier versions of DOS (2.xx), you could echo a blank line by using ECHO (spaces). This was removed in DOS 3.xx . The patch to enable blank lines in batch files in DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 3A88<cr> xxxx:3A88 E8.83 20.F9 00.02 74.72<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> This patch was originally developed by Calvin R. Shields from PC magazine. **************************************************************************** The rest of the patches for DOS 3.2 are the same as the one's used for DOS 3.10 . **************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Subject: Quad Density Drive Date: Sun, 20 Apr 86 14:36:41 -0500 From: jam@mitre-bedford.ARPA The Technical Reference Manual for my Leading Edge model M PClone states that the uPD765AC floppy disk controller can be used with 1.2MB quad density disk drives. Has anyone done this with a PC or PClone? The manual identifies the commands to specify the drive type to the controller, but there is no mention of driver or format software requirements. Is any special software required? if so, is it available? (I am running MS-DOS 2.11.) I have seen reasonably priced quad density drives advertised, of various brands. Some were specified as AT drives, and others were unspecified. What are the requirements, and what brands are best? If I could get 1.2MB on a disk for a reasonable cost it would greatly facilitate backing up the hard disk. I would appreciate any information on the subject. Joshua A. Morris jam@mitre-bedford.arpa [JFORMAT from Tall Tree supports Quad density drives with the standard controller. The drive lettering scheme is a bit bizarre. I used to run a Quad Drive back on my 16K PC in the DOS 1.1 days. I still run it with DOS 3.1 on this PC as it isn't worth the trouble to install a hard disk on this early serial number PC and I need the space!. See V1 #1 -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 14:07:00 PST From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA> Subject: Leading Edge Model M I know that there is going to be some variance of opinion concerning the Model-M. First, some statistics. It is not an 8086 machine but a fast (7.??) MHz 8088-2. It was manufactured in Japan by Mitsubishi (Sp?). The Model-M was identical to the computer marketed by Sperry as the Sperry-PC. In its basic configuration (256K, monochrome, 2 floppy, 1 centronics, 1 RS-232, onboard clock/timer with battery backup) it was a good deal at the $1499 Leading Edge was unloading it for. At 900 it is an absolute steal. I am currently writing this on a Model-M in my house in communication with our VAX via Hayes 1200B. I have not plugged any hardware into this computer that hasn't worked as it was supposed to with an IBM. All software that I have tried, works as it should for the IBM. My guess is that this is as compatible as any other PC without 'real' IBM BIOS ROMS. If you look at the overall construction of the computer, you would be impressed with the board layouts{in the Mitsubishi designed boards. The motherboard is a work of art and the memory expansion board (there is only 128K on the motherboard but LE provides a 512K expansion board with 128K hard soldered in place). This board is amazing in that there are circ-sockets (gold plated) for the memory expansion and the chips in place are all 150 Ns or better parts. The monochrome board I received with my Model-M was made by General Electric and is as good a monochrome clone as I have seen (No Herc Graphics, though). As I have stated, I have had no unexpected problems (or problems of any kind) with this computer and its been in demanding service for about 18 months now. I added a Hercules Clone card which works flawlessly, and I developed an Image Analysis System on it using a Tecmar Graphics Master Board in one of its more bizarre op modes. It got a 20 Meg hard drive about 6 months ago (purchased from Express Systems and it works fine. The machine is compatible with PC-DOS up to version 3.1 (this is what boots on the Hard Drive) although the MS-DOS which is provided with the machine is in many ways superior in that the COMMAND.COM file recoznises all the features on the motherboard (e.g clock, and sets them appropriately). The only drawback to this computer (and also applies to the Model-D as well as any short footprint computer) is its space for only 2 half height drives in the cabinet. I had to remove a floppy when I put in the hard drive. Now, adding streaming-tape will require an external unit. This is somewhat of a problem, but would be the same for a Model-D. Because of the faster speed of the CPU, the inclusion of mostly Mitsubishi parts (inclu floppies), as opposed to what I feel are inferior electronics indonesian in the Model-D, I would again purchase a Model-M over a model-D especially at the closeout price. Now, I know that there were some bad units to enter the country from Japan in late 1984 and early 1985 during the legal wars between Mitsubishi and Leading Edge. After the battle, all units I have encountered (Those that have ROM Version 2.11 or better, and a key tronic KB5150 kbd) have been fine. There were a few unhappy purchasers of some of the earlier machines. After talking with BCE representatives, I have been assured that the closeouts were all from the most recent vintage machines. I can recommend without reservation the purchase of a Model-M for any application which needs a machine in the PC/XT class with substantially more speed than the IBM. John Rossi III ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 16:29:45-PST From: Michael A. Haberler <HABERLER@SU-SIERRA.ARPA> Subject: Vdisk Trashes Interrupts I have encountered this problem, too; when I was copying files to the RAMdisk, and hit any key, the AT would lock up. The problem is insufficient stack space in the Vdisk program for the 'external memory I/O' (I love that expression). If you look at the Vdisk listing, somewhere before the external memory I/O Bios call a stack of 40 words is set up. This is too small. Instead of patching the .SYS file, I reverse-engineered the VDisk source from the listing, and increased the local stack to 100 words, assembled and linked it. This apparently cured the problem; I did not encounter this bug since. Michael Haberler [INFO-IBMPC can't publish Michael's patched version of vdisk as this would violate IBM's copyright protection. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 12:26:03-EST From: AD0R@TB.CC.CMU.EDU Subject: MacCharlie Here at CMU we have a 'Computer Skills Workshop' that all freshman are required to take, and they've been teaching the things on MacCharlie. A few observations: 1. The units really love to munch disks. I'm talking oxide erosion. 2. The speed difference can be damn near intolerable. 3. We haven't found them to be quite as compatible as was suggested. I'm sorry that I can't offer any specifics, but I haven't used them myself. Anthony A. Datri Carnegie Mellon University* (* a trademark of IBM, inc.) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 08:22 EST From: Mark Williams <mlw@ncsc> Subject: Smalltalk RE: Smalltalk on the PC...the August '85 issue of Computer Languages (Vol.2, No.8) contains an article entitled "Smalltalk Comes to the Micro" on page 27. It identifies a product call "Methods" from Digitalk, Inc. The product has been advertised regularly since then. An ad from the Feb, 86, CL says that it costs $250 with educational and dealer discounts available. Vendor data: Digitalk, Inc. 5200 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90045 (213)645-1082 Add'l info: "Methods operates on IBM PCs with 512K bytes RAM using MS-DOS or PC-DOS. Color and monochrome monitors are supported. No mouse is re- quired. A Smalltalk language manual and an environment guide are included." Also available is Objective-C, which is advertised as an object-oriented programming language. It apparently generates C source code. It's from Productivity Products International 27 Glen Road Sandy Hook, CT 06482 (203)426-1875 A known ad is in Dr. Dobbs Jnl., Dec., 85. Standard disclaimers... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Mon 21 Apr 86 09:01:16-PST From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@su-sushi.arpa> Subject: Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup In regards to my earlier posting: I've finally found a utility that allows me to do screen dumps from my Enhanced Graphics Adapter/Enhanced Color Display (640 by 350, 16 color) setup. "PC-Paintbrush", made by ZSoft (and marketed by Microsoft, I believe), comes with a utility called "Frieze". Frieze is installed automatically when you run PC_Paintbrush, and stays resident until you turn off your computer. It catches Shift-Prtsc key presses, displays a menu at the top of the screen, and allows you to save, print, size (etc.) all or part of any screen in any application, as far as I can tell. You can edit saved screens with PC-Paintbrush, of course. The programs support a large number of printers (~30) and graphics cards (~15). So far, it looks like a superior product. We bought the whole package for $98. Cheers, Marvin ------------------------------ From: gulvin@radc-lonex (James Gulvin, Lt, USAF) Subject: Mail Orders Date: Mon Apr 21 13:00:17 1986 Some kudos and some gotchas to various mail order houses. For kudos, list Logicsoft for support of their "we'll beat any advertised price" slogan and super fast service. I once received a video board the day after I ordered it! Add CompuMart in Dallas, TX for excellent after sale service. One phone call, a few minutes with the tech explaining how I isolated the faulty drive, and I had a new drive three days later! On the flip side, an advertised 1.5 MB memory expansion board from Conroy LaPointe couldn't be expanded above 384 KB. After several phone calls, letters, and months I finally was allowed to swap for another board and the difference in price. I spent awhile longer to recoup the restocking fee I was charged to rectify their mistake. And the outfit that brought me to write - Top Line Computer in Utah. I ordered a PC floppy drive and a printer cable on Feb 25th. The second week of March I switched my order to another (more expensive) floppy to avoid further shipping delays . No drive appeared and the fourth week of March I was told it had been shipped the previous week. Finally, I received an AT, not PC, drive. So, more phone calls, paying return shipping charges, and a promise of"we'll ship it tomorrow--next day air". April 11th- "shipped the right one yesterday". April 19th- "we can't seem to find your file". They were able to bill my credit card on Feb 25th though. As of April 21st you can sign me... Still Waiting ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 22:41:18 est From: m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA Organization: The MITRE Corp., Washington, D.C. Subject: VT-100 Emulators To: GLOOR%CSGHSG5A.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: Burgess Allison M15126 X7548 Dickenson W852 Subject: Re: VT100 emulator for IBM-PC >Does anybody know about a "real" VT100 emulator ... >[There must be at least a hundred VT100 emulators ... There are truly hordes of VT100 emulators. A couple years ago, though, I had a task to put a few of these products through some rather rigorous testing. Not a single one matched the VT100, sequence for reaction. You start, of course, with hardware incompatibility. To get 132 characters, special graphics characters, and double-width/double-height, you generally need a special card. The next stumbling block is character highlighting: the standard PC video cards don't support the combinations of bold, underscore, reverse video and highlighting that VT100 has. Again, the fix is usually hardware. Another "incompatibility" is the VT100 setup screens: do you *really* want to get the VT100's abysmal binary flag setup screens. If so, you're pretty much out of luck. The software vendors (perhaps rightly) insist on correcting this massive flaw in VT100 design -- usually with menus. Some menu structures are more understandable than others. I haven't seen any that copy the VT220's menus, though (as an example). Most of the VT100 emulators handle most sequence/responses properly, but the problems come in when you get to some of the more arcane sequence/ responses. For example, many emulators don't handle error conditions the same way the VT100 does, nor requests to "change character sets", or commands to perform resets and tests. Though these *shouldn't* make any difference, they occasionally do. For use with DEC's own ALL-IN-1, for example, your emulator better be *very* good. Like I said, I did these tests a few years ago, so the results are effectively meaningless, but none of the packages I tested matched the "standard" completely (even ignoring hardware problems) and there *are* substantive differences. Just for curiosity's sake: we found that VTERM came the closest to the VT100 in matching sequence/responses. Hope this helps. Burgess Allison <m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA> ------------------------------ From: tom@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Trevor O. McCarthy) To: info-modem7@simtel20.ARPA, info-modemxx@simtel20.ARPA, Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA. Phone: (617) 271-3084 Subject: List of BBOARDS wanted Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:39:23 -0500 HI: I am compiling a list of bulletin boards for a research project. I need direct information about (useful) bulletin boards, or, even better, where I can get directories of bulletin boards. DAK Inc, the video gadget people mention a book that has a list of over 400 available bulletin boards that is put out by some company somewhere; if anyone knows about such a book (or books) or any previous compilation of Bulletin Board information, I would certainly appreciate hearing about it. Please respond to me directly to save space on the net. I am not on all of these lists anyway. I will summarize the resulting input for those who are interested. Thanks, Trevor O. McCarthy The MITRE Corporation ------------------------------ From: calmasd!dko@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Dan O'Neill) Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:32:13 pst Subject: FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk I've been having some trouble with the 22-meg Winchester in my IBM and was hoping that you good people out there would have some insight into what could be wrong, how to test it, and possibly how to fix it. PC configuration: Power supply: 135w Fixed Disk controller: Data Terminal Corp. (DTC) Winchester drive: Mini-Scribe 1/2 height ~1 year old Installed boards: AST 6-pack, CGA, Maynard floppy controller The problem: Every couple of months an area of the FAT get trashed. Usually just one file, but that messes up the entire disk. Conditions: This happens whenever when I am compiling rather long programs in C, Pascal or Assembler. There seems to be no correlation between any of the crashes, other than the fact that the drive is performing many seeks. I'm using Desmet C, CI-86, turbo pascal and MS assembler.. nothing too extraordinary. I've checked everything I can think of, memory resident programs, power supply output, flaky software... I really don't know what else to look at. I've even filled up the disk with directories and files and ran some search routines and generally gave the disk a serious workout with no problems. Could it be the DTC controller? Anyone had any problems with these? How about Mini-Scribe? I have a friend with the same drive and he has had no problems. Thanks for all the help. Dan O'Neill - GE Calma R&D - 9805 Scranton Rd., San Diego 92121 UUCP: ...!sdcsvax!calmasd!dko ARPA: "calmasd!dko"@UCSD.ARPA VOICE: (619) 587-3112 "How about a little fire scarecrow?" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 00:12 EST From: Mark Woodruff <WOODRUFF%UCF1VM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple Monitors Does anyone know of a card that allows an application to run multiple (four in my case) color or monochrome monitors at the same time? I need to run different images on each of the monitors. Please reply directly to me, and I will post any results if needed. Regards, Mark ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 08:44 GMT From: JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH Subject:Diagnostic Error Code 102 Now: Does anyone know what an error code of 102 from the IBM Advanced Diagnostics means? Has something to do with the ROM on the system board but ... Thanking you all in advance. Gregory Hicks GHICKS@KOREA-EMH JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 02:21 PLT From: Eric Schneider <10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? What I would like to know is if any of you out there have written code which allows the definition of multiple partitions on a single hard disk. I know that programs like this are available from many manufacturers to allow the use of >32MB drives with DOS by splitting up the drive into multiple volumes. Do any of you have code which will do this? Please reply to: 10409813%wsuvm1@wiscvm.ARPA 10409813@wsuvm1.BITNET eric@wsu.CSNET ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 02:58:40 pst From: efrem@lbl-csam.ARPA (Efrem Lipkin [tourist]) Subject: Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC I am thinking of getting Lauren's implementation of the UUCP protocol on the PC. This is the only such implementation I know of. I am wondering if anyone out there has used the system and what they thought of it. It is expensive enough to make jumping blind frightening and I would appreciate hearing from any users either via the digest or directly. Thanks Efrem Lipkin efrem@lbl-csam ucbvax!lbl-csam!efrem ------------------------------ Date: Tue 22 Apr 1986 09:49:59 EST From: <SAGE@LL.ARPA> Subject: Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 I, too, have some questions about add-on hard disks for the Compaq Deskpro 286. I bought mine (don't ask why) without any hard disk at all. Consequently, I have neither the drive nor the controller. Since the IBM AT apparently always comes with a controller, one does not see many ads for hard disk controllers for AT-compatibles. Hence, I would like to add the following question to the ones from Dan Frank: What hard-disk controllers are available to put into a Compaq 286, and what do people think of them? Thanks. Jay Sage, MIT Lincoln Lab ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 11:48:02 EST From: Michael <Berman@RED.RUTGERS.EDU> Subject: 1200 Baud Modems My Qubie' modem has bit the dust and I need to replace it. I'm looking for a 1200 baud internal. PC Connection sells a Hayes (w/o software) for $289. I'd appreciate any suggestions as to: modems to buy; modems to avoid; places to shop for a good price. Please email directly to me (Berman@Rutgers) and I will summarize if I learn anything. ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 15 Apr 1986 12:01:59-PST From: watson%akov04.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted I am looking for a general purpose assembly language library containing high precision math functions, string manipulation and formatting functions, etc. Does anyone know where such a library can be obtained within the public domain? Thanks in advance. Rick Watson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 19:47:52 EST From: Dean Carpenter <ST701979%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Bitnet Help Does anyone know of any other software/information repositories of the same sort as the INFO-IBMPC one that is accessible from BITNET ? As yet we bitnet users don't have remote login capabilities to arpanet nodes so we can't ftp all the neat software available ... There are servers on bitnet (e.g macserve at bitnic) that have some stuff, but that's for the mac. I haven't yet found anything for the wondrous Itty Bitty Machines Corp PC, of which I am a proud owner. Can anyone help ? Thanks - Dean [ Back digests have been available for a long time on BITNET, but bitnet people don't seem to know about it. Others have tried to set up a similar service for the program library, but so far with no success. Following is from our file $FTP.DOC: We get more requests for files than we can handle. ACCESSING THE ARCHIVES FROM BITNET HOSTS ---------------------------------------- On BITNET, Info-IBMPC Digest is now loaded into a Spires database and are therefore searchable from anywhere as long as you can send RFC822 mail. If you are interested in using this service, send a piece of mail to: DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA or DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU and have as the first 3 lines of your file (case does not matter): help help arpanet help design The server will send back to you 3 help files describing how to use the internet server, how to search Arpanet digests and how the whole thing was designed. Read over the section on "Signup" carefully before making further use of the Database server. Presently, Info-IBMPC Digests are retained for a period of two months. The retention period is set for a short duration in order to see if Bitnic can handle the volume of data that needs to be stored in Spires. Example of search command: FIND TEXT UNIX (IN INFO-IBMPC TABLE would find all entries in Info-Ibmpc that contain the word UNIX. An entry is just the section within a "digested" digest that makes reference to the word UNIX. For further details read over the help files. (Thanks to Henry Nussbacher (Hank@Bitnic.Bitnet), Bitnet Development and Operations Center, for this information.) -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Apr 86 10:05:03 est From: sao@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Stephen A. Otruba) Full-Name: Stephen A. Otruba Organization: The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA Subject: Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master Help... Has anyone out there tried to use IBM Xenix 2.0 on an AT with a Tecmar Graphics Master or any other graphics card besides the basic IBM card? I've had trouble trying to run Xenix 1.0 with the Graphics Master and am trying to see if 2.0 may have a fix to my problem before I bother to upgrade. The problem I have encountered comes with displaying text using any command or program. The problem occurs every 102 lines after which a page of alternating normal and reverse video vertical lines will be displayed as Xenix scrolls up the screen. When the "garbage page" has scrolled to fill the screen, the next line displayed will return the screen to normal with the correct text being displayed where the garbage had been. As you can imagine this is irritating. This seems to be a problem in the way Xenix uses the card's screen memory. Xenix seems to use a nice "windowing" technique which works with the IBM cards but not the Tecmar card to result in a very fast screen update of "scrolled" text. Apparently Xenix display drivers directly manipulate the 6845 Graphics Display Controller (specifically registers R12 and R13) to shift the starting address of the screen display on a line by line basis to give the effect of scrolling text. The advantages of doing this are several. By moving the display window down in memory with each line of scroll (rather than text within the window up), the effect of scrolling can be achieved without actually moving any memory locations. (Writing to the screen produces "snow" especially when an entire screenful of text is moved(by DOS) to make room for new text at the bottom of a fixed position DOS screen). A problem occurs when Xenix reaches the bottom of the display card's memory. With the IBM card, setting the display window to a point almost to the end of the graphic board's 16k of memory will cause the display to wrap around and display the top of the screen from high (display card) memory and the bottom of the screen from low memory. Xenix handles this nicely by knowing when the 16ki point has been reached and then writing to low (screen) memory matching the hardware wraparound. This "trick" doesn't work with the Tecmar card, or probably any other card with more than 16k of display memory. The Tecmar card doesn't "wrap around" until the 32k point in memory and so displays garbage for the last 24 lines in Xenix's display space. When Xenix know's the display window is completely past the 16k point, it resets the window to low (screen) memory and thus displays text which was originally invisible to the Tecmar display. Are there any further insights into this problem out there? Has anyone tried Xenix 2.0 with this or a similar setup (maybe EGA)? Or maybe does anyone have a patch to Xenix to adapt to the Tecmar card or some sort of workaround short of reverting to the IBM basic card? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanx in advance... Steve Otruba < sao@mitre-bedford > ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 10:56-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: GW-Basic High Resolution Problem The GW-Basic command "SCREEN 3" invokes the 640*400 high resolution graphics. Basic programs compiled and linked with the Microsoft Quickbasic compiler are interrupted at this command as it is not IBM-compatible. The problem is how to prevent this interruption, when the basic program is compiled on a AT&T 6300 (Olivetti M24), which support the high resolution. Does anybody know this problem and the solution???????? Thanks in advance, Winfried Laane State University Groningen Holland, Europe LAANE@HGRRUG5 ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 11:11-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Undigesting Info-IBMPC I'm working at the consultation department of the computer center at the State University of Groningen, Holland. Info-IBMPC sends an overwhelming amount of interesting messages. Apart from myself there are a lot of people who are also interested in this news. My problem is how to redistribute the news to those interested so everyone need not subscribe to info-ibmpc. Is there a program to undigest the mail sent so I can distribute the news per subject. Or, How can I divide the mail into smaller mail parts, ready to be sent on. I'd be pleased if someone could send me the program, as I don't know how to FTP programs. Winfried Laane University Griningen Holland LAANE@HGRRUG5 [Todd Doucet of Lugaru has been working on some EEL code to undigestify digests. Perhaps this will get him moving again. If anyone has such code we will carry it in our library. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 13:14:07 PST From: William C. Marsh <bmarsh%cod@nosc.ARPA> Subject: HP110 Menus I'm currently working on some programs for the HP110 and Portable Plus computers, and I would like to provide my own menu selections when the user hits the 'menu' key on the keyboard. Does anyone out there know how to do this? Thanks. -- Bill Marsh, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA {arpa,mil}net: bmarsh@nosc uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!noscvax!bmarsh ------------------------------ Date: 21 APR 86 14:32-N From: DOMMELEN%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Okimate 20 Printer Has anybody in this audience any experience with an Okimate 20 printer ? It's new in Holland, specifications look very, very good. Should print b & w or color in 100 shades. (That's what the dealer says over the phone). All replies are welcome, I'll offer a summary to the net. Wim van Dommelen, Computer Center Agricultural University, Wageningen Holland. DOMMELEN@HWALHW5.BITNET ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 168298) 86-04-26 18.12 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <225> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-26 18.12 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <219> -- Received: 86-04-26 20.20 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-26 18.12 Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 %Original date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST. TF: DSKD:012696.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 51290 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 24 Apr 86 03:36 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 23-Apr-1986 15:58:04-est Date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 22 April 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 46 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option Microsoft Pascal 3.32 BATQUES Clone ASK Floppy Saga Buffered IO Performance Multiuser DOS? (2 Msgs.) Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Tex from Digital Composition Systems PC/AT pinouts (again) Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Quad Density Drive Leading Edge Model M Vdisk Trashes Interrupts MacCharlie Smalltalk Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup Mail Orders VT-100 Emulators Today's Queries: List of BBOARDS wanted FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk Multiple Monitors Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 1200 Baud Modems Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted Bitnet Help Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master GW-Basic High Resolution Problem Undigesting Info-IBMPC HP110 Menus Okimate 20 Printer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Today is the 6 Month Anniversary of the announcement of the IBM Voice Communications option. As I have had one on order since 1 November 1985 I thought I would call my friendly IBM product center to find out what is going on. To refresh everybody's memory this card features a TMS-320 signal processor which acts both as a speech input/output device as well as a modem. This appears to be another case of "vapor hardware". I have worked in the computer speech field for the last 15 years and none of the people I have spoken with have been able to get their hands on this board. The boards have been demonstrated at several IBM open houses, but always with the IBM representative present and in all cases I have heard of the IBM representative has refused to let the interested party look at the board. (in these cases the interested parties have been potential competitors so you can't blame IBM) A few months ago PC Week was raving about the new "speech standard for PCs" introduced by IBM and how the world was all following into line, but so far the emperor has no clothes as far as I am concerned. In response to my phone call the friendly folks at the local product center acknowledged my order and noted that the part number in question was in "restricted supply" or some such IBMspeak. This means not only are they not selling this part, but they decline to state when or if the part will ever be in stock. Has anyone seen this card or know the story of what is going on here??? ------------------------------ Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: Microsoft Pascal 3.32 From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> We recently received Microsoft Pascal 3.2 as an update in the mail, but were unable to make it compile any of our existing programs. Sometimes it just hung the machine. Other times it printed out various messages indicating internal compiler errors. I advise avoiding this version of the Pascal Compiler! I wonder what is happening at Microsoft. Quality control must be slipping. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 00:55:37 cst From: Peter Wu <pwu@maccunix> Subject: BATQUES Clone ASK I have written a program similar to BATQUES which allows you to write interactive files in addition to batch files. Compared to BATQUES, this program has the following features: 1) easier to use; no need to lookup ASCII table 2) option to select case (in)sensitivity 3) can print ANY character (including '$' sign) in the prompt It is also written in assembly & also comes with a document. ASK.ASM and ASK.DOC have been added to the library. Peter Wu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 9:13:22 EST From: Steven Segletes <steven@BRL.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Floppy Saga A friend had some old (he claims 6 years) 5 1/4" floppies which he asked me to try to format on my 360KB floppy drive (his machine was giving him trouble, and he wasn't sure if it was his diskettes or his machine). These disks appeared to have been folded, spindled and mutilated. Through years of neglect, a crusty dust had coated everything. He assured me that all the disks had been subjected to equal quantities of abuse, as they were stored on the same floor of the same closet, etc. The results of the formatting tests are however interesting: 2 Dysan 104/1 35 Track (presumably SS/SD) failed completely on single sided format 2 Verbatim MD 525-10-18167 40 Track SS/DD failed completely on single sided format 3 Maxell MD1 SS (presumably SD) succeeded on double sided format, with 1 disk having 50K locked out sectors 1 disk having 20K locked out sectors 1 disk formatting perfectly Keep up the good work Maxell. Steven Segletes U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 06:30:43 PST From: dgb%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu (Daniel S. Briggs) Subject: Buffered IO Performance Can someone explain to me in nice simple terms just why Lattice 'C' output routines are so deucedly slow? (From what I have seen, I think it is a fairly common characteristic of most 'printfs' and company.) I have a 'C' program and an equivalent assembler program, both of which output a good many numbers and strings to the screen. Lattice C 2.15 Masm 4.0 buffered output to screen 31 s. -- unbuffered output to screen 15 s. 15 s. buffered output to file 5 s. -- unbuffered output to file 21 s. 22 s. direct screen write -- 5 s. The lattice routines used printf, and cprintf for the buffered and unbuffered output, respectively. The Masm program used the DOS print string function and BIOS write tty video interrupt respectively. What in the world is it doing in the buffered screen writes? Is it playing a game of cards with the interrupt controller chip or something? It looks like there is no good choice of output routines. We either settle for the glacial speed of buffered interactive output, and fast io redirection, or the reverse with the unbuffered functions. I can see no reason why buffering the output should cause such massive degradation of performance. Anyone else have any thoughts? --Daniel Briggs ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 22:00 EST From: Spiros Triantafyllopoulos <spiros%gmr.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Multiuser DOS? Hello! Probably it has been asked before, so please bear with us :-) Is there any software / hardware combo that will allow more than one user on the PC under MS-DOS (or PC-DOS)? I am considering an AT compatible, but need > 1 user at a time. Graphics compatibility is not important (i.e., mostly text stuff). I have heard of a company called KIMTRON or something close enough, but they look expensive and did not specify terminals they can use it with. If a software-only solution exists, it would be preferable. The second terminal is a good ole' VT100 w/AVO. I would appreciate comments regarding experiences with said hardware/software also. Thanks in advance Spiros Triantafyllopoulos GM Research Laboratories Warren, Michigan (Spiros@GMR.csnet) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 13:56 PST From: Ghenis.pasa@Xerox.COM Subject: Multiuser DOS? To: spiros%gmr.CSNet@CSNet-Relay.ARPA MULTILINK is a software product that will allow you to run multiuser, with dumb terminals hanging off of the serial ports. The catch is, as far as I know, you can only run programs with a TTY interface, no fancy video. If your program abides by DOS 3.1 file sharing conventions it can share files under Multilink too. Price is about $500. Disclaimer: I have no interest in or direct experience with MULTILINK. I am simply relaying information from ads. This information is not guaranteed to be true. Batteries not included. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Apr 86 13:54 EST From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report I received a TinyTurbo 286 board from Orchid two days ago. Having run some timing tests and general use tests, I can safely say that the performance improvement over my standard IBM PC is 100%. It's approximately twice as fast. Not three times as fast, as they imply. This assumes standard hard disk and floppy drives, and a mix of computing activities that has a fair amount of both screen and disk I/O. Specifically, I hand-timed the ARC program, and my Lattice C compilations for "data processing" activity, and FinalWord II for "interactive" (editor) and "data processing" (formatter) activity. I don't number-crunch, and I expect that if I did, I would notice a better performance improvement. One anomaly -- can anybody explain it? I was using Rational Systems' Instant-C, which is a 260K .EXE file. Although when it was in use, it was twice as fast at loading C programs and executing them, it took ***three times longer*** to *load* the program when running the 286 than when running the 8088! Is there some overhead imposed by the cache memory when there isn't locality of reference (stepping through memory loading a file for execution is very non-local), just as there is quickness on the 16-bit "bus" when there is locality? Sounds wrong. Then, perhaps there is some interaction such that my hard disk has to spin twice for every sector read with the faster CPU? Sounds wrong, too. Does anybody have any ideas or confirming experience with other programs or the Victor turbo card? Brian ------------------------------ Date: Sat 19 Apr 86 20:31:28-EST From: Evan Nelson <MCD.E-NELSON@KLA.WESLYN> Subject: Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Has anyone had any success with downloadable science fonts to an HP? I need a font for the HP LaserJet Plus that supports math, physics, and chemistry characters and symbols. Thanks in advance. - Evan Nelson NELSON@WESLYN.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 17:26:13 EST From: John Duimovich <John_Duimovich%CARLETON.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Tex from Digital Composition Systems Hi, We've just received at version of Tex that runs on our ATs. It came with a complete Tex, a Laser Printer and a ram card piggybacked to the laser card. It works !!! You just wouldn't believe that *real* Tex in coming out of your printer. Bye Bye MacWrite. It came from: Digital Composition Systems, Inc. 1717 West Northern Ave Suite 201 Phoenix, Arizona 85021 (602) 870-7666 The following is an extract from their brag sheet. Take it with a grain as it is come from the dudes who sell it. The real deal is the *price* WOW. Even a small department could afford it especially with the educational discount. Yes it works, was easy to install and looks great. Again, warning the following is from their sales people and I have not tested all the claims. The samples are great however and the scanner looks useful too. [Some but not enough Hyperbole eliminated! -ed] " STAR-Tex comes with the complete Computer Modern font family with 6 to 24 point sizes in regular, bold and slanted faces. In addition, many well known publishing typographic font faces are available on diskette from DCS. A variety of DCS boxes and shading extensions can be used to highlight and dress up documentation. Computer generated graphics in Plot 10 format can be included in the body of your text. This summer we will be adding support for AutoCad generated drawings allowing CAD/CAM drawings to be inserted into your documents. Using a 300 dpi scanner and pixel editor, also available through DCS, line art and pictorial illustrations can be captured, edited and placed into your technical documentation. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS DCS Controller (Raster Image Processor) - DVI Version 1.0 INTRODUCTION The STAR-Tex DCS Raster Image Processor is a 300 dpi laser output device designed for the TeX user community. The laser printer, controller and software are designed to operate in any IBM PC or AT computer system. The Computer Modern font family is supplied with the system as well as pixel and vector image merge and overlay. Option font families are available such as CompuGraphic Corporation Times, Futura, Triumvirate, Baskerville, Palacio, Stymie, Avante Garde. Point sizes are available from 6 to 36 point. Graphics features include PLOT10 vector file support, DataCopy pixel images, and a variety of quality screens, patterns, and different rule types are all supported through the ``SPECIAL'' command feature. Future releases will provide AutoCad DXF support with scaling for laser printer page sizes. Standard DVI (Device Independent Files) are supported. The DVI file format is produced by a number of PC and mainframe based TeX implementations. System requirements are DOS 3.1, 640k bytes RAM, and preferably an AT class PC with 20Mb of fixed disk storage. Users with more modest font and processing requirements can use a PC/XT with 10MB of storage Full screen preview with pan and zoom is provided at no additional charge with support for IBM color and Hercules graphics cards. DVIPRINT - DCS DVI Printer Driver and Preview program LISTING - Listing program for printing ASCII files AMxxx.150 through AMxxx.373 - CM Fonts User Manual DCS-Canon 8ppm laser printer with 2 mb controller card PC-Tex and LaTex with Manual 1.1 FEATURES The following features are supported with Version 1.0 release products. Full screen preview with pan and zoom. Single command line with options DataCopy image file merge with invert option Plot10 image file merge with scaling parameters. Insert at current X Y or overlay image on page options Odd, Even, or All pages output options Number of copies option Hand Feed option Legal, A4, B5, and letter paper size support Landscape or Portrait option Hoffset and Voffset option 20 cross hatch/screen patterns Begin and End page number options Prices: Educational Customers - 3600.00 (3200.00 in qty 10) Commercial Customers - 5900.00 (same as LaserWriter) " John Duimovich John_Duimovich@Carleton.BITNET ------------------------------ From: lotto%lhasa.UUCP@harvard.HARVARD.EDU Date: 20 Apr 86 11:13 EST Subject: PC/AT pinouts (again) The following has been requested so many times, here it is again. The gender refers to the cable connector, NOT the device. AT, 9 pin female: DCE, 25 pin male: DTE, 25 pin female: 1 CD <-- 8 CD | <-- 8 CD 2 receive <-- 3 transmit | <-- 2 transmit 3 transmit --> 2 receive | --> 3 receive 4 DTR --> 20 DTR | --> 6 DSR 5 ground -- 7 ground | -- 7 ground 6 DSR <-- 6 DSR | <-- 20 DTR 7 RTS --> 4 RTS | --> 5 CTS 8 CTS <-- 5 CTS | <-- 4 RTS 9 RI <-- 22 RI | <-- 22 RI Devices: PC/AT Modem or IBM PC Most terminals other computers This chart illustrates (AT to DCE) or (AT to DTE) cables, (DCE to DTE) is straight through. If hardware flow control is to be disabled, jumper pins 4, 6 and 8 together on the AT side. Gerald Lotto - Harvard Chemistry Dept. UUCP: {seismo,harpo,ihnp4,linus,allegra,ut-sally}!harvard!lhasa!lotto ARPA: lotto@harvard.EDU CSNET: lotto%harvard@csnet-relay [Thanks also to Fred Wamsley (uw-june!bcsaic!asymet!fred@uw-beaver) who also provided this information and Mark L. Williams who added the following comment: -wab] As an aside, and a small flame at IBM, be very careful with your adapter connections when working with parallel and serial connections, since their operating levels are different and attaching a serial device to a parallel port can cause device/port damage. This problem seldom arose before IBM's insistence on using a DB-25 connector for parallel connections, but can be a trap now. For instance, my printer buffer will accept data from parallel or serial comm lines and can drive serial or parallel printers, but all the connectors are the same. I'm sure everyone is careful enough to never get their wires crossed, but an extra word to the wise might be useful... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20-Apr-86 13:01:15 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Jim Ryan Fido 141/9 Patches for IBM PC-DOS 3.20 (adapted from Compuserve PC SIG) These patches were developed based on the file DOS31V2.PAT file distributed by the CompuServe PC-SIG. Most patches have been tested (except where noted). I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who originally developed these patches. I am grateful that they took the time to develop and distribute them. **************************************************************************** environment Size The patch for changing environment size in DOS 3.20 is as follows (original patch by Bob Morse) : DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 0D4F<cr> xxxx:0D4F 0A.3C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> (Use 1E for a 544 byte environment, 3C for a 1k environment) **************************************************************************** Automatic Installation of printer for DOS PRINT The patch to disable the printer port prompt in DOS PRINT is as follows: DEBUG PRINT.COM -E 190D<cr> xxxx:190D E8.90 D6.90 02.90<cr> -E 191f<cr> xxxx:191F CD.90 21.90<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> To change the default printer port (to something other than PRN), add the following command: -E 11C2 4 "LPT2" **************************************************************************** Disable automatic header in FIND.EXE output (UNTESTED) The FIND program puts an automatic header line in the output listing. To disable this feature, use the following patch: REN FIND.EXE FIND.XXX DEBUG FIND.XXX<cr> -E 0427<cr> -xxxx:0427 03:2C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> REN FIND.XXX FIND.EXE **************************************************************************** Permit more than 10 mismatches in COMP.COM (UNTESTED) The SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to permit 50 mismatches in COMP.COM . The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMP.COM -E 0AF3<cr> xxxx:0AF3 0A.32<cr> -E 0E09<cr> xxxx:0E09 31.35<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Echo Off Again, the SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files (probably my most favorite patch). The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM (to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files, enter the next two lines) -E 1B2C<cr> xxxx:1B2C 01.00<cr> (to make ECHO OFF the default in AUTOEXEC.BAT, enter the next two lines.) (This patch is courtesy of Calvin R. Shields of PC Magazine.) -E 115E<cr> xxxx:115E 03.02<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Allowing blank lines in batch files In earlier versions of DOS (2.xx), you could echo a blank line by using ECHO (spaces). This was removed in DOS 3.xx . The patch to enable blank lines in batch files in DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 3A88<cr> xxxx:3A88 E8.83 20.F9 00.02 74.72<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> This patch was originally developed by Calvin R. Shields from PC magazine. **************************************************************************** The rest of the patches for DOS 3.2 are the same as the one's used for DOS 3.10 . **************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Subject: Quad Density Drive Date: Sun, 20 Apr 86 14:36:41 -0500 From: jam@mitre-bedford.ARPA The Technical Reference Manual for my Leading Edge model M PClone states that the uPD765AC floppy disk controller can be used with 1.2MB quad density disk drives. Has anyone done this with a PC or PClone? The manual identifies the commands to specify the drive type to the controller, but there is no mention of driver or format software requirements. Is any special software required? if so, is it available? (I am running MS-DOS 2.11.) I have seen reasonably priced quad density drives advertised, of various brands. Some were specified as AT drives, and others were unspecified. What are the requirements, and what brands are best? If I could get 1.2MB on a disk for a reasonable cost it would greatly facilitate backing up the hard disk. I would appreciate any information on the subject. Joshua A. Morris jam@mitre-bedford.arpa [JFORMAT from Tall Tree supports Quad density drives with the standard controller. The drive lettering scheme is a bit bizarre. I used to run a Quad Drive back on my 16K PC in the DOS 1.1 days. I still run it with DOS 3.1 on this PC as it isn't worth the trouble to install a hard disk on this early serial number PC and I need the space!. See V1 #1 -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 14:07:00 PST From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA> Subject: Leading Edge Model M I know that there is going to be some variance of opinion concerning the Model-M. First, some statistics. It is not an 8086 machine but a fast (7.??) MHz 8088-2. It was manufactured in Japan by Mitsubishi (Sp?). The Model-M was identical to the computer marketed by Sperry as the Sperry-PC. In its basic configuration (256K, monochrome, 2 floppy, 1 centronics, 1 RS-232, onboard clock/timer with battery backup) it was a good deal at the $1499 Leading Edge was unloading it for. At 900 it is an absolute steal. I am currently writing this on a Model-M in my house in communication with our VAX via Hayes 1200B. I have not plugged any hardware into this computer that hasn't worked as it was supposed to with an IBM. All software that I have tried, works as it should for the IBM. My guess is that this is as compatible as any other PC without 'real' IBM BIOS ROMS. If you look at the overall construction of the computer, you would be impressed with the board layouts{in the Mitsubishi designed boards. The motherboard is a work of art and the memory expansion board (there is only 128K on the motherboard but LE provides a 512K expansion board with 128K hard soldered in place). This board is amazing in that there are circ-sockets (gold plated) for the memory expansion and the chips in place are all 150 Ns or better parts. The monochrome board I received with my Model-M was made by General Electric and is as good a monochrome clone as I have seen (No Herc Graphics, though). As I have stated, I have had no unexpected problems (or problems of any kind) with this computer and its been in demanding service for about 18 months now. I added a Hercules Clone card which works flawlessly, and I developed an Image Analysis System on it using a Tecmar Graphics Master Board in one of its more bizarre op modes. It got a 20 Meg hard drive about 6 months ago (purchased from Express Systems and it works fine. The machine is compatible with PC-DOS up to version 3.1 (this is what boots on the Hard Drive) although the MS-DOS which is provided with the machine is in many ways superior in that the COMMAND.COM file recoznises all the features on the motherboard (e.g clock, and sets them appropriately). The only drawback to this computer (and also applies to the Model-D as well as any short footprint computer) is its space for only 2 half height drives in the cabinet. I had to remove a floppy when I put in the hard drive. Now, adding streaming-tape will require an external unit. This is somewhat of a problem, but would be the same for a Model-D. Because of the faster speed of the CPU, the inclusion of mostly Mitsubishi parts (inclu floppies), as opposed to what I feel are inferior electronics indonesian in the Model-D, I would again purchase a Model-M over a model-D especially at the closeout price. Now, I know that there were some bad units to enter the country from Japan in late 1984 and early 1985 during the legal wars between Mitsubishi and Leading Edge. After the battle, all units I have encountered (Those that have ROM Version 2.11 or better, and a key tronic KB5150 kbd) have been fine. There were a few unhappy purchasers of some of the earlier machines. After talking with BCE representatives, I have been assured that the closeouts were all from the most recent vintage machines. I can recommend without reservation the purchase of a Model-M for any application which needs a machine in the PC/XT class with substantially more speed than the IBM. John Rossi III ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 16:29:45-PST From: Michael A. Haberler <HABERLER@SU-SIERRA.ARPA> Subject: Vdisk Trashes Interrupts I have encountered this problem, too; when I was copying files to the RAMdisk, and hit any key, the AT would lock up. The problem is insufficient stack space in the Vdisk program for the 'external memory I/O' (I love that expression). If you look at the Vdisk listing, somewhere before the external memory I/O Bios call a stack of 40 words is set up. This is too small. Instead of patching the .SYS file, I reverse-engineered the VDisk source from the listing, and increased the local stack to 100 words, assembled and linked it. This apparently cured the problem; I did not encounter this bug since. Michael Haberler [INFO-IBMPC can't publish Michael's patched version of vdisk as this would violate IBM's copyright protection. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 12:26:03-EST From: AD0R@TB.CC.CMU.EDU Subject: MacCharlie Here at CMU we have a 'Computer Skills Workshop' that all freshman are required to take, and they've been teaching the things on MacCharlie. A few observations: 1. The units really love to munch disks. I'm talking oxide erosion. 2. The speed difference can be damn near intolerable. 3. We haven't found them to be quite as compatible as was suggested. I'm sorry that I can't offer any specifics, but I haven't used them myself. Anthony A. Datri Carnegie Mellon University* (* a trademark of IBM, inc.) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 08:22 EST From: Mark Williams <mlw@ncsc> Subject: Smalltalk RE: Smalltalk on the PC...the August '85 issue of Computer Languages (Vol.2, No.8) contains an article entitled "Smalltalk Comes to the Micro" on page 27. It identifies a product call "Methods" from Digitalk, Inc. The product has been advertised regularly since then. An ad from the Feb, 86, CL says that it costs $250 with educational and dealer discounts available. Vendor data: Digitalk, Inc. 5200 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90045 (213)645-1082 Add'l info: "Methods operates on IBM PCs with 512K bytes RAM using MS-DOS or PC-DOS. Color and monochrome monitors are supported. No mouse is re- quired. A Smalltalk language manual and an environment guide are included." Also available is Objective-C, which is advertised as an object-oriented programming language. It apparently generates C source code. It's from Productivity Products International 27 Glen Road Sandy Hook, CT 06482 (203)426-1875 A known ad is in Dr. Dobbs Jnl., Dec., 85. Standard disclaimers... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Mon 21 Apr 86 09:01:16-PST From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@su-sushi.arpa> Subject: Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup In regards to my earlier posting: I've finally found a utility that allows me to do screen dumps from my Enhanced Graphics Adapter/Enhanced Color Display (640 by 350, 16 color) setup. "PC-Paintbrush", made by ZSoft (and marketed by Microsoft, I believe), comes with a utility called "Frieze". Frieze is installed automatically when you run PC_Paintbrush, and stays resident until you turn off your computer. It catches Shift-Prtsc key presses, displays a menu at the top of the screen, and allows you to save, print, size (etc.) all or part of any screen in any application, as far as I can tell. You can edit saved screens with PC-Paintbrush, of course. The programs support a large number of printers (~30) and graphics cards (~15). So far, it looks like a superior product. We bought the whole package for $98. Cheers, Marvin ------------------------------ From: gulvin@radc-lonex (James Gulvin, Lt, USAF) Subject: Mail Orders Date: Mon Apr 21 13:00:17 1986 Some kudos and some gotchas to various mail order houses. For kudos, list Logicsoft for support of their "we'll beat any advertised price" slogan and super fast service. I once received a video board the day after I ordered it! Add CompuMart in Dallas, TX for excellent after sale service. One phone call, a few minutes with the tech explaining how I isolated the faulty drive, and I had a new drive three days later! On the flip side, an advertised 1.5 MB memory expansion board from Conroy LaPointe couldn't be expanded above 384 KB. After several phone calls, letters, and months I finally was allowed to swap for another board and the difference in price. I spent awhile longer to recoup the restocking fee I was charged to rectify their mistake. And the outfit that brought me to write - Top Line Computer in Utah. I ordered a PC floppy drive and a printer cable on Feb 25th. The second week of March I switched my order to another (more expensive) floppy to avoid further shipping delays . No drive appeared and the fourth week of March I was told it had been shipped the previous week. Finally, I received an AT, not PC, drive. So, more phone calls, paying return shipping charges, and a promise of"we'll ship it tomorrow--next day air". April 11th- "shipped the right one yesterday". April 19th- "we can't seem to find your file". They were able to bill my credit card on Feb 25th though. As of April 21st you can sign me... Still Waiting ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 22:41:18 est From: m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA Organization: The MITRE Corp., Washington, D.C. Subject: VT-100 Emulators To: GLOOR%CSGHSG5A.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: Burgess Allison M15126 X7548 Dickenson W852 Subject: Re: VT100 emulator for IBM-PC >Does anybody know about a "real" VT100 emulator ... >[There must be at least a hundred VT100 emulators ... There are truly hordes of VT100 emulators. A couple years ago, though, I had a task to put a few of these products through some rather rigorous testing. Not a single one matched the VT100, sequence for reaction. You start, of course, with hardware incompatibility. To get 132 characters, special graphics characters, and double-width/double-height, you generally need a special card. The next stumbling block is character highlighting: the standard PC video cards don't support the combinations of bold, underscore, reverse video and highlighting that VT100 has. Again, the fix is usually hardware. Another "incompatibility" is the VT100 setup screens: do you *really* want to get the VT100's abysmal binary flag setup screens. If so, you're pretty much out of luck. The software vendors (perhaps rightly) insist on correcting this massive flaw in VT100 design -- usually with menus. Some menu structures are more understandable than others. I haven't seen any that copy the VT220's menus, though (as an example). Most of the VT100 emulators handle most sequence/responses properly, but the problems come in when you get to some of the more arcane sequence/ responses. For example, many emulators don't handle error conditions the same way the VT100 does, nor requests to "change character sets", or commands to perform resets and tests. Though these *shouldn't* make any difference, they occasionally do. For use with DEC's own ALL-IN-1, for example, your emulator better be *very* good. Like I said, I did these tests a few years ago, so the results are effectively meaningless, but none of the packages I tested matched the "standard" completely (even ignoring hardware problems) and there *are* substantive differences. Just for curiosity's sake: we found that VTERM came the closest to the VT100 in matching sequence/responses. Hope this helps. Burgess Allison <m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA> ------------------------------ From: tom@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Trevor O. McCarthy) To: info-modem7@simtel20.ARPA, info-modemxx@simtel20.ARPA, Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA. Phone: (617) 271-3084 Subject: List of BBOARDS wanted Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:39:23 -0500 HI: I am compiling a list of bulletin boards for a research project. I need direct information about (useful) bulletin boards, or, even better, where I can get directories of bulletin boards. DAK Inc, the video gadget people mention a book that has a list of over 400 available bulletin boards that is put out by some company somewhere; if anyone knows about such a book (or books) or any previous compilation of Bulletin Board information, I would certainly appreciate hearing about it. Please respond to me directly to save space on the net. I am not on all of these lists anyway. I will summarize the resulting input for those who are interested. Thanks, Trevor O. McCarthy The MITRE Corporation ------------------------------ From: calmasd!dko@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Dan O'Neill) Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:32:13 pst Subject: FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk I've been having some trouble with the 22-meg Winchester in my IBM and was hoping that you good people out there would have some insight into what could be wrong, how to test it, and possibly how to fix it. PC configuration: Power supply: 135w Fixed Disk controller: Data Terminal Corp. (DTC) Winchester drive: Mini-Scribe 1/2 height ~1 year old Installed boards: AST 6-pack, CGA, Maynard floppy controller The problem: Every couple of months an area of the FAT get trashed. Usually just one file, but that messes up the entire disk. Conditions: This happens whenever when I am compiling rather long programs in C, Pascal or Assembler. There seems to be no correlation between any of the crashes, other than the fact that the drive is performing many seeks. I'm using Desmet C, CI-86, turbo pascal and MS assembler.. nothing too extraordinary. I've checked everything I can think of, memory resident programs, power supply output, flaky software... I really don't know what else to look at. I've even filled up the disk with directories and files and ran some search routines and generally gave the disk a serious workout with no problems. Could it be the DTC controller? Anyone had any problems with these? How about Mini-Scribe? I have a friend with the same drive and he has had no problems. Thanks for all the help. Dan O'Neill - GE Calma R&D - 9805 Scranton Rd., San Diego 92121 UUCP: ...!sdcsvax!calmasd!dko ARPA: "calmasd!dko"@UCSD.ARPA VOICE: (619) 587-3112 "How about a little fire scarecrow?" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 00:12 EST From: Mark Woodruff <WOODRUFF%UCF1VM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple Monitors Does anyone know of a card that allows an application to run multiple (four in my case) color or monochrome monitors at the same time? I need to run different images on each of the monitors. Please reply directly to me, and I will post any results if needed. Regards, Mark ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 08:44 GMT From: JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH Subject:Diagnostic Error Code 102 Now: Does anyone know what an error code of 102 from the IBM Advanced Diagnostics means? Has something to do with the ROM on the system board but ... Thanking you all in advance. Gregory Hicks GHICKS@KOREA-EMH JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 02:21 PLT From: Eric Schneider <10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? What I would like to know is if any of you out there have written code which allows the definition of multiple partitions on a single hard disk. I know that programs like this are available from many manufacturers to allow the use of >32MB drives with DOS by splitting up the drive into multiple volumes. Do any of you have code which will do this? Please reply to: 10409813%wsuvm1@wiscvm.ARPA 10409813@wsuvm1.BITNET eric@wsu.CSNET ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 02:58:40 pst From: efrem@lbl-csam.ARPA (Efrem Lipkin [tourist]) Subject: Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC I am thinking of getting Lauren's implementation of the UUCP protocol on the PC. This is the only such implementation I know of. I am wondering if anyone out there has used the system and what they thought of it. It is expensive enough to make jumping blind frightening and I would appreciate hearing from any users either via the digest or directly. Thanks Efrem Lipkin efrem@lbl-csam ucbvax!lbl-csam!efrem ------------------------------ Date: Tue 22 Apr 1986 09:49:59 EST From: <SAGE@LL.ARPA> Subject: Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 I, too, have some questions about add-on hard disks for the Compaq Deskpro 286. I bought mine (don't ask why) without any hard disk at all. Consequently, I have neither the drive nor the controller. Since the IBM AT apparently always comes with a controller, one does not see many ads for hard disk controllers for AT-compatibles. Hence, I would like to add the following question to the ones from Dan Frank: What hard-disk controllers are available to put into a Compaq 286, and what do people think of them? Thanks. Jay Sage, MIT Lincoln Lab ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 11:48:02 EST From: Michael <Berman@RED.RUTGERS.EDU> Subject: 1200 Baud Modems My Qubie' modem has bit the dust and I need to replace it. I'm looking for a 1200 baud internal. PC Connection sells a Hayes (w/o software) for $289. I'd appreciate any suggestions as to: modems to buy; modems to avoid; places to shop for a good price. Please email directly to me (Berman@Rutgers) and I will summarize if I learn anything. ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 15 Apr 1986 12:01:59-PST From: watson%akov04.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted I am looking for a general purpose assembly language library containing high precision math functions, string manipulation and formatting functions, etc. Does anyone know where such a library can be obtained within the public domain? Thanks in advance. Rick Watson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 19:47:52 EST From: Dean Carpenter <ST701979%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Bitnet Help Does anyone know of any other software/information repositories of the same sort as the INFO-IBMPC one that is accessible from BITNET ? As yet we bitnet users don't have remote login capabilities to arpanet nodes so we can't ftp all the neat software available ... There are servers on bitnet (e.g macserve at bitnic) that have some stuff, but that's for the mac. I haven't yet found anything for the wondrous Itty Bitty Machines Corp PC, of which I am a proud owner. Can anyone help ? Thanks - Dean [ Back digests have been available for a long time on BITNET, but bitnet people don't seem to know about it. Others have tried to set up a similar service for the program library, but so far with no success. Following is from our file $FTP.DOC: We get more requests for files than we can handle. ACCESSING THE ARCHIVES FROM BITNET HOSTS ---------------------------------------- On BITNET, Info-IBMPC Digest is now loaded into a Spires database and are therefore searchable from anywhere as long as you can send RFC822 mail. If you are interested in using this service, send a piece of mail to: DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA or DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU and have as the first 3 lines of your file (case does not matter): help help arpanet help design The server will send back to you 3 help files describing how to use the internet server, how to search Arpanet digests and how the whole thing was designed. Read over the section on "Signup" carefully before making further use of the Database server. Presently, Info-IBMPC Digests are retained for a period of two months. The retention period is set for a short duration in order to see if Bitnic can handle the volume of data that needs to be stored in Spires. Example of search command: FIND TEXT UNIX (IN INFO-IBMPC TABLE would find all entries in Info-Ibmpc that contain the word UNIX. An entry is just the section within a "digested" digest that makes reference to the word UNIX. For further details read over the help files. (Thanks to Henry Nussbacher (Hank@Bitnic.Bitnet), Bitnet Development and Operations Center, for this information.) -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Apr 86 10:05:03 est From: sao@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Stephen A. Otruba) Full-Name: Stephen A. Otruba Organization: The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA Subject: Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master Help... Has anyone out there tried to use IBM Xenix 2.0 on an AT with a Tecmar Graphics Master or any other graphics card besides the basic IBM card? I've had trouble trying to run Xenix 1.0 with the Graphics Master and am trying to see if 2.0 may have a fix to my problem before I bother to upgrade. The problem I have encountered comes with displaying text using any command or program. The problem occurs every 102 lines after which a page of alternating normal and reverse video vertical lines will be displayed as Xenix scrolls up the screen. When the "garbage page" has scrolled to fill the screen, the next line displayed will return the screen to normal with the correct text being displayed where the garbage had been. As you can imagine this is irritating. This seems to be a problem in the way Xenix uses the card's screen memory. Xenix seems to use a nice "windowing" technique which works with the IBM cards but not the Tecmar card to result in a very fast screen update of "scrolled" text. Apparently Xenix display drivers directly manipulate the 6845 Graphics Display Controller (specifically registers R12 and R13) to shift the starting address of the screen display on a line by line basis to give the effect of scrolling text. The advantages of doing this are several. By moving the display window down in memory with each line of scroll (rather than text within the window up), the effect of scrolling can be achieved without actually moving any memory locations. (Writing to the screen produces "snow" especially when an entire screenful of text is moved(by DOS) to make room for new text at the bottom of a fixed position DOS screen). A problem occurs when Xenix reaches the bottom of the display card's memory. With the IBM card, setting the display window to a point almost to the end of the graphic board's 16k of memory will cause the display to wrap around and display the top of the screen from high (display card) memory and the bottom of the screen from low memory. Xenix handles this nicely by knowing when the 16ki point has been reached and then writing to low (screen) memory matching the hardware wraparound. This "trick" doesn't work with the Tecmar card, or probably any other card with more than 16k of display memory. The Tecmar card doesn't "wrap around" until the 32k point in memory and so displays garbage for the last 24 lines in Xenix's display space. When Xenix know's the display window is completely past the 16k point, it resets the window to low (screen) memory and thus displays text which was originally invisible to the Tecmar display. Are there any further insights into this problem out there? Has anyone tried Xenix 2.0 with this or a similar setup (maybe EGA)? Or maybe does anyone have a patch to Xenix to adapt to the Tecmar card or some sort of workaround short of reverting to the IBM basic card? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanx in advance... Steve Otruba < sao@mitre-bedford > ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 10:56-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: GW-Basic High Resolution Problem The GW-Basic command "SCREEN 3" invokes the 640*400 high resolution graphics. Basic programs compiled and linked with the Microsoft Quickbasic compiler are interrupted at this command as it is not IBM-compatible. The problem is how to prevent this interruption, when the basic program is compiled on a AT&T 6300 (Olivetti M24), which support the high resolution. Does anybody know this problem and the solution???????? Thanks in advance, Winfried Laane State University Groningen Holland, Europe LAANE@HGRRUG5 ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 11:11-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Undigesting Info-IBMPC I'm working at the consultation department of the computer center at the State University of Groningen, Holland. Info-IBMPC sends an overwhelming amount of interesting messages. Apart from myself there are a lot of people who are also interested in this news. My problem is how to redistribute the news to those interested so everyone need not subscribe to info-ibmpc. Is there a program to undigest the mail sent so I can distribute the news per subject. Or, How can I divide the mail into smaller mail parts, ready to be sent on. I'd be pleased if someone could send me the program, as I don't know how to FTP programs. Winfried Laane University Griningen Holland LAANE@HGRRUG5 [Todd Doucet of Lugaru has been working on some EEL code to undigestify digests. Perhaps this will get him moving again. If anyone has such code we will carry it in our library. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 13:14:07 PST From: William C. Marsh <bmarsh%cod@nosc.ARPA> Subject: HP110 Menus I'm currently working on some programs for the HP110 and Portable Plus computers, and I would like to provide my own menu selections when the user hits the 'menu' key on the keyboard. Does anyone out there know how to do this? Thanks. -- Bill Marsh, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA {arpa,mil}net: bmarsh@nosc uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!noscvax!bmarsh ------------------------------ Date: 21 APR 86 14:32-N From: DOMMELEN%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Okimate 20 Printer Has anybody in this audience any experience with an Okimate 20 printer ? It's new in Holland, specifications look very, very good. Should print b & w or color in 100 shades. (That's what the dealer says over the phone). All replies are welcome, I'll offer a summary to the net. Wim van Dommelen, Computer Center Agricultural University, Wageningen Holland. DOMMELEN@HWALHW5.BITNET ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 168435) 86-04-26 18.59 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <226> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-26 18.59 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <220> -- Received: 86-04-26 20.20 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-26 18.59 Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 %Original date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST. TF: DSKD:015417.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 51290 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 25 Apr 86 04:30 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 24-Apr-1986 01:11:51-est Date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 22 April 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 46 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option Microsoft Pascal 3.32 BATQUES Clone ASK Floppy Saga Buffered IO Performance Multiuser DOS? (2 Msgs.) Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Tex from Digital Composition Systems PC/AT pinouts (again) Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Quad Density Drive Leading Edge Model M Vdisk Trashes Interrupts MacCharlie Smalltalk Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup Mail Orders VT-100 Emulators Today's Queries: List of BBOARDS wanted FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk Multiple Monitors Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 1200 Baud Modems Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted Bitnet Help Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master GW-Basic High Resolution Problem Undigesting Info-IBMPC HP110 Menus Okimate 20 Printer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Today is the 6 Month Anniversary of the announcement of the IBM Voice Communications option. As I have had one on order since 1 November 1985 I thought I would call my friendly IBM product center to find out what is going on. To refresh everybody's memory this card features a TMS-320 signal processor which acts both as a speech input/output device as well as a modem. This appears to be another case of "vapor hardware". I have worked in the computer speech field for the last 15 years and none of the people I have spoken with have been able to get their hands on this board. The boards have been demonstrated at several IBM open houses, but always with the IBM representative present and in all cases I have heard of the IBM representative has refused to let the interested party look at the board. (in these cases the interested parties have been potential competitors so you can't blame IBM) A few months ago PC Week was raving about the new "speech standard for PCs" introduced by IBM and how the world was all following into line, but so far the emperor has no clothes as far as I am concerned. In response to my phone call the friendly folks at the local product center acknowledged my order and noted that the part number in question was in "restricted supply" or some such IBMspeak. This means not only are they not selling this part, but they decline to state when or if the part will ever be in stock. Has anyone seen this card or know the story of what is going on here??? ------------------------------ Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: Microsoft Pascal 3.32 From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> We recently received Microsoft Pascal 3.2 as an update in the mail, but were unable to make it compile any of our existing programs. Sometimes it just hung the machine. Other times it printed out various messages indicating internal compiler errors. I advise avoiding this version of the Pascal Compiler! I wonder what is happening at Microsoft. Quality control must be slipping. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 00:55:37 cst From: Peter Wu <pwu@maccunix> Subject: BATQUES Clone ASK I have written a program similar to BATQUES which allows you to write interactive files in addition to batch files. Compared to BATQUES, this program has the following features: 1) easier to use; no need to lookup ASCII table 2) option to select case (in)sensitivity 3) can print ANY character (including '$' sign) in the prompt It is also written in assembly & also comes with a document. ASK.ASM and ASK.DOC have been added to the library. Peter Wu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 9:13:22 EST From: Steven Segletes <steven@BRL.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Floppy Saga A friend had some old (he claims 6 years) 5 1/4" floppies which he asked me to try to format on my 360KB floppy drive (his machine was giving him trouble, and he wasn't sure if it was his diskettes or his machine). These disks appeared to have been folded, spindled and mutilated. Through years of neglect, a crusty dust had coated everything. He assured me that all the disks had been subjected to equal quantities of abuse, as they were stored on the same floor of the same closet, etc. The results of the formatting tests are however interesting: 2 Dysan 104/1 35 Track (presumably SS/SD) failed completely on single sided format 2 Verbatim MD 525-10-18167 40 Track SS/DD failed completely on single sided format 3 Maxell MD1 SS (presumably SD) succeeded on double sided format, with 1 disk having 50K locked out sectors 1 disk having 20K locked out sectors 1 disk formatting perfectly Keep up the good work Maxell. Steven Segletes U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 06:30:43 PST From: dgb%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu (Daniel S. Briggs) Subject: Buffered IO Performance Can someone explain to me in nice simple terms just why Lattice 'C' output routines are so deucedly slow? (From what I have seen, I think it is a fairly common characteristic of most 'printfs' and company.) I have a 'C' program and an equivalent assembler program, both of which output a good many numbers and strings to the screen. Lattice C 2.15 Masm 4.0 buffered output to screen 31 s. -- unbuffered output to screen 15 s. 15 s. buffered output to file 5 s. -- unbuffered output to file 21 s. 22 s. direct screen write -- 5 s. The lattice routines used printf, and cprintf for the buffered and unbuffered output, respectively. The Masm program used the DOS print string function and BIOS write tty video interrupt respectively. What in the world is it doing in the buffered screen writes? Is it playing a game of cards with the interrupt controller chip or something? It looks like there is no good choice of output routines. We either settle for the glacial speed of buffered interactive output, and fast io redirection, or the reverse with the unbuffered functions. I can see no reason why buffering the output should cause such massive degradation of performance. Anyone else have any thoughts? --Daniel Briggs ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 22:00 EST From: Spiros Triantafyllopoulos <spiros%gmr.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Multiuser DOS? Hello! Probably it has been asked before, so please bear with us :-) Is there any software / hardware combo that will allow more than one user on the PC under MS-DOS (or PC-DOS)? I am considering an AT compatible, but need > 1 user at a time. Graphics compatibility is not important (i.e., mostly text stuff). I have heard of a company called KIMTRON or something close enough, but they look expensive and did not specify terminals they can use it with. If a software-only solution exists, it would be preferable. The second terminal is a good ole' VT100 w/AVO. I would appreciate comments regarding experiences with said hardware/software also. Thanks in advance Spiros Triantafyllopoulos GM Research Laboratories Warren, Michigan (Spiros@GMR.csnet) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 13:56 PST From: Ghenis.pasa@Xerox.COM Subject: Multiuser DOS? To: spiros%gmr.CSNet@CSNet-Relay.ARPA MULTILINK is a software product that will allow you to run multiuser, with dumb terminals hanging off of the serial ports. The catch is, as far as I know, you can only run programs with a TTY interface, no fancy video. If your program abides by DOS 3.1 file sharing conventions it can share files under Multilink too. Price is about $500. Disclaimer: I have no interest in or direct experience with MULTILINK. I am simply relaying information from ads. This information is not guaranteed to be true. Batteries not included. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Apr 86 13:54 EST From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report I received a TinyTurbo 286 board from Orchid two days ago. Having run some timing tests and general use tests, I can safely say that the performance improvement over my standard IBM PC is 100%. It's approximately twice as fast. Not three times as fast, as they imply. This assumes standard hard disk and floppy drives, and a mix of computing activities that has a fair amount of both screen and disk I/O. Specifically, I hand-timed the ARC program, and my Lattice C compilations for "data processing" activity, and FinalWord II for "interactive" (editor) and "data processing" (formatter) activity. I don't number-crunch, and I expect that if I did, I would notice a better performance improvement. One anomaly -- can anybody explain it? I was using Rational Systems' Instant-C, which is a 260K .EXE file. Although when it was in use, it was twice as fast at loading C programs and executing them, it took ***three times longer*** to *load* the program when running the 286 than when running the 8088! Is there some overhead imposed by the cache memory when there isn't locality of reference (stepping through memory loading a file for execution is very non-local), just as there is quickness on the 16-bit "bus" when there is locality? Sounds wrong. Then, perhaps there is some interaction such that my hard disk has to spin twice for every sector read with the faster CPU? Sounds wrong, too. Does anybody have any ideas or confirming experience with other programs or the Victor turbo card? Brian ------------------------------ Date: Sat 19 Apr 86 20:31:28-EST From: Evan Nelson <MCD.E-NELSON@KLA.WESLYN> Subject: Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Has anyone had any success with downloadable science fonts to an HP? I need a font for the HP LaserJet Plus that supports math, physics, and chemistry characters and symbols. Thanks in advance. - Evan Nelson NELSON@WESLYN.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 17:26:13 EST From: John Duimovich <John_Duimovich%CARLETON.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Tex from Digital Composition Systems Hi, We've just received at version of Tex that runs on our ATs. It came with a complete Tex, a Laser Printer and a ram card piggybacked to the laser card. It works !!! You just wouldn't believe that *real* Tex in coming out of your printer. Bye Bye MacWrite. It came from: Digital Composition Systems, Inc. 1717 West Northern Ave Suite 201 Phoenix, Arizona 85021 (602) 870-7666 The following is an extract from their brag sheet. Take it with a grain as it is come from the dudes who sell it. The real deal is the *price* WOW. Even a small department could afford it especially with the educational discount. Yes it works, was easy to install and looks great. Again, warning the following is from their sales people and I have not tested all the claims. The samples are great however and the scanner looks useful too. [Some but not enough Hyperbole eliminated! -ed] " STAR-Tex comes with the complete Computer Modern font family with 6 to 24 point sizes in regular, bold and slanted faces. In addition, many well known publishing typographic font faces are available on diskette from DCS. A variety of DCS boxes and shading extensions can be used to highlight and dress up documentation. Computer generated graphics in Plot 10 format can be included in the body of your text. This summer we will be adding support for AutoCad generated drawings allowing CAD/CAM drawings to be inserted into your documents. Using a 300 dpi scanner and pixel editor, also available through DCS, line art and pictorial illustrations can be captured, edited and placed into your technical documentation. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS DCS Controller (Raster Image Processor) - DVI Version 1.0 INTRODUCTION The STAR-Tex DCS Raster Image Processor is a 300 dpi laser output device designed for the TeX user community. The laser printer, controller and software are designed to operate in any IBM PC or AT computer system. The Computer Modern font family is supplied with the system as well as pixel and vector image merge and overlay. Option font families are available such as CompuGraphic Corporation Times, Futura, Triumvirate, Baskerville, Palacio, Stymie, Avante Garde. Point sizes are available from 6 to 36 point. Graphics features include PLOT10 vector file support, DataCopy pixel images, and a variety of quality screens, patterns, and different rule types are all supported through the ``SPECIAL'' command feature. Future releases will provide AutoCad DXF support with scaling for laser printer page sizes. Standard DVI (Device Independent Files) are supported. The DVI file format is produced by a number of PC and mainframe based TeX implementations. System requirements are DOS 3.1, 640k bytes RAM, and preferably an AT class PC with 20Mb of fixed disk storage. Users with more modest font and processing requirements can use a PC/XT with 10MB of storage Full screen preview with pan and zoom is provided at no additional charge with support for IBM color and Hercules graphics cards. DVIPRINT - DCS DVI Printer Driver and Preview program LISTING - Listing program for printing ASCII files AMxxx.150 through AMxxx.373 - CM Fonts User Manual DCS-Canon 8ppm laser printer with 2 mb controller card PC-Tex and LaTex with Manual 1.1 FEATURES The following features are supported with Version 1.0 release products. Full screen preview with pan and zoom. Single command line with options DataCopy image file merge with invert option Plot10 image file merge with scaling parameters. Insert at current X Y or overlay image on page options Odd, Even, or All pages output options Number of copies option Hand Feed option Legal, A4, B5, and letter paper size support Landscape or Portrait option Hoffset and Voffset option 20 cross hatch/screen patterns Begin and End page number options Prices: Educational Customers - 3600.00 (3200.00 in qty 10) Commercial Customers - 5900.00 (same as LaserWriter) " John Duimovich John_Duimovich@Carleton.BITNET ------------------------------ From: lotto%lhasa.UUCP@harvard.HARVARD.EDU Date: 20 Apr 86 11:13 EST Subject: PC/AT pinouts (again) The following has been requested so many times, here it is again. The gender refers to the cable connector, NOT the device. AT, 9 pin female: DCE, 25 pin male: DTE, 25 pin female: 1 CD <-- 8 CD | <-- 8 CD 2 receive <-- 3 transmit | <-- 2 transmit 3 transmit --> 2 receive | --> 3 receive 4 DTR --> 20 DTR | --> 6 DSR 5 ground -- 7 ground | -- 7 ground 6 DSR <-- 6 DSR | <-- 20 DTR 7 RTS --> 4 RTS | --> 5 CTS 8 CTS <-- 5 CTS | <-- 4 RTS 9 RI <-- 22 RI | <-- 22 RI Devices: PC/AT Modem or IBM PC Most terminals other computers This chart illustrates (AT to DCE) or (AT to DTE) cables, (DCE to DTE) is straight through. If hardware flow control is to be disabled, jumper pins 4, 6 and 8 together on the AT side. Gerald Lotto - Harvard Chemistry Dept. UUCP: {seismo,harpo,ihnp4,linus,allegra,ut-sally}!harvard!lhasa!lotto ARPA: lotto@harvard.EDU CSNET: lotto%harvard@csnet-relay [Thanks also to Fred Wamsley (uw-june!bcsaic!asymet!fred@uw-beaver) who also provided this information and Mark L. Williams who added the following comment: -wab] As an aside, and a small flame at IBM, be very careful with your adapter connections when working with parallel and serial connections, since their operating levels are different and attaching a serial device to a parallel port can cause device/port damage. This problem seldom arose before IBM's insistence on using a DB-25 connector for parallel connections, but can be a trap now. For instance, my printer buffer will accept data from parallel or serial comm lines and can drive serial or parallel printers, but all the connectors are the same. I'm sure everyone is careful enough to never get their wires crossed, but an extra word to the wise might be useful... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20-Apr-86 13:01:15 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Jim Ryan Fido 141/9 Patches for IBM PC-DOS 3.20 (adapted from Compuserve PC SIG) These patches were developed based on the file DOS31V2.PAT file distributed by the CompuServe PC-SIG. Most patches have been tested (except where noted). I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who originally developed these patches. I am grateful that they took the time to develop and distribute them. **************************************************************************** environment Size The patch for changing environment size in DOS 3.20 is as follows (original patch by Bob Morse) : DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 0D4F<cr> xxxx:0D4F 0A.3C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> (Use 1E for a 544 byte environment, 3C for a 1k environment) **************************************************************************** Automatic Installation of printer for DOS PRINT The patch to disable the printer port prompt in DOS PRINT is as follows: DEBUG PRINT.COM -E 190D<cr> xxxx:190D E8.90 D6.90 02.90<cr> -E 191f<cr> xxxx:191F CD.90 21.90<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> To change the default printer port (to something other than PRN), add the following command: -E 11C2 4 "LPT2" **************************************************************************** Disable automatic header in FIND.EXE output (UNTESTED) The FIND program puts an automatic header line in the output listing. To disable this feature, use the following patch: REN FIND.EXE FIND.XXX DEBUG FIND.XXX<cr> -E 0427<cr> -xxxx:0427 03:2C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> REN FIND.XXX FIND.EXE **************************************************************************** Permit more than 10 mismatches in COMP.COM (UNTESTED) The SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to permit 50 mismatches in COMP.COM . The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMP.COM -E 0AF3<cr> xxxx:0AF3 0A.32<cr> -E 0E09<cr> xxxx:0E09 31.35<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Echo Off Again, the SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files (probably my most favorite patch). The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM (to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files, enter the next two lines) -E 1B2C<cr> xxxx:1B2C 01.00<cr> (to make ECHO OFF the default in AUTOEXEC.BAT, enter the next two lines.) (This patch is courtesy of Calvin R. Shields of PC Magazine.) -E 115E<cr> xxxx:115E 03.02<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Allowing blank lines in batch files In earlier versions of DOS (2.xx), you could echo a blank line by using ECHO (spaces). This was removed in DOS 3.xx . The patch to enable blank lines in batch files in DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 3A88<cr> xxxx:3A88 E8.83 20.F9 00.02 74.72<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> This patch was originally developed by Calvin R. Shields from PC magazine. **************************************************************************** The rest of the patches for DOS 3.2 are the same as the one's used for DOS 3.10 . **************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Subject: Quad Density Drive Date: Sun, 20 Apr 86 14:36:41 -0500 From: jam@mitre-bedford.ARPA The Technical Reference Manual for my Leading Edge model M PClone states that the uPD765AC floppy disk controller can be used with 1.2MB quad density disk drives. Has anyone done this with a PC or PClone? The manual identifies the commands to specify the drive type to the controller, but there is no mention of driver or format software requirements. Is any special software required? if so, is it available? (I am running MS-DOS 2.11.) I have seen reasonably priced quad density drives advertised, of various brands. Some were specified as AT drives, and others were unspecified. What are the requirements, and what brands are best? If I could get 1.2MB on a disk for a reasonable cost it would greatly facilitate backing up the hard disk. I would appreciate any information on the subject. Joshua A. Morris jam@mitre-bedford.arpa [JFORMAT from Tall Tree supports Quad density drives with the standard controller. The drive lettering scheme is a bit bizarre. I used to run a Quad Drive back on my 16K PC in the DOS 1.1 days. I still run it with DOS 3.1 on this PC as it isn't worth the trouble to install a hard disk on this early serial number PC and I need the space!. See V1 #1 -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 14:07:00 PST From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA> Subject: Leading Edge Model M I know that there is going to be some variance of opinion concerning the Model-M. First, some statistics. It is not an 8086 machine but a fast (7.??) MHz 8088-2. It was manufactured in Japan by Mitsubishi (Sp?). The Model-M was identical to the computer marketed by Sperry as the Sperry-PC. In its basic configuration (256K, monochrome, 2 floppy, 1 centronics, 1 RS-232, onboard clock/timer with battery backup) it was a good deal at the $1499 Leading Edge was unloading it for. At 900 it is an absolute steal. I am currently writing this on a Model-M in my house in communication with our VAX via Hayes 1200B. I have not plugged any hardware into this computer that hasn't worked as it was supposed to with an IBM. All software that I have tried, works as it should for the IBM. My guess is that this is as compatible as any other PC without 'real' IBM BIOS ROMS. If you look at the overall construction of the computer, you would be impressed with the board layouts{in the Mitsubishi designed boards. The motherboard is a work of art and the memory expansion board (there is only 128K on the motherboard but LE provides a 512K expansion board with 128K hard soldered in place). This board is amazing in that there are circ-sockets (gold plated) for the memory expansion and the chips in place are all 150 Ns or better parts. The monochrome board I received with my Model-M was made by General Electric and is as good a monochrome clone as I have seen (No Herc Graphics, though). As I have stated, I have had no unexpected problems (or problems of any kind) with this computer and its been in demanding service for about 18 months now. I added a Hercules Clone card which works flawlessly, and I developed an Image Analysis System on it using a Tecmar Graphics Master Board in one of its more bizarre op modes. It got a 20 Meg hard drive about 6 months ago (purchased from Express Systems and it works fine. The machine is compatible with PC-DOS up to version 3.1 (this is what boots on the Hard Drive) although the MS-DOS which is provided with the machine is in many ways superior in that the COMMAND.COM file recoznises all the features on the motherboard (e.g clock, and sets them appropriately). The only drawback to this computer (and also applies to the Model-D as well as any short footprint computer) is its space for only 2 half height drives in the cabinet. I had to remove a floppy when I put in the hard drive. Now, adding streaming-tape will require an external unit. This is somewhat of a problem, but would be the same for a Model-D. Because of the faster speed of the CPU, the inclusion of mostly Mitsubishi parts (inclu floppies), as opposed to what I feel are inferior electronics indonesian in the Model-D, I would again purchase a Model-M over a model-D especially at the closeout price. Now, I know that there were some bad units to enter the country from Japan in late 1984 and early 1985 during the legal wars between Mitsubishi and Leading Edge. After the battle, all units I have encountered (Those that have ROM Version 2.11 or better, and a key tronic KB5150 kbd) have been fine. There were a few unhappy purchasers of some of the earlier machines. After talking with BCE representatives, I have been assured that the closeouts were all from the most recent vintage machines. I can recommend without reservation the purchase of a Model-M for any application which needs a machine in the PC/XT class with substantially more speed than the IBM. John Rossi III ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 16:29:45-PST From: Michael A. Haberler <HABERLER@SU-SIERRA.ARPA> Subject: Vdisk Trashes Interrupts I have encountered this problem, too; when I was copying files to the RAMdisk, and hit any key, the AT would lock up. The problem is insufficient stack space in the Vdisk program for the 'external memory I/O' (I love that expression). If you look at the Vdisk listing, somewhere before the external memory I/O Bios call a stack of 40 words is set up. This is too small. Instead of patching the .SYS file, I reverse-engineered the VDisk source from the listing, and increased the local stack to 100 words, assembled and linked it. This apparently cured the problem; I did not encounter this bug since. Michael Haberler [INFO-IBMPC can't publish Michael's patched version of vdisk as this would violate IBM's copyright protection. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 12:26:03-EST From: AD0R@TB.CC.CMU.EDU Subject: MacCharlie Here at CMU we have a 'Computer Skills Workshop' that all freshman are required to take, and they've been teaching the things on MacCharlie. A few observations: 1. The units really love to munch disks. I'm talking oxide erosion. 2. The speed difference can be damn near intolerable. 3. We haven't found them to be quite as compatible as was suggested. I'm sorry that I can't offer any specifics, but I haven't used them myself. Anthony A. Datri Carnegie Mellon University* (* a trademark of IBM, inc.) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 08:22 EST From: Mark Williams <mlw@ncsc> Subject: Smalltalk RE: Smalltalk on the PC...the August '85 issue of Computer Languages (Vol.2, No.8) contains an article entitled "Smalltalk Comes to the Micro" on page 27. It identifies a product call "Methods" from Digitalk, Inc. The product has been advertised regularly since then. An ad from the Feb, 86, CL says that it costs $250 with educational and dealer discounts available. Vendor data: Digitalk, Inc. 5200 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90045 (213)645-1082 Add'l info: "Methods operates on IBM PCs with 512K bytes RAM using MS-DOS or PC-DOS. Color and monochrome monitors are supported. No mouse is re- quired. A Smalltalk language manual and an environment guide are included." Also available is Objective-C, which is advertised as an object-oriented programming language. It apparently generates C source code. It's from Productivity Products International 27 Glen Road Sandy Hook, CT 06482 (203)426-1875 A known ad is in Dr. Dobbs Jnl., Dec., 85. Standard disclaimers... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Mon 21 Apr 86 09:01:16-PST From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@su-sushi.arpa> Subject: Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup In regards to my earlier posting: I've finally found a utility that allows me to do screen dumps from my Enhanced Graphics Adapter/Enhanced Color Display (640 by 350, 16 color) setup. "PC-Paintbrush", made by ZSoft (and marketed by Microsoft, I believe), comes with a utility called "Frieze". Frieze is installed automatically when you run PC_Paintbrush, and stays resident until you turn off your computer. It catches Shift-Prtsc key presses, displays a menu at the top of the screen, and allows you to save, print, size (etc.) all or part of any screen in any application, as far as I can tell. You can edit saved screens with PC-Paintbrush, of course. The programs support a large number of printers (~30) and graphics cards (~15). So far, it looks like a superior product. We bought the whole package for $98. Cheers, Marvin ------------------------------ From: gulvin@radc-lonex (James Gulvin, Lt, USAF) Subject: Mail Orders Date: Mon Apr 21 13:00:17 1986 Some kudos and some gotchas to various mail order houses. For kudos, list Logicsoft for support of their "we'll beat any advertised price" slogan and super fast service. I once received a video board the day after I ordered it! Add CompuMart in Dallas, TX for excellent after sale service. One phone call, a few minutes with the tech explaining how I isolated the faulty drive, and I had a new drive three days later! On the flip side, an advertised 1.5 MB memory expansion board from Conroy LaPointe couldn't be expanded above 384 KB. After several phone calls, letters, and months I finally was allowed to swap for another board and the difference in price. I spent awhile longer to recoup the restocking fee I was charged to rectify their mistake. And the outfit that brought me to write - Top Line Computer in Utah. I ordered a PC floppy drive and a printer cable on Feb 25th. The second week of March I switched my order to another (more expensive) floppy to avoid further shipping delays . No drive appeared and the fourth week of March I was told it had been shipped the previous week. Finally, I received an AT, not PC, drive. So, more phone calls, paying return shipping charges, and a promise of"we'll ship it tomorrow--next day air". April 11th- "shipped the right one yesterday". April 19th- "we can't seem to find your file". They were able to bill my credit card on Feb 25th though. As of April 21st you can sign me... Still Waiting ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 22:41:18 est From: m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA Organization: The MITRE Corp., Washington, D.C. Subject: VT-100 Emulators To: GLOOR%CSGHSG5A.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: Burgess Allison M15126 X7548 Dickenson W852 Subject: Re: VT100 emulator for IBM-PC >Does anybody know about a "real" VT100 emulator ... >[There must be at least a hundred VT100 emulators ... There are truly hordes of VT100 emulators. A couple years ago, though, I had a task to put a few of these products through some rather rigorous testing. Not a single one matched the VT100, sequence for reaction. You start, of course, with hardware incompatibility. To get 132 characters, special graphics characters, and double-width/double-height, you generally need a special card. The next stumbling block is character highlighting: the standard PC video cards don't support the combinations of bold, underscore, reverse video and highlighting that VT100 has. Again, the fix is usually hardware. Another "incompatibility" is the VT100 setup screens: do you *really* want to get the VT100's abysmal binary flag setup screens. If so, you're pretty much out of luck. The software vendors (perhaps rightly) insist on correcting this massive flaw in VT100 design -- usually with menus. Some menu structures are more understandable than others. I haven't seen any that copy the VT220's menus, though (as an example). Most of the VT100 emulators handle most sequence/responses properly, but the problems come in when you get to some of the more arcane sequence/ responses. For example, many emulators don't handle error conditions the same way the VT100 does, nor requests to "change character sets", or commands to perform resets and tests. Though these *shouldn't* make any difference, they occasionally do. For use with DEC's own ALL-IN-1, for example, your emulator better be *very* good. Like I said, I did these tests a few years ago, so the results are effectively meaningless, but none of the packages I tested matched the "standard" completely (even ignoring hardware problems) and there *are* substantive differences. Just for curiosity's sake: we found that VTERM came the closest to the VT100 in matching sequence/responses. Hope this helps. Burgess Allison <m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA> ------------------------------ From: tom@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Trevor O. McCarthy) To: info-modem7@simtel20.ARPA, info-modemxx@simtel20.ARPA, Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA. Phone: (617) 271-3084 Subject: List of BBOARDS wanted Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:39:23 -0500 HI: I am compiling a list of bulletin boards for a research project. I need direct information about (useful) bulletin boards, or, even better, where I can get directories of bulletin boards. DAK Inc, the video gadget people mention a book that has a list of over 400 available bulletin boards that is put out by some company somewhere; if anyone knows about such a book (or books) or any previous compilation of Bulletin Board information, I would certainly appreciate hearing about it. Please respond to me directly to save space on the net. I am not on all of these lists anyway. I will summarize the resulting input for those who are interested. Thanks, Trevor O. McCarthy The MITRE Corporation ------------------------------ From: calmasd!dko@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Dan O'Neill) Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:32:13 pst Subject: FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk I've been having some trouble with the 22-meg Winchester in my IBM and was hoping that you good people out there would have some insight into what could be wrong, how to test it, and possibly how to fix it. PC configuration: Power supply: 135w Fixed Disk controller: Data Terminal Corp. (DTC) Winchester drive: Mini-Scribe 1/2 height ~1 year old Installed boards: AST 6-pack, CGA, Maynard floppy controller The problem: Every couple of months an area of the FAT get trashed. Usually just one file, but that messes up the entire disk. Conditions: This happens whenever when I am compiling rather long programs in C, Pascal or Assembler. There seems to be no correlation between any of the crashes, other than the fact that the drive is performing many seeks. I'm using Desmet C, CI-86, turbo pascal and MS assembler.. nothing too extraordinary. I've checked everything I can think of, memory resident programs, power supply output, flaky software... I really don't know what else to look at. I've even filled up the disk with directories and files and ran some search routines and generally gave the disk a serious workout with no problems. Could it be the DTC controller? Anyone had any problems with these? How about Mini-Scribe? I have a friend with the same drive and he has had no problems. Thanks for all the help. Dan O'Neill - GE Calma R&D - 9805 Scranton Rd., San Diego 92121 UUCP: ...!sdcsvax!calmasd!dko ARPA: "calmasd!dko"@UCSD.ARPA VOICE: (619) 587-3112 "How about a little fire scarecrow?" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 00:12 EST From: Mark Woodruff <WOODRUFF%UCF1VM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple Monitors Does anyone know of a card that allows an application to run multiple (four in my case) color or monochrome monitors at the same time? I need to run different images on each of the monitors. Please reply directly to me, and I will post any results if needed. Regards, Mark ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 08:44 GMT From: JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH Subject:Diagnostic Error Code 102 Now: Does anyone know what an error code of 102 from the IBM Advanced Diagnostics means? Has something to do with the ROM on the system board but ... Thanking you all in advance. Gregory Hicks GHICKS@KOREA-EMH JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 02:21 PLT From: Eric Schneider <10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? What I would like to know is if any of you out there have written code which allows the definition of multiple partitions on a single hard disk. I know that programs like this are available from many manufacturers to allow the use of >32MB drives with DOS by splitting up the drive into multiple volumes. Do any of you have code which will do this? Please reply to: 10409813%wsuvm1@wiscvm.ARPA 10409813@wsuvm1.BITNET eric@wsu.CSNET ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 02:58:40 pst From: efrem@lbl-csam.ARPA (Efrem Lipkin [tourist]) Subject: Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC I am thinking of getting Lauren's implementation of the UUCP protocol on the PC. This is the only such implementation I know of. I am wondering if anyone out there has used the system and what they thought of it. It is expensive enough to make jumping blind frightening and I would appreciate hearing from any users either via the digest or directly. Thanks Efrem Lipkin efrem@lbl-csam ucbvax!lbl-csam!efrem ------------------------------ Date: Tue 22 Apr 1986 09:49:59 EST From: <SAGE@LL.ARPA> Subject: Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 I, too, have some questions about add-on hard disks for the Compaq Deskpro 286. I bought mine (don't ask why) without any hard disk at all. Consequently, I have neither the drive nor the controller. Since the IBM AT apparently always comes with a controller, one does not see many ads for hard disk controllers for AT-compatibles. Hence, I would like to add the following question to the ones from Dan Frank: What hard-disk controllers are available to put into a Compaq 286, and what do people think of them? Thanks. Jay Sage, MIT Lincoln Lab ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 11:48:02 EST From: Michael <Berman@RED.RUTGERS.EDU> Subject: 1200 Baud Modems My Qubie' modem has bit the dust and I need to replace it. I'm looking for a 1200 baud internal. PC Connection sells a Hayes (w/o software) for $289. I'd appreciate any suggestions as to: modems to buy; modems to avoid; places to shop for a good price. Please email directly to me (Berman@Rutgers) and I will summarize if I learn anything. ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 15 Apr 1986 12:01:59-PST From: watson%akov04.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted I am looking for a general purpose assembly language library containing high precision math functions, string manipulation and formatting functions, etc. Does anyone know where such a library can be obtained within the public domain? Thanks in advance. Rick Watson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 19:47:52 EST From: Dean Carpenter <ST701979%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Bitnet Help Does anyone know of any other software/information repositories of the same sort as the INFO-IBMPC one that is accessible from BITNET ? As yet we bitnet users don't have remote login capabilities to arpanet nodes so we can't ftp all the neat software available ... There are servers on bitnet (e.g macserve at bitnic) that have some stuff, but that's for the mac. I haven't yet found anything for the wondrous Itty Bitty Machines Corp PC, of which I am a proud owner. Can anyone help ? Thanks - Dean [ Back digests have been available for a long time on BITNET, but bitnet people don't seem to know about it. Others have tried to set up a similar service for the program library, but so far with no success. Following is from our file $FTP.DOC: We get more requests for files than we can handle. ACCESSING THE ARCHIVES FROM BITNET HOSTS ---------------------------------------- On BITNET, Info-IBMPC Digest is now loaded into a Spires database and are therefore searchable from anywhere as long as you can send RFC822 mail. If you are interested in using this service, send a piece of mail to: DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA or DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU and have as the first 3 lines of your file (case does not matter): help help arpanet help design The server will send back to you 3 help files describing how to use the internet server, how to search Arpanet digests and how the whole thing was designed. Read over the section on "Signup" carefully before making further use of the Database server. Presently, Info-IBMPC Digests are retained for a period of two months. The retention period is set for a short duration in order to see if Bitnic can handle the volume of data that needs to be stored in Spires. Example of search command: FIND TEXT UNIX (IN INFO-IBMPC TABLE would find all entries in Info-Ibmpc that contain the word UNIX. An entry is just the section within a "digested" digest that makes reference to the word UNIX. For further details read over the help files. (Thanks to Henry Nussbacher (Hank@Bitnic.Bitnet), Bitnet Development and Operations Center, for this information.) -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Apr 86 10:05:03 est From: sao@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Stephen A. Otruba) Full-Name: Stephen A. Otruba Organization: The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA Subject: Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master Help... Has anyone out there tried to use IBM Xenix 2.0 on an AT with a Tecmar Graphics Master or any other graphics card besides the basic IBM card? I've had trouble trying to run Xenix 1.0 with the Graphics Master and am trying to see if 2.0 may have a fix to my problem before I bother to upgrade. The problem I have encountered comes with displaying text using any command or program. The problem occurs every 102 lines after which a page of alternating normal and reverse video vertical lines will be displayed as Xenix scrolls up the screen. When the "garbage page" has scrolled to fill the screen, the next line displayed will return the screen to normal with the correct text being displayed where the garbage had been. As you can imagine this is irritating. This seems to be a problem in the way Xenix uses the card's screen memory. Xenix seems to use a nice "windowing" technique which works with the IBM cards but not the Tecmar card to result in a very fast screen update of "scrolled" text. Apparently Xenix display drivers directly manipulate the 6845 Graphics Display Controller (specifically registers R12 and R13) to shift the starting address of the screen display on a line by line basis to give the effect of scrolling text. The advantages of doing this are several. By moving the display window down in memory with each line of scroll (rather than text within the window up), the effect of scrolling can be achieved without actually moving any memory locations. (Writing to the screen produces "snow" especially when an entire screenful of text is moved(by DOS) to make room for new text at the bottom of a fixed position DOS screen). A problem occurs when Xenix reaches the bottom of the display card's memory. With the IBM card, setting the display window to a point almost to the end of the graphic board's 16k of memory will cause the display to wrap around and display the top of the screen from high (display card) memory and the bottom of the screen from low memory. Xenix handles this nicely by knowing when the 16ki point has been reached and then writing to low (screen) memory matching the hardware wraparound. This "trick" doesn't work with the Tecmar card, or probably any other card with more than 16k of display memory. The Tecmar card doesn't "wrap around" until the 32k point in memory and so displays garbage for the last 24 lines in Xenix's display space. When Xenix know's the display window is completely past the 16k point, it resets the window to low (screen) memory and thus displays text which was originally invisible to the Tecmar display. Are there any further insights into this problem out there? Has anyone tried Xenix 2.0 with this or a similar setup (maybe EGA)? Or maybe does anyone have a patch to Xenix to adapt to the Tecmar card or some sort of workaround short of reverting to the IBM basic card? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanx in advance... Steve Otruba < sao@mitre-bedford > ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 10:56-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: GW-Basic High Resolution Problem The GW-Basic command "SCREEN 3" invokes the 640*400 high resolution graphics. Basic programs compiled and linked with the Microsoft Quickbasic compiler are interrupted at this command as it is not IBM-compatible. The problem is how to prevent this interruption, when the basic program is compiled on a AT&T 6300 (Olivetti M24), which support the high resolution. Does anybody know this problem and the solution???????? Thanks in advance, Winfried Laane State University Groningen Holland, Europe LAANE@HGRRUG5 ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 11:11-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Undigesting Info-IBMPC I'm working at the consultation department of the computer center at the State University of Groningen, Holland. Info-IBMPC sends an overwhelming amount of interesting messages. Apart from myself there are a lot of people who are also interested in this news. My problem is how to redistribute the news to those interested so everyone need not subscribe to info-ibmpc. Is there a program to undigest the mail sent so I can distribute the news per subject. Or, How can I divide the mail into smaller mail parts, ready to be sent on. I'd be pleased if someone could send me the program, as I don't know how to FTP programs. Winfried Laane University Griningen Holland LAANE@HGRRUG5 [Todd Doucet of Lugaru has been working on some EEL code to undigestify digests. Perhaps this will get him moving again. If anyone has such code we will carry it in our library. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 13:14:07 PST From: William C. Marsh <bmarsh%cod@nosc.ARPA> Subject: HP110 Menus I'm currently working on some programs for the HP110 and Portable Plus computers, and I would like to provide my own menu selections when the user hits the 'menu' key on the keyboard. Does anyone out there know how to do this? Thanks. -- Bill Marsh, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA {arpa,mil}net: bmarsh@nosc uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!noscvax!bmarsh ------------------------------ Date: 21 APR 86 14:32-N From: DOMMELEN%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Okimate 20 Printer Has anybody in this audience any experience with an Okimate 20 printer ? It's new in Holland, specifications look very, very good. Should print b & w or color in 100 shades. (That's what the dealer says over the phone). All replies are welcome, I'll offer a summary to the net. Wim van Dommelen, Computer Center Agricultural University, Wageningen Holland. DOMMELEN@HWALHW5.BITNET ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 168742) 86-04-26 20.43 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <227> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-26 20.43 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <221> -- Received: 86-04-27 01.25 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-26 20.43 Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 %Original date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST. TF: DSKD:015474.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 51290 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 25 Apr 86 05:01 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 24-Apr-1986 11:37:44-est Date: 23 Apr 1986 10:33:40 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Didges V5 #46 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Tuesday, 22 April 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 46 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option Microsoft Pascal 3.32 BATQUES Clone ASK Floppy Saga Buffered IO Performance Multiuser DOS? (2 Msgs.) Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Tex from Digital Composition Systems PC/AT pinouts (again) Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Quad Density Drive Leading Edge Model M Vdisk Trashes Interrupts MacCharlie Smalltalk Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup Mail Orders VT-100 Emulators Today's Queries: List of BBOARDS wanted FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk Multiple Monitors Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 1200 Baud Modems Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted Bitnet Help Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master GW-Basic High Resolution Problem Undigesting Info-IBMPC HP110 Menus Okimate 20 Printer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: 6 Month Anniversary of IBM Voice Communications Option From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Today is the 6 Month Anniversary of the announcement of the IBM Voice Communications option. As I have had one on order since 1 November 1985 I thought I would call my friendly IBM product center to find out what is going on. To refresh everybody's memory this card features a TMS-320 signal processor which acts both as a speech input/output device as well as a modem. This appears to be another case of "vapor hardware". I have worked in the computer speech field for the last 15 years and none of the people I have spoken with have been able to get their hands on this board. The boards have been demonstrated at several IBM open houses, but always with the IBM representative present and in all cases I have heard of the IBM representative has refused to let the interested party look at the board. (in these cases the interested parties have been potential competitors so you can't blame IBM) A few months ago PC Week was raving about the new "speech standard for PCs" introduced by IBM and how the world was all following into line, but so far the emperor has no clothes as far as I am concerned. In response to my phone call the friendly folks at the local product center acknowledged my order and noted that the part number in question was in "restricted supply" or some such IBMspeak. This means not only are they not selling this part, but they decline to state when or if the part will ever be in stock. Has anyone seen this card or know the story of what is going on here??? ------------------------------ Date: 15 Apr 1986 16:03:02 PST Subject: Microsoft Pascal 3.32 From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> We recently received Microsoft Pascal 3.2 as an update in the mail, but were unable to make it compile any of our existing programs. Sometimes it just hung the machine. Other times it printed out various messages indicating internal compiler errors. I advise avoiding this version of the Pascal Compiler! I wonder what is happening at Microsoft. Quality control must be slipping. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 00:55:37 cst From: Peter Wu <pwu@maccunix> Subject: BATQUES Clone ASK I have written a program similar to BATQUES which allows you to write interactive files in addition to batch files. Compared to BATQUES, this program has the following features: 1) easier to use; no need to lookup ASCII table 2) option to select case (in)sensitivity 3) can print ANY character (including '$' sign) in the prompt It is also written in assembly & also comes with a document. ASK.ASM and ASK.DOC have been added to the library. Peter Wu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 9:13:22 EST From: Steven Segletes <steven@BRL.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Floppy Saga A friend had some old (he claims 6 years) 5 1/4" floppies which he asked me to try to format on my 360KB floppy drive (his machine was giving him trouble, and he wasn't sure if it was his diskettes or his machine). These disks appeared to have been folded, spindled and mutilated. Through years of neglect, a crusty dust had coated everything. He assured me that all the disks had been subjected to equal quantities of abuse, as they were stored on the same floor of the same closet, etc. The results of the formatting tests are however interesting: 2 Dysan 104/1 35 Track (presumably SS/SD) failed completely on single sided format 2 Verbatim MD 525-10-18167 40 Track SS/DD failed completely on single sided format 3 Maxell MD1 SS (presumably SD) succeeded on double sided format, with 1 disk having 50K locked out sectors 1 disk having 20K locked out sectors 1 disk formatting perfectly Keep up the good work Maxell. Steven Segletes U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 06:30:43 PST From: dgb%DEImos.Caltech.Edu@Hamlet.Caltech.Edu (Daniel S. Briggs) Subject: Buffered IO Performance Can someone explain to me in nice simple terms just why Lattice 'C' output routines are so deucedly slow? (From what I have seen, I think it is a fairly common characteristic of most 'printfs' and company.) I have a 'C' program and an equivalent assembler program, both of which output a good many numbers and strings to the screen. Lattice C 2.15 Masm 4.0 buffered output to screen 31 s. -- unbuffered output to screen 15 s. 15 s. buffered output to file 5 s. -- unbuffered output to file 21 s. 22 s. direct screen write -- 5 s. The lattice routines used printf, and cprintf for the buffered and unbuffered output, respectively. The Masm program used the DOS print string function and BIOS write tty video interrupt respectively. What in the world is it doing in the buffered screen writes? Is it playing a game of cards with the interrupt controller chip or something? It looks like there is no good choice of output routines. We either settle for the glacial speed of buffered interactive output, and fast io redirection, or the reverse with the unbuffered functions. I can see no reason why buffering the output should cause such massive degradation of performance. Anyone else have any thoughts? --Daniel Briggs ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 22:00 EST From: Spiros Triantafyllopoulos <spiros%gmr.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Multiuser DOS? Hello! Probably it has been asked before, so please bear with us :-) Is there any software / hardware combo that will allow more than one user on the PC under MS-DOS (or PC-DOS)? I am considering an AT compatible, but need > 1 user at a time. Graphics compatibility is not important (i.e., mostly text stuff). I have heard of a company called KIMTRON or something close enough, but they look expensive and did not specify terminals they can use it with. If a software-only solution exists, it would be preferable. The second terminal is a good ole' VT100 w/AVO. I would appreciate comments regarding experiences with said hardware/software also. Thanks in advance Spiros Triantafyllopoulos GM Research Laboratories Warren, Michigan (Spiros@GMR.csnet) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 13:56 PST From: Ghenis.pasa@Xerox.COM Subject: Multiuser DOS? To: spiros%gmr.CSNet@CSNet-Relay.ARPA MULTILINK is a software product that will allow you to run multiuser, with dumb terminals hanging off of the serial ports. The catch is, as far as I know, you can only run programs with a TTY interface, no fancy video. If your program abides by DOS 3.1 file sharing conventions it can share files under Multilink too. Price is about $500. Disclaimer: I have no interest in or direct experience with MULTILINK. I am simply relaying information from ads. This information is not guaranteed to be true. Batteries not included. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Apr 86 13:54 EST From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Orchid TinyTurbo 286 report I received a TinyTurbo 286 board from Orchid two days ago. Having run some timing tests and general use tests, I can safely say that the performance improvement over my standard IBM PC is 100%. It's approximately twice as fast. Not three times as fast, as they imply. This assumes standard hard disk and floppy drives, and a mix of computing activities that has a fair amount of both screen and disk I/O. Specifically, I hand-timed the ARC program, and my Lattice C compilations for "data processing" activity, and FinalWord II for "interactive" (editor) and "data processing" (formatter) activity. I don't number-crunch, and I expect that if I did, I would notice a better performance improvement. One anomaly -- can anybody explain it? I was using Rational Systems' Instant-C, which is a 260K .EXE file. Although when it was in use, it was twice as fast at loading C programs and executing them, it took ***three times longer*** to *load* the program when running the 286 than when running the 8088! Is there some overhead imposed by the cache memory when there isn't locality of reference (stepping through memory loading a file for execution is very non-local), just as there is quickness on the 16-bit "bus" when there is locality? Sounds wrong. Then, perhaps there is some interaction such that my hard disk has to spin twice for every sector read with the faster CPU? Sounds wrong, too. Does anybody have any ideas or confirming experience with other programs or the Victor turbo card? Brian ------------------------------ Date: Sat 19 Apr 86 20:31:28-EST From: Evan Nelson <MCD.E-NELSON@KLA.WESLYN> Subject: Science Fonts for HP LaserJet Has anyone had any success with downloadable science fonts to an HP? I need a font for the HP LaserJet Plus that supports math, physics, and chemistry characters and symbols. Thanks in advance. - Evan Nelson NELSON@WESLYN.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 17:26:13 EST From: John Duimovich <John_Duimovich%CARLETON.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Tex from Digital Composition Systems Hi, We've just received at version of Tex that runs on our ATs. It came with a complete Tex, a Laser Printer and a ram card piggybacked to the laser card. It works !!! You just wouldn't believe that *real* Tex in coming out of your printer. Bye Bye MacWrite. It came from: Digital Composition Systems, Inc. 1717 West Northern Ave Suite 201 Phoenix, Arizona 85021 (602) 870-7666 The following is an extract from their brag sheet. Take it with a grain as it is come from the dudes who sell it. The real deal is the *price* WOW. Even a small department could afford it especially with the educational discount. Yes it works, was easy to install and looks great. Again, warning the following is from their sales people and I have not tested all the claims. The samples are great however and the scanner looks useful too. [Some but not enough Hyperbole eliminated! -ed] " STAR-Tex comes with the complete Computer Modern font family with 6 to 24 point sizes in regular, bold and slanted faces. In addition, many well known publishing typographic font faces are available on diskette from DCS. A variety of DCS boxes and shading extensions can be used to highlight and dress up documentation. Computer generated graphics in Plot 10 format can be included in the body of your text. This summer we will be adding support for AutoCad generated drawings allowing CAD/CAM drawings to be inserted into your documents. Using a 300 dpi scanner and pixel editor, also available through DCS, line art and pictorial illustrations can be captured, edited and placed into your technical documentation. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS DCS Controller (Raster Image Processor) - DVI Version 1.0 INTRODUCTION The STAR-Tex DCS Raster Image Processor is a 300 dpi laser output device designed for the TeX user community. The laser printer, controller and software are designed to operate in any IBM PC or AT computer system. The Computer Modern font family is supplied with the system as well as pixel and vector image merge and overlay. Option font families are available such as CompuGraphic Corporation Times, Futura, Triumvirate, Baskerville, Palacio, Stymie, Avante Garde. Point sizes are available from 6 to 36 point. Graphics features include PLOT10 vector file support, DataCopy pixel images, and a variety of quality screens, patterns, and different rule types are all supported through the ``SPECIAL'' command feature. Future releases will provide AutoCad DXF support with scaling for laser printer page sizes. Standard DVI (Device Independent Files) are supported. The DVI file format is produced by a number of PC and mainframe based TeX implementations. System requirements are DOS 3.1, 640k bytes RAM, and preferably an AT class PC with 20Mb of fixed disk storage. Users with more modest font and processing requirements can use a PC/XT with 10MB of storage Full screen preview with pan and zoom is provided at no additional charge with support for IBM color and Hercules graphics cards. DVIPRINT - DCS DVI Printer Driver and Preview program LISTING - Listing program for printing ASCII files AMxxx.150 through AMxxx.373 - CM Fonts User Manual DCS-Canon 8ppm laser printer with 2 mb controller card PC-Tex and LaTex with Manual 1.1 FEATURES The following features are supported with Version 1.0 release products. Full screen preview with pan and zoom. Single command line with options DataCopy image file merge with invert option Plot10 image file merge with scaling parameters. Insert at current X Y or overlay image on page options Odd, Even, or All pages output options Number of copies option Hand Feed option Legal, A4, B5, and letter paper size support Landscape or Portrait option Hoffset and Voffset option 20 cross hatch/screen patterns Begin and End page number options Prices: Educational Customers - 3600.00 (3200.00 in qty 10) Commercial Customers - 5900.00 (same as LaserWriter) " John Duimovich John_Duimovich@Carleton.BITNET ------------------------------ From: lotto%lhasa.UUCP@harvard.HARVARD.EDU Date: 20 Apr 86 11:13 EST Subject: PC/AT pinouts (again) The following has been requested so many times, here it is again. The gender refers to the cable connector, NOT the device. AT, 9 pin female: DCE, 25 pin male: DTE, 25 pin female: 1 CD <-- 8 CD | <-- 8 CD 2 receive <-- 3 transmit | <-- 2 transmit 3 transmit --> 2 receive | --> 3 receive 4 DTR --> 20 DTR | --> 6 DSR 5 ground -- 7 ground | -- 7 ground 6 DSR <-- 6 DSR | <-- 20 DTR 7 RTS --> 4 RTS | --> 5 CTS 8 CTS <-- 5 CTS | <-- 4 RTS 9 RI <-- 22 RI | <-- 22 RI Devices: PC/AT Modem or IBM PC Most terminals other computers This chart illustrates (AT to DCE) or (AT to DTE) cables, (DCE to DTE) is straight through. If hardware flow control is to be disabled, jumper pins 4, 6 and 8 together on the AT side. Gerald Lotto - Harvard Chemistry Dept. UUCP: {seismo,harpo,ihnp4,linus,allegra,ut-sally}!harvard!lhasa!lotto ARPA: lotto@harvard.EDU CSNET: lotto%harvard@csnet-relay [Thanks also to Fred Wamsley (uw-june!bcsaic!asymet!fred@uw-beaver) who also provided this information and Mark L. Williams who added the following comment: -wab] As an aside, and a small flame at IBM, be very careful with your adapter connections when working with parallel and serial connections, since their operating levels are different and attaching a serial device to a parallel port can cause device/port damage. This problem seldom arose before IBM's insistence on using a DB-25 connector for parallel connections, but can be a trap now. For instance, my printer buffer will accept data from parallel or serial comm lines and can drive serial or parallel printers, but all the connectors are the same. I'm sure everyone is careful enough to never get their wires crossed, but an extra word to the wise might be useful... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20-Apr-86 13:01:15 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Patch Kit for DOS 3.2 Jim Ryan Fido 141/9 Patches for IBM PC-DOS 3.20 (adapted from Compuserve PC SIG) These patches were developed based on the file DOS31V2.PAT file distributed by the CompuServe PC-SIG. Most patches have been tested (except where noted). I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who originally developed these patches. I am grateful that they took the time to develop and distribute them. **************************************************************************** environment Size The patch for changing environment size in DOS 3.20 is as follows (original patch by Bob Morse) : DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 0D4F<cr> xxxx:0D4F 0A.3C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> (Use 1E for a 544 byte environment, 3C for a 1k environment) **************************************************************************** Automatic Installation of printer for DOS PRINT The patch to disable the printer port prompt in DOS PRINT is as follows: DEBUG PRINT.COM -E 190D<cr> xxxx:190D E8.90 D6.90 02.90<cr> -E 191f<cr> xxxx:191F CD.90 21.90<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> To change the default printer port (to something other than PRN), add the following command: -E 11C2 4 "LPT2" **************************************************************************** Disable automatic header in FIND.EXE output (UNTESTED) The FIND program puts an automatic header line in the output listing. To disable this feature, use the following patch: REN FIND.EXE FIND.XXX DEBUG FIND.XXX<cr> -E 0427<cr> -xxxx:0427 03:2C<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> REN FIND.XXX FIND.EXE **************************************************************************** Permit more than 10 mismatches in COMP.COM (UNTESTED) The SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to permit 50 mismatches in COMP.COM . The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMP.COM -E 0AF3<cr> xxxx:0AF3 0A.32<cr> -E 0E09<cr> xxxx:0E09 31.35<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Echo Off Again, the SigOp of the CompuServe PC SIG developed a patch to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files (probably my most favorite patch). The patch for DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM (to make ECHO OFF the default in batch files, enter the next two lines) -E 1B2C<cr> xxxx:1B2C 01.00<cr> (to make ECHO OFF the default in AUTOEXEC.BAT, enter the next two lines.) (This patch is courtesy of Calvin R. Shields of PC Magazine.) -E 115E<cr> xxxx:115E 03.02<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> **************************************************************************** Allowing blank lines in batch files In earlier versions of DOS (2.xx), you could echo a blank line by using ECHO (spaces). This was removed in DOS 3.xx . The patch to enable blank lines in batch files in DOS 3.20 is as follows: DEBUG COMMAND.COM -E 3A88<cr> xxxx:3A88 E8.83 20.F9 00.02 74.72<cr> -W<cr> -Q<cr> This patch was originally developed by Calvin R. Shields from PC magazine. **************************************************************************** The rest of the patches for DOS 3.2 are the same as the one's used for DOS 3.10 . **************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Subject: Quad Density Drive Date: Sun, 20 Apr 86 14:36:41 -0500 From: jam@mitre-bedford.ARPA The Technical Reference Manual for my Leading Edge model M PClone states that the uPD765AC floppy disk controller can be used with 1.2MB quad density disk drives. Has anyone done this with a PC or PClone? The manual identifies the commands to specify the drive type to the controller, but there is no mention of driver or format software requirements. Is any special software required? if so, is it available? (I am running MS-DOS 2.11.) I have seen reasonably priced quad density drives advertised, of various brands. Some were specified as AT drives, and others were unspecified. What are the requirements, and what brands are best? If I could get 1.2MB on a disk for a reasonable cost it would greatly facilitate backing up the hard disk. I would appreciate any information on the subject. Joshua A. Morris jam@mitre-bedford.arpa [JFORMAT from Tall Tree supports Quad density drives with the standard controller. The drive lettering scheme is a bit bizarre. I used to run a Quad Drive back on my 16K PC in the DOS 1.1 days. I still run it with DOS 3.1 on this PC as it isn't worth the trouble to install a hard disk on this early serial number PC and I need the space!. See V1 #1 -wab] ------------------------------ Date: 20 Apr 86 14:07:00 PST From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA> Subject: Leading Edge Model M I know that there is going to be some variance of opinion concerning the Model-M. First, some statistics. It is not an 8086 machine but a fast (7.??) MHz 8088-2. It was manufactured in Japan by Mitsubishi (Sp?). The Model-M was identical to the computer marketed by Sperry as the Sperry-PC. In its basic configuration (256K, monochrome, 2 floppy, 1 centronics, 1 RS-232, onboard clock/timer with battery backup) it was a good deal at the $1499 Leading Edge was unloading it for. At 900 it is an absolute steal. I am currently writing this on a Model-M in my house in communication with our VAX via Hayes 1200B. I have not plugged any hardware into this computer that hasn't worked as it was supposed to with an IBM. All software that I have tried, works as it should for the IBM. My guess is that this is as compatible as any other PC without 'real' IBM BIOS ROMS. If you look at the overall construction of the computer, you would be impressed with the board layouts{in the Mitsubishi designed boards. The motherboard is a work of art and the memory expansion board (there is only 128K on the motherboard but LE provides a 512K expansion board with 128K hard soldered in place). This board is amazing in that there are circ-sockets (gold plated) for the memory expansion and the chips in place are all 150 Ns or better parts. The monochrome board I received with my Model-M was made by General Electric and is as good a monochrome clone as I have seen (No Herc Graphics, though). As I have stated, I have had no unexpected problems (or problems of any kind) with this computer and its been in demanding service for about 18 months now. I added a Hercules Clone card which works flawlessly, and I developed an Image Analysis System on it using a Tecmar Graphics Master Board in one of its more bizarre op modes. It got a 20 Meg hard drive about 6 months ago (purchased from Express Systems and it works fine. The machine is compatible with PC-DOS up to version 3.1 (this is what boots on the Hard Drive) although the MS-DOS which is provided with the machine is in many ways superior in that the COMMAND.COM file recoznises all the features on the motherboard (e.g clock, and sets them appropriately). The only drawback to this computer (and also applies to the Model-D as well as any short footprint computer) is its space for only 2 half height drives in the cabinet. I had to remove a floppy when I put in the hard drive. Now, adding streaming-tape will require an external unit. This is somewhat of a problem, but would be the same for a Model-D. Because of the faster speed of the CPU, the inclusion of mostly Mitsubishi parts (inclu floppies), as opposed to what I feel are inferior electronics indonesian in the Model-D, I would again purchase a Model-M over a model-D especially at the closeout price. Now, I know that there were some bad units to enter the country from Japan in late 1984 and early 1985 during the legal wars between Mitsubishi and Leading Edge. After the battle, all units I have encountered (Those that have ROM Version 2.11 or better, and a key tronic KB5150 kbd) have been fine. There were a few unhappy purchasers of some of the earlier machines. After talking with BCE representatives, I have been assured that the closeouts were all from the most recent vintage machines. I can recommend without reservation the purchase of a Model-M for any application which needs a machine in the PC/XT class with substantially more speed than the IBM. John Rossi III ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 16:29:45-PST From: Michael A. Haberler <HABERLER@SU-SIERRA.ARPA> Subject: Vdisk Trashes Interrupts I have encountered this problem, too; when I was copying files to the RAMdisk, and hit any key, the AT would lock up. The problem is insufficient stack space in the Vdisk program for the 'external memory I/O' (I love that expression). If you look at the Vdisk listing, somewhere before the external memory I/O Bios call a stack of 40 words is set up. This is too small. Instead of patching the .SYS file, I reverse-engineered the VDisk source from the listing, and increased the local stack to 100 words, assembled and linked it. This apparently cured the problem; I did not encounter this bug since. Michael Haberler [INFO-IBMPC can't publish Michael's patched version of vdisk as this would violate IBM's copyright protection. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Sun 20 Apr 86 12:26:03-EST From: AD0R@TB.CC.CMU.EDU Subject: MacCharlie Here at CMU we have a 'Computer Skills Workshop' that all freshman are required to take, and they've been teaching the things on MacCharlie. A few observations: 1. The units really love to munch disks. I'm talking oxide erosion. 2. The speed difference can be damn near intolerable. 3. We haven't found them to be quite as compatible as was suggested. I'm sorry that I can't offer any specifics, but I haven't used them myself. Anthony A. Datri Carnegie Mellon University* (* a trademark of IBM, inc.) ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 86 08:22 EST From: Mark Williams <mlw@ncsc> Subject: Smalltalk RE: Smalltalk on the PC...the August '85 issue of Computer Languages (Vol.2, No.8) contains an article entitled "Smalltalk Comes to the Micro" on page 27. It identifies a product call "Methods" from Digitalk, Inc. The product has been advertised regularly since then. An ad from the Feb, 86, CL says that it costs $250 with educational and dealer discounts available. Vendor data: Digitalk, Inc. 5200 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90045 (213)645-1082 Add'l info: "Methods operates on IBM PCs with 512K bytes RAM using MS-DOS or PC-DOS. Color and monochrome monitors are supported. No mouse is re- quired. A Smalltalk language manual and an environment guide are included." Also available is Objective-C, which is advertised as an object-oriented programming language. It apparently generates C source code. It's from Productivity Products International 27 Glen Road Sandy Hook, CT 06482 (203)426-1875 A known ad is in Dr. Dobbs Jnl., Dec., 85. Standard disclaimers... Mark L. Williams Naval Coastal Systems Center (mlw@ncsc) ------------------------------ Date: Mon 21 Apr 86 09:01:16-PST From: Marvin Zauderer <ZAUDERER@su-sushi.arpa> Subject: Screen Dumps from EGA/ECD Setup In regards to my earlier posting: I've finally found a utility that allows me to do screen dumps from my Enhanced Graphics Adapter/Enhanced Color Display (640 by 350, 16 color) setup. "PC-Paintbrush", made by ZSoft (and marketed by Microsoft, I believe), comes with a utility called "Frieze". Frieze is installed automatically when you run PC_Paintbrush, and stays resident until you turn off your computer. It catches Shift-Prtsc key presses, displays a menu at the top of the screen, and allows you to save, print, size (etc.) all or part of any screen in any application, as far as I can tell. You can edit saved screens with PC-Paintbrush, of course. The programs support a large number of printers (~30) and graphics cards (~15). So far, it looks like a superior product. We bought the whole package for $98. Cheers, Marvin ------------------------------ From: gulvin@radc-lonex (James Gulvin, Lt, USAF) Subject: Mail Orders Date: Mon Apr 21 13:00:17 1986 Some kudos and some gotchas to various mail order houses. For kudos, list Logicsoft for support of their "we'll beat any advertised price" slogan and super fast service. I once received a video board the day after I ordered it! Add CompuMart in Dallas, TX for excellent after sale service. One phone call, a few minutes with the tech explaining how I isolated the faulty drive, and I had a new drive three days later! On the flip side, an advertised 1.5 MB memory expansion board from Conroy LaPointe couldn't be expanded above 384 KB. After several phone calls, letters, and months I finally was allowed to swap for another board and the difference in price. I spent awhile longer to recoup the restocking fee I was charged to rectify their mistake. And the outfit that brought me to write - Top Line Computer in Utah. I ordered a PC floppy drive and a printer cable on Feb 25th. The second week of March I switched my order to another (more expensive) floppy to avoid further shipping delays . No drive appeared and the fourth week of March I was told it had been shipped the previous week. Finally, I received an AT, not PC, drive. So, more phone calls, paying return shipping charges, and a promise of"we'll ship it tomorrow--next day air". April 11th- "shipped the right one yesterday". April 19th- "we can't seem to find your file". They were able to bill my credit card on Feb 25th though. As of April 21st you can sign me... Still Waiting ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 22:41:18 est From: m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA Organization: The MITRE Corp., Washington, D.C. Subject: VT-100 Emulators To: GLOOR%CSGHSG5A.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: Burgess Allison M15126 X7548 Dickenson W852 Subject: Re: VT100 emulator for IBM-PC >Does anybody know about a "real" VT100 emulator ... >[There must be at least a hundred VT100 emulators ... There are truly hordes of VT100 emulators. A couple years ago, though, I had a task to put a few of these products through some rather rigorous testing. Not a single one matched the VT100, sequence for reaction. You start, of course, with hardware incompatibility. To get 132 characters, special graphics characters, and double-width/double-height, you generally need a special card. The next stumbling block is character highlighting: the standard PC video cards don't support the combinations of bold, underscore, reverse video and highlighting that VT100 has. Again, the fix is usually hardware. Another "incompatibility" is the VT100 setup screens: do you *really* want to get the VT100's abysmal binary flag setup screens. If so, you're pretty much out of luck. The software vendors (perhaps rightly) insist on correcting this massive flaw in VT100 design -- usually with menus. Some menu structures are more understandable than others. I haven't seen any that copy the VT220's menus, though (as an example). Most of the VT100 emulators handle most sequence/responses properly, but the problems come in when you get to some of the more arcane sequence/ responses. For example, many emulators don't handle error conditions the same way the VT100 does, nor requests to "change character sets", or commands to perform resets and tests. Though these *shouldn't* make any difference, they occasionally do. For use with DEC's own ALL-IN-1, for example, your emulator better be *very* good. Like I said, I did these tests a few years ago, so the results are effectively meaningless, but none of the packages I tested matched the "standard" completely (even ignoring hardware problems) and there *are* substantive differences. Just for curiosity's sake: we found that VTERM came the closest to the VT100 in matching sequence/responses. Hope this helps. Burgess Allison <m15126%mwvm@mitre.ARPA> ------------------------------ From: tom@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Trevor O. McCarthy) To: info-modem7@simtel20.ARPA, info-modemxx@simtel20.ARPA, Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA. Phone: (617) 271-3084 Subject: List of BBOARDS wanted Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:39:23 -0500 HI: I am compiling a list of bulletin boards for a research project. I need direct information about (useful) bulletin boards, or, even better, where I can get directories of bulletin boards. DAK Inc, the video gadget people mention a book that has a list of over 400 available bulletin boards that is put out by some company somewhere; if anyone knows about such a book (or books) or any previous compilation of Bulletin Board information, I would certainly appreciate hearing about it. Please respond to me directly to save space on the net. I am not on all of these lists anyway. I will summarize the resulting input for those who are interested. Thanks, Trevor O. McCarthy The MITRE Corporation ------------------------------ From: calmasd!dko@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Dan O'Neill) Date: Mon, 21 Apr 86 09:32:13 pst Subject: FAT Problems on Mini-Scribe disk I've been having some trouble with the 22-meg Winchester in my IBM and was hoping that you good people out there would have some insight into what could be wrong, how to test it, and possibly how to fix it. PC configuration: Power supply: 135w Fixed Disk controller: Data Terminal Corp. (DTC) Winchester drive: Mini-Scribe 1/2 height ~1 year old Installed boards: AST 6-pack, CGA, Maynard floppy controller The problem: Every couple of months an area of the FAT get trashed. Usually just one file, but that messes up the entire disk. Conditions: This happens whenever when I am compiling rather long programs in C, Pascal or Assembler. There seems to be no correlation between any of the crashes, other than the fact that the drive is performing many seeks. I'm using Desmet C, CI-86, turbo pascal and MS assembler.. nothing too extraordinary. I've checked everything I can think of, memory resident programs, power supply output, flaky software... I really don't know what else to look at. I've even filled up the disk with directories and files and ran some search routines and generally gave the disk a serious workout with no problems. Could it be the DTC controller? Anyone had any problems with these? How about Mini-Scribe? I have a friend with the same drive and he has had no problems. Thanks for all the help. Dan O'Neill - GE Calma R&D - 9805 Scranton Rd., San Diego 92121 UUCP: ...!sdcsvax!calmasd!dko ARPA: "calmasd!dko"@UCSD.ARPA VOICE: (619) 587-3112 "How about a little fire scarecrow?" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 00:12 EST From: Mark Woodruff <WOODRUFF%UCF1VM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple Monitors Does anyone know of a card that allows an application to run multiple (four in my case) color or monochrome monitors at the same time? I need to run different images on each of the monitors. Please reply directly to me, and I will post any results if needed. Regards, Mark ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 08:44 GMT From: JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH Subject:Diagnostic Error Code 102 Now: Does anyone know what an error code of 102 from the IBM Advanced Diagnostics means? Has something to do with the ROM on the system board but ... Thanking you all in advance. Gregory Hicks GHICKS@KOREA-EMH JUSMAG-DT@KOREA-EMH ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1986 02:21 PLT From: Eric Schneider <10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Multiple DOS Partitions on a single drive ? What I would like to know is if any of you out there have written code which allows the definition of multiple partitions on a single hard disk. I know that programs like this are available from many manufacturers to allow the use of >32MB drives with DOS by splitting up the drive into multiple volumes. Do any of you have code which will do this? Please reply to: 10409813%wsuvm1@wiscvm.ARPA 10409813@wsuvm1.BITNET eric@wsu.CSNET ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 02:58:40 pst From: efrem@lbl-csam.ARPA (Efrem Lipkin [tourist]) Subject: Lauren's UUCP for the IBM PC I am thinking of getting Lauren's implementation of the UUCP protocol on the PC. This is the only such implementation I know of. I am wondering if anyone out there has used the system and what they thought of it. It is expensive enough to make jumping blind frightening and I would appreciate hearing from any users either via the digest or directly. Thanks Efrem Lipkin efrem@lbl-csam ucbvax!lbl-csam!efrem ------------------------------ Date: Tue 22 Apr 1986 09:49:59 EST From: <SAGE@LL.ARPA> Subject: Hard-Disk Controllers for Compaq 286 I, too, have some questions about add-on hard disks for the Compaq Deskpro 286. I bought mine (don't ask why) without any hard disk at all. Consequently, I have neither the drive nor the controller. Since the IBM AT apparently always comes with a controller, one does not see many ads for hard disk controllers for AT-compatibles. Hence, I would like to add the following question to the ones from Dan Frank: What hard-disk controllers are available to put into a Compaq 286, and what do people think of them? Thanks. Jay Sage, MIT Lincoln Lab ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 86 11:48:02 EST From: Michael <Berman@RED.RUTGERS.EDU> Subject: 1200 Baud Modems My Qubie' modem has bit the dust and I need to replace it. I'm looking for a 1200 baud internal. PC Connection sells a Hayes (w/o software) for $289. I'd appreciate any suggestions as to: modems to buy; modems to avoid; places to shop for a good price. Please email directly to me (Berman@Rutgers) and I will summarize if I learn anything. ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 15 Apr 1986 12:01:59-PST From: watson%akov04.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Assembly Language Math & String Functions Wanted I am looking for a general purpose assembly language library containing high precision math functions, string manipulation and formatting functions, etc. Does anyone know where such a library can be obtained within the public domain? Thanks in advance. Rick Watson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 86 19:47:52 EST From: Dean Carpenter <ST701979%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Bitnet Help Does anyone know of any other software/information repositories of the same sort as the INFO-IBMPC one that is accessible from BITNET ? As yet we bitnet users don't have remote login capabilities to arpanet nodes so we can't ftp all the neat software available ... There are servers on bitnet (e.g macserve at bitnic) that have some stuff, but that's for the mac. I haven't yet found anything for the wondrous Itty Bitty Machines Corp PC, of which I am a proud owner. Can anyone help ? Thanks - Dean [ Back digests have been available for a long time on BITNET, but bitnet people don't seem to know about it. Others have tried to set up a similar service for the program library, but so far with no success. Following is from our file $FTP.DOC: We get more requests for files than we can handle. ACCESSING THE ARCHIVES FROM BITNET HOSTS ---------------------------------------- On BITNET, Info-IBMPC Digest is now loaded into a Spires database and are therefore searchable from anywhere as long as you can send RFC822 mail. If you are interested in using this service, send a piece of mail to: DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA or DATABASE%BITNIC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU and have as the first 3 lines of your file (case does not matter): help help arpanet help design The server will send back to you 3 help files describing how to use the internet server, how to search Arpanet digests and how the whole thing was designed. Read over the section on "Signup" carefully before making further use of the Database server. Presently, Info-IBMPC Digests are retained for a period of two months. The retention period is set for a short duration in order to see if Bitnic can handle the volume of data that needs to be stored in Spires. Example of search command: FIND TEXT UNIX (IN INFO-IBMPC TABLE would find all entries in Info-Ibmpc that contain the word UNIX. An entry is just the section within a "digested" digest that makes reference to the word UNIX. For further details read over the help files. (Thanks to Henry Nussbacher (Hank@Bitnic.Bitnet), Bitnet Development and Operations Center, for this information.) -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Apr 86 10:05:03 est From: sao@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Stephen A. Otruba) Full-Name: Stephen A. Otruba Organization: The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA Subject: Xenix 2.0 w/Tecmar Graphics Master Help... Has anyone out there tried to use IBM Xenix 2.0 on an AT with a Tecmar Graphics Master or any other graphics card besides the basic IBM card? I've had trouble trying to run Xenix 1.0 with the Graphics Master and am trying to see if 2.0 may have a fix to my problem before I bother to upgrade. The problem I have encountered comes with displaying text using any command or program. The problem occurs every 102 lines after which a page of alternating normal and reverse video vertical lines will be displayed as Xenix scrolls up the screen. When the "garbage page" has scrolled to fill the screen, the next line displayed will return the screen to normal with the correct text being displayed where the garbage had been. As you can imagine this is irritating. This seems to be a problem in the way Xenix uses the card's screen memory. Xenix seems to use a nice "windowing" technique which works with the IBM cards but not the Tecmar card to result in a very fast screen update of "scrolled" text. Apparently Xenix display drivers directly manipulate the 6845 Graphics Display Controller (specifically registers R12 and R13) to shift the starting address of the screen display on a line by line basis to give the effect of scrolling text. The advantages of doing this are several. By moving the display window down in memory with each line of scroll (rather than text within the window up), the effect of scrolling can be achieved without actually moving any memory locations. (Writing to the screen produces "snow" especially when an entire screenful of text is moved(by DOS) to make room for new text at the bottom of a fixed position DOS screen). A problem occurs when Xenix reaches the bottom of the display card's memory. With the IBM card, setting the display window to a point almost to the end of the graphic board's 16k of memory will cause the display to wrap around and display the top of the screen from high (display card) memory and the bottom of the screen from low memory. Xenix handles this nicely by knowing when the 16ki point has been reached and then writing to low (screen) memory matching the hardware wraparound. This "trick" doesn't work with the Tecmar card, or probably any other card with more than 16k of display memory. The Tecmar card doesn't "wrap around" until the 32k point in memory and so displays garbage for the last 24 lines in Xenix's display space. When Xenix know's the display window is completely past the 16k point, it resets the window to low (screen) memory and thus displays text which was originally invisible to the Tecmar display. Are there any further insights into this problem out there? Has anyone tried Xenix 2.0 with this or a similar setup (maybe EGA)? Or maybe does anyone have a patch to Xenix to adapt to the Tecmar card or some sort of workaround short of reverting to the IBM basic card? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanx in advance... Steve Otruba < sao@mitre-bedford > ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 10:56-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: GW-Basic High Resolution Problem The GW-Basic command "SCREEN 3" invokes the 640*400 high resolution graphics. Basic programs compiled and linked with the Microsoft Quickbasic compiler are interrupted at this command as it is not IBM-compatible. The problem is how to prevent this interruption, when the basic program is compiled on a AT&T 6300 (Olivetti M24), which support the high resolution. Does anybody know this problem and the solution???????? Thanks in advance, Winfried Laane State University Groningen Holland, Europe LAANE@HGRRUG5 ------------------------------ Date: 18 APR 86 11:11-N From: LAANE%HGRRUG5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Undigesting Info-IBMPC I'm working at the consultation department of the computer center at the State University of Groningen, Holland. Info-IBMPC sends an overwhelming amount of interesting messages. Apart from myself there are a lot of people who are also interested in this news. My problem is how to redistribute the news to those interested so everyone need not subscribe to info-ibmpc. Is there a program to undigest the mail sent so I can distribute the news per subject. Or, How can I divide the mail into smaller mail parts, ready to be sent on. I'd be pleased if someone could send me the program, as I don't know how to FTP programs. Winfried Laane University Griningen Holland LAANE@HGRRUG5 [Todd Doucet of Lugaru has been working on some EEL code to undigestify digests. Perhaps this will get him moving again. If anyone has such code we will carry it in our library. -wab] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 13:14:07 PST From: William C. Marsh <bmarsh%cod@nosc.ARPA> Subject: HP110 Menus I'm currently working on some programs for the HP110 and Portable Plus computers, and I would like to provide my own menu selections when the user hits the 'menu' key on the keyboard. Does anyone out there know how to do this? Thanks. -- Bill Marsh, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA {arpa,mil}net: bmarsh@nosc uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!noscvax!bmarsh ------------------------------ Date: 21 APR 86 14:32-N From: DOMMELEN%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Okimate 20 Printer Has anybody in this audience any experience with an Okimate 20 printer ? It's new in Holland, specifications look very, very good. Should print b & w or color in 100 shades. (That's what the dealer says over the phone). All replies are welcome, I'll offer a summary to the net. Wim van Dommelen, Computer Center Agricultural University, Wageningen Holland. DOMMELEN@HWALHW5.BITNET ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 169205) 86-04-27 23.18 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <228> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-27 23.18 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <222> -- Received: 86-04-28 00.31 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-04-27 23.18 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #47 %Original date: 26 Apr 1986 18:16:49 PST. TF: DSKD:021474.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 34140 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 27 Apr 86 11:57 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 26-Apr-1986 22:23:18-est Date: 26 Apr 1986 18:16:49 PST Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #47 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, April 26, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 47 Today's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: Leading Edge Doesn't Support EGA IBM Product Center Chain Sold to NYNEX AT Serial Connector Pinout Newkey V3.0 is NOT Shareware BREAKUP Undigestifying Program Quadram Quadboard Database@Bitnic.Bitnet Lattice C & stdout MS-Windows Xenix 2.00 (System V from IBM) IBM PC Convertable (Laptop) Expert system software for MS-DOS How to Echo a Blank Line from a Batch File Leading Edge Model M (not D) Deleting Files the Navy Way Bug in Ryan/McFarland Fortran Leading Edge Quad Density Drives Multiuser DOS ASCII to Postscript Conversion Program Wells American $1495 AT Today's Queries: Info Request for Databases on Novell NetWare Hard Disk Queries Query: DOS 3.2 on AT&T 6300 (Olivetti M24) IBM PC Network Problem Problems with Hayes 1200B on Z151 HP Laserjet / IBM Token Ring Query Need Help Recovering Files ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 23 Apr 86 14:10:18 est From: guy@nlm-mcs (Lyndon Guy) To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Leading Edge Doesn't Support EGA I recently puchased a Quadram EGA + card to use with a Leading Edge Model M clone. Much to my dismay, I discovered that Leading Edge in its infinite wisdom, has decided not to support the EGA type display adapters. In particular, the switch settings for EGA type adapters are not recognized by the Bios prom routines. Their product support people tell me that there are no plans to provide proms capable of supporting an EGA. Normal IBMPC proms will not work because (1) the proms reside at a different address than IBM's and (2) a third dip switch read by LE's bios, which sets processor speed, diagnostic mode, etc. is not handled by the IBM proms. Can anyone suggest a means to get around this problem ? No, I probably could not write a driver without drowning in the bit bucket. Has anyone written such a driver? Help! ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@isib Subject: IBM Product Center chain sold to NYNEX Date: Wed, 23 Apr 86 18:11:50 -0500 From: jcmorris@mitre.ARPA An article in this morning's Washington Post reports that IBM has sold the entire chain of IBM Product Centers (81 stores plus three more unopened locations) to NYNEX, the New York regional Bell company. The reported price is in the $80-$100 million range. It will be interesting to see the changes which this will (hopefully) bring about in the way the stores are run. Who knows, maybe they might actually let out some status reports about the Voice Communications board wab ordered last year... Joe Morris (jcmorris@mitre) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Apr 86 19:30:54 CST From: CHENJCL%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: AT Serial Connector Pinout >From: CF4A8X%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU >A person here needs a cable made for the serial part of the >serial/parallel card for the IBM PC/AT... db9 signal name on back of adaptor 1 1. carrier detect 6 2. receive data 2 3. transmit data 7 4. data term. ready 3 5. signal ground 8 6. data set ready 4 7. request to send 9 8. clear to send 5 9. ring indicator ------------------------------ Date: Thu 17 Apr 86 08:17:36-PST From: David John Buerger <D.Buerger@SCU> Subject: Newkey V3.0 is not Shareware To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA With hopes of finally getting a high quality keyboard enhancer that I could freely distribute among the hundreds of PC users on campus under the "shareware" plan, I recently ordered an upgrade of NEWKEY from FAB Software. Version 3.0 just arrived, and with it was this important policy change that was *NOT* mentioned in the upgrade literature: Version 3.0 is not shareware. IT MAY NOT BE COPIED and shared with others. It is for your own personal use. Earlier versions of Newkey were distributed under the User-supported or shareware concept but version 3.0 is NOT. (p. 53 of the new manual) David J. Buerger Director, PC Center Santa Clara University Dave%SCU%Panda@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Apr 86 20:02:12 EST From: Edward_Vielmetti%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: BREAKUP Undigestifying Program I am sending under separate cover BREAKUP, which is a nice little program written by Charles Roth (here at UM) that divides text files into smaller pieces. It can divide files after a certain number of bytes or after a string is matched. You would use the second feature to split digested mail; the program can be set to split the file every time it sees the -------- between messages. I've been meaning to send this for a while, but I just needed a reason to do it. It might take some tweaking to run under other flavors of C, but a report from someone here who ported it to msc said it wasn't tough to do. Edward Vielmetti Computing Center MicroGroup University of Michigan (313) 747-3744 emv%Umich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.ARPA [BREAKUP.C and BREAKUP.DOC have been added to the Info-IBMPC program library. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: 24 Apr 86 09:11 EST From: Jim Moore <moore@ncsc> Subject: Quadram Quadboard To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib cc: info-kermit@cu20b I recently sent a message to INFO-KERMIT concerning the inability of the latest kermit release (v2.28 jrd/5g 13 apr 86) to perform file transfers from our 11/750 under UNIX 4.1. Well, it turns out that the problem is once again my Quadram Quadboard. I've had problems before with the print spooler and ram disk that come with the quadboard interfering with the Symphony communications package, so I just used a different spooler. Now it turns out that the CLOCK on the quadboard interferes with kermit somehow! That's (at least) two popular software packages that Quadram's Quadboard really mungs up. So, until I get my JRAM-3 board I'm using this wonderful "multi- function board" of mine for just the memory.... Jim Moore Naval Coastal Systems Center ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1986 21:35 O From: Henry Nussbacher <Vshank%Weizmann.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Database@Bitnic.Bitnet To: <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA> The database server at Bitnic has extended the retention period of the Info-IBMPC digest to 3 months. Refer to issue 46 for details of accessing Database@Bitnic.Bitnet Hank Bitnet Development and Control - BITDOC ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Apr 86 13:11:23 PST From: kegel@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (Dan R. Kegel) Subject: Lattice C & stdout To: dgb%deimos.caltech.edu@Juliet.Caltech.Edu, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Yes, Lattice C writes to stdout are abysmally slow, mostly because Lattice uses DOS function 2 to write each character out to the screen. There appears to be no way to bypass this execept to open your own file pointer to "con" (NOT "con:"); then Lattice uses the more efficient DOS write call on writes to that file. However, there are unpleasant side effects when mixing accesses via stdout and a custom file pointer. My suggestion? Throw Lattice C out the window and start using Microsoft C. I did; I/O is less of a hassle, and the tight code it generates is really spoiling me. (Snide comment #432: I have never had, and never want to have, anything to do with Microsoft.) Daniel Kegel USMAIL: 1-60 Caltech, Pasadena, California 91126, USA (to June '86) ARPA: kegel%juliet@hamlet.caltech.edu UUCP: {seismo!} hamlet.caltech.edu!kegel%juliet.caltech.edu {@seismo.css.gov} BITNET: kegel%juliet@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Apr 86 13:20:01 PST From: kegel@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (Dan R. Kegel) Subject: MS-Windows To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I recently fired up MS-Windows, and tried out a few programs. My observations: 1. Couldn't get the Microsoft C Compiler to run under windows, even after I created .PIF files for the driver and the four phases. MAKE itself seemed to run fine. 2. Unfortunately, not even all the ANSI sequences in ANSI.SYS were implemented (although I heard this is the driver's fault, not Window's per se); specifically, Report Cursor Position does nothing. Insert and delete line were, not surprisingly, not implemented. 3. User interface is not too shabby; changing disks and directories is quite easy when using the Executive window. Daniel Kegel USMAIL: 1-60 Caltech, Pasadena, California 91126, USA (to June '86) ARPA: kegel%juliet@hamlet.caltech.edu UUCP: {seismo!} hamlet.caltech.edu!kegel%juliet.caltech.edu {@seismo.css.gov} BITNET: kegel%juliet@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ From: Herm Fischer <hermix!fischer@rand-unix.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa Subject: Xenix 2.00 (System V from IBM) Date: Thu Apr 24 22:35:41 1986 If you haven't seen it, there is a Personal Computer Seminar Proceedings on Xenix 2.00 (System V from IBM), which provides some description. IBM discontinues System III Xenix 1.00 effective this June. To upgrade your local product center has some forms in their sales books; you send back front pages of the manuals of either Xenix or PC/IX. Some claim that the prices for the upgrades are higher than the institutional/educational prices for new purchases of Xenix 2.00, but lower than plain retail. In a nutshell, the description implies that System V kernel features have been added to the Xenix 1.0 kernel. The C compiler is advertised to support huge model (which works on Sys III if you can get the Microsoft DIAL update dated 12/31/85). There is some support for accessing the graphics screen memory via local segment descriptors (but you may still need a driver to do I/O instructions for more complex boards like the EGA). The Xenix 2.00 license is for 8 online users, but IBM does not include any driver for multiline serial boards (American Micronics in Irvine CA seems strong in that area). If you want to use the Sytek LAN it seems you still need to go to SCO. IBM adds to Microsoft's regular Xenix package the Interactive Systems Corp tools found on PC/IX, the RT PC's AIX, and the IX/370. Called the "extensions" package, this includes Ten-Plus (a windowing screen applic- ations control system), INed (originally the Rand Editor, either loved or hated by those with strong opinions), INmail, INftp, and some system accounting packages. Also allows reading of PC/IX floppies under Xenix. The "extensions" package is priced separately. No word on drivers for the new 3.5" diskettes, or the new AT keyboards. As best as I can tell from the literature, the difference between SCO and IBM System V Xenixes is that SCO has the network support (Sytek boards), SCO-supported drivers for multiline serial boards, plus dBase and Lotus clones; IBM has different console driver handlers which claim to have some very limited graphics support now, and the Interactive Systems Corp. "extensions". I strongly suspect that the SCO dBase and Lotus offerings and the IBM "extensions" can be exchanged between each other's kernel installations (unless either depends on the unique dif- ferences of their console drivers...). ------------------------------ From: Herm Fischer <hermix!fischer@rand-unix.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa Subject: IBM PC Convertable (Laptop) Date: Thu Apr 24 22:46:22 1986 There is an IBM PC Seminar Proceedings which has a good description of this computer. As far as keyboards go (IBM's most controversial area in the past), this product is different in feel from the PC and AT -- its keys seem to move down a little and then snap to the bottom. Probably a good feel, but this is an area where religous feelings run strong. At least the Escape key is back on the left, though a bit up high in the function key row. Physically, it is a nice package. However, to change the rechargable battery, you have to unhook the printer (if you have one) and open a trap door in back. Not quite as easy as the Video Cam-Corder batteries. They claim good software compatibility. Runs at same clock speed but without dynamic RAM refreshing (so software could run a tiny bit faster). The description implies that the screen memory should emulate both the mono and color cards (for software which writes directly to screen memory). The internal modem is supposed to accept the same commands as the PCjr modem (but runs at 1200). Screen seems readable -- to my taste the 8x8 characters are decently readable. Have only seen the LCD. It is hard to see in very dim light, so move it to a well-lit desk... The aspect ratio differs from CRTs, so pie charts may be squished somewhat... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Apr 86 05:08:15 EST From: ihnp4!lzaz!psc@seismo.CSS.GOV Subject: Expert system software for MS-DOS To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Here's the promised list of expert systems for MS-DOS based personal computers. The language name in brackets usually indicates what languages you can can use for special purpose routines that work with the system. (Sometimes, it may just be the language the expert system was written in.) I threw in Prolog processors for grins (I suspect Borland's going to make that a much bigger field!) The names, addresses, phone numbers, and especially prices are not guaranteed to be free from typos, line noise, or obsolecence. I have no experience or further information on any of these packages; don't call me, call the company. On the other hand, if *you* have used any of these systems, please drop me a line; I'll be happy to summarize and repost. I'd also like to hear of any products I'd forgotten, or any errata to my list. Aion Development System: expert system, $7000 Aion 101 University Ave., 4th floor Palo Alto, CA 94301 415-328-9595 Arity Expert System Development Package: expert system, $295 Arity Standard Prolog: AI language, $95 Arity Prolog Interpreter V4: AI language, $350 Arity Prolog Compiler & Interpreter V4: AI language, $795 Arity Corp 358 Baker Ave. Concord, MA 01742 617-371-1243 OPS5+: expert system [C] Artelligence, Inc. 14902 Preston Rd., suite 212-252 Dallas, TX 75240 214-437-0361 A.D.A Educational Prolog: AI language, $29.95 VML Prolog: AI language, $300 Automata Design Associates 1570 Arran Way Dresher, PA 19025 215-646-4894 Turbo Prolog: AI language, $99.95 Borland International 4585 Scotts Valley Dr. Scotts Valley, CA 95066 408-438-8400 Xsys: expert system [Lisp], $995 California Intelligence 912 Powell St. #8 San Fransisco, CA 94108 415-391-4846 Prolog V: AI language, $69.95/$99.95 Chalcedony Software, Inc. 5580 La Jolla Blvd, Suite 126B La Jolla, CA 92037 617-483-8513 ES/P Advisor: expert system [Prolog], $895 Prolog-1: AI language, $395 Prolog-2 Interpreter and Compiler: AI Language, $1895 Expert Systems International 1150 First Ave. King of Prussia, PA 19406 215-337-2300 Xi: expert system, $795 Expertech Expertech House, 172 Bath Rd. Slough, Berks SLI 3XE, ENGLAND 0753-821321; USA, 415-367-6264 or 617-470-2267 Exsys 3.0: expert system [C], $395 Exsys Inc. PO Box 75158, Contract Sta. 14 Albuquerque, NM 87194 505-836-6676 TIMM-PC: expert system [Fortran 77], $9500 General Research 7655 Old Spring House Rd. McLean, VA 22102 703-893-5900 Expert Ease: expert system [UCSD Pascal], $695 Expert Edge: expert system, $795 Human Edge Software 2445 Faber Pl. Palo Alto, CA 94303 CA: 800-824-7325, elsewhere: 800-624-5227 Knowol: expert system, $39.95 Intelligent Machines Co. 3813 N. 14th St. Arlington, VA 22201 703-528-9136 KEE: expert system IntelliCorp 1975 El Camino Real W. Mountain View, CA 94040 415-965-5500 Experteach: expert system [Lisp, Prolog, Pascal, dBase II], $475 Intelliware, Inc. 4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 401 Marina del Rey, CA 90291 213-305-9391 Ex-Tran: expert system, $3000 Jeffrey Perrone & Associates 415-431-9562 KDS: expert system [assembler], $795 (development), $150 (playback) KDS II: expert system, $945 KDS Corp. 934 Hunter Rd. Wilmette, IL 60091 312-251-2621 Trouble Shooter: expert system, $250 Kepner-Tregoe 609-921-2806 Insight: expert system [Turbo Pascal], $95/$485 Level 5 Research 4980 S A1A Melbourne Beach, FL 32751 (moved to 503 Fifth Ave., Suite 201, Indiatlantic, FL 32903?) 305-729-9046 Daisy: expert system [muLisp-85] Lithp Systems BV Meervalweg 72 1121 JP Landsmeer The Netherlands Micro-Prolog: AI language, $395 Logic Programming Associates 31 Crescent Drive Milford, CT 06460 203-872-7988 MProlog: AI language, $725 Logicware, Inc. 5000 Birch St., West Tower, suite 3000 Newport Beach, CA 92660 416-665-0022 (70 Walnut St. Wellesley, MA 02181 617-237-2254?) Reveal: expert system McDonnell Douglas Knowledge Engineering Products Division 20705 Valley Green Dr. Cupertino, CA 95014 408-446-7406 MicroExpert: expert system [Turbo Pascal/Apple Pascal], $49.95 McGraw-Hill PO Box 400 Hightstown, NJ 08520 or 1221 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 NY: 212-512-2999, elsewhere 800-628-0004 Guru: integrated software with expert system, $3000 Micro Data Base Systems PO Box 248 Lafayette, IN 47902 317-463-2581 Expert: expert system [Forth], $100 Mountain View Press PO Box 4656 Mountain View, CA 94040 415-961-4103 XLISP: AI language, $6 (disk 148) Expert System of Steel: expert system, $6 (disk 268) Esie: expert system, $6 (disk 398) Prolog: AI language, $6 (disk 405) PC-SIG 1030 E. Duane Ave, Suite J Sunnyvale, CA 94086 408-730-9291; CA 800-235-6647, elsewhere 800-235-6646 OPS83: expert system [C] Production Systems Technologies, Inc. 642 Gettysburg St. Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412-362-3117 Micro-Prolog Professional: AI Language?, $395 Programming Logic Systems 203-877-7988 1st-Class: expert system, $20/$495 Programs in Motion, Inc. 10 Sycamore Rd. Wayland, MA 01778 617-653-5093 Rulemaster: expert system, $995 Radian Corp. 8501 Mo-Pac Blvd. PO Box 9948 Austin, TX 78766 512-454-4797 Small-X: expert system, $125/$225 RK Software PO Box 2085 West Chester, PA 19380 215-436-4570 Savvy PC: expert system, $139 Savvy 505-265-1273 Knowledge Engineering System II: expert system [C], $4000 Software Achitecture & Engineering 1500 Wilson Blvd., suite 800 Arlington, VA 22209 (703)276-7910 Wizdom: expert system, $1250/$2050 Software Intelligence Lab 1593 Locust Ave. Bohemia, NY 11716 212-747-9066/516-589-1676 Xper: expert system, $95 Softway 415-397-4666 Prolog-86: AI language, $125 Solution Systems 335-P Washington St. Norwell, MA 02061 617-659-1571 Microdyn: expert system, $300 Stochos 518-372-5426 M1: expert system [Prolog], $5000 KS-300: expert system Teknowledge Inc. 525 University Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94301 415-327-6640 Personal Consultant: expert systems [IQ Lisp], $950 Personal Consultant Plus: expert systems [IQ Lisp], $2950 Texas Instruments PO Box 80963 Dallas, TX 75380-9063 800-527-3500 Class Texpert Systems, Inc. 12607 Aste Houston, TX 77065 713-469-4068 -Paul S. R. Chisholm, UUCP {ihnp4,cbosgd,pegasus,mtgzz}!lznv!psc AT&T Mail !psrchisholm, Internet mtgzz!lznv!psc@topaz.rutgers.edu The above opinions may not be shared by any telecomm company. ------------------------------ Date: 25 Apr 1986 9:50:06 EST (Friday) From: Jim Gouge <jgouge@mitre-gateway.arpa> Subject: How to Echo a Blank Line from a Batch File To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Echoing a blank line from a batch file does not require mucking around with COMMAND.COM. Just enter in your batch file the line: ECHO <ALT-255> Where <ALT-255> represents the single character entered by holding down the ALT key and entering 255 from the keypad. ASCII 255 in the IBMPC lexicon represents the character 'blank' which is handled differently than the character 'space'. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Apr 86 14:22:00 EST From: "WHITE::DOUG" <doug@white.decnet> Subject: Leading Edge Model M (not D) To: "info-ibmpc" <info-ibmpc@usc-isib> Rich Winkel asked about the model M, specifically concerning its CPU and similarity to the IBM. I have one, so I can speak from experience. It uses an 8088-2 chip which allows it to run at 4.77 and 7.14 MHz. The higher speed is quite noticable, as I found when I tried to hand dial a number while Crosstalk was counting down. I have run Word Star and Crosstalk while Sidekick was resident, with no problems. ExpertEase and TurboTax both run, but they take up too much space to allow Sidekick as well. My machine came with BASICA on disk, and no basic in memory. Probably an advantage most of the time. More importantly it came with 170 pages of technical reference material in addition to the nonsense that IBM provides. The keyboard is an IBM layout, and provides both tactile and auditory cues. Problems: The TTL video board has the pox - when the text is supposed to be in the high intensity mode some pixels remain in the low intensity mode. LE told me who to take it to to get it fixed but I haven't gotten around to it. The floppy drives occasionally fail to cough up the disks, and I have to try several times before I can extract the disk. I would recommend the Model D over a generic turboclone with more memory just because LE is more likely to be around when you need 'em. ------------------------------ Date: 25 Apr 86 09:56 EST From: Jim Moore <moore@ncsc> Subject: Deleting Files the Navy Way To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib Does anyone know of a utility that will wipe a floppy disk and VERIFY that it was wiped (in accordance with OPNAV 5540.8H)? (Needs to write all 1's three times, all 0's once, and then any character but space). I looked at the little utility in Peter Norton's Programmer's Guide, but the table that holds the format character is in ROM, and besides, I can't verify it (except by using DEBUG). Hope this isn't too esoteric... Jim Moore Naval Coastal Systems Center ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Apr 86 13:57:50 est From: Ted Emigh <ecsvax!emigh%mcnc.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Bug in Ryan/McFarland Fortran To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I have run across a very serious error in the documentation for the Ryan-McFarland FORTRAN for PC-DOS (also called the IBM Professional FORTRAN). Among the options for compiling programs is the /b option, which is purportedly to be used if any adjustable or assumed-size arrays are larger than 64K bytes. *****ALWAYS USE THE /B OPTION IF YOU HAVE A*N*Y ADJUSABLE OR ASSUMED-SIZE ARRAYS***** I found this error after getting the netlib version of the Cholesky decomposition. I ran a test program on a 4X4 array. During runtime, it printed a DSQRT error, and didn't give the correct answer. I thought that I had the calling convention incorrect, so I added some WRITE statements in the subroutine -- this cleared up the problem!!! As it turns out, my little 4X4 array had crossed a 64K boundary in storage and the program had bombed. No problem when the program was compiled with the /b option. Ted H. Emigh Genetics and Statistics, North Carolina State U, Raleigh NC USENET: {akgua decvax duke ihnp4 unc}!mcnc!ecsvax!emigh ARPA: decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!emigh@BERKELEY BITNET: NEMIGH@TUCC ------------------------------ Date: 25 Apr 86 15:28:00 EST From: <doug@ari-hq1> Subject: Leading Edge Quad Density Drives To: "info-ibmpc" <info-ibmpc@usc-isib> I called LE to ask them about quad density drives for the Model M. The technician said that he uPD765AC board could do it, but the rest of the system couldn't handle quad density. He didn't know why not, though. If anybody tries quad density drives on their LE Model M I would like to know how the experiment works out. Doug Macpherson ------------------------------ To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: "Roger Fajman" <RAF%NIHCU.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Date: Fri, 25 Apr 86 17:43:39 EST Subject: Multiuser DOS The PC/Slave-16 board from Alloy Computer Products implements multiprocessing on the PC. The slave card has a NEC V20 processor operating at 8 MHz, 256K to 1024K of memory, a communications port addressed as COM2, and a console port. Up to 31 slave cards can be used in regular PC and expansion unit slots. The console port may be connected to any one of 10 or so types of ASCII terminals. Kimtron is one of the supported terminals and is interesting because it duplicates the PC keyboard. Software called ATNX in the host PC handles the sharing of the PC's disk drives among the slave processors and the host. Orchid PC-NET file locking is provided. In theory, any software that does not require graphics should run on the slave. The host PC may also run other programs. In practice, of course, there are incompatibilities. The difference between the Alloy slaves and something like Multilink is that with the slaves each user has their own processor, rather than trying to time share an 8088 or 80286. I have no connection to Alloy. I am SYSOP of a multiuser bulletin board system, the Capital PC User Group Member Information Exchange (CPCUG MIX), that uses the Alloy slaves (currently 6 of them). I don't have much experience with using the slaves for other applications. Roger Fajman National Institutes of Health RAF@NIHCU.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Fri 25 Apr 86 18:33:43-EST From: Barbara H. Liskov <LISKOV@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> Subject: ASCII to Postscript Conversion Program To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Attached is code that I have written in Turbo Pascal for a menu driven ASCII to Postscript conversion program. It allows a number of useful options including font size, font style, pagination, header addition, output-to-disk, two fonts per page, etc. It is a little smart about tabs but does not have knowledge of character widths. Still it is useful as a basic printer driver for lucky people with access to an Apple LaserWriter. Nate Liskov (nate@mit.bold.lcs.edu) [POST.PAS has been added to the Info-IBMPC program library. -rag] ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Wells American $1495 AT Date: Fri, 25 Apr 86 21:23:38 -0500 From: Dave Farber <farber@huey.udel.EDU> I have very seldom been as impressed with the attitude of a company as I have been with them. When I initially called they quoted a price, I asked them how can I pay they said Master Charge. Being suspicious of new companies even those who are listed on the American Exchange, I said when do you charge. They said when they ship. I decided to take the chance and ordered it. When she finished my order she said "we will call you right before we ship and get your credit card info then". I just got the system. It has 512 on board memory and room for another 512 on the motherboard. It has the hard and flop controller on the mother board also. Runs at 6 or 8 mh software and switch flipable. The keyboard even is good. Manny my son who is a famous keyboard hater says it is surpisingly good. It has a 220 watt power supply. Very well made also. Looks like a real winner! More as I get to play with it (if I can stop Manny). Dave ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.csnet-relay@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA From: kwan.mhuxm%btl.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA Date: Tue 22 Apr EST 1986 19:28 Subject: Info Request for Databases on Novell NetWare I plan to put a multi-user database on our Novell Advanced NetWare/68 file servers connecting to IBM PC compatibles as workstations running MS-DOS. If you have used (or know of) multi-user database systems that run on these file servers, I appreciate you can let me know your experience. We are particularly interested in databases with easy-to-use form and report generators. Choi Kwan ATT Bell Labs (201) 582-5727 ihnp4!mhuxa!kwan ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1986 06:01 PLT From: Eric Schneider <10409813%WSUVM1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Hard Disk Queries To: <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA> There are a couple of things I would like to do with my hard disk under MS-DOS 3.1 on my AT&T 6300. First of all, I would like to get the source code for a program allowing my to define multiple device names on separate (independent) partitions of a single drive. Also, have any of you with AT&T systems managed to configure your drive for 2K cluster under 3.1? Any and all info on these subjects would be greatly appreciated... Reply to: 10409813%wsuvm1@wiscvm.ARPA or 10409813@wsuvm1.BITNET or eric@wsu.CSNET Thanx... Acknowledge-To: Eric Schneider <10409813@WSUVM1> ------------------------------ Date: apr 24 1986 To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> From: Hermann Willers <G95%DHDURZ2.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Query: DOS 3.2 on AT&T 6300 (Olivetti M24) Did someone try to run DOS 3.2 on an Olivetti M24 (AT&T 6300) WITH 720 KB (80 tracks, 9 sectors) drives ? Does it work ? Hermann Willers <G95@DHDURZ2.BITNET> ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Apr 86 13:38 PST To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa From: Todd Booth (213) 825-1933 <CSDCTGB@UCLA-CCN.ARPA> Subject: IBM PC Network Problem Our NETWORK seems to crap out after 36 to 48 hours of 'normal' usage. Sometimes it dies outright, sometimes it will let one or two people login befor responding "NETWORK DEVICE NOT LISTENING" or some other such thing. One time it continued to work but the NET LOGing just stopped. I can't remember any trouble with the system within 24 hours of being booted. Our 'fix' for the time being will be to turn the power off at the end of the day and then reboot the next morning. Have anyone heard of any problems like this? Thanks for your attention, John McFadden / UCLA 213 825-2083 (Internet: IC9QSIL@UCLA-CCN.ARPA) ------------------------------ Date: 04/25/86 10:29:25 EST From: VICTOR%SER.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: Problems with Hayes 1200B on Z151 I am trying to get the internal Smartmodem 1200B to work in a Zenith PC (model 151). The Zenith PC has 640K (AST board with 384K), a hard disk, and monochrome monitor. When trying to run Smartcom (software that came with the Smartmodem) I get this message: Smartmodem does not respond as COM1 (neither COM2, when set up for COM2). The Zenith came with Zenith MS-DOS which has a command (configur) to configure the ports (LPT1, LPT2, COM1 and COM2), however it is DOS 2.1 which does not handle the hard disk. To operate the hard disk I need DOS 3.0 or 3.1 (it was said), but they do not have the configur command. So, does anyone out there have actually done this already? Any help will be greatly appreciated. thanks. Bitnet address: victor@ser ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Apr 86 12:18:20 CST From: C4898%UMVMA.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Larry Pickett) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: HP Laserjet / IBM Token Ring Query Does anyone have any comments/experience with using the HP Laser Jet Printer on IBM's Token Ring network? +'s, -'s or alternate suggestions welcomed. Does any one have the complete address for Laser-Lovers? We are contemplating putting in token rings and some of the user departments have expressed the need for high quality output thus the Laser Jet query, nothing has been ordered so I'd appreciate any information available. I'm not signed up on INFO-IBMPC so please respond directly to: C4898@UMVMA.BITNET. Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ Date: Friday, 25 Apr 1986 10:51:59-PST From: dantowitz%eagle2.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: Info-IBMPC@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Need Help Recovering Files I have a few disks that have been partially trashed. Some of the sectors are no longer readable, so DOS can't do anything with the disk. I was wondering if there is a utility that will help me to rebuild the disk (selectively rebuild files etc.) on another disk. David Dantowitz [Have you tried the Norton Utilities? -rag] ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 170458) 86-05-01 12.16 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <229> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-01 12.16 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <223> -- Received: 86-05-01 19.17 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-01 12.16 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #48 %Original date: 30 Apr 1986 20:58:48 PDT. TF: DSKD:032517.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 25930 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 1 May 86 11:03 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 01-May-1986 00:39:17-edt Date: 30 Apr 1986 20:58:48 PDT Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #48 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, April 30, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 48 This Week's Editor: Eliot Moore <Elmo@USC-ISIB> Today's Topics: Fortran Subroutine Library Wells American A*Star AT clone The lovely internal stack error halt of DOS 3.2 Wells American Re: Software compatibility on IBM PC Convertible PC's Limited AT Compatibility (3 Messages) Recovering Files (2 Messages) PC Turbo 286e IBM Diagnostic Error Code 102 Ms-Dos Microemacs IBM PC Network (2 Messages) IBM Graphics Toolkit Bisync Communications Professional Graphics Adapter 3279 emulation on IBM PC AT/370 3 1/2" --> 5 1/4" ? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 Apr 86 12:27:23 +0200 From: XBR4D715%DDATHD21.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (D715@BR4.THDNET) Subject: Fortran Subroutine Library To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Hi FORTRAN-PC-Users ! Here is an interesting address for those using Fortran (77) on PC's. The Program Library Office Division DD CERN CH - 1211 Geneve 23 Switzerland sells her CERN - Library ( 1500 Subroutines, 80% Fortran, 20% Assembler , 1.2 MB code) for VAX just for the price of a magnetic tape. (This is true only for universities !!!) It is easy to implement on a PC (we used a AT&$T 6300 and Prof. Fortran compiler), but you need a VAX under VMS to read the tape and KERMIT to transfer it to your PC. Although the newest contributions are from the late 70ies, there are a lot of useful procedures such as: - (non)linear regression ... - matrix manipulations (eigenvalues, syst. of eq. ...) ... - complex functions and polynomials ... - integration, differentiation, minimization ... - statistical analysis, random number generators ... just to mention a few. Again I want to stress: **************************************************************** YOU CAN ONLY ORDER, IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF AN INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY ETC. **************************************************************** I hope there is some interest ! Klaus D. Schmitt Institut for EEV Technische Hochschule Darmstadt D - 6100 Darmstadt F R G Signature: XBR4D715%DDATHD21.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26-Apr-86 18:20:32 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Wells American A*Star AT clone To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@louie.udel.EDU drystone tests 1.1 reg no reg IBM AT with 9 mh clock 1428 1351 Wells American A*Star at 8 mh clock 1428 1351 Wells American A*Star at 1086 980 6 mh clock All the above under PC DOS 3.2 and MS C compiler Note the price of the A*Star is $1495 with 512 kbytes memory, built in hard and floppy disk controller (with room for another 512 on the mother board) It runs the IBM Advanced Diagnostics ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26-Apr-86 18:41:39 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: The lovely internal stack error halt of DOS 3.2 To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@louie.udel.EDU CC: ud-ibmpc@louie.udel.EDU In the Token ring manual there is a potential cure for the lovely comments " FATAL:internal stack error, system halted. In the config.sys one can put a stacks=xx,yyy where xx (a decimal number between 8 and 64) is the number of stacks allocated and yyy ( a decimal number between 32 and 512) is the size of each stack. DOS 3.2 default is xx=9 and yyy=128. Increase xx except for the IBM PC AT model 239 " where this allocation of stack resources is not necessary" -- WHAT IS A PC AT 239? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27-Apr-86 15:35:30 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Wells American To: gould9!joel%nosc.arpa@louie.udel.EDU CC: info-ibmpc%usc-isib.arpa@louie.udel.EDU In-Reply-To: Your message of Sun, 27 Apr 86 09:43:57 pdt > Date: Sun, 27 Apr 86 09:43:57 pdt > From: "Joel West @ CACI" <gould9!joel%nosc.arpa@louie.UDEL.EDU> > > It would be nice if you could post (or mail) more information on this. > does "AT" imply 80286? what do you get for $1495? who/where are > they? > > if this is a 286 clone under $2k, that's a good deal. > > Joel West CACI, Inc. Federal, La Jolla The machine is a 286 with a 6 or 8 megahetz rate software and switch settable. On the mother board is the hard disk controller and the floppy controller (seems fully IBM compatable.). There is 512Kbytes of memory and room for another 512K on the mother board. The keyboard quality is excellent, it is "all American made" and there is a space for a 287. The system also comes with a floppy that they claim is dual speed and thus records either 1.2 or 360kb correctly. The mechanical parts and electronics seem very well made and the bios seem tight (and a bit faster than the ATs (dated 3/26/86). It passes the advanced diagnostics for the AT (IBMs). There is a "network" ready feature that seems to have some of the hardware on the mother board for a cheap network. So far very impressed. Price is $1495 plus $15 shipping. They can be reached at 803-796-7800. Tell them I refered you (I get nothing out of it but it may help get us all easy info). Dave ------------------------------ Date: Sun 27 Apr 86 08:15:31-PDT From: David John Buerger <D.Buerger%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> On-Terminal: 111 Subject: Re: Software compatibility on IBM PC Convertible To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: D.Buerger%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA I've been using a demo unit of the new IBM PC Convertible for about five days now. I've successfully loaded onto the 3.5" diskettes and used the following programs with no modification: WordPerfect 4.1 Final Word 2.01 Kermit 2.28 jrd/5e 3-20-86 Lotus 1-2-3 1A dBase 2.43* Norton's Utilities 3.1 WordStar 3.3 Procomm 2.3 (i think) I've enjoyed some things and disliked others; will report in a week after I use it more during my vacation. On major hassle: their internal 300/1200 baud modem ($450 list!) does *not* use Hayes AT commands. Instead, they've retained what appears to be the same command set used on the PCjr. This really mucks up using their modem with programs such as Carbon Copy (which I haven't here- fore been able to test) and Procomm. Unless your comm program provides a method of sending a ^N to the modem to get its attention for a dial sequence, you're up the rope. David J. Buerger Dave%SCU%Panda@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA ------- ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 29 April 1986 11:38:03 EDT From: Eric.Johnson@isl1.ri.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: PC's Limited AT To: Info-IBMPC Since I have had about three months experience with a PC Limited PC, I thought I would summarize my impressions. Overall the machine functions well and I have had no problems with any software that I have tried, including a wide variety of graphics, word processing, and statistical software. I run IBM DOS 3.1 right out of the box. I treat it as a virtual copy of my IBM AT at work with no problem. It runs fine at 8 mhz with the only problem being that the supplied "PC Limited" universal graphics board (really a Genoa board) does not function as a color board at that rate, generating garbage characters. The on-board 1-megabyte of RAM allows full 640K DOS and a large RAM disk. The package looks virtualy identical to the IBM AT, but the power supply is noticeably noisier. The internal layout of the machine is far from convenient. You need to become familiar with jumpers and the like, and these can be incredibaly badly located. To enable of disable the COM or parrellel ports, you would have to remove the disk drive. And I needed to change jumpers to get the 1.2 meg floppy drive to propoerly light the LED indicating that the drive was reading or writing. Moreover, there have been a large number of what Consumer Reports would call 'sample defects' which suggest caution. First, the on board E-Prom which should save the configuration never functioned properly, and I have replaced the lithium battery twice in an attempt to get it to work. It looks like I'll have to ship it back to Austin. Technical support has been thouroughly mediocre. The documentation is sparse, and I needed to call them to find out what type of hard disk I should specify to the startup routine. When the Princton Max 12 monitor did not function properly in 132 character mode I needed to make several calls, and promised call-backs never came. This has lead to the major failing of PC-Limited. When I returned the malfunctioning monitor for credit, I was told that I had exceeded their 30 day return period, and have recieved back another monitor. Since, in the intervening 6 weeks, I had replaced the monitor, this was a problem. This is particularly frustrating since it took over 2 weeks to diagnose the problem since their technical support lines were often busy, promised call-backs never came and since they count the 30 day period from the ship date. Repeated calls and letters have not resulted in a credit, and I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Buearau in Austin. In general, the customer service department has been extraoridarily uncooperative and unpleasant. Since then I have discovered that PC Limited has had several prior problems which were reported by the BBB in Austin (documented in a January issue of PCWeek). Given the large number of AT clones on the market and positive reviews they have recieved I would strongly suggest avoiding PC's Limited. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Apr 86 00:40:06 PDT From: WOLFGANG%SEA@ames-io.ARPA Subject: Compatibility To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Is it safe, in terms of capability with PC Clones and whatnot, to do screen IO by writing directly to Video Memory? Or are BIOs calls safer? - Steven Engle NASA/Ames Research Center WOLFGANG%SEA@ames-io.arpa ------------------------------ Date: 28 Apr 1986 13:43:03 PDT Subject: Re: Compatibility From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: WOLFGANG%SEA@AMES-IO.ARPA cc: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA In-Reply-To: (Message from "WOLFGANG%SEA@ames-io.ARPA" of Mon, 28 Apr 86 00:40:06 PDT) When the PCjr came out an IBM Seminar proceedings was devoted to the differences between the PCjr and PC. In this issue IBM defined PC compatibility. (press reports IBM may have violated this compatibility in their recent lap top). Yes in this seminar IBM vowed to support direct screen writes as "PC compatible" for as long as the PC exists. First one should use the BIOS to enquire as to the display mode and only write to the display memory if the mode is one you are prepared to support. IBM promised to support the basic monochrome and color adaptor mode on all future products. They have made good on this promise for their extend graphics and professional graphics adaptors. (Other manufacturers have extended this to include Hercules compatibility) Remember this guarentees you PC compatibility not necessarily Topview or Microsoft Windows compatibility. I would draw the line between a PC compatible and "8086 family personal computer" as support for BIOS and direct screen writes to display memory. A PC compatible still may not run communications programs or keyboard enhancers that rely on specific hardware fearures. A PC clone allows direct manipulation of the display hardware. The Microsoft Flight Simulator is the classic test of a true PC clone by definition it will not run on a PC compatible. ------- ------------------------------ Date: 28 Apr 1986 11:04:53 PDT Subject: Re: Compatibility From: Richard Gillmann <GILLMANN@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: WOLFGANG%SEA@AMES-IO.ARPA cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA In-Reply-To: (Message from "WOLFGANG%SEA@ames-io.ARPA" of Mon, 28 Apr 86 00:40:06 PDT) Steven - There's sort of a hierarchy of ways of doing screen i/o on PCs: DOS calls/ANSI.SYS MS-DOS compatible Slowest IBM PC calls IBM BIOS compatible Medium Direct writes IBM PC and clones Fastest Dick Gillmann ------- ------------------------------ From: Mike Ciaraldi <ciaraldi@rochester.arpa> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Recovering Files In resopnse to David Dantowitz's query, I have had good luck recovering disks using a user-supported package called "Ultra Utilities". It lets you copy any sector(s) of a disk to any sector(s) of the same or another disk. It also lets you map the disk, seeing which sectors are assigned to which files, and read and modify any sector. You can create a file with any sequence of sectors. You can format a disk or any track with the standard or non-standard format (e.g. different sector sizes, number of sectors, or sector numbering). You can even reformat a standard track, and the program will write back any data it was able to find before formatting. I don't have the name of the company around, but the programs are available through various user groups, etc. Mike Ciaraldi ciaraldi@rochester ------------------------------ Date: 28 Apr 86 17:43-EST From: R.Rasulis <ext715%BOSTONU.bitnet@WISCVM.arpa> Subject: Reply: Rebuilding trashed-disks To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa This is in reply to dantowitz%eagle2.dec@decwrl.dec.com's query about utilities that rebuild sector-trashed disks (info-ibmpc digest v5#47). A footnote was appended suggesting Norton Utilities. This would be great, i.e., your disk's F.A.T. table is intact. Run the DOS command CHKDSK and see (sometimes CHKDSK can re-construct F.A.T. entries, thus finding lost files). If CHKDSK fails, then try the ULTRA-UTILITIES, found in the public domain. With another blank disk, ULTRA-FORMAT, ULTRA-FILE, and ULTRA-ZAP, you should easily be able to rebuild each sector as you copy the sector to the blank disk, reformat the old sector and re-copy the sector back to its original diskette. A pal suggests DISK MECHANIC, but I don't have enough familiarization to suggest it. :- R.Rasulis -: ----- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Apr 86 09:25 EDT From: Elefante@RADC-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: PC Turbo 286e To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Took delivery of an Orchid PC Turbo 286e yesterday and ran some quick time comparisions, supercharged vs unsupercharged. I have a Zenith Z150 with a 60 ms, 2/1 interleave winchester and a NEC V20 processor chip installed. The first test was a Basic routine that calculates the square roots of all the numbers from 1 to 10000 and prints out those that are perfect integers. The remaining four tests were all done with the WordPerfect editor: 1) Load WordPerfect (the full exe file) plus an 86K text file, 2) Relocate cursor from the beginning to the end of the file, 3) From the end to the beginning, 4) Global replace of all e's with z's. The results were as follows: V20 286e 69 sec 16 sec Basic test 8.2 sec 3.0 - 7.3 sec Load editor + 86K file 21.4 sec 5.5 sec Cursor top to bottom 15.5 sec 4.1 sec Cursor bottom to top 134 sec 38 sec Global replace of e by z The second test for the 286e shows a range in times because the speed depends on whether or not the editor file was cached ahead of time. The tests aren't very sophisticated but they are realistic. Orchid claims up to 200% performance increase over an AT, and up to 500% over a PC. Pretty much on the money when the higher performance of the V20 chip over the 8088 is considered. Installation of the hardware and software was a snap. However, I did notice a software problem when switching from turbocharged to unturbocharged and back to turbocharged again. I suspect this is related to differences in the Zenith that Orchid has not picked up yet in its software. Don Elefante ------------------------------ From: Kevin Terpstra <war%tp3@rand-unix.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: IBM dignostic error code 102 Date: 28 Apr 86 15:03:22 PDT (Mon) According to my documentation, error code 102 from POST or diagnostics means: "DMA test failed." - Howard ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Apr 86 11:13:03 PDT From: kegel@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (Dan R. Kegel) Subject: Ms-Dos Microemacs To: info-ibmpc%usc-isib@Juliet.Caltech.Edu, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I have ported Microemacs 3.6 to Microsoft C and the IBM-PC. The resulting program is 45Kb long; it can handle files as big as you have memory for. It requires nansi.sys, and provides relatively quick screen updating. I am willing to send the sources in ARC 5.0 format to anybody on bitnet, but am not sure how to post it all to INFO-IBMPC, as the goddamned arpanet (Oh, how spoiled I am!) can't seem to handle 8-bit bytes. (I can send the binary, too, if requested.) Let's give the people at DEC who brought out Microemacs 3.6 a hand for a really useful little editor! Daniel Kegel USMAIL: 1-60 Caltech, Pasadena, California 91126, USA (to June '86) ARPA: kegel@juliet.caltech.edu (or kegel%juliet@hamlet.caltech.edu) UUCP: {seismo!} hamlet.caltech.edu!kegel%juliet.caltech.edu {@seismo.css.gov} BITNET: kegel%juliet@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ From: dyer%spdcc.UUCP@harvard.HARVARD.EDU To: harvard!info-ibmpc@usc-isi.ARPA Date: Mon Apr 28 02:35:48 1986 Subject: IBM PC Network Program protocols Are the session-layer protocols which are used by the IBM PC Network program to provide network virtual disk sharing and print spooling published in any reference? Netbios, at least after reading through the PC Network Technical Reference, is at too low a level, describing only the methods of managing virtual circuits and sending data across VCs and datagrams. What I want is a description of the commands sent across the network to read and write disk files and remote devices (for UNIX types, "NFS" rather than a description of the socket interface.) -- Steve Dyer dyer@harvard.HARVARD.EDU {bbncca,bbnccv,harvard,ima,ihnp4}!spdcc!dyer ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Apr 86 05:09:00 EDT From: Dan_Bower%RPI-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: IBM PC Network Re: Info Request for Databases on Novell NetWare from Choi Kwan (ihnp4!mhuxa!kwan) I'm currently using the IBM PC Network version of KnowledgeMan. In general, it does most of what one would expect on a PC Network up to 32 simultaneous users of the software, 16 files shared at one time, unlimited files open locally, record locking, file locking, user settable deadlock timeout, program libraries, Lattice compiler interface, no copy protection. There are Novell and 3Com versions of the software which are essentially the same. Re: IBM PC Network Problem - Todd Booth (Network craps out..."NETWORK DEVICE NOT LISTENING"...) Page A-69 PC Network Manual describes network error 801 as "Remote Computer not Listening". This may be because: 1. a device you are trying to use is not permitted to you. Solution. Permit the device. 2. the computer you're trying to access is too "busy" doing other network type things. (Its local network buffers are all in use.) Solution. Try again. 3. the computer you're trying to access has no available session buffers. (Your friends are hogging the server.) Solution A. Kick your friends off the network. Solution B. Restart the server with more sessions defined (i.e., increase the value of /SES in the server's NET Start command.) 4. your computer was started as only a redirector. Solution. restart your computer as a higher level workstation. 5. you tried to share a server's printer when the maximum number of users are using the server. Solution. restart the server with more users defined, ala 3B. Re: PC Network in general. Multiple server networks are a royal pain to manage in an office environment. (you always have to keep testing who's permitted what to whom when.... grrr.) For a hacker's net where people can shout across the room, multiple servers work fine. If you want PC Network to work 'the first time, every time' for an office of novices, set it up with a single server. Suggested single server configuration for 7 remote users: Compaq Deskpro or 'hopped up' PC AT 640 K low RAM 2.0 MB or more extended RAM Golden Bow Systems "VCache" disk cache - use all extended memory. (the more you cache, the faster the server goes - works on remotes also in standard, EMS or Extended memory.) All shared printers, serial devices on server. Also, Hayes claims to have a version of SmartCom that will share a modem on PC Network. PC Network Program (Now called the IBM PC LAN Program?) Ver 1.1 Basically the same software with support for the explicit mention of TopView and the token ring. If you are running a Coax PC Network, there seems to be no benefit in upgrading unless you really DO want to run TopView. DesqView will run on all PC Network configurations except the server. It will even allow sidekick to coexist with PC Network if you have SK in a window away from things it will step on. Apparently Desqview will not run on the server as its own multitasking scheme conflicts with the networks. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Apr 86 20:41:39 CDT From: MATHPG1%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Rich Winkel UMC Math Department) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: IBM Graphics toolkit How does it's software interface work? Is it installed as a device driver? I'm interested in using it with Lahey FORTRAN. Are the two compatible? Thanks for any help, Rich Winkel ------------------------------ Date: 28 Apr 86 17:34-EST From: R.Rasulis <ext715%BOSTONU.bitnet@WISCVM.arpa> Subject: Bisync Communications To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa ----- Hi, I'm asking for a friend, so please reply directly to me. If a sufficient number of replies are made, I post a summary later. Question 1: What are bisynchronous communications (what advantages, purposes)? Question 2: What bisynch. comm. packages are there in the public domain or commercial sector? Any replies will be appreciated. :- R.Rasulis -: BITNET: SMGGYUC@BOSTONU ARPANET: SMGGYUC@BOSTONU.WISCVM.ARPA ----- ------------------------------ Date: Tue 29 Apr 86 20:22:31-PDT From: Ivan Auger <LAWRENCE.Auger%BIONET@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: Professional Graphics Adapter To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA What other companies make PGA cards beside IBM ? Ivan Auger lawrence.auger%bionet@sumex-aim (internet) ------- ------------------------------ Date: Apr 30 1986 To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> From: Thomas Biedassek <W18%DHDURZ2.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: 3279 emulation on IBM PC AT/370 We use the 3278/3279 emulation adaptor on an AT/370. The 3278 (text) terminal emulation works. How do we have to enhance the machine to get 3279 emulation (grphics terminal) AND have graphics capabilities on the (local) PC. Especially we want to use MS Windows and similiar graphics oriented packages. Thomas Biedassek <W18@DHDURZ2.BITNET> ------------------------------ Date: Wed 30 Apr 86 17:50:45-EDT From: Thomas.Finholt@C.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: 3 1/2" --> 5 1/4" ? To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Does anyone have experience with converting from one format to another? In particular, what utilities exist to allow IBM-PC/XT/ATs and clones to talk with IBM/DG/etc portables? We would like to use one of the PC-clone portables (laptops) -- but are concerned about the compatibility problem with our other machines. Can the PC read the laptop's disk drive as a remote disk? Can a 3 1/2" drive be hooked into the PC, or, can a 5 1/4" drive be hooked into the laptop? Thanks. ------- ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 170863) 86-05-03 00.01 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <230> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-03 00.01 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <224> -- Received: 86-05-03 00.46 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-03 00.01 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #49 %Original date: 1 May 1986 21:33:44 PDT. TF: DSKD:036418.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 16860 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 2 May 86 22:46 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 02-May-1986 10:05:31-edt Date: 1 May 1986 21:33:44 PDT Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #49 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, May 1, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 49 This Week's Editor: Eliot Moore <Elmo@USC-ISIB> Today's Topics: AT Serial Cables (Statically Shocking) Screen I/O MS-DOS Microemacs The FORMAT-DMA bug IBM PC Network protocols 3 1/2" IBM PC Drives (2 Messages) Expert Systems Software for MS-DOS I/O in Turbo Pascal 20 File Handle Limit ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Herm Fischer <hermix!fischer@rand-unix.ARPA> Reply-To: HFischer@ada20 To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa Subject: AT Serial Cables (Statically Shocking) Cc: CF4A8X%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU, CHENJCL%UMCVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Date: Mon Apr 28 09:41:23 1986 When making up the serial cables the builder should connect the chassis ground of the AT (which is an earth, not signal ground) to the "frame ground" (pin 1 on the DB25) of the peripheral. All cables manufactured by IBM connect the DB25 pin 1 to the metal shell of the 9 pin connector. A metal hood probably bites into the cable shield at both ends and is adequate, but with plastic hoods, one needs to solder onto the metal part of the 9 pin connector. The PC/AT is likely to die if static zaps are absorbed by the "signal ground", and thus pins 1 and 7 of the DB25 end should not be shorted together. The PC/AT is also likely to die if static zaps from a peripheral or its cabling enter the AT on one of the data signal lines. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 May 86 10:40:04 PDT From: kegel@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (Dan R. Kegel) Subject: Screen I/O To: wolfgang%sea@ames-io.arpa, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa What Gillmann forgot to mention is the reason for the slowness of DOS calls; it is caused by (1) ANSI.SYS, which is truly slow, and (2) when in non-raw mode, DOS writes one character at a time to the device driver. You can get exceedingly fast screen updates simply by (1) loading NANSI.SYS instead of ANSI.SYS (see nansi* on info-ibmpc@usc-isib),& (2) using DOS function 40h to write large batches of chars to the screen,& (3) using DOS function 44h (al=0,1) to set the RAW bit on stdout (BX=1). Daniel Kegel USMAIL: 1-60 Caltech, Pasadena, California 91126, USA (to June '86) ARPA: kegel@juliet.caltech.edu (or kegel%juliet@hamlet.caltech.edu) UUCP: {seismo!} hamlet.caltech.edu!kegel%juliet.caltech.edu {@seismo.css.gov} BITNET: kegel%juliet@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 May 86 10:47:33 PDT From: kegel@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (Dan R. Kegel) Subject: MS-DOS Microemacs To: cc.galvin@r20.utexas.edu, ius%dacth51.bitnet@Juliet.Caltech.Edu, ijdg400%indycms.bitnet@Juliet.Caltech.Edu, moore@ncsc.arpa, larry@jpl-vlsi.arpa cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa About MicroEmacs 3.6cit distribution- The executable file is uemacs36c.exe; the ARC 5.0 format archive is uemacs36c.arc; the unpacked source files are uemacs36c/*. These files exist on anonymous@juliet.caltech.edu, and anonymous@tybalt.caltech.edu (on tybalt, in anonymous/pub). I have send the .exe and .arc files to ius@dacth51.bitnet and anonymous@r20.utexas.edu, but was unable to send them to info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa; perhaps that ftp server disallows binary file transfer mode. Daniel Kegel [ISIB, like most sites, disallows anonymous write-access. We have the microemacs package; it should be released shortly. -elmo] USMAIL: 1-60 Caltech, Pasadena, California 91126, USA (to June '86) ARPA: kegel@juliet.caltech.edu (or kegel%juliet@hamlet.caltech.edu) UUCP: {seismo!} hamlet.caltech.edu!kegel%juliet.caltech.edu {@seismo.css.gov} BITNET: kegel%juliet@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 May 86 22:53:34 CDT From: CCRJW%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Richard Winkel UMC Computing Svcs) To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: The FORMAT-DMA bug Does everyone remember the FORMAT and DISKCOPY bug of old? The one IBM and Microsoft never acknowledged existed? Here is the symptom: Using a PC or XT, you try to format a floppy disk. Depending on where FORMAT is loaded in memory (i.e. the size of your resident programs plus dos disk buffers, etc.), you may get the message: TRACK 0 BAD, DISK UNUSABLE. Reboot without your resident programs, and the same disk formats fine. If it makes any difference at this late date, I've discovered the cause (and fix) of the problem. The problem stems from a bug in the ROM BIOS. The comments at the beginning of the BIOS diskette I/O routine (INT 13H) state that the disk buffer pointer ES:BX is ignored during verify operations. Not so! If you trace the code through the DMA_SETUP routine, you'll find that the test for DMA segment overrun is executed during a verify as well as a read. The result is that verify returns a DMA error if ES:BX happens to be pointing to an address in the range I*(64K)-(numsec)*(bps) < ES:BX < I*(64K) where I is any positive integer, numsec is the number of sectors to verify (AL), and bps is the number of bytes per sector. The result of all this is that FORMAT bombs out when trying to verify track 0 after having formatted it. The simple fix is to patch the FORMAT verify routine so it saves ES and BX, zeros them out, does the INT 13 and recovers ES and BX. Here's the patch for DOS 2.1 FORMAT: d>debug format.com -u 14F0 You should see: MOV DL,[17E6] MOV AL,[1A10] OR CL,01 MOV AH,04 CALL 1698 RET -a 14FC xxxx:14FC CALL 1C00 xxxx:14FF <cr> -a 1C00 xxxx:1C00 PUSH BX xxxx:1C01 PUSH ES xxxx:1C02 XOR BX,BX xxxx:1C04 MOV ES,BX xxxx:1C06 INT 13 xxxx:1C08 POP ES xxxx:1C09 POP BX xxxx:1C0A RET xxxx:1C0B <cr> -r CX CX 1B00 :1B10 -w Writing 1B10 bytes -q d> Thats it! If you have a different version of dos, try using debug to search for the sequence B4 04 E8 (MOV AH,04 followed by a CALL). The call should point to an INT 13 followed by a RET. If so, patch it to call the above routine, which should be placed at the end of FORMAT's code. Rich Winkel ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 May 1986 05:52 EDT Sender: MPSG.MIYATA%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU From: Gaylord Miyata <MIYATA%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU> To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Reply-to: MIYATA%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU at XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Subject: Steve Dyer's query on IBM PC Network protocols cc: dyer@HARVARD.HARVARD.EDU There are (at least) two major references for the file sharing protocol used by the IBM PC Network and Microsoft Networks: 1. Server/Redirector File Sharing Protocol, Version 1.4, April 1, 1985, Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. 2. IBM Personal Computer Seminar Proceedings, Volume 2, Number 8, October 1984. (IBM PC Network SMB Protocol). Since both of these are quite dated, they have probably been updated. I know for fact that (2) has been revised. (1) was acquired from Microsoft via a Microsoft Network port agreement. (2) was acquired from IBM and can probably be had for free. At the time these two specific revisions were available, (1) was a proper (and compatible) subset of (2) - since PC Net supported messaging/mail and PC DOS had a few INT extensions. Shortly thereafter, MS incorporated IBM's extensions into their spec. Where the specs are now you will discover after comparing recent versions. ------------------------------ Reply-To: HFischer@ada20 To: Thomas.Finholt@C.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: 3 1/2" IBM PC Drives Cc: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa Date: Thu May 1 06:09:39 1986 The new DOS, 3.2, handles copies from between the 3.5 and 5.25 disk formats. >From my recollections of what the PC Seminar Proceedings say, the 3.5 " drives plug into the back socket on the PC's floppy controller board (but also may need a cable splitter for power). If you have an AT, then they plug directly onto the floppy/hard controller board someplace and an adapter card comes with the cable assembly. The 3.5 drives are all external from what is published. There appears to be no offering of a 5.25 to plug into the laptop, and no place to plug it in if there were such a drive... Developers of software are being urged to add 3.5 drives to their PCs and ATs. ------------------------------ From: Kevin Terpstra <war%tp3@rand-unix.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: 3.5" --> 5.25" Date: 01 May 86 18:26:26 PDT (Thu) There is a company called Manzana in Camino El Real which makes a 3.5" drive which plugs into the external drive connector on the PC disk controller. It has a device driver that makes it go that will talk to DG/1, HP-110, HP-150 Kaypro 2000, Grid, and a couple of others. I am not sure about the PC Convertable. - Howard Postley ------------------------------ Date: Thu 1 May 86 14:49:50-CDT From: CMP.BARC@R20.UTEXAS.EDU Subject: Re: Expert systems software for MS-DOS To: ailist@R20.UTEXAS.EDU cc: ihnp4!lznv!psc@SALLY.UTEXAS.EDU, info-ibmpc@R20.UTEXAS.EDU Message-ID: <12203281947.31.CMP.BARC@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> I hope my Macintosh forgives me for this, but here goes! I have a few additions to Paul Chisholm's list of expert systems products for IBM PC's. Since there were so many items, I decided to send them directly to AIList, as well as to Mr. Chisholm. I have included a number of AI language implementations, including Lisp's since he isolated xlisp for some reason. Also I've included a few decision support systems, which aren't really AI or expert system by-products. But they often do just as much as expert system shells, and some of the vendor's are even marketing them as AI, so what the heck. I haven't read Mr. Chisholm's list all that carefully, but I did notice some minor errors: Personal Consultant Plus is written in PC Scheme (not in IQLisp); Mountain View Press's Expert is now known as Expert-2; what he refers to as expert systems are in fact expert system shells or development tools. Some specific expert systems are being marketed, however (a couple of which are on my list below). The names, addresses, phone numbers, and especially prices are not guaranteed to be free from typos, line noise, or obsolecence. I have litlle experience or further information on any of these packages. So please don't address questions to -- call the companies. Now, what you've all been waiting for: AL/X: Expert system shell ALCS: Expert system shell Inference Manager: Expert system shell, 500 pounds Intelligent Terminals Ltd 15 Canal St. Oxford, UK OX26BH Also: George House 36 North Hanover St. Glasgow, Scotland G1 2AD 041-552-1353 (These might be available from Jeffrey Perrone & Associates) apes: Expert system shell [micro-Prolog], $250 Programming Logic Systems 312 Crescent Dr. Milford, CT 06460 (203) 877-7988 ERS: Expert system shell PAR Technology Corp. 220 Seneca Turnpike New Hartford, NY 13413 GEN-X: Expert system shell General Electric Research and Development Center Schenectady, NY 12345 K:base: Expert system shell GCLisp (Golden Common Lisp), $495 Gold Hill Computers 163 Havard St. Cambridge, MA 02139 (404) 565-0771 M.1A: Expert system shell, $2000 Teknowledge Inc. 525 University Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94301 415-327-6640 Savior: Expert System Shell, 3000 pounds ISI Limited 11 Oakdene Road Redhill, Surrey, UK RH16BT (0737)71327 SeRIes PC: Expert system shell, $15,000 SRI International Advanced Computer Systems Division 333 Ravenswood Avenue Menlo Park, CA 94025 (415) 859-2859 TOPSCI: Expert system shell, $75/$175 Dynamic Master Systyems Inc. PO Box 566456 Atlanta, GA 30356 (404) 565-0771 Micro In-Ate: Expert system shell for fault diagnosis, $5000 Automated Reasoning Corporation 290 West 12th St., Suite 212-252 New York, NY 10014 (212) 206-6331 TK!Solver: Symbolic math expert, $399 Lotus/Software Arts 27 Mica Lane Wellesley, MA 02181 (617) 237-4000 Comprehension: Expert system for thought analysis, $75 Thunderstone Corp. PO Box 839 Chesterland, OH 44026 (216) 729-1132 Arborist: Decision support, $595 PC Scheme: Lisp, $95 Texas Instruments PO Box 809063 Dallas, TX 75380-9063 (800) 527-3500 Expert Choice: Decision support, $495 Decision Support Software Inc. 1300 Vincent Place McLean, VA 22101 (703) 442-7900 Lightyear: Decision support, $495 Lightyear, Inc. 1333 Lawrence Expwy., Bldg. 210 Santa Clara, CA 95051 (408) 985-8811 Byso Lisp, $125 Levien Instrument Co. Sittlington Hill PO Box 31 McDowell, VA 24458 (703) 396-3345 Q'NIAL: Nested Interactive Array Language, $395/$995 Starwood Corporation PO Box 160849 San Antonio, TX 78280 (512) 496-8037 Methods: SmallTalk, $250 Digitalk Inc. 5200 West Century Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90045 (213) 645-1082 IQLisp, $175 Integral Quality 6265 Twentieth Avenue (or POB 31970) Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 527-2918 LISP/80, $40 Software Toolworks 15233 Ventura Blvd., Suite 1118 Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 (818) 986-4885 LISP/88, $50 Norell Data Systems PO Box 70127 3400 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90010 (213) 748-5978 muLisp-85, $250 Microsoft Corp. 10700 Northup Way Box 97200 Bellevue, WA 98004 (206) 828-8080 PSL (Portable Standard Lisp), Distribution costs ($75?) The Utah Symbolic Computation Group Department of Computer Science University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 84112 TLC-Lisp, $250 The Lisp Co. PO Box 487 Redwood Estates, CA 95044 (408) 426-9400 UO-Lisp, $150 Northwest Computer Algorithms PO Box 90995 Long Beach, CA 90809 (213) 426-1893 Waltz Lisp, $169 ProCode International 15930 SW Colony Place Portland, OR 97224 (503) 684-3000 There are some reasonable reviews of AI tools and languages for the IBM PC in "Computer Language", July and August, 1985. The October 1985 issue of "Expert Systems" contains surveys and descriptions of expert system shells and languages on micros. The books "Understanding AI" (H.C. Mishkoff) and "Expert Systems: AI in Business" (P. Harmon and D. King) also have useful information about expert system products on the IBM PC. Dallas Webster CMP.BARC@R20.UTexas.Edu {ihnp4 | seismo | ctvax}!ut-sally!batman!dallas ------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Apr 86 01:05:55 EST From: "Keith F. Lynch" <KFL@AI.AI.MIT.EDU> Subject: I/O in Turbo Pascal To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA cc: KFL@AI.AI.MIT.EDU How can I do one character reads from the keyboard? I know about READ (KBD,FOO) but it only reads the latest character pressed. Any typeahead is lost. Also, how can I find out whether the typeahead buffer is empty? I know about KEYPRESSED, but KEYPRESSED turns FALSE if anything is written to the screen after you typed something. I am also interested in similar methods for reading from a serial port. Thanks in advance. ...Keith ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Apr 86 11:58 MST From: <SL421%USU.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: 20 file handle limit To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA In the May 1986 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal it says: " ... pointed out that the words at PSP + 0032h, 0034h, and 0036h contains the maximum number of handles allowed for the process, the offset of the handle table, and the segment of the handle table, respectively... To open more than 20 handles, provide an area in your program consisting of one byte per handle. Move the first five handles fro the table at PSP + 0018h to the new handle table. Then, change the handle table pointers at PSP + 0034h to point to the new table, and change the value at PSP + 0032h to the nubmer of entries in the new table. " Has anyone tried this? If so, are there any problems with doing so? Jeff Jacobsen SL421@USU.bitnet ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 171024) 86-05-03 12.14 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <231> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-03 12.14 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <225> -- Received: 86-05-03 19.13 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-03 12.14 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #50 %Original date: 2 May 1986 21:03:07 PDT. TF: DSKD:037148.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 13220 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 3 May 86 11:27 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 03-May-1986 00:36:42-edt Date: 2 May 1986 21:03:07 PDT Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #50 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Friday, May 2, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 50 This Week's Editor: Eliot Moore <Elmo@USC-ISIB> Today's Topics: I/O in Turbo Pascal Deleting Files the Navy Way FORMAT DMA Recovering Files Professional Graphics Adapter Correction to REFORMAT in Free Software Library of INFO-IBMPC. 20 File Limit PC's Limited AT Backscrl Query - Foot Mouse Leading Edge Word Processor Files Quad density 5-1/4 inch floppy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 May 86 08:07:00 edt From: jts@ORNL-MSR.ARPA (Jim Simmons) To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa, kfl@ai.ai.mit.edu Subject: I/O in Turbo Pascal Try turning off Turbo Pascal's Control-C checking (add a {$C-} before the start of your program). This should make reads from KBD and Keypressed work as expected. Apparently Turbo Pascal is checking for ^C and failing to buffer non-^C characters. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 May 86 08:47 N From: <DOMMELEN%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Deleting Files the Navy Way To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA X-Original-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA, DOMMELEN Try the utility BULKERAS, it should even destroy the formatting of your floppy. Alternatively, you could just FORMAT the floppy. For whiping files without whiping the whole disk, I know of two possibilities: the utility FULL (my own) and Norton's (v3.0) WHIPFILE. FULL principle: erase the file, write a C, PASCAL or FORTRAN (or maybe even BASICA) program which just writes something to the disk until there is no space left. (I repeadtedly wrote 'XXXXXXXXXX' 40000 times in a C program, development time: 10 minutes) This will leave the directory entry intact, but you're only able to unerase a file filled with XXXXXXXXXX ........ WHIPFILE actually destroys the directory-entry, I don't know what it does to the file's data. Wim van Dommelen, Computer Centre Agricultural University, Wageningen Holland. DOMMELEN@HWALHW5.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 May 86 13:17:41 CDT From: CCRJW%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Richard Winkel UMC Computing Services) To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: FORMAT DMA Sorry folks, I should have specified, I was talking about an _IBM_ pc. The BIOS bug I described is not likely to be in other brands of machines, unless they just copied their BIOS from IBM. I also doubt the bug would be found in PC-ATs, since they probably re-wrote the bios diskette routine to accomodate the new high density floppies. (I'll check into the latter) In response to Abdo Kadifa's posting, (sorry, I can't seem to mail to him directly) I don't offhand see how a DMA error on a disk verify would induce DISKCOPY to trash the FAT of the output diskette, but then again I'm continually amazed at the spaghetti code I see coming out of Microsoft. I would recommend getting hold of the (extremely useful) public domain INT13.COM program, which intercepts diskette I/O calls and sends the requested function, result code and return address to LPT1. This program tipped me off as to the nature of the format problem. Rich Winkel ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 May 86 10:55:51 PST From: prandt!reynolds@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Don Reynolds) To: amelia!info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Re: Recovering Files Cc: reynolds@AMES-NAS.ARPA The ULTRA UTILITIES (U-ZAP, U-FORMAT, & U-FILE) can be purchased from The FreeSoft Company P.O. Box 27608 St. Louis, MO 63146 Price was $40.00 in 1984. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 May 1986 21:57 O From: Guy Sirton <MLSIRTON%WEIZMANN.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Professional Graphics Adapter To: Info-IBMPC digest <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa> I have here an adapter made by MATROX which is compatable with the one made by IBM. It is 10 times faster (so claims the book) then the one made by IBM and costs lower. You can mail me for more details. Guy ------------------------------ DATE: 2 May 86 12:30:20 UT To: <INFO-IBMPC-REQUEST@USC-ISIB.ARPA> From: <U015415%HNYKUN22.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Correction to REFORMAT in Free Software Library of INFO-IBMPC. Here comes a corrected version of REFORMAT.PAS. There were 2 errors in the version I sent you last month: the screen was scrambled due to the fact that I tried to load up the version which contained the extended ASCII characters. More severe was another error: single sided diskettes, or more generally diskettes or disks with a clustersize (allocation unit) of one sector are REFORMATted incorrectly, leaving you with a totally ruined diskette. This error is corrected in this version (ver: 1.21). I hope no one discovered the error yet! (I am sorry if you did). I wonder if anyone tried running the program on a 20 Mbyte harddisk. If so I would like to know about it. Jos Wennmacker Universitair Rekencentrum Geert Grooteplein Zuid 41 NL-6525 GA Nijmegen The Netherlands ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 May 86 15:39:09 PDT From: Dana Myers <bilbo.dana@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: 20 File Limit Jeff Jacobsen recently sent a message repeating a clipping from DDJ (5/86) about expanded file handles. Having been aware of this mechanism existing for a while (2.X or 3.X), I thought I would try it. Something that seems to be ommitted from the DDJ article (16 Bit Toolbox, I believe) is that it is important to copy all the file descriptors in the original table. Also, depending what you initialize your new table to, the 'new' entries (extra entries on the end) MUST be initialized to 0xFF. Otherwise, DOS will (a) believe you have a bunch of open files and (b) not let you open nearly as many as you might expect. In the case of Asm, you can DUP fill the new table with 0xFF. In the case of C, you can either prefill, initialize or do what I did; while copying the table, add on a remaining count of 0xFFs. Of course, if your new tabke is SMALLER than the 20 file table, be sure to close any file descriptors which will not be copied. (Of course, who is going to make a smaller new table?) It seems (as I expected) that the larger table will be closed and forgotten by DOS on exit; there is no need to restore the PSP table or such. The source to mfile.asm use as: mfile(size, arr) int size; /* sizeof(arr) */ char *arr; /* pointer to an arry at least size big */ written for S model Microsoft C V3 ; Static Name Aliases ; TITLE mfile _TEXT SEGMENT BYTE PUBLIC 'CODE' _TEXT ENDS CONST SEGMENT WORD PUBLIC 'CONST' CONST ENDS _BSS SEGMENT WORD PUBLIC 'BSS' _BSS ENDS _DATA SEGMENT WORD PUBLIC 'DATA' _DATA ENDS DGROUP GROUP CONST, _BSS, _DATA ASSUME CS: _TEXT, DS: DGROUP, SS: DGROUP, ES: DGROUP PUBLIC _mfile ; ; PSP structure of the filetable header ; pspf struc p_count dw ? p_ptr dd ? pspf ends PSPF_OFF equ 0032h _TEXT SEGMENT ; p = 6 ; n = 4 ; rem = -2 _mfile PROC NEAR push bp mov bp,sp push SI push DI push ES ; ; copy the old table to the new, if possible ; mov AH, 051h ; get PSP int 021h mov ES, BX mov BX, PSPF_OFF mov AX, ES:[BX.p_count] ; current size mov CX, [BP+4] sub CX, AX ; any leftover? jle mf_001 mov [BP-2], CX ; save rem count jmp short mf_004 ; leave count in AX mf_001: mov AX, [BP+4] mov word ptr [BP-2], 0 mf_004: mov DI, [BP+6] ; get dest mov DX, DI mov CX, AX ; AX has count in bytes push ES push DS lds SI, dword ptr ES:[BX.p_ptr] cld mov AX, DGROUP mov ES, AX rep movsb mov CX, [BP-2] ; get remnant or CX, CX jz mf_003 xchg AX, [BP-2] mov AL, -1 rep stosb ; fill in table xchg AX, [BP-2] mf_003: pop DS pop ES mov word ptr ES:[BX.p_ptr], DX ; DX has offest mov word ptr ES:[BX.p_ptr+2], AX ; AX has segment mov AX, [BP+4] ; get new size mov ES:[BX.p_count], AX mf_002: pop ES pop DI pop SI mov sp,bp pop bp ret _mfile ENDP _TEXT ENDS END ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 29 April 1986 17:37:40 EDT From: Eric.Johnson@isl1.ri.cmu.edu To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: PC's Limited AT An update: Accoding the the Austin Better Business Bureau, PC's Limited has an unsatisfactory business rating due to (1) its failure to respond to complaints, (2) its failure to settle complaints, and (3) its failure to eliminate the source of complaints. I'd avoid them...Caveat emptor ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 May 86 23:34:54 EDT From: Dean Carpenter <ST701979%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> To: Info IBMPC <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: Backscrl Has anyone written to the Kampro Group to get the customizing notes for varsion 6.4 of BACKSCRL.COM ? I need to change the activation key sequence from ctrl-space to something else ... BACKSCRL is a user-suppo program, but they advertise these notes to anyone who wishes them in the DOC file, so I think this is a legal request. I've written for the note myself, but I need the patch yesterday, and a letter to and from Hawaii is simply going to take too long. Any help is much appreciated ... Dean ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 May 86 15:30:35 pdt From: George Cross <cross%wsu.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Full-Name: George Cross To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Query - Foot Mouse About a year ago there was some discussion on this list about a Foot Mouse, i.e. a mouse operated by your foot, like a sewing machine. Now I know someone who is interested. Does anyone have any recollection about the company selling it? Does anyone own one or use one? Thanks, ---- George - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - George R. Cross cross@wsu.CSNET Computer Science Department cross%wsu@csnet-relay.ARPA Washington State University faccross@wsuvm1.BITNET Pullman, WA 99164-1210 Phone: 509-335-6319 or 509-335-6636 ------------------------------ Date: 2 May 86 09:39 EDT From: Jim Moore <moore@ncsc> Subject: Leading Edge Word Processor Files To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib cc: mlw@ncsc A local user has bunches of files he created with a Leading Edge WP. Now he's got no Leading Edge and he needs to be able to use the files, maybe as ASCII. Does anyone know of a utility that will convert Leading Edge documents to ASCII (or any popular WP format, ie. MS-WORD, DISPLAYWRITE 3, etc)? Thanks for any information Jim Moore Naval Coastal Systems Center ------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 May 86 15:39:50 PDT From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa Subject: Quad density 5-1/4 inch floppy I have a pair of Tandon QUAD DENSITY 5-1/4 inch floppy disk drives in the cupboard sitting idle. Does anyone know whether PC DOS 3.2 will support these drives (...do they appear like 3-1/4 inch floppies) My QUAD DENSITY 5-1/4 inch floppies write 9 sectors by 80 tracks, as opposed to the regular 5-1/4 inch floppies with 9 sectors by 40 tracks. ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 172254) 86-05-09 05.18 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <232> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-09 05.18 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <226> -- Received: 86-05-09 06.17 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-09 05.18 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #51 %Original date: 8 May 1986 13:27:34 PDT. TF: DSKD:051849.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 38980 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 9 May 86 02:03 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 08-May-1986 18:32:01-edt Date: 8 May 1986 13:27:34 PDT Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #51 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, May 8, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 51 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: Bug in Microsoft MASM 4.0 The Format/Diskcopy BIOS Bug AT Clones & 80287 Divide by Zero Handling MicroEMACS (2 msgs) FAST line drawing algorithm (2 msgs) Footmouse Backscrl INPUT Program for Library REFORMAT "Flicker Free" Video BIOS Replacement PC-DOS Sector Size Query Output Bug in Com_Pkg Source for EGA Information Graphics Terminal Emulations Today's Queries: Laserwriter & MS Word Query Comm Problem Backspaces on PC-VT1 and Pibterm Nroff/Troff Clone Wanted EGA Fast Write Query Z80 Coprocessor Query Formatting Problem Query: Redefining Ctrl-Break Compaq Deskpro Query Mathematical Textsystem Query AT Clone Speedup Query Sharp PC-7000 Query Hard Card Query Problem with Sidekick and Graphics Authoring Systems Query Description of Document Formats Wanted Query: Breaking out of batch file DOS 3.0 FAT Query 1200/75 Baud Driver for AT&T 6300 PC Needed ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 3 May 1986 01:12:36 EDT Subject: Bug in Microsoft MASM 4.0 From: Franklin Antonio <QUALCOMM@USC-ISID.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Microsoft MASM 4.0 appears to miscompute some arithmetic expressions. For example.. A EQU -3+1 B EQU -(3)+1 It's hard to believe, but these statements will cause A to have the value -2, while B gets the value -4. Further experiments show that in many cases where a unary operator preceeds a binary operator, and both operators are at the same parenthesis level, and there are matching parenthesis between the two operators, the operators will be executed in the wrong sequence. I called Microsoft. The lady there said this bug had not been previously reported (which is hard to believe), and that she would call me back (which she didn't). Numerous bugs in MASM expression evaluation have been reported by other folks here, but this appears to be the most fundamental. I think they owe us all a free maintenance update. If you feel the same way, please call Microsoft and give 'em your opinion. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 May 86 21:00:09 cdt From: nather@SALLY.UTEXAS.EDU (Ed Nather) To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: The Format/Diskcopy BIOS Bug >Does everyone remember the FORMAT and DISKCOPY bug of old? The one IBM >and Microsoft never acknowledged existed? >Here is the symptom: Using a PC or XT, you try to format a floppy >disk. Depending on where FORMAT is loaded in memory (i.e. the size of >your resident programs plus dos disk buffers, etc.), you may get the message: >TRACK 0 BAD, DISK UNUSABLE. >Reboot without your resident programs, and the same disk formats fine. >If it makes any difference at this late date, I've discovered the cause >(and fix) of the problem. >The simple fix is to patch the FORMAT verify routine so it saves >ES and BX, zeros them out, does the INT 13 and recovers ES and BX. >Here's the patch for DOS 2.1 FORMAT: >d>debug format.com >-u 14F0 Listed on the right: the same section of format.com in DOS 3.1: MOV DL,[17E6] xxxx:1D6C 8A16A21A MOV DL,[1AA2] MOV AL,[1A10] xxxx:1D70 A0CF1C MOV AL,[1CCF] OR CL,01 xxxx:1D73 80C901 OR CL,01 MOV AH,04 xxxx:1D76 B404 MOV AH,04 CALL 1698 xxxx:1D78 06 PUSH ES RET xxxx:1D79 53 PUSH BX xxxx:1D7A BB6000 MOV BX,0060 xxxx:1D7D 8EC3 MOV ES,BX -a 14FC xxxx:1D7F 33DB XOR BX,BX xxxx:14FC CALL 1C00 xxxx:1D81 E89C01 CALL 1F20 xxxx:14FF <cr> xxxx:1D84 5B POP BX -a 1C00 xxxx:1D85 07 POP ES xxxx:1C00 PUSH BX xxxx:1D86 C3 RET xxxx:1C01 PUSH ES xxxx:1C02 XOR BX,BX xxxx:1C04 MOV ES,BX xxxx:1C06 INT 13 xxxx:1C08 POP ES xxxx:1C09 POP BX xxxx:1C0A RET xxxx:1C0B <cr> >Rich Winkel It seems the problem has been repaired in DOS 3.1, at least. Now they'll insist there never *was* a problem! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 May 86 20:10:05 pdt From: gould9!ronb@nosc.ARPA (Ron Belanger @ CACI) Subject: AT Clones & 80287 Divide by Zero Handling To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA We've noticed that some AT clones do not handle math co- processor (80287) divide by zero interrupts properly. Since our PC SIMSCRIPT II.5 software uses the math co-processor this can lead to a run time problem on these machines. We've noted that older COMPAQ 286 portables and the ALR Dart AT clone have this problem. We haven't yet tested on other portables to see if this is a widespread problem. Before we embark on a testing program, I'd be curious to know if anyone has had experience of this sort with other AT clones such as the PC Limited and the PC Designs 286i. We have been very pleased with our ALR Dart AT clone (10 Mhz; 1 wait state, 8Mhz 80287) except for this problem. The machine is physically well built, very fast and exceptionally quiet. ALR has been responsive to the divide by zero problem. I'd be curious to hear others' experience, particularly with the PC Limited and PC Designs machines and the companies behind them. (Saw Eric Johnson's 29 April negative opinion of PC Limited) Send mail to me. I'll summarize results to the Digest. Ron Belanger, CACI La Jolla {cbosgd, ihnp4, pyramid, sdcsvax} !gould9!ronb or gould9!ronb@NOSC.ARPA or MCI Mail to "Ron Belanger" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 May 86 08:51:34 PDT From: kegel@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (Dan R. Kegel) Subject: Re: MicroEMACS To: DAIR%SCU%PANDA%SUMEX-AIM.ARPA@Juliet.Caltech.Edu cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa >> I'm planning to port MicroEmacs to a new system. >> Where can I get virgin copies of MicroEmacs 3.6 sources? I am actually not sure where to get a virgin copy; I think it came from usenet. The rest of the original distribution has been placed in the ARC 5.0 archives em36csys.arc and em36ctty.arc; you can FTP them from juliet.caltech.edu in [anonymous] or from tybalt.caltech.edu in ~ftp/pub. I apologize for using an archive program that runs under MS-DOS and produces 8-bit files, but I don't have any other convenient way of uploading files. Daniel Kegel USMAIL: 1-60 Caltech, Pasadena, California 91126, USA (to June '86) ARPA: kegel@juliet.caltech.edu (or kegel%juliet@hamlet.caltech.edu) UUCP: {seismo!} hamlet.caltech.edu!kegel%juliet.caltech.edu {@seismo.css.gov} BITNET: kegel%juliet@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Mon 5 May 86 21:37:22-CDT From: Pete Galvin <CC.GALVIN@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: uEmacs.Exe Available for FTP Get it while it's hot: uEmacs.Exe (microemacs). It's available in [UTEXAS-20]<CC.GALVIN.PUBLIC> via ANONYMOUS login. Check the file FILES.DIR for other goodies in the same directory. --Pete ------------------------------ Date: Wednesday, 30 Apr 1986 08:35:22-PDT From: dantowitz%eagle1.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Medium resolution FAST line drawing algorithm ; ; Version 3.2m DMD Medium resolution graphics routine for drawing ; April 30, 1986 lines on an IBMPC with the standard color ; graphics board. Copyright by David Dantowitz, ; April 30, 1986 ; ; This routine was written by David Dantowitz. The routine ; implements Bresenham's algorithm for line drawing. ; ; This routine may be used at the user's discretion for no charge ; what so ever. This software has been tested and should work ; as documented, but no guarantees are made. The user assumes ; full responsibility for the assembly and use of this code. ; [MRESLINE.ASM has been added to the Library. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Wednesday, 30 Apr 1986 08:40:19-PDT From: dantowitz%eagle1.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: High resolution FAST line drawing algorithm ; ; Version 3.2h DMD High resolution graphics routine for drawing ; April 30, 1986 lines on an IBMPC with the standard color ; graphics board. Copyright by David Dantowitz, ; April 30, 1986 ; ; This routine was written by David Dantowitz. The routine ; implements Bresenham's algorithm for line drawing. ; ; This routine may be used at the user's discretion for no charge ; what so ever. This software has been tested and should work ; as documented, but no guarantees are made. The user assumes ; full responsibility for the assembly and use of this code. ; [HRESLINE.ASM has been added to the Library. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 3 May 86 01:59:16 PDT From: larry@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA Subject: Footmouse To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa The current issue of Byte has a review of the Footmouse and a similar product. Sorry I don't have it here, but the review was favorable. Larry @ jpl-vlsi ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 3 May 86 14:40 CDT From: Greenwald@HI-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Re: backscrl To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I wrote to the Kampro group about a year ago and included a check for the documentation. My letter was never answered and the check was never cashed. I hope you fare better. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 May 86 15:49:01 cdt From: Peter Wu <pwu@unix.macc.wisc.edu> To: info-ibmpc-request@mosis Subject: INPUT Program for Library Here's a small utility called INPUT for info-ibmpc library. Briefly: INPUT is like BASIC's INPUT statement except INPUT works in batch file. You can read a string into an environment variable with INPUT and use this variable anywhere in your batch file (by making use of an undocumented batch file feature). Works in PC-DOS 3.1, not tested in other DOS. INPUT.DOC - document for INPUT INPUT.C - source code for IBM C (probably works for MSC) peter uucp: ..{allegra|ihnp4|seismo|ucbvax}!uwvax!uwmacc!pwu arpa: uwmacc!pwu@uwvax [INPUT.C has been added to the library. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: 4 May 1986 17:30-EDT Subject: REFORMAT From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I tested the new (fixed) REFORMAT.PAS by Jos Wennmacker that's currently in the <INFO-IBMPC> directory .. worked fine on both floppy drives and 10 meg hard disk on my XT clone running PC-DOS 3.1. The hard disk was somewhat fragmented (extracted from REFORMAT's screen display): total # files: 551 # files in root: 26 in 26 subdirectories: 525 # noncontiguous: 182 # clusters to be moved: 2574 Total time to reformat the 10 megger was about 15 minutes. Never able to leave anything alone, I fiddled the code a little (sped things up), plus added a cleaner interface with Int 25H and Int 26H (no more assembling and .COM files to mess with). That addition, REFORMAT.INC, is attached and could be entered in <INFO-IBMPC> to replace INT25.ASM and INT26.ASM in the REFORMAT.FILES file (which should be replaced entirely now). Regards, David Kirschbaum ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID [REFORMAT.NEW is now in the library. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Mon 5 May 86 12:09:02-PDT From: Ted Shapin <BEC.SHAPIN@USC-ECL.ARPA> Subject: "Flicker Free" Video BIOS Replacement To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I saw a very interesting video ROM bios replacement demonstration at the May North Orange County Computer Club Meeting. It works with monochrome and color graphics adapters and greatly speeds up video calls. The IBM video BIOS only allows the CPU to write to the screen memory during scan retrace time. This program which is being sold under the name "Flicker Free" uses more graphics memory for the screen buffer and changes the scan start and end addresses to produce smooth scrolling and a variety of other effects without flicker and at high speed. It takes about 7K of resident RAM. Typing a text file of a few screens is speeded up about 9 times. The program has provision for getting out of the way of programs that write to screen memory directly or that use ANSI.SYS. It does not work with the EGA. It can be ordered from Steve Gibson, 9 Lago Sud, Irvine, CA., 92714 for $39. I mention this only to bring to your attention what I think is a useful product. Ted Shapin. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 May 86 09:14:53 mdt From: nbires!lloyd@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Lloyd Tabb) Subject: PC-DOS Sector Size Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Well folks, let me try this again, I know it can be done. I have been trying to write an installable block device driver for the IBM PC (and clones) that has a sector size of 1024 bytes. According to all the documentation I have on device drivers from microsoft, there should be no problem with this. When you attempt to install a BLOCK device with sectors larger than 512 bytes (declared in the device header) PC-DOS reports back to you with an error about illegal sector size (not fun). There is a declaration in the BIOS (IBMBIO.SYS) that tells the limit on the sector size. The limitation is definately in PC-DOS not MS-DOS. MS-DOS can support any sector size divisable by 32 (the directory must fit nicely into sectors, since a directory entry is 32 bytes long...). The Blue Boys must have done something strange. How are there 60 meg drives? Do they work like 2 logical drives ??? If not how do they work? Someone must know the answer. If you know a kludge that will fix this, I would gladly give you a quarter. Lloyd Tabb NBI Engineering P.O. Box 9001 Boulder, CO 80306 (303)-444-5710 x3102 ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Output Bug in Com_Pkg Date: Tue, 06 May 86 00:19:42 -0800 From: Alastair Milne <milne@ICSE.UCI.EDU> In adapting the code of COM_PKG.4 from MIT to work under the UCSD p-System (specifically, in adding string-oriented I/O routines) I discovered that it is possible to overrun the 8250's transmitter if the output queue already contains another character to be sent when the interrupt servicer checks for further transmissions to be done. The problem is that although the transmit-buffer clear flag has been set, and the associated interrupt raised, the transmitter shift register is still in operation -- even at 9600 baud (at 110 baud, even running a delay loop to 3200 on the PC XT after the transmit-buffer register showed clear did not give the transmitter enough time to finish sending the character). The result was that the whole string, excepting only the first character, was transmitted as garbage. The fix I installed is a loop just ahead of the code that sends the new character to the transmitter. The loop keeps reading the line status register until it shows that the xmit shift register is idle (or until 65536 iterations are done, which should keep the loop from becoming infinite if something goes wrong with the transmitter). I would be happy to send along this code in the form it is in now: p-System Adaptable Assembler conventions, which a) assume UCSD Pascal calling conventions, and b) have a generic assembly language syntax that differs at many points from ASM8086. However, it would remain for somebody else to adapt it back to DOS, as I have neither the resources nor the time to do so reliably. I observe that the authors have placed another, much more comprehensive COM_PKG in the library. As nearly as I can tell from one pass through it, it seems to have the same problem. At least, I see nothing that waits for the transmit-shift register to show idle. Please let me know if you are interested in having this code. Finally, many thanks for making this package available in the first place. It solved for me a problem that had remained unsolved for months. Hoping this is of use to you, Alastair Milne [Yes, by all means send us your new code. I will convert it to MASM and update the library. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: 8 MAY 86 12:00-Z From: HEAGATE%IRUCCVAX.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Source for EGA Information The April'85 issue of PC Tech Journal contains an excellent article giving a description of each BIOS call for the Enhanced Graphics Adapter together with sample assembly language programs using them. Back issues for $7 from PC TECH Journal, Box CN 1914, Morristown, NJ 07960 Donal O'Mahony, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. ------------------------------ Date: 30 Apr 86 22:51:00 PST From: ALEX WOO <wu@ames-aero> To: info-ibmpc <info-ibmpc@isib> Subject: Graphics Terminal Emulation Here are the replies to the following inquiry for a PC based graphics terminal. My conclusion is at the end. >We are interested in purchasing PC based systems to be used as graphics >terminals in a VAX/VMS environment. Here are our functional specifications: > >1. Monochrome graphics with at least Hercules compatible resolution. >2. VT100 or VT200 emulation with > a. 132 column support (on specific graphics adapter hardware) > b. Full keypad emulation for the VMS EDT editor, (if possible > emulation of the PF keys on a 18 key keypad with a different keyboard.) > c. Text and Graphics Screen Dumps >3. Tektronix 4010 or 4014 emulation. (4107 emulation if affordable.) > >We are interested in hardware and software recommendations that satisfy >these requirements. Our first pass was a PC-Clone, Everex Graphics Master, >and a 5151 keyboard but we are unaware of any VT100/4014 package which >adequately supports this combination of hardware. It is our hope that >this PC-based system is comparable in cost to a VT240-compatible graphics >terminal. Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 09:08 pst From: "lee robert%d.mfenet"@LLL-MFE.ARPA Subject: PC-based graphics terminals We have purchased VTEK 3.0 Terminal Emulator software for our lab from Scientific Endeavors Route 4, Box 79 Kingston, TN 37763 (615) 376-4146 Its features: 1)DEC VT100 and VT52 emulation; numeric keypad and PF keys of VT100 fully implemented, using F1-F10 and ALT1-ALT8 keys. 2)Tektronix 4010/4014 emulation; stores all plot vectors in 4096 x 3120 Tektronix format for high res printer and plotter dumps 3)Supported graphics boards: IBM CGA and EGA, Amdek MAI, Hercules Monochrome, Tecmar Graphics Master (Corona PC graphics also supported). 4)Supported printers: Epson MX, FX, and RX, C. Itoh Prowriter, Okidata 92, and Toshiba. 5)Supported pen plotters: Hewlett Packard, Sweet-P, and Houston Instruments. 6)Supported laser printer: Corona Laser Printer 7)Requires 256K of memory (extra 128K required for Corona Laser printer). We have used VTEK with an IBM XT w/CGA and Houston Instruments DMP-41 pen plotter. I have also used VTEK with a Leading Edge (model 'M') PC w/Genoa Spectrum Graphics Board (in Hercules monographics mode) and Princeton Max-12 monitor. I am not entirely happy with the Genoa Spectrum Board; text is excessively thick and ill-defined in its "monochrome mode" and in fact, does not change when switched to "color emulation mode". Perhaps I have it set up improperly, but Genoa's technical support was somewhat less than helpful. I believe the Tecmar Graphics Master is a multi-video board worth looking into. Robert Lee Naval Research Lab Date: 1 Apr 86 13:07:00 PST From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA> Subject: Clone XT - V220 emulation Microplot Systems (2151 E. Dublin Granville Rd. #205 Columbus, OH 43229 (614) 882-4786) Markets a product called PC-Plot-III. This package is intendded to be a Tek 4010 emulator. It succeedes well in that mode. It also supports a substantial amount of 4014 emulation and also emulates the 4027 to a limited extent. It's greatest virtue is it emulation of VT-100 (inclu the keypad functions [I have used it with CTOS a highly demanding WP which runs under VMS, EDT, VTED (Tops-20), and VED (Tops-20)]. It was It also has many file transfer functions and can be used as a stand-alone communications package (XMODEM) with a Hayes Compatible or null modem. I am not sure what the current price is but it is worth it for the $95.00 (that's right $95) that it cost me (legally, of course). John Rossi III (203) 449-4109 Rossi@NUSC.ARPA From: Paul Fishwick <Fishwick%upenn.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: software emulator Concerning your recent request on the ibmpc bboard, I can suggest my terminal emulator package as far as your software requirement. You can find the ad for ZAP (vt52/102, tek4010) in dr. dobbs,pc tech journal, or computer language. It is $85 anthe site license is reasonable ($4000 for unlimited copies, I believe). For more info. please call Solution Systems at 1-800-821-2492. Thanks.. -pf From: Michael Fuchs <EXT1.FUCHS@CU20B.COLUMBIA.EDU> Subject: VTERM/4010 We sell a product called VTERM/4010 which does the following: VT102 emulation including 132 column support in either software (horizontal scrolling) or hardware (Tseng Labs Ultrapak board, which also does Hercules graphics emulation). Tektronix 4010 and partial 4014 emulation (including mouse support) using Hecules-type boards like the Ultrapak on monochrome and up to EGA on color display. Whole bunch of graphic capture/dump to plotter, etc., capabilities. File transfer capabilities: Kermit from within program, Xmodem support, proprietary protocols with free source code for host-side implementations on variety of systems (VAX/VMS in FORTRAN and BASIC, Unix flavors in C, PDP-11 RSTS/E in BASIC PLUS, PDP-11 RSX-11M/M+ in FORTRAN). Ascii text transfers with no protocol as well. Programmable softkeys, text screen scroll-and-recall feature that saves up to 80 screens, escape sequence extensions, etc. Also, same program with addition of VT220 emulation about to go into beta testing at end of April. If this is of any interest, you can contact the company (my employer) at Coefficient Systems Corporation 611 Broadway New York, NY 10012 212/777-6707 P.S. VTERM/4010 retails for $249.... Conclusion: The main problem with all of the above PC based graphics terminals is the keyboard. None support a standard VT100 keypad which is considered a critical requirement. Our conclusion that if the principle application is as a graphics terminal then we should buy a 1024x768 graphics terminal. If the user wants to have any local intelligence, then any of the above solutions will probably do. At this time, we are leaning toward AT clones with the new RT-style keyboards. Alex ------------------------------ Date: Mon 28 Apr 86 13:30:12-CDT From: Bob Paver <CP.PAVER@MCC.ARPA> Subject: Laserwriter & MS Word Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I am attempting to connect an Apple Laserwriter to a Sperry PC/IT for use with Microsoft Word. I made a null modem cable and can get files to print if I use the DOS COPY command, but when I try to have Word deal DIRECTLY with the printer, the system hangs. Seems as though some handshaking is getting screwed up. Help! including everyone's favorite pin configuration for a "null" modem cable. Bob Paver (512) 834-3316 Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. (MCC) 9430 Research Blvd, Echelon Building #1 Austin, TX 78759-6509 ARPA: paver@mcc.arpa UUCP: {ihnp4,seismo,harvard,gatech}!ut-sally!im4u!milano!paver ------------------------------ Date: 3 MAY 86 10:20-CDT From: CUDDY%UMKCVAX1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Comm Problem I have a problem I would appreciate some insight into if possible. I am running asynchronous communications on an PC-AT with an internal Hayes 1200B. When I call up Crosstalk the modem tells me it is already connected to a call. The modem is set correctly, and has been examined for problems (its fine). Any ideas on what could be the problem here. I suspect it is in the machine. A cold reboot frequently clears the problem up, whereas a simple crtl-alt-del does not. Please advise. Thanx for the assistance. cuddy@umkcvax1.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: 3 May 86 20:03:17 GMT From: Bob Stine <stine@edn-vax.arpa> To: Info-IBMPC <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: Backspaces on PC-VT1 and Pibterm The two VT100 emulators I have access to, pc-vt1 and pibterm, both apparently convert cntl-H from the value of backspace (a binary 8) to that of delete. While I appreciate such thoughtfulness, this feature makes it difficult for me to evoke 'help' for GNU emacs on my host, since this is done by transmitting a "real" cntl-H. Also, pibterm seems to have trouble sending the sequence cntl-@, which curtails "marking," and hence cutting and pasting, with emacs. Can anyone tell me what I have to do to have pc-vt1 transmit actual cntl-H's or to stop pc-vt1 from translating backspaces to deletes? Thanks, Bob Stine ------------------------------ Date: 4 May 1986 0237-PDT From: Rob-Kling <Kling%uci-20b.zotnet@ICS.UCI.EDU> Subject: Nroff/Troff Clone Wanted To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa cc: acterman@icse.UCI.EDU, gouvis@icse.UCI.EDU I work with two computing environments: MSDOS on a set of PC's and Unix BSD 4.2 on a Vax. I'm looking for a version of Nroff (and preferably TROFF) that I can use on the PC's to facilitate text preparation acreoss these environments. I have examined ROFF (PC=SIG) and ROFF4 (Ernest Bergmann's versions). These have only a surprisingly small overlap with NROFF. I have spoken with sales poeple at Wenidin's and it does not seem to come with NROFF. I wonder if there is an NROFF clone for MSDOS. Rob Kling Kling@uci-icsa ------------------------------ Date: Mon 5 May 86 12:09:48-PDT From: Ted Shapin <BEC.SHAPIN@USC-ECL.ARPA> Subject: EGA Fast Write Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Does anyone know how programs such as GEM manage to write to the EGA so quickly? When the mouse is moved around, you can see the mouse arrow leave a blur of color as it is rewritten. The standard video ROM calls are much too slow. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 May 86 16:10:14 ADT From: wdw%ACADIA.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Bill Wilder) Subject: Z80 Coprocessor Query To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA We have some need to run CP/M applications on a PC. We've looked at some of the CP/M emulators but they only run at about 1Mhz. The V20/V30 runs CP/M at about 4Mhz, but 8080 code only. Do you know of any Z80 coprocessor boards for IBM-PCs? We've located one called Bluestreak (8Mhz) but retails for $595 and is alot fancier than we want. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 May 86 14:27:00 PDT From: "Dwight E. Cass" <dcass@nrtc> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Formatting Problem I just recently replaced my 8088 with a V20 and things seemed to be running wonderfully. However, just this weekend, I noticed that I am unable to format double-sided diskettes. Has anyone else seen this problem, and if so, is there a fix? I am running an old 256K PC (Version 2.01) and DOS 3.1. Diagnositics properly indiciate that I have a double-sided diskette, and reading/writting formatted disks work fine. It is just formatting using the V20 (with the 8088, everything is OK). Only other clue is that FASTBACK says that my DMA controller's timing is in error - could this be it? (I don't fully understand what is happening with this problem, so I am just throwing it out) Thanks in Advance, Dwight E. Cass dcass@NRTC.NORTHROP.COM or dcass%nrtc@USC-ECL.ARPA [I've got a 256K XT with DOS 3.1 and a NEC V20 -- no problem with formatting. I keep hearing rumors that the DMA chips are marginal. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 03 May 86 23:59:11 CDT From: MATHES%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Query: Redefining Ctrl-Break Does anybody know how to redefine Ctrl-break using Borland Super Key? We are using a word processor that does not disable the Ctrl-break key. So if you by accident hit the Ctrl-Break key you will be thrown back into DOS and loosing all your datas. Also I will appreciate any other way to disable this key. Please send reply to MATHES@UMCVMB.BITNET Thanks Elias Saab (University of Missouri, Department of Mathematics) ------------------------------ Date: 6 May 86 0:31-EST From: Dan McDonald <sed101%BOSTONU.bitnet@WISCVM.arpa> Subject: Compaq Deskpro Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I wondering what compaq deskpro users think of their machines? I am also wonder if it will support monochrome graphics with its standard equipment? Dan McDonald Boston University CS Dept. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 May 86 12:51:00 cet To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: UNM406%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Mathematical Textsystem Query I am looking for a mathematical textsystem to run on a AT + HP Laserjet. I would be very interested to get comments, experiences, informations on different systems. Thomas Miller, University of Bonn, FRG BITNET: UNM406 at DBNRHRZ1 ------------------------------ Date: Tue 6 May 86 13:21:14-PDT From: Steve Dennett <DENNETT@SRI-NIC.ARPA> Subject: AT Clone Speedup Query To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Speeding up IBM PC-ATs to 8, 10, even 12 mhz has become quite a business (now even IBM is doing it). I'm interested in knowing if anyone has tried this with any of the multitude of 6/8 mhz AT clones. Specifically, do these two-speed clones have two crystals, or just one operating at the higher speed? Is it possible to speed up the high-speed mode without speeding up the low-speed mode? Any comments based on your knowlege of the hardware or actual experiences trying this would be welcome. Thanks. Steve Dennett dennett@sri-nic ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 1986 18:38 EDT From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Sharp PC-7000 Query To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Does anyone have any experience with the Sharp PC-7000 laptop. Apparently this is a new machine. I am primarily interested in the degree of compatibility with the IBM PC. Thanks. --Jim ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 1986 19:15 EDT From: Reggie Aurora <AURORA%SBBIOVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Hard Card Query To: Info-IBMPC <info-ibmpc%usc-isib@wiscvm.arpa> We are considering purchasing a hard card. We would appreciate any (re)views, recommendations, prices and any other information. Thanks in advance. I will post results to net if others are interested. -Reggie. <AURORA@sbbiovm.bitnet> ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 May 86 15:33:40 EDT From: Andy_Mondore%RPI-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Problem with Sidekick and Graphics I recently installed Sidekick on my XT and everything seems to work correctly except when I try to run a Basic program which uses color graphics. If I have Sidekick loaded and try to run a program under either Basic or Basica which uses graphics, the system freezes and I have to do a cold boot. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, is there any way around it other than disabling Sidekick whenever I want to use Basic's graphics? The XT is configured with an IBM color card and monitor, 640k memory (384k on an AST Sixpak card), and has Superspool loaded along with Sidekick. I am also in the process of installing Desqview and it seems to cause problems with Basic graphics too. While on the subject of Desqview, is there any way to allow the operator to key in part of a startup command while Desqview is opening a new window? For example, you enter "dved <myfile>" to start up my usual file editor where <myfile> is the name of the file you want to edit. Is there any way to indicate to Desqview that the operator needs to supply the file name when it loads the program? Thanks for any and all help. Andy Arpanet: Andy_Mondore%RPI-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.ARPA CSNET: Andy_Mondore%RPI-MTS.Mailnet@RPICS.CSnet ------------------------------ Date: Thu 8 May 86 09:20:49-EDT From: Evan Nelson <MCD.E-NELSON%KLA.WESLYN%Wesleyan.Bitnet@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Authoring Systems Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I am looking for a really POWERFUL authoring system for the PC. I need to produce college-level computerized tutorials. Some of the features I would like to have are: - multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and matching formats - graphics drawing capabilies - interface to another language; perhaps to the authoring language the software was written in? - ease in reorganizing or modifying a lesson without have to recreate it from scratch. I would also be interested in hearing about articles assessing authoring systems. If you have suggestions please drop me a line. Thanks! Evan Nelson Mail: NELSON%KLA.WESLYN@WESLEYAN.BITNET Non-mail: NELSON@WESLYN.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 May 86 08:15:19 pdt From: Joel West <westjw%frog@nosc.ARPA> Subject: Description of Document Formats Wanted To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA I'm interested in the format of word processor files and any pointers to articles or machine-readable descriptions of: 1) DCA (I understand a DoD-mandated format) 2) list of word processors that support DCA 3) Microsoft Word files 4) WordStar 3.x files (forget WordStar 2000) Joel West CACI, Inc. - Federal joel@nosc.ARPA {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!noscvax!joel ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 May 86 11:44 EDT From: Elefante@RADC-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Query: Breaking out of batch file To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Have written a masm routine intended to run in a batch file. When the routine gets an abnormal result, I would like to signal to the batch processor that such is the case so that I can terminate the batch program before it proceeds any farther. I've tried jumping to the CTRL-C handler in the program segment prefix, and I've tried placing a Control-C in the keyboard buffer. Neither approach has worked for me. I'm not particularly attached to using Control-C to break out, as long as the break gets me back to DOS neatly. Do any of you programming experts know how to make this work? Don Elefante [Try setting the ERRORLEVEL with DOS function 4C. -rag] ------------------------------ DATE: 7 May 86 14:01:12 UT To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> From: <U015415%HNYKUN22.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: DOS 3.0 FAT Query Is there anybody who can tell me what the FAT for a 20 Mbyte fixed disk looks like under DOS 3.xx. All I know is that a FAT entry is now one word (16 bits) in stead of the old 12 bits. More specifically I need the following information: 1) what is the FAT id byte 2) which entry in the FAT maps the first datacluster. 3) is the mapping of clusters to sectors the same as for DOS 2.xx 4) are there still 2 copies of the FAT 5) what is the size of the root directory, and are there any changes with respect to the old directories. 6) it would be of great help if I know how the start of the bootrecord (BPB information) looks, and what the information is returned by DOS call function 36H 7) anything I forgot or do not know about Jos Wennmacker U015415%HNYKUN22.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Universitair Rekencentrum Geert Grooteplein Zuid 41 NL-6525 GA Nijmegen The Netherlands ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 May 86 19:43:10 -0200 From: Tom Ivar Helbekkmo <helbekkmo%vax.runit.unit.uninett@nta-vax.arpa> To: <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA> Subject: 1200/75 Baud Driver for AT&T 6300 PC Needed Hardware on AT&T 6300 PC and Olivetti M24 is capable of operating a serial port at 1200/75 baud dual speed CCITT standard. As far as I know, there is no driver or communications program that can handle this... Certainly I must be wrong! :-) Any hints or tips - or preferably a driver source! - would be greatly appreciated! Tom Ivar Helbekkmo, <helbekkmo%vax.runit.unit.uninett@nta-vax.arpa> ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 172437) 86-05-09 23.46 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <233> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-09 23.46 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <227> -- Received: 86-05-10 00.40 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-09 23.46 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #51 %Original date: 8 May 1986 13:27:34 PDT. TF: DSKD:054049.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 38980 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 9 May 86 22:11 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 09-May-1986 10:12:15-edt Date: 8 May 1986 13:27:34 PDT Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #51 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Thursday, May 8, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 51 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: Bug in Microsoft MASM 4.0 The Format/Diskcopy BIOS Bug AT Clones & 80287 Divide by Zero Handling MicroEMACS (2 msgs) FAST line drawing algorithm (2 msgs) Footmouse Backscrl INPUT Program for Library REFORMAT "Flicker Free" Video BIOS Replacement PC-DOS Sector Size Query Output Bug in Com_Pkg Source for EGA Information Graphics Terminal Emulations Today's Queries: Laserwriter & MS Word Query Comm Problem Backspaces on PC-VT1 and Pibterm Nroff/Troff Clone Wanted EGA Fast Write Query Z80 Coprocessor Query Formatting Problem Query: Redefining Ctrl-Break Compaq Deskpro Query Mathematical Textsystem Query AT Clone Speedup Query Sharp PC-7000 Query Hard Card Query Problem with Sidekick and Graphics Authoring Systems Query Description of Document Formats Wanted Query: Breaking out of batch file DOS 3.0 FAT Query 1200/75 Baud Driver for AT&T 6300 PC Needed ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 3 May 1986 01:12:36 EDT Subject: Bug in Microsoft MASM 4.0 From: Franklin Antonio <QUALCOMM@USC-ISID.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Microsoft MASM 4.0 appears to miscompute some arithmetic expressions. For example.. A EQU -3+1 B EQU -(3)+1 It's hard to believe, but these statements will cause A to have the value -2, while B gets the value -4. Further experiments show that in many cases where a unary operator preceeds a binary operator, and both operators are at the same parenthesis level, and there are matching parenthesis between the two operators, the operators will be executed in the wrong sequence. I called Microsoft. The lady there said this bug had not been previously reported (which is hard to believe), and that she would call me back (which she didn't). Numerous bugs in MASM expression evaluation have been reported by other folks here, but this appears to be the most fundamental. I think they owe us all a free maintenance update. If you feel the same way, please call Microsoft and give 'em your opinion. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 May 86 21:00:09 cdt From: nather@SALLY.UTEXAS.EDU (Ed Nather) To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: The Format/Diskcopy BIOS Bug >Does everyone remember the FORMAT and DISKCOPY bug of old? The one IBM >and Microsoft never acknowledged existed? >Here is the symptom: Using a PC or XT, you try to format a floppy >disk. Depending on where FORMAT is loaded in memory (i.e. the size of >your resident programs plus dos disk buffers, etc.), you may get the message: >TRACK 0 BAD, DISK UNUSABLE. >Reboot without your resident programs, and the same disk formats fine. >If it makes any difference at this late date, I've discovered the cause >(and fix) of the problem. >The simple fix is to patch the FORMAT verify routine so it saves >ES and BX, zeros them out, does the INT 13 and recovers ES and BX. >Here's the patch for DOS 2.1 FORMAT: >d>debug format.com >-u 14F0 Listed on the right: the same section of format.com in DOS 3.1: MOV DL,[17E6] xxxx:1D6C 8A16A21A MOV DL,[1AA2] MOV AL,[1A10] xxxx:1D70 A0CF1C MOV AL,[1CCF] OR CL,01 xxxx:1D73 80C901 OR CL,01 MOV AH,04 xxxx:1D76 B404 MOV AH,04 CALL 1698 xxxx:1D78 06 PUSH ES RET xxxx:1D79 53 PUSH BX xxxx:1D7A BB6000 MOV BX,0060 xxxx:1D7D 8EC3 MOV ES,BX -a 14FC xxxx:1D7F 33DB XOR BX,BX xxxx:14FC CALL 1C00 xxxx:1D81 E89C01 CALL 1F20 xxxx:14FF <cr> xxxx:1D84 5B POP BX -a 1C00 xxxx:1D85 07 POP ES xxxx:1C00 PUSH BX xxxx:1D86 C3 RET xxxx:1C01 PUSH ES xxxx:1C02 XOR BX,BX xxxx:1C04 MOV ES,BX xxxx:1C06 INT 13 xxxx:1C08 POP ES xxxx:1C09 POP BX xxxx:1C0A RET xxxx:1C0B <cr> >Rich Winkel It seems the problem has been repaired in DOS 3.1, at least. Now they'll insist there never *was* a problem! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 May 86 20:10:05 pdt From: gould9!ronb@nosc.ARPA (Ron Belanger @ CACI) Subject: AT Clones & 80287 Divide by Zero Handling To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA We've noticed that some AT clones do not handle math co- processor (80287) divide by zero interrupts properly. Since our PC SIMSCRIPT II.5 software uses the math co-processor this can lead to a run time problem on these machines. We've noted that older COMPAQ 286 portables and the ALR Dart AT clone have this problem. We haven't yet tested on other portables to see if this is a widespread problem. Before we embark on a testing program, I'd be curious to know if anyone has had experience of this sort with other AT clones such as the PC Limited and the PC Designs 286i. We have been very pleased with our ALR Dart AT clone (10 Mhz; 1 wait state, 8Mhz 80287) except for this problem. The machine is physically well built, very fast and exceptionally quiet. ALR has been responsive to the divide by zero problem. I'd be curious to hear others' experience, particularly with the PC Limited and PC Designs machines and the companies behind them. (Saw Eric Johnson's 29 April negative opinion of PC Limited) Send mail to me. I'll summarize results to the Digest. Ron Belanger, CACI La Jolla {cbosgd, ihnp4, pyramid, sdcsvax} !gould9!ronb or gould9!ronb@NOSC.ARPA or MCI Mail to "Ron Belanger" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 May 86 08:51:34 PDT From: kegel@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (Dan R. Kegel) Subject: Re: MicroEMACS To: DAIR%SCU%PANDA%SUMEX-AIM.ARPA@Juliet.Caltech.Edu cc: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa >> I'm planning to port MicroEmacs to a new system. >> Where can I get virgin copies of MicroEmacs 3.6 sources? I am actually not sure where to get a virgin copy; I think it came from usenet. The rest of the original distribution has been placed in the ARC 5.0 archives em36csys.arc and em36ctty.arc; you can FTP them from juliet.caltech.edu in [anonymous] or from tybalt.caltech.edu in ~ftp/pub. I apologize for using an archive program that runs under MS-DOS and produces 8-bit files, but I don't have any other convenient way of uploading files. Daniel Kegel USMAIL: 1-60 Caltech, Pasadena, California 91126, USA (to June '86) ARPA: kegel@juliet.caltech.edu (or kegel%juliet@hamlet.caltech.edu) UUCP: {seismo!} hamlet.caltech.edu!kegel%juliet.caltech.edu {@seismo.css.gov} BITNET: kegel%juliet@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Mon 5 May 86 21:37:22-CDT From: Pete Galvin <CC.GALVIN@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: uEmacs.Exe Available for FTP Get it while it's hot: uEmacs.Exe (microemacs). It's available in [UTEXAS-20]<CC.GALVIN.PUBLIC> via ANONYMOUS login. Check the file FILES.DIR for other goodies in the same directory. --Pete ------------------------------ Date: Wednesday, 30 Apr 1986 08:35:22-PDT From: dantowitz%eagle1.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Medium resolution FAST line drawing algorithm ; ; Version 3.2m DMD Medium resolution graphics routine for drawing ; April 30, 1986 lines on an IBMPC with the standard color ; graphics board. Copyright by David Dantowitz, ; April 30, 1986 ; ; This routine was written by David Dantowitz. The routine ; implements Bresenham's algorithm for line drawing. ; ; This routine may be used at the user's discretion for no charge ; what so ever. This software has been tested and should work ; as documented, but no guarantees are made. The user assumes ; full responsibility for the assembly and use of this code. ; [MRESLINE.ASM has been added to the Library. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Wednesday, 30 Apr 1986 08:40:19-PDT From: dantowitz%eagle1.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: High resolution FAST line drawing algorithm ; ; Version 3.2h DMD High resolution graphics routine for drawing ; April 30, 1986 lines on an IBMPC with the standard color ; graphics board. Copyright by David Dantowitz, ; April 30, 1986 ; ; This routine was written by David Dantowitz. The routine ; implements Bresenham's algorithm for line drawing. ; ; This routine may be used at the user's discretion for no charge ; what so ever. This software has been tested and should work ; as documented, but no guarantees are made. The user assumes ; full responsibility for the assembly and use of this code. ; [HRESLINE.ASM has been added to the Library. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 3 May 86 01:59:16 PDT From: larry@Jpl-VLSI.ARPA Subject: Footmouse To: info-ibmpc@isib.arpa The current issue of Byte has a review of the Footmouse and a similar product. Sorry I don't have it here, but the review was favorable. Larry @ jpl-vlsi ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 3 May 86 14:40 CDT From: Greenwald@HI-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Re: backscrl To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I wrote to the Kampro group about a year ago and included a check for the documentation. My letter was never answered and the check was never cashed. I hope you fare better. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 May 86 15:49:01 cdt From: Peter Wu <pwu@unix.macc.wisc.edu> To: info-ibmpc-request@mosis Subject: INPUT Program for Library Here's a small utility called INPUT for info-ibmpc library. Briefly: INPUT is like BASIC's INPUT statement except INPUT works in batch file. You can read a string into an environment variable with INPUT and use this variable anywhere in your batch file (by making use of an undocumented batch file feature). Works in PC-DOS 3.1, not tested in other DOS. INPUT.DOC - document for INPUT INPUT.C - source code for IBM C (probably works for MSC) peter uucp: ..{allegra|ihnp4|seismo|ucbvax}!uwvax!uwmacc!pwu arpa: uwmacc!pwu@uwvax [INPUT.C has been added to the library. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: 4 May 1986 17:30-EDT Subject: REFORMAT From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I tested the new (fixed) REFORMAT.PAS by Jos Wennmacker that's currently in the <INFO-IBMPC> directory .. worked fine on both floppy drives and 10 meg hard disk on my XT clone running PC-DOS 3.1. The hard disk was somewhat fragmented (extracted from REFORMAT's screen display): total # files: 551 # files in root: 26 in 26 subdirectories: 525 # noncontiguous: 182 # clusters to be moved: 2574 Total time to reformat the 10 megger was about 15 minutes. Never able to leave anything alone, I fiddled the code a little (sped things up), plus added a cleaner interface with Int 25H and Int 26H (no more assembling and .COM files to mess with). That addition, REFORMAT.INC, is attached and could be entered in <INFO-IBMPC> to replace INT25.ASM and INT26.ASM in the REFORMAT.FILES file (which should be replaced entirely now). Regards, David Kirschbaum ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID [REFORMAT.NEW is now in the library. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Mon 5 May 86 12:09:02-PDT From: Ted Shapin <BEC.SHAPIN@USC-ECL.ARPA> Subject: "Flicker Free" Video BIOS Replacement To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I saw a very interesting video ROM bios replacement demonstration at the May North Orange County Computer Club Meeting. It works with monochrome and color graphics adapters and greatly speeds up video calls. The IBM video BIOS only allows the CPU to write to the screen memory during scan retrace time. This program which is being sold under the name "Flicker Free" uses more graphics memory for the screen buffer and changes the scan start and end addresses to produce smooth scrolling and a variety of other effects without flicker and at high speed. It takes about 7K of resident RAM. Typing a text file of a few screens is speeded up about 9 times. The program has provision for getting out of the way of programs that write to screen memory directly or that use ANSI.SYS. It does not work with the EGA. It can be ordered from Steve Gibson, 9 Lago Sud, Irvine, CA., 92714 for $39. I mention this only to bring to your attention what I think is a useful product. Ted Shapin. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 May 86 09:14:53 mdt From: nbires!lloyd@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Lloyd Tabb) Subject: PC-DOS Sector Size Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa Well folks, let me try this again, I know it can be done. I have been trying to write an installable block device driver for the IBM PC (and clones) that has a sector size of 1024 bytes. According to all the documentation I have on device drivers from microsoft, there should be no problem with this. When you attempt to install a BLOCK device with sectors larger than 512 bytes (declared in the device header) PC-DOS reports back to you with an error about illegal sector size (not fun). There is a declaration in the BIOS (IBMBIO.SYS) that tells the limit on the sector size. The limitation is definately in PC-DOS not MS-DOS. MS-DOS can support any sector size divisable by 32 (the directory must fit nicely into sectors, since a directory entry is 32 bytes long...). The Blue Boys must have done something strange. How are there 60 meg drives? Do they work like 2 logical drives ??? If not how do they work? Someone must know the answer. If you know a kludge that will fix this, I would gladly give you a quarter. Lloyd Tabb NBI Engineering P.O. Box 9001 Boulder, CO 80306 (303)-444-5710 x3102 ------------------------------ To: info-ibmpc-request@usc-isib.arpa Subject: Output Bug in Com_Pkg Date: Tue, 06 May 86 00:19:42 -0800 From: Alastair Milne <milne@ICSE.UCI.EDU> In adapting the code of COM_PKG.4 from MIT to work under the UCSD p-System (specifically, in adding string-oriented I/O routines) I discovered that it is possible to overrun the 8250's transmitter if the output queue already contains another character to be sent when the interrupt servicer checks for further transmissions to be done. The problem is that although the transmit-buffer clear flag has been set, and the associated interrupt raised, the transmitter shift register is still in operation -- even at 9600 baud (at 110 baud, even running a delay loop to 3200 on the PC XT after the transmit-buffer register showed clear did not give the transmitter enough time to finish sending the character). The result was that the whole string, excepting only the first character, was transmitted as garbage. The fix I installed is a loop just ahead of the code that sends the new character to the transmitter. The loop keeps reading the line status register until it shows that the xmit shift register is idle (or until 65536 iterations are done, which should keep the loop from becoming infinite if something goes wrong with the transmitter). I would be happy to send along this code in the form it is in now: p-System Adaptable Assembler conventions, which a) assume UCSD Pascal calling conventions, and b) have a generic assembly language syntax that differs at many points from ASM8086. However, it would remain for somebody else to adapt it back to DOS, as I have neither the resources nor the time to do so reliably. I observe that the authors have placed another, much more comprehensive COM_PKG in the library. As nearly as I can tell from one pass through it, it seems to have the same problem. At least, I see nothing that waits for the transmit-shift register to show idle. Please let me know if you are interested in having this code. Finally, many thanks for making this package available in the first place. It solved for me a problem that had remained unsolved for months. Hoping this is of use to you, Alastair Milne [Yes, by all means send us your new code. I will convert it to MASM and update the library. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: 8 MAY 86 12:00-Z From: HEAGATE%IRUCCVAX.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Source for EGA Information The April'85 issue of PC Tech Journal contains an excellent article giving a description of each BIOS call for the Enhanced Graphics Adapter together with sample assembly language programs using them. Back issues for $7 from PC TECH Journal, Box CN 1914, Morristown, NJ 07960 Donal O'Mahony, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. ------------------------------ Date: 30 Apr 86 22:51:00 PST From: ALEX WOO <wu@ames-aero> To: info-ibmpc <info-ibmpc@isib> Subject: Graphics Terminal Emulation Here are the replies to the following inquiry for a PC based graphics terminal. My conclusion is at the end. >We are interested in purchasing PC based systems to be used as graphics >terminals in a VAX/VMS environment. Here are our functional specifications: > >1. Monochrome graphics with at least Hercules compatible resolution. >2. VT100 or VT200 emulation with > a. 132 column support (on specific graphics adapter hardware) > b. Full keypad emulation for the VMS EDT editor, (if possible > emulation of the PF keys on a 18 key keypad with a different keyboard.) > c. Text and Graphics Screen Dumps >3. Tektronix 4010 or 4014 emulation. (4107 emulation if affordable.) > >We are interested in hardware and software recommendations that satisfy >these requirements. Our first pass was a PC-Clone, Everex Graphics Master, >and a 5151 keyboard but we are unaware of any VT100/4014 package which >adequately supports this combination of hardware. It is our hope that >this PC-based system is comparable in cost to a VT240-compatible graphics >terminal. Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 09:08 pst From: "lee robert%d.mfenet"@LLL-MFE.ARPA Subject: PC-based graphics terminals We have purchased VTEK 3.0 Terminal Emulator software for our lab from Scientific Endeavors Route 4, Box 79 Kingston, TN 37763 (615) 376-4146 Its features: 1)DEC VT100 and VT52 emulation; numeric keypad and PF keys of VT100 fully implemented, using F1-F10 and ALT1-ALT8 keys. 2)Tektronix 4010/4014 emulation; stores all plot vectors in 4096 x 3120 Tektronix format for high res printer and plotter dumps 3)Supported graphics boards: IBM CGA and EGA, Amdek MAI, Hercules Monochrome, Tecmar Graphics Master (Corona PC graphics also supported). 4)Supported printers: Epson MX, FX, and RX, C. Itoh Prowriter, Okidata 92, and Toshiba. 5)Supported pen plotters: Hewlett Packard, Sweet-P, and Houston Instruments. 6)Supported laser printer: Corona Laser Printer 7)Requires 256K of memory (extra 128K required for Corona Laser printer). We have used VTEK with an IBM XT w/CGA and Houston Instruments DMP-41 pen plotter. I have also used VTEK with a Leading Edge (model 'M') PC w/Genoa Spectrum Graphics Board (in Hercules monographics mode) and Princeton Max-12 monitor. I am not entirely happy with the Genoa Spectrum Board; text is excessively thick and ill-defined in its "monochrome mode" and in fact, does not change when switched to "color emulation mode". Perhaps I have it set up improperly, but Genoa's technical support was somewhat less than helpful. I believe the Tecmar Graphics Master is a multi-video board worth looking into. Robert Lee Naval Research Lab Date: 1 Apr 86 13:07:00 PST From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA> Subject: Clone XT - V220 emulation Microplot Systems (2151 E. Dublin Granville Rd. #205 Columbus, OH 43229 (614) 882-4786) Markets a product called PC-Plot-III. This package is intendded to be a Tek 4010 emulator. It succeedes well in that mode. It also supports a substantial amount of 4014 emulation and also emulates the 4027 to a limited extent. It's greatest virtue is it emulation of VT-100 (inclu the keypad functions [I have used it with CTOS a highly demanding WP which runs under VMS, EDT, VTED (Tops-20), and VED (Tops-20)]. It was It also has many file transfer functions and can be used as a stand-alone communications package (XMODEM) with a Hayes Compatible or null modem. I am not sure what the current price is but it is worth it for the $95.00 (that's right $95) that it cost me (legally, of course). John Rossi III (203) 449-4109 Rossi@NUSC.ARPA From: Paul Fishwick <Fishwick%upenn.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: software emulator Concerning your recent request on the ibmpc bboard, I can suggest my terminal emulator package as far as your software requirement. You can find the ad for ZAP (vt52/102, tek4010) in dr. dobbs,pc tech journal, or computer language. It is $85 anthe site license is reasonable ($4000 for unlimited copies, I believe). For more info. please call Solution Systems at 1-800-821-2492. Thanks.. -pf From: Michael Fuchs <EXT1.FUCHS@CU20B.COLUMBIA.EDU> Subject: VTERM/4010 We sell a product called VTERM/4010 which does the following: VT102 emulation including 132 column support in either software (horizontal scrolling) or hardware (Tseng Labs Ultrapak board, which also does Hercules graphics emulation). Tektronix 4010 and partial 4014 emulation (including mouse support) using Hecules-type boards like the Ultrapak on monochrome and up to EGA on color display. Whole bunch of graphic capture/dump to plotter, etc., capabilities. File transfer capabilities: Kermit from within program, Xmodem support, proprietary protocols with free source code for host-side implementations on variety of systems (VAX/VMS in FORTRAN and BASIC, Unix flavors in C, PDP-11 RSTS/E in BASIC PLUS, PDP-11 RSX-11M/M+ in FORTRAN). Ascii text transfers with no protocol as well. Programmable softkeys, text screen scroll-and-recall feature that saves up to 80 screens, escape sequence extensions, etc. Also, same program with addition of VT220 emulation about to go into beta testing at end of April. If this is of any interest, you can contact the company (my employer) at Coefficient Systems Corporation 611 Broadway New York, NY 10012 212/777-6707 P.S. VTERM/4010 retails for $249.... Conclusion: The main problem with all of the above PC based graphics terminals is the keyboard. None support a standard VT100 keypad which is considered a critical requirement. Our conclusion that if the principle application is as a graphics terminal then we should buy a 1024x768 graphics terminal. If the user wants to have any local intelligence, then any of the above solutions will probably do. At this time, we are leaning toward AT clones with the new RT-style keyboards. Alex ------------------------------ Date: Mon 28 Apr 86 13:30:12-CDT From: Bob Paver <CP.PAVER@MCC.ARPA> Subject: Laserwriter & MS Word Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA I am attempting to connect an Apple Laserwriter to a Sperry PC/IT for use with Microsoft Word. I made a null modem cable and can get files to print if I use the DOS COPY command, but when I try to have Word deal DIRECTLY with the printer, the system hangs. Seems as though some handshaking is getting screwed up. Help! including everyone's favorite pin configuration for a "null" modem cable. Bob Paver (512) 834-3316 Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. (MCC) 9430 Research Blvd, Echelon Building #1 Austin, TX 78759-6509 ARPA: paver@mcc.arpa UUCP: {ihnp4,seismo,harvard,gatech}!ut-sally!im4u!milano!paver ------------------------------ Date: 3 MAY 86 10:20-CDT From: CUDDY%UMKCVAX1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Comm Problem I have a problem I would appreciate some insight into if possible. I am running asynchronous communications on an PC-AT with an internal Hayes 1200B. When I call up Crosstalk the modem tells me it is already connected to a call. The modem is set correctly, and has been examined for problems (its fine). Any ideas on what could be the problem here. I suspect it is in the machine. A cold reboot frequently clears the problem up, whereas a simple crtl-alt-del does not. Please advise. Thanx for the assistance. cuddy@umkcvax1.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: 3 May 86 20:03:17 GMT From: Bob Stine <stine@edn-vax.arpa> To: Info-IBMPC <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Subject: Backspaces on PC-VT1 and Pibterm The two VT100 emulators I have access to, pc-vt1 and pibterm, both apparently convert cntl-H from the value of backspace (a binary 8) to that of delete. While I appreciate such thoughtfulness, this feature makes it difficult for me to evoke 'help' for GNU emacs on my host, since this is done by transmitting a "real" cntl-H. Also, pibterm seems to have trouble sending the sequence cntl-@, which curtails "marking," and hence cutting and pasting, with emacs. Can anyone tell me what I have to do to have pc-vt1 transmit actual cntl-H's or to stop pc-vt1 from translating backspaces to deletes? Thanks, Bob Stine ------------------------------ Date: 4 May 1986 0237-PDT From: Rob-Kling <Kling%uci-20b.zotnet@ICS.UCI.EDU> Subject: Nroff/Troff Clone Wanted To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa cc: acterman@icse.UCI.EDU, gouvis@icse.UCI.EDU I work with two computing environments: MSDOS on a set of PC's and Unix BSD 4.2 on a Vax. I'm looking for a version of Nroff (and preferably TROFF) that I can use on the PC's to facilitate text preparation acreoss these environments. I have examined ROFF (PC=SIG) and ROFF4 (Ernest Bergmann's versions). These have only a surprisingly small overlap with NROFF. I have spoken with sales poeple at Wenidin's and it does not seem to come with NROFF. I wonder if there is an NROFF clone for MSDOS. Rob Kling Kling@uci-icsa ------------------------------ Date: Mon 5 May 86 12:09:48-PDT From: Ted Shapin <BEC.SHAPIN@USC-ECL.ARPA> Subject: EGA Fast Write Query To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Does anyone know how programs such as GEM manage to write to the EGA so quickly? When the mouse is moved around, you can see the mouse arrow leave a blur of color as it is rewritten. The standard video ROM calls are much too slow. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 May 86 16:10:14 ADT From: wdw%ACADIA.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Bill Wilder) Subject: Z80 Coprocessor Query To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA We have some need to run CP/M applications on a PC. We've looked at some of the CP/M emulators but they only run at about 1Mhz. The V20/V30 runs CP/M at about 4Mhz, but 8080 code only. Do you know of any Z80 coprocessor boards for IBM-PCs? We've located one called Bluestreak (8Mhz) but retails for $595 and is alot fancier than we want. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 May 86 14:27:00 PDT From: "Dwight E. Cass" <dcass@nrtc> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Formatting Problem I just recently replaced my 8088 with a V20 and things seemed to be running wonderfully. However, just this weekend, I noticed that I am unable to format double-sided diskettes. Has anyone else seen this problem, and if so, is there a fix? I am running an old 256K PC (Version 2.01) and DOS 3.1. Diagnositics properly indiciate that I have a double-sided diskette, and reading/writting formatted disks work fine. It is just formatting using the V20 (with the 8088, everything is OK). Only other clue is that FASTBACK says that my DMA controller's timing is in error - could this be it? (I don't fully understand what is happening with this problem, so I am just throwing it out) Thanks in Advance, Dwight E. Cass dcass@NRTC.NORTHROP.COM or dcass%nrtc@USC-ECL.ARPA [I've got a 256K XT with DOS 3.1 and a NEC V20 -- no problem with formatting. I keep hearing rumors that the DMA chips are marginal. -rag] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 03 May 86 23:59:11 CDT From: MATHES%UMCVMB.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU To: info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Query: Redefining Ctrl-Break Does anybody know how to redefine Ctrl-break using Borland Super Key? We are using a word processor that does not disable the Ctrl-break key. So if you by accident hit the Ctrl-Break key you will be thrown back into DOS and loosing all your datas. Also I will appreciate any other way to disable this key. Please send reply to MATHES@UMCVMB.BITNET Thanks Elias Saab (University of Missouri, Department of Mathematics) ------------------------------ Date: 6 May 86 0:31-EST From: Dan McDonald <sed101%BOSTONU.bitnet@WISCVM.arpa> Subject: Compaq Deskpro Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I wondering what compaq deskpro users think of their machines? I am also wonder if it will support monochrome graphics with its standard equipment? Dan McDonald Boston University CS Dept. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 May 86 12:51:00 cet To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA From: UNM406%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Mathematical Textsystem Query I am looking for a mathematical textsystem to run on a AT + HP Laserjet. I would be very interested to get comments, experiences, informations on different systems. Thomas Miller, University of Bonn, FRG BITNET: UNM406 at DBNRHRZ1 ------------------------------ Date: Tue 6 May 86 13:21:14-PDT From: Steve Dennett <DENNETT@SRI-NIC.ARPA> Subject: AT Clone Speedup Query To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Speeding up IBM PC-ATs to 8, 10, even 12 mhz has become quite a business (now even IBM is doing it). I'm interested in knowing if anyone has tried this with any of the multitude of 6/8 mhz AT clones. Specifically, do these two-speed clones have two crystals, or just one operating at the higher speed? Is it possible to speed up the high-speed mode without speeding up the low-speed mode? Any comments based on your knowlege of the hardware or actual experiences trying this would be welcome. Thanks. Steve Dennett dennett@sri-nic ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 1986 18:38 EDT From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Sharp PC-7000 Query To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Does anyone have any experience with the Sharp PC-7000 laptop. Apparently this is a new machine. I am primarily interested in the degree of compatibility with the IBM PC. Thanks. --Jim ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 1986 19:15 EDT From: Reggie Aurora <AURORA%SBBIOVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Hard Card Query To: Info-IBMPC <info-ibmpc%usc-isib@wiscvm.arpa> We are considering purchasing a hard card. We would appreciate any (re)views, recommendations, prices and any other information. Thanks in advance. I will post results to net if others are interested. -Reggie. <AURORA@sbbiovm.bitnet> ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 May 86 15:33:40 EDT From: Andy_Mondore%RPI-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Problem with Sidekick and Graphics I recently installed Sidekick on my XT and everything seems to work correctly except when I try to run a Basic program which uses color graphics. If I have Sidekick loaded and try to run a program under either Basic or Basica which uses graphics, the system freezes and I have to do a cold boot. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, is there any way around it other than disabling Sidekick whenever I want to use Basic's graphics? The XT is configured with an IBM color card and monitor, 640k memory (384k on an AST Sixpak card), and has Superspool loaded along with Sidekick. I am also in the process of installing Desqview and it seems to cause problems with Basic graphics too. While on the subject of Desqview, is there any way to allow the operator to key in part of a startup command while Desqview is opening a new window? For example, you enter "dved <myfile>" to start up my usual file editor where <myfile> is the name of the file you want to edit. Is there any way to indicate to Desqview that the operator needs to supply the file name when it loads the program? Thanks for any and all help. Andy Arpanet: Andy_Mondore%RPI-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.ARPA CSNET: Andy_Mondore%RPI-MTS.Mailnet@RPICS.CSnet ------------------------------ Date: Thu 8 May 86 09:20:49-EDT From: Evan Nelson <MCD.E-NELSON%KLA.WESLYN%Wesleyan.Bitnet@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Authoring Systems Query To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.arpa I am looking for a really POWERFUL authoring system for the PC. I need to produce college-level computerized tutorials. Some of the features I would like to have are: - multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and matching formats - graphics drawing capabilies - interface to another language; perhaps to the authoring language the software was written in? - ease in reorganizing or modifying a lesson without have to recreate it from scratch. I would also be interested in hearing about articles assessing authoring systems. If you have suggestions please drop me a line. Thanks! Evan Nelson Mail: NELSON%KLA.WESLYN@WESLEYAN.BITNET Non-mail: NELSON@WESLYN.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 May 86 08:15:19 pdt From: Joel West <westjw%frog@nosc.ARPA> Subject: Description of Document Formats Wanted To: info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA I'm interested in the format of word processor files and any pointers to articles or machine-readable descriptions of: 1) DCA (I understand a DoD-mandated format) 2) list of word processors that support DCA 3) Microsoft Word files 4) WordStar 3.x files (forget WordStar 2000) Joel West CACI, Inc. - Federal joel@nosc.ARPA {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!noscvax!joel ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 May 86 11:44 EDT From: Elefante@RADC-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Query: Breaking out of batch file To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Have written a masm routine intended to run in a batch file. When the routine gets an abnormal result, I would like to signal to the batch processor that such is the case so that I can terminate the batch program before it proceeds any farther. I've tried jumping to the CTRL-C handler in the program segment prefix, and I've tried placing a Control-C in the keyboard buffer. Neither approach has worked for me. I'm not particularly attached to using Control-C to break out, as long as the break gets me back to DOS neatly. Do any of you programming experts know how to make this work? Don Elefante [Try setting the ERRORLEVEL with DOS function 4C. -rag] ------------------------------ DATE: 7 May 86 14:01:12 UT To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> From: <U015415%HNYKUN22.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: DOS 3.0 FAT Query Is there anybody who can tell me what the FAT for a 20 Mbyte fixed disk looks like under DOS 3.xx. All I know is that a FAT entry is now one word (16 bits) in stead of the old 12 bits. More specifically I need the following information: 1) what is the FAT id byte 2) which entry in the FAT maps the first datacluster. 3) is the mapping of clusters to sectors the same as for DOS 2.xx 4) are there still 2 copies of the FAT 5) what is the size of the root directory, and are there any changes with respect to the old directories. 6) it would be of great help if I know how the start of the bootrecord (BPB information) looks, and what the information is returned by DOS call function 36H 7) anything I forgot or do not know about Jos Wennmacker U015415%HNYKUN22.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Universitair Rekencentrum Geert Grooteplein Zuid 41 NL-6525 GA Nijmegen The Netherlands ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 May 86 19:43:10 -0200 From: Tom Ivar Helbekkmo <helbekkmo%vax.runit.unit.uninett@nta-vax.arpa> To: <info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA> Subject: 1200/75 Baud Driver for AT&T 6300 PC Needed Hardware on AT&T 6300 PC and Olivetti M24 is capable of operating a serial port at 1200/75 baud dual speed CCITT standard. As far as I know, there is no driver or communications program that can handle this... Certainly I must be wrong! :-) Any hints or tips - or preferably a driver source! - would be greatly appreciated! Tom Ivar Helbekkmo, <helbekkmo%vax.runit.unit.uninett@nta-vax.arpa> ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
(Text 172437)
(Text 172679) 86-05-11 05.25 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <234> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-11 05.25 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <228> -- Received: 86-05-11 06.13 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-11 05.25 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #52 %Original date: 10 May 1986 12:36:45 PDT. TF: DSKD:057021.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 34035 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 11 May 86 01:24 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 10-May-1986 17:15:41-edt Date: 10 May 1986 12:36:45 PDT Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #52 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Saturday, May 10, 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 52 This Week's Editor: Richard Gillmann Today's Topics: MS-DOS on the Cray X-MP Formatting Floppies on the AT Formatting 10M Hard Disk on PC "POPF" bug in Intel 80286 (4 msgs) Connecting IBM AT to ethernet (2 msgs) TCP/IP for the IBM PC (3 msgs) Lint Error Checker for "C" Programs V20 chip on XT, VT240 emulator programs Arc 5.13 is a Trojan Horse Program! CPUID.ASM How to tell if stdout is console Memory addressing problem on PC-1 (2 msgs) DOS 3.2 Current DOS Environment Mathematical Text Editors How to print WORD files on the LaserWriter Problem with old Basic compiler Mixed-Language Problems on Xenix 1.0 What's the best "C" Compiler (yet again) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) Subject: MS/DOS on the Cray X-MP Date: 3 Apr 86 17:46:59 GMT I was wondering what it takes to port PC/MS/DOS [Time, software, license, etc.]. Suppose I gave you a radically different architecture. Let's say, as the joke went in the past, I gave you a Cray. A real Cray X-MP. I want be serious about this. Ignore the hardware cost [well I guess a Cray is not that radically different: 64-bit word oriented rather than byte oriented architecture, vector instruction set]. I assume some but not all utilities such as those written in higher-level languages might be portable. What would it take? I gave this thought because I just gave a talk on supercomputers at CSU Fresno and this thought about evolution occurred to me. If we can keep increasing micro Si performance, is there anything to really stop MS/DOS from moving to a Cray performance hardware architecture? I note that MS/DOS is looking more and more like Unix as time progresses, does that stop? Anyone familiar with the internals of VMS is also welcome to respond. What do you think it would take to port VMS to a Cray. I'm not implying that I plan to do this. It's a combination of looking back on some discussions we had three years ago and reflecting, looking ahead a bit, and the fact that I can on occasion get a Cray class machine to myself for my research, stand-alone (working on a future-power micro computer, maybe?). I've been moving radically languages to the 2, and this is not-unrealistic. I normally don't read this digest, please send me mail directly, and if I get more than 8 responses, I will repost a summary. --eugene miya NASA Ames Research Center {hplabs,ihnp4,dual,hao,decwrl,allegra}!ames!aurora!eugene eugene@ames-nas.ARPA ------------------------------ From: mikey@bbimg.uucp Subject: Formatting Floppies on the AT Date: 17 Apr 86 17:32:00 GMT > When 360K floppies are written by a 1.2M drive, however, > they are not always perfectly readable on a 360K drive. > It helps if the floppy was formatted on a 360K drive. WRONG! The problem is the narrow head width of the 1.2 meg floppy drive lowering S/N when read on a 360K drive. DO NOT format on a 360K drive and then write on a 1.2M unit, this is the quickest way to insure that the diskette will have problems when returning to a 360K unit. To make the diskettes readable on a 360K unit, BULK ERASE them FIRST, then FORMAT (40tk mode) and WRITE to them on the 1.2M unit. THEN use the 360K unit to --->>> READ THEM ONLY!!!!<<<---. When a 360K unit writes, it puts down a wider track than the 1.2M unit. Since the 1.2M unit leaves some of this when it writes (it double steps) when the 360K units try to read, it reads a NARROW data channel with a NARROW trim erase band, with the OLD DATA causing noise around the track! This is also the problem with the 80 track drives as used in the Tandy 2000. There is the possibility that if both drives are in perfect alignment, formatting on the 360K will lay down a guard band that the 1.2M will EXACTLY center in when it writes, but this is the real world, I don't believe in tooth fairies or units that might be 'perfect' just because they work once. Understand how floppys work, they lay down a wide band of data, then a trim erase (DC) comes along and clips the sides of the data band so that there is a data track with a 'silent' buffer on either side. The head reads wider than just the data track and the 'guard bands' are needed to be 'silent' for higher S/N ratio. Mike Yetsko trsvax!techsup!bbimg!mikey ------------------------------ From: bmw@aesat.UUCP (Bruce Walker) Subject: Re: Formatting 10M Hard Disk on PC Date: 17 Apr 86 18:02:24 GMT Dan Lau writes: >I just bought a 10M hard disk for my IBM/PC, but after I formatted >it, format reported a size of 10584064 bytes total available instead >of the usual 10592256 that is reported on a PC/XT. What is wrong? >The particulars are: > > IBM/PC with ROM BIOS dated when original PC/XT introduced > IBM/PC-DOS V3.1 > OMTI Hard disk controller 5510-3 > CMI 5412 drive (asme drive as used by IBM, 306 cylinders, 4 heads) > >FDISK was used to install one DOS partition using the whole disk. No bad >sectors were reported when doing the hard and soft format. > >Does anyone know why I am missing 16-sectors (2 clusters of 8K each). "Elementary, my dear Watson..." I'll bet you were using DOS2.1 on the XT and just now switched to DOS3.1 when you FDISK'ed and formatted the new drive. Every release of DOS fiddles some parameter or another and 3.1 is no exception. The culprit here is FDISK. FDISK's task is to create and maintain "partitions" on the fixed disk. It does this by storing a special boot program and partition table on the first sector of the disk (ie - cylinder 0, head 0, sector 1). In the table are structures which describe the starting cylinder and ending cylinder numbers for up to four separate areas, or OS'es, only one of which may be bootable at a time. Although the partitions may be specified as beginning and ending at an arbitrary sector, FDISK only allows the user to specify partitions to a cylinder boundary (remember: cylinders are the "detents" that the mechanism carrying the heads may step to, "tracks" is the product of "number-of-heads" times "number-of-cylinders"; eg: the XT standard drive has 306 cylinders and four heads, giving it a total of 1224 tracks). In DOS2.1, if you specified to FDISK "gimme the whole disk", it would set up the partition slot number 4 with the beginning of the disk as cylinder zero, head zero, sector 2 and the end of the disk as the last sector on the last track minus one (the last track is reserved for diagnostics to scribble on). Now the value for the start of the partition disobeys already the rule we said about starting on an even track boundary (eg: given cylinder, given head, sector 1) because the partition and boot block lives on the first sector. I suspect some purist somewhere (and perhaps some confused software) convinced the writers of DOS3.[01] to change that. So they did. Now, partitions begin at a minimum of cylinder zero, head ONE, sector one, which means you lose 16 sectors (the remainder of track zero after the boot block). A complete description of the contents of the "Boot Record/Partition Table" is found in Appendix G of the PC/XT Technical Reference Manual. Bruce Walker {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!aesat!bmw ------------------------------ From: tom@vcvax1.UUCP (tom) Subject: Suspected "popf" bug in Intel 80286 (long) Date: 18 Apr 86 16:44:12 GMT While experimenting with an asynchronous communication driver for VENIX (in protected mode) on the IBM PC/AT, I encountered some rather strange behavior that I now attribute to a bug in the Intel 80286 processor. In brief, I suspect that the "popf" instruction enables interrupts under certain circumstances even though the IF flag is 0 before the instruction is executed and set to 0 by the "popf" instruction itself. Because of the "popf" is so often used successfully, I would like to hear from others about whether they have encountered the same or a similar problem. If so, I would like to know how they programmed around it. My concern is that I'm either mistaken and there is no hardware bug or that I'm correct and the fix that I found is not applicable to all processor lots. The Evidence The problem expresses itself in the asynchronous driver by a loss of characters on OUTPUT. Only single characters are lost every now and then. The problem can express itself when kernel printf's indicate that no interrupts other than transmit interrupts are occurring. I have tried 2 different AT's with the same results. The reason for the character loss turns out to be due to a completion interrupt occurring while the tty startup routine is running. The startup routine disables interrupts and stuffs a character into the transmit buffer. But for some reason, the 80286 allows the COM port to interrupt causing the transmit interrupt routine to overwrite the character just put in the buffer. Kernel printf's triggered by sanity checks in the driver indicate the the instruction being interrupted is a "popf" and that the IF flag before and after the "popf" is 0. A number of obvious checks were done to rule out programmer error. For example, after a kernel was demonstrated to show the bug, I dumped the code segment of the running kernel and compared it to the object file. No difference. Tom Scott VenturCom, Inc. ..!seismo!harvard!cybvax0!vcvax1!tom ------------------------------ From: maddox@renoir.berkeley.edu (William Maddox) Subject: Re: Suspected "popf" bug in Intel 80286 (long) Date: 22 Apr 86 08:39:17 GMT This is a known incompatibility between the 80286 and other members of the 8086 family. See pages 9-6 and 9-7 of the AT Technical Reference for details. I quote: If the system microprocessor executes a POPF instruction in either the real or the virtual address mode with CPL <= IOPL, then a pending maskable interrupt (the INTR pin active) may be improperly recognized after executing the POPF instruction even if maskable interrupts were disabled before the POPF instruction and the value popped had IF = 0. IBM suggests the following code sequence as a compatible replacement: JMP $+3 IRET PUSH CS CALL $-2 Bill Maddox ucbvax!renoir!maddox ------------------------------ From: cck@cucca.UUCP (Charlie C. Kim) Subject: Re: Suspected "popf" bug in Intel 80286 Date: 21 Apr 86 05:17:43 GMT Believe it or not, this is a documented "feature" or misfeature of the 286 processor (in both protected and real modes). See page 9-6 of the IBM PC/AT Technical Reference or (I remember seeing it here) the appropriate Personal Computer Seminar Proceedings to find out the exact conditions under which it can occur, but it all has something to do with the condition "CPL <= IOPL" holding true (I honestly have no idea what they are talking about here. I suppose it is some internal chip condition). The documented workaround is: jmp L1 ; jump around iret L2: iret ; pop cs,ip, flags L1: push cs ; push cs call L2 ; call near .... ; program to continue here which would work for any 80* cpu. They suggest coding this as a macro which make sense. (I guess you could replace the call near with a call far and drop the push cs). I would probably have programmed it as: push cs ; save fake cs push L2 ; push return point (286 only) iret ; really just jump ahead one instr with popped flags L2: ... ; continuation point if it wasn't going to have to run on anything but a 286 or 186 (push immediate was new with these) so things at least look linear! I'm sure you can come up with a dozen different way to accomplish the same thing now that you know the problem exists. Charlie C. Kim User Services ------------------------------ From: john@inthap.UUCP (John Casey) Subject: Re: Suspected "popf" bug in Intel 80286 (long) Date: 23 Apr 86 02:11:13 GMT Early 80286 chips (B step) did contain a problem like the one described here. These chips can be identified by the copyright notice marked on the chip. Chips bearing the notice: (C) INTEL '83 may suffer from the popf problem. Chips bearing a later copyright date (84 or beyond) do not suffer from this problem. While the B step 80286 has not been produced by Intel for some time they may exist in some older 80286 based machines such as early ATs. Since there are obviously machines out their with these older chips let me further describe both the problem and the workarounds. If a B step 80286 executes a POPF instruction while interrupts are disabled a pending maskable interrupt (INTR pin active) may be improperly recognized after executing the POPF instruction even if maskable interrupts were disabled before the POPF instruction and the value popped had IF=0. IF the interrupt is improperly recognized, it is processed correctly. The problem occurs in B step 80286s executing a POPF instruction while interrupts are disabled in either Real Address Mode, or in Protected Mode with CPL <= IOPL. Executing in Protected Mode with CPL <= IOPL implies that the processors Current Privilege Level (CPL) is numerically less than or equal to the IO Privilege Level (IOPL), that is, the currently executing code is privileged enough to enable/disable interrupts and do IO. The occurrence of this errata may be affected by the number of wait states during the data read bus cycle of the POPF, and by even or odd address alignment of the stack. Two wait states added to the memory read bus cycle will eliminate the problem. The problem can be avoided by replacing POPF with an alternate code sequence in code that may be susceptible to the problem. The original posting stated that the following code failed: > 1) pop cx | return address > popf | new flags > pushf | dummy arg > jmp cx | return Recoding without using POPF produced the following working code: > 7) pop cx > pop ax > push ax > test ax,#0x200 | Don't use popf! > bne Lsplx > cli > jmp cx > Lsplx: sti > jmp cx This illustrates one possible alternate code sequence for POPF which will work if AX need not be saved and if IF is the only flag of interest. Other more general alternatives to POPF are as follows: push cs push #popflags iret popflags: OR call popflags | must be a far call where the routine popflags is defined as follows popflags: iret NOTE: This problem exists only in older 80286s, and occurs only when a POPF is executed with interrupts disabled and results in interrupts remaining disabled. John Casey Intel Corporation (516) 231-3300 ...!philabs!ron1!polyof!inthap!john ------------------------------ From: romkey@mit-vax.UUCP (John Romkey) Subject: Re: Connecting IBM AT to ethernet Date: 9 Apr 86 01:30:44 GMT Dennis Michael writes: >Is there a vendor that sells an ethernet board for the AT? There are a number of vendors who sell ethernet interfaces for the PC family. 3COM: the 3C500/3C501 (500 = 501 + software) "dumb" cards, and the 3C505 interface. The 3C505 is a smart card which can also use the 16 bit AT bus, although it works on a normal PC bus too. Interlan: the NI5010 card, pretty much equivalent to the 3COM 3C500/3C501 cards. Ungermann-Bass: they also sell a dumb card and a smart card. I don't know much about these. Excelan: only a smart card, with TCP/IP for it. I believe that most of the other smart cards come with no software by default. Unfortunately, I don't have the addresses and phone numbers for these vendors handy right now. John Romkey FTP Software, Inc. (617) 868-4878 PO Box 150 UUCP: romkey@mit-vax.UUCP Kendall Square Branch ARPA: romkey@borax.lcs.mit.edu Boston, MA, 02142 ------------------------------ From: cck@cucca.UUCP (Charlie C. Kim) Subject: Re: Connecting IBM AT to ethernet Date: 11 Apr 86 18:05:45 GMT >3COM: the 3C500/3C501 (500 = 501 + software) "dumb" cards, and the 3C505 >interface. The 3C505 is a smart card which can also use the 16 bit AT >bus, although it works on a normal PC bus too. I believe the dumb board is priced around $600. I'm not too sure. I don't have their number. Getting source from FTP software shouldn't be that bad (I hope -- I've heard good things in this corner). 3com and ub both sell software; 3com's is some proprietary system and ub's is a implementation of ms-net. In any event, you can get up and running for about $600-700 with a dumb board ($1000-1100 if you need supported software) and $1,000-1,800 using a smart board. (Software for the smart boards runs about $500-600). Charlie C. Kim User Services Academic Informations Systems Division Columbia University ------------------------------ From: philipp@mit-trillian.MIT.EDU (Philip Prindeville) Subject: Re: TCP/IP for the IBM PC Date: 11 Apr 86 01:48:06 GMT I've gotten a few requests for details regarding my previous posting about PC/IP, so here it is: PC/IP is available on mag tape in source form for $55. Binaries are available on floppy for $12. Or you can get both for the special price of $67. The address to order from is: MicroComputer Center, Software Sales and Application 11-229, M.I.T. Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 253-6325 Serious questions can be sent via E-mail to: pc-ip-request@xx.mit.edu (or) pc-ip-request@mit-xx.arpa (or) mit-eddie!mit-xx!pc-ip-request A new version is currently being put together with many bug fixes, domain name service, and the following programs: telnet nicname (like finger but at SRI-NIC) whois (like finger) netwatch (like 4.2 netstats but real-time) tftp (simplified file transfer program) It comes with drivers for the following hardware: 3Com (ethernet), Interlan (ethernet), Proteon (Ring net) It should be available sometime next week. The software is also available with added utilities including: rsh, rcp, rlogin (as in 4.2) ftp and a mess of other stuff from: FTP Software, Inc. P.O. Box 150 Kendall Sq. Brnch. Boston, MA 02142 for $400. Philip Prindeville M.I.T. Project Athena PhilipP@Athena.MIT.EDU (617) 253-5264 {ucbvax,decvax,seismo}!mit-eddie!mit-athena!philipp ------------------------------ From: sob@talcott.UUCP (Scott O Bradner) Subject: Re: TCP/IP for the IBM PC Date: 8 Apr 86 04:05:27 GMT We are beta testing a copy of ftp software inc.'s version of the mit package. even in the beta version this package is quite good, it implements a nice set of the unix tcp/ip functions (including real ftp, accessing time servers etc). scott bradner harvard university ------------------------------ To: tcp-ip@sri-nic.ARPA, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA Subject: Net Bios on top of TCP/IP Date: Thu, 08 May 86 19:03:27 -0500 From: Stan Ames <sra@mitre-bedford.ARPA> Recently several vendors (including Excelan, UB, and CMC) have anounced products that support the IBM/Microsoft Net Bios on top of the TCP/IP/UDP internet protocols for IEEE 802.3 LAN products. Unfortuantly each has interfaced Net Bios to the internet protocols in a somewhat different mannor. MITRE under the direction of the ULANA program office is attempting to bring the vendors together to agree on an interface specification. In order to be successful each of the vendors must participate and users must make their desires for vendor interoperability known to the vendors. Anyone that is involved in an inpending implementation of Net Bios on the internet protocols is encouraged to participate. Stan Ames sra@mitre-bedford.arpa ------------------------------ To: info-c@brl-tgr.ARPA, info-ibmpc@usc-isib.ARPA, delftcc!sam@nyu.ARPA Subject: Lint Error Checker for "C" Programs Date: Thu, 08 May 86 22:25:34 -0500 From: James R. Van Zandt <jrv@mitre-bedford.ARPA> > I'm aware of four lint-type programs for checking C code on an MS-DOS > machine: > > PC-LINT Tecware $ 99 > PC-Lint Gimpel Software $139 > Pre-C Phoenix Computer Products Corp. $395 > Lint Wizard Systems Software, Inc. $450 (bundled with compiler) > > Can anyone report experience with these or others, or point to > published reviews? All the responses but one were requests for information. Here's the one: > We are using the Wizard C compiler and BSD 4.3 to develop a large > (~150,000 lines) system that will run under UNIX and MS-DOS. The Wizard > compiler reports intra-module errors and warnings. The lint option > will create a lint library and do inter-module checking. Overall the > Wizard system catches the same errors that the BSD lint catches and > often reports more warnings. The whole package is well worth the price > (especially since you get library sources and can get an update service > from Wizard). > > Brad Davis {ihnp4, decvax, seismo}!utah-cs!b-davis > b-davis@utah-cs.ARPA Now I'm trying to decide whether (1) nobody else has buggy C code, (2) nobody else wants to ADMIT to having buggy C code, or (3) lint is hazardous, and few users survive :-). - Jim Van Zandt ------------------------------ Date: Fri 9 May 86 06:37:10-PDT From: Ivan Auger <LAWRENCE.Auger@IC2060> Subject: V20 chip on XT, VT240 emulator programs To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA boot most of the time. This doesn't happen at all on our PC models. Has anybody else seen this problem ? (Our XT's have 640K)... With regards to VT240 emulators, I have tried 2 of them, Polycom VT240 and Smarterm VT125. The latter has several bugs in its emulation of REGIS protocol. I have found the former to be an excellent product, its REGIS emulation is excellent. ------------------------------ From: Michael Mattock <mattock%tp3@rand-unix.ARPA> To: info-micro@brl-vgr.arpa, info-ibmpc@usc-isib Subject: Arc 5.13 is a Trojan Horse Program! Date: 09 May 86 10:22:03 PDT (Fri) WARNING! Arc 5.13 is a trojan horse program that crashes hard disks. Do not use this version of Arc! Please pass the word to other micro users. ------------------------------ From: schuler@psuvax1.UUCP (David W. Schuler) Subject: CPUID.ASM source file (from PC Tech Journal - April 1986) Date: 13 Apr 86 02:07:01 GMT This is the source code for CPUID, a program which will determine the cpu type and numeric coprocessor type in an IBM-PC (or compatible). This is the source code directly from the April 1986 issue of PC Tech Journal. David W. Schuler {akgua,allegra,ihnp4}!psuvax1!gondor!schuler Penn State University schuler%gondor@penn-state.csnet 602 Sproul Bldg. schuler%psuvaxg.bitnet@wiscvm.arpa University Park, PA {akgua,allegra,ihnp4}!psuvax1!tvw@psuvma.bitnet schuler@gondor.uucp : schuler@psuvaxg.bitnet [CPUID.ASM has been added to the Info-IBMPC Library. It's a very nice little program, can even tell an old 8088 from a new one. Perhaps someone will modify it to tell an old 80286 from a new one. -rag] ------------------------------ From: bc@cyb-eng.UUCP (Bill Crews) Subject: How to tell if stdout is console Date: 9 Apr 86 01:12:26 GMT > In writing a number of utilities it has become desirable to be able to > tell automatically if stdout has been redirected or not. For example > in writing a directory lister which uses color through the BIOS it > should automatically go back to normal DOS I/O if the device is not > the console. I can do this through fstat or isatty in MSC 3.0 if the > redirected device is a file and not a device, but I can't tell if the > user has redirected stdout to the printer or another device. > > Any ideas? > > Glenn Connery, Bell Northern Research, Mountain View, CA Bit 1 (i.e., mask = 0x0002) of the IOCTL word (interrupt 0x21, function 0x44) is labeled ISCOT in the DOS Technical Reference Manual, which means that "this device is the console output". It would seem that this is the bit you need to interrogate, but I don't know if MSC 3.0 has a library function that passes it through. ------------------------------ From: bright@dataioDataio.UUCP (Walter Bright) Subject: Re: Memory addressing problem on PC-1 Date: 5 May 86 17:43:26 GMT Jim Moseman writes: >I have and older IBM PC with a 64K motherboard. I have added more memory >with a multifunction card but I can only address 544K. The switch settings >for 640K don't work (and weren't documented in my original Operations >Guide). Does anyone know a way around this? I had the same problem. The bug is in the ROM BIOS. Fixed it by ordering the ROM BIOS UPGRADE KIT from the local IBM Product Service Center. It cost about $30. ------------------------------ From: cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) Subject: Re: Memory addressing problem on PC-1 Date: 6 May 86 18:29:15 GMT I also have an antique PC-1. You need to replace the ROM BIOS on the motherboard. IBM sells it on an exchange basis for $50. This also makes it capable of booting from a hard disk directly. Clayton E. Cramer ------------------------------ From: bc@cyb-eng.UUCP (Bill Crews) Subject: DOS 3.2 Date: 2 May 86 15:38:45 GMT > I have been having a problem with DOS 3.2 and I was wondering if anyone > else out there has had the same problem. The first problem I have > had is the FATAL SYSTEM ERROR that was documented in PC Week. That > has only happened to me once. > > The other problem I have had is when I was in DOS I tried to do a > DIR. DOS told me that I had a bad FAT table... Until you install the fix that IBM has documented for the FATAL SYSTEM ERROR problem, you are likely to have various unexplicable symptoms. The fix involves the STACK(S?) command, I think, but since I don't have DOS 3.2, I really don't remember the fix itself. - bc - ..!{seismo,topaz,gatech,nbires,ihnp4}!ut-sally!cyb-eng!bc (512) 835-2266 ------------------------------ From: connery@bnrmtv.UUCP (Glenn Connery) Subject: Current DOS Environment Date: 25 Apr 86 14:17:14 GMT > Does anyone out there know how to get a pointer to the > CURRENT environment in DOS? What about version dependencies? > Note that "exit and stay resident" routines normally point to > an "old" environment I need a pointer to the "latest and greatest" > environment. That is to say the "real" DOS environment. Can > anyone help? > ----maybee@pogo The following is from a turbo pascal posting by Michael Tsang. I presume that you can figure out from this what you want, even if you don't have/know turbo pascal. Basically, it seems that offset 16H has some kind of backpointer to the parent program. Seems to work just fine, but of course this will probably fail under a multi-tasking version of DOS so take your chances... { [DOSEnvLib v1.00 (c) 2.13.86] by Michael H. Tsang } function GetDOSEnvSeg: integer; var SegPtr: integer; begin SegPtr := MemW[CSeg:$0016]; while MemW[SegPtr:$0016] <> SegPtr do { Trace back to root process } SegPtr := MemW[SegPtr:$0016]; GetDOSEnvSeg := SegPtr + MemW[SegPtr-1:$0003] + 1 { Skip DOS program seg } end; { GetDOSEnvSeg } Glenn Connery, Bell Northern Research, Mountain View, CA {hplabs,amdahl,3comvax}!bnrmtv!connery ------------------------------ Date: Fri 9 May 86 08:26:34-PDT From: David John Buerger <D.Buerger%SCU%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: Mathematical Text Editors To: unm406%dbnrhrz1.bitnet%wiscvm.wisc.edu@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA cc: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA The Boston Computer Society recently published their "Technical Wordprocessors for the IBM PC and Compatibles" in NOTICES OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY 33 (Jan 1986) 1:3-37. Thirty-eight vendors supporting 36 programs were reviewed with ten programs analyzed in depth. TeX accounts for two of these ten programs and summary information is given for 22 others. If you don't have access to the NOTICES, send a check for $8 to: Carl A. Hein Dunster House, Apartment 7 Swanson Road Boxborough, MA 01719 to get your copy of the BCS report. David J. Buerger Dave%SCU%Panda@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 May 86 18:42:56 pdt From: gould9!ronb@nosc.ARPA (Ron Belanger @ CACI) To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Subject: Re: How to print WORD files on the LaserWriter To print files on the LaserWriter using WORD you can use two methods: - Set the printer to "Special" (Diablo emulation mode) and use Word with the D630 print options or { much prefereable! } - Set the printer to 9600 - COPY or PRINT the file MSSETUP.PS out the COM1: port (I assume that is where the printer is connected). This file is on Word's utility disk - Set Word to use APPLASER print option AND COM1: rather than LPT1: as its output port (using the "setup" option under Printer Options) - Select some of the great fonts and print options and print away! There is a README file on the utility disk of WORD that explains this (unless you are using a real old version of WORD) Ron Belanger {cbosgd, ihnp4, pyramid, sdcsvax} !gould9!ronb or, gould9!ronb@NOSC.ARPA or, MCI Mail to "Ron Belanger" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 May 86 16:57 EDT From: Deba Patnaik <DEBA%UMDC.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Problem with old Basic compiler To: INFO-IBMPC-REQUEST@USC-ISIB.ARPA My program runs fine with interpreter but the compiler gives error messages on the following statements: WINDOW and VIEW. Any ideas? I am running IBM Basic Compiler version 1.00. deba@mimsy.umd.edu ------------------------------ Date: 8 May 1986 17:25-EDT Subject: Mixed-Language Problems on Xenix 1.0 From: MHARRIS@A.BBN.COM To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA A thorny mixed-language problem on IBM Xenix 1.0: I have a (trivial) mainline, and a (nontrivial) C subroutine package which uses curses. When the mainline is in C (and the code linked with cc), it runs fine, but when the mainline is in F77 (and the code linked with cl), it seg faults. The stack is getting stepped on in such a way that debugging is very messy. I am using "large" model, since F77 doc sez that's all it supports. The F77 is v 3.3 and I have the 12/31/85 software development system updates. A related (?) question: The F77 doc file sez "use cc -Ze -c -AL to compile the C modules". I did but I don't know why; what does -Ze mean? Needless to say, any advice, or pointer to same, would be greatly appreciated. -- Michael Harris 617-497-3794 ------------------------------ Date: Friday, 09 May 86 10:05:49 EDT From: jaffe (elliot jaffe) @ a.psy.cmu.edu Subject: What's the best "C" Compiler (yet again) To: info-ibmpc @ usc-isib.arpa I am moving code from a SUN, to an IBMPC. The code is written in C, and make use of Yacc and Lex. The code is mostly floating point, but must run without an 8087, so the compiler had better be pretty good. I also would like to have the curses library, and some way to trap control-c. Any suggestions, as to which C compiler would be best? Portablility is important. Thanks, Elliot replies to Jaffe@cmu-psy-a.arpa ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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(Text 173948) 86-05-15 23.20 @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) Receiver: INFO-IBMPC mailing list <235> Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-15 23.20 Receiver: @USC-ISIB.ARPA: Info-IBMPC (Info-IBMPC Digest) <229> -- Received: 86-05-16 00.38 Sender: Transfer (from) MAILNET -- Sent: 86-05-15 23.20 Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #53 %Original date: 14 May 1986 16:19:49 PDT. TF: DSKD:068994.MAI %FROM: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> %SMTP sender: @MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA File size is 48605 chars.@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA C511@QZCOM.MAILNET Return-Path: <@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA:INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> Received: from MIT-MULTICS.ARPA by QZCOM.MAILNET via SMTP; 15 May 86 15:01 +0100 Received: from USC-ISIB.ARPA by MIT-MULTICS.ARPA TCP; 14-May-1986 21:08:55-edt Date: 14 May 1986 16:19:49 PDT Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V5 #53 From: Info-IBMPC Digest <Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC_Distribution_List: ; Reply-To: INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Info-IBMPC Digest Wednesday, 14 May 1986 Volume 5 : Issue 53 This Week's Editor: Billy Brackenridge Today's Topics: kwic-index.txt 8087 Clone Available in Early 1987 Diskette Purge Program REFORMAT.FILES ARC -- Latest Version Proprinters Mountain 20MB Hard Card TCP/IP for the PC ^H in Pibterm Mark William's Let's C MicroEmacs Sharp PC-7000 (2 Msgs.) PC-Lint 3 1/2 <--> 5 1/4 Conversion on Laptop Toshiba T1100 NANSI.SYS and NANSIS.SYS Current DOS Environment MASM 4.00 Bugs Quick Reference List to SIMTEL20's MSDOS Directories DOS 3.0 FAT Okimate 20 Color Printer Today's Queries: Ivo Welch...Where Are You? Remote Displays 1.2M & Tandy Floppy Disk Compatibility 80286 POPF Inline Code Microsoft C and Assembler . . . VT240 Emulators EGA/INT 10H TURBO Pascal Run-Time Quirks PC+ Problems Reformatting Non-IBM AT Hard Disk Zenith 200 and AST Advantage Memory Problem XT Speedup Problem Bug in New AT Keyboard Executing .BAT from C EGA Clones Professional Graphics Adaptor Bug ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 12 May 1986 15:03:40 PDT Subject: kwic-index.txt From: Billy <BRACKENRIDGE@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA Thanks to Virginia Hetrick we now have an updated current kwic-index.txt. This file contains all the subject lines of all messages arranged in a kwic index fashion. It is current through mid April. (Issue #43) It can be FTPed as <INFO-IBMPC>KWIC-INDEX.TXT. ------------------------------ DATE: APR 30 1986 To: <INFO-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA> From: Hermann Willers <G95%DHDURZ2.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: 8087 Clone Available in Early 1987 I answer my own question on the availability of an 8087 clone. The german distributor of NEC wrote me that it will become available early in 1987. They did not specify a price to be hoped for. Hermann Willers <G95@DHDURZ2.BITNET> ------------------------------ Date: 12 May 1986 22:43-EDT Subject: Diskette Purge Program From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA To: info-ibmpc@USC-ISIB.ARPA, w8sdz@SIMTEL20.ARPA, eiben@MARLBORO.DEC.COM Gentlemen, Recently a fellow on one of the nets inquired about any code to purge disks according to the NSA standard: write 1's, write 0's, write random, with verify. Couldn't find any, so I wrote it myself. Works fine on a PC clone, and does as thorough and legal a job as I could think of. Released for non-commercial use (e.g., no sales unless you cut me in). David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ABN.ISCAMS [TOADPURG.ASM is in the <info-ibmpc> lending library -ed] ------------------------------ Date: 4 May 1986 09:23-EDT Subject: REFORMAT.FILES From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA [REFORMAT.FILES and REFORMAT.DOC have been updated to allow a choice of either in line assembly code or a seperate .COM file for the INT 25/26 linkage. Thanks to David Kirschbaum. -wab] Regards, David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID ---------------------------- Date: Sat, 10 May 1986 19:36 EDT From: James H. Coombs <JAZBO%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: ARC -- Latest Version I just checked with Seaware (bulletin board). The current version of ARC is 5.12. They have reports of the phony 5.13 as well as a 5.20 but do not appear to be aware that 5.13 is a trojan horse (not that they could do anything about it anyway). The solution to this appears to be for people to get ARC and similar programs directly from the developers, if possible. Alternatively, people who make programs publicly available should ensure that they have authorized versions and should test them before making them available. Unfortunately, it is not practical to test each program exhaustively (or even to read through all of the source code). Looks like the time has to come to develop some standard procedures. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10-May-86 21:20:31 EDT From: David Farber <farber%pcpond.pc.udel.edu@Louie.UDEL.EDU> Subject: Proprinters 21:56:17 3/29/1986 (From PC Week Bulliten Board) For those of you with IBM PROPRINTERS, I have some important information for you. Some of you will have Proprinters which work fine, and are a pleasure. Some of you will have Proprinters which print wiggly letters, and have misaligned and misfiring pins in the print head. It is these Proprinters that this information concerns. The person's name which I have been dealing with in IBM's Customer Relation Department at Boca Raton is Mr. Jim Meadows. It seems as if it is one of those problems that if you complain loudly enough, and long enough - they will do something about it. But only if you push. So far, this seems to be one of the phantom problems that "is not a problem" as far as they are concerned. I had originally purchased my Proprinter at Sears Business Systems, and they have been very cooperative in trying to fix the problem. At one point, they even traded mine for a new printer. Unfortunately, the new one had 4 pins which were either misfiring, or out of alignment. Since this was worse than my old one, I took my old one back home. They are now going to replace the print head in my old one (which is ok if it works). Mr. Meadows seems to be in agreement with this. Sears has done all they could be expected to do under the circumstances. If IBM sends them wiggly printers - they only have wiggly printers to sell and trade. So far, about 40% of the Proprinters I have come into contact with have this problem. The name address and telephone number is as follows (and they will accept collect calls): Mr. Jim Meadows IBM Customer Relations IBM Corporation P.O. Box 1328A Boca Raton, Florida 33432-1328 305-998-6048 305-998-9201 If you have any questions, suggestions, or need any further particulars please feel free to contact me at either Fido ERL (net 104/node 607), or Y-108 Fido (net 104/node 108). I will keep you posted as to the results obtained from the head change! Greg Moore Addendum 4/30/86 One of the Proprinters at the main office where I work go so bad that the local commercial IBM outlet in the Tech Center at 7900 East Union traded for it. But beware of trades! What they traded them for was a REBUILT Proprinter that had definitely been through the wars! Even the IBM logo on the metal tag on the front was worn off. As was pointed out by the clerk--they reserve the right (yes, it's in that good ole warrantee) to give you USED RECONDITIONED equipment in FULL satisfaction of the warrantee. The one that was brought back to the office lasted 1 whole day before getting the "Hula" shakes again. Fascinating that there are those of us who still pay the premium for the IBM logo. Three years ago this would not have happened. Greg Moore ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 May 86 21:05 CDT From: Wilkinson@HI-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: Mountain 20MB Hard Card To: AURORA%SBBIOVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU We have purchase Mountain's 20MB Drive Card ($900) and have been very pleased with its performance in an IBM-XT. It also controls my original XT hard disk, so I did not lose a slot (I pulled the original controller card). I understand that with an AT you have to buy an additional adapter ($49). We are considering getting their newer 30MB Drive Card ($1079). Call me if you want more details. Richard Wilkinson {Wilkinson@HI-MULTICS.ARPA} (612-542-7788 work) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 May 86 23:44:11 EDT From: Chris Schmandt <geek@MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU> Subject: TCP/IP for the PC I have also been testing FTP's software, mostly telnet, rlogin, and ftp to a Vax running 4.2, using both Interlan and 3Com boards. The current version works like a charm for me, and has several bugs fixed. (In fact, the current version has never failed using it about 4 hrs/day for a couple of weeks now). I recommend it highly. As for boards, we have found the 3Com to be more reliable. I have 5 Interlan boards and 8 PCs. There is no board which will run on all PC's, nor is there a PC which all the boards work on. You have to try different slots and things like that. chris ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 May 86 18:53 EST From: "George Barbanis, Heldenprogrammer" <BARBANIS%umass-cs.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: ^H in Pibterm To send a ^H in pibterm, append this line to the PIBTERM.FNC file: K.=^H The caret symbol is a caret symbol and does not mean ctrl-H. This is going to make the Del key of the PC keypad send a ^H character. The backspace key still sends a DEL character and so does ^H from the keyboard. Alternatively, you can redefine (always in PIBTRM.FNC) the backspace key to send ^H and the Del key to send ascii-DEL, so you will have to use the Del key to delete stuff while emulating a vt100. The above assume that the PIBTERM.FNC file is the VT100.FNC file supplied with Pibterm (since you are emulating a VT100 I guess you copied VT100.FNC into PIBTERM.FNC; otherwise just include the K.=^H command) Hope that helps. \gb ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 May 86 12:11:26 PDT From: pnet01!mtarrani <crash!Mike.Tarrani@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu> Subject: Mark William's Let's C If you're looking for a decent, reasonably priced C compiler, I strongly recommend that you look at the Mark Williams Let's C package. You get top performance at a giveaway price. This compiler is no toy; the heart of the system is the same compiler that comes with the Mark Williams Professional system, but without some of the advanced utilities and with a restriction on memory models. Program Description ------------------- The $75.00 Let's C package will not support the large memory model (640K of program instructions and data), but does have the following features: o Full K & R implementation (including register variables) and common extensions. Two of the latest data types, enum and void are included, as is structure assignment. o Full Unix compatibility--your source will compile without a hiccup under Unix if it compiles on your machine. o Two libraries: math and standard. o The ability to generate ROMable code. Included with the package are: o Supporting programs * assembler * linker * Unix-style utilities - egrep - pr - tail - cmp Finally, you get MicroEMACS, an editor, with source code. Performance ----------- Let's C is a one step compile and link compiler. You invoke with compiler with a simple 'cc' and when it's finished you have an executable file. The compiler is rich with options--too many to list here--that give you total control over the compilation process. The preprocessor can also be controlled with options. One of the nicest compiler options is the '-vsbook' switch that causes the compiler to alert you to code that does not conform strictly to K&R specifications. This allows you to write code that can be ported to any number of environments, as long as the target machine has a full K&R compiler. The compile and link process is not quick. If you're used to Turbo Pascal, then you're going to fall asleep while Let's C is doing its thing. Even for short programs, the time between invoking the compiler and getting an executable program dragged on. My points of reference are small c and BDS C running in the CP/M environment--both CP/M implementations were signif- icantly faster than Let's C. (Note: The CP/M compiles were done on a 5 mhz floppy-based machine, Let's C compiles were done on a hard disk-based IBM PC clone.) Despite the apparent feet dragging during the compile-link-load process, I am still pleased with the overall power and performance of the compiler. MicroEMACS ---------- The editor that came with the package initially interested me because it came with source code--something I could dissect. After a frustrating bout with Perfect Writer that came bundled with my old Kaypro CP/M machine I wanted nothing to do with EMACS (Perfect Writer was a mismatched cross between EMACS and troff.) In order to make sense of the source code, I opened the manual to the MicroEMACS reference guide, called up MicroEMACS on the machine and began putting the editor through its paces. The damn thing grows on you. I had originally intended to use good old Wordstar as my editor, but I think I'll stick with MicroEMACS. For word processing EMACS-type editors don't impress me, but for code editing, they're hard to beat. The relative merits of editors are so subjective that you'll have to make up your own mind on this one. One nice feature is you can exit to DOS with a quick keystroke, compile your source code (or execute any other program you want) and when you're through, typing 'exit' at the DOS prompt returns you to where you left off in editing. The Manual ---------- The 330 page manual that comes with Let's C is wire spiral bound for easy flipping through pages. It covers the C compiler itself, and all of the preprocessor and compiler options, the assembler and linker. It then goes on to describe every library function in great detail, and gives compre- hensive coverage of error messages. Note that the compiler produces error messages in English, not error codes--another impressive feature. The final section is devoted to MicroEMACS and provides all the infor- mation necessary to use its plethora of functions and features. The manual has two tables of contents and two indices, one each for Let's C itself and for MicroEMACS. On using the compiler, assembler, and utilities, the manual serves well as a tutorial and technical reference manual. It does not, however, try to teach the C programming language or 8086/8088 assembly language. You'll have to select third party books on those subjects if you need to learn them. Overall _______ I'm impressed. Although the compile process sometimes seems like it won't finish before the next eclipse, the resulting code is both compact and quick. The Let's C package contains everything needed to begin producing C programs with no need to buy extras like an assembler, editor or to have to write your own libraries. For $75.00 (I paid $60.00 at Byte and Floppy Computers) Let's C represents a bargain analogous with Borland's Turbo Pascal. If you are the least bit interested in C, then the cost of finding out if C is your forte is minimal. Even if you're an experienced C programmer you could do much worse than this gem. Disclaimer: I have no connection with Mark Williams Company--except as a very satisfied customer. Mike Tarrani ARPA: crash!vista!pnet!pnet01!mtarrani@{nosc,ucsd} uucp: {noscvax,sdcsvax,ihnp4}!crash!vista!pnet!pnet01!mtarrani MCI Mail: mtarrani (278-8623) Physical: 8131 Brookhaven Road San Diego, CA 92114 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 May 86 15:41:37 PDT From: kegel@tybalt.caltech.edu (Daniel R. Kegel) Message-Id: <8605112241.AA15416@tybalt.caltech.edu> Subject: MicroEmacs We obtained what we thought was microemacs 3.6 from mod.sources a little while back, and modified it to work under microsoft C. We also optimized the display code to take advantage of NANSI.SYS, getting it to the point where it could almost keep up with the PgDn auto repeat on an IBM PC/AT. Unfortunately, what we were working with was the DEC redistribution of MicroEmacs, and our modifications have been distributed to many people. We hope anyone who was confused by our misunderstanding accepts our apologies. Daniel Lawrence (ihnp4!pur-ee!pur-phy!duncan!lawrence), the author of MicroEmacs 3.5, recently posted 3.6, and it has many desirable features lacking in the DEC distribution. We will probably back-substitute our modifications, and try to integrate them into the mainstream distribution. Any questions, or comments should go to either Castor (clf@tybalt.caltech.edu or ihnp4!escher!fu) or Dan (kegel@tybalt.caltech.edu). -Castor Fu and Dan Kegel Daniel Kegel Mail: 1-60 Caltech, Pasadena, California 91126, USA ARPA: kegel@juliet.caltech.edu, kegel@tybalt.caltech.edu UUCP: {seismo!} hamlet.caltech.edu!kegel%juliet {@seismo.css.gov} BITNET: kegel%juliet@caltech.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: 12 May 86 10:17:12 +1000 (Mon) Subject: Sharp PC7000 From: Stephen Withers <munnari!murdu.oz!stephenw@seismo.CSS.GOV> In Vol 5, #51, James H Coombs asked about the PC7000's level of compatibility. All I can say is that I've seen it run Jet. It struck me as being a machine to look at if limited portability is needed, and the screen beats unlit LCDs hands-down. Stephen Withers, Microcomputer Support Group, University Computing Services, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia. ACSnet: stephenw@murdu UUCP: {seismo,mcvax,ukc,ubc-vision}!munnari!murdu.oz!stephenw ARPA: munnari!murdu.oz!stephenw@seismo.css.gov CSNET: stephenw%murdu@munnari.oz "The only thing I ever learned from experience was that I just made another mistake." ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 May 86 14:03 N From: <INNO%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Sharp PC-7000 - Flight Simulator worked well. - Paintbrush seemed to work also (we had little time to try) We had no time to evaluate this machine fully, so I don't know if it's fully compatible, but the salesman says it is. It has 5,25 inch drives (2). The quality of the LCD was very good (the best I've seen since long) because of the backlight-panel. Technical specifications: CPU: 8086 (7,37 mhz) 8087 (optional) Memory: ROM: 32Kb RAM: 320 kb standard, upgrading till 704 kb is possible Screen: 640 * 200 (80*25) I/O: 1 serial RS232-C 1 parallel (Centronics) Weight: 8,5 kg OS: MS-DOS V2.11 GWBASIC 2.0 (optional) Optional stuff: Color CRT-adaptor 10 Mb Winch. 3 Slots for PC-compatible cards (full or halfsize) N.B: I have no commercial connections with Sharp ! Inno Frencken Computing Centre Agricultural University Hollandseweg 1 6706 KN Wageningen The Netherlands phone: 08370-83875 EARN-id: INNO EARN-node: HWALHW5 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 May 1986 23:44 EDT From: Yedidyah Langsam <YDLBC%CUNYVM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: PC-Lint With respect to requests for information about Lint for the PC, I have had excellent experiences with PC-LINT from GIMPEL software. It appears to work just as does UNIX lint, catches the same linty code, etc. If you have a specific question let me know, and I'll give it a shot. Yedidyah ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 May 86 11:51 N From: <DOMMELEN%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: 3 1/2 <--> 5 1/4 Conversion on Laptop Toshiba T1100 Recent discussions about 3.5 inches asked for laptop computers able to convert 3.5 to/from 5.25 flops. Has anyone tried the Toshiba T1100? This 100% compatible (except for the drive) is equipped with one internal 3.5 drive. Another can be attached externally, but they deliver a 5.25 external drive also. Our dealer in Holland claims to provide software for the conversion to/from different drives. They also showed me a working version of dBASE III which they were able to buy (and sell to me again if I had enough money) legally on 3.5 flops. Wim van Dommelen, Computer Centre Agricultural University, Wageningen Holland. DOMMELEN@HWALHW5.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Mon 12 May 86 15:44:34-CDT From: Pete Galvin <CC.GALVIN@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> Subject: NANSI.SYS and NANSIS.SYS By popular demand, I've moved copy of NANSI.SYS into my public area. The sources are available from USC-ISIB so I didn't post them too. Also in that area are NANSIS.ASM and NANSIS.SYS. These are the source and the binary of a version of NANSI which doesn't cause "snow" to be displayed on systems with a standard color/graphics adapter. This new version doesn't check for the display adapter type, so you should only use it if you see snow with the original NANSI. A couple of benchmarks: (simply TYPEing a fairly long file) ANSI 65 seconds NANSIS 53 seconds (about 20% faster than ANSI) NANSI 46 seconds (about 30% faster than ANSI) NANSIS in raw mode 34 seconds (twice as fast!) Unfortunately, RAW mode disables control-break (and control-c), which I can't live without. I have a keyboard enhancement program which traps scroll-lock itself, so I don't lose control-s/control-q capability. --Pete ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 May 86 12:07:35 PDT From: Jim Anderson <bilbo.jta@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> Subject: Current DOS Environment One way to get the current environment would be to use DOS function 62H to get the address of the current psp, then use the environment pointer from that psp. Of course this function only works on 3.0 or later. Function 51H returns the same results on both 2.x and 3.x as 62H does on 3.x, but it is undocumented. Caveat programmer. In DOS 3.1 these function calls may be made at any time. There is no DOS re-entrancy problem. I assume that is probably true of other versions of DOS. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 May 86 17:02:12 pdt From: jhass%ucbiris@BERKELEY.EDU Subject: MASM 4.00 Bugs MASM 4.00 bugs. For those foolish enough to put a non-ASCII character in your assembler language files, watch out. Microsoft MASM 4.00 may accept it but do the wrong thing. ******************************************************************* Bug #1. [Thanks to Jim Buyens.] The following statement won't assemble! HDR_MSG2 DB ':',13,10 Actually, the character in quotes is the double vertical line, ASCII 186, which I see I can't transmit. The diagnostic I get is "error 50: Value is out of range". The assembler substitutes a hex FF in the code, instead of a BA as it should. I got around the problem by putting 186 in place of the literal. ******************************************************************* Bug #2. [Thanks to Bob Zale.] If you have a JZ instruction with the high bit set on the 'Z', MASM will assemble it as a JA instruction without any error or warning. ******************************************************************* The first error above was presumably introduced in 4.0 when Microsoft ported MASM from Lattice C to Microsoft C. In Lattice C, characters are unsigned and range from 0 to 255. In MS C, characters are signed and range from -128 to +127. IBM characters above 127 are thus a little awkward. -- Roger Schlafly ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 May 1986 22:21 MDT From: Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARPA> Subject: Quick Reference List to SIMTEL20's MSDOS Directories Quick reference list to SIMTEL20's PD:<MSDOS.x> directories as of May 12, 1986 (where 'x' is one of the names below): ARC-LBR DIR-UTIL KEYBOARD SCREEN TVX-EDITOR ASM-UTIL DISK-UTIL MICRO-EMACS SQ-USQ TXT-UTIL C-LANGUAGE FILE-UTIL MODEM-UTIL SYSTEM-UTIL VOICE-SYNTH DESK-ACCESSORY HAM-RADIO PRINTER-UTIL TEXT-EDITOR ------------------------------ Date: Feb 20 1986 From: <G95%DHDURZ2.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: DOS 3.0 FAT The BPB is located in the first sector on a disk (hard, floppy, RAM) and looks as follows (offsets with respect to the sector begin): ofs(hex) len meaning 0B 2 bytes per sector on disk 0D 1 number of sectors per cluster 0E 2 number of reserved sectors 10 1 number of FAT copies (on RAM disks this may be 1) 11 2 number of entries in the root directory 13 2 number of sectors on disk (unsigned int) 15 1 media byte (FAT ID byte) 16 2 number of sectors occupied by one FAT copy 18 2 number of sectors per track 1A 2 number of heads 1C 2 number of protected sectors To find the first data cluster (which always has number 2) : Its sector number fc is : fc = (0e) + (10)*(16) + 32*(11)/(0b). (0e) means : contents of the field at 0e. All other numbers are decimal. I hope I didn' forget to add or subtract 1. To get the start address of cluster n, compute fc+(n-2) * (0d). Hermann Willers <G95%DHDURZ2.bitnet> ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 May 86 17:11 N From: <DOMMELEN%HWALHW5.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> Subject: Okimate 20 Color Printer A few weeks ago, I asked for information about the Okimate 20 Color printer. Here's a summary of the responses and some things I've seen myself: - The prints look nice, I've seen real dumps of C64 screens. Good and clear colors. The only problem is that sometimes, small horizontal lines were visible, due to improper position of the head and/or ribbon. - Paper needed cannot be normal printer paper but should be plain thermal or acetate transparencies. This paper is not delivered in sheets but continuous forms. - Several users where using the Okimate 20 for the production of overhead sheets and reported good results. - This printer spoils a lot of ribbon. For each line (approx. 1 x 20 cm.) 20 cm. of ribbon is used, even when just one pixel is printed. The ribbon is not re-usable, it's thermal. - Software provided for the IBM-PC and compatibles consists of a (color) screen-dump program. A dump of the screen using this program takes about 10 minutes ! - The commodore Amiga knows how make color screen dumps on it. - Resolution is 100 (dealer's statement) to 150 (user observation) colors. It mixes solids, quartertones and whites. - Speed is 40 char./sec. in correspondence black and white, 80 char./sec. draft mode, although one user reported me 40 char./sec. in draft mode. - Prices range from $150 (USA) to $480 (Holland). (My) conclusion: Nice, cheap, but slow color printer if you don't have problems spoiling ribbon. Wim van Dommelen, Computer Centre Agricultural University, Wageningen Holland. DOMMELEN@HWALHW5.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 13 May 1986 10:14:42-PDT From: watson%akov04.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM Subject: Ivo Welch...Where Are You? Since Ivo Welch submitted his MAX editor and SCR program, I have been trying to get in touch with him to obtain copies of the programs with sources. I can't seem to get mail to him and can't locate him by phone. If anyone know where he can be contacted, PLEASE let me know. Rick Watson akov04.DEC.COM!watson@decuac. UUPC ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 May 86 14:15:37 edt From: morrell@mitre.ARPA (James Morrell) Full-Name: James Morrell Organization: The MITRE Corp., Washington, D.C. Subject: Remote Displays I urgently need leads on the following IBM PC/AT display problem: I have two side-by-side AT work stations, each equipped with IBM enhanced graphics adapter and an IBM enhanced color adapter. I want either work station operator to be able to take "snapshots" of his display and place the snapshot on any one of 8 IBM enhanced color displays (or equivalent) where it will remain fixed until another "snapshot" is taken. In other words, I do not want the second "outboard" monitor to simply "echo" the contents of the first and primary monitor. This implies, I think, something like an EGA-like driver for EACH monitor and some sort of video memory "dump" process to accomplish the snapshot. Any leads to anyone who has done this (or something similar), or who would be high on the learning curve required to undertake a quick reaction-project of this type would be much appreciated. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 May 86 14:12 EDT From: Hess@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: 1.2M & Tandy Floppy Disk Compatibility Thank you, Mike Yetsko, for your correct and clearly stated information on transferring files from double-track to single-track density drives. The obvious additional fact is that the Tandy can read most any disk formatted by a standard 360K floppy drive. If you're paranoid, you might want to bulk erase such a disk first too, to eliminate any off-track noise from previous use. For those of you who didn't follow his message or mine, just remember this rule for data transfer: Given a virgin disk, whichever machine writes on the disk first, don't let the other one write to it. One additional hint: Remember the DEC Rainbow gathering dust in the corner of your office? Well, it can read single-sided, IBM DOS disks. But it never seems to be able to write them... Well, it's the same problem. But it can't format them with IBM format, so you can't use the Rainbow to format the disk as Mike described. So the only way to produce a disk that the Rainbow can write, which an IBM can read reliably, is to format the disk on a Tandy or AT in 40-track mode. *BUT* on my Tandy at least, you can't specify 40-track AND 1-sided, so the resulting disk is double-sided. So you sit down at the Tandy, and change the information on the base of the disk so that it's single-sided 180K (put 0xFC at 0x0200 and 0x0600 from the base of the disk, to replace the 0xFD that was there, using DEBUG). Whew. It works. Brian (BNH@MIT-Multics.ARPA) ------------------------------ Date: 14 May 1986 05:22-EDT Subject: 80286 POPF Inline Code From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA Several messages have mentioned the problem with the 80286 (older ones anyway) and POPF. The common code-around I saw wasn't very obvious to code into Turbo Pascal inline assembler, so here's the inline equivalent, using labels instead of the $+n, $-n stuff. A couple places I can recall needing it is the REFORMAT.NEW code recently uploaded to the INFO-IBMPC directory, and the STAYRES code. Inline( {;popf ;..restored} {;one way to evade the older 80286's problem of blowing up} {;during a POPF.} $E9/$01/$00 { JMP J1 ;skip over IRET} {C1:} /$CF { iret ;pop IP/CS/Flags} {J1:} /$0E { push CS ;make a return} /$2E { CS:} /$E8/$FA/$FF { call C1 ;pop the Flags} ); Regards, David Kirschbaum Toad Hall ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 May 86 03:45:56 EDT From: Stev Knowles <stev@seismo.CSS.GOV> Subject: Microsoft C and Assembler . . . I was reading the Microsoft Languages insert in this months _BYTE_. Have any of you ever read the little blurbs they put at the end of these types of ads? IBM does this kind of thing too. They list, right above the list of their world wide offices, a little blurb that says that you can get a $25 rebate with the purchase of the Macro- Assembler when you buy C, Pascal, or Fortran. The next line says: For more information, call toll free, 800-426-9400. Well, I am getting ready to plunk down the dollars for C, and since the M A has the new Make facility, i thought i would buy that too, and get the rebate. So I call the 800 number. They tell me that they can't help me, I need to call another, non-toll free number to request one. REAL NICE. Not to mention the fact that the local shops don't know what I am talking about. Anyway, if anyone knows why they are doing this but down playing it, I would be interested in knowing why. Is 3.0 the latest version of MS C? Microsoft says so. They also say the list price is $395. So why does the _programmers connection_ ad in the may PC TECH JOURNAL list the MS C as "with source debugger . . . . . New version $495 CALL" listing $495 as the list price? Or are they bundling the Assembler with it? Also, did anyone keep a running tally of the bugs found in MS C 3.0 and MS Assembler 4.0? I would like to get them, if so. thanks stev stev@seismo.CSS.GOV stev@seismo.UUCP Graduate of the Han Solo School of Action Without Thought. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 May 86 19:49 EST From: MSAMH%UMass.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Michael Smith, Amherst College Account) Subject: VT240 Emulators Has anyone had experience with VT240 emulators for the IBMPC with standard color/graphics adapter? Any recommendations? -- Michael Smith MSAMH@UMASS ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 May 86 10:54:03 EDT From: Steven Segletes <steven@BRL.ARPA> Subject: EGA/INT 10H I am having problems using BIOS Interrupt 10H to write text on top of the 640x350 EGA graphics screen. The same program works as expected on the CGA 640x200 screen if I initially invoke INT 10H with AX=6 rather than AX=16. I would appreciate any assistance in resolving this problem. My simple test program makes successive INT 10H calls with the register contents shown below (please forgive the lack of 8086 mnemonics, since I call on the interrupts from a high level language). Any register contents not specified below can be assumed to be some arbitrarily random number: AH=0 (set screen mode) AL=6 or 16 (for CGA 640x200 or EGA 640x350 screen) INT 10H AH=5 (set page of display text) AL=0 (Page=0) INT 10H AH=2 (Set Cursor Location) AL=0 BH=0 (Page 0) BL=0 DH=10 (Row 10) DL=20 (Column 20) INT 10H AH=10 (Put character at location) AL=65 (The letter "A") BH=0 (Page 0) BL=0 CX=1 (Print the character 1 time) INT 10H AH=0 (Set screen mode) AL=3 (Reset to 80x25 text mode) INT 10H Steve Segletes <steven@brl.arpa> U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory APG, MD 21005-5066 ------------------------------ Date: 12 May 1986 08:56:24 PDT Subject: TURBO Pascal Run-Time Quirks From: Jeff La Coss <JLACOSS@USC-ISIB.ARPA> To: Info-IBMPC@USC-ISIB.ARPA Phone: 213-822-1511 Address: 4676 Admiralty Way; Marina del Rey; CA 90292 I have a copy of TURBO located on a file server under 3COM EtherShare. I also have a NEC V20 plus an electronic disk on a 2Meg JRAM. I have a very simple program that looks for only 8 or 9 commands. I notice that as I change things about (like comment lines), the program alternately runs fine, then cannot perform string matching correctly. Am I seeing some addressing sensitivity or is there a conflict with the disk server? Jeff Needless to say, I spent a few happy hour hunting down the conflict between scrollmate and the TURBO editor. (If this turkey didn't have to maintain hardware compatibility with a class I wouldn't use a PC or Pascal.) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 May 86 08:41:39 pdt From: Gerry Key <key%tetra@nosc.ARPA> Subject: PC+ Has anyone had any experience with the $469 PC+ built by Thompson, Harriman and Edwards Computer Products, Ltd.? It was featured in a page-1 article in the 5 May 86 issue of "InfoWorld". --Gerry key@nosc ------------------------------ Date: 12 May 86 11:17:54 PDT (Monday) Subject: Problems Reformatting Non-IBM AT Hard Disk From: Burton.osbunorth@Xerox.COM I tried to reformat the non-IBM hard disk drive in my PC AT to get the full 30 MB out of it. Right now, because of ROM BIOS limitations, I have to use it as a 20 MB. This effort cost me a weekend, or maybe 10 years off my life. It was an almost-disaster. I came d--- close to putting the hard disk out of commission (actually my wife's machine for her consulting business !!! !!! !!!), and I didn't get my extra 10 MB. Please read and help me if you can. And, please no flames. PC AT owners and other hardware mavens know that IBM supports a variety of third-party hard disks for the AT, but the drive definitions are in ROM BIOS, so they can't be changed. Any cylinders and tracks above the specs of a ROM BIOS table entry drive are wasted, because the AT Advanced Diagnostics' formatting routines start at the highest cylinder and work down. I have a 30 MB (formatted) drive, but I get only 20 MB, because my drive has 697 cylinders, and drive type 8 is 5 heads and 733 cylinders. So I have been forced to use the drive as a 20 MB Type 2, four heads and 615 cylinders. I thought that two public domain replacements for the IBM low-level, or hard formatting routines would allow me to reclaim the unused 10 MB because they format starting at cylinder 0. These programs are: HDPREPAT ATDIAG One program's documentation even claims that it works with hard disks that don't have enough cylinders to match a ROM BIOS entry. Unfortunately, things didn't work as expected. First, I used the IBM Advanced Diagnostics to redefine the drive from type 2 to type 8. Then I booted up from floppy drive A, but only after getting a 1790 - Hard Disk error message. That was expectable. Using ATDIAG, I formatted the drive. After the formatting was complete, I got error messages saying all the until-then never used head 4 tracks had "Sector 1 - Missing ID"problems. Bad controller? Hoped not, that had already been replaced once in the IBM recall program, since it had a potentially bad TI clock chip on it. Bad drive? Unlikely. Since installation, the drive had been flawless except for one known bad spot. So, I repeated the formatting operation, and then got the same error message for *ALL* heads for cylinders 0 - 697. These messages were in addition to the expected error messages for cylinders 698 - 733, since my drive doesn't have those cylinders and the Type 8 drive does. I tried to use FDISK, which flat-out didn't work. I also tried Xerox's MS DOS 3.1 HDMAINT, an improvement over FDISK, and HDMAINT reported that I had four partitions in use, including one for CDOS (?), and that the bad track table had overflowed. The partition sizes and starting and ending cylinders were all weird. I formatted the drive using HDPREPAT, got no error messages, but FDISK still didn't work. I re-setup my system back to a Type 2, 20 MB drive, and reformatted the drive using both the unconditional and conditional format of the AT's Diagnostics, then ran a surface analysis, which reported only the one known defect. Still FDISK didn't work. By this time, I was a bit, ah, concerned. Again, I performed both unconditional and conditional formats, and the surface analysis. This time, I was able to FDISK and create a DOS partition. But only 20 MB. And a weekend gone, watching the formatting process. What did I do wrong? Any suggestions? Are the program's authors listening? Philp Burton Xerox Corporation 415 496 6514 ------------------------------ Date: Mon 12 May 86 11:27:36-PDT From: Tony Brand <BRAND@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: Zenith 200 and AST Advantage Memory Problem I have a Zenith 200 with a 1.5Mbyte AST advantage. All was fine until I added the 1.5Mbyte piggy back board to the AST board. Now when I run the Zenith monitor extended memory test, I get a parity error at 16000:0011 bit 7. The problem is that the Zenith 200 tech manual does not tell how to interpret which chip is bad, and, even if it did, there is no board layout/diagnostic in the AST literature. Help. If you can, please send replies directly to me. I'll post a synopsis if I get a definitive reply. I just think it is unacceptable to sell any memory board without some sort of diagnostic program or notes. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 May 86 22:46:20 PDT From: Ya'akov_Miles%UBC.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA Subject: XT Speedup Problem I have recently traded in my IBM-PC for an IBM-PC/XT, and am now having problems when I speed up the clock rate from 4.7 mHz to 6.8 mHz. Specifically, all Program I/O works fine, and DMA works fine to and from the (256K) mother board RAM. However, WRITING to disk from I/O channel RAM causes the computer to crash, whereas READS from disk to I/O channel RAM work OK. Both floppy disk DMA and hard disk DMA cause the same symptoms. I know the expansion board works ok at 6.7 mHz, and have tried three (3) different 8237A-5 dma chips in the mother board with no success. I suspect that there might be a timing problem in the delay (too much? too little?) between the CLK88 signal and the DMA clock signal. Can anyone offer me assistance? Ya'akov N. Miles (id=tryn%ubc.mailnet@mits-multics) ------------------------------ Date: Sun 11 May 86 10:13:41-PDT From: Doug Brutlag <brutlag@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA> Subject: Bug in New AT Keyboard I have just received a new IBM AT with a 30 Meg drive and an 8 Megahertz clock. It also has a newer keyboard that looks very much like the Keytronic 5151 keyboard with separate keypad for cursor arrows, insert, home, page up etc. keys in between the normal keyboard and the numeric keypad. Unfortunately I think I have found a bug in my new IBM AT keyboard. When the NUMLOCK switch is on, and one depresses the back quote key followed by any of the new keypad keys mentioned above, the main keyboard sends only shifted characters. The CAPS LOCK light does NOT come on but all keys depressed on the main keyboard are shifted including the numbers. Using a keyboard analysis program it appears that typing back quote followed by a cursor movement key while NUMLOCK is set causes the LEFT SHIFT key to be appear to be depressed. The shifted state of the keyboard can be fixed by depressing and releasing the LEFT SHIFT key (not the right one). This abnormal setting of the left shift key depends on having NUM LOCK set to on. Unfortunately, when the system boots, this new keyboard automatically sets NUMLOCK on. I have tried this new keyboard with an old AT (20 meg drive) and it does not show this problem. Can anyone with a nice new AT out there confirm this problem or is it unique to my machine? Doug Brutlag ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 May 86 07:40 MST From: Steve Herbst <Herbst@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA> Subject: Executing .BAT from C Does anybody have a C function that executes an arbitrary FOO.BAT file? I would really love to get it. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 May 86 14:10:10 PDT From: William C. Marsh <bmarsh%cod@nosc.ARPA> Subject: EGA Clones I am looking for experiences with EGA clones. I have some manufacturers data, but I am looking for data such as compatibility with IBM's EGA, problems with software, or even hardware problems. I would especially like to hear of any problems getting one of these to run under Xenix (other than the normal EGA problems). I'm trying to decide which one to buy, so I'm interested in rumors too. Please mail responces to me. I'll post a summary after a couple of weeks if there is enough interest. Thanks in advance. Bill Marsh, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA {arpa,mil}net: bmarsh@nosc uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!noscvax!bmarsh ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 May 86 18:23:43 edt From: John Bradley <bradley%upenn-dsl%upenn.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Professional Graphics Adaptor Bug Howdy. Has anyone else out there run into a bug in the Professional Graphics Adapter's rom, more specifically the 'filled-rectangle' portion of rom. I think I have, and it's a source of much annoyment. The Bug: Send the following stream of commands at your PGA. resetf prmfil 1 clears 0 lut 1 15 0 0 /* set up colors 1-3 as red/green/blue. lut 2 0 15 0 /* for clarity only. nothing to do with the bug. lut 3 0 0 15 color 1 /* draw a filled red rectangle on plane 1 mask 1 move 100 100 rectr 100 100 color 2 /* draw a filled (overlapping) rect on plane 2 mask 2 move 50 50 rectr 100 100 The result of this code SHOULD be something like this... .......... .......... .......... ooooo*****..... ooooo*****..... ooooo*****..... oooooooooo oooooooooo oooooooooo where '.' = color 1, 'o' = color 2, and '*' = color 3. Unfortunately, what gets drawn on the screen is THIS. .......... .......... .......... **********..... **********..... ooooo*****..... oooooooooo oooooooooo oooooooooo Careful analysis has show that the second rectangle (and all rectangles) are drawn from the bottom-left to top-right. My theory has it that when it is drawing the second rectangle and a scan line ends in the OVERLAP color, it STAYS in the overlap color for all succeeding scan lines. This problem does not occur if the scan line ends in the original color, regardless of what's happened during the course of the line. For instance, if I had asked the PGA to draw the following figure .......... .......... .......... ooooo**********ooooo ooooo**********ooooo ooooo**********ooooo oooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooo it would, successfully. Any suggestions, information, or virtually anything else will be cheerfully accepted. John Bradley ------------------------------ End of Info-IBMPC Digest ************************ -------
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